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🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Alright everybody, welcome to Sherrif Foundation Baptist Church. If you could find your seats and grab your songbooks and turn to page number 260. We're going to be singing, He Is Able To Deliver Thee. Welcome to Sherrif Foundation Baptist Church. If you could find your seats and grab your songbooks and turn to page number 260. We're going to be singing, He Is Able To Deliver Thee. 🎵Music🎵 Song number 260, let's sing it together on that first. 🎵Tis the grandest theme through the ages rung. Tis the grandest theme for a mortal tongue. Tis the grandest theme that the world there sung. Our God is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. Though by sin oppressed go to him. For as our God is able to deliver thee. Tis the grandest theme in the earth or main. Tis the grandest theme for a mortal strength. Tis the grandest theme till the world again. Our God is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. Though by sin oppressed go to him. For as our God is able to deliver thee. Tis the grandest theme let the tidings roll. To the guilty heart. To the sinful soul. Look to God in faith. He will make thee whole. Our God is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. Though by sin oppressed go to him. For as our God is able to deliver thee. Brother Bill, could you have someone to work prayer? Amen. Our second song is going to be song number 115, No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus. Song number 115, No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus. Song 115, let's sing it together on that first verse. I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus. Since I found in him a friend so strong and true. I would love to tell you how he changed my life completely. He did something that no other friend could do. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as he. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. Oh how much he cared for me. All my life was full of sin when Jesus found me. All my heart was full of misery and woe. Jesus placed his strong and loving arms about me. And he led me in the way I ought to go. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as he. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. Oh how much he cared for me. Every day he comes to me with new assurance. More and more I understand his words of love. But I'll never know just why he came to save me. Till some day I see his blessed face above. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as he. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. Oh how much he cared for me. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as he. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as he. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as he. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as he. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as he. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as he. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as he. You You You You You You You You can see the plans there by brother Stuckey. It's obviously seven months away, but if you want to go someplace where you know people literally are just getting saved over and over and over again, then that might be a trip that you want to take. It's a week long. I think it's I want to say it's February 2019 to something. Anyway, it's a it's a third week in February. So I'll put that in the bulletin here at some point, but I just wanted to mention that in case anybody was wanting to go. You don't have to have a visa unless you're staying over 30 days, but you do have to have a passport. So that's why I'm letting you know early because a lot of people the passport process seems to be different now than it was before COVID and all that. So it is kind of a pain in the neck to get them. So you might want to if you're planning on going anywhere on a mission strip, you probably need to get yourself a passport. So we're a family integrated church. That means it's your family integrated church. Children and infants are welcome during the church services. Please take them to the mother baby room or dad baby room for your convenience and for all the services. And please reserve the backrest for families with young children. Gliders and rockers are for pregnant nursing mothers and elders only. Please know men in the mother baby rooms or dads in the mom baby room during the church services and no intended children in any area of the building. And please know food in the assembly area. Please silence your cell phones at this time or place them on airplane mode for the remainder of the service and escorts to your vehicles are available by the ushers at their upon request. So if you need a somebody to walk you to your car or maybe you're just having physical ailment, you need someone to help. They'd be happy to help you. Just ask them. And let's see the online donations are available. Sure foundation baptist.com the text giving numbers there. And then also the ties that have come in so far for the month of July. And we have two birthdays that we're going to be singing for today this morning. And one of them is for any Berea. Where's she at? She's right there. She didn't escape the service. Cool. And then Sherry tried to escape the singing twice last week. So we're going to sing to her too. And then also Sierra. I don't think she's here today, but we'll sing Happy Birthday to her as well. So let's go ahead and sing. All right. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday. God bless you. Happy birthday to you. I was trying to get that three, four time and it wasn't working out. You guys noticed. It was awful. Sorry about that. I just kind of waved my hands around most of the time. But Brother Steven told me that the Happy Birthday is technically supposed to be in a three, four timing. So mine was really messed up. But anyway, that's all I have for announcements. Let's go ahead and sing another song will receive the offering. All right. Our next song is going to be a song. Psalm 11. You guys can turn there in your Bibles or you can get the folders in front of you, the black folders, the first Psalm in the book. Psalm number 11. Psalm number 11. Let's start on that first. Psalm 11. Psalm 11. Psalm 11. Psalm 11. Psalm 11. Psalm 11. Psalm 11. Psalm 11. All right. Go ahead and open your Bibles to John chapter three. John chapter three. If you don't have a Bible, there should be a Bible under the seat in front of you. John chapter number three. John three. The Bible reads, There is a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whether it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea, and there he tarried with them and baptized. And John also was baptized in Aenon near to Salem, because there was much water there, and they came and were baptized. For John was not yet cast into prison. Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. And they came unto John and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth and all men come to him. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing except to be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth in heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He that cometh from above is above all. He that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is above all. And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth, and no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God. For God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Brother Drew, will you pray for us? Amen. All right. Well, I'm going to finish up my series that I've been preaching on Baptists, the acronym Baptists. And so far, we've gone through B, biblical authority, A, autonomy of the local church, P, the priesthood of the believer, T, the three offices, pastor, deacon, evangelist, and I, individual soul liberties, what I preached last week, along with the priesthood of the believer. So, let's look down at our Bible at John 3.15, where the Bible says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this beautiful day outside. I pray that you would, Lord, put your hand on our church this morning, and, Lord, that you would fill me with your Spirit as I preach the word of God. And, Lord, the people would be attentive to hear the words that you want us to hear, Lord. And we pray that you just bless every aspect of our service today, and the soul winning and the following service to come. For it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. So, the S in Baptists is represented by salvation. I'm going to sneak in a double whammy here. Salvation by faith alone and soul winning. Salvation by faith alone and soul winning. Because true Baptists are soul winners. True Baptists believe that salvation is by faith alone. John chapter 3, I believe, is the clearest passage in the Bible, telling us how to be saved. And we believe that salvation is by faith alone at this church. And why did I throw in soul winning? Because Baptists, if you're a real Baptist, you're going to go soul winning. And it's kind of like a symbiotic relationship between soul winning and faith. Because if you're not saved, it takes a saved person to get that person saved. So, it's by faith to faith. And so, they're really linked together because, you know, there's no way someone's going to get saved unless somebody gets that person saved through the power of the Holy Spirit and by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's look at verse 15 again. Really super clear stuff here. That whosoever believeth. It doesn't say whosoever repenteth, whosoever makes Jesus the Lord of their life, or any other thing like that. It says whosoever believeth. And people will go, well yeah, but you've got to understand that believing in Him takes a... Shut up! That's garbage. The Bible says that it's by faith alone. It's believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish. That means if you believe in Jesus, you're not going to go to hell, but have eternal life. Now, eternal and everlasting both mean the same thing. Eternal life means it lasts forever. So, once you believe in Jesus, you're saved forever. Okay? There's no way to lose something that lasts forever. That's impossible. Why would God say it's eternal life and then say, syke, you sinned, so now you're going to hell? That's not who God is. Anybody that believes that believes in a false God. That's not the God of the Bible. That's not what the Bible teaches at all. Eternal life. You won't perish. You'll have eternal life. How do you do that? Well, it says whosoever believeth. And now it gets real specific. John 3.16, the clearest verse in the whole Bible about salvation, in my opinion, says, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Who's His only begotten Son? Jesus Christ. That whosoever, it's using this language, Jesus is being redundant for a purpose here, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish. Didn't He just say that in the last verse? Yeah, He wants us to get this. That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Well, you're like, well, everlasting, does that mean the same thing as eternal? Yes, I just explained that. It's something that lasts forever means it lasts forever. It's eternal. It's forever. And what part of everlasting don't you understand? What part of eternal don't you understand? Well, a lot of people don't understand this concept because they're like, well, if you don't do the works, well, if you sin, well, if you just give it back, you know, because salvation's a gift. And they go, well, yeah, you can put the gift back. And there's this imaginary shelf that they believe in, which isn't in the Bible, and it's mostly Pentecostals. Anybody that believes you can lose your salvation, for some reason, they imagine a shelf. And your salvation is something that you can just take and put on this imaginary shelf and set it down. I've said this lots of times. I think it's the stupidest thing I ever hear out solely, one of the stupidest things anyway, except for I'm saved because I was in the military or I was a schoolteacher or something. But I've heard some stupid things. Yeah, I've heard a lot of dumb things out there. But anyway, the fact is, if you're a Baptist, you have to believe what the Bible says. And the Bible says it's by belief. That's how you're saved. Look at verse 17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. So his first coming was to what? Make sure that everybody has an opportunity to get saved by dying on the cross. He didn't come to condemn the world. He came to save the world, right? And it says in verse 18, he that believeth on him is not condemned. Well, there it is again. You believe on him. What part of believe don't you understand? Well, yeah, but that means, no, it doesn't mean anything else besides believe. And what is belief? Faith. What is belief? Trust. That's what it is. You trust in Jesus to take you to heaven and to forgive you of all your sins. That's what it means. The he that believeth on him is not condemned. So if you believe in Jesus, can you be condemned? It says you're not condemned, right? But he that believeth not is condemned already. So if you don't believe in Jesus, what are you? Condemned. That means you're condemned to death, right? And it says you're already there. It's not like you have to build your way up to being condemned. No, you're condemned. As soon as you understand what sin is, you're condemned. And it says because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Why do people go to hell? Because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. That's why people go to hell. There's two types of people in this world. People that believe and people that believe not. Those that believe are saved and safe forevermore. Those that believe not are condemned to hell forevermore. Alright? It's really that simple. Now skip to verse 36. And it kind of bolsters this at the very last verse. It says he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Isn't that pretty simple? You know, how many times has it said believe already? Multiple times just in this little short few passages that we've looked at. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the Son shall not see life. There's no other way to get to heaven besides Jesus. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. All those that came before him are thieves and robbers. All other religions are garbage and not true. All other religions are started by the devil himself or his angels. To get people to do what? To not believe this truth right here. Very powerful scriptures here. We should be using these scriptures when we're out soul winning. Especially John 3.16 and especially John 3.18 and John 3.36. It bolsters what verse 18 says, doesn't it? It even says you have to believe in the Son of God. The right Son of God. Not the Mormon Jesus. Not the Catholic Jesus. Not the Jehovah's Witness Jesus. The Jesus of the Bible. And the Jesus of the Bible requires what? That you call upon his name for salvation. And if you do that, that means that you believe. Right? You know people want to say, well you don't have to call upon the name of the Lord. That's not true. That's false doctrine. Okay, why does it say that whosoever believeth in it. Alright, excuse me. Um. That uh. Good night. I lost it. Uh. Yeah, for whosoever. Yeah, sorry. I got all my whos and fours. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's what the Bible says multiple times. The book of Joel. The book of Acts. Genesis chapter 4. Um. Lots of different places. So. Anyway. That's how you get saved. You call upon Jesus after believing on him. And uh. That's how you're saved. So. Now in the book. Or in the whole Bible. There's 284 verses. That say believe. Okay. Or have a form of that. And matches of the form of the word. 318. Okay, so now the word believe is 284 times. The matches of the form believeth or believeth. You know. Whatever form of belief it is. Um. Is there's 318 times in the Bible. The Bible's a big book. But 318 times the word believe or believeth. Etc. Is in the whole Bible. 99 times the word believe or a form of the word appears in the book of John. So that's one third of all the believes in the whole Bible are in the gospel of John. And so. And then in first John. It's 10 times. In first John. It's much shorter. First, second, and third John. But they're really short chapters there. And a lot less words. So. You have what? 109 times. Just by John himself saying the word believe. So, again, a third of the verses. Why do you think that is? Well, because John's gospel was written for a certain purpose. Turn to John chapter 20 verse 30. John chapter 20 verse 30. In first John it says, These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know you have eternal life. So in the first John it tells us that the purpose of these things being written were so that you would believe. And that you would believe on the name of the only begotten Son of God. John chapter 20 verse 30 says, And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. So all of his exploits, all the things that Jesus did, they're not even all contained in the gospels. It's not like a minute by minute marker in the whole gospels. You can read the gospels in a few hours, really. Well, maybe not a few, but you can read it. Luke, when you get to Luke, it kind of messes you up, right? There's some long chapters in Mark, too, though. So, but there's, it's still like three years of Jesus' life on the earth, or three, three and a half years. That is, you know, that's tons of time that we don't see things that Jesus is doing. But the things, look at what it says in verse 31. But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Why does the book of John have over a hundred mentions of the word believe in it? Because the book itself was written for a purpose. That you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you might have life through his name. So, there it is, right there, the purpose of the book of John is so that you will believe. And not only that, but by believing, you'll have life through his name. What name? Jesus. Okay? So that's the purpose of the book. So why is there a third of the believes in the whole Bible, in the book of the Gospel of John? Well, probably because God wants to get a point across to us in that book. That salvation is by belief, by faith. You know, a lot of people believe in a lot of things out there, but it specifically tells you what you have to believe, who you have to believe in, in order to get you there. Okay? And it's the salvation of the Bible, of what the Bible says it is, not what your priest says, not what some other pastor says, not what Charles Spurgeon says in his little sermonettes that everybody has, what all these Baptists have in their personal office. You know what I did with those? Threw them out. Somebody gave me a step. You can't give those away. They don't read them. They're so dry. Nobody's going to read that stuff. Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers. Yeah, right, the Prince of Piss. He's done. He's in hell. He wasn't even saved. So, don't talk to me about Charles Spurgeon and his Gospel, okay? He's with Muhammad and Joseph Smith and all the other false prophets there are out there. Look at Ephesians 2, verse 8. Ephesians 2, verse 8, you're like, Pastor, we know these verses. Yeah, I know you know these verses, but I'm trying to prove the point that this S that I'm covering right now, and again, the acronym is not in the Bible, all right? But the word Baptist is, isn't it? John the Baptist, you know, baptizing, and we baptize people. I'll get into that later. I don't want to get into it myself. But look at Ephesians 2, verse 8. For by grace are you saved through faith. Oh wow, there's another verse that says that it's by faith alone. And it's by grace. And you know what grace means? It means free. It means you get salvation even though you don't deserve it. That's what it means. So even though you've sinned, even though you're going to continue to sin, God's grace covers you. The blood of Christ covers you and gives you the grace that even though we live in the present and we still sin in the present and we're going to sin tomorrow and you're going to sin in other days for the rest of your life, that you're still covered by grace. Because if not, then everybody would go to hell for everything they do daily and we would never be able to have a chance to be saved. If it was up to us to keep our own salvation, we'd lose it every single day. That's just a fact, folks. And so these people that are peddling some works and grace combination, they're teaching lies. They're false prophets. It is false. There's nothing to respect. You're like, well, yeah, but that guy, he's so nice. Who cares? He's nice to you in person, but really, he's a ravening wolf. It says that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. So you're saved by grace through faith. And it says, look at verse 9, not of works. So is it of works? No, it's not of works. Lest any man should boast, because there's a lot of boasters out there. There's a lot of people whose doors we knock. Oh, yeah, I'm going to heaven. It's just like, I'm a nice person. I'm good to all animals. I served in the military. I taught in school for 35 years. Does anybody have any really dumb ones that you could mention? Any men out there? Any ones that you can remember? There's a lot. I mean, you might be racking your brain right now. I coached basketball at a Baptist church. I coached basketball at a Baptist church. Whoa! Well, excuse me. My dad was a pastor. My dad was a pastor. That's a good one. Yeah, I've heard that one lots of times. I'm a social worker. I'm a social worker. How about, I am a pastor? And it's a woman. Or it's a guy that's like... You know, it's funny, these pastors that we knock the doors of that are retired and stuff, they always get mad because we ask them these questions. You know why they get mad? Because they know they're going to hell. And they want to let you know that they hate you. I mean, because why else? Isn't it weird you knock on a door and they're like, oh yeah, I'm a Christian. How do you know? It's by faith. Can you lose your eternal life or whatever? Is there something you can do where you lose eternal life? And they're like, I don't have time for this conversation right now. That's a really complicated question. No, it's not complicated, folks. It's an easy answer. It's eternal life. No matter what any garbage preacher out there tells you, you cannot lose your salvation. That is part of your salvation. An eternal gift that you can't give back. You cannot lose. You can't give it away no matter what. You're like, well, we freely received it so we can freely give it back. That's not how it works. That's what you think. That's where your human mind tries to logic these things. But that's not true. Because if it lasts forever, you can't give it back. Once you get in, there's no getting out. And I don't want to say it's like the mafia, because the mafia is wicked, but people try to drag you out of your salvation, but God's just going to keep pulling you back in, right? So anyway, it's not of works lest any man should boast. Because no doubt people will boast. No doubt people will say, well, yeah, I volunteer my time with the Cub Scouts, and I, you know, just whatever. They give you their works, salvation, resume as to why they're saved. But God made it by faith, by him alone, by the things that he did for us, not anything that we do. And he made it that way for a reason so people wouldn't be able to go, well, I'm such a good person. Look at this publican over here. I'm not like him. I fast twice a week and all this other stuff. The religious guy that was the Pharisee, he's proud and then making fun of some other person or mocking them because they're lesser than him. They're not religious like he is as he prays to God in his wizard outfit. And he's not even praying to God. It says he prayed within himself, that Pharisee. And then the publican won't even look up to heaven, and he said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. That's all it takes. And it says he went away justified. He went away, he was saved. The publican, yeah, the tax collector. And nobody likes tax collectors. And they really didn't like them back then, especially because they're Jews. They want to hold on to all their money, right? But, I mean, just in general, tax collectors are thieves. They're helping the government steal money from you that doesn't really belong to them. I mean, we're taxed on a lot of different things in this world. Your gas pump. How about in Washington being the number one most expensive gas in the whole country right now? Five bucks a gallon. Thanks, Obama. Thanks, Joe Biden. Thanks, whoever. You know, these weasels and rats that get in there, and then they just pump us, and they just take more and more and more. You can't do anything without paying for a fee. Now they want to tax the freeways that have been built for years. You know, they put some more stripes on the road, and, you know, made it look pretty or something, and now they want to tax us by our mileage and things, going back and forth from Washington to Oregon. They're a bunch of thieves. That's what they are. And anyway, that has nothing to do with my sermon, but let's look at Romans 4-5. My point is that even a low-down tax collector can be saved, right? Even the IRS agents can be saved. Look at Romans 4-5. Romans 4-5, it says, But to him that worketh not... Is it to him that worketh? No, to him that worketh not. But, what does it say there? Believest on him that justifieth the ungodly. That's Jesus, right? His faith is counted for righteousness. You're not righteous by yourself. Jesus' righteousness has to be imputed upon you for you to be righteous. You're not righteous. Like, if you're not working, how are you counted righteous? Faith. That's what it says. Believing. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God impudeth righteousness... What does it say there? Without works. So is salvation by works? Is the proof of our salvation works? It's not necessarily. No, it's not because Mormons will still cut your lawn and unload your U-Haul and come to your door and act nice and do good works for you. Does that mean they're saved? Well, they're more saved than you because you don't even offer those services. No, no, no. They're doing those services because they want you to get trapped in their cult. And you're like, well, you're a cult leader, Pastor Thompson. Oh yeah, is that why I'm preaching that salvation is by faith alone? Because I'm preaching what the Bible actually says? See, everybody wants to throw the word cult around, but listen, cults don't throw people out, they keep people in. And we'll throw you out if you start teaching something other than this type of salvation and other things. So look what it says. Even as David also described the blessedness of the man unto whom God impudeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. So I've got to turn over there myself here real quick because I wanted to read one more scripture in Romans chapter 4. Look at verse 14. And this makes it really easy to understand too. For if they which are of the law be heirs to the people that think that they're doing good works to get to heaven, if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void. And the promise made of none effect. So if you try to bring your works and you believe in Jesus, this is what a lot of people do in this country right now. A lot of people believe this when we come to their door. You try to bring them both in at the same time, it voids out that transaction. If it's not faith alone, it's voided out. If you're trying to add works to salvation, voided. Isn't that what it says? Let's read it again. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void. Have you ever been at the checkout stand and they're scanning stuff really fast and they actually, dee dee, they scan something twice on accident and then do you ever catch that with your ears and you're like, hey, hey, you scanned that one twice. I heard that or I saw that. What do they have to do to that transaction? They void it out, right? So that can kind of help you what it means for something to be voided. Canceled is another word for that. It's canceled. So if you think that you're getting to heaven by faith and works or that there's a combination, then you're not saved. And why? Because it's canceled out. You're not going to be able to boast. No man is going to boast before God of how good he was to get to heaven. The answer in heaven is going to be this person believed on Jesus. They're saved. This person believed on the Lord. They're saved forevermore. So that's pretty, I mean, I beat that dog to death, right? You know, oh, you beat the dog. Yeah, well, how about the horse? Okay, I beat that horse to death. But look, it's important for people to understand what we believe about salvation. If you come to this church, that's what we believe. That's what we teach. That's what we preach at the door. Now let's get into soul winning. Matthew chapter 28, verse 18. Matthew chapter 28, verse 18. The Bible says in Matthew chapter 28, verse number 18, And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. So who has all the power? Jesus has all the power. In heaven and in earth, 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 what are we supposed to do? Well, you're like, well, that's just the disciples. Does it say ye there? It says ye. So was it just the apostles that were supposed to go soul winning? Because you wouldn't be here if the apostles were the only ones that did soul winning. That would have been a pretty quick end to Christianity had it not been passed down to the next person and the next person. Well, there's an unbroken line of true salvation that goes back to the beginning. Someone had to get someone saved. Someone had to get you saved. So you're like, well, I watched a video. Well, someone got you saved. Someone made that video and put it online so you could get saved, right? So that was a real person giving a real spirit-filled delivery of the Bible way to heaven or something. But obviously not every situation is someone got saved at a door, but still someone cared about a person enough to pray. I didn't get saved at a door-to-door soul winning. I got saved because some guy in a restaurant started talking to me. And then six months later I run into another restaurant and then he leads me to Christ. I mean, it doesn't matter what necessarily the method is, what matters what the method is, but where you're at, people don't have to get saved at the door just like people don't have to get saved at an altar at a church. Because look, there is no more altar. If it has steps to it, it's not a real altar. That's easy. So it says, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, so you teach them, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and along with you always, even unto the end of the world. This is known as the Great Commission. We're supposed to go out there and teach people how to be saved, we're supposed to baptize them after they're saved, and we're supposed to teach them the Bible, everything that God commanded, everything that Jesus commanded. Doesn't it say teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you? So, observe means to do those things, right? So, anyway, let's look at Proverbs chapter 11, verse 30. Proverbs chapter 11, verse 30. Now, I mean, I'm probably preaching to the choir a lot today with a lot of the things I've said, but you all believe that. But, you know, I mean, there's new people that come into our church all the time, and maybe, you know, they just don't know or don't understand some of these things, and so I think it's important for people to know what we believe as Baptists. Proverbs chapter 11, verse 30, the Bible says, The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. So, why does it say the fruit of the righteous? Well, God talks about you having fruit in the Bible a lot. Fruit is used as, like, just an example that we can think of in our mind, a brain for something. So, if you're a tree, if you're a fruit tree, you should produce fruit. So, and the fruit of the righteous, so if you're a righteous person, you're a saved person, is a tree of life. Because why? Because you're going to make other trees. That's the real role of the soul winner is to, you're a fruit producing tree, you're bringing forth fruit to God, and then you're planting other trees also that can also produce fruit. So, it's like an exponential growth thing. But, you know, unfortunately, there's a lot of, there's few laborers that go out and actually do soul winning. But the Bible says here, and, you know, this is Proverbs, it's the book of wisdom, right? He that win his souls is wise. Is wise, that means you're smart, you're doing what's right before the Lord, and you're out there trying to produce more fruit trees. Why? Well, you're wise because you're helping other people, you're doing what God said to do, and, you know, you're earning rewards in heaven. So, I mean, there's three good reasons to go soul winning. You're like, well, I'm scared. Well, I mean, nobody's killing anybody in America right now for soul winning. It's just virtually probably non-existent in this country right now. But, there's been times in history, and there's places in this country all over the world, that if you do go soul winning, you will be killed. And people were killed for it. So, turn to Romans chapter 10 verse 8, Romans chapter 10 verse 8. Romans chapter 10 verse 8, the Bible says, But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that is, what does it say? The word of faith which we preach. It doesn't say the word of works. It says the word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. We preach these verses out soul winning. That someone has to confess with their mouth. They have to believe in their heart in Jesus Christ, the death, burial, and resurrection. And it says in verse 10, So, what are we out doing when we're out soul winning? We're trying to get people to believe in Jesus. We're trying to get them to call upon the name of the Lord. Verse 11 says, The scripture saith whosoever believeth on him. Doesn't that kind of match what I was just talking about with salvation before? That's how people are saved. You believe. And it says, That means anybody can get saved. So don't be a racist, thinking that certain people aren't going to get saved. There's no difference. But the Jews are blinded. There's no doubt about that. But they will still get saved in some instances. They will. They will get saved just like anybody else can. It's just a little bit lower, a lot lower numbers of people that are actually saved that would be considered Jews at this time. But it also says here, So what else are we trying to get people to do? We're trying to get them to call upon the name of the Lord. The name of the Lord for salvation. That's the end game. And obviously there's other things that we're doing while we're out. So we're inviting people to our church so they can come and experience the services. And we're also planting seeds. Sometimes we're planting seeds. Sometimes we're watering something that's already been planted in them and we're just coming and trying to help them. We're increasing their faith. And then sometimes we are reaping. Reaping is like cutting down the harvest. And we're trying to get people to call upon the name of the Lord. That's when you reap. But we're always building on someone else's work. And ultimately we're building on the foundation of Christ as we go sowing him. But look what it says in verse 14. People aren't going to get saved if they don't hear. People aren't going to get saved if there's not a preacher to tell them how to get saved. When the Ethiopian eunuch is going and Philip is told by the Holy Spirit to go preach the Gospel to them, he's reading the Bible at the time. This is a divine appointment that God sets up. This is a low-hanging fruit. This is an easy score for Philip. He just has to run. He runs up to the chariot, right? And he's reading the Bible and reading passages in Isaiah, I think Isaiah 53, and he's reading these passages and he says, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he says, How can I, except some man should guide me? So he didn't understand why because the Bible is only spiritually discerned. You have to be saved to understand the truths of the Bible. Even salvation. How many times have you knocked on a door and someone's like, Well, I've read the Bible. It's like, Yeah, but are you saved? Lots of people read the Bible. They're called people who go to jail. I've read the Bible in jail multiple times. Why are you going back in and out of jail so much? And I'm not saying people don't get saved in jail. I'm sure they do. But there's a lot of jailhouse conversions because they feel like, Well, if I make myself right with God by reading the Bible, then maybe he'll let me out of prison for the things I've done. But they're hoping. But then when they get out, they just do the same thing. Why? Because if they just read the Bible, they're not going to get saved. We don't do Operation Dumbo Drop where we're just dropping all kinds of Bibles all over the place and then counting those people that we gave Bibles to as saved. I know that there were these pastors that went to the Philippines one time and they were just throwing out tracts. We would call it church invitations. They're throwing out tracts and then they're just like, Well, I think about 200 people got saved. What? That's ridiculous. Look, it takes a man of God or a woman that is filled with the Holy Spirit to get somebody saved. That's why it's such an important calling. That's why we really emphasize soul wanting at this church because how are they going to believe unless they have a preacher? How are they going to hear without a preacher? How are they going to hear how to be saved unless we tell them? So why did I add this other S on there? Because I believe if you're a Baptist, you should be soul wanting. It says, And how shall they preach except they be sent? Well, who's sending them? Jesus is sending us. He said, Go ye therefore. He already told us to go. He's praying about whether I should actually go soul wanting or not. God already told you to go. You don't need to pray about it. You just say, All right, I'm going. We got how many soul wanting times at our church? You got plenty of times and plenty of opportunities to go. Sometimes when it's not hot, sometimes when it's not raining, sometimes when it's mild weather, every once in a while. But can you go soul wanting at least once a week or something? Jesus said for us to go. How are you going to call yourself a Baptist if you don't go soul wanting? And look, I'm not saying you can't come to our church if you don't go soul wanting, but I am trying to put some pressure on you. If you're not soul wanting, you're not right with God. That's just period, end of story. If you're not going to attempt to try to win somebody else, somebody got you saved. So what? You don't think that other people deserve to be saved? So you're just going to hide your light under the bushel? Jesus said ye are the light of the world. Who's the light of the world though? Jesus is the light of the world. But now that he's gone, we have to just reflect his light to other people. And if you're not going soul wanting on a regular basis, you're not right with God. I'm not saying you have to go to every soul wanting time. I don't think you have to. Some people want to. Some people want to redeem the time. Some people want to go soul wanting. But you know what? If you never go, then that just shows your lack of care for other people. And when you don't do the first works, which the first works that Jesus said is follow me and I'll make you to become fishers of men. That's the first thing he said. So that's the first works. The most important thing we do with this church is not the preaching service. It's not the music. It's not the being sent out to go and reap and sow and plant and water with the Gospel. Because it says, How shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. So God looks at your ugly corn-filled feet, your discolored toenails and says, I like those feet. Those are good feet. He can see through our shoes. He knows what our feet look like. Why is it saying something about feet? Because it takes your feet to go. That's why. He didn't say invite them to church. Not that we shouldn't, but I'm just saying that's not the method that God prescribed. He said to go out and preach the Gospel. And if they come in because they got an invitation to church, then that's just a bonus, right? There's other methods of soul winning, but the one that God prescribed was that we go door-to-door, daily in every house they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. So that's what he asks us to do. Let's look at Matthew chapter 5 verse 14. Matthew chapter 5 verse 14. The Bible says in Matthew chapter 5 verse 14, it says, You're the light of the world. See, Jesus said it. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid, neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. So let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. So we're supposed to take the light of Jesus and shine forth. We're not supposed to hide it under a bushel. We're supposed to put it up. You put it up on a candle. This is when there was no lights, right? Well, there was no electricity, at least. But we're supposed to put that light so that people can see it, right? Now, Paul said, Woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel. Paul also said, Pray for me that I might have boldness. You know, because Paul's actually wondering whether the next place he goes to, they're going to beat him with sticks, they're going to whip him with whips, they're going to stone him with stones, they're going to murder him, every place he goes, and we don't have to worry about that. So when Paul's saying, Hey, pray for me that I have boldness, then he really means that. But what's our problem? What's the Christian's, the apathetic Christian's problem, why can't they go in America? Look, why can't you go when it's easy to do it? You're like, well, it's not easy. Okay, I'll give you that. Someone is not easy, unless you're in some super receptive area, or whatever it's not, and it's still not easy then. Then you're talking a lot. And then you can't talk by the end of the day. And it does drain you spiritually, to just continue and continue to give the Gospel. And if anybody's ever been on a sowing trip where you're just constantly giving the Gospel, you're like, it's almost more weary than walking from door to door. I mean, it is a hard job. But you're not having to pray for boldness that someone doesn't murder you while you're out there. That's what we don't have to deal with. So, you know, there's this famous verse in Jeremiah, and I don't have it memorized, but it's basically saying, you know, you can't run, you think you can run with the horses, but you can't even beat the men that you're going up against, basically. How are you going to do, how are you going to contend in sowing when it's hard when you won't even do it when it's easy? So, if you're not going sowing, look, I'm not putting you on a bad list if you come here and you don't go sowing. I'm trying to encourage you to do it. That's it. Sometimes, you can just encourage people and encourage people. Sometimes you've got to kind of drop the hammer and say, look, you're just not right with God. That's the simple way of just saying it. So, listen, Goldilocks, it's always going to be something. It's never going to be perfect situations for sowing, but God just told us to go. He didn't say, if it's not too hot, if it's not too cold, you know, this bed's too comfortable, this bed's too big for me. You know, this isn't Goldilocks Baptist Church. We don't have to wait until everything's perfect and right to do something. You know, sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's easy, sometimes we reap, sometimes we don't. But the main thing is that you're obeying God by laboring and doing the work. That's what he wants from you. And so, you know, if you can't do sowing when it's easy, what are you going to do when all of our rights are stripped away from us by the government and say that we can't go, we can't preach the Bible? Then what are you going to do? You were so scared to do it before, well, how much more scared are you going to be when it's actually you're contented with every door that you're at? It's going to be a lot rougher than it is right now, folks, and we might as well get used to it now. But don't call yourself a Baptist if you're not sowing. I mean, that's just the bottom line. Look at verse 13 in Matthew 5. It says, ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under the foot of men. So what's he saying? We're the salt of the earth. We're what preserves, you know, salt preserves things. Salt adds taste to meat and other foods. Salt is good, the Bible says. So we're the salt, we're supposed to be preserving the earth and supposed to be out there. Sometimes salt stings and burns your eyes, right? So sometimes the things we say are hard, but sometimes it's good for people. You know, it's hard, but it's good because whether they get saved or not, at least they were salted with salt. At least they knew that a prophet was among them. But it says it's henceforth good for nothing. If you've lost your savour, maybe you're here today and you just, you know, you don't care about soul wanting as much as you used to. Because our church is about seven years old now and sometimes people just like, you know, they just kind of have kids and start living their life differently than when they first got here. And they kind of put soul wanting on the back shelf. Well, there's no shelf, but you know what I mean. They put, they were like, yeah, you know, I'll start soul wanting a little bit later. You know, it doesn't take long to break a habit that you have. And if your habit was already to come to church three times a week, don't break that habit. If your habit was already to go soul wanting at least once a week, don't break that habit. Don't get out of the habit of soul wanting because it's really easy to just stay out of it. It's really easy to stay out of church when you just keep missing services all the time. And so let me just ask you this. Have you lost your savor? Have you lost your savor because look, we don't want to be called good for nothing. I'm not going to call you good for nothing. The Bible says that. Okay? But you know, basically He's saying if you're not soul wanting, if you're not the salt of the earth, if you're not, you know, letting your work be shined before the people, then that's what it's saying, isn't it? You're good for nothing to be trodden under the foot of men. And I don't want that to be said about me. So have you lost your savor? O ye of little salt? Maybe it's time to remember why you come to church and why you come to this church and get out there and start soul wanting again. Nobody's going to make fun of you. People are going to be happy. And I'm not even trying, I'm not thinking about anybody in particular or anything. I'm just saying, you know, I know in this church that there are some people that just quit soul wanting or maybe there are some people that just have never gone soul wanting in the first place. You know, get out there and try. Get out there and do something and, you know, you'll be happy that you made that decision. And it might not feel good all the time and you're like, well, it's just not very receptive here. Well, did Jesus say to not go, even if it's not receptive, then don't bother going? No, He didn't say that. We're still getting people saved here every week. So, the second letter I'm going to be preaching today is the T, the two picture ordinances. So, this is, you know, again, this is my Baptist acronym. It's not necessarily the same in other Baptist churches, but a lot of churches will say, when they use the Baptist acronym, they'll say two ordinances. But in reality there's more than two ordinances in the Bible, isn't there? Ordinance means an authoritative order or decree. There's a lot of those things in the Bible, isn't there? But what I believe that we're supposed to keep are the two picture ordinances. So, when I say two ordinances, I'm talking about the picture ordinances. Well, and obviously, in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, hair length is an ordinance that's spoken about. He says, keep the ordinance, and then he starts talking about how long, about long hair and short hair on women and men. So, is it an ordinance? Well, yeah, in the context it is an ordinance, but it's not a picture ordinance. Obviously, it does kind of picture things. It pictures what men are supposed to have short hair and women are supposed to have long hair. But that's a reality. But when it comes to the two picture ordinances, let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And I preached about this not too long ago, so I'll try to just be brief on this point. But it says, 1 Corinthians 11 verse 1, it says, Be followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. So, we're supposed to, it's okay to follow men as long as they're following Christ. Now, I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you. So, we're supposed to what? Keep the ordinances as they were delivered unto them. So, go ahead and keep your, put your finger here, keep it here. We're going to come back to this text here in just a few minutes. But the first picture baptism, and go ahead and turn to Acts chapter 8 verse 35. Acts chapter 8 verse 35. So, what are the two picture ordinances? Well, it's baptism and the Lord's Supper. Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Baptism pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. And so, in Matthew chapter 28, it says, 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, we are supposed to baptize people, right? And what name, what names are we supposed to baptize in? The Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost. So, if you've seen me do a baptism before, I might say, you know, by your public profession of faith or ask people if they've been saved. But really, all I need to do is say, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. You baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. That must be done. That is the names we baptize in. And so, who can be baptized, though? In Acts 8, 35, where it says, Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water, and the eunuch said, see, here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? What's stopping me from getting baptized? So, we saw that Philip opened his mouth and preached the Gospel to him. Preached Jesus unto him. Then, the eunuch is like, here's some water. What's stopping me from getting baptized? And Philip said, if thou believeth with all thine heart, thou mayest. So, we baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. But we also, who can be baptized? Well, people that believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You have to believe first, right? It's not some sprinkling as a baby, like a lot of other false congregations would believe. False churches. It says, 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, he meets the requirements. He said he believed, and then Philip baptizes him. And so, how do you baptize? Well, when Jesus was baptized by John, they went down to the water. He put Jesus underwater and brought him back up again. This is what baptism is. It's putting someone underwater. It's not, you know, hitting them with a super soaker, splashing some water on their face, taking a little teaspoon and, like, dropping it on their head or whatever. A ladle, and dropping it on somebody. Or, you know, like the Orthodox do, where they do the triple dunk. It's not the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost. And the baby's like, wah! I'm sure you've seen those videos where the Orthodox priests are dunking babies. It's so weird. It doesn't say to dunk them three times. Jesus didn't die three times and rise from the dead. What's the picture? The picture's the death one time, the burial one time, the resurrection one time. It's not a triple dunker. Okay? That's just weird. You baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, and then you drop them down one time and bring them back up. Look what it says in verse 38. 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. So notice that they were in water. Do you think it was, like, ankle-deep water? It's probably water enough to make sure that he goes underwater, right? Verse 39, when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no more, and he went all on his way rejoicing. So, how do we baptize? Well, they have to be baptized in water, alright? So that's why we do that. Now, if I was at a river, I'd be in the water with someone I was baptizing. I've done that before. I've done it at the ocean. I've done it in... I don't know if I've done it in the river. I've done it in the ocean, for sure. But, how do we do it? Well, you put them underwater and you bring them back up. How do we know it's not symbolic? So, how do we know it's symbolic and not salvation? Well, turn to Romans chapter 6, verse 3. So, a lot of people say that you have to be baptized to be saved. A lot of times, when you ask someone at the door, are you saved? And they say, yeah, I was baptized. And it's like, so, what do they think it takes to be saved? They're saying that their baptism saved them. This is a false doctrine. This is not true. This is why Baptists have been killed for hundreds of years in the Roman Catholic Church and other institutions because people that believe like Baptists or were Baptists or whatever, they would not accept the Roman Catholic Church baptism. They would not accept the Orthodox baptism. Because the Bible teaches that you have to be saved before you're baptized. That's what Philip said, right? And that's what you see all throughout Scripture. It's never someone gets baptized and then they preach from the Gospel. You know, you don't put the cart before the horse. Someone has to be saved first. That's what the Bible teaches. Now, Romans 6-3 says, so, the question is, how do you know it's symbolic and not for salvation? Well, it says in Romans 6-3, Know ye not that so many of us, as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death? When you were baptized, were you literally dead? Did you literally die? No, you didn't literally die. This is talking about something spiritual, right? Look at verse 4, Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. By baptism. We're buried with him. So it's a symbolic thing. And it says, well, prove that. It says, that like as, you see that where it says like as? That means it's a similar picture, right? 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, so when someone dies, they're planted into the earth, right? They're put into the earth. We have been planted together, look what it says, in the likeness of his death. It doesn't say that you're literally dead. And that you're literally buried. No. It's in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. So at some point, they bring you up. You know, the picture is you're buried in the water. You're raised up out of the water. If I never raise you up, you're going to drown. Some people, no, I'm just kidding. Some people need to be held down longer. I'm just kidding. But I always tease people and say, I'll only hold you down there for 30 seconds, but I never do that. But anyway, so it's in the likeness of his resurrection. See how it's a picture? Isn't that what like if you say, well, someone drew a picture of me, and you say, well, that's a good likeness of you. It looks just like you. It's not you. It's a picture of you. So, likeness is like it's in the same way. It's a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, and the body of sin might be destroyed, and henceforth, we should not serve sin. So it's a picture of us dying to self, identifying with Christ, dying in the same death that Christ did. It's a spiritual picture that we do, right? And God wants us to do it. Why does he want us to do it? I don't know. He just wants us to do it. What does it matter? Just do it. If you're not baptized and you've been saved, you should get baptized. It's a command. So, and I like to use the wedding ring as a symbol. So, is this wedding ring my wife and my marriage? No. It's just a ring. What does the ring tell you? The ring tells you that I am married. And so I'm taken. I'm married to a woman, and this is the symbol of that. So, that's the picture of my wedding, the fact that I'm married, and so baptism is the picture of you dying and being risen from the dead like Christ. And then, let's see if I need to cover this. Oh, yeah, yeah. Let's do it. Let's do it. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 10. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 10. The Bible says, Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the name, or the same mind and the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I am of Apollos, and I am of Cephas, and I of Christ. So what's going on? There's division because they're saying, well, I got baptized by Jesus, I got baptized by Cephas, I got baptized by Apollos, and they're like, it's their favorite preacher that they're just bragging about them getting baptized by. But what it says, though, in verse 13, is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? So, you know, some people get this, you know, strange thing that this certain pastor has to baptize you. You know, it just needs to be a pastor or an ordained person that baptizes you. And that's what we believe at our church. But the reason why I wanted to show you this is because people will say that it takes baptism to save people. And Paul, everybody knows, is the greatest of the apostles, in my opinion, as far as like works and salvation. How many people are saved because of Paul? Look what it says. Let's see, I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any of you say that I had baptized in my own name. And I baptized also the house of Stephanus, besides I know not whether I baptized any other. So he's saying, I didn't really baptize very many people, but he started that church. So who baptized them? Well, obviously other people. It says, for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel. So if baptism is part of the Gospel, then why did he say that? If he didn't baptize every single person that he got saved, then how is baptism part of salvation? This is the end game. This is game over. This is destruction of that stupid doctrine. And people will say, well, you're saved by baptism. What if I told you that not every time the Bible says saved is it talking about like everlasting life, salvation. When Peter said, Lord, save me, when he's about to drown in the water, that wasn't him asking Jesus to save him under everlasting life. Peter was already saved. So, don't come at me with that. Because it says, but Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel. The Gospel is what? Being saved by faith alone. And so, just this example right here shows us that baptism is not part of salvation, but it is a command of God. And it does picture what? The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Now, as far as the Lord's Supper is concerned, go ahead and turn back to 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse number 23. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse number 23. The Bible says, For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. So, this is the Lord's Supper, is what it's talking about. It pictures the broken body and precious blood of cross that Jesus shed for us. Look at verse 24. And when he had given thanks, he break it, and said, Take eat, this is my body which is broken for you, this due in remembrance of me. So, was it his actual body? Did he cut a slice off of him and hand it to somebody? No, that's cannibalism. That's weird. It's a symbol of the fact that Jesus broke his body for us, and that he shed his precious blood. So, why did he give the bread to eat? Because it symbolizes Jesus being the bread, right? The bread of life. And so it says, This due in remembrance of me, after the same manner, also he took the cup, and when he had supped, saying, This cup of the New Testament is my blood. This due is oft as you drink it in remembrance of me. He didn't say he turns it into blood, or he didn't drain himself and fill up the cups with blood to hand to the disciples. It was fruit of the vine. That's what it was. The Bible actually doesn't say wine, but in other passages it does. In Genesis chapter 14, bread and wine were brought before Abraham. So, there's another proof that wine doesn't always mean alcoholic wine, because when Jesus says the fruit of the vine, that's just the fruit that's squeezed out of a grape, right? Or any kind of fruit juice. But it says, For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he comes. So, what is it? A picture of the fact that Jesus' body was broken for us, and that he was killed on the cross and shed his precious blood for us. So, we do the Lord's Supper one time a year at this church, during the week before Easter, as a church body, and only saved and baptized people should partake. Now, I don't wrestle people to the ground and say, your kid's not really saved, or they're not even baptized. I don't police the Lord's Table, but that's the order of things. God wants us to do things after the due order. And so, you don't get baptized before you're saved. You don't take the Lord's Supper before you get baptized. You don't take the Lord's Supper before you're saved. You do these things in an order. So, baptism should be just a one-time thing if you got baptized after you were saved by someone that doesn't believe in some works-based salvation. If you're counting your Mormon baptism, that doesn't count. The Jehovah's Witness baptism, I don't accept baptisms like that. You can accept them all you want, but you can still come here if you want to count that, but I've never met anybody in that situation before. Because usually once you're baptized, you're kind of Kool-Aid-ized after that, so by the Mormons. Even their little kids are reprobates in a lot of cases. So, anyway, the last one is separation from the world. S. The S at the end is separation from the world. Let's look at 1 Peter 1, verse 13. So, what we just looked at was the two picture ordinances that Baptists observe. Now, if they put foot washing in there, that's not a picture. That was just Jesus showing them an example of how we should serve one another. The leaders still serve the people that are not the leaders. He was picturing servant leadership, and Jesus led by example. So, people that do foot washing, it's bizarre. Okay, and nobody's going to wash my feet. I'll let Jesus wash my feet if he wanted to, but I'm not going to let anybody else do it. You don't want to see those things. Anyway, separation from the world. 1 Peter 1, verse 13 says, So, when you're saved, we're supposed to start separating from those things that we were trapped in, and the things that the way we thought, the activities that we did, it says, as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust in your ignorance. When we were ignorant, when we didn't know, we did things that we shouldn't have done, but now that we're saved, we should start to remove these things out of our lives and separate from the world. Not saying move out to some grain silo or something and set up a doomsday kit or something. We're not supposed to separate to that level, because we're supposed to be in the world so that we can preach the gospel, right? But it says, verse 15, But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. So, conversation there actually means lifestyle or the way you live your life. He said he's called us to be holy, so be holy in all manner of conversation. Because it is written, be ye holy for I am holy. So God's holy and he wants his children to be holy also. And holy means set apart, right? And it's a special set apart or separation. So, it says, Because it is written, be holy for I am holy, and if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work past the time of your sojourning here in fear. So, yeah, you're saved and you're living in the world, but you should still fear the Lord. You don't have to fear going to hell, but you should still fear the fact that you're displeasing God and that you're committing sin that he doesn't want you to commit. So, our life should be a life of sanctification after being saved. You just start working on things and getting things out of your life. I talked last week about how the first thing I wanted to get out of my life was my blasphemous mouth. And that was like, I just clearly distinctly remember that when I read the Ten Commandments, I was just like, okay, I've done that stuff right here and it's something that God holds very serious. So, he wants us to get sin out of our life and the former lifestyle that we used to live. Look, it says, For as much as you know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by the tradition of your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot. So, you know, we're not redeemed by the corruptible things. And it says, let's see, yeah. So, he wants us to live a holy and separated life. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14. And this, I think, is the most clear passage that teaches us about separation. What's he want us to separate from? You know, and he kind of uses this term in this passage where he says, for what? And he'll say, fellowship, or what communion, or what concord, or what part. And he uses all these words to help us to understand that it's talking about being together with someone that is not like you. That is not a saved Christian. Because, why? Well, it's a dangerous situation to put yourself in. Don't go into business, like business partnerships when you're saved, and then be a business partner with someone that's unsaved. Because what's going to happen? Well, they're probably not going to be, you know, the same type of person that you are when it comes to, you know, being above board on all the processes. A lot of times, you know, unsaved people will rip their business partners off. You know, and if we're a Christian doing that, woe unto you for that, because that's a bad punishment coming your way. But look what it says. Verse 14, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. So what does that mean, unequally yoked? It's not talking about an egg, okay? It's talking about what animals are, you know, animals use, you know, when you're pulling carts and horses and things like that. You probably don't see much of that nowadays, but animals are supposed to be the same kind. Like, there's an Old Testament concept where you're not supposed to pull a carriage with, like, an ass and an ox at the same time. And that's this picture here because it's unequal. It's going to make the, it's going to make it go wrong. It's going to, you know, because if you have an ass and an ox at the same time, it's going to be, the yoke's going to be unequal in the way that it fits them. It's not going to fit them right. It's going to make them drive the wagon or whatever it is they're using, the chariot, in a weird way. But that, so that picture helps us to understand why God doesn't want us to be unequally yoked with other people that are unbelievers. Why? Because we don't mesh well. You know, and you might be like, well, I do, I got this friend and, you know, and that's great, whatever. And if you're trying to get people saved, then that's great. But, like, if you hang out with people that are not saved, their ways are going to rub off on you. Your ways, if they haven't, if you haven't already gotten them saved, then your ways are not rubbing off on them. And you're putting yourself in peril, you're putting yourself in bad decision making because they still want to go to the bar. They still want to get tattoos. They still want to watch all these wicked Hollywood movies. They still want to do all the same things that you don't want to do anymore. And so when you put yourself in that position, you're putting yourself in a dangerous position. And, you know, why shouldn't we do it? Well, God said not to. Being not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. What are unbelievers? People that aren't saved, right? For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? They don't have any fellowship. Righteous should be apart from unrighteousness. So, we are to fellowship with other believers. We're supposed to, you know, fellowship's a big deal at our church. We hang out and talk for a long time after church services. And, you know, that's a part of our Christian life is fellowship. It should be. But, if we just said, hey, let's bring all these unsaved people in after church, and then we were mingling with them. Now, obviously in a purpose to get them saved, that'd be great, but is that conversation going to be different than the ones you have with saved people? It absolutely is. So it says, what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? You know, the light was divided from the dark at the very beginning for a reason, to show us the picture that darkness is the things that are bad and wicked, and light is the good. So, what communion do they have? Nothing. And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Do you think Jesus is just hanging out with the devil up in heaven right now playing checkers or something? They have no part with each other. And the devil hates Christ, and Christ hates the devil. And he's going to destroy him one day, so why would you, you know, it's showing us a picture of all these different things, these different scenarios, so if that's the case, then why would you want to hang out with unbelievers? It says, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? What is an infidel? An unbeliever. Okay, so if you're a saved person, your best friends in life should not be unsaved people. And if you are still friends with them, then it probably is a surface-level friendship. Like, you used to be best friends with them on, and now you're friends with them still on Facebook or whatever, and you probably just like, you know, pictures of their babies or something. But that's pretty much, you know, the depth of it for a lot of people, for a lot of Christians, at least that's the way it should be. But, it says in verse 16, and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God, as God said, I will dwell in them and walk in them. And these verses should scare us in a way that, you know, what is he saying? You're the temple of the living God. The other people out there are idolaters. And, you know, so he's basically saying, you're the temple of God, God lives inside of you, and it says, I will dwell in them. So is God in you today? Yes he is. He's with you everywhere you go. Everything you look at. Everything you do. He is walking with you and he's in you. Right? And it says, and they shall be my people. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord. So what's he want? Separation between us and the unbelieving world. Not total Amish style separation. You know, where you're making your own cities and, you know, you got horse and buggies, you're afraid to drive a car or whatever, and you believe a false works-based salvation, by the way. They're not saved, but that's not what it's talking about. It's talking about separating the old haunts that you used to have. You need to get rid of those things. The people that would drag you down before, don't make them your best friends. Your best friends should be, if you're married, your spouse and your other Christian brethren that you go to church with. You're like, well that's just, I don't think that's what the Bible's saying. Verse 14, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. That means don't marry them, don't go into business with them, don't make them your favorite best friend. This is God saying this. You're like, well how dare you tell me who to be friends with. I'm not telling you who to be friends with. I'm just saying who God says not to be friends with. Who to not hang around. Who to not be with. And that is what the Bible says folks. I don't know how you'd explain it any other way, but it says, wherefore come out from among them and be separate sayeth the Lord. God, who said it? God said it. If it says sayeth the Lord, that means God saying it. It's not me. I'm just telling you what God said in his book. So if you don't like that, well then I guess you just don't like the word of God. And that's a problem. It says be separate and touch not the unclean thing. What is it saying? Well if you're dabbling with all these things of your former life, you're touching an unclean thing. You're being around someone that's unclean in a way where they're not saved. And I will receive you. So God's okay with us fellowshipping with other believers but not unbelievers. So Amos 3-3 says, can two walk together except they be agreed? And the answer to that is no. You're going to fight. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 3 says, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God made us unto wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Sanctification again is the process of getting sin out of your life. The Holy Spirit will help you do that. Obviously there's a lot of problems that we're going to have still as Christians. We're going to fight the flesh on a daily basis. The old man still rises up every morning with you and you've got to put that old man down and carry your cross daily and fall after Christ. And if you fail, then you get up the next day and do the same thing and try to do better. So that's all I got for time. I'm out of time. So when it comes to separation, God wants us to separate from the former things, the former lusts of our life. And just to recap the whole thing, being a Baptist is a good thing. Being Baptist is a great thing. And what we believe, I think I've pretty much clearly laid out. And the first thing was biblical authority. We believe the Bible. Autonomy of the local church. We believe that churches beget churches and each church is self-governed and Jesus is the head of each church. Priesthood of the believer. Each person that's saved is a priest unto God. And T, the three offices are pastor, deacon and evangelist. The I, individual soul of liberty. Nobody can force you what to believe. Every man must be persuaded in their own mind. Salvation by faith alone and soul winning. Covered that today and to picture ordinances and separation is the T and the S. So that's the acronym of Baptist. Let's go ahead and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for the scriptures and how clear you make things for us. Lord, I pray that you just help us to take these things. Maybe there's some things in our lives that are lacking. Maybe it's our soul winning. Maybe it's our zeal. Maybe it's our separation. Lord, I pray you'd help us all as Christians to take these things seriously and, Lord, to if there's something we need to get out of our life or something that we're not doing that we need to get into our life, Lord, I pray that you would just help us to do these things and we'll give you the praise and honor and the glory for all these things. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright, our last song, number 17. One day. Song number 17 in your hymn books. One day. Song number 17. Let's see if they're on the first. One day when heaven was filled with his praises. One day when sin was as dark as could be Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin dwelt amongst men my example is he living he loved me dying he saved me buried he carried my sins far away rising he justified freely forever one day he's coming oh glorious day one day they led him up Calvary's mountain one day they nailed him to die on the tree suffering anguish despised and rejected bearing our sins my redeemer is he living he loved me dying he saved me buried he carried my sins far away rising he justified freely forever one day he's coming oh glorious day one day they left him alone in the garden one day he rested from suffering free angels came down for his tomb to keep vigil hope of the hopeless my savior is he living he loved me dying he saved me buried he carried my sins far away rising he justified forever one day he's coming oh glorious day one day the grave could conceal him no longer one day the stone rolled away from the door then he arose oh he had conquered now is a sin did my lord evermore living he loved me dying he saved me buried he carried my sins far away rising he justified freely forever one day he's coming oh glorious day one day the trumpet will sound for his coming one day the skies with his glories will shine wonderful day my beloved ones bringing glorious savior this Jesus is mine living he loved me dying he saved me buried he carried my sins far away rising he justified freely forever one day he's coming on a glorious day