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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] 169, we'll sing there starting on the first. Come thou fount of every blessing To my heart to sing thy grace Streams of mercy never ceasing Called for songs of loudest praise These to be sung, they'll all give sonnet Sung by flaming thorns above Raise the fount I'm fixed upon it Fount of thy redeeming love Here I raise my Ebenezer Bither by thy help I'm come And I know by thy good will And I know by thy good pleasure Safely I'll arrive at home She's a sardine with a stranger Wandering from the fold of God Need to rescue me from danger Pinter caused his precious blood Oh to grace how great a debtor Gave me I'm constrained to be Led by goodness like a fetter By my wandering heart to thee Roam to water, Lord I feel it Chrome to lead the God I love Here's my heart, oh take and seal it Seal it for thy courts above Amen we'll open with a word of prayer so if you'll bow your heads with me Heavenly Father we thank you for this day for another opportunity to gather together to sing praises in your name and to learn from your word I pray that you would be with the service that everything would be done decently and in order and that you would just open our ears to the message that pastor has prepared for us this evening These things we pray in Jesus name, Amen Alright for our next hymn, 183 Oh how I love Jesus hymn number 183, 183 Oh how I love Jesus 183 we'll sing there starting on the first There is a name I love to hear I love to sing it's worth It sounds like music in my ear The sweetest name on earth Oh how I love Jesus Oh how I love Jesus Oh how I love Jesus Because he first loved me It tells me of a savior's love Who died to set me free It tells me of his precious blood The sinner's perfect queen Oh how I love Jesus Oh how I love Jesus Oh how I love Jesus Because he first loved me It tells me what my father had And scored for every day And though I tread a darksome path He'll sunshine all the way Oh how I love Jesus Oh how I love Jesus Oh how I love Jesus Because he first loved me It tells of one whose loving heart Can feel my deepest love Who in each sorrow bears a part That none can bear below Oh how I love Jesus Oh how I love Jesus Oh how I love Jesus Because he first loved me Good evening everyone. Welcome to Anchor Baptist Church. At this time we'll go through some announcements. If you don't have a bulletin, please raise your hand and an usher will bring you one. On the front of our bulletin is the Bible Memory Verse of the Week Galatians chapter 1 verse 13. And if at the end of this whole chapter you could quote it word perfectly to an adult non-family member, you will receive a prize at the end here. If you'll open up on the inside, you'll see our service times on the left. Sunday morning at 10 30 a.m. Sunday evening at 4 30 p.m. and our Wednesday evening Bible study through Proverbs at 7 o'clock. Our soul winning times are all listed there below and all those meet here at the church building with the exception of Tuesday. So please contact brother Eric if you want to make it to that soul winning time. Below that is our nursing home ministry schedule. Looks like next up is brother Eric next week. Also below that is our year to date soul winning statistics. There was three salvations this afternoon so praise the Lord for that. So that puts us at 103 for the month which smashes our previous records so we're really thankful for that and just keep working hard out soul winning. Upcoming events on April 13th for the p.m. service we'll have a men's preaching night and there is a sign up sheet in the back if you'd like to preach for that. Just fill out what topic you would like to preach about and then after the evening service we'll have a potluck so just bring something to share for that if you would. April 19th is our Easter soul winning marathon. There's also a sign up sheet in the back for that. That way I could order the right amount of food for that event but we'll be meeting at Frederick Douglas Park in East OKC and going soul winning that day there. The next day is Easter on April 20th and after the a.m. service we're going to be catering some barbecue so looking forward to that. And then for the evening service we will be taking the Lord's Supper at that time. May 16th through the 18th is the King James Conference in Vancouver, Washington by Pastor Aaron Thompson. May 31st is the Durant Oklahoma Soul Winning Marathon teaming up with Steadfast Baptist Church. June 28th that's our Tinker Air Show Fellowship Day where we're just going to hang out as a church, go to an air show, have some fun. And the next day Brother Ben Naim from Steadfast will be preaching for us. August 27th through the 31st that's the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship at Steadfast Baptist Church in Texas. Looking forward to that. October 6th through the 11th that's our big event for the year, the Bahamas Mission Trip and so below that you'll see there's a visitor card if you are a visitor or even if you just need to update your information. We would appreciate if you would scan that and fill that out. We could have a record of your visit. And on the back is our prayer list. Please be in prayer for all of those requests there. And below is some information about giving to our church if you'd like to do that. That's going to be it for announcements this evening. We'll go ahead and go to our third song. Alright number 191 for our third hymn this evening. 191 In my heart there rings a melody. Hymn number 191. 191 there on the first. I have a song Jesus gave me. It was sent from heaven above. There never was a sweeter melody is a melody of love. In my heart there rings a melody. There rings a melody with heaven's harmony. In my heart there rings a melody. There rings a melody of love. I love the Christ who died on Calvary for he washed my sins away. He put within my heart a melody and I go instead to stay. In my heart there rings a melody. There rings a melody with heaven's harmony. In my heart there rings a melody. There rings a melody of love. It will be my endless theme in glory. With the angels I will sing. To lead a song with glorious harmony. In the courts of evergreen. In my heart there rings a melody. There rings a melody with heaven's harmony. In my heart there rings a melody. There rings a melody of love. As the offering plates are being passed, turn if you would to Hebrews chapter number six. Hebrews chapter number six. Hebrews six. It's all along silently in your Bibles. Hebrews six the Bible reads, Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms and of laying on of hands and of the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment. For the this what we do, if God permit, for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs meat for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessings from God. But that which bear thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name, and that ye have ministered to the saints and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope and to the end, that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made promise to Abraham because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end to the end of all strife, wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath. That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who hath fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Let's bow our heads forward in prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for this day and the souls that were saved out this afternoon. And we just ask that you deal with them and help them find a great church. And we ask that you appeal our fast to the Holy Spirit and bless every aspect of your service. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, we are in Hebrews chapter 6. Let's start reading verse number 1. The Bible says, Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do if God permit. So if you're familiar with the context of this book, in chapter number 5, the Apostle Paul was talking about how he wants to teach more advanced concepts to the audience here, but they were still babes in Christ. They had not matured. They had not read like they should have. And so they kind of had need that one teach them again. But his desire in chapter number 6 is that they would move on from these basic doctrines and go on unto perfection. And so the implication here is that if you're going to go on unto perfection and learn more advanced doctrines, you first have to have the basics down. And one of the basics that he lists there, he talks about repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, right, simply just getting saved, salvation. And then he says of the doctrine of baptisms in verse number 2. And that's actually the title of my sermon this evening is The Doctrine of Baptisms. This is a very foundational, simple topic, but even though it's simple to us, because this is a Baptist church and we actually believe what the Bible says, so many religions are so screwed up on this topic. And you'll see as we go through this sermon that how the Bible describes baptism, the way it's done, what it represents, and when it's done, is not the same as a lot of religions teach on this. And so keep in mind that even though this is a subject you're probably already very familiar with, number 1, you need to know how to teach other people this doctrine. Because, you know, we like to go out into the community, preach the gospel, and explain to people these things from the Word of God. You want to explain to them biblical baptism and the doctrine of baptism. You know, also I know we have some people in this room who are recently saved. And so those people, especially who have not yet been baptized, should really pay attention this evening and see what the Bible has to say about it. And so whenever I teach on baptism, I like to think about it like this. Think of the three P's, okay? The practice of baptism, the purpose of baptism, and the picture of baptism. That's what we're going to be talking about this evening. So number 1, let's talk about the practice of baptism. Just practically speaking, how is baptism supposed to take place? We'll go to Matthew chapter number 3. Matthew chapter number 3. You know, this is a Baptist church, and the reason that we have this distinction is because we believe certain things about baptism that other religions do not. One of those things is that baptism is supposed to be fully immersion. That baptism is supposed to be full immersion underwater. Baptism is not just sprinkling. Baptism is not like what the Catholic church did during COVID and literally squirt people with squirt guns. That's not baptism, folks. Baptism is full immersion underwater. Okay, let's look at that in Matthew chapter number 3 and look at verse number 13. It says, And Jesus, when He was baptized, notice, went up straight way out of the water, and lo, the heavens were opened 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. You know, if you're going to get your doctrine on baptism and try to figure out, you know, what's the right way to baptize someone, looking at Jesus' example is a good place to start. Like, hey, how are we going to baptize someone? Well, why don't we look at the way that Jesus Christ was baptized? And if you notice, He had to come up out of the water. Because the word baptism literally means to be fully submerged. Like, it's not a baptism if you're sprinkled. It's not a baptism if you're sprayed with a water gun. A baptism is a full submersion of water. So, that's why when we do baptisms, by the way, I told the ushers this a few weeks ago. Like, I want to make sure there's a good amount of water in there, but I've seen some baptisms before where the person goes down and, like, their legs and all their arms are out of the water, and it's like, kind of, their head just goes under. It's like, you're kind of ruining the whole purpose. You know, you want to be fully submerged in the water to be a real baptism. Go to Acts, chapter number 8. Acts, chapter number 8. And let's look at another example of this in the Bible. As you're turning there, I'll read John 3, verse 23. It says, And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Jerusalem, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized. So, John, the Baptist, when he was deciding where he's going to baptize people, the determining factor for him was, where was there much water? Why? Because to baptize someone, you have to put them completely under the water. Acts, chapter number 8. Look at verse number 36. It says, 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? And Philip said, If thou believest 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, notice, into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way, rejoicing. So, I'm not going to break down everything in this passage right now. We're going to come back to this later. But right now, we're just talking about the entry level, just very basics of baptism, the practice of baptism. Notice how these guys, they went into the water to baptize. Why? Once again, because to baptize, you have to fully submerge. And this is just so basic. Like, this is not hard to understand whatsoever. Yet, you got so many religions out there that don't do this most simple picture of just baptizing someone all the way underneath. Go to Matthew chapter number 28. Matthew chapter number 28. So, when it comes to the practice of baptism, number one, it's got to be full immersion. Number two, baptism must be done in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. You got oneness Pentecostals out there that want to try to say, well, when you get baptized, it has to be in the name of Jesus only. And they will actually get mad at people that baptize people in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Now, let's see what the Bible says in Matthew chapter 28, verse 18. Very famous passage. It says, And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, notice, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Now, again, this is just what's mind blowing to me about false religion. If we're going to make our doctrine, how are we going to baptize someone? Well, let's look at how Jesus was baptized. How are we going to baptize someone? Why don't we look at the words that Jesus Christ said we should do about baptizing someone? And it's like, this is the Great Commission. This is one of the most famous passages in the whole Bible. And what did Jesus say? Baptize them in the name of who? The Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. And by the way, these people that get so stuck up that, oh, you have to baptize in the name of Jesus only. What if I told you that when you're baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, that Jesus is included in that because Jesus is the Son of God. So this is just a silly thing to make a huge big deal over, yet many people have, and would criticize us Baptists for baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Go to Acts chapter number 2. Acts chapter number 2. And I'll show you where they're getting this from. Acts chapter number 2, verse 38. It says, Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. So here we have Peter telling people to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Now, notice what this verse did not say. Did this verse say, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ only? No. So if we're following Jesus' example in Matthew 28, is someone still being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ? Absolutely. Of course they are, right? Plus, there's another distinction here that to do something in the name of something else could also denote of the authority, or by the power of, right? If, like, I come to you in the name of something, it means, like, I'm coming to you by the authority or power of something else. So when you're baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, it's like you're doing it under his authority, which he's the one that gave the Great Commission, right? So if Jesus told us to go baptize people, and we baptize them, we're doing that by the authority, by the power of Jesus Christ. You could stay there, but let me read for you in Deuteronomy 18, 20. It says, but that prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. What is that saying? It's saying, like, hey, if someone comes to you and claims to be speaking on the behalf of God, or by the power of God, they make some sort of prediction, and it's a lie, then that prophet is supposed to be killed, is supposed to be put to death according to that verse. So that's what it means to do something by the authority of. Now, go to Acts chapter number 8 again. I said we'd come back here. Acts chapter number 8. And so far I'm just showing you the really, really basic things about baptism, the practice of baptism. Number 3, when it comes to the practice of baptism is that baptism must take place after salvation, not before. Baptism does not get you saved. Baptism does not wash away your sins. You cannot get to heaven just by getting baptized. You get baptized after you are already saved. Okay, I'm going to prove that in many ways, starting in Acts chapter number 8. Look at verse number 29. So you have here, it says, Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read, this is the eunuch here, the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? So if you're not familiar with the story, Philip is going to preach the gospel to a man who is sitting in his chariot and he's reading the scripture. He's reading specifically the book of Isaiah. And Philip goes to this man and he says, Hey, do you understand what you're reading right now? Are you able to comprehend the things that you're reading in the Bible? Then it says in verse number 31, the eunuch, he responds to Philip and he said, How can I except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. Verse 32, The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth. In his humiliation his judgment was taken away, and who shall declare his generation? For his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet this, of himself or of some other man? So the eunuch, he's reading Isaiah and he's not really getting it. He's reading a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he doesn't even know that. And so he kind of asks Philip, he's like, what is this scripture talking about? Is this talking about himself, some other random guy? And then in verse number 35 it says this, Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. This is what we call soul winning, right? Where someone's not saved, they don't understand the Bible, and you take the word of God and you preach Jesus unto them. You preach that we've all sinned, that because of our sin we deserve hell, but Jesus Christ was the spotless lamb of God, he came as the son of God, lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, was buried, rose again, and that if we put our faith and trust in him, we get the free gift of eternal life. That's what soul winning is, it's explaining to people that. But you know the Bible says, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And the revelation of faith is given from faith to faith. So you need soul winners to do this type of work. So that's what's happening in this story. Philip is preaching the gospel. Verse 36 it says, 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? So get the picture here. He's got the gospel and the eunuch, he sees this big body of water and he's asking, What's preventing me from getting baptized right now? Hey, I want to get baptized. What is stopping me from getting baptized? Now, this is very important in this next verse. Verse 37, And Philip said, If, you know what that means? There's a condition we're about to read here. If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. What is stopping someone from getting baptized? You have to be saved first. This is why it is so stupid to baptize babies, folks. Number one, babies aren't condemned because babies have never sinned. Number two, baptism doesn't even save you. What you're doing is you're just giving a baby a bath. And hey, I'm forgiving babies baths. That's great. But don't call it baptism because it's not. And so if you got baptized as a baby, I'm not against you. You know, you're probably part of some false religion that baptized you as a baby. But I'm telling you, that was not a biblical baptism. Why? Because what hinders someone from being baptized? If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. You have to be saved to be baptized. Being baptized is not some ritual. It's not some game. It's not like, hey, let's take one year olds, two year olds, three year olds and just baptize them. Let's just baptize anyone who comes into this church. No, if someone wants to get baptized, we're going to make sure that person believes the gospel. We're going to make sure that person believes that salvation is by faith alone and not by works. Because if you're trusting in your works to go to heaven, let me let you in on something, you're not saved. You're on your way to hell. You have to trust 100% in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice. Then that's what salvation is. Then you can be baptized. Now here's what's interesting. If you have an NIV or if you have one of these modern Bible versions that are not the King James, verse number 37 is not even in your lap right now. It's not even in the Bible because the modern versions have just deleted this verse. It's like you read it in the modern versions and it's like, hey, what does hinder me to be baptized? And then it just gets baptized. Missing this very important doctrine that what prevents someone from getting baptized is being saved. You've got to be saved first. Notice what it says at the latter part of verse 37. It answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Sounds like this guy got saved, right? Then 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 him. Hey, if you're saved, you are qualified to get baptized, right? How long did these guys wait? You know, he got saved. How long was it until after he got baptized? It was right away. Yet there's a lot of Baptist churches now where they want you to go through like a six-week class on how to get baptized. It's like, folks, if you're saved, you can get baptized. You don't need a six-week class. You just need to actually be saved. You need to believe the gospel. Once you've done that, you can get baptized. So, you know, you want to make sure you've got a King James Bible because that is the true word of God. Now, go to Mark chapter number 16. Mark chapter 16, and I'm going to show you a verse that people often use to teach that, in fact, you do need to be baptized to be saved spiritually. They'll say that to have your sins forgiven and to go to heaven, you must be baptized. Where do they get that idea from? Mark chapter number 16 verse 15 says, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Verse 16, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. Now, while we expand this, go ahead and turn, if you would, to Ephesians chapter number 2, Ephesians chapter number 2. So it says, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not will be damned. Sometimes you have statements that are just true by themselves, and adding more detail or extra facts to something does not all of a sudden make something else untrue. You could have this statement that he that believeth shall be saved, and guess what, the Bible says that in scores of other places. What must I do to be saved? It's asked in Acts chapter number 16. The answer is believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Jesus said, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Right, so all through the Bible you have that salvation is by faith alone, that's not of works, right? Then you have this statement here where on the surface it could seem to someone like it's teaching a works salvation. But I'm going to give you an example of how sometimes you could have a statement, you could add some detail to it, and it could still be true. Watch. What if I said this? A moose is an animal. Is this a true statement? All right, it's a true statement, right? A moose is an animal. A moose with antlers is an animal. Right? I mean, we have a true statement. A moose is an animal. A moose with antlers is also an animal. But what about this? A moose without antlers is not an animal. That's no longer true, right? That's silly. Well, it's the same thing like this. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Why? Because he believed in Jesus Christ. Then it says but he that believeth not shall be damned. It didn't say, but if he doesn't get baptized, he'll be damned. No, no, no. Moose is an animal, folks. And a moose with antlers is also an animal. You can't start saying, well, if it doesn't have antlers, it's not an animal. No, if you don't get baptized but you believe in Jesus Christ, you're still saved. Well, how do you know that? Well, what about the thief on the cross? He said, Lord, remember thou me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And he was saved. Right? He didn't get baptized. And I'll show you some other verses on that. I had you go to Ephesians chapter 2. This is some really famous scripture. Look at verse 8. Or verse 9. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, notice, not of works, lest any man should boast. Right? So we use this all the time out soul winning. That's salvation is not of works. Now is it a work to be baptized? Absolutely. Right? You've got to put on the gown or whatever and get into the water and get all wet and come on out. That is work. Now it's not the hardest thing in the world, right? But it is work. The Bible says salvation is not of works. Go to 1 Peter chapter number 3. 1 Peter chapter number 3. I'll show you another verse that people use to try to claim that you have to be baptized to be saved. 1 Peter chapter number 3 verse 21. And by the way, this is called baptismal regeneration. And this is what the church of Christ teaches. If you ever heard of that show Duck Dynasty, that whole family believes is the false gospel that you have to do works to be saved. Sorry to crush your favorite little TV show, but those people are not saved. Those people are false prophets folks, because they teach that you have to do works to go to heaven. Look what it says, 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 21. The like, notice this word, figure whereunto 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. So some people will take this verse and they'll say, see the Bible says that baptism doth also now save us. Now, they didn't read the whole verse, because first of all it said that the figure of baptism saves us. Meaning what baptism represents is what saves us. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is what saves us. Also, if you notice, there's a parenthetical statement in that verse. And what is that? It means that you have two independent clauses here that the structure of the sentence can still work perfectly fine if you just deleted that parenthetical statement. So just as a thought experiment, let's read verse 21 without the parenthesis. It says the like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So how does salvation happen? It comes through the sacrifice of Christ. The Bible is very consistent on this, but this is a figure, right? So the figure of this does save us. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number one. 1 Corinthians chapter number one. Now, 1 Corinthians chapter one will completely destroy the idea that you have to be baptized to be saved. There is no way of getting around what we're about to read here. 1 Corinthians chapter number one, verse 14. It says, I thank God, this is the Apostle Paul speaking, I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. So think about this statement. The Apostle Paul saying like, I thank God I didn't baptize any of you guys, except for just a handful of people, because he doesn't want people to think that he's just baptizing in his own name. If baptism was required to have someone get saved, why would Paul be thanking God that he's not getting people saved? Like one of us as soul winners, we went out soul winning, and we're like, I thank God we had zero salvations today. It's like, hey, how many people got saved at your church over the last year? Oh, thank God, zero. That makes no sense, right? So if baptism is what saves you, why is Paul saying, I thank God I baptized none of you, save a handful of people. I'll tell you why, because baptism doesn't save you, that's why. It has nothing to do with salvation. Verse number 17 says this, For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Baptism is not a part of the gospel. He's like, Christ did not send me to baptize, he sent me to preach the gospel. These are two completely different things. Once you believe the gospel, you could be baptized, but baptism is not a part of the gospel. It says, Not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. Go to Acts chapter number 19, Acts chapter number 19. I'll show you one more here. People will say, well, you know, John the Baptist, he baptized people all the time. Amen. That's true. Oh, well, John the Baptist told people to repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. That means that salvation is by works. That's not true. I'll show you that in Acts chapter number 19, verse 4. Notice what it says, Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance. So you'll hear people say, well, you know, John told people to repent, and what they think that means is that John was telling people to repent of their sins, and that now they need to start doing all these works, like getting baptized and following the commandments and repenting of their sins, right? But notice the Bible defines what his repentance of, his baptism of repentance was. The latter part of that verse in verse 4, saying unto the people that they should, what? Believe on him which should come after him, that is, John Christ Jesus. He's saying, what is the baptism of repentance? The baptism of repentance is believing in Jesus Christ. So again, the Bible is totally clear and totally consistent all the way through that salvation is by faith alone, not of works. Go to John chapter number 15. John chapter number 15. So we talked about the practice of baptism. It's got to be by immersion. It's got to be baptized after salvation. You don't get baptized to get saved. You get baptized after you get saved, okay? So number two, let's talk about the purpose of baptism, the purpose of baptism. What is the purpose of baptism? Well, it's your first step in obedience to having a relationship with Jesus Christ, right? Salvation is a free gift. It's by faith alone, but your first step in obeying God and wanting to have a relationship with him and wanting to please him is obeying his commandment to get baptized, okay? John chapter number 14, verse 15, notice what it says. If ye love me, keep my commandments. Notice Jesus, he didn't say, if you want to go to heaven, keep my commandments. If you want to be saved, keep my commandments. No, if you love me, keep my commandments. And you know, I am all for repenting of your sins. I am all for obeying God's commandments and living a separated life and trying to please the Lord with our life. But you know what? We do that because we love God. We do that because we love Jesus, not because we think that those things are going to get us saved or take us to heaven. So if we love Jesus, we're going to keep his commandments. So what's that look like? Well, it looks like getting baptized. Look at John chapter number 15. Flip the page to John chapter number 15, verse 13, it says, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Verse 14, ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. So I want to be the friend of God, right? I want to be the friend of Jesus Christ. What's that going to take of me? Doing what Christ commanded. And so step one on that is, hey, I'm saved, now I need to get baptized. And look, if you're saved and you have never been baptized, you need to obey Christ. You need to obey God and actually take that step of getting baptized. Go to Romans chapter number 6. Also, the purpose of baptism is simply to identify yourself with Christ. It is a way to publicly identify that you're standing with Christ, that you believe in him, that he's your God. Look what it says in verse number 1 of Romans 6. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? So one of the things that you're identifying with and one of the reasons that you get baptized is because it's identifying with the death of Christ. That's why you start outstanding and you go into the water, right? Because it's picturing that death of Jesus Christ. Just like Jesus, he was on the cross, he ended up being put in the earth, and he died. Look at verse number 4. It says, Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. So again, it's a way of identifying with his death, with his resurrection, and showing people that, hey, we want to walk in newness of life. That we didn't just get saved and that's it, but we actually now want to love God, keep his commandments, and serve him with our lives. Go to Acts chapter number 2. Acts chapter number 2. Or actually, I'm sorry, let's skip that. Let's go ahead and go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 10. 1 Corinthians chapter number 10. You know, it's also to build unity in the body of Christ. It's something that we can have in common. Build unity with each other, that we've all been having the same baptism. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 1. It says, Moreover, brethren, I would not that you 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, and did all eat that same spiritual meat, and did all drink that same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. So, you know, the children of Israel in the wilderness, they had common experiences, right? They all were under the cloud that followed them and the pillar of fire by night, and they all were baptized in the great Red Sea, you know, that great baptism unto Moses. They had that camaraderie and unity because of that. And us, as a New Testament church, what unites us, it's the fact that we're saved, it's the fact that we're baptized, it's the fact that we're trying to fulfill the Great Commission as a team, and so it brings unity to the body of Christ. That's what a local New Testament church is. You know, if you're not baptized, this is just my stance on it, if you're not baptized, I don't really consider you a real member of a church yet. You know, you have to get baptized and be a part of that congregation. I'm not saying you have to be baptized at that church, you just have to get baptized after you're saved. But you know what, a real member of a church is someone who is saved and set apart through baptism. That is what I believe on that. Look at, go to Ephesians chapter number two. Ephesians chapter number two. Now this is really the more important stuff as far as I'm concerned, and really it's the picture of baptism, the meaning behind it. This is what's really, really important. What is the picture of baptism? Ephesians chapter two. You know, a picture is the fact that like Christ was raised up from the dead, we want to walk in newness of life. That's the picture. Ephesians chapter two verse one says this, So, we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. So, it's explaining what is life like before someone is saved. They're just living according to the lust of the flesh. You're just doing what your own flesh wants. You're usually living a wicked life. But then it says in verse number four, But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he hath loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath noticed quickened us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So, we were spiritually dead. And when you get saved, you get born again, and your spirit gets revived, and you're made a new creature in Jesus Christ, and now that you're saved, you're supposed to live like that new creature. You're supposed to walk in the spirit, not be just fulfilling the lust of the flesh, not just walking according to whatever you want to do and your flesh wants to do, but you should actually desire to want to please God with your body and please the Lord with the things that you do. Go to Romans chapter number six again, Romans chapter six. He talks about we were dead, but spiritually we've been resurrected. We've been brought to life. We've been given new life. I like to think of it like this. You know, if someone is dead, think of Lazarus when he died. What did Jesus do to Lazarus? He brought him back from the dead, right? How much sense would it have made if Jesus finds Lazarus, he raises him back to life, and then Lazarus is just like, oh cool, and just lays back down? Like, that wouldn't make much sense, right? But this is like a Christian's life who does not get baptized and who does not go on to serve God. It's like God rose you again. He gave you a new spirit. He gave you new life. He gave you the ability to walk in the flesh, and it's like you got revived and you just laid back down and did nothing. That's foolish. But let me tell you, that's how most Christians are living their life. Most Christians, they take the grace, they take the free gift, and then they do nothing for God. What should you be doing? You should be going to church. You should be going out and preaching the gospel to the lost. You should be reading your Bible. You should get baptized, right? You should be praying. You should be helping your brothers and sisters in Christ, right? There's a lot of good works that we should be doing, but when you're just living for self, being lazy, not doing anything, it's like God raised you from the dead and you just laid right back down. It's like, what a waste. You know what? Once you get saved, you should get baptized picturing that you want to walk in newness of life. And that's what Romans 6 is going to tell us in verse 6. It says, Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. So when we get baptized, we're saying, hey, our old man, we're standing here and our old man's getting crucified. Just like Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross, we're saying, hey, the old man's going to be crucified, our body of sin is going to be destroyed, right? Our body's going to be buried someday and going to be destroyed, but someday God's going to raise it up a glorious body. And we're going to get a new body someday that we should not serve sin. Verse 7, For he that is dead is freed from sin. Verse 8, Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him. Right? So we believe that Jesus Christ literally died and that he literally rose again and that today he is alive in glorified form and we believe that he's never going to die again, right? And so that's kind of what we're identifying with when we get baptized is we're saying, hey, our body's going to die someday, but we believe just as sure as Jesus rose again in the resurrection, we are going to rise again as well. God's going to bring our bodies back to life and give us a glorified body. Then the application, verse 11 says, Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He's saying like reckon yourselves or count yourselves or at least think in your mind and acknowledge and count yourselves dead unto sin, right? That your life no longer is going to be used for the purpose of just fulfilling your lust and sinning, but rather that you want to be separated and serve God. Then it says, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. You know, it's kind of like you're reckoning yourself or counting yourself thinking that, hey, I'm in a sinful body right now, but someday I'm going to have a glorified body. And in that glorified body, you know what I'm never going to do? I'm never going to sin. Once we have a glorified body, we will never sin again. On this earth, you will sin every single day until the day you die. Don't let these holier than thou preachers tell you that they no longer sin. No, we all sin. But because that someday we're going to have a body that doesn't sin, you know what we should be doing right now is at least doing the best we can to not sin right now and to please the Lord in our bodies right now by serving Him and obeying His commandments. It says, verse 14, For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Right? So us being saved, that we're under grace in the New Testament, grace doesn't teach us, go out and do whatever you want. Right? This is what the liberal churches will teach. Oh, bro, we're under grace. So let's go smoke some marijuana. Hey, bro, we're under grace. Let's go to the bar tonight. Hey, bro, you're under grace. No big deal that you're living with your girlfriend. Whereas grace here is telling us to separate ourselves and to use our bodies and to yield our bodies as members of righteousness, not as members of unrighteousness. Then it says, verse 15, What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. So is the fact that salvation is by faith just giving us a green light, like just go ahead and sin, drink your heart content, smoke marijuana, do whatever you want? No, it's actually saying, God forbid that you would have that attitude. The right attitude is to say, hey, God save me. I'm going to get baptized, and I'm going to use my life to be pleasing to God. Realizing, hey, our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. We're bought with a price. We need to glorify God in our bodies. Then it says in verse 16, know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. The truth is, is that we all are a servant to something. Some people they hate the bondage of Christianity, and they want to say, Christianity is so restrictive, and the Bible is so mean, and all the rules are so bad. But the Bible is saying here that you're going to be a servant to someone. You're either going to be a servant to sin, or you're going to be a servant to righteousness. Why don't you go ask the drug addicted homeless population of Oklahoma City that didn't want to listen to the Bible's warnings about sobriety, about how much of a free life they're living. No, you know what drug addiction is always called? It's always called bondage. That, oh man, I'm just in this bondage. I'm addicted to drugs. The truth, you're going to be a servant to something. People who get addicted to drinking alcohol, they can't stop without getting sick. They're servants to sin, and they're in bondage. You go and have some bastard child out of wedlock, and that relationship splits up. You know what you're going to be doing? You're going to be paying child support for the rest of that kid's life until they're 18 years old. And what are you? You're under bondage. Rather, you should just submit yourself to Jesus Christ and to the words of God, and say, hey, I'm going to be a servant either way. I'd rather be a servant of righteousness. Hey, I'd rather be, oh, God wants me to be in church? I'll be in church. God wants me to be baptized? I'll be baptized. God wants me to read the Bible? I'll read the Bible. That's just reckoning yourself dead unto sin and alive unto God. Then it says, go back, if you would, to verse number four. I kind of mentioned this already, but let's just look at it again about how it's a picture of how we're going to physically resurrect someday. Verse four, therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life, for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. You know, one of the sweetest promises that we have from God as Christians is the fact that we're getting a new body someday. And, you know, thank God I'm young. I'm not, you know, feeling the pains of old life yet, but from what I've heard from people who have gotten to that age is that it sucks. And that it's terrible. And that the older you get, the more problems and pain you have with your body. And even if you're not old, people in here have probably had surgeries, or health problems, or broken bones, or issues, and those things wear on you day by day. But, you know, a blessing is the fact that someday, like as Jesus Christ died, we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter number 15. And this whole chapter really is about the resurrection. We won't read too much of it. But look what it says in verse number 21. It says, For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. And that's talking about Christ. For in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. So by the fact that Jesus died and rose again, he now gives us that blessing and access to have the same resurrection that he had. And because of that, verse 15, because of that blessed fact that we're going to be raised again from the dead someday, we get this famous verse in verse 58, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. You know, this is a great verse that's often just preached by itself, but it's important to know what the context of this verse is. The context of be ye steadfast is the fact that we're going to be raised again from the dead someday. And the fact that we're going to raise again from the dead and get us a new body tells us that we should be steadfast in our service to God. Why? Because what we do is not in vain. What you do for Christ will actually last. The people you get saved, the times you minister to your brothers and sisters in Christ, when you pray for your friends and family, those things that are spiritual things will actually last, those things are not in vain. We'll read a few more verses here and we'll finish Acts chapter number 2, So we talked about the practice, the purpose, the picture, what some applications we should make. I'll read for you Psalm 11 verse 3, it says if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Right? So we should never get tired of just hearing the fundamentals. And I realize that us as independent fundamental Baptists and in the new IFB, we hear so much doctrine, we hear a lot of advanced sermons and advanced doctrines that sometimes people can hear that sometimes people can get pretty bored and get pretty tired of hearing these doctrines. But we need to remember that this stuff is important. Why? Because there are Catholics out there, billions of them who think that getting baptized is just getting sprinkled. And that's a lie. And way worse than that is there's billions of people out there that think that getting sprinkled is going to take them to heaven. And those people are unsaved. Right? So that's why we have to every once in a while just preach these basic truths and look, trust me, I would way rather get up here and be ripping about something else as well. But look, this is just something that we need to hear every once in a while. And so we have to have the character and the maturity to hear some things that we already know every once in a while. And even myself as a preacher, I have to have the discipline every now and then to just preach a bare bones sermon that may not be the thing I'm the most excited about at this time. But it's just what the Bible says and we need to be taught it. We need to be excited about every single topic in the Bible, not just our own little hobby horses. You know, we read Hebrew 6 and someone said, oh, you're going to preach your hobby horse. No, we're preaching about baptism. Okay. And we haven't talked about it before. So it's a good thing just to go through. What's the other application? Get baptized. Hey, if you haven't been baptized, you need to get baptized. And we're going to make sure that you're saved first. We're going to ask you, hey, what do you think that it takes to get to heaven? And if you say, be a good person, repent of my sins, go to church, confess my sins to a priest. We're going to say, okay, let me show you from the Bible what it takes to be saved. We're not going to baptize someone who's not saved. We're not going to baptize someone who thinks they could lose their salvation, who thinks that salvation is by works. We're going to make sure they get saved first. Look at verse 41 of Acts chapter 2. It says, then they that gladly received his word were baptized. Hey, if you're a person that you've been saved and you're thinking, hey, I kind of like the Bible. I kind of like what the word of God says. I'm gladly receiving it. You know what people who gladly receive God's word do? They get baptized. And you know what I've noticed? People who actually serve God with their lives, people who are actually soul winners, people who are actually members of a church that actually come regularly, you know what they all are? They're all baptized. Or they're children of people who are baptized and are too young to have gotten saved yet. But you know, people who actually serve God are baptized. I've never seen like this great, amazing preacher, this fantastic soul winner, this really godly man or woman who wasn't baptized. It just doesn't exist, folks. Why? Because those that gladly receive his word get baptized. Look at verse, or I'm sorry, go to Titus chapter number 3. Last verse we'll go to. Titus chapter number 3. Titus chapter number 3. The last application we should make is that, hey, once you get baptized, do some works for God. Right? You're giving this picture. You're saying that you want to walk in newness of life. That's what you're saying by getting baptized. Now actually live up to that. Now actually do some works for God. Titus 3 verse 8. This is a faithful saying. And these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. So notice the instruction to the preacher is make sure that you're constantly telling people to do good works. Right? And so that's part of my job is constantly telling us, those of us who are saved, those of us who have been baptized, hey, you said you wanted to walk in newness of life. Let's keep doing that. Let's keep going out and preaching the gospel. And praise the Lord. God's given us some people here that really do care about the lost. And praise the Lord. We've had over 100 salvation this month. But you know what? We need to affirm and reaffirm these things constantly. Not just say like, well, I got baptized. I did my duty. I'm kind of done serving God. No. Constantly we need to reaffirm these things in our life. And say, yeah, I've been baptized. But now I'm going to walk in newness of life today and tomorrow and the next day and the next year and continue to serve God and maintain these works. Why? It says these things are good and profitable unto men. Getting baptized, it's a profitable thing to do. And affording other people to get baptized, it's a profitable thing to do. And then beyond that, actually walking in newness of life is the good and profitable thing to do. Let's end with a word of prayer. Lord, we thank you for this foundational truth. I pray that our church would be a beacon of light in this area to get people not just the gospel but also to offer them baptism. I pray that if there's anyone in this room who has not been baptized that they would do so soon and that we would walk in newness of life. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Our last hymn for this evening will be number 176. Hymn number 176. Jesus loves the little children. I'm sure everybody knows and can sing it now. Well, actually, it's so short we'll sing it twice through. So 176, Jesus loves the little children and we'll sing it twice through. 176 there on the first and only verse. Jesus loves the little children All the children of the world Red and yellow, black and white They are precious in His sight Jesus loves the little children of the world Jesus loves the little children All the children of the world Red and yellow, black and white They are precious in His sight Jesus loves the little children of the world