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So I've been reading, I've been preaching through the book of Ephesians with the Sydney church and I've just finished off last week going through Ephesians 4. But one thing that jumped out at me as I was preparing this, if you look at verse number 4 again, actually verse number 3, Ephesians chapter 4 verse 3, it says, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And one thing that this chapter is heavily about is having unity, having peace within the church, within the body of Christ. And then it tells us, what are the things that bring unity in the church? What is that brings us together? And look at verse number 4, there is one body and one spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling. So very quickly there, there's one body, there's one church body. You know, we are made up of that one body when we gather together. But then it says, and one spirit, right? And one spirit, that's the Holy Spirit that indwells each one of us. It's the same Holy Spirit that indwells you, that indwells me, that indwells each one of us, okay? But look at verse number 5, and this is where I want to preach on today. One Lord, of course, that being Jesus Christ. One faith, that of course being the way of salvation, how we're saved by grace through faith. But then it says here, one baptism, one baptism. And so one of the key things that brings unity, that brings peace within a local church, within the local body, is the one baptism. You know, we are a Baptist church, okay? And I'll make no apologies for that. Since we started this church in 2017, until this church last, we will remain as a Baptist church. One thing that brings unity within this church, within this body, is how we baptize, okay? How we baptize. And so the sermon, the title for the sermon tonight is Baptist, not Protestant. Baptist, not Protestant. And this is part of my Rightly Dividing series. And I think I'm coming toward the conclusion now. I'm coming toward the end of this series. But I did want to touch upon the fact that this is a Baptist church. We are not a Protestant church. And this needs to be covered. I went back. When's the last time I preached on this? It was two years ago, all right? So two years ago, I last preached on this. But I think it's very important because a lot of people lump Baptist churches under the Protestant umbrella, okay? And look, I'm not here tonight to preach about the history of the Protestant movement. That's well documented. That's well understood by many people. Of course, the Protestant Reformation is, you know, the 1500s when Martin Luther would, as a Roman Catholic priest, would rebel, would protest against the Catholic church. And through his movement, through what he's done, you know, it gave birth to many other styles of churches. You know, and these are known as the Protestant churches. And the main ones that we're familiar with, I guess, in the Western world, those that are oldest, that we're most familiar with would be the Lutherans, would be the Presbyterians, the Methodists, and the Anglicans, okay? And again, a lot of people lump in Baptists. But no, Baptists were never part of the Protestant Reformation, okay? We are not Protestants on purpose. You know, as an adult, when I was looking for a church, when I was looking, Lord, can you find me a church that's preaching the right things? Help me find a church that is right on the Bible, that sound of doctrine. I was led to the Baptists, and not just the regular Baptists, but the independent fundamental Baptists, okay? And again, I make no apology for that. Since the beginning of our church, on our church logo, we were called the Church of Caloundra, but we had those three words, independent fundamental Baptists, okay? Because here's the thing, the Baptists of this age have gone worldly. The Baptists of our age have started to yoke up with the Protestants, and there are some out there that are Baptists by name, but they teach Reformed teaching. They teach things that the Protestants teach. They start teaching Calvinism, right? And they're becoming less and less like Baptists, and so it's important for me to identify with a group of Baptist churches that remain sound, that remain consistent with their historical roots, okay? Their historical roots. And you know, Baptist churches by name, again, it's around that time in the 1500s that, you know, we started to see churches by the Baptist name, okay? By that name, but here's the thing, you cannot go through history and find where the Baptist churches were founded, okay? When it comes to these other Protestant churches, you can go back and, you know, and determine, you know, like for example, the Presbyterian church, that was started, that was founded by John Knox, right? And the Lutherans, that's easy, that was founded by Martin Luther. But you can't go back in history and figure out who founded the Baptist church, all right? Some people like to go back to a old-time Baptist known by, I think it's John Smith, I think it might be. Some people like to go back, if you look up the history, you'll see that he's just one of the many Baptist churches that are around during the time. But they like to go back to John Smith, but really, when it comes to Baptist, you can't pinpoint, you can't go back, who's the man that started the Baptist church? But here's the thing, I would put forward to you, that it was started by Jesus Christ, okay? That our heritage, our lineage of the stellar churches that we are, go all the way back to Jesus Christ and to his apostles, okay? Now you say, can you prove that to me? I don't need to prove it to you, okay? The reason I can say that is because when you read the Bible, and we see how churches ought to be organized, we see the principles by which God has laid out for us in his word, and it's up to us to make sure that we operate church, as a body we operate, as we see in the word of God, okay? And as long as we're doing things in accordance to the word of God, we're doing it as Jesus Christ did it, as the apostles did it, as those first New Testament churches started up, of course they had the word of God to their disposal, okay? Now when it comes to the historical, again I'm not going to waste time tonight going on the historical teachings, or the historical lineage of Baptist churches, but it can be traced back to the Anabaptists, it can be traced back to the Albigenzis, it can be traced back to the Montanists, and the Paulicians, and the Waldensians, okay? These are different names of groups of believers, that were independent, that were autonomous churches, that believed in believers baptism as we practice, and were instrumental in getting the gospel spread throughout Europe and other places of the world, okay? And we're following after that same lineage that these previous churches had, okay? We don't go by those names because they mean nothing really today, okay? But when it comes to Baptist churches, we have several things that identify us that make us a Baptist church. Now the very first thing that should jump out at you, why are we Baptists, okay? What's the reason? It's obviously the style of baptism that we perform. The reason why we baptize the way we baptize, is the reason why we're called Baptists, okay? That's the most distinguishable thing between the Baptist and the Protestant churches, okay? So I'm going to just, I'm going to give you a list of some of these Protestant churches that are named, and how they do baptism, what baptism means to them. And let me ask you, are you part of these churches? You know, when you look at the Lutheran church, okay, they baptize infants, and they baptize them by sprinkling. Your first thought there, do we do that? Do we baptize infants? No. And even if we did baptize infants, would we do it by sprinkling them? No, because we don't believe that is a proper way to baptize someone. But here's the thing, they go one step further and say when they baptize infants, this is baptismal regeneration, meaning this is how you are saved, okay? That you need to be baptized as a baby by sprinkling, and that is your way to heaven. Hey, that is another gospel, okay? We have nothing to do with the Lutheran churches, okay? That is a Protestant church that I want nothing to do with. They have another gospel, and they are baptizing infants. What about the Presbyterians? The Presbyterian churches, well, they don't believe that baptism, they baptize infants as well, but they don't believe that it has anything to do with salvation, but rather it is membership into the Christian community, whatever that means to you, okay? But membership into the Christian community, and they practice baptizing infants, but if you're an adult that joins the Presbyterian church, you can also be baptized. But here's the thing, they have different ways of baptizing, right? They also do the sprinkling, but you know what? If you went to a Presbyterian church and say, I want to be baptized by immersion, you know they'll let you do that. They will baptize you by immersion if that's your request. But what did we see in the book of Ephesians? One baptism, one baptism, and that one baptism brings unity into this body, okay? So why am I not Presbyterian? Because they don't have one baptism, okay? They don't have one baptism. Let's start there. They don't have one baptism, and again, they are baptizing little children, infants that do not know a single thing about the gospel, that cannot place their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. What about the Methodists? Why are we not Methodists? Again, they believe that baptism is part of your regeneration. It's part of your salvation, another gospel. And again, they baptize infants. Are you seeing a pattern here with the baptizing of infants? You know, they will do it three ways. They will do it by sprinkling, that's one. They will do baptism by pouring, where they just pour water on top of someone's head, or sprinkling. Or they also can do immersion if you want, okay? And again, do we have one baptism with the Methodists? No, you know, I would never yoke up, I would never work with a Methodist church, because they cannot be united with them. They've got more than one baptism. Again, they are baptizing infants. And the pattern so far, we're going to look at the Anglican church, and guess what, they also baptized. They also baptized infants. Where do you think they're getting this thing from? Do you see that in the Bible? Do we see any infants and little children getting baptized in the Word of God? No, we don't see that happening at all, meaning that their style of baptism is not built on the Word of God. You know, we cannot be united, we cannot be yoked up with these churches. This is why we're not Protestant. Now, this is one of many reasons, okay, that we're not Protestant. You know, our historical lineage, yes, that's important. But more important is, how do you do baptism? What does baptism mean to you? If I'm baptized, it must mean something to me, okay? And I must be doing things, I must be baptizing, or I must be baptized by the way that we see people getting baptized by the Word of God. Now, when it comes to Anglicans, it's confusing what they believe about baptism, okay? They will say to you that they don't believe baptism saves you. But I'm going to read to you from their official writing soon. But again, they will do immersion, sprinkling, or pouring. It's up to the person, okay, especially if you're an adult. You can choose whichever one of those things. But it's confusing about what they believe on baptism or regeneration. Let me read to you, I didn't write down the document, sorry, but this is within one of the official documents, it says this. Baptism is not only a sign of profession and a mark of difference whereby Christian men are discerned from others that are to be, sorry, that be not christened, but it is also a sign of regeneration or new birth, whereby as buying instruments. Now, when you and I, we talk about the new birth, what are we talking about? Being born again, we talk about salvation, right? So they're saying that this is to do with the new birth. When we read that to us, that's like you believe in baptism or regeneration. You believe this saves someone, and then it says this, that they may receive baptism rightly, sorry, they that receive baptism rightly are grafted into the church. The promises of the forgiveness of sin and of our adoption to be sons of God by the Holy Ghost are visibly signed and sealed. Faith is confirmed and grace increased by virtue of prayer unto God. And then it says here, the baptism of young children is in any wise to be retained in the church and most agreeable with the institution of Christ. I don't understand at all what they're saying, right? They're saying baptism of young children is in any wise to be retained in the church, but they just finished saying that it means that you are signed and sealed and your faith is confirmed. How can little infants have their faith confirmed when they can't even express what their faith is? When they haven't even got the knowledge of what it is they need to put their faith on. And so it's so confusing, you know, what the Anglican say, what baptism means. To me, when I read that, it sounds like baptism would regeneration, but what they would mean, if in our lingo what they would say is, well baptism adds you to the church, okay, adds you to the body of Christ, but still that has nothing to do with salvation, that you still need to at some point, you know, consciously and personally put your faith on Christ. And this is why, brethren, you know, we, you know, I'm not going to say that every Anglican and every Methodist and every Lutheran and every Presbyterian is unsaved, okay, because one thing that is just a reality of life is that somebody can get saved, okay, believe the right gospel and just be like, well, where do I go next? What's the next thing to do? And they'll probably just look for their local churches, get plugged in, make friends and their baby's in Christ and they get stuck in these churches. This is why so often you and I can go, you know, door to the soul winning, you know, we confirm somebody's saved and we ask them, hey, so what church do you go to? Oh, I'm an Anglican, you know, I'm a Presbyterian. I mean, this has been confirmed over and over again because they go to these churches, they identify with these church denominations, but if they got the official teaching of the gospel with these churches, they would not be saved, okay. The official teaching, especially those that teach baptismal regeneration, they did not get saved at those churches. They would have heard the gospel by a true preacher, you know, bringing the word of God that brought faith into their lives and they just found themselves in these bad churches. But Brevin, listen, I am not a Protestant. I don't want to be united. I don't want to work with, you know, as a pastor of this church, I'm constantly getting phone calls, constantly getting emails, constantly getting mail. Hey, can you work with us? Can you join us? You know, we're starting this university on the Sunshine Coast. Can you tell your people? Can you, it's like some Protestant church. I don't want anything to do with you. You know, we can't be united. We don't have, you don't have the same baptism that I do and you don't have the same heritage and you probably don't even have the same gospel that I do. So listen, Brevin, I make no apologies for this. We are Baptists for a reason, okay. We are Baptists for a reason. Now please go to, go to, what's a reference that I can get to turn to? Go to 1st Corinthians chapter 10 for me. You go to 1st Corinthians chapter 10 and I'll read, actually go to 1st Corinthians 1. Go to 1st Corinthians 1 and then we'll go to 1st Corinthians 10. While you're turning to 1st Corinthians 1, I'll read to you from Romans 6, 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, even so we also should walk in newness of life. What is baptism a representation of? It is a representation when you stand out of the water of the crucifixion of Christ, right. When you're immersed under the water, the picture of his death and when you're brought back out of the water, the picture of the resurrection, the newness of life by which we are to walk. But look at 1st Corinthians 1.17 and the reason, well, one of many reasons, but one of the clearest reasons why we don't teach baptismal regeneration, why we don't teach that baptism is part of your salvation is found here in 1st Corinthians 1.17. Paul speaking saying, for Christ sent me not to baptize. Oh man, so Paul, was he baptizing? No, that wasn't his task. He goes, but to preach the gospel, hold on. If he's preaching the gospel and not baptizing, that means baptism is not part of the gospel message and we're saved by believing the gospel. We're saved by believing the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, but baptism is not part of the gospel message, okay. Otherwise, Paul wouldn't be preaching the gospel, would he, if he's skipping the baptism. He says, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. Now, of course, that is, you know, that's the most important thing that you need to understand is that salvation is your faith on Christ, okay. Plus nothing, minus nothing. It's your faith on Christ alone that saves. There's nothing else you can possibly do. The thief on the cross is the best example of that. Placing his faith on Christ and Christ saying, today that shall be with me in paradise. And I praise God for his promises. And I'll just quickly read to you from Acts chapter 8 verse 36, very familiar passage to you. This is, of course, Philip preaching to the Ethiopian eunuch. It says here, 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 or what prevents me to be baptized. And Philip said, if thou believeth with all thine heart, thou mayest, and he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is a son of God. So what hinders someone, what prevents someone from getting baptized? Unbelief. Once you believe, once you believe the gospel, once you believe on Jesus Christ, now you're permitted to be baptized. And this is why these Protestant churches are wrong, okay. I don't want to go through a list of all the doctrines. Let's just start with baptism and why they're so messed up baptizing infants that cannot believe on the son of God just yet. They're not old enough. The stupidity, it's so clear in the Bible, okay, but they haven't cut the apron strings off their mama, you know, mama church, the Catholic church. The Catholic church is the ones that started baptizing children. Why? Because they're stupid. That's why. Why? Because they don't believe the word of God. Why? Because they're ungodly, because they're full of reprobates and pedophiles and homosexuals. They can't understand the word of God. I mean, something so clear in the Bible, something so clear that we shouldn't be debating about, they can't understand. And unfortunately, the Protestants can't understand that either. You know, they haven't been able to remove themselves. They haven't been able to reform the Baptist church, the Catholic church as they attempted to. And man, those believers that are stuck in those Protestant churches, you know, if you're listening to this sermon, get out of it and get yourself into a Baptist church. All right. If you're on the Sunshine Coast, come to this Baptist church. We'll welcome you. All right. We'll get you baptized for real. All right. And then it says in verse number 38, and he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water. They both went down into the water. Why do you think they both have to go down into the water? Because they got baptized by immersion. Okay. Or they could have just stood at the shore then and threw water on the eunuch. No, they both went into the water because he's getting baptized. That's what the word baptized means, by the way. Immersion, both went into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they were come 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. On his way rejoicing. Please go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse one. Because there are several reasons that people argue against baptism by immersion. Okay. Now, first of all, like I said, baptism means, just it's Greek word, means immersion. Okay. Or means submersion. That's the first reason. Okay. But then we're not Greek, are we? We're not Greek. So we want to base things on the word of God. And what's going to be the best picture? Well, if you look at 1 Corinthians 10, verse one, it tells us a picture of baptism in the Old Testament, right? 1 Corinthians 10, one, it says, Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers, these are the fathers of faith in the past, were under the cloud and all passed through the sea and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. So what's the picture in the Old Testament? The Old Testament saints were baptized symbolically when they crossed the Red Sea. Remember Christ opened up, you know, a dry land for them. God opened up dry land for them when Moses, you know, struck the rod into the ocean and into the sea and the waters separated. But not only were they separated, not only they have a wall of waters around them, but the Bible also says there was a cloud overshadowing them. There was a cloud living. There was a cloud overhead. And what's a cloud made of? Water! What are we seeing there? We're seeing the people going through, surrounded by water. Water on the sides and water above. Just a picture of the immersion, completely immersed by water. And so we don't need to go back to the Greek. If you don't want to go back to the Greek, we see the symbolic picture there, right? The people being submerged, completely covered by water. But of course they were passing by dry land. And if you can now please go to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. You go to Colossians chapter 1, and I'll read to you from Acts chapter 2 verse 41. How soon should you get baptized? And I love what it says here in Acts 2 41. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day they were added unto them about three thousand souls. You say, I just got saved, when should I get baptized? The same day, all right? Immediately, as soon as possible. And as soon as possible, if someone needs to get baptized, let me know, we'll do it as soon as you need to. Okay, as soon as you need to. Again, picturing your faith on Christ, picturing that you're trusting his death, burial and resurrection. Now I've told you guys to go to Colossians chapter 1 verse 16. Colossians chapter 1 verse 16. Because another element or aspect of being a Baptist, okay, and let me just say this very quickly, but Baptist churches in the past, they were all independent. Okay, they were all independent. And then what happens, like the seven Baptists in the United States, or the Baptist Union here in Australia, what happens is these Baptists get together, and they say, well, you know, we could do more. And yes, you can do more when you get together. And so they start forming a denomination, you know, and follow enough of the Protestant churches, right. And then they appoint presidents, they appoint board people above the local church. And that is wrong. That is the Protestant way. That is the Catholic way. But that is not the Baptist way. Okay, Colossians chapter 1 verse 16 says, for by him, speaking of Jesus, were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him. Verse 17, and he is before all things, and by him, all things consist. So we're talking about creation here. But then it goes on to the church, okay. It goes in church, you know, it associates the church with what we just read, that Christ created all things, meaning that he also created the church. And then it says here in verse 17, and he is before all things, so he's the prominent one before all things, meaning he should be prominent in the local church, and by him, all things consist, meaning that this church should remain consistent and consist of Jesus Christ. Look at verse number 18, and he is the head of the body, the church. What is Christ's rightful place in the church? That he is the head of the body, which is the church. Listen, the head of our church is not Pastor Kevin, okay. The head of this church is not some president, some Baptist president out there. The head of this church isn't some online preacher out there, okay. The head of this church is not some pope. The head of this church is Jesus Christ. That's who the head of the church is. That's the one we're seeking to please. That's the one we're seeking to get instruction from. Not from a president, not from a denominational president, not from some denominational pope, no. You know, to be a Baptist church, to be consistent with the Bible, there must be just one person above this congregation, above this body. That is the Lord Jesus Christ, okay. It says here, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence, okay. The preeminence. You know, anything we ought to glory for, anything we should be thankful for when it comes to this church, we should be directing that to the Lord Jesus Christ. He deserves all honour, all praise. And I'll quickly read to you from Ephesians 5 23. It says, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the saviour of the body, right. He's the head of the church, and he is the saviour of the body. What gives Christ the right to be the head of this church? It's because he's the saviour of the body. He saved us, and by default that makes him our head, okay. That makes him our authority, okay. Please, I am not your authority, okay. I am not the head of this church, as it were, okay. I did not die for you. I did not save you, right. I was not crucified for you, okay. Neither was Paul the Apostle. Neither was anybody else that gave you the gospel, praise God for God using them to use the gospel to see you saved, but they are not the head of the body of Christ. They are not the head of the church. That must be Jesus Christ. And the other reason why we're not Protestants is because they're denominational. It's because they have other men, other organizations, other groups that are head over the churches, okay. And we're going to get to the next point here, pastoral authority. But in many of these churches, the pastors, the bishops, do not have authority within the church, okay. Now again, you know pastors have been given authority, but again the head is Christ. And the pastor has boundaries, the boundaries which Christ has laid, you know, and the pastor is to have authority within those boundaries that has been given to that man. Please turn to 1 Peter chapter 5, please. 1 Peter chapter 5. What else makes us Baptists? The pastoral authority, okay. Pastor led churches, pastoral authority. 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 1. Again, a lot of these Protestants have deacons, you know, have a group of deacons or a group of elders which they do not see as a pastor, you know, over the pastor. They can kick out the pastor. They can replace the pastor whenever they want. But you'll see here that as I go through this, you'll see that God uses the words pastor or pastor. Well, that's another way of saying shepherd. You see shepherd, elder, and bishop all used interchangeably, okay. 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 1. Look at this. It says, the elders which are among you I exhort whom I'm also an elder. So Peter is saying, I'm also an elder. What is an elder, okay? But he's saying there's other elders out there. And then it says, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed, feed the flock of God which is among you. Think about that. If the elder is the one feeding, the main one that's there feeding the flock of God, what does that make him if he's got a flock? Makes him a shepherd, right? You'll soon see what this means, right? Feeding the flock, a shepherd, taking the oversight thereof, oversight. You know what the word bishop means? An overseer. So we have right now someone that's feeding the flock, which is the role of a shepherd. We have someone that's to take the oversight, that's where we get the word bishop from, and we've already seen he's referring to an elder, okay. So you see how these things come together, not by constraint, not willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Neither has been lords of a God's heritage, but been in and samples to the flock, and look at this, and when the chief shepherd shall appear, that's Jesus Christ, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. So the fact that there in verse 24 he calls Christ the chief shepherd, then what did we just finish off reading? That there are under shepherds, there are shepherds under the chief shepherd, which is the one that feeds the flock of God, right? The overseer, the elder. You guys go to 1 Peter chapter 2 now, go to 1 Peter chapter 2. Look how Peter also describes this in just a few chapters back. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 25, 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 25, again this reference of sheep, it says for ye were a sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls. Why does that go hand in hand? Because again, in chapter 5, it's about feeding the flock and taking the oversight thereof. The shepherd, the bishop, it's the same. Yes, this is a reference to Jesus Christ, but he has appointed men to have authority within the church that will carry out these same responsibilities. Now the men, pastors, the bishops, myself, the office that I have, again, I'm not the head, but I'm the under shepherd. I'm the one overseen as long as I'm under the authority of Jesus Christ. Now please go to Hebrews chapter 13, Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17, Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17, and of course, you know, while you're turning there, I'm going to read to you from 1 Timothy 3, 1, which says this is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desire for good work. So yes, is Jesus Christ our bishop, our chief bishop as it were? Yes, but can men take on the office of a bishop? Yes, as well. Yes, as well. You know, this is something that Christ has permitted for the church or Christ requires from a church. But look at Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17, and again, what does bishop mean? Taking the oversight thereof. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17, it says obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves. Now I want you to notice that. Obey them that have the rule over you, okay? Have the rule over you, the pastor, the bishop, the shepherd, the elder has authority within the church and submit yourselves, look at this, for they watch for your souls. Who's the one that's watching? Who's the overseer? The bishop, all right? That they must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. Now look up the same chapter, look at verse number seven, look at verse number seven, because I want you to realize that Hebrews 13 17 refer to that one that has an oversight of watches for your souls. They have the rule over you, the rule, that's important for you to remember. Look at verse number seven now, remember them, remember them which have the rule over you, all right? Who have spoken unto you the word of God, what were we left instructed to do in first Peter? To feed the flock of God, right? Which is among you, the word of God, whose faith following considering the end of their conversation. So as you're going to see when it comes to the context of a church, it keeps using this term, the one that has the rule over you, the one that has rule in the house of God. And if you can, please now go to first Timothy chapter five, first Timothy chapter five verse 17, first Timothy chapter five verse 17. This would just put everything we just said together in a nice package for us. First Timothy chapter five verse 17, first Timothy chapter five verse 17, the Bible reads, let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. So what do we see consistently as we look through those passages? Timothy, first Timothy, Hebrews, you know, first Peter, you know, the one that has the rule, the one that has the oversight, the one that has to feed the flock, the word of God, you see these terms being interchangeable. The pastor or the shepherd, that's what shepherd means. The pastor, the elder or the, what's the other one? Bishop, bishop, bishop, elder, and I'm missing one. Shepherd, that's the pastor. Elder, am I missing something? Elder, bishop and shepherd. Yeah, that's it. Elder, bishop and shepherd or the pastor are all the same office. It's the same guy doing all of this. But these are just words that are used interchangeably because there are different roles. A shepherd does the feeding, does the leading. The bishop oversees, you know, looking out for the church. And the elder represents someone that is, you know, that has maturity in the Lord, has been saved for a long time, has shown a pattern of good works and of faith. And so all of these are different characteristics or attributes that the bishop must have or the elder or the pastor must have. And this is why the Bible has given us pastoral authority, them that have the rule over you. But what do we have in the Protestant churches? The board of deacons, the board of elders having the rule over the pastor. It's wrong, okay? It's anti-Bible. It's not biblical. And as Baptists, our desire is to stand on the word of God as much as possible. But again, you know, I'm not here to tell you how to live every way of your life. You know, I'm not here to be a lord over God's heritage. No. And if you have a pastor that's getting involved in your life, right? Being a busybody, telling your family how they ought to do things. They get into your house and tell you how to run things. You need to get away from that pastor, okay? Because that is not someone that is following the commandments that God gave him in the word of God. And so we do believe in pastoral authority, but not only do we believe in pastoral authority, not only do we believe that Christ is the head of the church, but we also believe in biblical authority. Biblical authority, okay? So anything we believe, anything that we teach, anything that we practice must come from the word of God, must be established by the word of God, okay? And I'll just quickly read to you. Or if you want to turn there, go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. I'll get you to turn there. Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13. The Bible reads, For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye receive, look at this, the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God, which effectively worketh also in you that believe. What is the church built on? This is the 1 Thessalonians church, right? Pull right into this church. What are they built on? What is it that they believe? They believe the word of God, right? And it's not the word of men. We don't come to church just to hear the word of men. No, we must, whatever comes from men must be established, must be built on the word of God. And we've already seen how the Protestants mess up baptism. They're not building that one doctrine on the word of God, something that is clear, something that is easy to understand. What chance have you that they're going to get anything else right in the Bible? They're not going to build their doctrines on the word of God. They've already failed at the first hurdle, okay? Baptism is the first step of obedience, and they can't get that right, let alone getting salvation right many other times, you know? So get into a Baptist church if you're not in one already, okay? Get into a Baptist church, a church that believes the Bible, okay? Now the next thing that I want to cover here, because I spoke of pastoral authority, is that I do believe Baptists in general, you know, believe in that there are two offices in a church, okay? The office of the bishop or the pastor, yes, but also the office of a deacon, okay? The office of a deacon. And I'll get you to turn to Acts, chapter 6 for me. Acts, chapter 6, okay? I do believe in deacons, I do believe that if the time comes for us to appoint a deacon, we should do that if the requirement is there. But while you turn to Acts 6, the Bible says in 1 Timothy 3.13, For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchased to themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. The reason I just want to read that to you is that a deacon is referred to as an office in the local church. There is some level of authority, some level of responsibility given to someone that takes on this office more so than the average person, you know, the average person in the church. But look at Acts, chapter 6, verse 2, and we'll just quickly read this. This is the first time we see the churches appoint deacons. It says here, Then the twelve, called the multitude, the twelve of course being the apostles, this is in the church in Jerusalem, called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Let's stop there for a minute. When the apostles and the apostles here had a higher position of authority than the pastors, right? But they were being bogged down with the daily administration of church, okay? They were being bogged down by other things and they weren't being free to preach the word of God, okay? Or to serve tables, right? That was preventing them. Verse number 3, Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business, okay? The business that was preventing them, that was preventing them from preaching the word of God. Verse number 4, But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And the same pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanu, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch, whom they set before the apostles, and when they had prayed and laid their hands on them, and the word of God increased, and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. So we see the appointment of deacons is also important in a church. When the one that has the rule, and that in this case it was the apostles, and look there might have been some of these apostles serving as pastors, because we saw Peter himself referring to himself to an elder, okay? So he may have also been an elder at this point in time, I'm not entirely sure, but one thing becomes quite clear, is when that person that is meant to have the rule, that is meant to feed the flock the word of God, is being overly busy, okay? Where he can't focus on the word of God anymore, where he's running administrative tasks, that is the point where a church ought to ordain a deacon, okay? Ordain a deacon. Now I don't think we're ever going to ordain a deacon for quite a while, okay? Because I'm managing quite well, and many of you guys step up and help me anyway, all right? And obviously when a church gets large enough, you know, and there's a lot more to do, then yes. But by then hopefully the church is large enough where we can even afford to pay a deacon, you know, that would be a blessing as well, if we could appoint a deacon, and even afford to pay that deacon to do the work for the Lord as well. So I do believe as Baptist we hold two positions, the position of a pastor, a bishop or an elder, and also the office of a deacon to help, it's almost like an assistant pastor, to help the pastor do the work that's necessary, okay? Now the next thing, and this is such an important one, if you guys go to Romans chapter 14, Romans chapter 14, as Baptist we believe in individual soul liberty. I love this, individual soul liberty, okay? And again, I'm not here to be a Lord over you. I'm not here to tell you how to live your life. I'm not here to tell you how to run your family life, okay? I'm not here to tell your wife to obey you, or I'm not here to tell, you know, a husband to love their wives. I'm here to preach, I'm not here to get behind your closed doors in your house, and sort out your family issues. But look at Romans 14 verse 4, Romans 14 verse 4, and I love that these passages are in the Bible, okay? Because I find new Christians like to be critical, new babies in Christ, people that have not grown, or maybe they've been saved for a long time, but they're just not grown, they're just not mature. They love to criticize other believers, right? But look at Romans 14 verse 4, it says, who art thou that judges another man's servants, or his own master, sorry, to his own master, he standeth or falleth, yea, he shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand, okay? Again, I'm not here to judge another man's servants. I'm not here to judge your wife or judge your kids, you know, fathers, you've been given that responsibility, right? I'm not here to go to someone else's church and tell them how to run their church, okay? That's not our job, okay? Verse number five, one man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. You know, there are some things that you believe that I'm not going to believe. There are some things that I believe that you're not going to believe. What does the Bible say? Let every man be fully persuaded, right? In his own mind. There is individual soul liberty. You don't have to believe exactly like me. Now one thing that brings unity, we saw baptism, yes, one faith, one Lord, we saw all these things, right? One father, okay? There are certain things that are fundamental truths to any church and we can't allow false doctrines to creep in. But do you think when it comes to, what was it there? Esteem in one day above another. You know, you want to celebrate Christmas and someone else doesn't want to celebrate Christmas. Should that divide us or should we just let every man be fully persuaded whether he wants to do it or not, okay? What else? Verse number six, he that regardeth the day, regardeth unto the Lord, and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord. Oh, you shouldn't eat that. You know, you should just eat organic. You know, it says here, he that eateth, eateth to the Lord. Or he, you know, for he giveth God thanks and he that eateth not to the Lord, he eateth not and giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth to himself and no man dieeth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live therefore or die, we are the Lords. Listen brethren, we have freedom, okay? You can do things slightly, you can believe things slightly different to me. That's fine. It's not my job to criticize you when they're not fundamental issues, okay? These are just opinions. We can have the liberty of believing things differently, okay? It's not like someone comes to the church and believes something different on some secondary doctrine. Oh man, if you're not on the same page, you need to get out of here. No. Yes, fundamental doctrines. Yes, fundamental doctrine of the faith. Yes, but not secondary issues or tertiary issues, okay? We must have individual soul liberty. We all have. What did we start off by saying? We all have the same Holy Ghost live in each one of us and I have to be willing to say I could be wrong on something sometimes. You have to be willing to be that way, okay? To be humble enough to listen why people believe things slightly differently or do things slightly differently. You could be wrong, okay? And if you're not humble, you may never change your opinion on certain things. And again, when it comes to individual soul liberty, this also applies to salvation, okay? Salvation. It's up to everybody, anybody, to decide whether they want to receive salvation or not, to believe on Christ, if they want or not, okay? It's up to them. Our job is to go and preach the gospel to every creature, but you can't force someone to believe the gospel, right? If they say, look, I just don't believe. I'm not ready. I just, I can't believe right now. Well, you can't force them. You can persuade them. You can motivate them and say, look, here's your chance. You may never hear this again. Hey, if you don't believe and you die tomorrow, you're going to go to hell, you can persuade them, right? Encourage them, but you can't force someone to believe the gospel. And this is where the Protestants get it wrong, because the Catholics, right? They're not just a church in the past. There are political movements, okay? Even the kings of Europe feared the pope and the power, you know, in their political world. And they would put to death those that would not be on the same page as them. If you don't convert to Catholicism, you know, you'll be put to death or whatever. And guess what the Protestants have done? The same thing in their past. They want power within the government. That's not right, okay? You can't force people to convert to your faith. You can't do that. Everybody has, can make their own decision whether they want to believe or not. You're in Romans, aren't you? You're in Romans? Go to Romans chapter 10, please. Romans chapter 10, verse 9. And I better hurry up now. Romans chapter 10, verse 9. Very familiar passages for us. It says here, Romans 10, 9, that if thou shall confess with thy mouth, if you have a choice, if you do it or you don't do it, right? But if thou shall confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart, thy God of raising from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Listen, forcing someone means they're not believing with their hearts. You know, just getting someone to parrot some prayer is not going to save them. They're going to believe with their hearts. This is a choice that they have to make. Anybody can convert to any religion. But it's not from their hearts, is it? If you're being forced, okay? When it comes to salvation, they must believe in their heart. Verse number 11, for the scripture saith, whosoever, if you want to or not, it's up to you whosoever believeth on him, shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Individuals so liberally, even to the non-believer. If they don't want to believe the gospel, so be it. You can't force them, okay? And again, I've already covered this. You know, we can put a lot of things under this category, but you know, the separation between church and state. You know, God has created the institution of the local church. Our job is to preach the word, to preach the gospel, to see people get baptized and to preach all the counsel of God, right? That's our job. Our job is not to get into the political realm and become a government, a political party, okay? And force people to believe like a no. Now, the government should take instruction from the word of God, right? When they put laws in place, where they're deciding what to do, you know, for the nation, they should say, well, what did God say? Hey, maybe I should plug into a Baptist church and hear what God has to say and what we as a government, as politicians should do in accordance to God's word. But the government is a separate institution that God has created for the punishment of evil workers, of evil doers, okay? A separate institution. But the Protestants, they want to make it all one and the same, right? They want to force their faith, their religion on those of their nation, just following after the Roman Catholic Church. All right, so, and the last thing that I have here, please go to 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 2. Go to 1 Timothy chapter 2. And again, this is under individual soul liberty about us as believers having the freedom to believe, okay? You don't have to believe, just like Pastor Kevin. And I don't get upset if you don't, okay? But the priesthood of the believer, this is so important. And I'll just quickly read to you from 1 Peter 2, 9. It says, but ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. If you're saved, you are a part of the royal priesthood. Each one of you are made priests before God. You know, in the Old Testament, if someone wanted to come to the house of God or for a sacrifice, they would have to do it through the Levitical priesthood, okay? They'd have to do it that way. But now, there is no man in the new covenant that we need to go to. If you're saved, God has made you a priest. You have instant access to God. Instant access, okay? Now, this is important because look at verse number, look at 1 Timothy 2, 5. 1 Timothy 2, 5. The Bible says, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. One mediator. We go directly to God because we are already in Christ Jesus. Praise God for that. We don't have to go to a priest. We don't have to go to some pope. We don't have to go to some other, whatever, some other clergyman to get closer to God. You've been given the royal priesthood, okay? You've been given that priesthood. And look what it says in verse number 8 because building on this, look at verse number 8. And I don't know, I don't know if you feel this way, brethren, but if you have felt this way in the past, it's the wrong way of thinking. You know, I've had people say to me, and you know, if you said this to me, I'm not attacking you. Let's just correct this. It's like, can you pray for me? Like, I can't go to God in prayer right now. Can you pray for me? You know, God will hear you more because you're the pastor, because you hold the office in the church. You know, God will probably hear you more than hear in my prayers. Hey, that's false. We're all part of the same priesthood. You're not any less important than me. I'm not any more important than you. We're all children of God. We all have access to God through Jesus Christ. Okay? Look, I'll pray for you, but don't think that I'll pray for you, and that means more to God. Wouldn't he rather hear from the child who's suffering, the child who's going through trials and difficulty? Don't you think he wants to hear from him? You know, as a father of a bunch of kids, sometimes I get one of my kids come up to me, and they say, oh, just an example. Let's say Nicholas comes up to me and says, oh, you know, Sebastian asked if he can do this. And my first response is, well, why doesn't Sebastian come and ask me, right? Why are you coming on his behalf, you know? No, you know, Sebastian has equal access to me as much as Nicholas or whatever, whatever kid's names you want to put in there, right? And look at verse number eight there. You know, Paul just finished saying there's one mediator, and then he says here, I will, therefore, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. All of us can pray to the Lord. All of us have access to his throne of grace. You don't have to go to the pastor. Can you pray specially for me? Because God's not going to hear me. God, I'm happy to pray for you, but you pray. God wants to hear from you. He's given you access. He's given you the priesthood of the believer, okay? And again, you know, some of these churches, they think the clergyman is something beyond, you know, something that God, you know, loves more than the average person in the church. I don't want anybody to ever feel that I think that about this church. You know, I am just your brother in the Lord. Yes, I have the rule in the house of God, but besides that, I'm just like you at you, okay? I'm a child of God, saved by grace through faith, a sinner saved by grace, given the royal priesthood as much as you guys have been, okay? So praise God for that. So I hope, you know, I just wanted to summarize those things for you. Why are we a Baptist church? Once again, just refreshing our memories, okay? It's not a label that means nothing to me. It means everything to me. I don't want to be Protestant. I don't want to be numbered under Protestants. I don't want to work with Protestants. I don't want to be confused as a Protestant, right? I don't want people to think that we believe in some other salvation process that involves water. Hey, water's not going to get you saved. It's the blood of Christ that saves you, your faith in the blood of Christ. We're a Baptist church, okay? The title was Baptist, not Protestant, okay? And again, if a Protestant is listening to this sermon online, start asking questions. Why are these Protestant churches, why are they not following the word of God, okay? Let me just say there's two reasons why. The preacher that you're listening to is probably unsaved. Most likely unsaved, okay? And if he is saved, he's just going through the motions. Like he's caught up into that system. For whatever reason, he's saved. He's there for whatever reason. But you need to get into the house of God. You need to get into a place where there's unity and where there's one baptism, believer's baptism. Get yourself into a Baptist church. Let's pray.