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All right, there we go. Maybe you can hear me now. But Matthew chapter number three is a great portion of scripture, and what I want to point out and focus on here is the fact that everybody came out from Jerusalem, from Judea, from all these regions around about Jordan, and were baptized of John the Baptist. And honestly, this is a very basic sermon, but it's a question I've been asked by a lot of people, and that question is, who can baptize? Who can baptize? And that's the title of the sermon this evening. Who can baptize? A lot of people wonder, you know, what does the Bible say about who can actually baptize? And really, we see baptism starting off with John the Baptist. I mean, he's named John the Baptist. In some cases, he's named John Baptist, right? And we see everyone's coming out unto John the Baptist in order to get baptized. And really, I have a few different points that I'm going to make this evening. But the first thing that we see in the Bible is everyone who does baptizing is ordained. And what I mean by ordained is that they're chosen specifically, okay? The word ordained means to be chosen, or to be selected, or anointed, or something to that effect. And everyone who ends up doing baptism in the Bible, as far as examples that we see, are ordained people. So let's prove this, okay? I don't want you to just trust me. Let's prove it from the scriptures. First of all, John the Baptist, he was chosen of who? God. He was sent of God. But go to Matthew 21. Go to Matthew chapter 21. Let me prove this with the scriptures this evening. And we're going to talk about John the Baptist for a moment, because that's where we see baptism really introduced, where people are being dunked under water. And it's the picture of the gospel, his death, his burial, and his resurrection is the symbol and the picture of baptism. But a lot of people have this question, well, who's able to baptize? Are we all able to baptize, or what's the protocols? Well, in the scriptures, the people that we see baptizing are always ordained. They're always chosen of God. And it says in Matthew 21, look at verse 23, there's nothing about Jesus, when he was coming to the temple, the chief priests and elders of the people came on him as he was teaching and said, by what authority doest thou these things, and who gave thee this authority? Jesus answered and said unto them, I also ask you one thing, which if you tell me, I am likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, was it from heaven or of men? And they reasoned with themselves saying, if we shall say from heaven, you will say unto us, why did you not then believe him? But if we shall say of men, we fear the people for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus and said, we cannot tell. And he said unto them, neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. So we noticed Jesus Christ is being questioned of his authority. Well, he points out a similar question. Well, what about the authority of John the Baptist? Where did his authority come from? Is it from God or is it just of men? Now the Pharisees don't want to answer because they see it as Jesus is going to trap them either way, but we know that it's from heaven. We know that it's of God and they have certainly did not want to say this. Now let me prove that it's from heaven. Go to John chapter number one, John chapter number one. But what I want to point out with this passage is this, a baptism could be from heaven or it could be of men. Could it not? Why would Jesus pose this question if baptism is just always from heaven? It's not always from heaven. The Mormons baptize more people than we do. I mean, you can get baptized like a thousand times. You can get baptized for every dead person out there. I mean, the Mormons will baptize people. The Catholics baptize every single baby. There's all kinds of baptisms going on today in this world. Are they all from heaven? No, most of them are probably from men if we were going to look at it. But how do we know if it's from men or from heaven? Well, look at John chapter 125. The Bible says, and they asked him and said to him, why baptizes thou then? So they're asking like, why are you baptizing, John? If thou be not that Christ nor Elias and I have that prophet. John answered them, saying, I baptize with water, but there standeth one among you whom you know not. He it is whom coming, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe latched I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said after me, come of the man which is preferred before me. He was before me, and I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest Israel. Therefore I am come baptizing with water. And John bear record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and in a boat upon him, and I knew him not. But he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. So notice when John the Baptist is questioned about why are you baptizing? Notice what his response is. I'm doing what he who sent me told me to do. And who sent him? God the Father. And why was he to do that? He was supposed to point out who Jesus Christ was. That was one of his goals. That was one of his jobs was to prepare the way for the Lord. And then once the Lord came, he had a specific sign. God's like saying, Hey, whenever you see the Spirit descending like a dove and you see the lighting upon him and you hear the voice from heaven, this is the Messiah. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. But what I want to point out about this is that John the Baptist was sent. He's not like Joseph Smith who's just going down in the river and just ducking himself. He actually has somebody giving him the authority. God had ordained John the Baptist before he was even born to be this person, to go out and to baptize people. Now go to John chapter three. There's other people in the Bible, though, that did baptism. John the Baptist is not a solo mission here. Baptism continues throughout the entire New Testament. It's a very important doctrine. We're called Baptist, okay? So we better understand the doctrine of baptism. It's a very important doctrine. It's a fundamental doctrine. This is a fundamental Baptist church. We want to know who can baptize here. Now it says in John chapter number three, look at verse 22. After these things came Jesus and his disciples in the land of Judea and there he tarried with them and baptized. So the Bible says that Jesus with his disciples were also baptizing people. John the Baptist was not the only person doing water baptism. Jesus and his disciples. Now from reading this alone, you might assume that Jesus baptized people, but if you go to chapter four and look at verse number one, it clarifies this for you. It says in chapter four verse one, when therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples. So notice who did the baptizing, it was his disciples. Now the disciples are ordained of God. They were ordained by the Lord Jesus Christ. He chose the 12. So we have John the Baptist picked by God the Father. We have Jesus' disciples who were baptizing, which was picked by the Lord Jesus Christ. Go to Acts chapter number eight, Acts chapter number eight. Let's get another person who was ordained and we find baptizing in the Bible. Acts chapter number eight, and look at verse number 35, very famous scripture says, then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached to them Jesus. As they went on their way, they came into certain water and the eunuch said, see, here is water. What does hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, if thou believeth all thine heart, thou mayest. And the answer to that, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. So we have here at Acts chapter number eight, Philip is baptizing. But what we know about Philip is he was one of the seven that was selected in Acts chapter number six. So he also is ordained and Acts chapter 21 or 22, he's called Philip the evangelist. I believe it's 21. Now go to Acts chapter 16, Acts chapter 16. So we have the disciples. We have John the Baptist. We have Philip the evangelist. We have another person that we can tell baptize people. Acts chapter 16, verse 30, and he brought them out and said, sirs, what must they do to be saved? And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. And they spake on him the word of the Lord and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized. He in all his straight way. So Paul and Silas, they baptized this guy. One of them baptized, I would say is probably the apostle Paul, but they were baptizing. Now they're both chosen. They've both been selected by the church. We also know that Paul did baptize for certain because first Corinthians chapter number one, he talks about people by name that he baptized. Okay. Now go view it to first Corinthians chapter number 10, first Corinthians chapter number 10. Let's find another person who's mentioned as baptizing people. So we have ordained apostles. We have ordained disciples. We have John the Baptist. We have Paul and Silas. We have these people. They're all ordained. Every example so far, it's always been someone that's been ordained. They've been selected. They've been chosen. They're not just some random yahoos going around baptizing people. Okay. And we have another person here. First Corinthians chapter 10, look at verse one, moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all of our fathers were under the cloud and passed through the sea and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. So the Bible actually likens in the Old Testament of baptism, but notice who did the baptizing? Moses. It says they were baptized unto Moses. So Moses is the one that led them through that baptism and that picture of baptism, baptism is being immersed. Well, when they went through the Red Sea, they had water on the right side, they had water on the left side, and then we had the cloud from God going in the top. So it's like they're immersed in water. It's a picture of baptism because the Passover pictured salvation, the crossing of the Red Sea pictures, baptism, the wilderness pictures, your life, and guess where heaven is, is the promised land. All right. So you get your symbols, right? All right. Now go to Acts chapter eight. Now here's the thing. People I don't know why this is a hard doctrine for somebody to believe, but they come up with these really crafty ways to try and teach that anybody can baptize. And I never heard this before, but I'm going to prove out it's wrong. But they said, oh, I know someone that was not ordained that baptized Pastor Shelley. I can prove to you that there's someone that's not ordained and they baptized and they take you to Acts chapter number eight. Well, I'm sorry. Go to chapter nine. We're going to read chapter eight in a second, but go to chapter nine and look at verse number 10. So here's their example, Acts chapter nine, verse 10, and there was a certain disciple Damascus named Ananias. And to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias, and he said, behold, I am your Lord. And Lord sent him to rise and go into the street, which is called straight and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus for behold, he prayeth and as seen in the vision, a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight. Now skip down to verse 17 and Ananias went in his way and he entered into the house and put his hands, putting his hands on him. Said brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus that appeared under the, in the way as though came as has sent me that thou might receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy ghost. Now here's the thing. Ananias, according to the Bible, baptizes the apostle Paul. But here's my question. How could you say that he wasn't ordained? Isn't he sent of God? But this is what I really want to point out. I believe you can prove that Ananias is ordained beyond that. Not only was he sent by God, which would be just like John the Baptist and is still an ordained person by my opinion, let's prove that he's definitely ordained. Look at Acts chapter number eight and look at verse number 18. And there's a reason why I had you turn to those, those passages, but look at verse 18. It says, and when Simon saw that through laying onto the hands of the, I'm sorry, laying on of the apostles hands, the Holy ghost was given, he offered them money. That's an interesting verse. How can someone get the Holy ghost in Acts? Someone that's an apostle lays hands on you. Now what did we just read in Acts chapter number nine, verse 17? That he laid his hands on him and he was filled with the Holy ghost. So how could Paul get filled with the Holy ghost by someone laying hands on them? Because Ananias is an apostle. That's why. So the, Oh, Ananias, well, he was sent by God. When he laid hands on the apostle Paul, he received the Holy ghost. That sounds like he's an apostle to me because Philip, the evangelist couldn't even do that. How could Ananias do that? He must've been an apostle then now go to Matthew chapter 28. So here's the thing. Every single person you see baptizing is ordained. Ananias is not an exception. That's a weird, I heard that. And at first I'm thinking like, well, how do you know he's not ordained? But then I was like, let's just study the text for a moment. First of all, he's sent by God. Then on top of that, the fact that he's able to lay hands and receive the Holy ghost means he must've been an apostle. But here's what they'll say. Here's the next argument. Well, what about the great commission Pastor Shelley? Isn't that for everyone? Aren't we all supposed to go out and preach the gospel? So who should be baptizing? Matthew 28 verse 18, and Jesus came and spake to them saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever command you and lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world, Amen. Now before I explain this verse, let me say this. I personally believe that someone has to be ordained to baptize. Okay. First of all, we already saw that the only example was someone that was ordained, but they'll say this versus what great commissions for all of us, you can't limit that to certain people. Well, let's just think about that logic for half a second, okay? If Matthew 28 is to every single person individually in that sense, then go to first Corinthians chapter number one, go to first Corinthians chapter number one. Hey, look, the great commission is to us. I'm not saying it's not to us, okay? But you cannot say that every single aspect of it is for every single person individually at all times. And I can prove that with scripture. Look at first Corinthians chapter one verse 14, I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized my own name. And I baptized also the household of Stephanus, besides I know not whether I baptized any other, for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, thus the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. Why didn't they say, what, but Paul, Matthew 28, look, he's saying, hey, my job here was to do one part of that, to go out and preach the gospel. So is the apostle Paul supposed to be the main baptizer? Was that his main goal? Was that his main? No, he did baptize a few people and he points that out, but he says, Christ sent me not to baptize. Wouldn't you be like, Paul, the great commission, because you're the thing you have to understand about the great commission. The great commission is for us as a collective. The Bible says to teach all nations, okay? When are you going to do that, brother Matt? When are you going to Venezuela? You're failing at the great commission, brother, you know, when are you going to knock every single door? In fact, from now on, everybody gets the same maps because we all have to knock every single door ourselves. What kind of, that doesn't make sense. We're doing it as a team here. We're doing it as a church here. We're doing it as the same believers, okay? Not everybody has the same function. Not everybody has the same role, not everybody has the same body part, okay? You can't take the great commission and say, oh, I'm allowed to baptize because the great commission. Let's continue with that logic, okay? So does that mean that women are allowed to teach all things to every single person? Because isn't that part of the great commission? Oh, it applies to every single person. So does that mean that the five year old girl that gets saved in our church can start baptizing people? I mean, it applies to every single person. When you start taking this logic, if you say anybody can baptize that's saved, why can't a five year old girl baptize people then? That doesn't make any sense to me. That doesn't seem like it fits in with the scripture. It doesn't feel like it's, you know, an order, it's decent in an order and it's not to put down five year old little girls, they're still part of the great commission as a collective. It's just everybody has their role, don't they? Okay. Now, here's another question somebody asked, well, who's ordained then? Go to Matthew chapter number 18. And look, I've had a lot of people ask this question, I've had people say this, and I'm not joking. There are people that say they will not come to my church because I believe that only ordained people are allowed to baptize. You think I'm treating a straw man argument tonight, I am not. How can you think that? So you want five year old girls to be able to baptize. I mean, what are you wanting here? Now, somebody will say, well, where are you getting this from the scriptures, Pastor Shelley? Because I haven't seen so far where it says ordained people are the only people allowed to baptize. Well, let me prove it to you. Matthew 18 verse 17. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loose on earth. You know what that says? That says whatever the church decides is bound in heaven. So if the pastor gets up and says, I think only ordained people are allowed to baptize, you know is allowed to ordain only or baptize only ordained people. Because that's what the church said. You're like, well, I don't know. I don't know. You just get to make those decisions. Well, who decides that we show up at 1030 for Sunday morning service? I do. Guess who decides we show up at 530? I do. Guess who decides when we show up for the midnight service? I do. And guess what? If you don't show up at those times, you're not right with God. Where does it say in the Bible I have to show up at Wednesday, you know, 7? Where does it say I have to show up on Sunday morning at 10 a.m.? You know, it doesn't say that explicitly. It says whatever the church decides, God is okay with it. God put a stamp of approval. God says you figure it out. You know, however, God says, hey, whatever the church decides how to fulfill the Great Commission, God says I've decided that's right, too. As long as it's not violating clear scripture. Obviously, if I decide to have church on Sunday morning, is there any verse violating, you know, in violation of that? No. Am I in violation? So, obviously, the church can make decisions. And guess who's okay with that? God. God is the one that said whatever decisions the church makes, whatever decision your pastor and leader makes, you're supposed to obey and submit unto those decisions. Now, this is another argument I've heard when we talk about this doctrine. Someone will say, well, what if I go on a missions trip, Pastor Shelley, and I get someone saved and they want to get baptized? Are you just saying they can't get baptized? Why can't I just go and, you know, dunk them in the river like Duck Dynasty or whatever, you know, back behind his house? That's what he says. When he comes to his property, he just goes and baptizes them in the river or something. But let me say this. Well, okay, what if I'm on an airplane flying and the guy next to me wants to hear the gospel, I preach him the gospel, and he says I want to get baptized. Let's take him in the bathroom. I mean, look, there's going to be situations where you can't baptize someone practically. We see the Ethiopian eunuch, you know, he's like, see, here is water. So that means he had the opportunity to get baptized. There's going to be times where you're preaching the gospel. It's not even possible to baptize him. So you know what you have to do? You have to go somewhere. Now, who do we learn about at the very beginning of this? John the Baptist. You know what every single person that got baptized by him did? It came to him. Oh, you're saying someone has to come to church to get baptized? Yeah. Why is that so unpractical? Well, but when we go on this missions trip, you're telling me that these people, you're going to get them saved and not get them baptized, Pastor Shelley? Well, I've heard the same argument. They say, hey, are you going to go out in this, you know, Indian reservation and preach the gospel to people? What church are they going to go to? Well, let's not preach them the gospel then. Let's not get them saved because they don't have a church that they can go to because they can't get baptized right in that moment. Look, if someone wants to get baptized, they're going to get baptized. If there's a will, there's a way. It's not that hard. OK, but why can't we have things be decent in order rather than just saying it's a free for all? Everybody that can. I don't see a single person in the Bible who's baptizing one time that's not ordained. Never. OK. Now, again, let's go to Acts chapter 19, Acts chapter 19, and we're kind of turning around a few similar places for a moment. But I just want to explain this very clearly so people understand. What if I could have the same logic if I say, well, if I walk up to someone, I preach them the gospel and they say, I want to know all the Bible. Is it really fair to just leave them at the door, Pastor Shelley, and say you have to come to church to learn the Bible? Isn't that the same logic with the baptism? Look, I'm not going to have Jehovah's Witness. We have Bible studies at people's houses now. OK. You want to learn the Bible? Come to church. You want to get baptized? Come to church. It's not that much different. It's not that hard. Now, look, we should be encouraging people to get baptized. We should compel them to want to get baptized. We should explain why it's important. But at the end of the day, yeah, we're going to stick to ordained leadership as those who baptize. It's scriptural. I don't see anything contrary to that in the scripture. And if I say someone can baptize that's not ordained, then what stops you from saying the five-year-old girl can baptize? Like, where's the delineation? Where's your line? If you say, well, I just think the men in the room can baptize. Where'd you get that from? Well, I just think, you know, older men can baptize, you know, elder men, you know. We're just making stuff up now. Oh, just make up ages and make up names. Look, why don't we just look at the example in scripture and just do what they do? If it's okay in the Book of Acts for only ordained people to baptize, why would it not be okay for us? I don't see any difference here. Now, here's another question people ask me, and it's kind of along the same lines, but should I get rebaptized? Should I get rebaptized? I actually get this question a lot from a lot of different people. And it's based on what we're talking about, who baptized them. Because they'll say, well, Tyler Baker, you know, baptized me. Adam Fannin baptized me. Listen to the morning sermon. But here's the question. They say, should I get rebaptized? Now, let me explain why you should get rebaptized, and then I'll give you my thoughts on that. Acts 19, verse 1, the Bible says, And it came to pass that while Paul was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus. And finding certain disciples, he said unto them, Have you received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto them, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him, which had come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. So basically we have a story of some people. The Apostle Paul approached them. He's trying to figure out if they're saved. Sounds like soul winning. He's like wondering if they have the Holy Ghost. Hey, it's important because apostles can lay hands on people and they can receive the Holy Ghost. They say, We've never even heard of the Holy Ghost. And then he's like, Well, then how are you baptized? Were you baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost? And he's like, No, I have John's baptism. Because the Apostle Paul's probably thinking like, What did Peter do now? You know, I'm just kidding. Andrew, that rascal. He's got to get, he says, Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. You know, he's like, Oh, John's baptism. Well, here, John, he preached the same gospel, though. You should be saved. Right? And what was the baptism of John the Baptist? It was to believe on Jesus Christ. Now, here's the thing. When he preached that, that was new to them. It says, Hey, when they heard this, what did they hear? That Jesus Christ had died on the cross, was buried and rose again. So apparently they just went through the motions with John the Baptist. They just showed up. They saw a bunch of people getting baptized. They're like, I want to get baptized. You know, it's weird. I've knocked on doors and they're like, Do you all do baptisms? And I'm like, Yeah. They're like, I want to get baptized. And I'm thinking like, You're not even saved. Why do you want to get baptized? Catholics baptize a ton of people. It's very common that people get baptized and they're not saved. They don't understand it. Parents pressuring their kids to get baptized. I remember my wife's testimony. In fact, I think she asked her mom. She was like, You know, when am I going to get baptized? Or I want to get baptized or whatever. She wasn't even saved. She just wanted to get baptized because her sister did it. She just saw her sister get baptized. She's like, All right, next year, when I'm her age, I'm going to get baptized too. Or whatever. Or I'm going to become a Christian. But, you know, sometimes people get baptized and they have no idea why they're getting baptized. So once you realize, Hey, I'm not even saved, that baptism was you getting wet. You know, I've gone underwater to pool. That wasn't baptism. I've had my dad and brothers in law and brothers dunk me underwater forcibly. That was being dunked. Okay. That wasn't baptism. All right. They hold you a little too long. All right. It's a different story. But baptism is after salvation. You're picturing yourself with Christ. It's symbolic of the decision you made to trust Christ as your salvation. And so if someone was not saved when they were baptized, it just doesn't count. It's not real baptism. So that person should always get re-baptized. But that's not because of the person who baptized them. That's because of what they believed that was wrong. They didn't understand the gospel. They weren't saved. They had a false view. If you were not saved, no matter what baptism they did, sprinkling, dunking, it doesn't matter. You must get re-baptized. In fact, you're just not baptized. You might as well just said, I took another bath. Okay. It was a bath I had one day with a weird creepy priest or something, you know. And you probably need to wash for that one. All right. But here's the thing. This would be the question. Okay. But let's say I was saved. Let's say I was saved. I believed the gospel, but then Judas baptized me. I went to Jesus' disciples, and I was shooting for Peter, and Judas got my ticket, you know. He's the one that dunked me. Now, there's no proof in the scripture that Judas did or did not baptize. I can't tell you if he did or not. It stands to reason it's plausible he did. It's plausible he didn't. Okay. But we do know that there's people today that are unsaved that are baptizing. And people that are Judas's today. Now, if you were baptized biblically, and when I mean biblically, I mean you were saved, and you were fully immersed in the water, and you came up out of the water just like the picture of Jesus Christ, your heart was signifying with Jesus Christ. I personally do not think it matters who did the operation. Now, some people would disagree with me on that. Some people would say it has to be someone who's saved. It has to be someone who's, you know, legitimate or whatever. But here's the thing. How do you know someone's legitimate? And, you know, some people, they get baptized by someone they think's legitimate for a long time, and then, like, 10 years later, they discover that they're not. So you're going to tell me God is looking at this person like, you're not baptized, buddy, for 10 years, and you in your own heart thought you were doing right? I don't believe that. Now, let me give you a similar analogy to this, because some people get kind of offended by this. They're thinking like, no, I think it has to be saved. Well, God receives your tithes when you gave them to the temple, no matter who received them. God didn't say tithe to the temple unless Hophni and Phinehas are in charge. And here's the thing. I personally believe if you gave money to the right type of church and you have the right heart, even though Hophni was taking it and Phinehas was taking your donations, God still received them. And you know what? It's still right to tithe to a church even if, you know, the guy's not doing everything perfect, or even really bad, okay, because you're giving that money to God. You're not giving it to that person. And it's not your fault if they're doing bad things with it that you don't know about. Now, if they're doing bad things and they're, like, obvious about it, then you might be a partaker of the real deal. But I'm saying if you're in a clear conscience, giving money to God, look, when the poor widow women gave money into the treasury, Jesus Christ didn't say, how come she's supporting the Pharisees? You really expect me to believe that the Pharisees, let me prove to you they weren't, okay? Now, what do you think's the worst way you could spend tithe money? How about giving it to someone to betray the Lord Jesus Christ and to kill him? Did you know that they used the money that you gave in your tithe donations to kill the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, they didn't take the money back, but they took it the first time, and they used it. But you know what? God still praised that poor widow woman who gave her mite, didn't she? She gave her two mites, and Jesus Christ praised her because in her heart, she was doing it unto God. I think the same's with baptism. If your heart's right with God and you get baptized scripturally, you're saved, and the person who dunked you is a bozo, and you don't know that, you know what? That's not your fault, okay? Now, let me add to this, though. That's how I personally feel. If someone, though, has a guilty conscience about their baptism, if they feel bad about their baptism, if they say, I don't like my baptism, I don't like the fact this person baptized me, I have some kind of ill feeling towards this, then I will rebaptize that person. It doesn't bother me at all. Because the Bible talks about baptism being a good conscience toward God. Go to 1 Peter 3. This is the last place I'm going to have us turn this evening, and I want to just really expound this passage because it's kind of a difficult passage, but we're on the topic, so we can talk about it. But one of the aspects of baptism specifically is about the conscience. So, if someone came up to me and said, you know what? Garrett Kirschway and Tyler Baker double dunked me, you know? And I was sick and tired of these bozos. You know, I want to do it again, legit. You know, I'll do it. I'm not going to stop someone from getting rebaptized because one aspect of baptism is clearing your conscience with God. And let's find the scripture that actually talks about this. 1 Peter 3, look at verse 15. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Having a good conscience, that whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. Now, 1 Peter 3 is an admonishment to believers. It's saying, look, we just need to live godly, and we need to have a good conscience between us and God. You just need to be right with God internally, okay? And no matter what they say, no matter at times they say you're a lying railer and you have no grace and you have no mercy and blah, blah, blah. It's like, hey, if my conscience is right with God and I'm following God's commandments, I can feel secure in that. I can have confidence and boldness in the word of God, knowing what I'm doing is right. Now, obviously, nobody's perfect, okay? Nobody is without sin, and obviously it's a daily, it's a moment by moment fight. We need to constantly get right with God and confess our sins and turn from our sins, forsake our sins. But at the end of the day, when we're doing right, we know that we're doing right. When we go out soul winning, we know we're doing right. Hey, when we go to church, we know that we're doing right. Hey, when we abstain from drinking alcohol, we know that we're doing right. Hey, when we preach against false prophets, hey, we know that we're doing that which is right. So if someone looks at something and we see it clear in the Bible and we say, you know what, I'm going to do that because that's what the Bible says, and then they falsely accuse you, you can say, you know what, well, I have a good conscience with God. And you know what, you'd rather people be mad at you for saying, I want to read the Bible. It's better to have people be mad at you for saying, I want to go to church. It's better to have people be mad at you for knocking on the door preaching the gospel than trying to sell them something. It's better for people to get mad at you for reading the Bible than the Quran. It's better for people to get mad at you, OK, for not drinking alcohol than killing them in a drunk driving accident. OK, and you have to choose your suffering today. No one's going to not every single person's going to like you. I'm sorry. And you know what? Not everybody's going to like me. I don't know if you know this or not. Not every single person on this planet likes me. And I'm OK with that. I'm fine with that. OK. And if they're mad at me for something I did wrong to them, I need to fix it. We should try to fix it. We should try to love the brethren and be gracious to people and be kind to people. You know what, if I'm doing that, which is right, if I'm preaching the word of God and they're mad at me about that, then I should just say, who cares? I'd obey God rather than men. Look at verse 17. You know, the people that get out of church, they suffer for evil doing. They suffer for the consequences of their sin. They suffer the consequences of their rebellion. They suffer just the consequences of life. And you know what? Even people that aren't saved, they suffer. Have you seen the celebrities? They like kill themselves. They're so unhappy. They're constantly suffering. You think that you suffer? You don't suffer like the unsaved. The unsaved suffer so much more than you do. The unsaved, they might look like they're having a good time, but even in laughter, the heart is sorrowful. And we ought to realize, hey, oh, man, I don't want to be a Christian. It's a bunch of suffering. Let's not be a Christian suffering, too. I knock on doors and I say, do you believe in hell? We're in hell right now, buddy. I'm thinking, you don't even know what hell's like. It's hot. It's not Phoenix, though, okay? It is not hell. You have to choose your suffering today. And when you serve God, don't expect roses. Don't expect it always to be good. There's going to be times where you suffer for making the right decision. But you know what? I'd rather suffer for making the right decision than suffer for making a bad decision. I'd rather suffer for having integrity, for being right with God, than suffering by compromising, by laying down, by just not following God's commandments. Verse 18, For Christ also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison. Now, we're going to get into kind of a tougher section of the scripture, but it's saying we should be like Christ. Christ was what? He suffered for us once, notice. When was that? When he came down? When he was born to the Virgin Mary. He became a man. He went through the same temptations like as us. He was the just, though, for us, which is the unjust. That what? He might bring us to God, notice, being put to death in the flesh, but he was quickened by the Spirit. He was resurrected, so we have the death, burial, and resurrection. It says, by which also, so this is something different. This is something else. He went and preached unto the spirits in prison. Now, go over to 2 Timothy chapter 2. I want to explain this for a moment. What does it mean by spirits in prison? Now, a lot of times people just run with this phrase, and they'll teach the weirdest doctrines, the weirdest heresies. They'll say that this is like purgatory, or this is some secret compartment next to hell that's nice, but it's still prison. It's like a nice prison. It's a white-collar prison called purgatory, or paradise, or Abraham's bosom. It's all basically the same doctrine, or there's dispensationalists that teach all kinds of other weird things. Let's just figure out what the Bible says, because there's too many heresies to preach against here. But 2 Timothy chapter 2, look at verse 25. The Bible says, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. So, the Bible talks about people being taken captive by the devil. Now, if you're in captivity, what would be another way to word that? Sounds like you're in prison, wouldn't it? Go through Ephesians chapter number 2. Ephesians chapter number 2. Now, how could your spirit be in captivity to the devil? How could it be in bondage to the devil? And here's the thing. How can you get out if the devil's in control of you? Well, look at Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1. And you at the quickened, who are dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked, according the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the earth, the spirit that now work in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had a conversation in times past, and the lust of our flesh, fulfilling desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. So, the Bible says every unsaved person, okay, was under the influence of who? The devil. They were dead. They were in captivity to the devil, okay. The spirit that now work in the children of disobedience, it says, hey, we were all in the course of this world, okay. And we also have all had our conversation in times past and the lust of our flesh, okay. So, you're trapped in what? This body of sin. Who shall deliver me from this body of death? It's a prison. Your physical body is a prison for your spirit. How are you going to get delivered from that? You have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you believe the gospel, he'll deliver you, he'll preach into the gospel, you'll believe it and he'll deliver your spirit from that prison which is your flesh. Let me prove this another way. Go to 1 Peter chapter number 4. Go back to our text and then go to 1 Peter chapter number 4. So, Jesus Christ not only fulfilled the gospel, he preached the gospel. And what did the gospel do? It rescued the spirits in prison. He delivered people from their prison. Now, 1 Peter chapter number 4, look at verse number 6. For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead that they might be judged according to men in the flesh but live according to God in the spirit. So, the Bible says when you're not saved, it's like you're dead. And the only way to be delivered from that is for Jesus Christ to quicken you. You're quickened through the word of God and you're delivered from that spirit in prison. Now, what it is saying in Ephesians chapter number 2 is the opposite. Someone who's walking is a children of disobedience, right? Look what it says in verse number 8, verse 20, which sometime were disobedience. So, what's the spirits in prison? It's just unsaved people, okay? It's a more complicated way to say the unsaved people which were disobedient. Now, who was disobedient and is no longer disobedient? Let's take their purgatory doctrine. So, you're telling me that the people in Abraham's bosom were disobedient and then when they got to go to heaven, they're now not disobedient? So, people are sinning in Abraham's bosom or paradise or whatever weird place? No, it's saying, hey, when you were unsaved, you were disobedient. But then when you got saved, you're no longer disobedient. Why? Because you have the new man coming and living inside of you. Now, you're incapable of sinning. Now, you're dead to sin. Now, you're no longer walking according to that old man. You can walk in the new man. So, that's what it's talking about. Now, again, now he's going to bring up another scenario or another application here that we're talking about. It says, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark wasn't preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. Now, he explains this in verse 21. He says, the like figure were unto even baptism that also now save us. Now, if you're a church of Christ-er, they love verse 20 because it says saved by water. So, they'll say, well, you have to get baptized to be saved. We go down to the water, we come out of the water, we're saved by the water. Now, what kind of a weird doctrine to think that physical water saves you? Okay. But let's understand the context of what he's talking about. Long suffering of God. What is the long suffering of God in the days of Noah? Well, here's the thing. The earth was filled with violence. Every thought of man's heart was only continually evil, is what the Bible says. You would think God would just wipe them out. But you know what? He was long suffering while the ark was preparing. Then, when Noah and his family get on the ark, what happens? The whole earth is perished. Now, here's the thing. Was Noah saved by the boat or by the water? I think the water was, like, going to kill you. You would think he was saved by the boat. Because why? If we're talking about spiritual salvation, the boat is salvation. Jesus Christ says, I am the door. They walked into the door of the ark. God sealed the door. Picture of once saved, always saved. And you know what? Once they were in that ark, they were saved. Period. They went through the trebleless waters, but you know what? They made it to the other side. So then, how is he saved by water? What did he get saved from? Well, here's the thing. What got destroyed? All the ungodly world. That's what got destroyed. The unrighteousness of the world. Noah was delivered from all the evil and the wickedness and the unrighteousness of the world. He was saved by the water from that. So, God was long suffering to spare him and allow him to have this opportunity. Then, he got saved by the water, and it says the same figure, the liked figure, whereinto even baptism did also now save us. Okay, so how is baptism saving us, Pastor Shelley? Well, first of all, it gives you a caveat. Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer, notice this, of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, let's read verse 22, and we'll explain this. Who has gone into heaven is on the right end of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. What is it saying? Well, when you were unsaved, you were that spirit in prison, which was what? Disobedient, ungodliness, unrighteousness, not pleasing to God. Then you get saved, and then you have a picture, the symbol of baptism, which is a picture of what? Do you want to now walk in newness of life? And when you come out of that water, it's saying what? I now can have a good conscience with God, even though my past was really tainted. Even though my past had a lot of problems. Even though my past, I mean the past world of Noah, it was wicked. It was evil, but he got saved from that. So that's why baptism is so important. It's a picture of saying, hey, no matter what you did in your past, you can put it behind you. Get baptized, get saved, get baptized, and now start serving God. You were disobedient, now be faithful sons. Look, it's not putting away the filth of the flesh, it's the answer of a good conscience. Now I can have a right conscience with God. Even though I did all those bad things in the past, I can still feel right with God because he's forgiven my sins. I've gotten right with God, I've gotten baptism. That's the same figure that it's pointing unto. And, of course, even though people might look and point to you as things you've done in the past, you can say, well, I have a good conscience now. And isn't that the same context we had in verse number 16, having a good conscience? So because of the importance of the conscience, why I've taught this is because of this. If someone just says, I have a really bad conscience about my baptism, then I'd say, okay, I'll rebaptize you. Because I don't want you to have a bad conscience with God, feel like you're not right with God. Hey, if you're doing something not in faith, it's sin to you, is what the Bible says. If you feel bad about something, you feel wrong about something, then the Bible teaches that would even be a sin unto you. So who can baptize you? Well, an ordained person, right? Go to Romans chapter 6, we'll close with that verse. Go to Romans chapter number 6. An ordained person can baptize you at this church. Now, let's say hypothetically that there's a church that's not associated with us, which is every other church, okay? And they do baptism a little bit different. Let's say they decide to just let randos baptize, okay? Some random guy in their church baptize for whatever reason. Well, first of all, if the pastor decides that, then I'm not going to condemn them. I don't agree. I don't think it's right. But I'm not going to get up and say you're clearly violating scripture because I don't really have a clear verse to just condemn that. And since their pastor's the one ordaining it and deciding it, then whatever. But I'm not going to do it. And if you ask me, should you do it? I don't think that you should. I don't think that there's a point to it. Maybe in a really weird special circumstance, someone might decide that, but you know what? I'm just not going to do it. I don't feel right doing that. I don't think there's a biblical precedent for that. If they want to get baptized, then they're going to find a way to get baptized. I promise you that. But if you were baptized and you were not saved, you need to get re-baptized. And if you don't feel good about your baptism, I will re-baptize you. If that's something that you want to do, if you don't have a good conscience about it, and it's important. Baptism is a very important doctrine. We want to teach people to get baptized. If you've never been baptized and you're saved, you need to get baptized. If you're not saved, get saved. Just talk to anybody in the room, all right? Ask them what must I do to be saved. Just fall down on your knees and say, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? They'll help you out. And if you get saved, you just have to get baptized if you want to serve God. Look at verse one. 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 there? You're no longer that spirit in prison anymore. You're dead to sin. You have the new man. You've been quickened, okay? He says, Know ye not that so many of us who were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life. The point of baptism is saying, I want to serve God. I want to get a good conscience with God. I want to now follow his commandments. And those that don't get baptized are saying, I don't want to walk in newness of life. I want to keep walking in that old man. That's why baptism is so important. That's why we're a Baptist church this morning or this evening. OK, we believe in baptism. It's super important and we emphasize it. We always had the baptismal. We can always baptize someone. We have clothes ready and we need to emphasize people to get baptized and push them to get baptized, because if they don't, they're just not going to serve God. You show me the fired up, godly Christian that's not baptized. Never seen it. Never met them. And they need to get baptized if they exist. All right, let's go to prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for your word. Thank you for your clear teaching on this. I pray that you would just help us to baptize more disciples, that you just help us to just show people the importance of baptism, that we could follow your commandments and that you would help people to get a good conscience with you and to walk in newness of life. We thank you for this picture that you've given us that we can be in symbolism with your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's in his name we pray. Amen.