that song to be sung. I appreciate it. Let's go back to Acts, the second chapter, and I'll give you two verses here just briefly, and I'll read them after a couple of words of introduction.

Peter's great sermon on the day of Pentecost was an unusual one because it resulted in the conversion of 3,000 precious eternity-bound souls. Know this, that which God uses to convert sinners, the message that God makes use of to save lost sinners, is the same type of message that Peter preached. He preached the death, the burial, the resurrection, the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no gospel unless the Savior is exalted. This service is not about you. It's not about me. It's about Him. He's the Savior of those poor sinners who, by the grace of God, find themselves to be needy and without a hope of salvation. No possibility of forgiveness or remission of their sins through anything that they've done. This gospel is good news, but it's only good news for spirit-convinced, sinful people. And that's what happened when Peter preached this message.

There'll never be another message like this. I've heard people say, you know, what we need is another day of Pentecost. No, we don't. We don't need another day of Pentecost. That was one day and it was gone. What we need is for the Lord Jesus to be magnified through the preaching of the gospel, and then the Holy Spirit take the message of God's redeeming grace and put it deep within our hearts. And your prayer and my prayer ought to be even right now, Lord, speak to me through your gospel, through your word, by your Holy Spirit. If God doesn't speak to us, mysteriously, but in a way that gets our attention. There's no hope for us.

Well, the barter used to say, if the only voice you hear is my voice, you'll be no better off eternally. You've got to hear the voice of him who speaks and wakes the dead. And if he ever speaks to you by his omnipotence, by his power, It will be a miracle of love and grace. So Peter preached. He finished his message by speaking of the exaltation of Christ. God has made that same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. And when the people heard that, Verse 37 says, they were pricked in their heart. They said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? And then Peter said unto them, repent. That's a change of mind, a change of heart, a change of attitude. It's a change of gods. You forsake the false God that you worshiped and you begin to worship the true God revealed in the Bible. You cease to follow that poor Jesus who needs you and you begin to follow and have a serious interest in the Christ who has all power in heaven and in earth.

Repentance, change of heart, which is a work that only God can do. And he said, repent and be baptized. And by the way, when he says repent, he's including believe. Believe and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for, or a better translation is these words, because of, because of remission of sin. As I will show you in the message, baptism doesn't wash away my sins. The water, it doesn't get in you. Jacob was immersed in the water, but the water didn't go in him, he went in the water. And the water didn't cleanse him unless he had a little dirt on him or something that I don't know about. That's the only cleansing the water can do. Baptism does not put away sin. It is the evidence of an honest sinner who says the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, that cleanses me from all sin. So he says, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ because of the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now look at verse 41. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized. Were baptized. And the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls.

I just want to talk to you this morning about baptism and ask you a few questions. And this is not an exam because I'm going to ask the questions and answer them too. But it's a teaching method. I want you to listen.

Number one, who should be baptized? That is a very good question. Who should be baptized? All who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to the salvation of their souls are commanded to be baptized. Notice again in verse 41, then they that gladly received his word, have you received the word of the gospel? Have you received the word that salvation is all of grace and all in Christ Jesus? Have you received him who is the incarnate word, the word come down from heaven?

Who should be baptized? Those who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Savior, Just before he ascended to heaven, he had laid down his life. Matthew chapter 26, you can read about his substitutionary work. He died that God might be just and justify the ungodly. He died for sinners like us. We can't come to God as we are. And we have no ability to do anything about our sins. But Christ Jesus came to do something about our sin problem.

The angel Gabriel said to Joseph, thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. And Peter preached this and people gladly received the word. I believe he's the son of God, don't you? I believe He's the only Savior of sinners, don't you? I asked Jacob this, and I agree with him. I don't believe salvation has anything to do with my works. In fact, I don't think salvation has anything to do with me at all, except that God does the saving and I did the sinning.

I have received the Word of the Lord. I have received Christ the Savior. I have received Him. Have you received Him? He's my prophet to teach me. He's my priest who offered to God the acceptable sacrifice to put away my sins. He's my priest who makes intercession for me, who prayed for me. Father, forgive them for they don't know what they do. He's prayed for me. I know what I was doing. I've received his word. I believe what he says about me.

If somebody says to me, you know, Jim, you're a sinner, I'll tell you this, the half has not been told. And it hadn't been told about you either. We're worse than we think we are. You say, well, somebody said something bad about me. They could say a whole lot more, couldn't they? Yeah, you know that. There's nothing good in us. Only good thing in us now is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

We received his word. He's our prophet to teach us. He's our priest. And he's our king to rule over us. He's our Lord. And those who receive the word of the Lord. So here's the question to you. Have you received the word of the Lord? Do you believe what God says about you? Do you believe what God says about Christ Jesus? Do you believe what God says about the reason He came into this world?

Listen, if you could save yourself, there wasn't any use for Him coming. If you could establish righteousness by your own works, what was the use of Jesus Christ coming, the Son of God, joining Himself to our humanity? What's the use in Him coming if you didn't take care of it yourself? You see, we can't lift a finger in our salvation. Christ came and did it all. Jesus paid it all, all the debt I owe. He didn't pay all of it, but 25 cents worth. And then I put that in. He paid it all. He paid it all.

Who should be baptized? Those who receive the word of God. Have you received the word of God? Have you received Christ who is the incarnate word? Then you should be baptized.

So Christ, before his ascension, he told his disciples this. He gave them a great commission. He said, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel, teaching them and then baptizing them. People who are taught, have you been taught of God? Of what you are and who Christ is? Of His beauties, of His perfection, of His glory? Has the Spirit taught you of Christ Jesus? Then you should be baptized.

The Savior says to His disciples, you go out and preach. You go out and teach. You go out and make disciples, baptizing them. Who should be baptized? Only people who have received the word of God.

Over in the book of Acts chapter eight, Philip was commanded of God to go out in the desert and preach to one man. They was really having a revival in Samaria. Lot of people were being saved by the grace of God. And the Lord said, Philip, I got another job for you. You mean leave all of these people? Yep, go out in the desert for one man. And he went out in the desert, and there he found a man riding in his chariot. He's called the Ethiopian eunuch. He had been to Jerusalem. perhaps to one of the feasts, no doubt. And he didn't get anything out of it. And he must have been a man of some means, because he got a copy of Isaiah, and that cost him a small fortune. And he was reading Isaiah, what we know as chapter 53.

Philip comes running up alongside of him, and Philip says, do you understand what you're reading? He said, how can I except some man show me? He needed a preacher, you see. That's the way it works. So I'm not going to sit here and listen to one man talk to me about spiritual things. I can get it myself. No, you can't get it yourself. So I can study as good as you can. Well, maybe you're a very studious person, but God uses what people call the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. You need to listen. You need to humble yourself and be receptive to the word of God.

I tell you, Philip began to preach to him from Isaiah chapter 53 and the eunuch said, well, who's this man? Who's he talking about? Must be wounded and bruised. Who's he talking about? Is he talking about himself or is he talking about some other man? He's talking about some other man, the God man. And they kept on going along and And Ethiopian eunuch told the driver of the chariot, he said, stop the chariot. Stop the chariot. And he said to Philip, he said, right here's a little body of water. Here's water. What doth hinder me to be baptized?

And Philip didn't say, well, let me just put you under the water. No, he said, if thou believest. See, belief first, then baptism. That's the proper order. Belief first and then baptism. Philip said, if thou believest, you mayest be baptized. He said, I believe Jesus Christ is a son of God. That's a good confession. I believe him to be who he said he was. And Philip said, I'll take you down into the water and baptize you. Belief first.

So who should be baptized? People who believe Christ. People who believe the Savior. I think that's pretty clear, don't you, in the Bible, that you believe first, then you're baptized. That's the reason that when somebody sprinkles a baby, it is of no value whatsoever. Why not? Because the baby hadn't received Christ. Now, children, you know, the Savior talked about children. Bring the children to Him. And I say to you children who are here, to you young people who are here, if you believe Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God and He's your only hope of salvation and glory and forgiveness and righteousness, God commands you to be baptized. Belief first, then baptism.

The second question, does baptism wash away sins? Absolutely not. I've already answered that, but I'll give you a couple of verses. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. There's no forgiveness. You see, our sins must be punished by death. Now, if we die in our sins, then we gonna have to be punished forever and never pay for any sins. I'll tell you why Christ came. To be punished in the stead of his guilty people. That's why Paul said, there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Water has no power to wash away sins. Ephesians 1, 7, in whom we have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Sins were purged by the sacrifice of Christ.

Well then, here's another question. You ready for another question? Here it is. What is baptism anyhow? What is baptism? It's a New Testament ordinance. There are only two. Only two illustrations or spiritual pictures that the Lord left to his New Testament church, baptism and the Lord's Supper. Both of them are ordinances, and both of them teach valuable gospel truth. Our Savior sanctioned these two ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper. They're illustrations of the gospel. When I put Jacob under the water a few minutes ago, that pictured the death of Christ Jesus. And it also pictured that when Christ died on the cross, Jacob died in him. He was in him when Christ died. And all of God's people were in Him. He was our legal, eternal representative. He stood for Jacob in the covenant of grace and for all of the Lord's people. Christ came and lived a life of perfection. And then He died upon the cross of Calvary. When He died, you died. When Christ died, I died. When Christ died, all of the saints of God of all ages died in him. That's a picture. You can't get that from sprinkling now.

I know I wouldn't want to hurt anybody's feelings here and I wouldn't want to hurt anybody's feelings or deliberately offend anybody who's watching because I have some friends who believe the gospel, but they still insist on like sprinkling babies. That's of no value whatsoever. Find me in the word of God. Listen, the word of God is the only, only source of truth. You find me in the Bible where anybody, anybody poured water on a baby's head. And tonight watching some program the other night One of those fellas with a backwards collar, you know, he held the baby and he poured a little water over the back of his head. Didn't let any get in his face, you know, his own back of his head. Said, your baby's now been christened, he's been baptized. No, he hadn't been christened, he hadn't been baptized. He just got part of his head wet. He said, Jim, how do you know that was of no value? Had that baby received the word of truth? See, now you gotta keep up now. Had that baby believed the gospel of Christ? Had he laid hold as a needy sinner upon a glorious, all-sufficient Savior? Why, no, baby didn't even know what was going on. In fact, I think that baby looked like he was asleep, because when the water was poured on his head, he just kind of moved a little bit like that. This is not a ritual, this is not a ceremony, it's an illustration. Jacob died with Christ and when I brought him up out of the water, that picture's a resurrection of Christ.

And I told Jacob, I said, you don't do anything now. I don't want you to do anything. I'm gonna do the whole thing, you just rest in me. I'll put you under, you trust me, bring you back up. You see, that's what salvation is. It's just trusting the Lord Jesus Christ and you don't lift a finger. And I say to all of us, to all of you who are watching, can you rest only in Christ Jesus, the Savior? Just as a poor, guilty sinner, What is it anyway? It's a public confession of your faith in Christ Jesus.

And you identify, Jacob identified with Christ the Savior when he submitted to believer's baptism, and that's what I like to call it, believer's baptism. He is identifying with Christ the Savior. He's identifying with God's servant. He's identifying with God's gospel. He's identifying with God's people. It's a confession of faith. A confession of faith.

Why is baptism only by immersion? Because it's a gospel picture. of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Savior. There is no gospel portrayed or pictured or illustrated in sprinkling or pouring or touching someone's head with a little bit of water. You know what immersion is. Baptism means immersion. A lot of times, I'll get so involved in studying that somebody may say something to me, and I won't hardly pay them any mind. You know why? I'm immersed in what I'm doing. You understand that, don't you? You're at work, and you get immersed in what you're doing. It means you're underneath this. It covers you up. Sprinkling is not immersion. If at work you just do a sprinkling of work, you're not doing a good job. You have to be immersed in what you're doing.

You see, baptism is being put under the water. If you change the mode of baptism from immersion to sprinkling, you've ruined the picture, the gospel picture. It's being identified with the Savior. And I'll ask you one more question, because my time, the sand is running through the hourglass. And these are the days of our lives. Come on now, some of you. Hey, fess up now. Let me ask you this question. Can a person be saved? Can a person be a child of God? Can a person be washed in the bloody death of the Lord Jesus Christ and not be baptized? Think that one over for a few seconds. Can a person be saved without baptism?

Now hear me now, all of God's people are saved without baptism. Huh? That's right, I know that's right. All of God's people are saved without baptism. But baptism really is the first step of obedience. It's following the Savior. Now why do you think it's important? Christ submitted to baptism And we read in Matthew, Mark, and Luke that when our Savior was baptized, he came up out of the water. What do you know about that? John the Baptist didn't just take a, I started to say a paper cup, I don't know what kind of cups they had, but he didn't just pour a little water on the Savior's head, he put him under the water, and they both went up out of the water. It has nothing to do with putting sin away. It has everything to do with identifying with Christ and being obedient. In Acts 2, Peter said, repent and be baptized. The Savior said, go preach to people, they receive the gospel, baptize them. It's an act of obedience. You get the picture, don't you? I know this is like preaching to the choir. That's what we used to call it, preaching to the choir. I think most all of you know what I'm talking about concerning baptism, but make sure that you do.

Have you received the word of God? Does this gospel mean everything to you? I read a story about a communist And somebody interviewed him and he said, he said, I am a communist and I'm not ashamed of it. He said, I'll tell you everything I do, communism is always on my mind. He said, I never get away from it. Well, that is maybe a poor illustration But it is kind of an illustration of a child of God.

I'm always affected by the gospel of Christ. It's never far from my mind. He's never far from my mind. And Christ and his gospel always affects everything I do. That's what it means to be a child of God. And we're sold on Christ. We bow to him. He's everything to us. I hope he's everything to you.

And if God has gifted you with faith, and I'm going to be talking tonight on another very important subject, which is the work that God does in us. I know he does work for us. No question about that. But he also has to do a work in us. That's why Paul said, Christ in you, the hope of glory. I hope he's in you, and if you hadn't confessed him in believer's baptism, all you gotta do is let me know, and I'll take care of that.

Well, Joe, come and lead us.