morning again there are the final plans there
is or which is it the final plans for our new building are on the
table at the back of the Auditorium if you want to take a look at
them. We are in the permitting stage now and should be finished
with that By the end of this month so One One blessing is that all
the work that's gone into developing those plans is about $15,000
worth and our contractor told me Tuesday that he wanted to make
that his contribution to the to the building. So We're not
paying anything for all that Very thankful for that Number
42 Tom's gonna come lead us. Let us praise the name of Jesus. I ? Let us praise the name of Jesus
? ? Prophet, priest and sovereign king ? ? To him render adoration
? ? Lord and homage to him bring ? ? Let us praise the name of
Jesus ? God incarnate from above Came to save his chosen people
Sent by God in covenant love ? Let us praise the name of Jesus
? ? Who upon Mount Calvary ? ? Shed his blood and sealed our pardon
? ? Died for sin to set us free ? ? Let us praise the name of
Jesus ? Prison-conquering, gracious friend, Advocate and mediator,
All our hopes depend on Him. ? Let us praise the name of Jesus
? ? For he brought us to his fold ? ? Come exalt his name
and worship ? ? May the Savior be extolled ? ? Let us praise
the name of Jesus ? till we see him face to face. Then throughout the endless ages,
praise him for his love and grace. Please be seated. Please be seated. Good morning. Three men appeared to Abraham,
as he said, in his tent door. The Lord Jesus Christ and two
men, and we don't know who they were, and it's not important.
He, the Lord, has come to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis chapter
18. Genesis chapter 18 and verse
20. And the Lord said, because of
the cry of Solomon, Gamara is great. And because of their sin
is very grievous. I will go down now and see if
they have done all together according to the cry, which has come up
to me. And if not, I will know it. And the men turned their faces
from thither and went towards Sodom. And Abraham stood yet
before the Lord. And Abraham drew near and said,
wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked? For adventure
there be 50 righteous in Sodom. Wilt thou destroy and not save
the place Be it far from thee to do after this manner, to slay
the righteous with the wicked, to make the righteous as the
wicked, that be far from thee. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? And the Lord said, if I find
therein 50 righteous, I will not destroy the place for the
sake of the 50 righteous. And Abraham said, behold, now
I take upon myself, I take upon me to speak to the Lord, which
am but dust and ashes. This is not about Sodom and Gomorrah. I could care less about Sodom
and Gomorrah. It's about the faith to look
at the situation, no matter what it is, no matter how bad it is,
no matter what occurs in our life, and know in our hearts
that the judge of all the earth will do right. That he will work
all things together for our good because we love God and because
we are the called according to his purpose. It's the grace to
know that no matter what your circumstances are, God will do
right. The other thing is the ability
given to us by the Holy Spirit to know who we are when we stand
before Christ. And we do this morning. We're
two or more gathered in my name there while I'll be in the midst
of you. He is here this morning with us. And we are but dust
and ashes, that's it. The thing to remember is we're
not our own, we're bought with a price. We are God's dust and
ashes. Father, we thank you for calling
us out of a world of sin, Father, opening our eyes to the scripture,
opening our hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ, causing us to love
you, Father, because you loved us first. We'd ask, Father, that
you'd give us the grace, the faith to do the things that we
talk about, Father, that you'd increase our faith, you'd You'd
help our unbelief. You'd cause us to know, Father,
that no matter if we're nothing but flesh, Father, we're born
a sinner, we live a sinner, and we die a sinner, the Lord Jesus
Christ owns us and loves us and paid for us, Father. And that's
what counts, not who we are or where we live or anything else.
We'd ask father you'd be with Greg and give him the grace father
to bring us a gospel message that we might stand before you
father and learn and and and go away from here knowing that
God loves us. God takes care of us and God
watches over us. We ask these things in Jesus
name, Amen. Let's all stand together once
again. We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin,
the hymn on the back of the bulletin. Come Thou Almighty Comforter
and bring upon Thy wing sweet consolation to each soul that
we may praise and sing We want to hear, we want to see, we want
to know Christ more. We want sweet foretaste of His
love, as we have had before. And shall we come in vain to
God? O Lord, that cannot be! Thy promise stands in gates to
come, And bless even two or three. Lord, give more love, more sincere
faith, more confidence in thee. Break off our legal chains, O
God, and let our souls be free. Please be seated. Oh child of God, stand fast in
the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free. Be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. That's a good hymn. It was a
good line. Break our chains. We open your
Bibles with me to Malachi chapter 1. Malachi chapter 1. Please forgive me if this title
seems somewhat clever. It's not intended to be. There's
a phrase that we've been listening to for some time in the news
of late, quid pro quo. That's the title of this message,
quid pro quo. It's a fancy Latin term that
just simply translated means something for something. That
a politician would use his political power for personal gain, what
has the world come to? Truth is, all of life is a quid
pro quo. You make your mortgage payment
and your bank allows you to live in their house. You show up to
work and your employee gives you a paycheck. Marriage is even
a quid pro quo, isn't it? We enter into a covenant relationship
with our spouse, promising love and fidelity, and they promise
that back in return. And so there's something for
something. The problem is that men, because
they live in this world of quid pro quo, they have come to the
conclusion that salvation is a something for something relationship. The problem is that they've got
both somethings wrong. They offer something for something. What they offer is their works,
their will, their righteousness in hopes that God will give them
some temporal blessings. Um, that something for something
salvation makes what the politicians do look honorable and virtuous. We rob God of his glory when
we think that we can offer him something and that in return,
he will reward us with something. Truth is, there's only one quid
pro quo that's honorable. When the Lord Jesus Christ came
into this world, he offered himself, not to us, but to his father. He laid down his life for his
bride. It was blood for bride. That's
what it was. The father saw his blood and
rewarded him with his bride. It's the only something for something. that gives to God all the glory
and all the praise. What man offers God is not sufficient,
and what he wants in return is nothing more than temporal blessings. That's the problem with man's
something-for-something salvation. You have your Bibles open to
Malachi chapter 1. This is exactly what this passage
of scripture is about. The priest ministering in the
temple, like Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were taking bribes.
They would perform their service to God for a reward from the
people. And the Lord in his righteous
indignation calls them to task when he says in verse 10, who
is there even among you that would shut the doors for naught?
Neither do you kindle fire on my altar for naught. You're doing this in order to
get a reward. You're performing your works
of service and sacrifice to God in order to get something from
God in return. And the Lord says, I have no
pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept
an offering at your hand. You're making your offerings
for the wrong, for the wrong reward. For from the rising of the sun
even to the going down of the same, my name shall be great
among the Gentiles. And in every place incense shall
be offered unto my name and a pure offering for my name shall be
great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts. Now what is
incense symbolic of in the scriptures? clearly over and over again,
it's prayer. It's prayer. Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ
began his public ministry and he went into the temple in Jerusalem,
the scripture says that he turned over the tables of the money
changers who were merchandising men's soul for their own profit. It was a religion for hire, mercenary
religion, if you will. I'll do this for God and God
will give me this in return. The problem is that the something
that they were offering was their works and the something that
they were looking for in return was temporal blessings. And the Lord was angry. And what did he accuse them of?
You've turned my house of prayer into a den of thieves. Now what is prayer? This incense
is prayer. What is prayer? Is prayer what
we offer to God in hopes of getting a reward for the sincerity of
our prayers? A prayer is an expression of
faith. Prayer is what faith does. Prayer, if you will, is faith
breathing. It's the life of faith. And faith
is not, as many people understand it, some sort of stalwart character
of religiosity and determination and commitment. Prayer is an
expression of our dependence The only time we ever pray is
when we've got no place else to go. That's the only time we
really pray. Lord, I can't do anything but
plead for your mercy. Now, salvation is not God rewarding
our prayer, but prayer is the expression of faith. It's just
what faith does. It cries out to God for mercy. It says, God, have mercy upon
me, the sinner. It is the cry of a child who's
not able to fend for himself or provide for himself. And the
Lord said, lest you become as a little child, you should not
enter the kingdom of heaven. Suffer the little children to
come unto me. And so what religion does, it takes the house of prayer
and we've come here today to pray, to pray, to come before
our God and to express our utter dependence, our utter inability,
our faith, if you will, that the Lord Jesus Christ must do
all the saving. He's the only one that's able
to offer to God something that God's pleased with. And he's
the only one, as we saw in the previous hour, that got the victory. What is quid pro quo for? It's putting the other person
under obligation, isn't it? I will, and God shall. And you just fill in the blanks. There's only one person ever
obligated God. Oh, and he did obligate him.
The father was obligated to fulfill the promises that he made to
his son in providing him a bride for the offering that the Lord
Jesus Christ made to his father. And what Malachi is exposing
here is the religion of personal gain. It's the religion of personal
gain. And instead of looking in faith
to the offering of Christ, that you see Christ is the offering
and Christ is the reward. So the something for something,
Christ is all in all. He's the, you just changed the
word something to Christ, Christ for Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ
himself made himself the offering and he himself is the reward. Now that takes us completely
out of the equation. We're not, we're not, we're not
obligating God. We're not offering God anything
like these, like these priests were. And the Lord's saying,
is there not anybody that will, that will worship me for naught? Or is it that you are looking
for some sort of personal profit and personal reward for your
service? God's people say, Lord, I've
got not to offer you. If the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ is not the something that gains me something. Then. Then I I've got nothing else
to offer. Mercenary religion is what? Is
what most men practice? Religion for profit. 2nd Peter chapter 2 verse 3,
with covetousness and feigned words. Speaking of those false
prophets, with covetousness and with feigned words they make
merchandise of you. Men merchandise one another for
personal profit. And God said in Deuteronomy 10,
verse 16, he regardeth not the person nor taketh reward. Nothing you and I can do to obligate
God to bless us in this life or in the life to come, nothing
we can do. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
came to do. He offered, so what do we, This
house of prayer now becomes a place where the incense goes up from
the burning heart, trusting that the Lord Jesus Christ is the
offering that God's pleased with. You still have your Bibles open
Malachi chapter one. Look at verse 12, but you have
profaned it. the altar and the table of the
Lord. That is to say, the table of the Lord is polluted and the
fruit thereof, even as meat is contemptible. And you said also,
behold, what a weariness is it? And you have snuffed at it, saith
the Lord of hosts. And you brought that which was
torn and lame and sick. Thus you brought an offering.
Should I accept this at your hand, saith the Lord? You see,
everything that we bring is lame and sick. Our commitments, our
prayers, our sacrifices, our service, everything is lame and
sick. And the Lord says, you put your
offerings on the altar and you've polluted the altar. There's one
sacrifice that I'm pleased with. It is the blood of my son. And
when the Lord instructed Aaron where to put the blood on the
mercy seat, God said, Here, I will meet with you, no place else,
no place else. But men pollute the altar of
God with their presumed sacrifices. So the something that they offer
is polluted. Verse 14, But cursed be the deceiver. A deceiver, a liar. Satan's the
father of all lies. He's the architect of this something
for something gospel. This works gospel, Satan is.
And he's deceived the whole world to believe him. that somehow
because everything else in life is something for something, God's
going to enter into that covenant bargain with you. And here's
what God says, but cursed to be the deceiver, which hath in
his flock a male, a lamb without spot and without blemish. Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, and higher than the heavens. Here's the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. You have him in your flock. He's
there among you. But instead of offering that, you vow and sacrifice unto the
Lord a corrupt thing. For I am a great king, saith
the Lord of hosts. And my name is dreadful among
the heathen. My name is dreadful among the
heathen. Let me ask you a question. Without
the Lord Jesus Christ as your righteousness, are you heathen? His name is dreadful among the
heathen. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
9. Hebrews chapter 9. Here's the first something. Here's
the first something. God says, yes, this gospel is
a something for something gospel. The problem is that both my somethings
are Christ. It's Christ for Christ. He's
all and He's in all. It's not your works for your
profit. Hebrews chapter 9, look at verse
11. But Christ, being come a high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of bulls and goats, but by his own blood
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. When the Lord Jesus Christ bowed
his head on Calvary's cross, when he got the victory, when
he said it is finished, the veil was rent and symbolically the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was put on a mercy seat. Not on that mercy seat made with
hands, but on the one in heaven. God saw his blood and that mercy
seat obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls
and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled the unclean, sanctified
to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God. Do you get that? The Lord Jesus
Christ offered himself without spot to God. Oh, that makes all the difference
in the world. That's the something for something. Blood for the
bride. The Lord Jesus Christ, contrary
to what you hear in religion today, was not making us an offer
of salvation. He was offering himself without
spot to God. And what's revealed in Malachi
chapter 1 is what men do when they pollute the altar of God
by holding back on that male lamb and offering to God something
that's insufficient. What does this offering that
the Lord Jesus Christ made to God do? Well, look at the rest
of verse 14. It purges your conscience from
dead works to serve the living God. It delivers you from the
first something. It delivers you from thinking
that my works are somehow going to earn me favor with God. It delivers you from the law.
It delivers you from the fear of God's wrath and judgment.
Never knowing if you've done enough. I've been by the bedside of people
who have left this world asking, I wonder if I've done enough.
Have I done enough? Have I done enough? Is God going
to be pleased? No, He's not. The something for something gospel
that men have is a false gospel. Now we're not talking, listen
very carefully, we're not talking about just a different emphasis
of doctrine here. We're talking about a different
God. We're talking about a different
gospel. We're talking about the difference between life and death,
between eternal salvation and eternal damnation. People hear
us preach and they try to fit what they're hearing into their
preconceived ideas about God and salvation and it doesn't
fit. It doesn't fit. Oh, your conscience, child of
God, is purged from your dead works. You're able to say with
joy, yes. Amen. Truth, Lord, I am a dog. Truth, Lord, in me there is no
righteousness. Truth, Lord, I have never offered
you anything that would obligate you for anything, most especially
the salvation of my soul. Preacher, keep reminding me that
I'm a dead dog sinner because I will look to something in me
and my conscience will not be clear. The only way your conscience
can be purged and clear is when you are no longer looking to
yourself for any of your acceptance with God. Then you're free to serve the
living God. Without any thought of obligating
him to serve him, to serve him out of love, serve him out of
gratitude, to serve him for what he's done, always knowing that
you are but an unprofitable servant. Isn't that what the scripture
says? I've done everything I can do. I'm still just an unprofitable
servant. Lord, I can't look to my service.
I'm free. I'm free to love. I'm free to
serve God, knowing that the something has been satisfied. And for this cause, He, the Lord
Jesus Christ, is the mediator of the new covenant that by means
of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were
under the first testament, they which are called might receive
the promise of eternal inheritance. You see salvation is by promise,
it's not by works. And it's not because of a promise
that we make to God. It's a promise that God made
to God. It's a promise that God made
to us. It's he's the one that's faithful to all of his promises.
It's the Lord saying to us in Malachi chapter one, don't put
anything on the altar that's lame and sick and broken and
defiled. The something. that God's pleased
with, the something that God's obligated by, is the life and
death of his dear son. And God said, what about the
resurrection? Well, that's the fulfillment
of the obligation. God the Father was obligated
to raise his son from the death because he was pleased with what
he had done. He was pleased. You see, the
resurrection is God's testimony to us that
He's pleased. That's what the resurrection
is. The Lord said to those Pharisees, to those who were trying to get
something for something, the Lord said to them, you're doing this all wrong. You're doing this for reward.
And a wicked and perverse generation is seeking after a sign. But
no sign will be given to this generation except for the sign
of Jonah. The sign of Jonah. Now, if Christ is the first something,
something for something, then what is the second something? And the answer to that is Christ. You remember in Matthew chapter
19 when the disciples in amazement that a rich man was hard for
a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, the disciples said,
who then can be saved? And the Lord said, with man it
is impossible, with God all things are possible. And then Peter
said, Lord, we have forsaken all for you. What's in it for us? That's what
Peter was saying. What's in it for us? What are
we going to get? What's our reward? And turn to me to that passage
of scripture, Matthew chapter 20. Look at verse, the chapter 19,
look at verse 27. Then answered Peter and said
to him, behold, we have forsaken all and followed thee. What shall
we have therefore? Oh, Peter was looking for, for
something more than Christ. What did the Lord say to Abraham? I am thy shield and I am thy
exceeding great reward. Peter said, what's in it for
me? And look what the Lord said in verse 28. And Jesus said unto
them, Verily I say unto you, that you which have followed
me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the
throne of His glory, you shall also sit upon twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone that hath
forsaken houses, and brethren, and sisters, and father, and
mother, and wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake,
shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit Eternal life. That's what's in it for you.
Eternal life. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
our eternal life. Chapter 20 of Matthew is the
parable that the Lord gave about the man who owned a vineyard
who went down to the day labor in the morning and hired some
men and agreed to pay them a penny apiece. You remember? And then
he went back I think three times during the day and finally the
last time in the last hour of the day. What are you still doing
here? No one's hired us. Come on. And the ones that had
worked in the heat of the day all day long thought they were
going to get more than what they bargained for. And when the end
of the day was over, the master took all of his workers and he
paid them all a penny, paid them all exactly the same thing. The
one who had worked all day in the heat of the day, the one
that had worked one hour at the end of the day, they all got
the same amount. You see, the Lord was giving that parable
in order to, in order to illustrate what he had just said to Peter
in the previous chapter. The apostle Paul, Peter himself
received exactly the same reward that the thief on the cross received. This idea that I'm going to obligate
God to reward me with more than Christ. What greater reward is
there? People speak of different rewards
in heaven based on how faithful and how much you've done for
God here in this world. It's not true. It's exactly the
point of that parable. We all get the same thing. And
what is that same thing that we get? Christ. Christ. He is our reward. In first Samuel chapter 30, after
David had recovered all that had been taken by the Amalekites,
when they burned the city of Ziklag, David's a picture of
Christ there. He recovered everything. And
that's what Christ did on Calvary's cross. But after that, When the
men got together, David had 600 soldiers, 600 warriors. And the
scripture says that 200 of them were too weary to go into battle. And so they stayed behind with
the stuff. And 400 of them went into battle
against the Amalekites and routed the Amalekites, destroyed the
Amalekites, recovered everything back. And when they got back
to where the 200 were staying, The 400 said, they're not getting
any of the spoil. They can have their wives and
children, but they're not getting any of the spoil because they
didn't go to battle. And David wrote a decree. And he said, every Israelite,
every one of my men receives exactly the same portion. And
the scripture, and that story ends with, and that decree stands
to this day. Now that's a picture. You see,
regardless of how, how, how fervent you fought in the battle, or
regardless of you were too weary, you had to stay back with the
stuff. When the Lord Jesus Christ divides up the spoil, he gives
himself. And it's the same reward for
every one of his children. And I hear someone saying, you
can't tell people that it'll take away their motivation for
service. That's a person under the law
is all that is. They've talked like that because
for the child of God, there's nothing that moves his heart
more to serve the Lord than to know that he is rewarded with
something that he didn't earn. That the something that was offered.
Was Christ. And the something that he gets
in reward is Christ. In Christ is all he wants. All he wants. You see, men are
looking for temporal rewards. I told our folks Wednesday night
I know how to. I know how to fill up this building.
I know how to fill up the new building. All we'd have to do
is publish out into the community that we're gonna have a series
of sermons on the biblical principles of successful marriage. And people would come. Or we
could say, we're gonna teach on God's way to raise children. And these buildings would be
full. Or I could preach a series of sermons on biblical principles
to a healthy diet. And people would come. Why? Because everybody's got a quid
pro quo gospel. Everybody's looking for the wrong
something. All they've got is their flesh.
And if you promise them some benefit To their life in this
world. Some blessing that they can earn
if they just put these principles into practice. Oh, they'll come. But the natural man. Has no interest
in Christ and him crucified. Oh, that's. That's later on. I need something for now. I need
I need. You see, it's a miracle of grace
that God would put in anybody's heart a desire and a need for
the Lord Jesus Christ. The natural man's not interested
in Christ. He hates Christ. He, he, he,
he's got the lamb, the males in the flock. But instead he
brings a polluted offering and he puts it upon God's altar,
a broken offering. Why? Because he's looking, will
nobody come and serve me for naught? You see? Will you not
open the doors for naught? Will you not make the sacrifices
for naught? Or are you doing it for a reward?
For the temporal reward of somehow improving your life here in this
world. What did the Lord say in Matthew
chapter six? Consider the lilies of the field,
for they toil not, neither do they spin, but Solomon in all
of his glory was not arrayed as one of them. How about the
birds of the air? Your heavenly father feeds them.
Does not your heavenly father know your needs? He's going to
provide for whatever you need in this life. Don't think that
you're going to obligate God with a quid pro quo gospel or
salvation. That's going to obligate him
to somehow your heavenly father knows what you have need for.
But for those things, the Gentiles seek after. That's what the unbelievers
living his life for. That's what the religious person
is serving God for. But you. Seek first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ is
the kingdom of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
righteousness of God. Seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness. All these other things will be
added unto you. Men serve God for reward. Blessed are you. When they revile
you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you
for my name's sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad. For great. Is your reward? In heaven. in heaven. All to wake and be made like
him. Your reward is in heaven. Christ himself is our reward. One last passage of scripture
I'd like for you to turn to, 1 Samuel chapter 17. 1 Samuel
chapter 17. Goliath is proudly standing up
against not Saul and his army, but he's standing up against
God. And young David comes to bring
supplies for his brothers and David sees this uncircumcised
Philistine and he's talking to his brothers. Look in verse 25,
and the men of Israel said, have you seen this man that has come
up? They're talking to David. Surely
to defy Israel, he has come up, and it shall be that the man
who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches
and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free
in Israel." The man that defeats the Goliath,
the man that gets the victory, is gonna get the king's daughter
and he's gonna be free of paying taxes his whole household the
rest of his life now that's David that David is
our Christ and that's the covenant that he made with the father
I'll defeat the enemy I'll defeat death I'll defeat sin I'll defeat
hell I'll defeat Satan all by myself I'll get the victory,
and you'll reward me with my bride, the king's daughter, and my household,
me and my wife, and all my children are going to be free. That's quid pro quo. That's something
for something. The Lord Jesus Christ got the
victory. The father rewarded him with
his bride. And his family. Is free from
the law. Free. Free. Free. Our Heavenly Father. We confess to you like Peter,
we often. We often think. That. The reward that we need
is something here temporal. Thank you for reminding us this
morning that the reward that we need is Christ. And that. That which obligated you. Was
Christ. Lord, we are. So often. In this world and find ourselves
becoming of this world and we pray that you would remind us
once again this morning that we are not of this world and
that we're to set our affections on things above where the Lord
Jesus Christ is seated at thy right hand. We pray that you
would bless. The ordinance of baptism to your
glory and we pray that you would bless the table. And cause us
to see. That Christ is all and that he
is in all for it's in his name we pray. Amen. All right, let's stand together.
Tom, you're gonna lead us in a hymn. Did Victor go to get
ready? Go ahead and get ready, Victor.
We'll have baptism after a hymn. Let's stand together. Number
190, number 190. We bless the name of Christ the
Lord, we bless him for his holy word, who loved to do his Father's
will, and all his righteousness fulfill. We follow Him with pure
delight, To sanctify His sacred right, And thus our faith with
water seal, To prove obedience that we feel. Baptized in God the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, three in one, with conscience free, we rest
in God, in love and peace through Jesus' blood. By grace we Abba Father cry,
by grace the Comforter comes nigh, and for thy grace our love
shall be forever only, Lord, for thee. has been probably, is this working? It falls in there, it's not wired
or anything. Rachel Racente first started
talking to Victor a year or two ago, maybe two years ago, and
Victor came several times and Heard the gospel and. He moved out to Colorado about
a year ago and has been watching and listening to services from
there. And he's in town for. A funeral of a friend and ask
if he could be baptized while it was here. So we've had a chance
to talk a few times and I'm just very, very thankful for the hope
that the Lord has given you victory in Christ. And it's our great
joy to baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and
the Holy Spirit, buried with Christ in baptism and raised
to walk a new life in Christ Jesus. And all God's people said,
amen, amen. If you haven't gotten to know
Victor, I hope you'll do that today. Victor Chinn. He'll be
headed back out to Colorado soon, and we'll come and visit as often
as he can. Tom, we're going to go straight
into the Lord's Table. I'm going to ask the men if they'll
come and help with the Lord's Table. Number 17 in your Spiral Gospel
Hymnal, number 17. See the table spread before you,
see the feast of bread and wine. These are symbols of our Savior,
tokens of His love divine. Bread that's broken is his body
Crushed beneath the wrath of God Wine poured out is a reminder
Of our Savior's precious blood Children of our God, remember
how he bought your soul and mine. In remembrance of our Savior,
eat the bread and drink the wine. Jesus came, the God incarnate,
to fulfill God's holy love. On the cross he made atonement
and retrieved our Let us never forget the promise
Jesus made to come again. Soon he comes, our King, to call
us home to glory. Praise his name. With this hope
and expectation We rejoice to keep this feast Celebrating our
redemption Till we lean on Jesus' breast At him we just sang, we rejoice to keep this feast,
celebrating his redemption. And that's what this is, it's
a celebration. Victor grew up the same way I
did. He was a Roman Catholic. And we were taught growing up
that we could obligate God if we took
the bread and the wine into our bodies that we would be physically
taking Christ in and it was definitely a something for something gospel.
But we understand now that these are types, they're pictures,
they're very precious and very meaningful in that they remind
us of the sinless perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. that
by his obedience, he offered himself to the father and the
father was satisfied because the sins he bore were ours. He was the lamb without spot
and without blemish. And he he got the victory, didn't
he? He got the victory. The Lord
said, as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me. In remembrance. It's a memorial. We saw Wednesday night that every
time we come together, we're having a memorial service, a
remembrance of him and. What a good thing to be reminded
of. That the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses us of all
sin, all sin. Do this in remembrance of me. All God's people said, amen,
amen. Let's stand together. I hope
you'll come by and speak to Victor. Don Williams, would you close
our service in prayer, please, brother? Could do.