We have a brother who would like
to confess the Lord Jesus Christ in believers baptism. And as I thought on and I prayed
about the message for this evening, I felt led to look at something
that pertained to baptism. Something that would help explain
what we are going to do tonight. why we are going to do it, what
it represents. And I believe that the Lord has
given me a specific message for that purpose. But the portion
of scripture that he led me to for a text is not one that you
would immediately recognize for the subject of baptism. But after
entering into this, I don't know if there's a greater portion
of scripture for the subject of baptism. Turn with me, if
you would, to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter three, verse 21. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. There are two, and I chose this
word very carefully. There are two approaches to salvation. Only one of those approaches
actually saves. There is only one way of salvation. There's only one way. There's
only one way. Man can think what he wants to,
but there's only one way. God Almighty says there's one
way. But along with that one saving
way, that one saving approach, man has added another approach
to it. His own approach. There's God's
approach. And then there's man's approach. Cain and Abel represent those
two approaches. Works and grace. That's what it is. It's one of
the two. It's either works or grace. Either a man earns his
own salvation or salvation is freely given to him through the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's one of the two. Either he
earns it or it's a free gift. That just makes sense, doesn't
it? Either you earn it or it's given to you. Now, if a man could
work his own way to God, if a man could do that, if he could do
enough And obey enough, all of these commandments God has given.
If he could obey enough, and if he could be perfect enough
for God to accept him, then he would not need the true baptism
that this water represents. If a man could provide for himself
what he needed before God, if he could sustain himself, and
protect himself, and nourish himself, and appease God Himself,
if he could save himself, then we wouldn't even be doing this. If he could, if he could make
a decision, make a choice, straighten up and fly right, turn over a
new leaf, all those things, then we wouldn't even be doing this.
This ordinance wouldn't even exist if man could work his own
way to God, if he could save himself. But here's the fact
of the matter. A man cannot work his way to
God. A man cannot, he tries and he
tries and he tries, but a man cannot work his way to God. Cain found that out. Cain found that out. Babylon
found that out. You remember they tried to build
a tower. It's called the Tower of Babel. They were going to
build their own tower to God and work their own way to God.
Babylon found out. Saul of Tarsus found out. He tried, didn't he? But Saul
of Tarsus found out. And thank God, our brother found
out. A sinner cannot work his own
way to God. He cannot work his own way to
God. He cannot do enough. He cannot
obey enough. He cannot be perfect enough.
He cannot protect himself. He cannot nourish himself. He
cannot appease God himself. Therefore, he cannot save himself. He just can't do it. Verse 21
says, but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. That means has been revealed, has come down in the form of
a man, manifested. God's righteousness can be seen. His perfection, His holiness,
everything He demands can be seen in the person of a man. Everything. Verse 21 says, without
the law. Meaning He doesn't need the law.
He is the law. He is the law. The law is the
declaration of His character. The law reveals His perfection. That's what it does. It reveals
His perfection. He does not need for the law
to assess His perfection like the law does for all of us. If
anything, He is the assessor of the law. The law trembles
to stand in His sight. Alright, now who is this manifested
righteousness of God? John said, In the beginning was
the Word. The Word was with God. The Word
was God. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. and we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth." Jesus Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. And verse 21 says, now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. Everything that was written in
the law and in the prophets was witnessing the perfection of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything. And seeing this is salvation. Seeing
this is life. Seeing this is conversion. Everything written. Every story
told. How many stories are there in
the Word of God? We learn them as a child. Someone
tells us about all these stories in the Bible. Every story told. Every commandment that the law
gave. Every foretelling of the future
that the prophets gave. All those prophets in the Old
Testament said, this is going to happen in the future. Write
it down. It's going to happen. All of
it was looking to the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
just mentioned Cain and Abel. They were both told to bring
the blood of a lamb, because that's what God told their parents,
Adam and Eve. That's what God told them they
needed after they sinned against Him. God slew a lamb. You remember that they sinned
against him. And God said, this is now the
judgment against you. And he immediately slew a lamb
and he made coats of skin to cover them. What did that coat
of skin represent? That was the righteous covering
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was the substitutionary,
that's a big word, the substitute covering of the Lord Jesus Christ. The only reason God did that
was to point them to Christ. That's the only reason. That's
the only reason he slew a lamb. It was to point them to Christ.
He said, you need a covering and you need a payment. You need
a covering of righteousness and you need a payment of blood.
God told Moses the exact same thing when God passed through
the land of Egypt to kill the firstborn male in every single
household. He said, Moses, you tell them
all, you need a lamb. Tell every one of them, you need
a lamb. The only hope that your house
has of being spared death from the judgment of God is you need
one to die in your place. And I'm telling all of us right
now the same thing. You need a lamb. You need a lamb. Judgment is coming. God is passing
back through. And the only hope we have of
being spared is we need one to die in our place. We need a lamb. God said, you need a lamb to
shed His blood for you. And you need that blood to be
presented to God. Put it all over the door of your
house. That blood needs to be presented
to God for a witness of proof that judgment has already come
to this house. Death must come to every house. And you need something to prove
death has already come here, it's already been here. And he
said, when I come through, if I see the blood, I'll pass over
you." That still applies to this day. That applies to this, not
just an old story in history. That's today's message. If He
sees the blood, He will pass over us. Now why did God tell
Moses that? When Moses gave that commandment
from God to the people, what was that law pointing to? Christ
the Lamb. You need a lamb, and there's
only one. There's only one. Can you imagine that moment?
I've thought about this moment. Can you imagine that moment when
John the Baptist was standing in Beth-Aborah beyond Jordan?
preaching the gospel of God. There that man was, standing
there to a group of people, preaching the gospel of God, and all of
a sudden, the Lord Jesus Christ walked up. Can you imagine? You remember that John's mother,
Elizabeth, and Mary were cousins. John leaped for joy knowing who the Lord was from
his mother's womb. And being that Elizabeth and
Mary, their parents were siblings, how many times do you think they
got together over those 30 years? Like families do. How many times
do you think John's heart leaped within him? Knowing who he was,
even as a child. Even so, never did John's heart
leap like it did this time. And the reason is because this
time it was time. It was time, and John knew it's
time. Now it's time. This time, John
was able to cry what he had been waiting to cry his entire life. He'd just been waiting and waiting
on God's Holy Spirit to say, cry it. And he cried, Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Every commandment concerning
a lamb in the Old Testament and every prophecy concerning a lamb
in the Old Testament, Isaiah 53. All of it was pointing us
to Christ. It was all a picture of Christ. That's what it was. That's why
it was. It was a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. In the book of the Law of Moses
called Genesis, It says, God looked down on all the men and
women that walked the face of the earth, and He saw that every
man and woman's heart was only evil continually. And that's
still the case. Starting right here. It's still
the case. And it says, it repented Him
that He had made man, and it grieved Him at His heart. But it says, He looked down at
this one man in all the earth. He looked down
at this one man who was just as sinful and just as wicked
and just as evil as every other man. No different from any other man.
Except for the fact that God purposed something in his heart
for that man. Have you ever seen an ant, one
ant, crawling across your stuff? Have you ever seen one ant, just
as much an ant as any other ant, just as much on your stuff as
any other ant? Have you ever seen an ant and
said in your heart, I'm not gonna kill you. You ever done that?
I'm gonna let you go. I'm gonna let you live. Well, it says, God looked down
on this one man named Noah and Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And he said, I'm not gonna kill
you. I'm going to let you live. He said, Noah, build an ark. Everything you need is going
to be inside that ark. Everything you need, all of your
provision will be inside that ark. All of your protection will
be inside that ark. Your life will be inside that
ark. And you tell the whole world,
Noah, you tell everybody, whoever has this ark has life. And whoever does not have this
ark does not have life. And when the time of God's judgment
came and the rain fell and everything and everyone on this earth sunk
to the bottom, that ark rose to the top. And every soul in
that ark rose with that ark. Why was that story recorded in
God's word? So you could have a baby and
decorate the nursery with Noah's ark? It was to point us to Christ. It was to point us to the Lord
Jesus Christ. That ark is a picture. It's a
picture. of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
all it is. That's the whole reason it was given, the whole reason
it was recorded. It's a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ in the book of Exodus. The law has recorded for us,
the law witnesses for us the story of a smitten rock. And
I'm going to tell it to you because I believe you would rather hear
it this way through the mouth of a five-year-old. Last Wednesday night, Bob's daughter,
Carrie, and her family was here. And Lucy, when she was five years
old, we visited their house. I don't know how many times I've
told this story, and I love telling it every time, every time I tell
it. Everybody here just about has heard it. but we were visiting their house.
She's probably about 17 now. She was five years old, and they
called us to the table, and they told me where to sit, and I sat
down, and Lucy sat next to me, and she had this paper she'd
colored in her hand, and I said, well, that's a beautiful picture
you have. She colored it in Sunday school. I said, that sure is
a beautiful picture you have there, and she said, thank you.
You want me to tell you about it? And I said, I sure do. And she held it up and it had
a man on it with a waterfall and a whole bunch of people in
the background. And she said, well, this is Moses. And these
are the children of Israel. And Moses delivered them into
the wilderness, but they got out there and they started whining
and complaining. And they just kept on whining
and complaining. They said, we're so thirsty,
Moses. We're just so thirsty. And she
just, and they just wouldn't stop whining and complaining
and whining and complaining. She said, so do you know what
Moses did? And I said, what? She said, he
struck the rock. And she said, do you know what
came out of that rock? And I said, what? She said, living
water. And the people drank and they
drank and they were so satisfied. And she said, do you know who
that rock was? And I said, who? She said, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And she said, do you know what
that rock did? And I said, what? She said, it
followed the Israelites wherever they went. Why did God tell Moses to smite
that rock? To point us to Christ. It's a
picture of Christ. That's what it is. The manna that came down, that's
Christ the heavenly bread. The serpent that Moses lifted
up on a pole, that's Christ being made the very thing that was
killing his people. God filled his Old Testament
with pictures of Christ. All of the law and the prophets
witnessed Christ, the righteousness of God, and God's New Testament
does the exact same thing. It is full of pictures that point
us to Christ. That's one of them. That's a
picture. That's what that is. What is
about to happen in this water, pictures what has already happened
in the person and the work and the blood and the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is just another picture
of our lamb. It's another picture of our ark. It's another picture of our rock
that was smitten. We cannot save ourselves. The only hope of salvation that
we have is in the death, the burial, and the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is appointed unto man once
to die, once. And this confession says, we
died in Him. We did. We died. That horrible
separation from God that we were owed because of our sin, that
took place in Christ. When He was separated from God,
we were separated from God in Him. When He was forsaken, we
were forsaken in Him. And it's done. It's appointed
once and it's done. One time. When He died, we died. When He was buried, we were buried. And when He arose, we arose. What that means is water doesn't
save. Doesn't save. Water cannot save. Not one time
has water saved anybody. Christ is the Savior of sinners. Salvation is in His blood. This
is just a confession of our union with Him. In this, our brother
is about to confess that his life is in Christ, hid with Christ. He's about to
confess that he believes Christ. I had a talk with him, he told
me so. He believes Christ. He believes His Word. That's
what He's saying. He believes on Him as His only
hope before God. And that's right, isn't it? Christ
is your only hope before God. Mine too. Turn with me, if you would, to
John chapter 11. John 11, Lazarus has just died
and his sister Martha comes to the Lord in her sorrow. Verse
23, and Jesus saith unto her, thy
brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the
resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? He said,
do you believe this? Verse 27 is what we're about
to confess. She saith unto him, Yea, Lord,
I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God. I believe you
are the Messiah. I believe you are the only mediator
between God and men. I believe you're the Savior of
sinners. which should come into the world." That eunuch said, right there's some water. What
doth hinder me to be baptized? Philip said, if you believe with
all your heart, if you believe that with all your heart, then
you're welcome to tell the world. You can tell everybody. I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God that took away my sin
and saved my soul. That's what you believe in. That's
what you want to tell the world. That's what he wants to tell
everybody here. He wants everybody here to know that. All right,
brother, you come on up.