Let me see. Alright, go back to Acts chapter
2 with me. Acts chapter 2. Most everyone is somewhat familiar
with this story. Most everyone thinks they have
an idea of what happened at Pentecost, that time, that feast time, nearly
two thousand, well over, less than two thousand years ago.
And there's even a whole system of religion that formed itself
and calls itself by the name Pentecostal. Now, no doubt a
miracle took place. There's no doubt that a great
miracle, an outpouring of God's Spirit, took place this day in
saving power. But there's something we need
to keep in mind, something that most people are ignorant The
apostles were preaching. That's what they were doing.
They were preaching. That's all they were doing. They were preaching. And they
were not speaking in an undiscernible language, a ridiculous gibberish. You've heard me call it Fred
Flintstone, yabba-dabba-doo, you know, something that nobody
understands so that everybody That's not what they were doing.
Look at verse 4. I'll show you. In verse 4, it
says, chapter 2, verse 4, they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost and began to speak with other tongues, or the word is
languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Verse 5, and
they were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every
nation under heaven. And verse 8 says, they said,
Verse 7 said, Aren't these Galileans? Aren't these fellows from Galilee?
Aren't these Jews from Galilee? How is it we hear every man in
our own language? Do you see that? They were hearing,
not only apostles, but there were 120 disciples back then. hearing people talk and speak
and witness to others in languages of the people. And it gives a
listing of all those various languages that they heard. And
what they were doing was preaching and speaking to the people. Verse
11, Cretan Arabian, we do hear them speak in our tongues, in
our languages. What are they speaking? What
are they saying? the wonderful works of God, talking about the
God of the Bible, His majesty, His glory, His person, His work,
His saving work in Christ Jesus. That's what they were talking
about in languages of the people. There was none of this wild nonsense
that you see going on today in so-called Pentecostal or charismatic
religion. No, sir. That's absolutely another
spirit. Paul makes that claim in 1 Corinthians
14. He said there's no tongue or
language without significance. And if someone does speak in
an undiscernible language, it causes confusion. You don't do
that. That's not of God. But it was
simply men standing up preaching God's Word and declaring the
truth. And God used it, and as I, well,
the reason this happened, the reason the outpouring of God's
Spirit in such a miraculous way, that God Almighty taught the
apostles languages that they'd never been in school to learn.
They didn't have time to go to language school and spend five
years and learn the language of the Cretes. But God in His
power immediately gave them the ability to speak several languages. Why? Because they're going to
go throughout the world preaching. Like Christ said, go into all
the world preaching the gospel. Every preacher, he said, preached
the gospel to the Greeks. Well, I don't, Lord, I don't
know Arabian. You will. I'm going to teach
it to you miraculously, immediately. That's what happened. And then
on this particular day, When it says there were a devout majority
of Jews, people out of every nation under heaven, this is
what happened. And God Almighty, through Joel,
the prophet, prophesied of this day coming. Christ said it. He
said, when I leave, I'll send my Spirit. And this was for the
outpouring of God's Spirit upon his people to go into all the
world and preach the gospel. His church that was located in
Jerusalem, just Jerusalem at that time, among Jewish people
at that time, not the Gentiles, was like a milkweed pod. You
hear that? Opened up a milkweed pod, and
it's all condensed. And when you open it up and let
the wind blow it, it goes everywhere. And wherever God in His sovereign
power has those little seeds land, they'll grow another milkweed
pod. So it was with God's church.
That's what was happening. And as I said, there was none
of this foolish, ridiculous nonsense going on today. All this wildfire
and speaking in an undiscernable language. No, sir. No, sir. That is the Spirit. It's not
the Spirit of God. Because these people heard the
gospel. They heard the truth. It's the truth that sets people
free. And we're going to hear what
they were saying. Peter is going to preach. We're going to hear
what it was that God used to save 3,000 people. Peter's going
to sum it all up. Peter's the spokesman. Peter's
speaking here. Now, let's begin all the way
down in verse 20. 20 and 21. It says, The sun shall
be turned. Now, he's quoting Joel. Now,
people, you need to remember, Most of this is speaking about
the days preceding the coming of Christ the first time. Do you understand that? Joel is
prophesying of what happened then and the things preceding
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom Malachi said will
come as a refiner's fire and a fuller's soap. And when Christ
died on that cross, it says the sun was darkened and the earth
shook. These things happen. Verse 20, "...the sun shall be
turned into darkness, the moon into blood, before that great
and notable day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Now, he's going to preach. Now, when this was over, before
I try to preach his message, when this was over, when he finished
preaching, nobody was talking about tongues. Nobody. They were at first. It
was amazing. It was a miracle what had happened. But after they heard Peter preach,
nobody was talking about tongues. Nobody was even talking about
the Holy Spirit. Nobody was talking about miracles
and signs and wonders. Nobody. No. They were talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the Holy Spirit does.
That's what Christ said in John 14, John 16. He says, when the
Comforter comes, whom I shall send, he will take the things
of mine and show them unto you. He said he will convince the
world of sin because they believe not on me, of righteousness because
I go to the Father, of judgment because the prince of this world
is judged. All in relation to Christ. That's
what the Holy Spirit does. And that's how you'll know. Christ will be preached, and
people will go away looking to and believing and being taken
up with and worshiping Christ, not tongues, not the Spirit,
and not the preacher. That's how you know. He'll not speak of himself, Christ
said of the Holy Spirit. He'll not speak of himself, and
neither will people be speaking of him. They'll be speaking of
Christ. That's significant. You're hearing something the
world's not hearing. All right, now Peter's going to preach.
Here's his message. He said, that notable day of the Lord
shall come, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall
be saved. Well, Paul said, how shall they call on him of whom
they've not heard? Well, Peter's going to tell them who it is.
He's going to tell them who this Lord is. He's going to tell them. He says this,
"'Ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth.'" Paul in Philippians 2 said, "'At
the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess
that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father.'" Everyone
will, now or later, sooner or later. He is Lord. "'The day
of the Lord has come,' Peter said. He was here. Peter is going to declare who
the Lord is. He didn't, now notice with me
throughout this message, he did not give a so-called altar call. At the end of this message, he
didn't ask anybody to do anything. That's a man-made thing. You'll
not find that in the Bible anywhere. No preacher ever, after the message
was over, said, now you'll come down front and shake hands. That's
a man glorying in men. That's a man taking credit for
somebody coming down there. He didn't ask anybody, will you
accept Jesus as your personal Savior? Peter did not say that. No apostle ever said that one
time in God's Word. Ever asked anybody at one time,
will you accept Jesus as your personal Savior? Not one time. Not one time did
any apostle ever say, will you let Jesus into your heart? He's
outside knocking on your door. Not one time I challenge anybody
throughout this world to show me in this book one time where
any of the apostles or preachers ever asked sinners to do something
with Jesus. When this was over, When Peter
got through declaring who the Jesus Christ of Scriptures is,
Brother Henry, they began begging Him. The people began asking
them, what shall we do? The Spirit of God moving on the
hearts of the people. Christ is not the beggar. Human
beings are. And when the Christ of Scriptures
is declared as He is, sinners will call on him and ask him. You don't have to tell people
what to do. They'll ask you. You don't have
to give them a book on how to live a Christian life. They've
got a book. When this was over, when Peter
began, and what was it? Preaching Christ. That's all
he did. All he did was stand up and tell
who Christ was and where he is now. And when it was over, huh,
they were convicted. They did ask. And the very same thing happens
today, people, the very same thing happens whenever God Almighty
moves in the heart of somebody, whenever the Spirit of God, who
still moves and blows where it listeth, our Lord said, Every single person upon whom
the Holy Spirit of God descends and takes the things of Christ,
who he is, and shows them unto them, they'll ask the preacher, What can I do? What shall I do? I believe him. Now what? He won't have to ask them. God is still revealing
himself. Well, listen, let's give him Peter's message, all
right? He begins to tell them who the
Lord is. He says, Jesus of Nazareth, a
man, yes, he's a man, approved of God. That was never said by
God about any man. He said, you hear these words,
Jesus of Nazareth was a man approved of God. There's a whole psalm
written about him, Psalm 24, that somebody's coming into the
gates of glory, and the gates of heaven swing wide open. There's
a man walking in. The gates of heaven fly open,
and everybody's waiting on him. A man. Who is it? What's king of glory, he said. A man approved of God. No man
has ever been approved by God on his own merits. This man was. Because this is more than a man.
But he's a man. He said, among you by miracles
and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you
as you yourselves also know. That's what they said, the Pharisees.
They said no man can do these miracles except God be with him.
They admitted that, didn't they? They had to. They had to. Nicodemus came to
him and said, I know you're a man come from God. Nobody can do
what you do, except God be with you. This is of God. One time
our Lord said, well, if it be of God, why don't you believe
me? Because nobody will unless God draws them. Nobody will. Well, it's Jesus of Nazareth
whom you all know. They called him Jesus. His enemies
called him Jesus. The ones that didn't believe
him called him Jesus. We know who you are, they said.
You're Jesus. They said, We know who you are. You're the carpenter's
son. The Pilate said, What are you
going to do with Jesus? They said, He's just a man, but
he makes himself God. They said, We will not have this
man reign over us. They thought he was just a man.
Peter said, You know who I'm talking about, Jesus of Nazareth. Verse 23, he said, He was delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. Now listen to that. Peter says, He was sent from
God with an absolute purpose. That is a determinate counsel, an absolute purpose to fulfill
a predetermined meeting or counsel or covenant that God had. Are you listening? This is what Peter said. He was
delivered into your hands. He was delivered to men to do
what they would, and it says, you have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. Over in chapter 4, Peter and
John were saying this. Peter said the same thing to
some people in verse, well, no, this was the church crying unto
God. But they said, quoting God's
Word, Psalm 2, they said in verse 27, against thy holy child Jesus,
whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with
the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
but to do whatsoever in God's hand, thy hand and thy counsel
determined before to be done." In other words, Peter says, you
took, you had in your hands the Son of God, you had God manifest
in the flesh in your hand. One time in the course of history,
God did put Jesus in the hands of man to do with him what they
would. What will you do with Jesus?
That was the question, was it not? One time it was asked that
by Pilate. He said, what will you do with
Jesus? What did the people say? with
one consent, with one voice. All the people, you read it there
with me, everybody from the rulers down to the common people, without
exception, they all said, killing, crucifying, we'll not have this
man run over. Jesus, we hate him. If we'd have
been there, we'd have done the same thing. And when I preach
the Christ of Scripture as he is, as Peter is preaching him
here, men and women do it today still. They say, I don't believe
that Jesus. My Jesus is not like that. I
hate that Jesus you're talking about. Away with that. It still happens today. Men and
women are better. Religion hadn't gotten better than the Pharisees
and Judaism of old, no sir. Peter said he delivered by the
determinate counsel. God put in the hands of men to
do with what their wicked wills wanted to do with him, and that's
what they did. But he said, you did what God
determined before to be done. What God before the world began,
determined to happen. You killed God's son for him. Because Isaiah 53 says, it pleased
the Lord to bruise him, to put his soul to grief. When thou
hast made his soul an offering for sin. God killed his own son,
but he did it through the instruments of men. The lamb was put on the
altar. God's lamb. was put on the altar,
and men did it, just like the people of old killed to sacrifice
and put it on the altar. God had men do it. The determinate
counsel of God, made, willed, purposed by God before the world
began. Paul elaborated on that in Ephesians
1. Stay with me now, okay? Paul elaborated on that in Ephesians
1. He said to the saints and faithful
in Christ, talking to the believers, he wasn't talking to the world,
he wasn't writing to the world, he said, God chose you in Christ
before the foundation of the world that you should be holding
without blame before him in love, having predestinated the people
to be conformed to his image, to the praise of the glory of
his grace. He went on to say that three times, to the praise
of His glory, to the praise of His glory. He went on to say,
God has made known unto you the mystery of His will, the mystery
of His determinate counsel and foreknowledge in sending His
Son down here. Why did He do it? Why did God
send His Son down? Why did God kill His Son? Why did He allow men? The soul
that sinneth must surely die. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. All of sin that comes short of
the glory of God. In order for God to have anything
to do with any sinner, they've got to die for their sin. They've
got to pay for their sin. But Christ, God made Christ a
substitute for His people. Not all people, but His people. He called His name Jesus. He
shall save His people from their sin. God laid on Him, Isaiah
was saying to the people of God, the iniquity of us all. Pleasure
the Lord in making us a people prospered in his hand. He made
intercession for the transgressors. Bear the sin of menace. Christ, as a substitute of his
people, was hung on Calvary's tree, and God Almighty's justice
against their sin was satisfied. They were killed in Christ. They
were crucified with Christ. Yet they live, but it's not them,
it's Christ. Do you understand that? There was
a transferal, a transferal of Christ and his people. He transferred
his righteousness to his people, and their sins were transferred
to him. Not all people, but God's people. And thereby, every one of God's
people, their sins are gone. Because Christ paid them all,
all the sin. And they're holy before God because
they had that holiness of Christ. That's what Paul elaborated on
in Ephesians. And he says this, Jesus of Nazareth, delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God as a sin
payment, as a substitute to take the punishment, to take the death
of God's chosen people. He was hung on a tree. He was
exposed naked. Now listen. Why did Christ hang
on a tree? Why must he hang on a tree? Because
the Scripture says, Cursed is he that hangeth on a tree, and
we're cursed by the law. Galatians goes on to describe
it. Christ was hung on a tree, stripped naked. That's by design. God's design. Why? Because the
Scripture says all things are naked before God. Before God's
all-seeing eye, no clothing can cover us. That is, no works that
we perform, no outward morality, no front that we put up can cover
us before God. God looks on the heart. Everything's
naked. Our sins are naked and open before
God. Might as well confess them. Might
as well come naked. Christ was hung naked, exposed
before all to see. If He didn't do that for us,
we'll have to do it. will someday stand before God
as every human being outside of Christ will stand before God
exposed before the all-seeing eye of
God, and for every man and woman to see. But look at him. You
thought he was a good person. He's not. She's not. But there's a covering. Do you
understand what I'm saying? Blessed are you if you do. See,
Brother Kelly, Christ hung there naked for me, so I won't have
to be naked someday. He gave me His clothing, and
God can't see through it. The only thing God won't see
through is the righteous robe of Christ. Men and women are
going about to establish their own righteousness, work up a
little fig leaf covering, you know. Look at me, I've been to
church all my life. It's like that hospital gown,
William. It's like a hospital gown. Oh, you look good there, brother
so-and-so. And he turns around and says,
oh, you're not covered. Christ hung on a tree for his
people naked, or else we'll have to. Christ was forsaken by God. You want to know what hell is?
It's being sooked by God. People talk about hell on earth.
They don't know what they're talking about. No, no, no. God's mercy and grace is still
throughout this world. You can find the darkest, deepest
part of the ghetto or the jungle or whatever. There's still some
mercy. There's still rain that falls. There's still some food
to be found somewhere. There's still some of the provisions
of God Almighty. Hell is separation from God. When Christ hung on that tree,
when he uttered these words from Psalm 22, My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? That's hell. Hell is being forsook
by God. No mercy. No love. No grace. No compassion. No kindness. No
nothing. No mercy. No nothing. Separation. Absolute separation. Christ was
separated from God so I won't have to be. My sins have separated me. Christ
brought me back to hell. He was separated from me. Christ was brutally slain and
killed as a criminal. Falsely. Brutally slain and killed
as a criminal. Because that's what I deserve. I'm a criminal. I'm a criminal
against God. Lived years as a trespasser.
Not giving God a thought. Shaking my fist in His face.
Defying death, defying God, hating God, not wanting to give Him
any credit for it, taking all the credit for what He done for
me. I'm a criminal. I'm guilty of high treason. I
need to be slain for high treason. Christ was slain for me. You understand that? He was put
in a dark grave. put in a cave and the stone would
roll over the door because that's where they need to put this old
boy out of sight, out of mind. I can still say that. I need
to be done away with. There's nothing good about me.
Paul said it, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Lord, I need to
be just forgotten about. I'll be glad when I'm dead and
gone. Christ was killed for me, put
in the grave, out of sight, buried. You see, that's what God's going
to do to every sinner outside of Christ. All those things. Expose them, forsake them, kill
them for their crimes, and put them away forever. Never be spoken
of again. But Christ did that. He did all that. All that happened
to Him for His people's sake. He was put in a grave, yes. But
He didn't stay there. Peter goes on. Look at verse
24. Peter said, Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the
pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be
holding of it. I need more time, people. 30
or 40 minutes is not enough. God has loosed the pains of death
for His people. The sting of death, you see,
the sting of death is sin. I've watched a lot of believers
die. I've never seen one of them go through the emotional pain
in that death. But I've seen peace. The Scripture
says, mark the perfect man. The end of that man is peace. He giveth his beloved sleep. Not painful deaths, excruciating
painful longing to stay here dead. No! Peace! I've seen many. Every one of
them. Die in peace. Wow, they've got
a good hope. Based on Christ. The pains of death have been
most. That's what he said in Hebrews.
He delivered them who all their life time have been subject to
fear of death. The world doesn't know what's
out there, so they're hanging on here as long as it can. My wife and I were talking last
night at the dinner table. I said, there was a whole table
full of old folks. I mean old folks, up in their
70s, 80s, old folks, every one of them, white-headed. My daughter was waiting on us,
almost 18 years old. I can't believe that I'm 47 years
old and I'm not 70. I really can't believe it. Bam! It's like that. Alright, that's
30 years ago. Bam! I'm going to be 77 if the
Lord doesn't come or if I don't die first. It's going to be that
quick. I'm going to barely be able to
move around. Unbelievable. And we were talking,
I said, what do people? This is why people hang on to
this life, they jump at every health food they can come across,
every age renewing thing they come across. They're trying to
hang on here as long as they can, but they can't do it. They
can't do it. It's gone. What is your life without it?
It's gone. It's gone. It's over, and then you've got
eternity. God's people, he's removed the
pains of death. It's not possible that they should
be holding on. Oh, but he's talking about Christ. I told you I needed
more time. I've got to go on. He said David
spoke of Christ concerning him, verse 27. David said, Thou wilt
not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One
to seek corruption. Christ died and was put in a
grave, yes, but look at verse 31. David's talking about the
resurrection of Christ. He said David's tomb is right
here somewhere and wherever he walked. We have his grave there. If he dug up, if he opened it
up, there'd be bones in there. But there's no bones of Jesus
of Nazareth anywhere. David said that his soul, verse
31, Christ's soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did
see corruption. And this Jesus, verse 32, this
Jesus, let me just read, hath God raised up, whereof we all
are witnesses. God raised him from the dead.
We saw him, we talked to him. He was seen by over five hundred
people at one time in one place. Five hundred. Peter in another
place said, We haven't made up some fable. We saw him. John said, We handled him after
the grave. He was dead and everybody knew
it, but he's alive. We saw him for forty days. He walked with us and talked
with us and ate with us and communed with us for forty days. And then
we saw him get on a cloud and ride the globe. Peter said, we saw Him. It's not a fable. God raised Him up. We're all
witnesses. Verse 33, Therefore, where is
He right now, Peter? He's by the right hand of God
exalted. Exalted, not at somebody's heart's
door, not outside this place, not walking the banisters of
heaven. Read on. He's exalted, having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost. He has shed forth
the earth. He's the one that did this, what
you're seeing and hearing. David's not ascended into heaven,
but he says of Christ, the Lord said unto my Lord, God said to
Christ, sit on my right hand. Look at this next line. until
I make thy foes thy footstool." God Almighty is going to make
every single foe of Jesus Christ his footstool. God's not asking
man to do anything for Christ to accept Jesus. Neither did
Peter. And Jesus Christ is not walking
the banisters of heaven or standing out people's hearts. No, sir,
he's seated. You know what I'm saying? Sitting
at the right hand of the majesty on high. expecting the foes of
his to be made his footstool. Now, back then, they knew something
about war. And an ultimate form of victory,
of dominance over someone, is to take your enemy and stand
on his neck That's what they did when they
got a man down, absolute submission under his feet, standing on his
neck to the humiliation of that man, and before all witnesses
see, I have mastered this man. That's what that's talking about.
And he said in Hebrews, he said it in Galatians, he said it in
other places, God we see, he's put everything under his feet. He's seated on a throne with
everything under his dominion. What a different picture of Jesus. These people who hated him and
killed him and thought he was just a and thought they'd put
him out of the way. Peter says he's sitting in heaven. He's sitting on the circle of
the earth and he's got everything under his feet. And your breath
is in his hand. You're breathing right now because
he says so. And your very next breath may
end and you're going to stand before him someday. Stand there
to be judged by him, the judge of all flesh. He's not asking
you to do anything. He's not asking you to do anything
for him. He's already done everything he's going to do. You better
start asking him. End of message. End of message. Let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom you crucified,
Lord and Christ. end of message. Lord and Christ,
Lord with all authority in heaven and earth, authority over all
flesh, over all principalities and powers. The devil is Jesus
Christ's devil. He can't do a thing except what
Jesus Christ allows him to do at any point in time with anybody
or anything. Yes, sir. Read Colossians 2 for
yourself. He's Lord. Let everybody know
it, Peter said. And Christ, that is the only
anointed one, the only one whom God Almighty will deal with,
the only mediator, the only intercessor, the only one whom God will accept
on behalf of human beings. You better call on him. End of
message. See, before, they knew some Jesus. They'd been killed, and a pretty
good man, a martyr. And they heard this. They heard
of this Lord of glory. What did it create? Fear of the
Lord. That's the beginning of wisdom.
Who's the Lord? Jesus. He's not a man. He's the Lord. Fear struck him. We've killed God. We've rejected
God. That's what they were thinking
when they heard this. The Spirit of God began to move
on them and convince them of sin because they believed not
Christ. They didn't believe Him. This
was God and they didn't believe Him. And the Spirit of God began
to move on them. They were pricked in their hearts.
That's where salvation is. With a heart, man believeth unto
righteousness. And with a mouth, confession is made. They said
this. They said unto Peter and the
rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? This was a cry of desperation.
This was a cry of need. God's not the needy one. God
doesn't need men. Christ doesn't need men. Jesus
doesn't need you. The church is the church without
you. Yes, it is. I don't care what men and women
are saying, that's a silly statement. It's God's church with or without
me. I need Him. I'm the needy one. And they, that's what they, if
this was a crowd need, what shall we do? We've rejected this before. We've rejected the truth. They
say, we'll not have Him reign over us. We're not over how He
was. You know what? They say, we'll not have this
man. I've got news for you. He does. We don't tell people
to make him Lord, because here he is. Here he is. Brother Henry's going around
telling people, he is Lord. You don't make him Lord, you
bow to him. Every knee will bow and every
tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, in the true sense
of the word. That means absolute, sovereign,
reigning, ruling, totalitarian despot, monarch, and dictator
of all life under the universe. That's what Lord means. Not some
figurehead, not some puppet regime, but absolute L-O-R-B. That's what the name means. And
everybody will find out someday that he is, right now, Lord.
Salvation is for a person to find it out now. And bow the knee to Christ and
worship him and call upon him for mercy and grace and salvation,
and he does it. He does it to everyone, whosoever. That's why it says whosoever. Male, female, Jew, Gentile, black,
white, rich, pale, young, old. Whosoever will call on the name
of the, who? Not let Jesus in here. Call on
the name of this Sovereign One sitting on the throne in whose
breath, hands your breath is. Call on Him for practice. Master
Him. Whoever does that, he'll say,
Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. So what shall we do? Peter said
repent. Repent. What's that mean? You
know what that means. Everybody knows what that means.
It means admit you're wrong. It means admit everything about
you is wrong. Repent. It means turn from yourself.
It means Everything about me is wrong. Then I need saving. There's a whole world out there
full of people that never were lost. We get to save. From what? Repent. Repentance toward God. Admit what we are. Renounce self. Renounce sin. Renounce religion. Say, this is repentance. I didn't
know God before. I had the God of my imagination.
I didn't know that Jesus crossed the triptych. I had some peanut
Jesus. I let do things. Repent of that. Say, I'm sorry, Lord, for making
you less than what you are. Repent of that. Repent, and it
says to be baptized. Baptize. So we're going to have a baptism this
morning. Robin Massey is going to come
this morning and confess this Christ. Is this the Christ you
believe in now? This Christ. Like so many of
us in here, including me, we made some profession of faith
either early on as a child, not really knowing what you were
doing under a fit of emotion, or later on in religion. because
it was a thing to do, or under another fit of emotion. But it
was the wrong God. It was the wrong Christ. It was a Jesus he accepted. But then later on, you hear about
this sovereign Lord on the throne, the living and true God. You
turn from your idols. You turn from a God you made
up and believed to serve the living and true God. You turn
from that Jesus to bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. You renounce your righteousness,
all your morality, all of your religion, all of which you did
that you thought God was pleased with. You renounce it as filthy
rags, and you seek Jesus Christ as your only righteousness before
God. And you stand before everyone
in a pool of water like this because Jesus Christ said to
do it. Jesus Christ said, go into all the world, preach the
gospel, he that believeth and is baptized. That is, you willingly,
voluntarily get in a pool of water to be humiliated before
everybody. As a picture, as a type, as a
symbol that This Christ is so you believe. He did it for you.
When he died, you died. You deserve to die. He was crucified. When you're buried, that's where
you need to be. Out of sight, out of mind. But
Christ rose. A new, in his new glorified body,
and that's what you rise to walk in newness of life now. A new
creature in Christ. There's nothing about this water.
Just water. As a matter of fact, it's got
a lot of iron in it. It's orange. It doesn't wash away sins. It's
not some elaborate ceremony. It's not some mystical ceremony. It's just a tub of water. I filled
it up. It's just a very simple ceremony. Christ told us to do.
This is the way we publicly, we don't come down front. and
kneel at a mourner's bench and all of that stuff, that's not
in the Bible. But this is. He said, do this
as a public confession, and when you do that, you confess the
Christ of the Scripture. That all he is, you believe. He did it for you. And you're
also confessing those that confess him. Say, this is my family,
this is my church. my people, like Ruth said, where
your God's my God now, your people are my people now. Is that what
you believe? Probably. She's shaking her head,
nodding her head. That's what this is all about.
Nothing—Peter called it, and Peter called it an answer of
a good conscience. Answer of a good conscience.
Said the water doesn't say, but it's just the answer of a good
conscience. answer of a good conscience, Christ said, do it.
So you do it. He said, whoever's ashamed of
me, I'll be ashamed of them. It's a picture for the church
to see. It's always a blessing. I wish
I wasn't doing it. I wish I was watching it. It's
a blessing when you witness it, isn't it? You know, it's kind
of like, you'll think about it like going up into the ark. Noah
and his family walked up into that ark. When they were buried
beneath the wind and the waves, they were safe in the ark and
cry. That's what you say when you
get in that baptismal pool. You confess Christ as your only
hope of salvation. And it says that all of them,
verse 41, verse 40 says, with many words he testified, save
yourselves from this untoward generation. Yeah, it's religious. But it's way backward. It's untoward. That means it's going the other
way. Save yourself, Robin. How? Believe
the gospel, the true Christ. And they that gladly received
his word were baptized. Gladly! You know, Robin came
up to me not long ago, and after a message,
said, I believe this. She began to renounce what she
used to believe, and said, I believe this. This is the truth. She
said, I had no idea God was how I wanted him to be. She said,
but I believe in God. You're preaching now. I believe
this Christ and this gospel, and I need it. She actually said to me, I wasn't
asking her anything, was I? She actually said, now what do
I do? I said, we'll be baptized. The day they gladly received his
word, we're baptized, and Robert's going to do that. The same day,
we're added unto them about three thousand souls. I'll take one,
and I'll give God glory to the highest heaven throughout eternity
for one soul. They don't need three thousand. won't you? There's joy among
the angels, the scripture says, about one century. And it says they continued steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine. That means they didn't change
what they believed. They believed what they believed from then
on. It didn't change. It grew stronger. And fellowship. They
wanted to be where God's people were. Breaking of bread. The
Lord's table. You can take part in that. Fear came upon them
all. Down to verse 45, they were charitable. They salted the needs of one
another. Verse 46, they continued daily with one accord in the
temple, breaking bread house to house, eating their meat with
gladness, singleness of heart, that is, glory to God, worship,
praise in God, favor with all the people. It was good. And this is good. I'm glad God
has done this in our midst. Do you believe? Mr. Christ, do you believe? Well, he must be one of God's
chosen. All right. We're going to have
a baptism now. Go and get ready. And Brother
Rick, you come up if you will, and Sherry. We're going to sing
number 46. 46 in the green hymnal, hymn number
46, as we prepare. And let's sing all verses. Oh, 4,000 to sing it. Let's stand
and sing it. Oh, for a father that's to stay,
what could be greater pain? The worries of my I hear, the
silence of his face. I thank this world, dear heaven
above, for sist'ning through the pain. Where do all these
people go in the midst of the day? Jesus, the name that drives our
fears, Death is not sure of his fate, If we fear what our fears
may be, Then God will help and lead. He breaks the crown of
death and sin, He strengthens the prisoner free, He'll come
and break the bounds, He will come and heal for me. He'll give
me health and freedom, for those who love Him more. He'll make of me all the
strength of life, He'll make of me all the strength of life,
He'll make of me all the strength of life, He'll make of me all the strength
of life, He'll make of me all the strength of life, He'll make of me all
the strength of life, He'll make of me all the strength of life, He'll
make of me all the strength of life, He'll make of me all the
strength of life, He'll make of me all the strength of life, He'll
make of me all the strength of life, He'll make of me all the
strength of life, He'll make of me all the strength of life, He'll make
of me all the strength of life, He'll make of me all the strength
of life, He'll make of me all the strength of life, He'll make
of me all the strength of life, He'll make of me Glory to God, and praise
Him now, for He ever is worthy. God sheds His love, and sweeps
away the dirty land where He comes. Hello, I'm Dan. That's the gospel you believe. Robin Massick, my sister, our sister, in obedience
to the divine command of Christ Jesus, our Lord, and upon your
profession of faith in Him, I baptize you in the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Brother Henry, would you do this business with me? And we must pray for the Lord
Jesus. And we must pray to Him for all
His people, to thank Him for all that He's playing for us,
to thank Him from the heart, to thank Him for His You may
draw it closer than you do. I think if there's one, it's
Jim DeVita's words in Baptism. Receive the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Believe the truth that you need
to gather like us or better than us. Go with each one purely,
and to me, may we be presently more. We ask this word in prayer
and in his name, we say, Amen. you.