Let's open our Bible to Mark,
the Gospel of Mark chapter 16. The cross will mark chapter 16. These verses will go on looking
very, very, very different to most everything. But they're
very, very important. I hope they're not too limited. What our Lord says here in these
two verses, he says this is life and death matter. Anything the
Lord says is a life and death matter. He said, my words are
spirit and life. And anything he said, everything
he said was a command, a logic, a request. But what he says here is a life
and death matter. He talks about the difference
between being saved or damned. And nothing could be plainer
and nothing could be more important. Look at Luke, Mark chapter 16,
verses 14 through 16. Afterward, that is, after he arose from
the grave, he appeared unto the eleven that sat at meal. and upbraided them with their
unbelief and pardonness of heart, because they believed not them
which had seen him after he had risen. And he said unto them, Go ye
into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned." Saved or damned. Our modern generation
stops talking about that. This is one of the first things. is above all this talk about
being saved and being healed. That this is the glory of Jesus
Christ the Father. When you're a man, this is God. You repent. And
there's no backing back. These are the words of God who
became man. God, in Revelation, says, has
the keys of heaven and hell. In other words, he decides who
goes where. And so you see, he didn't leave
it. It was backpacked like a saint. in the name of God, shall be
named. So when passion is at its highest,
it does. I believe why. Save from why. What does it mean? Do you believe? Believe what? Say what? What does it mean to
say? You hear that a lot today, don't
you? Everybody talks about it. Believe, believe, say, say, say,
say. What does it mean? Well, say it. It's safe. It has nothing to do with your
finances. It had nothing to do with your
health, or your wealth, or even a job, or sickness. When they announced the Lord's
coming to earth, they said, Call His name Jesus, or He shall save
His people, not everyone of them, His people, from what? From their sins. And there's another old function
term, sin. Well, it's an old value abbreviated,
it talks about the sin of hell and death and salvation. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
came to do. That's what this is all about. Salvation from sin. Now, listen very carefully. Scripture said, that man is dead in trespasses
and sinning. Man is dead in sinning. Man is
not basically a good person. Man is a sinner, dead in trespasses
and sinning. God doesn't look upon mankind
as being just good boys gone bad and, you know, feel sorry
for them, boys be boys, no. Scripture says that the wrath
of God lies upon him. Most people know John 3, 16. Very few people know John 3,
17 and 18. It says, He that believeth not
is condemned already. All unbelievers are under condemnation. Not the love of God, but the
condemnation of God. The wrath of God. That's why
there is a... that's what a hill's for. Save from this sin. Now, I'm
not talking about stealing a watermelon. I'm not talking about smoking
a cigarette. I'm not talking about drinking beer. Sins are the outward result of
sin. Sin is our nature. That's the
reason babies are born to come out, as David said, from the
womb speaking lies. That's the reason you have to
teach your children to tell the truth. You don't have to teach
them to lie, because that comes naturally. We didn't have to
teach our children to respect authority because they're relatives
by nature. We didn't have to teach them to rebel, to say,
mine, mine, mine, except it's my nature. That's sin. And it led to ourselves, that
sin, will vanish. That sin, which says, I don't
believe God, I don't need God, I don't believe in authority,
I will not have this God's reign over me, but I'm a humble man,
I'm a humble woman, I'm a humble young person, I'm going to live
my life. And you've got to do that too. He saves. He's going
to save the sin. Now, three ways which God saves
us, which Christ saves us from sin, three ways. Number one,
He saves us from the penalty of sin. Scripture says, and all
I want to do as a preacher is tell you what God has said, just
repeat what God said. Scripture says, The soul that
sinned must surely die. That's what it says there. Those
of you familiar with the Scripture, you know that is the way of sin. The soul that
sinned will always sin. So we all observe what? The wages
of sin is what? Death. That's the way, that's the penalty
that we deserve when we receive it, all right? Christ came to
save us from that penalty, happened. He took the penalty. Not for everybody, but for Jesus. Who are they? Believers. He's a believer. He came to save them from the
penitentiary, but that is death, eternal death, here today. The
power, he came to save the people from the power of sin. He's saying salvation is a new
birth. Our Lord says it's a new birth.
He says you must be born again, or raised from above. That's
how it's written. He says you must be born from
above. So you've got to be born the
first time on this earth, then you've got to be born from above.
That is to say, the Spirit of the Spirit, you've got to be
born of the Spirit. And this new birth is God in
power in the spiritual life. I talked about us being dead. That's the issue too. Dead in
sin? Well, when this salvation comes,
he gives spiritual life as the city. Now, it's not a vision
of God, but see, God is work. Well, it's not seen without faith. For years to hear the Word, before
you're dead. When you're dead and sinning,
you don't hear the Word of God, you're not interested in the
Word of God. You're not interested in God, you're not interested
in salvation, you're not interested in anything but this Word of faith. But God, in power. God's word gives ears
to some people when they hear the gospel for the first time.
Right? Right? You've heard it. It's a sound you didn't hear,
didn't hear, weren't interested in, but you said it. You hear it. And you say, it's
true, isn't it? It's something that ain't anything. and hard to consider. Before
I saw it, I think I could show, it may not be so, but I'm not
sure, I don't believe in that, or I don't believe that, and
I don't believe that enough. I believe everything's power. Or I say just on power, you see,
and then that force of that, that salvation, that new birth,
Whereas before, all you lived for was this world, and the things
in it, and the fleas, and flesh, and yourself, and so forth. In
China, it's kind of a weird hypothesis, we live for us. Now, it's not
that you live for us, you see, I don't know. You see, I live for my instinct. And that's the last thing that
Christ will save these people from, the presence of sin. God's
people are always plagued with sin from the day they die. They
realize they're sinners from the day they die. Why? So they'll
need Christ. But in the day they die, they'll
be in the wilderness. That's it. Christ saves them
from the presence of sin. See that? So from the hills of
sin, he came to say, from the power of the reigning, ruling,
controlling influence of sin, and some day from the presence
of sin. He's speaking about sin. Damnation,
sin, and our Lord said he's going to be caught in that area. Our Lord's going to say that. Sin escaped, what escaped? Well, I didn't know this fact. The literal fire I knew. But I didn't know this fact.
This man, I didn't know this. When our Lord was on the cross,
he went through the equivalent of hell for his people. For his
people. And when he did that, he quoted
from Psalm 22. This is it. When Christ said,
my God, my God, my God, that's how it is. Hell, damnation, has
something to do with being felled from God. This world is under the influence
of God. This world is in the hand of
God. Everything good is because God
is. All mercy, if it comes from anybody
or anything, is because God is merciful. Any love anywhere is
because it comes from God. God is love. Any grace, any goodness,
any mercy, any love, any kindness, any joy, any peace, any happiness
is because we live in Him, we live and move and have our being. So to be cut off from God is
to be cut off from all life. All right, listen to me. How
are we saved? How are we saved? Look at verse 16 here. Nothing
could be plainer. Nothing could be more important. How are we saved from sin? How are we saved? Look at verse 16. He that believeth
in his baptized shall be saved. This is our Lordship. He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved. What could be more
wonderful? How do you say it? Well, how do you say it? He's
a believer. He's baptized. Well, what do you want? Well,
he's just saying in verse 15, he's just told his disciples,
go into all the world and preach to them. politics, not social
issues, not entertain them, but preach the gospel. He that believeth,
what? The gospel. And is baptized. All right, now here's the most
important question. What is the gospel? Huh? You hear this word? This is the most commonly used
and abused word that I know of besides more of him, besides
the word Christian, besides the word God that's on everybody's
lips. And what is the gospel? You hear
the gospel of Satan, the gospel of Egypt, the gospel of Luther,
you hear the gospel of Eden, the gospel of Egypt, the gospel of
Beth, the gospel of Christ. What is the gospel? that our
Lord said, he that believeth, be gospel. And his back-pastors
said, what is the gospel? Paul said in Galatians 1, the
Son of God will bring in another gospel, which he said is not
the gospel. So there's a counterfeit gospel.
There's a true gospel and there's a false gospel. Right? But Christ
said, now he that believeth, be gospel. I need to know what's coming
up, and I need to believe it, to be safe. To be safe. The best place that I can think
of to go to tell a short production is in the Romans chapter one.
The Romans chapter one. I can tell you one verse that
sums up your life. 2 Corinthians 5, 21, but the
word gospel is not in that verse. The gospel is in it, not the
word. Well, here it is. Here's the word gospel in Romans
chapter 1. Here. Tells us what the gospel
is. The gospel is what we must believe
in order to be saved. The gospel which we must confess,
covenant. All right? Okay. Romans 1, verse
1. Paul, servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. The gospel. It's the gospel of
God. What do you mean? What do you
mean? It's the gospel that begins with God. Doesn't begin with
man. It's God's gospel. He's the one
that taught it. He's the one that purchased it.
He's the one that built it. The gospel of God, the gospel
of God started with God, started in His purpose, started in His
will, started in His This is God determined before the world
began and in spiritual terms, aren't they? Have you heard it? Say it even if you've never known
it. This is the gospel that God purchased and willed before the
world began, and determined God determined to save a people.
God, no one but God, Acts 15, 18 says, no one but God or all
His works come to Him. Nothing catches God by surprise.
If it does, He's my God. No one but God or all His works
come to Him. Before time began, before the world was created,
God knew everything that was God's purpose. The only way you
can know everything is if you use a purpose every time. And
if you use a control every time. That's the only way things will
come to pass. That's the only way you know they're coming to
pass is if you do one. Right? God's purpose. This thing that's happening. God allowed the fall of Adam
and Eve. Allowed sin to enter into this
world. Allowed them to be tempted. Purpose. determined, willed,
everything that God has. Who, what, how, why, when, and
where. Everything. Everything. All right? This gospel is a thing
of saving some people. Not all. God's been determined
to save everybody. Remember? He used to say this. And God shows directly to people. When we look down there today
at the stars in the sky in San Francisco, He hasn't chosen anyone. Nobody deserves to be saved. Nobody has a heart to be saved,
but God shouldn't save anybody. When he said that, but now he's
preaching mercy, chose his same son, didn't he? How? Well, he determined who,
and he made a covenant, ordered in all things. And sure, concerning his disciples,
and in order to save them, God This is the gospel of God. God determined it. Verse 2, it's
the gospel of God which he had promised for by his prophets
in the Holy Scripture. The gospel of God, God's purpose
to save the people, and his unstoppable power to do it. And this is the gospel, it's
an old, old gospel. See that? What he had promised
before, this gospel he promised before, and by his prophets and
the Holy Scripture, the Old Testament gospel. About a high priest,
a tabernacle, and a lamb shunned. But all of this, verse 3, is
concerning his son, Jesus Christ. Romans 9 says to this, verse
14 says to this end, Christ came, died, rose again, ascended, united
all the dead and the living. He's returned to heaven. God
has made this same Peter, the priest, the Pentecostal, this
same Jesus, whom you crucified, both the Lord and your end time. Say it in your name. This gospel is concerning Jesus
Christ, alright? God chose people. God determined
to save some of the people, not all of them. If He determined
to save all of them, He'd save all of them. But God chose people
to save. And He gave them to His Son.
His Son agreed to come to this earth and do what He had to do
to save them. That's what that covenant is all about. And it's promised
in the picture, in the Old Testament, of just one outcast. They're
all about, who's coming? Somebody's coming. Somebody's
coming. Somebody's coming. What do we want? To save us from
our sin. And Matthew just says, here he
is. Mark says to him, here he is.
Luke says to him, here he is. John, he's a word, but God, goodness. And if this is saved, he's coming
back. He's there to save us from that presence. And Jesus Christ, this gospel,
concerns, now listen very carefully, this is the heart of the gospel. Now you need to believe it. And it's about time. And besides,
you know, you ask yourself, as I'm saying, I always say, just
repeating what God said, do I believe it? I don't. And in fact, I do. So I'm going to be plain. I haven't said anything yet,
but I have. All right? It's concerning his
son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made, verse 3, of the seed
of David according to the flesh. Why does it say seed of David? Who said it? What was David born? Why was
David born? What did David do? Well, somebody
said it. He came. He's came. That's what the Bible says. And where is he that is born? If you don't have the king, then
you don't have the Lord. Christ made the seed of David
for him, and David was his king. King of kings. King David. Lord of lords. David's son and
David's father. David's son and David's father.
David's son and David's father. Jesus, who is it? Who is this
Jesus Christ? You must believe who Jesus Christ
is. Who is it? Number one, who is
it? It's God. It's God. Paul is named in many ways, which
being interpreted as what? God, they say. And thus a child
is born, a son is given, the government shall be upon his
shoulders. And His name can be called Wonderful,
Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. That one that was born
on this earth named Jesus is no longer just a man. It's not. Because a man can't say,
a man can't do that kind of thing. If he's just a man, he can't
say the truth. And now he's God. He can say who he wants to know. That's
who he is. Who is Jesus Christ? He's God.
Well what did he do? You must believe who he is. He's
God. Not in our hands, but in Jesus'
hands. It's not, the question is not what will you do with
Jesus? No sir, you don't do anything with God. You don't let God do
anything. You don't allow God to do anything.
God doesn't allow it. God does affect it. God doesn't
decide it. God's God. You're not God, you're a creature. You're just a creature, a creature.
Open your mind. You live this way. Well, what did Jesus Christ do? Why did he come here? What did
he do? Well, he came down here as a man, not
to be an example. Not to show us how to live. It doesn't matter. I mean, what
I'm saying is, it's not my works of righteousness. What do you
think it is? By the works of the flesh, by
the deeds of the flesh, the scripture says no flesh will be saved.
You can't do it. God looks on the heart. It must
be perfect. God looks on the motive. God
looks on the attitude. God looks on the heart. It better
be absolutely perfectly for the glory of God without a thought
for self, without a thought for pride. It better be perfect.
And no man can do that. Well, one man can. Jesus Christ
is his name. Why did he come here? To do that. As a man too. To do that as a man. Why? Because
I can do it. I can't do it. He didn't have
to. And what he does, and this is
a mystery, and I've never heard a man yet explain it, he gave
it to me. That perfection, that righteousness,
that holiness, that perfect life, he gave it to me. That doesn't
mean I live without sin from that day forward. It means God
sees me without sin. That I'm wearing a robe that
God doesn't see through. And that's it, baby. That's the
end of the line. Remember, the soul of the sinner
is sure to die? That's why he prayed. Christ said, I came to die. Other than Messiah, Buddha, Confucius,
Mohammed, Krishna, they've known to live. But show us how to live.
Christ said, I came to die. Why? As a sinner. As a sinner. Because the scripture says, God
has laid on the hands of the iniquitous. All his people, all
the sins of all of God's people were laid on their substitute. And Christ went to that cross
and when God saw him, he saw me. He saw every believer. He
saw Christ as every sinner being purposed to save in that covenant.
And then God killed him. Killed his own son. He pledged
glory to him. God killed his son. Why? Because
I deserved it. That's what my sins earned. But
Christ didn't want it. And now I have this. Look, look, look, look,
we're seniors. What does that even say? Past, present, and future. This
is the good. You live this? Huh? This is your
own code. We can live. It's not keeping
up in commandment. It's not living right. It's not
being faithful. It's Him being faithful. Him
living right is Him, Him, Him. Salvation is not Him. That's what Jesus Christ has done for me. I can't This is what you must do. When we sing the song, anybody
that has no price, I pray, not by words of righteousness, but
by faith. I don't come to God. We don't come to God. Believers
don't come to God for Him to look at us as good boys and girls,
but for Him to look at us, to come by faith and prayer. And where is he now? Scripture
says he's seated. At the right hand of the majesty
almighty. He's not at anybody's arched door. No, he's not. He's
not at anybody's arched door. He's seated. He's sitting down. Scripture says he's satisfied. He's expecting something. What
thing? Everyone who he's hurt. Everyone
who he's saved. Everyone he's hanged and shed
his blood for. What's going to be saved? He's
going to go down the street and he's going to hear my voice.
And He sends the Holy Spirit in time, the Holy Spirit comes,
and every one of those sheep that have blood on them, that
cry, give me the blood Lord, the Holy Spirit conducts them. This is that new word. The Holy
Spirit comes and preaches the gospel, the world calls it goodness
news, but this is the power of God. None of us can believe the
power of God when we listen to Him. The call of God, the Word
of Christ, every single one, There's one up the tree, there's
one in the well, there's one here, there's one there. There's
one in Sunday, there's one in Snow Creek, there's one in Ashland,
there's one in Denver, yeah? Tell everybody that there's one
here and there. Elect, according to the four
knowledge of God. And he comes to the power of
the gospel, and he says, my sheep, you want to hear it? They want
to hear it. They're going to convict them. They're going to
repent. They're going to believe. Face none of yourself. I don't
know. It's a gift of God. Everyone, he comes, and they
hear his voice, and repent, and believe, and trust Christ. They
sit in their knees and cry, and they get enough food. And they
confess Christ before they die. So this is the gospel. They practice
what happens to you. You live with the trouble. You believe in it, and in fact,
you suffer. Do you practice it? See, what
else will you do if you don't practice it? Salvation, yeah.
Not going to church. No, we won't do that. If you read that in Acts 2, the
Lord added David to the church. He joins them. When you're joined
with Christ, you're joined with the church. He says, if it's
not made in the decision of salvation, it's the decision of God. May God satisfy you. That's what
it says. May this man be saved, may he
please the Lord. That's it. You didn't. You didn't. He added something to that. He said, he's a believer, and
what does that say? The mark says it. And it's not
a lie. It's not a lie. It's just a point,
isn't it? As we say, the Lord never has
anything that we request, never invites anyone. The kings don't
invite people. They never want to say, will
you please let me put in my fortune? Kings, the word of a king is
a power of assurance. He didn't say, come, come. He
didn't say, leave, leave, leave. He didn't say, bow, bow. He didn't say, live, live. He
didn't say, bow, bow. He didn't say, you're promoted,
you're promoted, buddy. He didn't say, you'll sit right
here, you'll sit right there. That's the difference. He didn't say, he's my son. That's
about what he must have said. The word of being is power. Now,
this being said, he said, believe me, this is awesome, and it is
a fact, I have to say. So it's not an option, but it's
a fact. What is factness, and why is
it important? What is factness? Well, the word means immersed
in water. That's not that. The word is in verse, in Mark. Why? What's it all about? Why did the Lord institute it? Because this is a symbol.
This is a symbol of being, scripture says, the Roman saints of the
Colossians II bearing with Christ. When you come, this is the public
confession of faith in the Lord, of this gospel, the gospel just
preached. This is the public confession.
With the heart man believes, with the mouth, confession in
faith, that Christ didn't get into the water before all these
years. He didn't believe in anything. Fine, fine, fine. Because this
is a symbol of being buried with Christ. You're saying, before
it all, when Christ lived, He lived for me. When Christ died,
I died with Him. He took my sins. When Christ
arose, I arose with Him. And walking in this is not the last
of the disciples of Jesus Christ. And you tell all the world, here
I am, I'm coming and confessing Christ for all of His witnesses,
I'm baptized by faith in Christ. His righteousness is my righteousness. His death is my death. Death
is my sin. His life is my life. I live because
He lives. I'm baptized by faith in Christ.
And the reason I recommend this is, he said, James said, faith
without words is dead. And so a profession of faith,
faith in Christ, is good service unless there's an act. Faith without baptism, confession,
and lip service. Christ said, listen to what our
Lord said. He said, you confess me before
me, and I will confess you before the angels of heaven. If you
do not, I will not. He said, believe me, if you do not, I
will not. He said, believe me, if you do not, I will not. He said, believe
me, if you do not, I will not. He said, believe me, if you do not, I
will not. He said, believe me, if you do not, I will not. He said,
believe me, if you do not, I will not. He said, believe me, if you do not, I
will not. He said, believe me, if you do not, I will not. He said, believe me, if
you do not, I will not. He said, believe me, if you do not, I will not. He said,
believe me, if you do not, I will not. He said, believe me, if
you do not He that believeth is baptized
shall be saved. Now, listen very carefully. Baptism
is also like a marriage ceremony. This is as good and more restrictive
as you'll hear. When we say we love someone,
we do it as we shall. When you, Charles, when you asked
that young thing, formerly young thing, to marry you a hundred
years ago, how did you show your total commitment to her, your
love for her, that you were absolutely in love with her and were committed
to her? How? You married her, right? Before all these witnesses. He
told the world, this is the woman I love. One may say they love someone, but
unless they walk that aisle, unless they make the commitment,
four out of five couples who did together before marriage
ended. What does that say? No commitment, no love,
no petition, no truth. Baptism is proof of that love. Marriage ceremony. And baptism,
I've made this statement before, is a humbling thing. This is part of the reason my
pastor talked about it, about being shy. One reason is it's
very humbling to let somebody, not let, but somebody to take
you and put you down to the water. You know, before you get in that
booth, you don't get your makeup on. Well, I don't. You don't
get your makeup on, your hair in place and all that. And all
of a sudden, He takes you and puts you in the way you look
like when you come out. Very often. In a sense, that's
what we do when we come to Christ. We say, before, we thought we
were beautiful. Well, how's that? God, kill me. I need this place killed. I need this place put under.
Come out? Oh, I will do it by Christ. I will do it by Christ. but that
the vow of commitment also to the body of the believers. This is the way it's seen in
the Scripture that the church is drawn together. Like Ruth, you say, uh, you're
Christ, you're gospel, it's not. Adam and Eve, watch. And it's putting everything
on your past. Many people in here were baptized
before, right? That is, you went through the
ceremony at other places, and then you heard the gospel. These
ones, you had to get up and confess
the Christ. And when you say that to that
other one, it was like that old religion, it was nothing. That
old profession was just that, a profession. This is to be Christ. This is to be God. He's not a
disciple. A good commitment to Christ and
His church. And tonight, have your coffee. You've really discussed the faith. Everything that I preach tonight,
you believe the Lord. No, you don't. He's a believer! And he's baptized. All right, let's dial in some
love. Let's ask if you can go back
to the area you're in. Far from angels there for me,
let me die and there I'll be. Let the water never run from
my root in that which flows. Be a wind, a devil's will Take
a breath and make me feel Could my years forever flow? Could my years of anger flow? Be forgiv'n, did not it flow? Now a saint and fellow known,
In my hand those stripes I've writ'n, This be dear life of
my King. While I'm always sleepin' dread,
With my eyes half closed in dread, In our lives we grow alone, and
we know we are not known. Thou, our Savior, grant for me
that beside Thyself in me So, So, Patrick Holland, in obedience
to the divine command of Christ Jesus, our Lord, I baptize you,
my brethren, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Hi, Brother Henry, would you
dismiss this for me? Oh, thank you very much, sir.
Thank you for your question. You see, that was, that was a
very high-profile event. that one place we are thanking
for showing time to that building over there, over there, in this forest, and
there as a more secure spot. S.H. Warren here tonight, and
one else by the time. Here's the rest of it. Thank
you again for Lord Jesus. We're going to let him go. He's
a sinner. We're going to let him go. And we, using all of our programs,
we're looking forward to the creation of a future official.