May we in glory see. We will. You can be assured of
that. Acts chapter 2, I want you to
pay He again to take the two verses. Verses forty one and forty two. Chapter two verse forty one says
then they that gladly received. His word. Were baptized. And the same day. They were added
unto. them about 3,000 souls, and they
continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, fellowship,
breaking of bread, and in prayer. We are going away from our studies
in Genesis tonight. One of our ladies came to me
on Sunday. told me she wanted to confess
Christ and believers baptism, which she will do after this
message. So I thought it might be good
to bring a message on believers baptism or what it means to confess
Christ and be baptized or why we do this. And if I had a title,
it would be this baptizing glad receivers. They that gladly received
his word were baptized. Gladly baptized. Now what did
these people hear at Pentecost? It says 3,000 people heard something and it made them
glad and they were baptized. 3,000 people. What was it that
these people heard and gladly received and believed? and were
baptized. What was it that they heard?
Heard, not saw, heard. Well, this is Peter's famous
sermon at Pentecost, a powerful message which God Almighty used
to save many people. There are multitudes of people
today who are, who profess to Call or who would
call themselves Pentecostal. Believers that they profess to
have experienced what these people experience. In this day and that
day at Jerusalem. But the things that people are
taken up with today are not. Hearing the word. But seeing
some things right I'll remind you what the Apostle Paul said
when he. I was talking about in second
Corinthians twelve that the man who went back came back from
the third heaven. He said he didn't say I saw things
impossible. He said I heard. And that describes
the difference between a believer and someone who's just taken
up the signs and wonders. All right. Our Lord said an evil.
This is recorded more than one and evil and adulterous generation
seeking after a sign. A sign, signs and wonders. And he even said in 2 Thessalonians
that God would send strong delusion because they wouldn't hear the
truth. Because people weren't content with just the preaching
of God's word. It wasn't enough. They wanted
to see something. So God sends signs. Not for salvation,
but for damnation. But God's people hear some things.
The miracle that they experience is hearing something. Hearing
the voice of the shepherd. It's the shepherd's voice that
they hear. They actually hear his voice.
Not an audible voice, but the preaching of the word. That's
what they hear. And they know it and they follow
him. And people today, all they talk about concerning Pentecost
is the tongues, fire, the signs, and the wonders. You know, I
don't believe the people back then saw any of those things. If you'll read it carefully for
yourself, I don't think they saw anything, because nobody
said anything about seeing anything. He said there appeared on them
tongues, cloven tongues of fire, but nobody said anything about
the tongues. These people at Pentecost, when
they left Pentecost, they weren't talking about time. They weren't
talking about fire. They weren't talking about the
wind. They weren't talking about it. They were talking about what
they heard, the message that they heard, the message. All
right, look at chapter one, and we need a little background here.
Chapter one, verse twenty-six, it says, They gave forth their
lots, and a lot fell upon Matthias. They were choosing another apostle
after Judas, you know, hung himself. So he's talking about the apostles,
and verse 1 says, when the day of Pentecost, chapter 2, verse
1, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they, that is
the apostles, were all with one accord in one place. All of the
apostles were together with Matthias here in this place. And it says
in verses 1 through 4, It says that in verse three, there appeared
unto them, who's them? The apostles. Cloven tongues like as of fire,
and it sat upon each of them. OK? Them. And they, who, the apostles,
were filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other
tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance the word tongue there
is languages they began to speak with other languages. Why because
verse five says there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews about me and
out of every nation under heaven there were people from all over
the world. That who spoke different languages and on down there says
Parthian Leeds and Elamites and so forth. These men needed to
know languages and they didn't go to school they didn't have
time. So the Holy Spirit of God, the power of God, blessed them
immediately with fluent speech in other languages. Why? Why? Look down at verse 11. The Cretes
and Arabians said, We do hear these men speak in our language
the wonderful works of God. They didn't say, Look at what
these fellows are doing. Look at them. They said, No,
we do hear We're hearing what they're saying about the wonderful
works of God. And the most wonderful work of
all of God Almighty is the work of salvation, which Jesus Christ
did on the cross. That's what they were preaching.
Up in verse 4, it says that the Holy Spirit gave them utterance.
What does the Holy Spirit give utterance concerning? What is
the blessing of the Holy Spirit? Look back at John, the Gospel
of John. You just have to turn back a
few pages to chapter 14. of John, John fourteen. What I'm doing tonight is a little
Pentecostal preaching. I should have announced that
over the radio or something. We'd have a big crowd tonight,
wouldn't we? Pentecostal preaching, but it's not like they would
come wishing to hear or see, not hear. They'd come wanting
to see something or hear me talk like a babbling idiot, not talk
in my right mind about Christ. That's Pentecostal preaching.
Look at chapter 14 of John's Gospel, verse 26. Our Lord says
this. Now when the Comforter, which
is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, alright?
He's talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit. What's he
going to do? What will he do? He shall teach you all things. and bring all things to your
remembrance." What things? Things I've said. Christ said the Holy Spirit is
going to come and tell people. This is the blessing of the Holy
Spirit. This is the anointing of the
Holy Spirit. This is where Spirit-filled preaching
is. The preaching of the things that
Christ said and did. The person and the work of Christ.
That's Holy Spirit-filled preaching. Look at chapter sixteen our Lord
continues talking about the Holy Spirit. John sixteen verse eight
when he was talking about the Holy Spirit when he is calm here's
the first thing he'll do he'll reprove or convince the world
of sin of righteousness of judgment. And then he explained of sin
because they believe not only that's the basis that's the heart
of all sin. That's the damnable thing, believe
it or not. Verse 10 of righteousness, because
I go to my father and you see me no more that no man's going
to get to the father, but through him, through his righteousness.
That's what the Holy Spirit teaches. That's what the Holy Spirit teaches. Righteous, our need for righteousness. We don't have it. Only one does. Jesus Christ. and read on of
judgment verse eleven because the prince of this world is just
he's just he's not alive and well on planet earth he's just
he's on a chain he's on a leash he's in the control of somebody
who's at this one here read on when he has come verse thirteen
the spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth
he shall not speak of himself whatever he shall hear that shall
he speak He will show you things to come. He shall glorify me. He shall receive of mine orders
from me and show them to you." The Holy Spirit is sent to bear
witness of Jesus Christ. So this day at Pentecost, when
the Holy Spirit filled these men and gave them utterance,
what were they uttering? The wonderful works of Jesus
Christ, he said. That's Spiritville preaching,
preaching of Christ, the person who worked for Christ, and they
began to speak in other languages so that men must hear the gospel,
because without hearing the gospel, nobody's going to be saved. Not
seeing signs, nobody's saved by seeing signs, only by the
hearing of the gospel. All right? All right, read on
down. Let's get down to the message
now. Here's what Peter preached, verse 22. He said, You men of
Israel, and this is what the people heard, people. This is
what you hear and makes you glad. And it's what made those people
glad. Verse 22, You men of Israel, Peter stood before that vast
throng and says, You men of Israel, hear these words, hear them.
Jesus of Nazareth, everybody knew that name. You say Jesus
today doesn't mean much. There's another Jesus being preached
today. Another Jesus. Some weak, effeminate, helpless,
pitiful, frustrated fellow who can't save a flea, who's in the
hands of men. That's not the... People back
then, when they said Jesus of Nazareth, they knew exactly who
he was talking about. Now read on. Jesus of Nazareth,
a man, yes a man, A man, more than that, Immanuel, God manifest
in the flesh, a man. He was made in the likeness of
sinful flesh, but he was equal with God. He was a man, all right,
but a man, and here's what set him apart, a man approved of
God. A man approved of God, a just man, a holy man, a righteous
man, approved These words, Peter said, hear these words that have
never been heard before. Never been heard by human ears. There's
a man approved. There's a man in glory who walked
right into heaven and God said, come on in. You have a right
to this place. You've earned it by the life
you live. A man's been approved of God. A man approved of God. Only man
ever that this was said about. Psalm 24 says who's going to
get into God's presence? Who shall ascend unto the holy
hill of God? Who? He that hath clean hands, a pure
heart, never lifted up his soul unto vanity, that is, never sought
after anything but the glory of God, and never sworn deceitfully,
nothing but praise for God out of his mouth all of his life.
Who can do it? Then the song goes on to say,
Look coming in, open up the gates. There's a man walking in. Who
is it? It's the king of glory, Jesus
of Nazareth, a man approved of God. And God said it from heaven
twice, I'm well pleased with this man. He said it in Isaiah
42, you remember that, the other night? He's well pleased for
his righteousness sake. God is well pleased for this
man's righteousness sake. You know how he's well pleased
with us? You know how he will approve of us, this thrice holy
God? in Christ, only in Christ, only
covered with his righteousness, washed in his blood. Hear these
words, Peter said. A man's been approved of God,
and he's been accredited by God by these miracles and wonders
and signs. Verse 22, which God did by him
in the midst of you. These were signs and wonders
and miracles that only the Christ could do. That the Old Testament
prophesied that the Christ would come to him. He'll come and the
eyes of the blind shall be opened. The ears of the deaf. I know
what these fellows are doing today. You know what they're
doing. Ain't none of it true. None of it. There's people that's
got You know, little gut bifocals and they claim to have their
eyesight. People got hearing aids and what? Deaf people heard. I mean, people had never heard.
Deaf, born deaf. Blind people, stone blind, had
their eyesight received. Lame people. I'm not talking
about people with arthritis in one knee. People who had palsy,
palsy, who were withered and laying in a bed. Dead people
were raised. Dead people were raised. Try
that, earnest. Dead people were raised. Those
are things only that Christ could do, and God Almighty said He
would come doing these things, and that's when they saw these
things. Now, when they saw Him, some of them said, no, when Christ
comes, will He do more than this? No, He won't. So these were signs
that God showed through him, approving him as the Christ. All right, read on. The essence
of his message. Verse twenty-three. Him, this
one, this man, approved, this Christ, declared to be the Son
of God with power. Verse twenty-three. Him being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. Here's the heart of the gospel people. Here's why Christ
came, not just to prove something, not just to show his power, but
to die. That's why he came. Christ said,
for this cause came I to this hour, to die. Christ came, God
sent his Son to be a bloody substitute for his people. That's the only
way anybody's going to be saved, to be a bloody substitute. God
delivered him, it says. Delivered him over into the hands
of sinful man. Delivered him over. And they
took him, we, Psalm, Isaiah 53 says, we did this. We did this. We took and with wicked hands
crucified and slew him, but we did what God determined it for
to be done. Because Isaiah 53 says, it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. God put his soul to death. Put
him to grief. made his soul an offering for
sin. That's why Christ came. To be
a substitute. Because all we like sheep have
gone astray. We've all sinned to come short
of the glory of God. So God made him to be sin for
us. Who knew no sin? That we might
be made with righteousness of God in him. That God may approve
of us. That our sins might be paid for.
Just to satisfy. And God can accept it. He said.
That's why that's the heart of the gospel. Righteousness, a
man approved, bloodshed, heart of the gospel. There is no gospel
without those two things. And it's all his work. It's all
what Christ did. The only thing we cooperated
in was killing him. You think about the marvel of
that. Men put God's lamb on the altar. That's power, isn't it? That's
God's power. The Lamb of God had to be slain.
That's Christ. Men put him on there. They put
him on there. They did what they wanted to
do, but they did what God determined for them to do. Isn't that great? Verse 24, But, and he was crucified
and slain, he died, verse 24, but God raised him up. There
would be no salvation if Christ hadn't risen from that grave.
If Christ be not risen, Paul said, we're yet in our sin. If
there, if like some contend that there's some bones, they found
some bones in a grave over in Israel that supposedly belong
to the Jesus of Nazareth, what are we doing this for? We're
a bunch of fools, aren't we? Let's just eat, drink and be
merry, because tomorrow we die and there's no more, Paul said.
But he said he is risen. He is risen. And that's what
David wrote concerning concerning the Christ. And then we read
that where David said, look at verse 27, said David prophesied
before of the Christ. He said, thou will not leave
my soul in hell. Remember Sunday morning, Christ,
when he hung on that cross, he was in hell Sunday night. That's
where Christ spent hell. He didn't go to hell after he
got off the cross. His hell was on the cross when
he cried, when God left him, when he cried, My God, my God.
Hell is separation from God. It says, Thou wilt not leave
my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer a thine holy one
to see corruption. A right God cannot damn a righteous
man. He cannot do it. He couldn't
put sin in Christ's name. He can't suffer corruption. That's sinful flesh will suffer
corruption. He had no sin. He knew no sin.
He didn't suffer corruption, but he rose from the grave. He
arose. Verse 31, David, see, and before,
spake of the resurrection of Christ, the resurrection of Christ,
that his soul was not left inhaled. Neither his flesh did see corruption.
This Jesus, yes of Nazareth, y'all know who he is. You know
who he is. This hath God raised up, whereof
we are all witnesses. That's why we're here, me and
James and John and Martha and all the rest of them. That's
why we're here, to do one thing, to bear witness of this man,
this man approved of God, this substitute of God, this Lamb
of God. John came later, proved, behold
the Lamb of God. This is why we're here, to bear
witness of him. This is what the Holy Spirit
is bearing witness to. This is what you're going to
bear witness to when you go up there. This one. It's what it's
all about. What it's all about. We're all
witnesses. Verse thirty-three. Therefore,
being by the right hand of God, he's not dead, he's risen. Where
is he now? He's walking the banisters of
heaven. No, he's not. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God, exalted, having Read on, read with me. Having
received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, what Christ
said back there in John 14 and 16, he hath done this. Christ is controlling all of
this. He's the one that's, he's the
head of the covenant, the mediator of the covenant, overseeing it
all. He knows everyone's going to be saved, and he sends the
Holy Spirit to each one of them individually in the gospel. Read
on. Him, he has shed forth this which
you now see and hear. David's not ascending to heaven,
but David said, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit on my right
hand. Sit. Christ is not walking the
managers of heaven, seeing who's going to let him into their heart.
He's seated. The high priest of old in the
Old Testament, there were no chairs anywhere. Why? Their work
was never finished. The blood they offered never
did anything for anybody. Really? Never saved anybody. It's not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats should save a human soul. Huh? Not possible. So they never sat
down. They offered the same sacrifices
continually, year after year, day after day, the same. But
this man, Mr. Christensen, after he had offered
one sacrifice per sin forever, Not the blood of bulls and goats,
but his own precious blood. He offered the one sacrifice
of sinless blood, holy blood, the blood of a man, which God
demanded. The soul that sinned. He was
made sin. He came with his own precious
blood, laid down his life. God said, that's it. I've had
enough. That's good. I'll accept it. And he went back
and sat down. It's finished. The work's finished. Nothing left to do. brother and I agree is a little
hint. A little preview of Sunday's message. I'm going to preach
on it. It's finished. The word finished means nothing left to
do. When you finish, when I finish,
when we finish that house, I ain't going to drive another nail.
I'm not going to say, well, another nail looks good right there.
No. No. Look at that. No more. And Christ has scars, too, and
no more. He's not to be offered against
what the Mass does and all of this. No more. One sacrifice
for sin. He said it's finished when he
hung on that cross, went back to the right hand of the Majesty
on high, and sat down and folded his arm. And he's expecting something. What's he expecting? He says
there his foe is going to be his footstool. He's going to
prop his feet up. on all his enemies. All of his
enemies are going to be under his feet. Under his feet. All his people are going to be
at his feet. Not under them. They're going to be kissing him.
All his enemies are going to be under his feet as a show of
his divine authority over them. He's seated in the heavenly And
all his people are seated with him. Work's finished. Sin's been
purged. When he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down. Work's over. That's it. Nothing
left to be done. Expecting. He is supposed to
be his footstool and his people all to be saved. So he sent his
Holy Spirit to round them up. That's what sanctification is.
Cut out. To collapse. come out of the
herd. You got goats and sheep, you
know, roaming together and the Holy Spirit comes and looking
for the sheep. And he draws them out of the
herd. How? He lassoes them. How does
he lasso them? Chords. Of what? Of love. Chords of a man. The person and
work of a man. The gospel I'm talking about.
There's one. There's nothing. The Holy Spirit
comes. When the gospel, the preaching
of the gospel of the person and work of Christ, and throws it,
he knows it. He said, I know my sheep. I know
my sheep, and I call them by that. And they'll know me, and
they'll follow me. The Holy Spirit comes in the
gospel and lassos them and draws them by the gospel. That's what
Paul said in 2 Thessalonians. He said, He called you by our
gospel. by our gospel. Now, verse 37,
verse 36, Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly
that God hath made that same Jesus whom you have crucified,
both Lord and Christ. Now, when they heard this, when
they heard, what did they hear? What did they hear? They heard nothing but the person
and the work of Christ, didn't they? His sovereign majesty,
his sovereign power, his saving word. That's all they heard.
When they heard this, what did it do to them? What was the first
thing it called? Conviction of sin. It pricked
them in the heart. It pricked their heart. Conviction
of sin. That's the first thing the Holy Spirit does. convicts
us of our sin. We read that back in John 16.
He'll convince them of sin. And that's the first thing the
Holy Spirit does, is He takes someone and makes them realize,
I'm a sinner. God's holy. And I haven't believed
His Son. Worst sin of all, I haven't believed
His Son. I've trodden underfoot the Son of God all these years. And He convicts them of sin.
and of righteousness. They see their need of this one,
this Christ. He shows them Christ. That's
what the Holy Spirit does. Their need of Him. And they come. And this is what they asked Peter.
What shall we do? Verse 38. Peter said, Repent. Repent. And repent. People, it's a state of mind.
It's a state of heart. It's not a thing you do, per
se. It's what you feel. Sorrow, sin,
guilt. Guilt. It's loathing yourself. Hating yourself. Repent, he said,
and be baptized of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sin. And you'll receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost. Repent. Believe he's God's Christ. Reigning
ruling Lord. Your only hope of salvation.
Repent of your sins, confess. Confess to him. Whosoever confesses
that Jesus is a cry, confess your sins to him. He's faithful
and just to forgive us our sins and be baptized. Confess him
publicly. How? Right here. Baptism. This is the way. Baptism because
this is a A sign, or this is a symbol of what Christ did. It's not sprinkling holy water
and burning candles and all that mess. Where'd that come from? That's man-made stuff. Doesn't
have anything to do with the word Christ, does it? But this
does. This is a beautiful, as much
as possible, a perfect symbol of what Christ did. And I'll
illustrate. Baptism. And it says in verse forty-one
that they that heard all of this were baptized. They were baptized
gladly. Those who had been called by
the gospel saw their need of Christ, they were gladly, they
heard it gladly, the gospel of Christ, and they were baptized.
Baptism, what you're going to witness in a moment, is the command of Christ. It's
the command of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rebecca Shively comes
tonight to be baptized, and I asked her, I said, now, do you believe
this Christ we're preaching here? Is this the Christ you believe?
Not another, not what's... Do you see the difference? Have
you seen his glory? That this is the... There's another
one out there. They're preaching this. He's
not the Christ. This is the one. This is the gospel. This is the
gospel you need. This is the Christ you believe.
She said, Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I said, You want to
be baptized? She said, Yeah. I said, Come
on. You can't be saved if you can,
but you can't be saved without it. All right? I'm going to say in
obedience to the divine command of Christ Jesus our Lord, Christ
said, everyone that believe, he that believes shall be saved. Baptism is the public confession
of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's confessing him before me,
and Christ said, he that confesses me before me, and I'll confess
him to my father in heaven. He that doesn't, I'll deny. He said, baptism. And the word
means to immerse in water. Not spring. Not spring. It means to immerse.
And you don't do babies either. He that believeth and is baptized. All right? The word means immerse. And what this is a symbol of? Very simple. It is a symbol of
a person being crucified with Christ and buried with Him. Buried with Him. Dead in sin
and the flesh dies. We were crucified. God put us
to death in Christ. God's justice was satisfied against
us in Christ. killed in Christ. I was crucified
with Christ, Paul said. Nevertheless, I live. Rebecca
said, now make sure you bring me up. I said, oh, I will. I will. You can be sure he'll bring us
up, too. Everyone, this is the will of the Father, that everyone
that seeth the Son and believeth on him, I'll raise him up. I'll raise him up. He'll be with
me in glory. Crucified with Christ, buried
with Him, put to death in the flesh. God doesn't see me anymore.
I'm dead. Paul Mayhead is dead, buried,
and gone. Thank God. And someday He's going
to put away this fellow for good. This old man, this body of death,
He's going to put it away for good. I'm going to rise to walk
in newness of life. A new fellow, Joe, a new fellow
with no more sin. I'm going to be like him, sinless,
sinless. And we confess him and we rise
to walk in newness of life with Christ. And it says, look at
this, you need to see this. Verse 42, it says that these
people that were baptized, now that wasn't it. They were baptized,
they confessed him, they made a new decision, and three weeks
later they were gone. And they were saved, fixed up
for heaven, and sure for heaven as if they were already there.
Don't never come back to church, though. The name's on the church
roll. No. Verse 42. They continued steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine. What's that? The apostles' doctrine.
Preaching the gospel. Preaching Christ. In other words,
they continued steadfastly, consistently, faithfully to come here to preach
the gospel. Why? They gladly received it the first
time, and it made them even gladder than the next. And the more they
heard it, the gladder they got. And it's the only way it really
ever did make them glad from that day forward. Like Scott
said, since I've heard the good news, I've never heard any bad
news, really. That's the good news. That's what all sinners
need to hear. That's what they feed upon. They
never get enough of it. When they first, when they finally,
when an old sinner finally tastes and sees the Lord is gracious,
they can't get enough of eating him. Can't get enough. And they've got to feast on the
person and work of Christ in the form of hearing the gospel,
preaching. And it says fellowship. In the
apostles doctrine, that is a preacher of the word, and fellowship.
What is fellowship? Well, it's not church socials.
John said in 1 John 1, he said, truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with the Son. And once again, it's still in
the context of worship. That's what it's all about. They
continued steadfast. In other words, they were holding
fast to, loving, growing in more and more in love with this thing
called worship of God. Sitting at the feet of Christ,
hearing from Him, feeding on Him, growing in grace and the
knowledge of Christ. Fellowship with those of like
faith. And in breaking of bread, that's
what we did Wednesday night, and it broke bread. Why? What's
that all about? Just remembering Christ. Same
thing. Same war. And prayer. And prayer. The Lord's table. The Lord's
table. And prayer. See, fellowship,
and this right here, this is what young and old believers
need more than anything else. Everyone, nearly everyone out
here, in here, has been out in the world today, and you've just
been dragged down into the ditch, haven't you? Dragged down. David said, they laid a net for
my feet, and I've been caught up in it. Our Lord washed the
disciples' feet. He said, you need your feet washed.
Walking through the world gets mighty dirty. You need some refreshment. Some refreshment. Some cool,
feet-bathing water. soul cleansing water, gospel
refreshment is what you need. And this is what we need now.
And this is what will benefit a young and old believer more
than anyone. We've been influenced by the
world long enough. Evil communications corrupt good
manners. There's enough bad influence
out there that we need to cut the fellowship with that which
is good. Who was it? Who was it that said, come thou
with us and we'll do thee good? Come with us. Where are you going?
We're just going to go worship. We're going to open the Word.
Break some bread. We'll do you some good. Ain't
no good for you out there. Ain't no good out there. Come
thou with us and we'll do you some good. Breaking bread, table,
fellowship, and worship. And other centers.
Other centers now. Like you, who gladly received
this same word, were baptized. Everybody in here is a believer,
truly a believer. I went through this same thing,
this same thing, gladly. I've said it many times. I said,
knowing what I know now, that if the Lord said, he that believeth
and is baptized ten times shall be saved. Let's go, Bob. Would
you? There'd be a line out the door
with everybody in here. It's a good thing, isn't it,
Gloria? When I see somebody being baptized, it makes me want to
say, let me in there, too. I want to confess him, too. So
it's a glorious confession of Christ, isn't it? Just a simple
ordinance, but oh, the wisdom of God and how it points to what
Christ has done. All right, Rebecca, if you'll
go. Brother Joe, if you'll come and lead us in a hymn. What did
I say? 314.