Alright, back to Mark chapter
16 now. Let's read verses 15 and 16 again. Mark 16, verses 15 and 16. The Lord Jesus Christ said unto
them, to his disciples, 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." Unless you're here this morning
because you're compelled by someone generally
when you have a big fairly large crowd Sunday morning especially
you there are people that come who are compelled to do so by
someone else someone has talked them into it. They come for various
reasons, out of a sense of duty or habit, whatever. Some come
out of mere curiosity. But if you are here because you
have an interest in God, in the Bible, in the
Lord Jesus Christ, in spiritual Then perhaps you have some questions. Unless you know the answers or
have some answers, you have some questions that are unanswered
to you. Maybe you're interested. And I don't despise you or everyone being here. I'm glad, because the Lord overrules
quite often. a child coming who is forced
to do so by their parent who is expected to come. And quite
often the Lord overrules and speaks to that child through
his word and saves them. Whereas once they came because
Mom and Dad wanted them to come, now they come because they want
And the same holds true for a husband or wife or whoever who come for
whatever reason the Lord overrules quite often. So I don't despise people being here at all. I tremble. I just read that scripture again
and I thought oh my. I need I've got to preach this
gospel and it says here that some who believe For those who
do believe are baptized will be saved those who don't. And
that word just jumped out at me. And this is the son of God
talking. It's not some soul winning preacher. This is the son of God talking.
The one who created hell. And he says that some people
are going to be damned. Don't go there. I hope you are interested, and
if you're not, I hope the Lord will create an interest in you. Maybe you do have some questions,
like, what is this salvation all about? What is this all about,
this church thing? What does it mean to be saved?
What is this baptism? What is this all about? The Lord
said, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. What
does that mean? What does he talk about saved?
Everybody uses that term, don't they? Preacher, saved. You want
to be saved, don't you? Are you saved? What does that
mean, huh? Well, look back at Luke, er,
over at Luke, chapter nineteen. Luke, chapter nineteen. Keep
your place there, Mark, sixteen. Turn to Luke, chapter nineteen.
What does it mean to be saved? What does that mean, saved? Well,
look at Luke 19, our Lord speaking again here, and he says in verse
10, the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was
lost. That's easy, isn't it? That's easy. In order to be saved, somebody
has to be lost. Don't they? I want to try to make this message
plain. That one little line was speaking
to me the whole time we were singing. Make the message plain.
And if any of you men feel like saying that every now and then
during the message, go ahead. Make the message plain. I need
to. Lost. Barnard, Ralph Barnard,
the Lord used that man to preach the gospel and save him many
people through his word, through that instrument, through his
man. Ralph Barnard used to say this.
He said, I ain't trying to get people saved. He said, I'm coming to preach
to get people lost. There's a lot of wisdom in that
statement. A man can't save. I can't save. So where can't
save? Only the sovereign Lord can save.
When is a man saved? When it pleases God. When God
is pleased to save him. And nobody's going to be saved
except those that are lost. Nobody in here is saved unless
they're once plumb lost. You ever been lost? You've been lost was mean to
be lost. You remember me talking remember by the Walter Gruber
talking about that time he was out hunting in Mexico. By himself. He became disoriented lost his
way. Didn't know the way home didn't
know north from south east from west got dehydrated fell down
on the ground. He was lost. He couldn't get
back. He didn't know where back was.
Or he'd have got there. He'd have headed back. Totally
disoriented. He was lost. Well, Brother Drew
was saved. Because somebody came and got
him. Somebody found him. He was lost. Scripture says that man, we are
lost in sin. Lost in saying they said that
about me. When I was a young fellow they
said that maybe the lost cause. Have you ever heard that statement. You probably think that about
some but you know what he sure is a lost cause. He's a hopeless
case. He ain't good for nothing. Man,
he's a goner. Oh, my. That's who the Lord saves. That's who the Lord saves. Lost
in sin. Scripture says we're dead. Ephesians
2, 1 says, dead in trespasses and sin. You hath he quickened,
made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sin. Dead. lost the way to God. When a person
is lost, they've lost the way to God. Adam. Let me try to illustrate
everything. Make it plain. When God created
man, man was in perfect harmony and communion with God. He was
holy like God. He loved the things of God. He
loved God. God was his intimate companion. He lived in God. In him we lived and moved and
had his being. He talked with God. He walked
with God. He enjoyed his God. He was obedient to his God. Man loved God. Adam. When Adam willfully disobeyed
and rebelled against God Almighty, God said, You're going to die,
Adam. You're going to die. The day you rebel against me,
you're going to die. Adam did. He rebelled against God. What
happened? He died in sin. He didn't die physically. He
started dying. But he didn't die physically.
He died spiritually. What's that mean? He was cut
off from God. Once before he loved to walk
with God and now he's running from him. Remember that? Remember this story? God came
walking, the voice of God came walking. Adam, where are you?
Adam ran from God. Used to, when God came, the voice
of God came. Adam, it's my Lord. It ran to
him. Now he's running from it. Used
to want to be with him, now he wants to hide from it. He lost
his love for God, he lost his love for his start. He became
full of sin. And you know the story, he hated
his wife. And if you hadn't created that
woman, I wouldn't be in them. Just became a sinner. A sinner. Dead and trespassed in sin. He
lost the way to God. And man now, when man is born,
your son or daughter is not interested in God. You and Mindy and Vicki are trying
your best to teach our young children. And what is the biggest
chore that you have in teaching our young people? Just to get
them to pay attention. Just to keep their little minds
at attention for five minutes on the Word of God. You have
to, in the stories and this and that and the other, you can't,
you can't keep them interested, can you? Why? They're not interested. Man, when he's born, he's a boy
or a girl, they're not interested in God. And you can't make them
interested. There's some adults in here right
now, I'm sure certain of it, there always is in a larger crowd,
who are just not interested in these things. And I don't care
how I preach this morning, they will not be interested, unless
God does some talking. and creates an interest. And
they're more interested in their way. The Scripture says, every
man, all we like sheep, have gone our own way. They're more
interested in me, myself, and mine, and the world, and this
and that. But don't you want to stop and think about God a
little bit? No. No. Lost in sin, lost the way to
God, going the opposite direction. Saved means to be saved from
being lost. Saved means, listen to this,
Matthew 121, listen. This is what Jesus means. It's what the name Jesus means.
It says in Matthew 121, call his name Jesus, for he shall
save. He shall save, Jesus. He shall
save, Savior. He shall save his people from
their sins. Men and, like I was just saying,
men, women, children are dead in trespasses and sin. Those
of you who have children, I don't have to prove this to you, that
when they're born, they're born sinners. Aren't they? Huh? They're bound by this sinful
nature, they're consumed with it, they're controlled by it,
this thing called sin. You don't have to teach your
daughter to lie. They're already real good at it. before you before
anything you don't have to teach them to hate it comes natural.
Love doesn't come natural. You don't have to teach them
to cheat. They'll be born cheaters. They are. Don't have to teach
them to steal. Do you? What are you teaching
your children? You're trying to keep them from
doing these things aren't you? You see they're bound by this
sinful nature. You adults, which is more enjoyable
for you? Come on. Isn't it more enjoyable
to covet than to be content? Isn't that easier? To lust than
to have clean thoughts? Doesn't that sound easier, quicker?
Isn't that just not second nature, it's first nature. Huh? Isn't
that first nature to you, to be selfish? What's easier, to
give or to take? Huh? What's more fun? Come on, humans,
to get wild or be peaceable, drunken or in your right mind,
square, sober? To be foolish? or to be sensitive. Which is easier? Which is more
natural? Huh? Well, you know, if you're
honest with yourself. Huh? Why? It says we're dead
in sin. Dead in sin. Bound by this nature. Controlled by this nature. Dead
in sin. Well, Christ said, those who
believe shall be saved from this. Save from the power of this nature,
this controlling power. Save not from completely from
the presence of it. Someday they will be. Someday
they'll be saved from the presence of the sin. Never to sin anymore. Never to have sinful thoughts
anymore. Not now. But, he says, those who believe
shall be saved from this controlling reigning power of the sin. It
doesn't control anymore. It's there, but it doesn't control
anymore. The nature has been changed and
given a new nature. Saved from that power of sin
and saved from the penalty of it. We're going to talk about
in a moment. Penalty of sin, which is death. Death. The scripture says a soul
that sinneth. How many times do we quote this
scripture? This is God, Almighty God. The
soul that sinneth must surely die. The wages of sin is death. That means eternal death. It
means hell. That's what it means, hell. By
one man sin entered into the world, and so death passed upon
all men, for all have sinned. Death. Death. Not only physical,
but spiritual death. Spiritual. Cut off from God.
cut off from God. Christ said, "...who he that
believeth shall be saved from this death." Saved from this
hell, this eternal life, or this eternal death. Saved from wrath. Listen to these verses. Listen.
It says, "...being justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath." Whose wrath? God's wrath. who the scripture
says is angry with the wicked every day. Who's the wicked?
Us! Me! Little old you! Sweet little
girl as you are, boy. Angry! Enough so that it would
send men to an eternal hell where the worm would die. No, it's
God's word. It's what he's saying. If you
refuse to believe it, don't come in here again. If you don't believe this, don't
listen. Wrath. Listen to the Lord Jesus Christ
in John 3, 36. All men can quote is John 3,
16. Listen to verse 36 of John 3. He that believeth not, the
wrath of God abides on him. Not the love of God. God doesn't love everybody. I
don't care what these preachers are telling you. Deep preacher
Jesus Christ said, he that believeth not the wrath, not the love,
the wrath of God abides upon him or her. God's angry. Here's a good illustration, Rick. We were working over at the house
the other day, and there was this nest of yellow jackets. And I'd already been stung by
those yellow jackets once. Out in my garage, and one stung
me on the neck. Now, it made me angry. Those
little yellow things made me angry, as it would you. That's
my house. They're intruding. They're good
for nothing. We saw a nest of them up there,
and we just knew that they were going to sting us if we didn't
do something about it. Didn't we, Rick? I said, look there. He said, yeah. He said, one of
them stung us yet. pounding and banging and all
that and I said, I think we ought to kill him. He said, kill him. Well, what have they done? Nothing
yet, but they will. Kill him. I got some spray out
and killed him and he hit the ground and I stomped him. Why?
It ain't good for nothing. It's stinging me. What good is man to God? Huh? All he's done is stung him all
his life, spit in his face, huh? Rebelled against him, sinned
against him, huh? You? What about you? So we've all sinned because God's
clothed us and fed us and gave us our lives and our husbands,
our homes, our wives, our families, our well-being, our health, our
jobs, good jobs, homes. car after car, after clothing,
after food, just all these things. Well, you think, who made us
to differ? Who made us to differ? We are what we are by the free,
unmerited, sovereign bestowal of God Almighty. Everything we
have, God just freely said, here, I'm going to give this to this
old boy. Give, give, give, give, give. What have we given God
in return? Not much. I'm going to hardly give him
five minutes of our time. Get restless and we have to sit here
for thirty minutes? God's angry. Wouldn't you be? Angry. I'm going to put that old boy
out of my misery. Wrath. The wrath of God abides
upon him. Since an old-fashioned hellfire
damnation, Jesus Christ preached hell more than anybody. More
than anybody, Jesus Christ, lovely Jesus, meek and mild, he preached
hell. He said, God doesn't love everybody.
The wrath of God abides on them. But he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved from this wrath. Now the wrath of
God won't abide upon them. The blood will be on them. Is anybody interested? All right, now, what do we believe
to be saved? I want to be saved, Richard.
What do we believe to be saved? Look back at the text again,
Mark 16. Look at it, Mark 16. Look at
verse 15. He said unto them, Go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel. and he that believeth the gospel
and is baptized shall be saved." That's it. What do we believe? The gospel. The gospel. What is the gospel? We need to
ask that, don't we? Then what is the gospel? Our Lord said that there were
many in his day that believed and yet weren't saved. And Paul said, there's some come
preaching another gospel, which won't say. I need to know what
the gospel is. I need to know, John, I need
to know what the gospel is, so I can believe it and be saved.
Huh? Oh, I wish every preacher in
town was preaching this message this morning. Romans chapter
one. Let's look at the gospel one
more time, OK? And everybody in here saying.
Sometimes I'm not sure about myself, but I need to hear the
gospel again. I need to make sure, Joe, that
I believe this gospel. I'm going to give diligence right
now. Would you give it with me? Give diligence to make your calling
and election. Sure. Make sure you believe this
gospel or say, Barbara, you believe the gospel? You say, well, yes,
but preach it again. I want to make sure. All right. Romans 1. Now let me say this
first, before we get into this. Disbelieving is not just, well I agree with
that, it's not just mental assent or acceptance of some facts.
If any of you stay in here long enough under this preaching long
enough we go verse by verse you'll have to say well it's got to
be so it's got to be so it's from the Bible I see it moan
to us and you'll say just rationally you'll say that's true. That's
true that's not that that's true and I say that's not faith. Romans 10 says that with the
heart man believeth unto righteousness. With the heart man, Romans 10.10,
with the heart man believeth and is saved. With the heart,
what does that mean? What does that mean, believe with the heart?
Christ said it. He said they that worship must
worship in spirit and truth. That is from the heart, not merely
believe in facts. James said, you believe in one
God? Have I convinced you, have you come here long enough and
heard my preaching to convince you that God is sovereign? The devil believes that. And he ain't saved. So it goes deeper than that,
doesn't it? This is what the heart heart. Some people, I believe,
in here are convinced of these truths, but don't yet have a
heartfelt need for them. They believe God's God, but don't
yet have a heartfelt need for this God. Believe what I'm saying
about Christ and his work, but don't yet have a heartfelt need
for this Christ. I believe there's some that do.
I believe I see some working. Maybe in one or two new that
that it seems that they have a need. And I had a lady tell
me just the other day say I don't know what's happening to me but
she said I just I just can't stay away from here. See that's
that heartfelt need. Need if you need something. If you need something, you know
I need food. I need it. You know where you're
going to find me this afternoon? At the table. You know where
you're going to find me tonight? Eating something. Probably standing
with chocolate milk shake and popcorn. That's what I eat every
Sunday night and Wednesday night. But I need a lot of food. You
see, I have a need for food. My body is sustained by food.
You're going to find me when foods are eaten. Eaten. Those who have a heartfelt need
for Christ, where are you going to find them? They're going to
be feeding. I need this. I need this. What's the gospel
then? Have you believed it from the heart? You see your need?
What is it? Look at Romans 1, verse 1. I'm called to be an
apostle, he said, separate unto the gospel of God. It's the gospel
of God. It's the gospel, it's the good
news that God's got. You just need to hear that, John.
You just love to hear it. There's a difference between
believing something and loving it. That's what Paul said in
2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians 2, some people
did love the truth. Do you love that? Do you love
the fact? Do you love to hear me preach
God as God? Eh? Do you get tired of it? Do
you need to hear that, that God's God? Oh, that's your salvation
in it. God's God. I need God to be God,
don't you? I need a God who's God. But I don't need this old God
out here who's loving everybody and something that might go to
hell anyway. I don't need that God. I need a God who loves with
an everlasting love and therefore with loving kindness draws them
and saves them and keeps them and they'll never perish. No,
never. I need that God. I need to hear a man tell me
about it all the time. God's God. And he said, Lord, what
I've said unto you, you'll never perish. Oh, I need that. I need
that. I love it. I love Him as God. The gospel says God's God. Look at verse 3, the gospel concerning
his Son. Do you need to hear, I mean from
the heart, do you need to hear that God was manifest in the
flesh and came as a man to live as a man, a life for some men,
and he did it, lived it perfectly, and gave it? to some people,
and went to the cross and bore their sins in his body on the
tree, and now rose to make intercession for them." Who's the them? It's
those old sinners I'm talking about. Hey, sinner, do you need
to hear that? Do you need that? Do you need
to hear about this, Jesus Christ? So, yes, I feel myself to be
such a rotten, hell-deserving sinner. Good, let me tell you
the gospel. Here's the good news. He was manifest to take away
our sin. You need that? Do you love that? Do you love
that? Say, hey, sinner, did you hear
what Jesus said to me? They're all taken away. All of them? All of them. Sing
it over again. Sing it over again. Make it plain. Sing it over again. Christ received
it sinful, even me. Who, you? Yes, me. You need to
hear that. You love to hear that. Only sinners
love to hear that. Only lost people love to be found,
want to be found. Only sinners need this gospel. Not righteous people, not good,
moral, holy, upright people, they don't need it. They don't
want it. They get offended by it. Any sinners out there? You
love it, don't you, when I call you a worm, John? Yes, you do. How else can you explain that? Because he said, I'm the God
of Jacob. I'm the God of Jacob. Jacob,
have I love? Who is Jacob? He said, Jacob,
you're a woman. And I call you, Barbara, you're
real pretty, you're attractive, you're a nice woman, but you're
a woman. Why are you smiling? That's who
Jesus Christ came to save. You need to hear that? Oh, you
got to be brought down before you'll be exalted. Brought up. Our children need to be sinners. Don't take that and run with
it, but I'm telling you, none of our children will be saved
unless God shows them they're sinners. And the worst thing that might
happen to them, you think, might be the best. If God, the Holy Spirit, will
someday bring them down to see what they are, then that same
Spirit will bring them up. When you're down and out, there's
only one place to look, up. Right? That's the reason we keep
talking about sin here. Old Brother Scott Richardson,
I'll never forget this statement. He said, go ahead and convince
me that I'm a sinner. He said, I'm not proud of it,
I'm ashamed of it. I don't delight in it. I'm ashamed of it. He said, but go ahead, convince
me. Convince me beyond a shadow of a doubt that I'm a hell deserter. Good, moral, upright, religious,
those who attend on Sunday mornings? No, no promise to any of those. Who do you come to say? Sinners. Sinners. That's what he came
to say. Oh, concerning. Do you need to
hear it? Huh? Concerned, declared to be the
Son of God with power. This is the gospel that declares
him to be the Son of God with power. That's not my text, John,
but boy, it's a good one, isn't it? Declared to be the Son of
God with power. Power. Not poor little Jesus. I wouldn't
sit for five minutes in one of these services, let alone every
day in and day out, listen to some pitiful preacher tell me
to accept this poor little Jesus. Pah! Pah! That's what Bertie would do. Ain't nothing? Well, that's a
stench in my nostril. Who needs some little pitiful
little peanut head like that? That little Jesus? Huh? Tell me. Point me at a place
where a man's standing up and saying, hey, Jesus the King,
he's got all the power in heaven and in earth. None stays his
hand or says unto him what he doeth, and those he comes to
save, he saved them. I wanted to preach on this, Mindy,
later on, maybe I will. Brother Todd and I preached a
message. He said the very first words
out of Jesus Christ's mouth were, I must be about my Father's good.
He's twelve years old when he said that. I wished you not,
I must be about my father's business." You know where his last words
on the earth were? It is finished. Did you get that? Let me say
it to you again. He said, I must be about my father's business,
his first words. His last words were, it's finished. What was his father's business?
Whatever it was, he finished it. Matthew 121, called his name
Jesus, he shall save his people from their sin. He said, that's
my father's business. And of all what he has given
me, I'll lose nothing. But we'll raise him up again
at that last day. And everyone that seeth the Son
and believeth on him shall never perish. You've seen Him in all
His glory and His power. That's the only Jesus there is
to see, though Him who has all power could declare to be the
Son of God with power. Savior, Savior, Lord, Christ. Do you believe Him? Never perished.
Saved. Been baptized? Saved. Saved. Sovereign and all. That's it.
And here's the last word. In our text it says, our Lord
says, He that believeth the gospel. And I've tried to declare it. I've heard a lot of messages,
some great ones, preached a few. The half has never been told.
The gospel has never been rightly declared as it ought to be. Because if it were, everybody
in here would be absolutely broken, absolutely weeping. beside themselves
with the glory and the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ. Screaming,
running down here screaming like they did at Pentecost. Men, what
must we do to be saved? He's the Lord of glory, and I
don't know him. What must I do? You see, if the
gospel were really free, that's the result. Well, he that believeth
the gospel, Christ said, and is baptized shall be saved. I hope the Holy Spirit will cause
you to believe that gospel I just preached." Well, it says, baptism.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Baptized. Baptism is a command. It's not
an option, is it? Now, let me say this about baptism,
all right? Just a few more minutes. There's
nothing spiritual about this. There's nothing different about
that place up there than your bathtub at home. Same water,
full of iron pyrite. Nothing, just an old, just a
tank. Fill it full of water. Nothing
spiritual about it, nothing mystical about it. You go up there, stand
in there, a man stands with you and he dunks you, he dunks you.
And I don't know why. There's nothing mystical about
that. You just get dumped. Ain't wrong. There's no salvation in that.
None whatsoever. That can't wash you away, unless
you got a good bar of soap. It won't even wash the dirt away,
let alone your sins. No salvation in that. There's
no spiritual blessings in that. You're not going to feel any
better coming out of there than you did when you went in there. What is baptism? Baptism, the
scripture says, is an answer of a good conscience toward God.
In other words, baptism is a show of faith. It's a show of faith
in Christ. Everything I just preached, you
say from the heart, I believe that. I need that. I love that. Hey, I believe that. And be baptized, confessing Christ, be baptized.
Now, I said a show of faith, didn't I? It's a public, a show,
when you put on a show, it's a public display of something.
This and this right here are the only two things our Lord
said you have to do this. This is an open public display
of your faith. In the right here this day in
public in front of people. And you don't do it in the privacy
of your home or two of you. In public. A show of faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ the only thing to do publicly not a vain
show now not a vain show I'm going to show everybody I'm a
Christian. Not that. Listen it's a show of faith in
Christ. A show of faith in Christ. In
other words, when you go up in that tub, that's all it is, a
tub, pool, and you're standing there in that water, what you're
confessing is, and the man takes you and dumps you down under
and brings you back up, what you're confessing is, I am in
Christ. Christ is the water of life.
I'm in Christ by faith. I believe Christ. I believe what
the preacher is preaching, the gospel. That's what I believe.
I believe in Christ. I believe Christ. And I believe
of God am I in Christ. So you're in that water, OK?
In that water. And once you go down, the water
is going to get in you. You're going to be in it, and it's going to
be in you. But you say, I'm in Christ, alive in Christ, because
He lives, I live. The water of life. You say, but
I was dead, buried with Christ. When Christ was hung on that
cross, that was me. God was punishing me. My sins
were in Christ. When God killed His Son, put
Him in the grave, He killed me. I was crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless, I lived. I came back out like Christ.
When Christ arose from the grave, and went back to sit with the
Heavenly Father. I'm sitting with Him now. I rose
with Him to walk in the newness of life. Resurrection. It's a show of
humility. You know, when you come up there, ladies, your makeup, your hair,
get that out of here. We're going to make you, don't
you? You're going to come out looking like a wet rat. humility,
a show of humility. Another man's going to take you
down, right? Going to take you down. And that's
what you say, Christ the Holy Spirit has brought me down. That's
where I need to be. Matter of fact, you should have
just, just drowned in the name of Isaiah. Brought me down, a
show of humility. And you submit to being killed
for Christ's sake. It's a renunciation of self.
It's a renunciation of self. What you say is, I want Paul
Mahan, when I'm standing there in that pool, I'm saying, I want
Paul Mahan dead, buried, and gone. Do away with him. Put him
in the grave. I want that new man to rise,
the walking newness of life, to be cleansed me from all unrighteousness,
from my iniquity. That's it. It's a committal. It's a committal. You say, I
want to rise to walk in newness of life. When you commit to that
now, you've committed, really. People don't like to be embarrassed
and humbled and so forth, and it takes a certain amount. But
I'm telling you what, if you really believe Christ and trust
Him, this is a joy, a joy. And this is the reason I don't
hound people and try to convince people. get baptism. I don't want anybody being baptized
who doesn't absolutely need to be baptized. I don't tell anybody you need
to be baptized, per se. I wait on them to tell me, hey,
I need to be baptized. And sometimes even put it off.
Would you baptize me or I'm kind of busy this week? And then next
week come up, when are you going to baptize me? Well, we can,
you know, maybe next. Well, now. Can I tell that story? I don't
know if I can remember it correctly. There's an older woman in Frankville, Kentucky, by the
time Harry was preaching, and an older woman, eighty-some years
old, kind of crippled. And see if I can get the story
straight. I need to get the whole story. At any rate, the Lord saved her
in the preaching of the gospel. One Sunday night, she'd been
coming, she'd been coming, and Dad was down there preaching
one night, and she came up that night, eighty-some years old,
feeble little woman, walked with a cane, and she said to him,
she said, I believe this gospel. She said, I want to be baptized. Good I'm glad. Miss so and so
he said we'll love you said next Sunday morning by the time she
said no no no no no no. He said well I haven't got any
clothes I mean you don't need to do you know she said no but
I don't make a difference. She said I want to be baptized
now. Well they did. They took her
up there I guess in her undergarments or something. And she was baptized. Before she was baptized? Oh,
that's right. Before she was baptized, she
was back in the back or something and fell down the stairs and
broke her hip. Broke her hip. And they called
the ambulance, and the ambulance came, and they started to take
her, and she hadn't been baptized yet. And they started to take
her, and she says, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be baptized.
And those paramedics had to sit on the back row while she was
baptized. And they carried her up in there.
And see, that woman wanted to confess Christ. She said, I'm
not going to wait. See, it's a joy. Come here, woman. Christ said, He that believeth
and is baptized. That's a condition. Anybody that
can be baptized cannot be saved without it. Salvation is not in baptism.
The thief on the cross could not be baptized, but he was saved. Simon Magus was baptized, but
he wasn't saved. There's no salvation in baptism,
with or without it. But if you can be baptized, and
you really believe Christ, you must be baptized. person cannot,
for whatever reason. That woman, well, that leaves
every other excuse lame, but lame, no fun in him. But lame,
it's you. If you can and have not, you
haven't confessed Christ yet. You haven't confessed Christ
yet. And let me add this, too. You
say, I don't feel, I just don't feel. I don't feel sinful enough, you
know. Nobody does. None of us know just how sinful
we really are. You know, I just don't feel my...
Here's, the song says, all the fitness, all the need that he
requires is to feel your need of him. That's it. Do you need
this gospel? Do you need this Christ, do you
need this salvation? He says, he that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved. That's good, isn't it? I believe, and I was baptized
one day. And you know, I believe if the
Lord had said, you must be baptized five times. Rick, come on, wouldn't
you? Don't you think you'd say that?
Come on, let's go. Got four more to go, and it'll
just make me happy. My brother always said, he said,
when I hear the gospel, I get saved again. Whenever I hear
the gospel, he said, I get saved all over again. I want to jump
in the pool. When I see somebody, don't you? When you see somebody
baptized, don't you want to say, hey, hey, what is it? Let me
in there again. So I can tell everybody, this
is the Christ I believe. This is what I believe. who I
believe. He that believeth and is baptized.
Simple as that. Did I make it plain, Henry? Must
have, because I didn't hear you say that. All right. He that believeth, young, old,
black, white, Jew, Gentile, rich, poor, male, female. He that believeth, in the name
of Christ, All right Joe you got to. Put
it. Through thirty five.