The name of the message today
is Believer's Baptism. Believer's Baptism. Open your
Bibles to Acts chapter 10. We have one more message in this
chapter. Next week, Lord willing, we'll
be in Acts 11. But let's stand up and read verses
36 to 43 together in Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10, verses 36
to 43. We'll stand up and read that
together. The word which God sent unto
the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is
Lord of all. That word, I say you know, which
was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee
after the baptism which John preached. How God anointed Jesus
of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about
doing good. and healing all that were oppressed
of the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of
all things which he did, both in the land of the Jews and in
Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him God raised
up the third day and showed him openly, not to all the people,
but unto the witnesses chosen before of God, even to us who
did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he
commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it
is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and
dead. To him, all the prophets witness
that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive
remission of sins. My wonderful portion. Wonderful
portion. Now, during our last study, we
saw where Peter was sent by our Lord Jesus Christ to Caesarea,
where he had the honor of preaching the gospel to Cornelius, his
household, and Cornelius had gathered a whole bunch of other
folks there, hadn't he? And remember, Cornelius was a centurion. He
was a Roman centurion, so he was a man over a hundred Roman
soldiers, man of power, man of authority. man of weight to his
words, but we found out he's a believer. He loves our great
God, doesn't he? He loves Jehovah. Oh my. And we'll find out that there
was a whole bunch of lost sheep that were gonna be saved. And
we found that out last week, didn't you? Peter preached the
gospel to those who were gathered, and oh my, what happened? The
Lord saved a whole bunch of them, didn't he? Oh my, they were turned
from serving idols to serve the living and true God. And remember,
an idol can be ourselves too, can't it? Oh yes, it can. You ever hear, look out for number
one. It's all about me. Remember we used to say that
before the Lord saved us. We used to think that it's all
about me. No, it's all about him. It's all about Christ. And I love what the last verse
there in verse 43, to him gave all the prophets witness that
through his name, whosoever believe it, there's the clause. Do you
believe on Christ? Remember John 3.16? People quote
that all the time, but they forget the clause. For God so loved
the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him, not everybody, but whosoever believeth on him,
should not perish, but have everlasting life. So the question comes,
do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Who is he to you? Who
is he to you? Oh my. It's a good question to
ponder. A question of the ages, isn't it? Look at that. Whosoever
believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. Forgiveness
of all our sins. Past, present, and future. That's
wondrous. That's wondrous, isn't it? Oh
my, all through the precious, precious blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So in our last study, Peter was sent by our Lord. He
went to Caesarea. He had the honor of preaching
the gospel to Cornelius and all those who were gathered together.
And that special meeting was all ordained and executed by
God. As we say all the time, every
one of us are here because God's ordained it. God's ordained that we would
be here today. God's ordained that this church would be here
today. Isn't that amazing? It all comes by his purpose and
by his planning. So that meeting, just like our
meeting was ordained and executed by our sovereign God, and all
the events that took place leading up to that message, Peter preached. Remember, Peter went through
the villages in Jerusalem and all that, all around Judea, and
then he went down into Lydda, then he went to Joppa, now he's
over in Caesarea. All that is ordained by God to
come to pass, so that Peter would be right here in Caesarea, preaching
the gospel to Cornelius and those who were gathered there. See,
our God's sovereign. He's not up there going, oh,
I wish I could save you. I hope I can save you. No, God's
sovereign. He's sovereign. He's Lord over
all. He's Lord of all. Whether people
believe it or not, He is the King of kings and the Lord of
lords. My, and I'll tell you what, He's a God ready to pardon,
isn't He? Have we not tasted that the Lord
is good? We who are His people? We who are saved sinners? I'm
nothing but a saved sinner, are you? My, do you sin more than
you want to? I sure do. I can't wait until,
like we were saying, till we're in Emmanuel's land where we will
never sin again. It'll be glorious. It'll be amazing. So marvel, too, at the wondrous
fact of God's providential dealings in making everything ready. And
then we know that it's God who opens the heart of the hearers
Right? They're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God and given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. So then we conclude salvation is of the Lord. As Brother Travis
said, no merit, no merit, no merit. No merit in us. There's
no merit in us, in anything we do to gain favor with God. But
in Christ, all who believe on him shall receive the remission
of sins. How many? all amen sister all every single
one of them washed in the precious blood of christ cleansed from
all our sins how can that be because the precious blood of
the lord jesus christ that's the only way can we save ourselves Can we
pay for one sin, let alone the billions we commit in a lifetime?
No. I can't pay for one of my sins,
but I trust in the one who paid it all for me. Oh my. That's why we say flee
to him. He's the only hope for sinners.
So God prepares the hearts, and then he sends someone to preach.
He sends someone to preach the gospel. He prepares the hearts
of those who will receive his gospel, and salvation is of the
Lord from beginning to end. It's all him. It's all him. If you're saved, it's by the
complete, full, and sovereign grace of God, plus nothing you
did, and nothing you will do. I remember talking to my daughter,
and I said, sweetie, all you have to do is look to Christ.
She goes, it's that simple? Yep. Man complicates it, doesn't
he? They say, well, you got to do
this to be saved, and you got to do that. Absolutely not. Christ
did it all. Christ did it all. It's wonderful. And the same message Peter preached
to Cornelius and those assembled with him is the same message
that I preach today and that other gospel preachers preach.
Same message. Salvation by grace alone plus
nothing. Look at verse 36. Look what Peter preached here.
He said, one of the traits of gospel preaching is you preach
Christ is Lord of all. Look at this, verse 36. The word
which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by
Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. That's a statement, that's a
declaration. That's not up for debate. That's
a statement of fact. He is Lord of all. That's wonderful.
Our Savior is Lord of all. Our Savior keeps everything going
and everything, it's all in His hands. Is it hard for Him to
keep? Is anything too hard for the
Lord to do? Why do we worry? Ah, the flesh, the flesh, the
flesh, right? Oh my, oh my. And then also, look what else
Peter preached. He preached that Jesus Christ
was anointed of God. Look at verse 38 of Acts chapter
10. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost
and with power. He went about doing good. He
did good. He healed the sick, raised the dead, cast out demons,
and healed all who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with
him. Now remember, Jesus Christ is not just a mere man. He's
God in the flesh. He's the second person of the
Trinity. He's fully God and fully man. That's why the statement, He
is Lord of all. Did He become Lord when He came
to earth? He's Lord in glory, wasn't He?
Remember, He was sent by the Father from heaven. He was sent by the Father from
heaven to save His people from their sins. That's why the marvelous
words, it is finished, it's done, the work is complete, are so
wonderful. Well, he cried on Calvary's cross.
He redeemed his people from all their sins by the shedding of
his precious blood, by the shedding of his precious blood. And then
look what else, look at verse 39, Peter preached the death,
burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are
witnesses of all things, which he did both in the land of the
Jews and in Jerusalem. So they were eyewitnesses to
what Christ did. They were eyewitnesses to his
miracles. Peter, Paul, John, the apostles, they were eyewitnesses. They saw him do these things.
And then, It says, and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on
a tree, him God raised up the third day and showed him openly.
He appeared to his people. He appeared to his disciples.
He didn't appear to the other Jews. That's a picture of him manifesting
himself to us as believers, but not to anyone else in the world. My, see God's distinguishing
grace? He saves whom he wills. And who
are we to say, well, that's not fair? Scripture says, who are
thou to reply against God? He's the potter, we're just clay.
Should the clay say to the potter, I don't wanna be a candlestick,
that's my added in there. I wanna be a vase. No, the potter,
what does he do? He makes that clay into whatever
he chooses, doesn't he? Scripture says he makes vessels
of honor and vessels of dishonor. Who are we to reply against God? And then, who shall bring any
charge to God's elect? Who shall bring any charge to
one of God's people? It's God that justifies. We're justified
by God. We're justified by the God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's justified us. And that means
that when God looks upon us, He sees us clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. He doesn't see our sin. He sees His Son. That's
amazing. And being justified, we can then
stand in the presence of God. If we weren't justified in Christ,
we could never stand in God's presence. We just can't. Because
we have no merit, do we? The scripture says there's none
that doeth good. The scripture says that all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We're just a bunch
of sinners. Now, we who believe, we profess,
we're saved sinners. See, folks say, well, you guys
think you're better than something. I'm just a safe sinner, man.
That's all I am. By the grace and mercy of God.
And we praise Him for that, don't we, Brother Travis? We give Him
glory and praise and honor for that. Because as you said, we're
totally undeserving. We know, every one of us here
are truly born again. We know, we've been taught, that
we are the most undeserving people. And yet God has shown us mercy.
That's why we praise Him. That's why we glorify Him. That's
why we desire to come and hear the Gospel preached. Because
it tells us about our King. It tells us about our Savior. Now look at what else He preached.
He preached that Jesus Christ reveals Himself to His chosen
people. Look at verses 40 and 41 of Acts chapter 10. Him God
raised up in the third day and showed Him openly, not to all
the people, not to all of Jerusalem. No. No, but unto witness chosen
before of God. That's his people. Look at that. He didn't reveal
himself to everybody, but just to his people, even to us. Now, here he's talking again
about being an eyewitness of this. We're getting firsthand
account here. Peter, look at this, who did
eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. They saw
him. He said, remember Timothy? Or
not Timothy, Thomas. I said to remember my
middle name. Thomas. He said, I won't believe
he rose unless I put my fingers in his nail prints. And the Lord showed up, didn't
he? And he said, here you go. Put your fingers in. I'm real.
Man, he dropped, didn't he? He dropped fast, didn't he? He
didn't have to do that. Oh my, our Lord rose from the
grave. You follow every other religion and it leads to a grave.
Muhammad's dead. Buddha's dead. You follow all
those. Mary, dead. Mary Baker Eddy or whoever she
was with the Seventh Day Advent, dead. The guy who started Jehovah
Witness, dead. Right? Every pope, dead. Right? But you go back, Christianity
is the only one with an empty tomb. And we see here, Peter
is a witness of seeing him in the flesh. And Peter preached
the risen, exalted Christ of God, who was ordained by God
to be the judge of the quick and the living and the dead.
Do you know that at the great last day, when the sheep and
goats are separated, that great last day, that no one will miss
this appointment? People say, well, I don't believe
in God. You're going to stand before Him. You're going to stand
before Him, whether you believe it or not. And who are the sheep and the
goats going to stand before? The judge of the quick and the
dead. And his name is the Lord Jesus
Christ. God upon the throne. Oh yeah. You say, I don't believe
that. Well, you're going to meet him.
And He's either going to be on that day, He'll either be a judge
to you or He'll be a Savior. A judge or a Savior. But He's
going to be one or the other. And I pray, I pray God will give
you grace if you don't know Him, that He be your Savior. My oh
my. Now look at this, look at verse
42. He's going to tell us this. And he commanded us to preach
unto the people and to testify that it is he, that being Christ,
which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead. Look at that. And notice that
Peter was commanded to preach this. Look at verse 42 again. He was commanded by God to preach
Christ. Look at this. And he commanded
us to preach unto the people and to testify that he, that
it is he, Christ, which was ordained by God to be the judge of the
quick and the dead. See, I get up every week and
I testify of Christ, don't I? When you're talking to other
people, when you're talking to friends and family members who
you love dearly, you're testifying about the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what we do. We tell people the great things.
You know, witnessing is just telling people the great things
that God had done for me. I was a rebel. I had no interest in
Christ. And God saved my soul. He found me. I was in a pit,
and he found me and pulled me out of that pit. And I stand
before you, a sinner saved by grace. I still struggle with
sin. I struggle with sin more than
I ever did before. You know why? Because I drank sin like water
before, and I didn't even know I was sinning. But now, we get convicted, don't
we? by God the Holy Spirit. Oh my. And Peter preached through the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 43. Look at this.
This is wonderful. To him gave all the prophets,
Moses, all the prophets, that's all the prophets of the Old Testament.
Who did they give witness to? See, the Old Testament's full
of Christ. All those types and shadows, all those sacrifices
pointed to the one who's coming. Right? There was proclaimed,
Messiah's coming, Messiah's coming. He's the Messiah. Christ is the
Messiah. Look at this. To him gave all
the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall. Look at that. Shall. Not maybe.
Not if you pray a certain prayer. Not if you do this and do that.
But through him, through his work, through his perfect sin-atoning
work, shall receive remission of sins. We're witnesses of that, aren't
we, Brother Brian? My, we receive remission of sins all through
Christ and him alone. And all God's ordained preachers,
we preach the same message. We preach salvation is by the
grace of God alone, in Christ alone, through Christ alone,
by his perfect sin atoning work alone. And there's absolutely
nothing we do to merit that, to earn it, to deserve it, nothing. If we got what we deserved, we'd
be in hell. That's what we deserve. But God's
had mercy on sinners, on sinners that he chose, chosen sinners.
Did you know, Sister Karen, did you know you were one of his
before he saved you? We didn't have a clue, did we? And then
he revealed himself to us, eh? So true, isn't it, Sister Marcia?
My, oh, my. So gracious. He's so good to
us, beloved. So wonderful. And there's only
one true gospel. There's not four or five different
gospels. There's one true gospel. One
true gospel, beloved. And do you know that, turn if
you would to Galatians chapter 1, do you know that God himself
pronounces a curse on anyone who's preaching another gospel?
Who's the author of this book? There's different men who penned
this. We're pen men, right? Norm calls them secretaries.
Paul was a secretary. Who's the true author? God the
Holy Spirit, right? Those men were just secretaries,
writing down what God wanted them to write down. Isn't that
amazing? Now look at this in Galatians
chapter one. People say, oh, it's okay, it's okay. That person, I've talked to people
about Catholicism, because I came out of that. Oh, Catholics are
okay. Well, no, they're lost. They're
trusting in a workspace salvation. They're trusting in themselves.
I was in it. And God graciously saved me and
took me out of it. And I praised his name. But it
was another gospel. You know why? You know who they
exalt the most in that church? Mary. Yep. They even call her a co-redeemer.
That's blasphemy. There's only one redeemer. Remember
Job? I love what Job said, I know
my redeemer liveth. Singular. Who's our Redeemer? Christ, amen. Christ is our Redeemer. Now look at this. Look how serious
God takes the gospel, the one true gospel. Look how seriously
he pronounces a curse on any man or woman who would dare preach
another gospel. Look at this in chapter 1, verses
6 to 9. I marvel that ye are so... Now he's writing to believers
here. They've been bewitched. The Judaizers have come in, and
they've said, you must be circumcised to be saved. I never figured
out, still, how a woman would be saved then, because, you know,
seriously. I never figured that out. But
they don't even think of that. They're just preaching, you've
got to do this to be saved. Right? Look at this. I marvel that you
are so soon removed from him that called you unto the grace
of Christ unto another gospel. So these Judaizers are saying,
well, the true gospel, they're saying the true gospel is salvation
by Christ plus being circumcised. Or let's just do a whole nother
frame. Catholics say the true gospel is salvation in the church. Seventh-day Adventists say the
true gospel is worshiping on Saturday. The Church of Christ
say the true gospel is believing and being baptized. Those are
all lies. Those are another gospel, beloved.
That's not the gospel. The gospel, the one gospel of
God's free and sovereign grace is salvations in Christ alone
plus nothing. He's done it all. And it's the
most despised thing amongst religious people. My, oh, my. Look at this, though. unto another gospel. Then Paul
says, which is not another. It's not another gospel. But
there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel
of Christ. Look at that, perverted. But
though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto
you than that which we have preached, let him be accursed. Do you know
what the accursed is in the Greek? Let him be damned. That's the Holy Spirit telling
us that, isn't it? Because he's the true author, right? God's
jealous over the gospel. There's only one. Then he reemphasizes
again, as we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach
any other gospel unto you, then what you have received, see they
had received the gospel of God's free grace. They had received
the gospel of salvation in and through Christ alone. Notice
Paul's not telling them they're unbelievers. You notice that?
I love how Paul corrects that way. He doesn't go, well, you're
a bunch of, you're gone. No, he doesn't do that. Because
he knows they've received the true gospel. But their ears have
been tickled by these false preachers over here. And remember the Galatians, the
Gauls, were very superstitious. Caesar said that they were very
superstitious people and that they could be swayed by all kinds
of things very easily. So Paul comes in, he preaches
the gospel to them, they believe it, they're holding firm, and
then these other false preachers come in and say, well no, you
gotta do this to be saved along with faith in Christ. And some
of them are being swayed, they're being bewitched. Oh my. Look at this. If any man preach any of the
gospel unto you, then that you ever see, let him be damned.
Let him be accursed. Verse nine. Let's go back now to Acts chapter
10. Now Peter's preached the true
gospel. We saw that last week. He preached the true gospel to
them, and we just read it all over again. Verses 39 to 43. He preached the true gospel to
them. He said, Christ is Lord of all. He died, was buried,
rose again. My, oh, my. Now let's look at verses 44 to
46 of chapter 10. We see that as Peter preached
the true gospel of God's amazing grace, that God the Holy Spirit
fell on Cornelius and those in his household. Look at this.
When Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on them,
which heard the word. And they of the circumcision,
which believed were astonished. Now remember, remember there
was a bunch of fellows that went with Peter to Joppa or from Joppa. Remember last week we saw they
went with Peter to go to Cornelius's house and they were Jewish, but
they were believers. They were saved, saved Jews. and they had went with him. And
look, it says here, and they, and notice this, they of the
circumcision, which believed. There's that clause again, which
believed. They're believers. They're our
brothers. We're gonna see them in glory. We're astonished, because
remember, Christ came into his own, and his own received him
not, right? Christ came to Israel. He came to his chosen people,
right? And they rejected him, didn't
they? Now, did that catch God by surprise? I remember when
I was in religion, oh my gosh, it's so awful. I used to say,
well, see, the Jews rejected him, so God went to the Gentiles. No, it was all part of his plan. It was all part of his plan.
It's all part of his purpose. We're all Gentiles here, aren't
we? Praise God. Praise God he sent
the message to the Gentiles, right? Praise his mighty name
that he did that. Look at this. And they of the circumcision
which believe were astonished as many as came with Peter, because
that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy
Ghost. See, they did not believe it was the Jews thought it was
the Messiah was only coming for them, no one else. Well, now we find out that Christ
is a redeemer of all who believe on him, both Jew and Gentile. Oh, my. Look at this, because
that on the Gentiles which poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost,
for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God, then
answered Peter. So we see in verse 44 that the
Holy Ghost fell upon them, fell upon them. They heard the word,
they heard the gospel preached, and they were born again by the
Holy Spirit of God, by God, the Holy Spirit's almighty power.
They were born again, given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And look at verse 46. This is a little thing in here.
For the heirloom speak with tongues in what? Magnify God. Amen, sister. Magnify God. Did we magnify God before we
were saved? No way. But now we magnify God,
don't we? They magnified God. They were
born again of the Holy Spirit of God. My oh my. They magnified God. So we see
that the Holy Spirit fell upon them by His power. They were
born again by the same miracle that every born again believer
experiences, right? The experience of the new birth.
And that's nothing we do. It's all God. It's all Him. He
does it all. We're born again. And we're given
faith to believe on Christ, and then we flee to Him, don't we?
We're never the same again, are we? No, He's wonderful. He's so wonderful. Then we see
in verse 45 that the believing Jews who accompanied Peter from
Joppa, they were astonished. They were filled with wonder,
beloved. How can this be? Gentiles? Because remember, there
was a great divide between the Gentiles and the Jews. The Jews
despised the Gentiles, and even the Gentiles despised them. And
now these guys are Romans, too. Romans thought they were the
do-all, right? They thought everybody else was
a bunch of dogs. And the Jews thought everybody else was a
bunch of dogs. And here now we've got Jew and Gentile together.
One in Christ. And they're all magnifying God.
That's a miracle of grace, isn't it? It's amazing. So they're
filled with wonder. Again, why? Well, we see in verse
46 that they heard the Gentiles speak with tongues and magnify
God. Now, these born-again Gentiles, they were not speaking gibberish
like you hear in the modern charismatic movement. There's no, that's
gibberish. That's nothing. Tongues in the
Greek, whenever you see the word tongue in the Greek, it says
no in language. It's a known language. It's not
some gibberish. It's a known language. They heard
them. Now, the Jews heard them, didn't they? Maybe they heard
them in Hebrew. I know Paul spoke multiple languages,
but they heard them, didn't they? Since they heard them, speak
in another tongue. Well, these were Romans. Now,
they would speak Greek, but they also spoke Latin. And I would
imagine some of them didn't know how to speak Hebrew. I don't
know what they're speaking, but all of a sudden, these Jews that
are with Peter, they hear him speaking with a tongue. And that's
a known language. Always remember that, it's a
known language. And that gift of tongue ceased after the apostles. Anyone tells you they're apostle
today, they're lying. There's no apostles today, absolutely
none. None. There's people out there
who claim to be, they're liars. There's no apostles, none at
all. But they were speaking in a language, they were speaking in a language
these believing Jews could understand. And what were they saying? They
were magnifying God. These guys were idol worshipers
one minute, and they're magnifying God the next. You see the power
of God, the Holy Spirit, and His regenerating power? He can
take a rebel, rebel like us, and turn us into people who praise
His mighty name. That's what He did with me. Is
it so with you? My, oh, my. It's wonderful. Wonderful. And they were magnifying God.
with the truths of his gospel, beloved. These believing Gentiles
were talking about Christ. They were filled with joyful
excitement. They were all concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, concerning
the Messiah, who they just heard about. God had revealed himself
to them, hadn't he? By the power of God, the Holy
Spirit. And again, this is sovereign power. This is God's sovereign
power at work. Remember, God's sovereign power
was exercised in the miracles of Christ, wasn't it? Because
he's God. You know the same sovereign power
that raised Christ from the dead is the same sovereign power that
raises us from our spiritual deadness? Because we fell in
Adam, didn't we? We come into this world dead
in trespasses and sins. No hope. And when we're born
again by the Holy Spirit of God, And that's a spiritual rebirth.
Right? Now, now, after we're given faith
to believe in Christ, we flee to him. And we want to hear about
him. And we magnify him. We magnify
him. Oh my. You hear me magnify God each
week. When I preach the gospel. I've
heard you, magnified God, talking to you all and your testimony
about the Lord and praising the Lord and magnifying them just
in us talking. We never did that before, did
we? No. My, oh my. You've testified to
me of your faith in Christ. Declaring what? That Jesus Christ
is our Lord and Savior. He's my all and all. I have nothing
without Christ. Nothing. All the wealth in this
world can't save us, can it? Not at all. But Christ can save
sinners. And we're living proof of that.
We who believe. It's wonderful. My oh my. And we magnify God, saying, He's
pardoned us from all our sins by the shedding of the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the giving of His life on Calvary's
cross. And we declare also that our
God is seated on the right hand of the Father, isn't He, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Our Savior is seated at the right hand of
the Father, interceding for us. Right now. I've heard Brother
Travis preach and teach the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
magnifying our great God. I've heard us sing, magnifying
our great God. Praise in his name. And this
is exactly what Peter and his Jewish companions heard coming
from the lips of these Gentiles in the household of Cornelius
and his friends that were gathered there. They magnify God. And the only way a hell-deserving
sinner will magnify God is by a work of God's grace and God's
power. The only way we'll bow down to
the Lord Jesus Christ and give him all the glory is all through
his perfect sin-atoning work and all according to his merit. And this is what God's people
proclaim. Our personal testimony is Jesus Christ alone is the
only savior of sinners. And he saved a sinner like me. And it's wondrous, isn't it?
Isn't it wondrous? Isn't it glorious? Undeserving
rebel. And he saved me. My. Peter was convinced that Cornelius
and those in his household were true followers of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let's read verses 46 to 48 now. For they heard them
speak with tongues and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can
any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which
have received the Holy Ghost as we? And he commanded them
to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him
to tarry certain days. Look at that. Now turn, if you
would, to Acts chapter 8. Now, believers' baptism is a
New Testament ordinance instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ, our
sovereign Lord and Savior. And believers, of course, are
the only candidates for baptism. People who have faith in Christ
Jesus, who are born again and have faith in Christ Jesus. And
how do we know that? Well, look at this in Acts chapter
8, verse 36. And as they went on their way,
they came into a certain water, and the eunuch said, remember
Philip's with this eunuch, and he's preaching from Isaiah 53,
the eunuch's reading Isaiah 53, and he says, who is this man?
And Peter takes it and preaches Christ to him. And so, It says
here, as they were on their way, they came to a certain water,
and the eunuch said, see, here's water. What doth hinder me to
be baptized? Look at this. Here's the key
right here. And Philip said, now here it
is. If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. If
you believe with all your heart, thou mayest. Now look at the
personal testimony now of this eunuch. I love this. And he said,
I believe. that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. Who taught him that? Who revealed
that to him? God, the Holy Spirit, right?
Same one who revealed it to us. Same one who revealed it to us. Now, complete immersion is the
only mode for believer's baptism. which is what the word baptize
means in the Greek. The Greek word is used in verse
36 of Acts chapter eight. See that one there? In Acts chapter,
what doth hinder me to be baptized? Now let's go back to our text.
Or actually in verse 37 too. Oh no, not verse 37. But in our
text in verses 47 and 48, it's the same Greek word which is
baptizo. And you know what it means? It means to dip repeatedly,
to immerse, to submerge a vessel's sunk. It doesn't mean sprinkling. It means to submerge a ship.
It's sunk. What does that mean? It's overwhelmed
with water. Right? That's why we believe
baptism, you go under the water and you rise up again. Buried
with Christ in his death, raised up again. That's what it pictures. And in no way does it save us.
No way. You must be born again, Christ
said. So regeneration always precedes faith, right? And the
only candidates, look at verse 37 of Acts chapter eight, so
clearly put forth here, the only candidates for baptism is a believer. I ask you, can a baby believe? No. I was baptized as a baby
in the Catholic Church, I just got wet. I didn't know what,
I didn't have a clue. I didn't have a clue. Now, but
to them, that's what's called baptismal regeneration, it put
me in the church. And so to them, that's regeneration.
That's not regeneration. That's like putting your baby
in the tub and washing him. Right? There's no difference. And they
just pour water on you. Well, my mom used to pour water
on my head when she washed my hair when I was little. Didn't
have anything to do with my salvation. Can a baby testify? Can a baby
testify, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? No. But a believer, an adult can,
can't he or her? Ah. Ah, so, yet so many in this world
baptize infants. And they say, now they're prepared
for heaven. No, they're not. No, they're not. You must be
born again. You must believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. You must. So clearly we see then, from
these two texts, that baptism is for believers. Baptism is
for believers, those who are born again by the Holy Spirit
of God and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to the saving of
their soul. And again, baptism in no way can save anyone. We're
saved through Christ and Him alone. If we were saved by baptism,
that's another way to God, isn't it? You see? Always think of
that. When people say, well, you gotta
do this, that's another way to God. And that ain't a way to
God, that's a way to hell. Plain and simple. He says, Christ
says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man or woman
cometh unto me, or cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14,
six. Oh my, we're saved by Christ's
perfect, sinatonic work on Calvary's cross, and that's it. And it's
all according to God's grace, isn't it? It's all according
to God's grace. We're given faith by God the
Holy Spirit to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ after we've
been regenerated, after we're born again. And we see that right here in
our text. They've been given faith. These former idol worshipers, right? Which I was, were you? I was worshiping self, I was
worshiping all them statues that do nothing, just a piece of stone.
Right? Some crucifix hanging on the
wall that meant absolutely nothing. There's a dead savior on there.
He's not risen on that, is he? Oh my. Superstition. My, oh my. Look at this, an Acts chapter.
10 verse 48. Cornelius and the other Gentiles
were commanded by Peter to be baptized. It's a command of the
Lord to be baptized. Look at this. And he commanded
them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they
him to Terry certain days. So baptism is the born-again
blood-washed believer's personal testimony of faith. We're just
proclaiming Jesus Christ is my Lord. My oh my. Again, it has no saving
power. And we're saying, we're saying
that this union that we have with Christ doesn't come from
baptism, doesn't come from this, it comes from Christ. Right? He's the head and we're the body. And we just publicly profess by going into the waters that
Christ has saved my soul. It's a public confession, beloved.
It's wonderful. Oh my. And Cornelius and those in his
household and those who attended were so richly blessed with Peter's
message and the outpouring again of the blessings of our Lord
under the preaching of the gospel. that they earnestly prayed, we
see, for Peter and the other believers in Israel, to tarry
with them for a few days. Don't leave! Please don't leave!
Stay with us! They were excited! They wanted
to hear more. Tell us more about my Savior.
Tell me more. Tell me more about the one who
gave his life for me, shed his blood to redeem me from all my
sins. Tell me more about God in the
flesh dying for me. and rising from the dead for
my justification. Tell me more about how I'm gonna
see him in glory, face to face, that heaven's only heaven because
he's there. My. It's wonderful, beloved. And
God the Holy Spirit, you know, with God the Holy Spirit, he
torn down that middle wall of partition that Paul talks about
in Ephesians, between the Jew and the Gentile, remember? because
they hated each other by nature. You talk about racial prejudice,
they hated each other. My oh my. And look at all of
a sudden now, the middle wall partition between these believing
Jews and the believing Gentiles have been torn down. The enmity
between them was gone. They're brethren in Christ. And you know what? That's how
Christian love works. There is absolutely No room in
the assembly of true believers for racial prejudice, envy, jealousy,
pride, or any worldly ambition to promote self over others.
We are, as we saw in Sunday school, to esteem others better than
ourselves. And God, the Holy Spirit, enlightens
the minds of his born-again children, his blood-bought children, to
the truths contained in these biblical questions. Who made
thee to differ? Here's three questions. Who made
thee to differ from another? Who made us to differ from anyone
else in the world by saving us by his grace? Only God, right?
And what is thou that didst not receive? We've received salvation. We've received a pardon for all
our sins. Salvation in Christ alone. Now if thou receive it, why dost
thou glory? We have no room to glory. As
if thou didst not receive. We have absolutely no room to
glory. You know the only one who we have room to glory in?
Somebody tell me. Christ. He's the only one. We have no room to glory in ourselves.
The only one we have to boast in is in Christ. And see, that's
what grace does. It takes us down here, and it
raises Christ up here. He's the one who receives all
the glory and honor and praise. And he's the only one deserving
of it, isn't he? There's no one else deserving of it. You know
why you see those fellows walk around with collars around their
necks? You know why? I know why. They
want everybody to see how holy they are. They want to stand
out amongst everybody. You see grace preachers like
myself, we go places you wouldn't even know we're preachers. I
was talking to a friend of mine's sister, visited from Carolina.
I was talking with her, had a wonderful talk with her about Canada. And
we were talking about Canada and about stuff. She used to
go to Barrie all the time. We were having wonderful talks
about Barrie and about all up there. And Jim and I, we were
talking about the Lord while talking to her. And she comes
back the next day and she goes, I didn't even know you were a
preacher. And I said, well, I don't normally tell people right away
because they pull out the God card then. And they say, well,
I'm a good person. No, you're not. You're just like me. I'm not
a good person. But then we had wonderful talks.
We kept talking. We talked about the Lord. We
talked about other things. You know, it was wonderful. But it's God who's made us to differ.
It's God who's made us to differ. Let us always remember that.
It's only him who's made us to differ. And listen to what the apostle
Paul wrote here. He said, I am the least of the apostles. This
is Paul writing this. He says, I'm the least of the
apostles that am not meet or fit to be called an apostle because
I persecuted the church of God, but by the grace of God. I am what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed
upon me, was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly
than they all. Yet not I, but the grace of God which was
with me. He gets all the glory. See, Paul's
not even boasting what he was doing for the Lord. He says,
it's the grace of God with me. That's the only reason I do this,
because I've been saved by his grace. And remember, Paul wasted
the church, which means he destroyed it in the Greek. And remember,
when he was consenting to Stephen's death, they laid the cloak before
him, and it says he was consenting. That means he joyfully watched
Stephen die. And he was joyful. And now he's born again and he
says, he says, because I persecuted the church of God, but by the
grace of God, I am what I am. That's what we say, isn't it?
Sinners saved by grace. Do you know the apostle Paul
never forgot the sinful pit that God took him out of. And let
us never forget the rock we were hearing from, where we were when
the Lord saved us. We were in a pit, weren't we?
We couldn't get out. We drank sin-like water, loved it. My, oh, my. And he saved us by
his grace. And now we can say with Paul,
by the grace of God, I am what I am. I am what I am. And he did not attribute his
deliverance from sin to any works of his sinful flesh. He plainly
stated, by the grace of God, I am what I am. It's all God's
grace, isn't it? It's all God's grace. And also
the apostle Paul didn't boast in his position as an apostle,
which is the highest office that can be held in the church. He
didn't boast in it. I love his letters and how he
includes Timothy and just their fellow laborers. You all are
fellow laborers with me. Remember, I'm the only, there's
no raised ground at the foot of the cross, it's all level.
It's all level. We stand gazing at the Savior. He's called me to preach, but
I'm on the same ground as you, saved by the grace of God. My,
oh my. Listen to this. Be thou a partaker
of the affliction of the gospel according to the power of God,
who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace. We're
saved on purpose and according to the grace of God. That's amazing. Not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ before the world began. before the world began, but is
now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ,
who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel. My, oh, my. When it comes to
our salvation, We owe everything to our sovereign king, everything
to our sovereign king, our eternal God. It's all according to his
purpose and grace that we're saved. And it was given to us
in Christ Jesus before the world was. Do we have anything to do
with that? No. Isn't God gracious? Isn't he wonderful? My, oh my. You know, the true gospel brings
forth that we are sinners by birth, nature, and choice. That's
what we are. We're born into this world, sinners
by birth, nature, and choice. And we've all broken God's law.
All of us. This is what the gospel brings
forth. We've all broken God's law. We're all guilty before
God. But the good news of the gospel
is that Jesus Christ was God incarnate in the flesh. And he was fully God and fully
man. sent by the Father, and he lived
a perfect life, all according to the law of God. Perfect. That we can never live to the
full satisfaction of God's law. Think of that. He lived a perfect
life in our place to the full satisfaction of God's law. And it was God who sent him here.
It was God who sent him to die in our room and place. in the
room in place of sinners. And you know the Lord Jesus Christ
willingly gave his life. Satan didn't take it from him.
No, he couldn't take his life. He willingly gave his life to
die for sinners such as we. And God's wrath, all of God's
wrath for our sins, all of it, all mine was poured out upon
Christ. poured out upon him. Poured out upon his own son.
God poured his wrath for our sins out upon Christ. Poured it out. And Jesus Christ bore the wrath
of God for our sins. He bore the wrath of God in the
place of sinners. And right before he died, he
cried, it is finished. It's finished. The Lord Jesus
Christ saved his people from their sins. He died and was buried
and rose again three days later, and right now is sitting on the
right hand of God, right now, right now, ruling and reigning. And if you will come to Christ
empty-handed, empty-handed, with nothing, no merit, nothing, empty-handed,
the weight of your sin is on you right now, that's a good
thing. If you're feeling the weight of your sin, that's a
good thing. And you know what? Christ has promised
to never turn away anyone who comes to him. by faith. Anyone who comes to him through
God, or to God through him, he said, I'll never lose one of
them. And I'll never forsake them. He's promised to never turn away
from his people. Never. And he says, he could
save to the uttermost. all who come to God through him.
I mean the worst of the worst. You know what? I'm proof of that,
are you? The Lord didn't save me till
I was in my 30s. I'm proof of that. My, oh my. And we will come to him by God-given
faith. So I say, seek the Savior. And
I pray that God the Holy Spirit will make you willing to seek
the Lord Jesus Christ, because he is the only savior of sinners. We can't save ourselves, but
Christ saves all who come to him by faith. May God give you
faith to believe. I oh my. Brother Neil, can you
close us in prayer?