Well, good morning, everyone. Good morning. It's good to see everybody. Good to be back home. If you would open your bios with me to Mark chapter 16. Mark chapter 16. I have a lesson this morning that I hope will be very helpful to all of us. Before we begin, let's bow together in prayer.

Our Father, we carefully and reverently come into your presence this morning, coming into your courts with hearts that are full of thanksgiving, full of praises to your matchless name. Father, we're so thankful that we come reverently, but also that we read in the scriptures that you tell us to come boldly. As long as we come through the person, the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, we can come boldly before your throne of grace. And father, we come pleading a blessing from your storehouses of grace that you have reserved for your people.

Well, I pray you would bless us with a heart of worship as we look into your word and that you would enable us to see the Lord Jesus Christ defined Such complete satisfaction in trusting Christ and Christ alone and looking to him with nothing between. Father, we know that we now at best see through a glass dimly, darkly. We see by eyes of faith that see Christ, but oh, how often they're so dim. Father, we look forward to the day that we could see you face to face. worship you with a perfect body, a perfect heart, a perfect soul.

But Father, until then, we beg that you would be true to your word, that you would meet with us as we meet together to worship you, that you would bless your word to the hearts of your people and bless it to your glory. Father, our continual prayer is the prayer of Moses, that you might be pleased to show us your glory. the redemptive glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and saving a people, a sinful, vile people who could never save themselves. And father, what we pray for ourselves, we pray for your people wherever they might be meeting together today. Father, bless them for your great namesake and for the good of your people. Father, we also lift up to thee those who are hurting and those who are sick in times of difficult, difficult trial. Father, we pray you'd be with them, that you'd comfort their hearts with your presence and deliver as soon as it could be thy will. We thank you for your hand of mercy and healing on, on those of our number who've been away from us, that you've enabled them to return back and worship together with us.

Father, in all things, in all things, how dependent we are on thee, how much we need thee, especially in this hour, Father, I pray you send your spirit upon us, enable us to hear and worship our Lord Jesus Christ. For it's in his blessed name, for his sake we pray, amen.

Now I've titled the lesson this morning Baptism. In verse 16, Mark chapter 16, The Lord says, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. Now you remember just in the earlier verse, the Lord had told his disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And as we go preaching, anywhere we preach, anytime we preach, two things are gonna happen. Some will believe and some will not believe. And you and I are faced with this every time we hear the gospel preached. There's a line drawn on the sand. Now, do I believe this or not? We're faced with that every time we hear the gospel preached.

Now, when the Lord says that he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, you know already that does not mean that you must be baptized in order to be saved. The thief on the cross was not baptized. And we know later that day he is with Christ in paradise. So you don't have to be baptized in order to be saved.

You'll notice that the Lord says, and when he talks about those that believe not, he doesn't say those that believe not and refuse to be baptized should be condemned. This is a matter of faith. Those that believe not shall be, shall be condemned. And whosoever hears the gospel, And they believe on Christ. Now that person is saved. Lock, stock, and barrel, they are completely saved. And they should confess Christ in believer's baptism. Now, you don't have to be baptized in order to be saved.

But baptism is very important. It's very important to the life of a believer. You cannot expect it to grow in grace and grow on in learning of our Lord Jesus Christ until you obey his first commandment. to confess him and believe his baptism. This is the Lord's command that we be baptized. Now you can't say that anything found in the word of God, well that's not all that important. It's not as important as other things that are, oh yes it is. Every word of God is all equally important.

And if someone refuses to be baptized, I may have to say I kind of question their faith. If you really believe Christ, that should be your heart's desire to confess him in Believer's Baptism. And let me ask you this, why wouldn't you? If you believe Christ, why wouldn't you confess him in Believer's Baptism as a symbol of how the Lord saved you by his death, burial, and resurrection? I was talking to a dear pastor friend of mine earlier this week, and I told him that I was gonna be bringing this lesson. And we talked about how careful you want to, I want to, to preach the gospel from baptism in such a way that we see Christ and believe him without anybody feeling like I'm putting all this pressure on you to do something. That's between you and the Lord. But if we have faith in Christ, why wouldn't you?

Why wouldn't you be baptized? And I told this pastor friend of mine, in all the baptismal services that I have ever seen, I've never heard one person say, I should have done that. This is what I almost always hear them say. I wish I had done this a long time ago. Wish I had done this a long time ago.

So, baptism is important. Now, what does it mean? Why is baptism so important? Well, the word baptism, it means to immerse. It means to dip. It means to submerge, completely dunk somebody under the water. Baptism represents death, this immersion. So sprinkling is not baptism. Sprinkling a baby, that's not baptism. It's believer's baptism. A baby doesn't have the capability to believe yet. And it represents a burial. When we go out to the graveyard, we bury someone who's died. We don't just throw a handful of dirt in the hole and walk away. No, we bury them. We completely cover them out of sight. The word means to immerse.

And if baptism is a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, a person must be immersed, completely immersed under the water. Now to help us understand, let's look over the book of Hebrews. Understand this thing of baptism, Hebrews chapter six. Hebrews 6 verse 1.

Leaving, therefore, the principles, the beginning, the ABCs of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on into perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms and of the laying on of hands and the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment.

Now, why does the writer say the doctrine of baptisms plural. Not baptism, but baptisms plural. Well, there's several different baptisms mentioned in scripture, and I'd like to just briefly go over those this morning on this subject of baptism. Number one, baptism. This is so important. It always represents union with Christ. Believer's baptism represents union with Christ. If you look back at Romans chapter six, Romans 6 verse 1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?

Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore, we're buried with him by baptism into death. that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we've been planted together in the likeness of his death, we should be also in the likeness of his resurrection.

Now, Paul here is not talking about believers' baptism. He's talking about being baptized into Christ, being submerged into Christ so that the believer is what Christ is. That's how that believers made righteous. That's how a believer is accepted by being baptized, put into Christ. Now, how did that happen? How did that happen that all of God's people, every believer is baptized into Christ? How did that happen? Well, it happened by divine election.

When the father chose a people to say before the foundation of the world, you know what he did with them? He put them in his son, in his son. So that from eternity, when the father looks at his people, you know who he sees? His son. Because he immersed his people into his son so that he doesn't see us and his son. All he sees is his son.

Because we've been baptized into Christ. Well, when did that happen? Just said it a minute ago, before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1 verse 4, according as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.

Now the father didn't choose us because we were holy or we were righteous or we were better than someone else. No, the father looked down from heaven and said, there's none good. No, not one. He chose a people and put them in his son that they would be holy and without blame before him in love.

And the only way that's possible, the only way the father could ever say that I am wholly unblameable and unapprovable in his sight is if I'm in his son, completely immersed in his son. So that when the father sees me, all he sees is his son. Let me show you that in first John chapter four. First John chapter four, and verse 17.

Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness, confidence in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. Not so will we be one day, so are we in this world Right now, every believer is in Christ, so they are what Christ is.

Well, how is Christ right now? How is the Lord Jesus Christ right now? He's righteous, isn't He? So is everybody who's in Him. Right now in this world, He's holy. Christ is holy without sin. So is everybody who's in Him. Christ is accepted of the Father. So is everybody who's in Christ. When the father put his arms around his son and said, welcome home, sit here on my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool, our savior sat on the throne. And when he sat on the throne, so did everybody that's in him.

We are right now seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now that is our only hope of ever being accepted of God. It's that when he sees us, all he sees is his son because he's immersed us into his son. Well, here's the second thing about baptism. This goes very closely with the first one, union with Christ.

Christ is the representative of his people. The father put his people into his son before the foundation of the world. So when Christ came into flesh, his people were already in him, already in him. So when Christ went around doing good, so did all of his people, because what our Savior did, his people did, because we're in him. It's just like a woman who's pregnant. When she walks across the room, so does that baby. When she lays down to sleep, so does that baby. When she wakes up, so does that baby. What she eats, the baby eats.

What our Savior did as a man on earth, all of his people did. When He obeyed the law, so did we. When He did every thou shalt of the law, so did His people. When He did not do every thou shalt not of the law, neither did His people. We obeyed the law perfectly in Christ because we're in Him doing what He did.

Let me show you that in Hebrews chapter 7. You're such a good illustration of this, teaching us this thing of representation, that what in union with Christ, what he did, we did in him. Same way we all sin in Adam, our first representative, all of God's elect obey the law and are made righteous in Christ, our second representative. Hebrews 7 verse 1.

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. To whom also Abraham gave a 10th part of all. Abraham tithed to this man Melchizedek, first by interpretation, king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace. Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days or end of life, but made like unto the son of God, abideth the priest continually. Now consider, How great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth part of the spoils. Abraham tithed to this man, Melchizedek, before God ever gave the law.

Now, when God gave the law, tithing was a part of that law, the giving of 10%. It was a tax. It was a tax on the children of Israel. Now, they could give more if they wanted, but everybody had to pay this tithe, this tax, 10%. And that 10% was used to support the priesthood, the tribe of Levi.

The tribe of Levi didn't tithe. They took the tithes that the rest of the children of Israel gave, and that's what they used to live on and buy what they needed to buy and service the tabernacle and all those things. Well, look down at verse 9. And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, he doesn't pay tithes, and the tribe of Levi doesn't, he receives tithes. Levi paid tithes in Abraham, for he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. So Levi did pay tithes in the person of his great, great, great, great, how many ever greats it was, grandfather, Abraham.

In the same way, you and I did, every believer did, everything that the Lord Jesus Christ did because we're in him. We were in his loins. And here's a beautiful illustration of this. Matthew chapter three. Our Lord was baptized. He came to John the Baptist to be baptized of John. Matthew chapter three. Verse 13. Then come with Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him.

But John forbade him. I mean, you can imagine, I mean, you know, what a mistake John made here to say, the Lord say, baptize me. He said, no, I forbid that, you know, Lord. But you can understand, John's, I'm not worthy of this. This, this, this thing's backwards. John forbade him saying, I have need to be baptized of thee.

And comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, suffer it to be so now. For thus it becometh me to fulfill all righteousness. That's not what he said, is it? It becometh us to fulfill our righteousness. And when John heard that, he suffered him, and he baptized him. Now, how could the Lord say, John, it becometh us to fulfill our righteousness?

Well, you know that. John's a son of Adam, just like we are. He didn't do one righteous thing his whole life. He didn't do anything to contribute to His righteousness. So how could the Lord say, John, it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness? Because John was in Christ. And when Christ fulfilled all righteousness, so did John the Baptist. And when Christ fulfilled all righteousness, so did every believer.

See that? We're in Christ. So that if you're in Christ, you have fulfilled all righteousness. Now you imagine that. And the only way that's possible is being put into Christ, isn't it? Because we can't do it. We can't do anything righteous anymore than John the Baptist could. We fulfilled all righteousness in Christ, in Christ. And if Christ has made us by his obedience to the law, if he's made us the righteousness of God in him, we can never perish. We can never be condemned.

You rest easy. because Christ paid the price for you. And when he paid it, you're in him. Now look at Mark chapter 10. This'll back up just exactly what I was saying. When Christ obeyed the law, so did you. And when he satisfied God's justice for sin, so did everybody who's in him.

Mark 10, verse 35. In James and John, the sons of Zebedee came unto him saying, master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire in that human nature, kind of trying to manipulate people here. They're trying to manipulate the Lord. And I'm not going to tell you what I desire. You just promised to fulfill whatever I desire. And then I'll tell you what, what I want is just trying to manipulate, manipulate the Lord. And verse 36, he said unto them, what would ye that I should do for you? They said unto him, grant unto us that we may sit one on thy right hand and the other on thy left in thy glory. But Jesus said unto them, you know not what you ask.

Can you drink of the cup that I drink of? Can you drink the dregs of the cup of God's wrath that I'm, can you drink it dry? Can you take even a sip of it? And can you be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with? And they said unto him, We can. Well, that's what you get for talking when you don't know what the subject is. You know, they said we can. And Jesus said unto them, ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of and with the baptism that I am baptized with all. So you be baptized. Now, what the Lord's talking about there is he's going to be baptized with fire. He's going to be baptized with the fire of his father's wrath against the sin of his people.

He's gonna be condemned for sin, he's gonna pay the penalty for that sin by suffering and dying for that sin. And since he suffered and died for that sin, and he rose again, he can never be condemned for the same sin again, can he? That would be unjust. He put that sin away so he can never be condemned again. He can never die again, and neither can any believer.

The law of God, the justice of God cannot find anyone who's in Christ and say, you must be condemned for your sin. You must die for your sin because you already did die for your sin in the person of your representative. That's how the justice of God is satisfied for you. Because when Christ died, you did too. When he was buried, You were too. And when he rose again, you were too. So the law has absolutely no claim on you. The death, the burial, the resurrection of Christ, the life and the death of Christ severed the believers relationship with the law forever, forever.

I tell you what that means. Don't look to the law to see how well you're doing. because all you're going to find is disappointment there. Don't look to the law to see how you're supposed to live. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. If the Lord would give us a view of Christ, somebody is not going to have to tell me, you better be forgiving. No, I'm going to forgive others as God, for Christ's sake, forgave me. Somebody's not going to have to tell me now you better step up your love and show your love one to another. If I'm seeing Christ, I'm gonna love others freely the same way the father loved me.

I mean, you just go on and on and on. Giving? I don't have to be told to tithe 10%. If I see Christ, I'm gonna give as the father gave the best gift he could give, his son, to save me. See that? Don't look to the law. Look to Christ. The only way that any of us can have any confidence in facing God in judgment is this. that the Lord Jesus Christ did everything that I cannot do.

And because the father baptized me into him, I did him too. I did them in Christ. I did everything that it took to please the father in Christ. And the father is pleased with me in Christ, not because of what me and Jesus did, but because of what Christ did for me as my representative.

And that brings me to the last one believers baptism. Believer's baptism is a precious, precious, I don't know what you want to say, thing or time or whatever you want, but it's precious. There are only two ordinances given to us in scripture that we're to observe to remember or to picture Christ our savior. The first one is the Lord's table. I don't know how many times I have observed the Lord's table and it's just as fresh and precious and meaningful today as it was whenever the first time was.

To have that bread, that unleavened bread, picturing the sinless body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to have it broken as his body was broken. To take that bread and to eat it in faith. When I eat that bread, it becomes part of me, like Christ is in me, he's part of me. To hear that unleavened bread being ground between my teeth and think about the Savior being ground under the wrath of His Father, under the wheels of justice, how He suffered.

And then to take that wine, the picture of the sinless blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all sin, and take that wine and drink it. And this is a public confession before God and before my family and friends. My only hope of salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ, that when he died, he died for me. When he died, he put my sin away.

That's the first ordinance. And the second ordinance is believer's baptism. And you know, if you think about it, believer's baptism pictures the whole gospel, the whole gospel. It pictures Christ coming incarnate so that he could live a life under the law, made under the law, made of a woman under the law, And since he's a man, he could suffer and he could die for the sins of his people. He's buried. And then he rose again from the dead. And everything that he did, his people did in him because before the foundation of the world, the Father chose those people to save and put them in Christ.

Believers, baptism pictures the whole gospel, doesn't it? Now, like I said to begin the lesson, baptism doesn't save anybody. Baptism doesn't wash away any sin You know, what Brother Henry used to say, if you're baptized, in order to be saved, all we're gonna have is a wet sinner. That baptism doesn't save.

Then what is believer's baptism? It's a confession of what God's already done for me. It's a confession. This has already happened. I'm not being baptized in order to be saved. I'm being baptized because God's already saved me. He's given me faith in Christ so that I see Christ and I trust Him. And I want to confess Him. Nobody has to talk me into it. I want to confess Him. When we're baptized, this is what we're confessing.

Before time began, the Father elected me into salvation and put me in His Son. It's the only way He could ever look on me with any kind of favor at all. He put me in His Son. And when Christ came incarnate, He came in the flesh, I was in Him, and everything He did, I did.

That's my only claim to righteousness, that when Christ obeyed the law, so did I, because I was in Him. That's the only way I can be righteous. I can't do anything righteous. The only way I can be righteous is in Christ, my representative. And all of my salvation is all Him, and none of it's me.

The Son, God the Son, took my place as my substitute. He took my sin into his own body on the tree, took it away from me, took it into his own body on the tree, and he traded me, my sin, for his righteousness. He made me the righteousness of God in him, because he gave me his righteousness. And now it's mine, because he gave it to me.

And then he, in turn, suffered and died to put my sin away. He suffered until he satisfied the law's last demand There's got to be death for sin. That's why Christ died. And when Christ died to the law, so did I. When he died to justice, so did I because I was in him. I'm not afraid of God's justice hunting me down anymore because I already died to justice in the person of my representative. And when Christ arose again, he rose from the dead three days later, exactly like he said he would. And you know why he rose? Because all that sin that he took in his own body on the tree has been put away by his sacrifice.

All of it. Now let's get right down to where the rubber meets the road. There was a, I always joke about this guy. There was a character on Saturday Night Live a long time ago, and he always made everything all about him. And he said, how this directly affects me. Well, how does this directly affect me? How does this directly affect you? If Christ died for you, your sin is no more. It's gone. It's gone.

And you've been given new life in Christ. When Christ arose from the dead, so did you. You arose to new life. And we experience it in the new birth, when God causes us to be born again. Do you know the reason that you believe? If someone comes and they want to be baptized because they believe on Christ, you know why you want to be baptized? Because God's already saved you. God's already given you faith in Christ. You've already been born again.

And this is what we confess in believers baptism. I confess something about the savior. I confess something about his perfection, something about his saving power, that by his death, his burial, his resurrection, he could save a sinner like me. That's confessing something about the Savior, that what he did, I did in him. But it's also confessing something about myself. When I'm baptized in believers baptism, this is what I'm saying.

My sin is so bad. The only way that it could be put away is the blood of Christ. My sin is so vile I cannot be washed clean any other way but by the blood of the Son of God. My sin is such a violation against God's holiness, the only way that holy justice can be satisfied is if the Son of God himself dies in my place. And when he died, he saved me, lock, stock, and barrel. He died for my sin. He was buried, he died because my sin demanded his death, and he rose again because his blood put my sin away.

And if Christ did that for you, you have to confess him. If you believe Christ like that, and you haven't been baptized, you should be. You should be. Let me show you one more scripture. 1 Peter chapter three. This is such a good explanation of what's in a person's mind and heart when they want to be baptized. 1 Peter 3, verse 21. Now I've got to get it in the right book. Here we go.

The like figure, whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but it's an answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, how can a sinful man or woman ever have a good conscience? Where our conscience does not bother us for our sin, that our conscience is not telling us you're going to be punished for this sin. How is it your conscience cannot condemn you for your sin? It's the death, the burial and the resurrection of Christ. My conscience, Believe me, still tells me I ate my sin, I hate it. But I don't have to fear condemnation for it if Christ was condemned for me. That's how our conscience is clear. And if your conscience is clear because Christ suffered and died for you, then believers baptism is for you. So I hope that'll be a good explanation of that for you. All right, Lord bless you.