For a scripture reading, turn with me to Colossians chapter 1. I'll explain a little bit better when I get ready to introduce the message, but I'm going to use verse 5 as my text or as the beginning of what it is I want to teach. Colossians chapter 1, verse 1.

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timotheus, our brother, and the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colossae, grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have to all the saints. For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven were of you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. which is come unto you, as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit, as it does also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth. As ye also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ, who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit. For this cause, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom.

Now watch this. And spiritual understanding. You read in the scripture, God will give us a new heart. He's not talking about coming in and cutting out our heart and putting another organ in us. This is spiritual language. The heart is the seed of the emotions. This is really the seed of our understanding. We have a mind, but it's got to go through the mind to the heart to be effectual.

And this is what he's praying for, that you might walk worthy of the Lord. unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power, unto the patience and long-suffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of saints in light, or enlightened saints. Saints who now see. Our Lord said, blessed are your eyes, he told his followers, for they see. They see. One of the men who's been attending now for more than a year asked me a few weeks ago if I would baptize him. He said it's been on his mind for some time. And I told him that I would.

And we'd have to make preparations for it. We planned on building an addition back here. And where you see this blank window, we were going to put this baptistry behind that in our addition. But we don't have an addition. Anyway, we decided after looking at the prices of a temporary baptistry, it might be best to go down and tear the old one out and bring it up here. So that's what we've done. We've got a temporary in where we can baptize.

And during this time, seeing this and hearing us talk about baptism, one of our younger boys requested baptism. And so I went over to talk to him for a little bit, and I thought it best bring a couple messages on this subject. The first will be this week. The second will be next week. So you'll understand what this message is all about. You know, it's not odd that people would think about baptism when they see a baptistry. The Ethiopian eunuch was hearing the gospel preached, including baptism.

And he rode along in that chariot out in the middle of nowhere, and he spied a certain water. Now, if they're going to sprinkle him, all he needed was a canteen. But he spied certain water. It was a large enough thing of water for him to be buried in. And so he said, what does hinder me from being baptized?

So let's begin this morning in the book of Colossians. Baptism is the believer's public confession of faith. He's saying, I believe what's being preached to me. I believe it. I believe it. And he or she hears the word of the truth of the gospel. That's what Paul calls it. believes what they hear, and in obedience to Christ's divine command, they submit themselves to believers' baptism. Baptism, like faith, is not left to men's imaginations to doll it up in religious ceremonialism or apply it to babies or catechized teenagers, or even to those who say, well, I agree with what you're saying. and then go on and live their lives any way they want to.

God, you know, Paul, he always fences what he's saying here. He's talking about this hope that's laid up for them in heaven whereof you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which come unto you as it is in all the world and bringeth forth fruit. A profession of faith is not worth anything if it doesn't produce fruit.

It's like going out and sowing green beans in your garden and nothing comes up. You ever done that? I have. How come it didn't come up? Bad seed. Bad seed. When good seed is planted, it brings forth fruit. It grows. It comes up. It's a living organism. It comes up and it produces fruit.

And this man asked Philip, this Ethiopian eunuch, he asked Philip, he said, what does hinder me from being baptized? That's exactly what that young man asked me. What does hinder me from being baptized? Well, I have the same answer if you're sitting here this morning and you're thinking about baptism, thinking about what it means to believe. And I hope I'll make that clear as we go on. But here's what Philip told the Ethiopian eunuch and what I want to tell you. If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.

So what's the difference between giving assent to the gospel, agreeing with what a man says, and believing with all your heart? The man who simply agrees with your doctrine goes on in his life exactly as though nothing had changed. The only thing changed with him was his doctrine.

He doesn't believe in man's free will anymore. He believes in sovereign will, God's sovereign will. He believes in grace instead of works. He's innocent. He listens to what you say, and he's in full agreement with you. The man who believes with all his heart reconfigures his whole life.

God took away that stony heart. You could talk to that man and pile scripture up around him like cordwood and you couldn't move him. You've got a hard heart. It's like plinth. But when God puts that in Newton, he gives you a heart of flesh. What that means is you can be reasoned with. You can be moved. There's another power in you beside yourself. And the man who believes with all of his heart, he reconfigures his whole life. He doesn't just agree with what somebody said and goes on his way. He repents of his sin.

I read that to you in Ezekiel 36. If you weren't here for the Sunday school, you might want to look at that. Ezekiel 36, he said, I'm going to, you're going to remember what you've done and you're going to hate yourself. You're going to loathe yourself. You're not going to have any confidence in the flesh.

John the Baptist was out there at Jordan. He was baptizing multitudes came from everywhere. God drew them out to hear his man. They went out to hear John. Well, they had all kinds of synagogues in Jerusalem, but nobody was going. They all left and went out to hear John. Why? John had something to say. He had a message from God. And God drew men to hear him. And they went out there to hear him.

And the Pharisees were jealous of those crowds. And they said, we're going to have to do something to win the crowds back. So they went out. They were going to submit to baptism to get back on the good side of the people. And John saw them coming, they chewing bubble gum, you know, and popping the boat. They weren't repenting, there was no repentance about them.

Proud as they could be, coming out there, and they were going to allow John the Baptist the great privilege of baptizing them. He said, you vipers, can you imagine going down to First Baptist Church Some of those bigwig deacons and stuff comes in. He says, you vipers, who warned you to flee the wrath to come? So why did he send them away? He said, you go back home. And if you come back, you come back with fruit unto repentance. I want to see some repentance. I want to see some concern over sin. I want to see some turning from yourself to God. I want to see some fruit.

What a man does and thinks are the fruit of their faith. Or as the scripture defines it, the fruit of the Spirit. Because you're not going to think anything about God apart from the Spirit. Spirit works in you, gives you that spiritual understanding, that revelation. You can't see that You can't just read it in a book like you would learn math or something. It's not just an accumulation of facts. It's a reality.

Oh, you mean God is. Yeah, that's what I mean. You mean Christ actually sits on the throne. It's not just a picture of him hung on the wall of the church, but he actually sits on the throne reigning and ruling over everything that is. That's exactly right. And when you believe that, you'll act on it. You'll bow to it. Paul said, the fruit of the Spirit. If the Spirit actually works in you through this message, here's what it's going to produce. Love. Do you love? Joy. Do you have any joy? Peace. Long suffering. Gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Can you have a glass of wine without drinking a gallon? That's temperance. Temperance. Not jumping in with both feet.

Anyone who uses the scripture for the basis of their faith must consent to the doctrine of Christ and of the grace of God and of the mercy of God because that's what the scripture teaches. You haven't done anything extraordinary when you agree with the foundation that's written.

I tell you, the extraordinary part is when you believe. Look with me at Paul's opening remarks to the church at Colossae here in verse 3. He said, We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ. Your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have to all the saints.

You don't just love one or two because you got something in common with them. You love all the saints. What if I get sideways? You better love them anyway for Christ's sake. He loves you and you were sideways. Can't get sideways with God's people. We all have one standing. We're all saved by the same grace, the same blood, the same Christ, the same God. I've got nothing to be sideways about.

And he said, I thank God for the hope that's laid up for you in heaven. It's a sure hope. We got a lively hope. That's what Peter called it, a living hope. Christ is my hope, and he's living. He's seated at the right hand of God. And you heard this, he said, before in the word of the truth of the gospel. That is, having the gospel of Christ preached to you defined to you, applied to you, and then submitted into the hands of God for His approval.

He'll work or He won't. You'll hear this message this morning, and God will work in you or He won't. And you won't be like you were before you come in here. You're either going to go downhill or uphill, one or the other, but you're not going to stay where you work.

My word, he said, will not return unto me void. It's going to accomplish what I send it to do. And sometimes God sends his word as a good thing. Just like he did Pharaoh. Moses went down and he said, God told me to tell you, you're never going to see my face again. Never going to see me again. And he didn't. All right, now watch this, verse 6.

Which is come unto you as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit. How does the gospel come unto all the world? Like planting seed, that's what Christ said. Some of it falls on the road, old hard road, and the wagons crush it and it don't grow. Some of it falls on the rocks, got no soil. Some of it falls among thorns, but some of it falls on plowed ground. That's when the Holy Ghost comes in and plows the ground, plows the heart, allows the seed to go down in. It's come unto all the world, and it brings forth fruit, just like it did in you since the day you heard it.

Now, it's one thing to observe proprieties when you come to the table. My wife likes to set a table. And I'm not sure I understand all the proprieties. You got two forks, and which fork does what? You got this, you got that, and the glass has to go on a certain side. I don't know. But it's one thing to know the proprieties and come to the table and know which utensil to use for what. and where to put your napkin and so on, but it's quite another to come to the table with an appetite and eat what's set before you. Huh?

That's a whole other thing, isn't it? Well, I've just described false religion to you. They're going to teach you where the napkin goes and which fork to use and what spoon and so on, but they don't care if you're hungry or not. They don't care if you eat or not as long as you eat right. One thing is outward, the other one is inward. One has to do with the visible, the other has to do with things not seen.

Did you know Peter used the eight souls that God saved in the days of Noah as a picture of baptism? Have you ever read that? He said, the like figure where unto baptism doth now save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but an answer of a good conscience toward God.

God told Noah to build an ark. He was going to cause a great rain to come. It never rained on the earth. Nobody even knew what rain was. But there's going to come a great rain, a great flood. And you're going to build this ark, and you and your family are going to get in this ark. And I'm going to save you from this flood. Everybody else is going to die. And Noah preached for 120 years, telling folks what this ark was all about. But when the day come, the Lord said, get into the ark. Eight souls walked up that plank into that ark. They're either going to be made to look totally foolish, or God's going to save them. Now, a man comes up these steps, goes down there, and he's baptized in that pool. He's saying he believes God. He believes God.

Now, we haven't seen that work of salvation. I've never seen a perfect man. Christ was the only perfect man that ever was. We're perfect in Him. But I haven't seen this work yet. I've never seen Him. But I believe God. Well, how do I confess that to the world?

Right there. Right there. That confesses my submission to him as king. You do know baptism's a divine command, don't you? Not a suggestion. It's a divine command. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Baptism is not salvation. Well, that's not what that says. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Well, what about that man who says, I ain't going to be baptized? He ain't going to be saved. Just that simple. Isn't that what it says? He who believeth not shall be damned.

You don't believe a little bit. You either believe or you don't. That's what faith is. Faith believes God in everything. Everything God said. You don't pick and choose little pieces. And actually, salvation is about the glory of his name. That's his whole character. So if what you believe violates his character in any way, it's not his salvation. His salvation is in perfect harmony with his character.

It's an answer of good conscience toward God. Is that your hope? That's mine. The ark God designed, put together by the hands of these eight souls, is a picture of Christ our Savior in our ark. And those who believe walk up the plank. They walked the plank, didn't they? And all those who truly believe submit to Christ's command of baptism. It's the answer of a good conscience toward God.

You can read about it over in 1 Peter 3.21. In 1 Corinthians 15, talking about our hope, that's the day that the whole world's celebrating now.

They say they're celebrating the resurrection of Christ, but I listened to them and I don't think they know anything about a resurrection or for whom he was raised. But over here talking about our hope in the resurrected Christ, the exalted reigning king of glory, Paul said, now if these things be so, if Christ, let's suppose he didn't. If Christ did not effectually redeem us and rise from the grave, ascend into glory and take his seat at the right hand of God. and do that to secure our salvation, to be the anchor of our soul, then what are they going to do, he said, which are baptized for the dead? What in the world is he talking about?

There was a day when baptism marked the saints for martyrdom. It marked them out for martyrdom. They didn't baptize at a baptistry under closed doors. They went out to the creek or out to the river or wherever it was and baptized. And the whole world was looking on. And to be baptized publicly was to mark you out to be turned into the arena with the lions or sawn asunder with wooden saws or tortured to death or put in prison for life. And they did all this for the entertainment of ungodly men.

To be baptized, what Paul's saying here is to be baptized is putting on the uniform of Christ, putting on the uniform of God's soldiers. You put on the uniform of the United States Army, and I pretty much guarantee you, before your four years is up, you're going to get put in harm's way somewhere.

If there's a battle breaks out, you're going to fight. When you're baptized, you mark yourself out. You're putting on the uniform of Christ. You're identifying with him. I put on a Navy uniform one time. Put on a Navy uniform. I was a member of the armed forces. You walk down the street, and people knew what that uniform meant. I don't know if they do anymore, but they did then. They knew exactly what it meant. And when you're baptized, you're putting on the uniform of Christ, and you're drawing a big bullseye.

You're going to get put in harm's way. This world hates Christ. They hate the gospel. Now you can sit quietly in the pew and nothing will ever happen. Nothing will ever be said to you. But when you submit yourself to God before this ungodly world as a believer, you're marking yourself out. And they may not kill you or anything like that, but they're sure enough not going to love you. And I'm not trying to scare anybody away.

I'm simply saying if you truly believe, You better be sure you're putting on the whole armor of God, because you're going to war. He said, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places.

The upper echelon of large denominations, heads of government, spiritual wickedness in high places. Believing in another God, another gospel, another Jesus by another spirit. Preaching contrary to scripture, contrary to the gospel, and contrary to the name of God.

Believers put on the whole armor of God that they might be able to stand in the evil day. Having their loins girt about with truth, having on the breast plate of righteousness, your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel. And that's not talking about something prepared for you. That's talking about you being prepared by the gospel and having the shield of faith. All right, now let's go back to Colossians. And let's move one page over to chapter two. What's being confessed is your faith. I don't have anything else. I don't have anything else to offer God. And even my faith is the gift of God. He gave that to me. I can't even glory in my faith.

Every child of Adam will one day stand before God and be judged by the strict justice and perfect demands of holy righteousness. I'm going to explain to you what I'm talking about. From his birth to his death, a continual eye has been watching and recording all that you've ever said, done, or thought. documented in the mind and heart of God. It says, God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that's not manifest in his sight. You can fool me. I get fooled pretty easy. But all things are naked and open under the eyes of him with whom we have to do, Hebrews 4, 12, and 13.

In Galatians chapter 3 verse 10, Paul's dissuading the Galatians from seeking to be justified by their works. These false prophets had creeped in, and they said, well, everything they're preaching is fine, but you still need to be circumcised. Everything you're preaching is fine, except we believe in progressive sanctification. Everything is fine, but. And Paul's dissuading them.

He's saying, don't do that. Don't do that. Christ is the object of your faith. He's your hope. Don't move away. Don't start adding stuff to that. Christ is all. He's Christ in you, the hope of glory. And he said, for as many as are under the law or under the curse. Now let me make this plain. This is how men think. I know because I was one. I know exactly how you think.

How can a man who's trying to reform his life in obeying a righteous law be cursed? How can he be cursed? He's trying to do good. He's everything in him. He's trying to do good. He's trying to keep this righteous law. Well, how can that be a curse? Well, here it is. Cursed is everyone who continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do birth to death. That's why it's a curse.

You can't do it. Actually, you can't keep any of the law. And the reason is because the whole law is hinged on this. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. If you could do that, you can keep the law, but you can't keep the law. And that makes you guilty of the whole law, don't it?

Then you and I can do nothing but sin. So where's the believer's hope before God? Colossians chapter 2, verse 9. Now don't let these men, he tells you in the verse before, don't let these men come up. They're going to spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. All these things, the basic principles of the world, they're going to come along and spoil you with another message. Don't do that. For in him, verse 9, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, verse 10, and ye are complete in him which is the head of all principality and power.

Faith is that which hears and puts all their eggs in one basket. Their sinful past, present, and future, their present lives, ways, and means, their time, their efforts, their support, and their energy the souls of their spouses, and the future of their children, their jobs, and every event and circumstance that comes their way. I'm putting it all on Christ. Is that too hard?

I'm trusting everything, everything in his name. And as our planet revolves around the sun, S-U-N, so our lives begin to revolve around the sun, S-O-N. Everything takes an orbit around him. Everything is set in motion around him. It's held in place. Eternity and glory is our long home and everything we do and say reflects that. We were living in this little speck of time, but now we see how foolish that is. Job lost everything he had, didn't he? He was the richest man there. He was rich. He lost everything.

But that wasn't enough. God put a little gas on the fire. He went out there and took his wife, and his wife looked at him and said, why don't you just curse God and die? Boy, that. You're talking about a fire. So his wife left. He told her, he said, you're just like the foolish women. She left, got mad. Here comes his three lifelong friends.

And they said, we know you've got a secret sin you're hiding. You better fish it up. Better tell us what you did. Huh? On and on and on they go, trying to make this man confess something that he didn't do. You know what Job did? You ever read it, what he did? This is what believers do. It's what I just got through telling you about.

He fell on his face and worshipped God. God took it all, and he said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked I returned. The Lord gives, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And the Lord called that worshiping God. Huh? That's what it says. You can read it for yourself. The South Face speaks of such things. They worship God.

And oh, how careful and thoughtful we are about every little detail of our life here, our comfort and our health in this life. We'll do anything to buy one more minute of it, won't we? But how little we think about our long home in glory. How much do we think about that? Can't hardly get through a 45-minute message without falling asleep. Go to school for 15, 16 years so we can have a decent income, but can't listen for 45 minutes.

To believe with all your heart concerning the truth of the gospel that everything is being set into the hands of the reigning, ruling Lord of Glory. And why would any sinner do that? Because we're complete in Him. Complete in Him. Because He continueth ever, Paul said. He has an unchangeable priesthood. He'll never step down. He'll never be replaced. Wherefore, He's able to save to the uttermost those who come unto God by Him.

Moses' priest is my priest. Christ. Abraham's priest, Melchizedek, that's my priest. All right, let me show you this and I'll wrap this up. Colossians chapter 2, verse 11. In whom, this all-sufficient Christ, in whom were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in the putting off of the body of sins, the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ. Now bear with me for just a minute. When Israel went out to hear John the Baptist, they asked him if he was Christ, and he said, no, I'm not the Christ. I'm a voice. I'm just one crying in the wilderness to make straight his path.

He said, I'm going to baptize you with water. But he that cometh after me is going to baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. The Holy Ghost will establish Christ as the way, and he's going to build a fire in your heart for you to follow him. And the first of that following is going to be in that pool right there. We follow the Lord in baptism.

That spiritual circumcision. Circumcision is that of the heart and in the spirit, whose praise is not of man, but of God. All right, now watch this. Colossians 2 verse 12. Buried with him in baptism, wherein you're risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. Did you know that faith is a spiritual resurrection? We're dead in trespasses and sin. When God gives you faith, he raises you from the dead. You have the quickened who are dead.

With the three patriarchs, God came and established his covenant with them. And so he does with all of his elect. He said, I'm going to give them a new heart. I'm going to take away that stony heart and give them a heart of flesh. He said, I'm going to put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you're going to keep my judgments.

I was judged in Christ. Was I not? That's God's judgment. Who is he that condemneth? It's God who justifies. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God today? Nobody's going to condemn you. Christ died. That's God's judgment. He's not. I'm going to keep that. He judged me righteous in Christ. I'm going to keep that. That's God's judgment. He judges between His elect and this evil world. I'm going to keep that. We keep His judgments. We do it by the Spirit. And He said, you're going to live where I put you. And you're going to be my people, and I'm going to be your God.

And I'm going to save you from all your uncleanness, and I'm going to take away all the famine. He tells you what that famine is in the Old Testament. It's not a famine of food or corn or wheat or anything like that. It's a famine of the hearing of the Word of God. No more famine in your life. It is the man in whom God establishes his covenant, covenant of grace, who has the faith of God's elect. There's nothing for sinners but Christ.

When I baptize a person, I lay them down under the water. The reason I do that is because we're buried with Christ. When he died, I died. When he was buried, I was buried. When God raised him from the dead, he raised me from the dead. So I'm submerged. I'm showing that in picture in baptism. I'm submerged, I'm buried, and I'm risen, and I'm both by the power of another. And I'm showing that. And he raises me up to walk in newness of life.

And that's what this baptism is all about. May the Lord teach us all so we're not drawn away every slight of man and blown about by every wind of darkness. And I'll tell you this, if that's not what you confessed in baptism when you were baptized, you've never been baptized. Just that simple. We're confessing Christ.

I'm confessing my hope that there's no forgiveness of sins in that pool. You go under a sinner, you're going to raise up a wet sinner. That's it. No forgiveness of sins in the pool. It's all in Christ, and the pool just testifies. That's all it does.