If you'll turn back with me to
Romans chapter 6. Since I came here to be your
pastor, and over these couple of years
that I've been here, different ones have come to me with questions
about old professions. and old experiences, and who
and what was being preached, and about their baptism. And over the years, I've struggled
with and had questions about these same issues myself. And I purposely put off saying
too much about these things, except as we've come to them,
in our verse-by-verse studies in the book of John and Genesis. Because all too often men get
these things reversed. Natural man reverses everything. You can pretty much take the
opposite of what he says to be the truth. He reverses everything. He's baptized and then later
on He comes to know the Lord, and he has to get baptized again.
Why? Because he had it in reverse.
He got it in reverse. Baptism is one of the ordinances
left us by the Lord, and one which He commands us to do as
the public confession of our faith. Now, you can't confess
what you don't have. You can be baptized. You can
get wet. You can go under the water. But
you can't confess what you don't have until you have it. A natural man is prone to duty
and works. His desire is to be given something
to do. Tell me what to do. Give me something
to do. And to him, baptism is just one
of many things that he does to constitute a righteousness. It's
one of those things that he does because he sees it to be a commandment
in the scripture, just like meeting on Sunday, they say, called Sunday
the Christian Sabbath. There's nothing in this book
that calls Sunday the Christian Sabbath, but religious men say
it's the Sabbath and we're to keep the Sabbath day, so here
we all go to church on Sunday because it's our duty. It's just another step. Baptism
is just one of many things that men do, and having done those
things, they look back on those things as something they did
to constitute their righteousness. He's prone to those things. One
fellow said this about baptism early in my life before I knew
anything. He said, baptism is a step in
the right direction. Is that what baptism is, a step? It's a step in the right direction. Well, baptism is not a step in
the right direction. It's the confession of faith
in Christ who accomplished salvation for you and awakened him out of sleep
to receive it and gave him an everlasting hope reserved in
heaven and a lively hope by which he's kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. It's the confession of his hope. And all too often, men observe
this ordinance before they know or have anything to confess. Now, I've been told by those
who ought to know, whose life's ministry has gone on for 50 plus
years, I have two men in my life that have given me direction
and counsel of God and directed me in the Word of God, Brother
Don Fortner and Brother Henry Mahan. Both of them have pastored
for 50 plus years. And I've been told by them, if
you want to learn a doctrine, go where the doctrine's taught.
Don't go over here somewhere where the exception is and try
to make the exception the rule. So that's what I want to do here
this morning in Romans chapter 6. But I want to say a few more
things to you. Never use the exception as the
rule. Now what am I talking about?
Well, I'm going to give you a couple exceptions to the rule. The thief
on the cross was never baptized. Now if I consider that, does
that make baptism unnecessary? Does that relieve me of the responsibility
to be baptized? He wasn't baptized. I can't really say that he didn't
know the truth because our Lord acknowledged that he did. And
he said, this day shalt thou be with me in paradise. I can't
doubt his salvation. He wasn't baptized. So don't
that mean I don't have to be baptized? Does that teach that baptism
is just an option and not a necessary commandment to be obeyed? Absolutely
not. Absolutely not. That thief was
converted before he had any opportunity. That man was either nailed or
tied to a cross. He had no opportunity. But he
did have opportunity to confess his faith and he did before multitude. What about John the Baptist? He wasn't baptized. Did you know
that? The man whose name is synonymous
with baptism was never baptized. I can't find it anywhere in the
scripture where he's ever baptized, you know. And yet his name was
John the Baptist. Well, don't that mean I don't
have to be baptized? No. No, John was the last of
the Old Testament prophets. He was a prophet, just like Isaiah,
just like Daniel, just like all the rest of the prophets. And
John was the last. And he was the only prophet acknowledged
of God in the New Testament, John the Baptist. And being the herald of Christ,
he ushered in a new gospel age, the gospel age of Christ. And
by the authority of God, he established the ordinance in this new age
of baptism. Now, ignorant men preaching dispensationalism
say that God preached three different gospels. One in the Old Testament
prophets, and then came John, and they say he preached the
kingdom of God. You've read these things. I can see them smiling.
And he preached the gospel of the coming kingdom, and then
Christ came and preached the kingdom of God is here. But there's always been but one
gospel. In Hebrews 4, verse 2, Paul said,
for unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. Talking
about the children of Israel, clear back in that desert of
sin and that wilderness of sin, where they went in and out of
the tabernacle. And faith and worship was established
in that tabernacle under Moses and the priesthood of Aaron.
And what they perceived from those things, what was being
preached and declared unto them was the gospel. The same gospel
that I preached to you this morning, but I'm preaching it to you with
much clearer evidence because the Son of God has now come.
But it was preached unto them and it didn't profit them not
being mixed with faith in them that heard it. John the Baptist
marked the end of the Old Testament economy of types and figures
and ceremonies. And as he came preaching Christ
who is the object and the end of all the ceremonial law, John
the Baptist preached that same gospel that I'm preaching to
you this morning. The same gospel. The righteous
obedience and shed blood of Christ and the confession of our faith
under his ministry was public baptism by water. Now let's read
several verses here in Romans chapter 6 and I want to make
some comments. What shall we say then, Romans
6 verse 1? I pointed this out to you earlier,
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus, whom God appointed and set forth,
way back there in Romans chapter 3, as a propitiation for our
sins through faith in His blood. He's already established this.
He's already established that all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. and that were justified freely
by His grace. And understanding our hope lies
in a representative man as our sin. Our sin was passed to us. It was passed on. We were born
in sin. We didn't become sinners when
we reached the so-called age of accountability. We're born
in sin. That's what the scripture said.
Born in sin, we are by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. It's passed to us. And so as I received that sin
from this representative father of mine, Adam, who passed down
to all his posterity that sin and condemnation of God. Evidence,
because all have sinned. They've all acted just like he
acted. They all sinned. They all manifested that same
nature of sin, understanding that our hope lies in a representative
man, a substitute of God's own choosing and appointment. And
that as sin affectionately reigned unto death, the grace of God
in Christ will result in that same grace reigning through righteousness
unto eternal life. What are we going to say about
that? What do we say? What do those
say who know something about it? That's what Paul said. Now
here's what you accuse me of saying. With sin that grace may
abound. We'll just continue on in sin
that grace may abound. Verse 2, God forbid. God forbid. He said, you didn't hear what
I told you. How shall we that are dead, how shall we continue
in sin He said that grace may abound. God forbid, how shall
we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? The sinner's
dead. He's already condemned. He's
just waiting to be buried. He's already condemned. This
flesh is going back to the dust. It's going back to the grave.
It's already condemned. It's already dead. He killed
me in Christ. He put me to death. The law has
done everything it can do to me in Christ. It killed me. It
judged me. It condemned me. And I saw it. I understand it. Know you not
that so many of us, verse 3, were baptized into Jesus Christ,
were baptized into His death? Therefore, we are 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 also, we
should walk in newness of life." Being baptized into Jesus Christ,
what's that mean? What's he talking about? As many of us, he said, talking
about those who had already confessed their faith through baptism.
like himself and these other ministers that were around in
his day, as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ. Well, what's he talking about? I believe, I'm just going to
cut through the chase and tell you what I believe that's saying
and not tell you the ten things that it ain't saying. What he's
talking about here is a spiritual understanding that sees and recognizes
the substitute and representative for sinners, and sees himself
being baptized in Christ, seeing him being judged and buried and
then risen from the dead. That's what he's talking about,
being baptized into Christ. Water baptism means nothing if
you don't see yourself buried in Christ, because that's what
it confesses. That's why sprinkling is just
absolutely nonsense. What does sprinkling confess. I'll tell you what it confesses.
It confesses what they receive. Sprinkling. That's all they've
got. And that's all they confess.
But to see oneself buried with Christ, you confess it by being
buried in the water. You confess this resurrection
from the dead and this new life given you when you come up out
of the water. You see what I'm saying? This
is not a sacrament. There's no grace bestowed in
baptism. If you go down there a wet sinner,
you're going to rise up a wet sinner. You're just going to
be wet for your trouble. It's a confession. It's a confession
of that spiritual baptism that was already performed in the
heart. His representative, Jehovah God,
took to Himself in permanent union flesh and bones of His
elect. And as a man, as a man is joined together with
his wife and become one body, one person, so He joined Himself
with us. And as a representative man,
made of a woman and made under the law, He fulfilled all that
the law demanded concerning us, concerning His bride. He fulfilled
everything. everything that was required
of her. And by His loving obedience, He provided her with a spotless
robe of righteousness. And as a substitute for a people
given Him in divine election, and as His final act of loving
obedience, He died in our room and stood on Calvary's cross.
He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. How can that be? Huh? All you can do with that
statement is look at it in wonder. There's no way you can explain
that. I can declare it, which I just did, but to understand
it, all you can do is look at it in wonder. As many of us as
were baptized into Jesus Christ, that is, saw ourselves by faith
standing in His person, walking in His person, living in His
person, dying in His person, raised from the dead in His holy
person, and seated in His person at the right hand of God. Can
you see that? Do you perceive that? Do you
understand that? That is your only hope. There
is no other hope. Baptism is the confession of
our hope in Christ. Faith is a spiritual understanding
of how God gives how God saves sinners in Christ. And He confesses that way of
salvation in their baptism. What's your hope? What's your hope? Let's say just
right now you're gone. God takes you out of here with
a heart attack. I see some of you smiling. I
wouldn't smile. I said on a pew, just like you're
sitting on right now, the man from the pulpit wanted to acknowledge
this old guy that founded the church. And he told everybody
who he was, told him his name. He was sitting right in front
of Kathy and I. We were sitting about where you are, Nathan,
and he was sitting about where David is. And he said, how are
things between you and the Lord? An old man throwed up two fingers
like that. God killed him dead in a wedge.
He started to stand up and just went over on the future. In a
half a second, that man who throwed them fingers up was standing
before the God that he said he was like that with. That's what
I'm asking you this morning. What's your hope? Because that's
how you're going to die in an instant. in an instant, in a
time when you think you're going to live forever. In that day,
you think you're six foot tall and bulletproof. In a happy instant,
you're going to stand before the judge. You're going to stand
before God, who sees all things, sees your innermost thoughts,
sees your motives before you even know them. What's your hope? What's your hope? God chose a people in Christ
before the foundation of the world. And these people were
chosen, the Scripture says, unto salvation. Unto salvation. And they were chosen not only
unto salvation, but through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. Now, what is this sanctification
of the Spirit? That's where men and women get
all twisted around. Very simply, it's the gift of
a new heart. That's what it is, the sanctification
of the Spirit. You're born with a hard heart. I stand up here week after week
after week, year after year after year, and I talk to men and women
about the things of God and show them where it's clearly stated
in the Scriptures. Pile up promises around you like
cordwood. And yet you stand there in the
hardness of your heart and reject these things, your only hope.
You reject these things. Well, what is this thing of the
sanctification of the Spirit? It melts that heart. It gives
you a new heart, a teachable heart, a heart of flesh that
can be touched and convinced and taught. A heart that will
acknowledge the Word of God, acknowledge the authority of
God. A submissive heart. An understanding heart. They'll
hear with their ears and understand with their heart the things of
God. With the heart, isn't that what
he says? Man believeth unto righteousness.
God gives him a new heart. If He don't give you a new heart,
you're going to sit here like this until you die. And you're
going to go out and meet God. I'm telling you the truth. I'm
not mentioning words this morning. I'm telling you the truth. What is this sanctification of
the Spirit? It's to be given access to the
truth. This is nearly as miraculous
as the first thing. God has to intervene and give
you a new heart. If he don't give you a new heart,
you're going to rebel against everything God says. You're going
to do it till you die. Or you'll find excuses, and you'll
find somebody religious who agrees with you and pat you on the back
and tell you you're OK. And then you'll go out and meet
God, and you'll say, now, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait
a minute. I've done many wonderful works in thy name. Why? I quit my job, and I preached
in thy name. I've done all kinds of wonderful
works, and then he said, depart from me, I never knew you. He
has to give you a heart. And the second thing is as miraculous
as that, with the untold millions who are sitting in the pew as
you are this morning and hearing untruth, hearing lies and subtlety
and things that deceive and intimidate and and hides the things of God. If our gospel be hid, it is hid
to the lost in whom the God of this world hath blinded their
minds, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their
ears." This glorious gospel of Christ. He has to give you access
to the truth. Now you think the truth is on
every corner? You go see it. The town is open. The back door is open. The same
door that lets you in will let you out. Go over there and sit
down and listen. and see if they're preaching the truth. They're
not. They're not. If they were, I'd
shut the doors, nail them shut, and we'd all go over there. They're not preaching the truth.
I'm telling you, it's a miracle of God that takes a preacher
and sends him and takes the people and draws them to gather to hear. You're not going to hear out
there on the riverbank, and you're not going to hear out there in
a boat, You are going to hear when God draws you. No man cometh unto me, Christ
said, except my Father draw him. How does He draw him? He draws
him in His providence. He arranges things. My soul,
you think of all the things that God has done to bring you here
this morning. And I'll tell you, it's an absolute
bamboo forest to me when I try to look at the things in my life
that brought me to this point. It's a miracle. It's a miracle
of God. This sanctification of the Spirit,
it draws a man, it gives a man opportunities to hear, and then
gives him the ability to hear, and then gives him a heart to
believe. Belief of the truth. Sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. The only way to know the
first, are you listening? The only way to know the sanctification
of the Spirit is belief of the truth. That's it. There is nothing else. Well,
I'm just waiting on a feeling. You'll be waiting a long time.
You'll be waiting a long time. I'm just waiting on that experience.
I'll know." No, you won't know. You see, we're not anywhere in
the scripture commanded to feel or experience anything. What
we're commanded to do is to believe. Isn't that what he said? He says,
you take this gospel and you go into every nation, kindred,
and tribe under heaven and you preach it. He that believeth. Ain't that what he says? He that
believeth." Belief of the truth. Only a truly regenerated man
can or will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as He set forth
in this book. Now, they're believing poor little
Jesus, boy. You won't have no trouble getting
folks to believe on Him. They believe in that. They believe
in that poor defeated Reformer that's pacing back and forth
right now up in heaven looking over the banisters hoping somebody
will believe on Him. so his work won't be destroyed.
You won't have no trouble convincing people of that. But I want you
to listen to the scriptures. Christ said, I saith unto you,
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. He has it. It's in his possession. It's
been given to him, else he wouldn't believe. He that heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, shall
not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life."
Do you see what he's telling us? Believe! Every person in this room this
morning is going to go out and meet God. What's the basis of
your hope in that day? What will you plead? Your desires? I did the best
I can. Is that what you're going to
plead? I did what I was told. Is that
what you're going to plead? That's what the Jews said. We
received these traditions from our fathers. Will you plead your
experience, your decisions, Your own righteousness, what will
you plead? What I'm laboring this morning
to preach to you is that there's only one name given unto heaven
whereby men must be saved. That's pretty strong language,
ain't it? You can read it in Acts 4, verse
12. That through this man, I preached
this to you last week, Through this man alone is preached unto
you the forgiveness of sins. And by him, all that believe
are justified from all things from which it was impossible
for you to be justified by the law. Through this man. All right. Now, preacher, I've
got a question for you. And this is the question Paul's
dealing with here in Romans chapter 6. Don't this book say something
about good work? How's that square up with grace?
Don't this book say something about good work? Doesn't this
book teach a godly walk without which no man shall see the Lord?
Ain't that what it says? I want you to listen close to
what I'm going to tell you this morning. You cannot walk a godly
walk apart from faith in Christ. That is the godly walk. That's where its motives come
from. That's where its power comes from. That's where its
acceptance comes from. You cannot produce this godly
walk and bring the favor of God. God's favor to you is what brings
about this godly walk and this faith in Christ. You cannot walk
a godly walk apart from faith in Christ. The gospel, when it's
revealed to the heart, accomplishes two things. It teaches me that
I'm crucified unto this world. I'm crucified. Ain't that what
he said? You're dead. Don't you know that,
he said? You wouldn't be asking this question if you knew that.
You're dead. You're dead. And it teaches me
also that this world has been crucified unto me. By way of representation, the
Holy God took His elect as they appeared to Him as sons of Adam. As they appeared to Him in this
work, struggling, trying to produce their own righteousness. And
He put them in His Son, nailed Him on a cross, and gave them
everything they deserved. Now, if you want to know What
those things, what value they have, you can find them in the
crucified Christ. No value at all. My way of representation, I see
this world's opinion and affection for the God of glory and all
those represented in Him. They nailed Him to a cross, and
they would you too if it was permittable. They hated Him without
a cause and they sentenced Him to die on the Roman cross as
a mockery to their love of self. Believers have one righteousness,
Christ. Christ. But believers are not
blind and indifferent to sin. They know something about its
idioceness. They know something about its
end, and they know something about the power of it. And they
walk according to what they know. I'm going to ask you something. Unscrew that light bulb out of
there, and I tell you, come up and stick your fingers up in
there. How many of you are going to stick your fingers up there?
Why not? Because you know what you're
going to get, don't you? Huh? You know beyond a shadow
of a doubt, if you stick your fingers in there, you're going
to pry. Now, you know that, don't you? But you ain't going to do
it. I told you to come up here and
get in this thing and stick your head under the water. Fifteen
minutes. You ain't going to do it, are
you? You know you're going to die
if you do. Believers know what sin is. They don't have affection
for it anymore. They understand what it is. They
see the exceeding sinfulness of sin. They see their lack of
ability to resist it or do anything about it. The only comfort they
have is to see themselves in Christ. You see what I'm saying? And so they don't chase after
those things the way they once did. Because they know what they're
going to get. They know. Believers understand
something about seeing. Believers have hearts Convinced. That's what the Holy Spirit does.
He convinces you of sin. He convinces you of what you
are. And so you put no hope in what you are whatsoever. They
understand that they're still sinners. They have no hope apart
from Christ. And all those who truly understand
the Gospel, they order their lives and their walk according
to what they believe. Can you see that? Watch this. Like as Christ was
raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life, even as so shall. All right? Now let me show you something.
How was Christ raised from the dead? How was Christ raised from the
dead? He was raised in justification. Ain't that what it says? He was
delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. Do I believe that? I'm justified. I'm not Pentecostal, but I tell
you, sometimes I want to shout when I think about that. I'm
justified before God without spark, without blemish, without
so much a thought of sin. I stand justified in Christ.
Not in myself, but in Him. Like as He was raised from the
dead, even so, that's how we ought to walk. We ought to walk
with full knowledge that I'm justified in Christ. There's
nothing against me. I'm innocent. The court of heaven
has declared me innocent of all charges. It punished me in Christ. And it justified me when it raised
Him from the dead. Secondly, how was He raised?
He was raised out of humility and death unto everlasting honor
and glory. Ooh, that's hard to get a hold
of, ain't it? We're kings and priests unto
our God, made kings and priests. We're not kings and priests by
nature, but He made us kings and priests. He gave us honor
and glory beyond your wildest imagination. He made us by the
predestinating purpose of God, sons by adoption. Sons of God. Why, we're over here worried
about who baptized who and who did this and who preached what
and who I was converted under. Paul said, don't you know that
the world's yours? Won't you consider that? You're
way down here disputing over who's going to be cheapest in
the kingdom of God down here looking at earthly kingdom. The
earth is yours. These preachers are yours. He's given you the right and
privilege to become sons of God. You know what it says over in
John chapter 1? Many has believed on Him. Gave He the right and
privilege, the power to become sons of God who were born. Raised
up out of humility and death. Everlasting honor and blessing. Is faith not a resurrection from
the dead? Paul said, we believe according
to the working of His mighty power which He brought in Christ
when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right
hand. Says He was declared to be the Son of God. Think about
that. Do you know that's what happens
when you believe God declared you to be his son? How do I know
if I'm one of God's elect? Do you believe? All his sons
do. And they all obey him and are
baptized. Every one of them. I don't know
any other way to know it. He was declared when God raised
him from the dead, declared to be the son of God with power
according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the
dead. Even as, so shall. Relationship between Christ and
Lazarus. It might be questioned why Lazarus
is laying over there with a fever in the bed. They all question,
why don't he show up? Where's he at? And then Lazarus
dies and they put him in that tomb. And they're still looking. And Christ hasn't shown up yet.
The second day comes. He hasn't shown up. On the third
day he comes. All hope is gone. All hope. There's no relationship in their
mind. If they ever had a thought in their mind of Christ being
his beloved friend, it's gone now. First thing I asked him,
both of them, when they ran out, where were you? Huh? Oh, how he mourned in himself
when he looked at them. But nobody questioned his love
for Lazarus when he said, Lazarus, come here. When he come out of
that tomb, nobody questioned. And you won't either when he
calls you out of that tomb. Until he does, we all question,
don't we? Oh, He declares us to be sons. We believe according to the working
of His mighty power. Relationship between Christ and
Lazarus made known when He called him out of that grave. Baptism
confesses a spiritual resurrection from the dead. Seeing what we
never saw, hearing what we never heard, Believing what we never
dared to believe. No longer sleeping with the dead,
but walking among the living. Justified, given great honor
and privilege, called to an eternal adoption, predestinated of God. And here's the fourth thing.
When Christ was raised from the dead, Paul said death had no
more dominion over him. He's not going to die but one
time. Just once. That's how you're going to die.
Do you know that? And we died in Him. We died in
Him. I don't fear death now because
I died in Christ. My life, whatever that constitutes,
this spiritual, everlasting, eternal life given to me through
faith, this life, Not going to end when
I go into the box. Old death, where is thy sting?
It's gone. Even as, that's how we walk.
Just like he walked when he come out of the tomb. There's no tomb
to look forward to anymore. He sits at the right hand of
God. He that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall
he live. And then I know this, death and
hell are places where men go because they owe a debt that
they cannot pay. But the believer's debt's been
satisfied, and God declares His satisfaction at the resurrection
of Christ. All right. The believer's walk
is a walk in a state of accomplished redemption. It's like winning
the lottery and having it in your pocket. It's in my pocket. It's mine. Can you get hold of that? That's
what it is to believe. It's mine. It's mine. It may not look like it. It didn't
look like Christ was the victorious king when He was standing there
bloody, but He was. Let me give you just a couple
more things here. I'll try to wrap this thing up.
When God raised up Christ from the dead, He set Him at His right
hand as the guarantor, the guarantor of His everlasting covenant of
grace. All His covenant blessings that
He purposed and promised from the beginning of time, He secured
in that man, Christ Jesus. Paul said God gave His covenant
and He gave them by two immutable things in which it was impossible
for God to lie. He gave it to you by promise
and He gave it to you by His oath. God swore by His own name
that you are going to have it. And He said He did that because
there was no greater to swear by. No greater to swear by. He swore by Himself. because
there was no greater to swear by. And he did this, Hebrews
6, verse 18, that we might have strong consolation who have fled
for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Now listen.
Which hope we have is an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,
and which entereth in. The anchor on my ship. that holds
me in place has entered in beyond the veil into the presence of
God Himself. Whether the forerunner is for
us, entered even Jesus, made a high priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek. What I'm saying to you is this.
We talk about this believer's walk and this evidence of his
salvation. It's not a walk of ceremonial
duty and self-righteous works that's set forth by religion.
It's just not. He walks as a son. He walks in
the light of redemption. He walks in the light of love.
He walks in the light of free justification. He walks in the
light of sovereign grace. And he walks in the gratitude
of everlasting love. And he walks in the spirit of
promised perfection. Paul said, I haven't obtained
yet. I haven't obtained yet. We walk, the believer walks as
Christ his Lord sits, expecting to his enemies be made his footstool. Baptism is a confession of your
faith. Baptism is a public identification
with Christ and His people. Barnard used to say it's putting
on a uniform. And baptism is the first act
of submission to Christ your Lord and your King. Old Noah preached 120 years to
an unbelieving world. He preached Christ to a generation
whose minds and hearts were in prison, same as they are today. When that arc was finished, there
was a lot of speculation and a lot of arguments, a lot of
debate about what he preached. The world all got off in their
little six and said, well, you know, he preached this, but he
didn't preach that. He hammered on this, but he left that out.
I thought he was a little hard on religion. They all got off
and debated and argued and had their little sex. Some believed
part of what he said. Others maybe more or less. Some
not at all. But there came a day when God
said, get into the ark. Everybody that got in was saved. Huh? Wasn't anybody saved, didn't
get in the ark. I want you to listen. This is
in 1 Peter 3, verse 21. You can read it for yourself.
Peter said, whereby eight souls were saved by water that day, the like figure whereunto baptism
doth now save us, not by the washing away of the
filth of the flesh, but of an answer of good conscience toward
God. That conscience said, if you
don't get in that ark, You're going to have to stand
before God." And they got in the Ark. Now I pointed you to the Ark.
What are you going to do? What are you going to do? Are
you going to wait on the rain? It's coming. It's coming. You're going to get in the Ark.