The feeling is mutual. I have really grown fond of your
pastor, although we've only known each other a short time. I've
heard your name for 20 years, but then again, just in the past
few years, we've really gotten to know each other. I esteem
him so highly, and we've enjoyed now a fellowship that I'm glad
we have. And that same goes for others. Brother David, I've known him
a long time, but not really known you heavily. And just these couple
of days now have been very special. I look forward to spending more
time with you. And the word Christian is Bible
word. They just sang that, Fellowship
of Christian. It's a shame that the world is
so abused that we're hesitant to use it. And I am too, Brother
Chris. There's so much, it's just phony. what goes on in the name of Christianity
today, so much so that we're ashamed to use that in connection
with what they call Christianity, aren't we? So much phony Christianity,
so many phony people that bandy that word about, don't they?
Christian and love and talk about love and all that. And many of
you were in the middle of that. David, you were right in the
middle of that, weren't you? And others, I'm sure. And you know
now it was absolutely phony, but this is real. This is real. God Almighty truly
sheds abroad His love and heart of His people. They truly love
one another. They don't go around saying it
a lot, but they sure show it. And Christians,
oh yes. We follow the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm a Christian, a follower, a disciple of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want to be ashamed of
that, but I am ashamed of what goes on in the name of Christianity
today. Utterly ashamed. I'm ashamed
to be introduced as a preacher to that because they immediately
connect us with those fools out there. Enough of that. Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter
2. And let me again thank you so
much for your hospitality to me. I speak for Mindy also. You all have just rolled out
the red carpet and treated us like we're somebody. We appreciate
it. Generosity. Food. Thank you again
for all the food and hard work. In Acts chapter 2, read verse
40 with me. Peter, the apostle, has just
preached and he ends the message with verse 40. In many other
words, did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves. from this untoward generation. Save yourselves from this twisted,
that's what the word meant, perverted, corrupt generation. That's what
untoward meant. Now someone may ask, someone
who is new in the faith or perhaps just heard it. Save ourselves. I thought salvation is of the
Lord. It is. One hundred percent. Completely. From beginning to
end. It is of the Lord. God Almighty
God the Father purposed salvation, willed it, purposed it, was the
architect of it. He elected a people, chose a
people, chose whom he would save, whom he did foreknow, he did
predestinate. It's what the scripture said,
what God's word said. It's the truth. He chose whom
he would save and he sent his son, his darling son. I like the way you refer to our
Lord. But that's the Bible in it. He's a darling. Sent his
darling son down to this despicable place called planet Earth. He came down and he, on behalf of those elect, fulfilled
God's holy law. He didn't come to show us how
to live by the law in order to earn heaven. No sir, He came
down here to earn it for us. Fulfill God's law and as a substitute. Now here's the two words that
tell us the gospel. Satisfaction, Jesus Christ satisfied
the law. God demands it of every human
being and we can't do it. He can and He did and He did
it for His people. period. But the soul that sinneth,
the punishment, the wages of sin is death, so Jesus Christ
as our substitute, satisfaction, substitute, not of all men but
of His people, God's elect, was the substitute for those people
and under the penalty of God's law against those sins died and
paid the price, which is death. God made His soul an offering
for sin. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. Christ did that on behalf of
His people. And their sins are God, they
are justified, and God Almighty accepts them in the beloved.
That's the gospel. God the Holy Spirit then. But
there's something that has to take place in a human being. God the Holy Spirit comes, takes
the Word of God, what I'm doing right now, it's a great mystery,
the world calls it foolishness, but it's the power of God, the
wisdom of God, takes this preaching of the Word. The seed, the seed,
the Word of God is called the seed. And we're scattering seed.
Brother David, that's all we're doing. We don't know where it's
going to land. We can't make it grow, can we? He says, go
sow the seed. The sower went forth to sow.
And he's scattering the seed. This is the seed, the Word of
God, which gives life. It's the only thing that will.
When God the Holy Spirit plants it. And He's the one that determines
that. And who he does that for is the
one that God's elected. In time, this gospel comes forth. And God Almighty puts it, not
in the head, but as you pray, in the heart. And God gives them a new heart,
a new nature. God, the Holy Spirit, gives repentance
of sins, gives faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, gives a love for
His Word, a love for the truth, a love for His people. A new
creature has been born, born of God, salvations of the Lord. And that new creature is kept
by the power of God, kept by the Holy Spirit of God, taught,
led all the way to glory, To God be the glory. Salvations
of the Lord. From the beginning to the end.
It's not a cooperative effort. It's not something we do with
what God offers us. It's of the Lord. Can I make
it any clearer? Is it not clear? I'll start over. That's the gospel. Okay? Salvations of the Lord. Well,
then why did Peter say Save yourselves. The Word is not confused, not
confusing. Brother Scott Richardson, one
time somebody said that to him, you're confusing me. He said,
no, you're born confused. And I quoted that Proverbs 8. It's all plain to him that understands
it. Brother David said, it's easy
if you know the answer. Sure it is, but you don't know
the answer, do you, by nature? God has to reveal it to us. God has to make it plain. And
when He opens your blind eye, it's as plain as a nose on your
face. See it in every line, don't you?
Truth. You say, why didn't I believe that before? It's as clear as
a bell, didn't you tell me? Why in the world did I believe
a lie? God of this world blinded the
minds of the people, but God, rich in mercy, comes to His people,
opens their blind eyes to see the truth, that salvation
is of the Lord and to give Him all the glory for it. Well, why
did Peter say that then? In God's purpose and His wisdom,
He ordained means. He ordained ways by which we
are saved. He uses these ways. It is in
His hand. These means, these ways. Preaching,
what I am doing right now. No preacher has ever saved anybody.
There is no such thing really as a soul winner. Jesus Christ wins our soul unless
He wins. It won't be won, will it? Unless
He takes captive His people. Unless He defeats the enemy.
We won't be won. But God Almighty uses preaching
for many reasons. I'm not going to go into that.
But He uses prayer. Prayer. Whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Nobody is going to
be saved if he doesn't call. That's what the Lord said. Reading God's Word. Reading it. Worship. You can't be in the
body of Christ if you don't worship. If you don't fellowship. The
nature of a sheep, you can't be a sheep and not want to be
in the fold. You just can't. It's not so. But God in His wisdom
and grace and mercy has ordered that. And it's a good thing.
It's a wonderful thing. It's salvation. It's safety to
be in the fold, isn't it? That's where Christ is. Repentance. Our Lord turned to His disciples
and said, except ye repent, you will not enter the kingdom of
heaven. Repentance, though, is a gift.
It's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. It's
a gift, isn't it? Prayer. Like we said, prayer
is calling on the Lord. Whosoever shall call shall be
saved. Well, I thought it was the Lord that called us. It is. It is. But the way you know he's
called you, the way you know someone's been called is they
start calling. And they keep calling. You see,
the Lord keeps calling. I have a dog. I tell about him
everywhere I go. I love my old dog. But maybe
I've told you this. I've told these so many times.
But, sorry, I don't care. I'll tell it again. Abner's his
name. An old black Australian shepherd. He's 15 years old now. But that
dog, I chose him. I went down to the kennel and
there were 15 others in his litter. I chose him. He did not choose
me. He didn't choose me. I chose him. He knows it. So do all of God's people. When
I chose him and I purchased him, I paid money for him. It's kind
of a foolish thing, really, to pay money for a dog. Don't you
think? I mean, how many dogs are there
out there in the world? Go to the pound and find them,
you know, by the dozen. But nevertheless, I paid money
for him, a pretty good sum of money. I bought him. Took him home with me. He's mine.
I didn't take all of them home. I didn't buy them all. I bought
one. He's mine, okay? Since he's mine, Brother Jimmy,
I taught him. I feed him. I lead him. I guide
him. He's mine. I do everything for
him. The first thing I did for that little puppy was teach him
to sit. Be still. You know, if you don't
teach a dog to be still, he's going to kill himself. He's going
to run out in the traffic. He's going to do something. You've
got to teach a dog to mind you. You've got to teach a dog to
lie down, don't you? Psalm 23, maketh us lie down. You've got to make me. The Lord's got
to take a man, be still, and know that I'm God. He took that
man that was demon-possessed and what did he do with it? A
man who was acting like a Pentecostal person, you know, jumping, flying
around, doing everything that Pentecostals do today. And the
Lord made him sit and listen to His Word. That's where you
found him. Sitting, clothed in his right
mind, listening to the Lord Jesus Christ. In his right mind. Not
talking like a fool. Worshipping Jesus Christ. That's
what he was doing. Not acting and playing the fool.
Anyway, I taught my dog to sit, to lie down, and then I taught
him to come when I call. He's got to learn that. If he
runs off and he doesn't come when I call him, he's going to
die. And so I taught him to come.
And I'm a pretty good dog trainer because he comes when I call
him. And I'll tell you who's a pretty good savior. No, I'll
tell you who's a great Savior. I'll tell you who's a sovereign
Savior. I'll tell you who trains His dogs. That's all His people
are dogs. That's what the Syrophoenician
woman said, I'm just a dog. She came when He called her.
All of them did. That's the power of this Lord,
sovereign Lord. And I keep calling that old dog.
I keep calling him. I haven't quit calling him. I
call him every day. I call him to eat, come to eat.
I call him to go running with me. I call him out of trouble. He's heading off to trouble.
I call him back. I call him, quit peeing on the
bushes. Quit digging in the yard. The
old dogs do those sort of things. You can't make a dog completely
quit acting like a dog. I keep calling him, I keep calling
him, so does the Lord. How does he do that? Right here. And if you come, that's how you
know. If you call, you know that my
dog calls on me. Doesn't he, Mindy? He calls me
all the time. He calls me all the time. Music
to my ears. I just love to hear him do that.
Don't you, Bob, your dog? I just love it when he does that.
Buddy, I come to him when he calls. You read that? How much more?
Everyone that calls, the Lord comes. He answers them. Music to his ears. It keeps calling,
it keeps calling, it keeps calling all the days of our lives. How
do you know that we're one of His? We call on Him. That's about what we do, isn't
it, Brother Tom? Tell me, tell me. Isn't prayer one of the hardest
things you do? Isn't it? Isn't it when you come
to pray in private, I mean? The Lord gives you some help
praying for God's people. These men, aren't you blessed
when they pray? But in private, I'll tell you, every one of them,
all of us, we don't know what to pray about. All we can do
is say, help me! Help me! Lord, help. Lord, help.
Don't have all these words to say. Isn't it so? Call, that's
what it means, from the heart. Call shall mean what? Saved! If you quit calling, you won't
be saved. If you don't call, you won't
be saved. It's as simple as that. Save
yourself. Call. Do you see what he's saying? He's not saying you're saving
yourselves. You're not going to get any glory
or credit for your salvation. He's just saying, this is what
the Lord uses. This is how you know. Everyone
He saves does that. Call. Call. And keep calling until He answers
you. I guarantee you, based on His
promise, He will. He will. Whosoever shall call. Oh, I was going to take you to
Ezekiel 36. Many of you, you probably preached
on Ezekiel 36. It goes all the way through.
The Lord says what He will do. I will give you a new heart.
I will cleanse you from all unrighteousness. I will give you water. And I
will give you a new heart. I will, I will, I will, I will,
I will, doesn't it? He says that, what the Lord will
do. And He will do. Salvation is of the Lord. And
then in the last verse, 37, He says, And I will yet be inquired of to
do this for them. They are going to ask me to do
it. This is what I am going to do. I am going to do it. And
they will ask me for it. You see, this gives Him the glory
when it comes. If things come without us asking
for it, we think it's chance or it's luck or whatever it is.
People do that. God freely gives human beings
everything. Every good and perfect gift falls
on Him. His tender mercies are over all
His works, all over this earth. Everybody calls the rain to fall
on the unjust as well as the just. And nobody's giving Him
thanks. They think it's luck. They think it's chance. They
think it's mother nature. But it's God. Romans 1 says they're
not thankful. It said, all day long I've nourished
them, I've fed them though they don't know me. Bless God, brother
David. He has a people He causes to
know Him. I'm your Father. I've been doing
this for you all your life. Now what does He require? Just
thank me. Isn't that all we require as
parents, huh? Isn't it? Just thank Me. That's His reasonable service
in it. That's what we're doing here this morning. We don't come
to be seen. We don't come to play games, be religious because
things do on Sunday. We're coming to thank God! Thank
You, Lord, I'm breathing! Thank You, I've got food! Thank
You, I've got help! Thank You for my kids! Thank
You! Thank You! Thank You! Your mercies are new
every morning. Your compassions, they fail not.
You've been good to me all my life. I've spent years not giving
you a thought. Thank you! Love so amazing, so divine, demands
my soul, my life, my all, let alone an hour a week. Doesn't
it? I'm preaching to myself. Went
years without giving God a thought, I'd be in hell right now. That's
why he's sending people. What for? Not being thankful. What if you owned a dog and all
he did was just mooch off of you? Eat and eat and eat and
tear up your property and all that and run off, won't come
when you call. How long would you put up with a dog like that? That's the way it's going to
be, isn't it, with God. That's it. His people, though, are thankful.
And we owe it all to the praise of the glory of His grace for
making us thankful. We wouldn't be here if the Lord
hadn't, in His grace, brought us here. To God be the glory. You know,
that's what the word hallelujah means. And I get so sick of hearing
people say that and sing it. It's on their lips. Their heart is far from praising
the Lord. Praising the Lord means giving
Him all the glory. See these athletes doing this.
They're not doing this under the Lord. They're doing it so
you'll see them doing it. God looks on the heart, doesn't
He? I ain't mad at you. I'm sorry.
I don't mean to look mad. Hmm. I'm mad at myself, really,
but... Salvation. Save yourself. Salvation is to be saved. Saved! Must mean you're lost,
isn't it? Saved. Saved from what? Sin. Sin. You know, the world scoffs at
these things. They scoff at this stuff, but
that's what this book is about. Cover to cover. Salvation is
from sin. Sin is the cause of all. Brother Chris, you can't describe
sin, can you? You can't. Paul, when he talked
about it, he said the exceeding sinfulness of sin. That's all
he could say. Sin is the cause of all the corruption
in this planet. It's a disease that fills the
minds and the bodies and the souls of every human being. It causes death. It causes pain. It causes wickedness and filthiness
and corruption. It's untoward, it says, untoward
generation. It makes people perverted. completely opposite, backward
from what God Almighty made us to be. Until they, it says they
corrupted themselves. That's what Romans 1 says. Until
man, man is made upright and beautiful in the image of God
and what sin does is make him mutilate himself. And we are living in the absolute
last days. It's obvious. And it's not funny. Mutilate himself. Sin, Satan. Salvation is to be
saved from sin. Salvation is to be saved from
Satan. And the world scoffs at this all mention of someone named
Satan, but Jesus Christ talked about Satan more than anybody
else. Yes, He did. Jesus Christ. He knows Him. And he said, he's
your adversary, the devil, walking about like a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may divide. This is not a fairy tale. This
is not some cunningly devised fable by ignorant Southern Baptist
mountain people. This is what Jesus Christ said.
Satan, called the God of this world, God who holds men captive,
and he's so wily and so crafty, they don't have a clue that he
has them. Satan, that we're no match for. No one is. The world. Satan's called the God of this
world. The world is what he uses. It's his sphere of influence.
It's his realm of work. It's what he uses to try and
destroy human beings, which he does successfully, but only he
who letteth, lets. That he is God. Satan is not
God. Satan can't do anything unless
God Almighty allows him to do it. That's what that verse means.
Who letteth, now let's. It's the mystery of iniquity. Salvation to be saved from sin,
from Satan, from the world, from yourself. Which all these things
are in, self. Salvation is urgent. Salvation
is a desperate need. Salvation. This is why Scripture
says when the Gospel is preached, today is the day of salvation. Because the Gospel is the power
of God unto salvation. There is no other power of God.
There is no other thing that God uses to save people from
sin, from Satan and the world. The Gospel actually does save. which the world calls foolishness.
Maybe you did. Maybe you do. I did call it foolishness. I
distinctly remember Brother Bob telling one of my friends back
when I was an enlightened hippie, you know, I remember telling
him that I can disprove everything my dad's been preaching for years. That haunts me to this day. In
fact, I looked that fellow up, and I told you I was wrong. One
of my old buddies, I was wrong. The gospel. Save yourselves means
believe the gospel. The Lord preached. The Lord Jesus
Christ was a preacher, you know. People call preachers fools,
and most of them are. These men, you know when people
come to hear the truth, the gospel, surely they can't help but notice
that the men who preach the truth are not fools. They're different.
Surely people can see that. And what they're saying is not
foolishness. Surely people can at least notice that. Jesus Christ
was a preacher. God had one son and he sent him
down to this earth and what was he by the creed? A preacher.
Well, that elevates this office, doesn't it? That makes this mighty
important what we're doing. And he preached and here's what
he said. He said, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and
believe the gospel. That's what he said. To save
ourselves is to repent. Save ourselves is to call. Save
ourselves is to believe the gospel. And to keep ourselves saved,
we're kept by the power of God. Well, what is the power of God?
The gospel is the power of God. By continuing to hear, believe
the gospel. There's another scripture that
says, keep yourselves in the love of God. Well, if God loves you, well,
this is how you know He loves you. Tell me, anybody, if you fall
out a little while, just a little while, don't you start doubting
whether or not you're a believer, a child of God? You start doubting?
I don't know if the Lord... John Newton wrote, "'Tis a point
I long to know. Oft it gives me anxious thought.
Do I love the Lord or do I not? Am I His or am I not?' You stay out from under this
gospel very long and that's where you'll be. But keep yourselves
in the love of God. Under the sound of the gospel.
And you'll believe, well maybe he does love me. Maybe he does. Our Lord, let
me give you an illustration. Where'd the time go? Brother Chris and I were talking
about Paul preaching all night. And I'm not going to do that. Sometimes you think, I'd break everybody's neck. Everybody
here would fall out the window and break their neck, and I can't
raise you from the dead. Christ said this. Christ said,
blessed are they that hunger and thirst, they'll be filled.
He said, except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have
no part in it. Christ is life. Christ is the
gospel. He that hath the Son hath life. What does it mean to have the
Son? It means to have a need for the Son. If you have life,
eternal life, saved, you have a need to hear Jesus Christ. You have a need to see Jesus
Christ. It's like food and water. He
said, blessed are they that hunger and thirst. If you have life,
you have hunger. It's a sign of life. You have
thirst. It's a sign of life. If you don't have that, you're
dead. He that hath a love for the Son, except you eat and drink
and are hungry and thirsty, you'll die. You won't be saved unless
we hunger and thirst after crying. We'll die. Hunger and thirst
is a sign of life. A newborn, a newborn baby, crying,
What's the first thing they did? Called them. I remember my only
child, got two grandbabies now, but they're my children. But
anyway, the first one, Hannah, was born and came out of that
womb and she looked dead, looked lifeless, you know, blue. You
know how they look? And I was listening for one thing. I didn't care if she was male
or female. I didn't care. I wanted to hear
her cry. And the physician flipped her
on the bottom of the feet. You know, had to inflict a little
pain. A little pain. And she cried. She's alive. That's new birth. The Lord said
of Paul, Saul of Tarsus, Behold, he prayeth. He's alive. Then what's next? Hunger. Those children, a live baby comes
out of the womb, a desire in the milk, doesn't it? And in
Boone's case, he wanted a T-bone steak. Or at least a lot of milk. Bring another nursemaid in here. Right? Leo's got to have his
alive. And it's obvious his dad has
never quit eating or drinking. He's alive too, isn't he? How
do you know people are alive? I've got to eat and drink. What? He ain't a what. He said, except you eat my flesh
and drink my blood. That means a man standing up
preaching the Lord Jesus Christ and people are just soaking it
in. Those that are alive, just soaking
it in. Tell me more. I never get tired of milk. Brother
Bob and I still drink chocolate milk. Where's mine? I've been
drinking that since I was a kid. Still love it. Never lost my
taste for it. Milk, milk. And when you grow a little older,
you want meat, don't you? And when you get older, you want
everything. Growth, growth is a sign of life.
Well, the person begins to lose their appetite. They quit eating. Something's badly wrong. If they quit eating altogether,
what's going to happen? They'll die. And in this case of the gospel,
what it proves is they were never alive. Never alive. They went out from
us, but they were not of us. If they had been of us, they
no doubt would have continued with us. But they went out of
us that it might be made manifest. They're not of us. Come and dine, the Lord said.
People are hungry and thirsty. They come and they eat. Christ,
save yourself, keep eating. The promise, he said, verse 39,
the promise is unto you and to your children. Look at that. The gospel. We're saved by God's
promises. God who promised eternal life.
Cannot lie. We're saved by promise, aren't
we? Saved by hope. It's good hope. Based on God's promise. Who cannot lie. It's a sure thing.
It's God's Word. It's just called hope and promise
because it's not final yet. It is final. Hold on. It is final,
but we just haven't completely realized it yet. That's why it's
called hope and a promise, but someday it's going to be complete,
total reality. But the promise is unto us and
our children, it says in verse 39. You and your children. I
want to show you something over in 2 Chronicles. Real quickly. Second Chronicles, Chapter 20.
Second Chronicles. You know, parents, when our children are born, it
is our responsibility to feed them anyway. In fact, if you
quit feeding Boone, you'd be a negligent mother. That's your responsibility. And
so it is with God's people concerning their children, to have them
under the sound of the gospel. That's right. Paul commended Lois, Timothy's
grandmother, and his mother, Eunice, for having him under
the sound of the Word, which is able to make him wise unto
salvation. There is nothing else that is.
He needs saving. And what's going to save him?
Same thing to save them. The gospel. So she had, they
had him, mother and grandmother, had Timothy under the sound of
the gospel. They can't save him, but they know who can. They know
the only thing that can. So they had them there, him and
Timothy there. Timothy was like me. He probably
thought they were being mean to him. Oh no. They want the Lord to save him.
2 Chronicles, look at this. Oh,
that didn't turn. There it is. Verses 12 and 13.
Jehoshaphat's king, and he's praying on behalf of the people.
Verse 12 and 13. It says, Oh, our God, wilt thou
not judge them that is our enemies? We have no might against this
great company that comes against us. Neither know we what to do,
our eyes are upon thee. And all Judah, God's people,
stood before the Lord with their little ones and their wives and
their children. Can you see this beautiful scene?
Can you see this? Oh, they're standing there, brother
Bob. They've got their babies, they've got their grandchildren,
they've got their wives. They're all standing before Him just like
we're doing right now. Calling on the Lord, God, we
don't have any power against any of these things. You preach. Oh, Lord, visit me. They just
stood there. Lord, we don't have any ability
whatsoever. Will Thou not save us and our
children? We're looking to You. That's
what we do when we come here. That's what we do when we have
our children here. I don't know if I've told this
story, and I don't want to. young boy years ago who was raised
under godly believing parents and they had him under the sound
of the word. And as soon as he got old enough,
he wanted to get out of his mean parents and get out on his own. So he did. He played the prodigal.
Went out, like the scripture said, wasted his substance, riotous
living. Ended up down in Key West, Florida.
Key West, Florida, back in the early 70s. And he, one night,
ended up on a bench. Couldn't find his way back to
where he was staying, and lay down on a bench. and laid there
all night long, you know, and woke up the next morning, and
the bench, the very bench that he lay down on, it had written
on the back of it, this is the southernmost tip of the United
States of America. In other words, he was literally
as low as he could go, as far down as he could go. You know where that boy is today? He preached this message to you. What happened was the Lord brought
him back just like the prodigal, you know, came to himself. Look
at you, in the hog pen. Brought him back home and he,
you know, Ran around, did this and that and the other, the Lord's
still providing for him. But in mercy, began to deal with
him and make him dissatisfied with things and brought him back
under the sound of the Word, under the sound of the Gospel.
Captured his attention, pretty, mighty pretty young girl, still
pretty, still young. Captured his attention and You
know, he came for a while because of her. He wanted her. It wasn't long before that same
word that he'd been hearing from a child began to break his heart until he didn't even know that
girl was sitting beside him. That's my story. And not long after that, baptized. He said, and I'm out of time,
I wish I had more time, but he said, he that believeth in his
baptism, the Lord Jesus Christ said do that, not some Tennessee
Mountain preacher. The Lord Jesus Christ said that.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Baptism is a
public confession before this generation, this world, who thinks
it's a bunch of, it's just ignorance, who mocks it, mocks what we're
doing, mocks God, mocks baptism. It's a public confession before
the world that, you know, I deserve to die. And I believe Jesus Christ died
for me. And you know what? I want me
dead. I want that old man dead and buried. And I want, by His
grace, to walk in newness of life. A disciple of His. Live forever now to the praise
of the glory of His grace. That's what baptism is all about.
It's both a marriage and a funeral too. My funeral. Bury me. Put me out of here.
Marry me to Christ. You take this man before all
the world? You take this man? I do. And the world will mock and scoff
at you, young people. They will mock. The Lord said
in the last days, scoffers and mock. You are baptized? What
for? Because I need saving. Christ has. He said, if you'd
be ashamed of me and this wicked generation, I'd be ashamed of
you, didn't I? And it's to confess him, save yourself from this
untoward generation. Now you know we don't save ourselves. We know who does. And if he has,
this is what he uses. This is what he does. and were
gladly, says they, that gladly received his word and gladly
baptized. And whenever somebody's baptized
by the creed, whenever somebody, oh, it's a wonderful thing if
somebody gets up there. You know, you think, when this
old prodigal got up there. Ah, boy. We got some parents
with kids that just break their hearts. The Lord does something
for them. There's one way, Dee. There's
one way He does that. Right here, what the world calls
foolish. And you think when they get in that pool, don't you rejoice
to high heaven? Brother Chris, doesn't it make
you want to say, turn around and say, now you baptized me?
Doesn't it? Don't you? You. Don't you want
to get in there again? It's untoward generally. It's
about over, folks. It's about over. It's the last
of the last days. It's very clear. Romans 1, read
it. 2 Timothy 3, it's clear. It's clear like the front page
of Newton. And today is the day of salvation. Us and our children. Thank God. Thank God. All right. We have plenty of time, Brother
Paul. We just planned to have one message this morning, but
he got another one. We got time. What a blessing. I appreciate it.