I had the privilege this week
of visiting after the services down at Buck Mountain with a
couple of young men who are preachers or at least have aspirations,
some thought that God may have that in plan for them. And they
asked me a good many questions of significance. They had been
influenced somewhat by folks who think somehow we ought to
adjust our worship services to make it possible for the world
to be more attracted to us so we can preach the gospel to them. You know, get them in under false
pretenses, bait the hook, and then try to preach the gospel
to them. And he asked me, he said, what
do you think about that? And I said, to hell with it. And I meant
to say just that way. He said, what do you really think? Anytime someone gets hold of
the message of this book, anytime this message gets hold
of a man, it alters everything. Let the gospel be established
in a church and that church will never be the same again. Let
the gospel be established in a pulpit, and that pulpit will
be altered forever. Let the gospel be established
in the hearts of people, and they will never be the same again. All former religion, all the
former works of idolatry, they will look upon with utter disdain
and contempt. The message changes the man,
changes the preacher. Man's born of God, he's not the
same as he was before. And a man is not, he doesn't
get saved and start preaching and serve the Lord and then learn
the gospel. It's just the reverse. Until
you learn the gospel, you're not saved and you're not serving
God. If man learns the gospel, everything
is changed. Everything's changed. The man's
changed and his motives are changed. He's no longer interested in
what you can do for him. He's no longer interested in
obtaining your favor and is no longer afraid of your frowns.
He serves God now. He's seeking the glory of God
now. He's interested in promoting
the interest of God's name and God's kingdom now. Not only is
the man changed and his motive changed, But his methods are
changed. How do we do this? How do we
go about serving the Lord? How do we build the church? We
don't. We don't. It's not my business
to build this church. If I build it, I won't make much
of it. It'll soon fall down. Christ
builds his church. He uses one thing to do it. Just one thing. Gospel preaching. That's all. That's all. Well,
don't you think we ought to have some skits? No. Don't you think
we ought to have some cantatas? No. Don't you think we ought
to have some plays? No. Don't you think we ought
to entertain folks? No. Don't you think we ought
to have some clubs? No. Not only that, we're not
going to have them. It ain't happening around here.
It ain't happening. Period. How come God established
this place for one thing, gospel preaching? If that isn't what
you want, you can find anything else you want most anywhere in
town. This is what we do here. We preach the gospel of God's
grace, and that's not going to change. Not only that, If you
hang around a little bit, you'll find out that the message also
changes the music. Oh, how good to hear and to join
in the singing of hymns that extol and praise the God of all
grace. How delightful it is to sing
the songs of Zion here on the walls of Zion as we march toward
Emmanuel's land giving praise to our God. Turn with me, if
you will, to 1 Timothy 3. 1 Timothy 3. My text is found here in Paul's
first pastoral epistle. Now, Paul's objects in these
pastoral, his object in these pastoral epistles was to set
things in order. His object was to teach us how
to behave ourselves. how to conduct ourselves in the
house of God, which is the church of God. And if ever there was
a day in which men and women need instruction on how to behave
in God's house, this is the day. 1 Timothy 3, verse 14. These things write I unto you,
unto thee, hoping to come shortly, to come unto thee shortly. But
if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave
thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living
God, the pillar and ground of the truth. The house of God is
the church of the living God. It is this assembly of men and
women to worship God in the name of Christ established in this
place. It is the house of God, the place
where God meets with his people, the place where God ministers
to and cares for his people, the place where God takes care
of his own family. This church of the living God,
this assembly right here, He says is the pillar and ground
of the truth. It's not ours to devise truth,
to invent truth, or even discover truth. It is ours simply to hold
the truth, the gospel of God's free grace, just as we have received
it from the preceding generation for the generations to come.
It is ours to hold it and hold it forth exactly as we have received
it. no alteration whatsoever, the
pillar and the ground of the truth. Now, I want this morning
to address three aspects of this behavior, this conduct which
takes place in the house of God. Three gospel ordinances is the
title of my message. These three ordinances of divine
worship are far too neglected and far too much abused because
of ignorance. Ignorance of men who have been
instructed improperly are not instructed at all with regard
to the ordinances of the gospel. In the house of God, when we
come together in this place, we worship our God by the means
he has ordained, And we worship Him after the manner set before
us in the New Testament. We make no rules that He didn't
make. And we bring nothing in that
He didn't establish. When I say that, I mean no rules
He didn't make. And bring nothing in He didn't
establish. I was asked this week, what do
you think about instruments? What instruments is alright to
use? I said, if I read the Psalms correctly, you can use any of
them you want to. Now, I suggest that you use them
carefully. Suggest that you use them reverently,
that nothing get out of order. But David speaks of timbrels
and trumpets, harps. Use any instrument you want to.
Well, our Baptist forefathers didn't do that. I know they didn't.
I know they didn't. They met in secret. They met in secret. You know
what that means? You don't blow trumpets, not
if you're hiding from the king. You don't get a pipe organ out
and start playing it if you're hiding in secret meeting. They
didn't even sing openly and loudly. They just chanted the Psalms.
So they got a tradition amongst Baptists. We can't have any music. Mr. Spurgeon at the Tabernacle
refused to have an organ. Lots of folks refused it. We
can't we can't worship God with a pipe organ. If David did, I
reckon it would be up to me too. Maybe, all right. Now, you don't
have to. That's all right. No rule says you have to. But
don't make the rule say you can't. Don't make it you can't. I was
out in San Leandro, California, the congregation by and large
of the black church a few years ago. And some fellows got up
right before I preached. There were a couple of specials
in song. And Merle, they gave out a song
in rap music. I had to bite my tongue. But the song was good. The song was good. Were you there?
Was that when you were there? The song was good. And I stood
up because I could see the look on other folks' faces. Those
other white folks out there just like me, they were biting their
tongues. Oh, you can't have that in the church of God. I said,
folks, now listen, did you hear what they say? It doesn't matter
how they say it. It doesn't matter how they say
it. Might not be to my taste or yours, but we make no rules
God didn't make. None whatever. We bring nothing
in He doesn't establish and make no rules at all. We worship God
exactly after the pattern of the New Testament with utter
simplicity. Come together and read the scriptures.
Just read the scriptures, you men. I know you take this seriously. I'm glad you do. When you are
asked to read the scriptures back in the office or hear from
the pulpit, leave the congregation in prayer. There's a place for
just reading the word. I don't know why when people
get up, I travel all over the place. You know I do. Somebody
gets up and sings like Celeste did. They got to stand here and
talk for 10 minutes about what they're going to do. Man, just
get up and sing. Keep your mouth shut. Or get
up and read the scripture. Just read the scripture. Just
read the scripture. Lead us in prayer. It's just
simplicity. No fanfare, especially none to
call attention to yourself or to myself. We worship God in
prayer. calling on his name. That's what
prayer is. Prayer, beseeching him for mercy,
calling on him for grace. We worship him with praise, singing
songs of praise to God. praising him for grace, grace
predestined, grace experienced, grace promised, praising him
for redemption, redemption by the blood of Christ, righteousness,
not ours, but the righteousness he gave us and made ours, the
righteousness of Christ that is ours. And we worship him through
the preaching of the gospel. Skip, this is how God teaches
you. I know you went through high school and college and graduated
big degree. But this is how God teaches the
things of God. A fellow standing up here just telling you what
God says in his book. That's how he teaches you. That's
how he directs your life as a believer through the preaching of the
gospel. And there are just three ordinances set before us in the
New Testament. Those three ordinances are to
be maintained as long as the world stands. They are baptism,
church membership, and the Lord's Supper. I have chosen my words
deliberately, and I have included church membership because it
is included in the pattern of the New Testament. Baptism, church
membership, and the Lord's Supper. Let me show you these three things
by example, and then we'll look at them briefly. Turn to Acts
chapter two, Acts chapter two. The Apostle Peter preached on
the day of Pentecost to a great multitude. I have no idea how
many thousands of people were there. He simply told these folks
the wondrous story of redemption accomplished and grace performed
by Jesus Christ the Lord. He proclaimed the fact that because
Jesus Christ had accomplished redemption, because the Son of
God by the sacrifice of himself had put away sin, he now has
ascended up on high and took his seat on David's throne as
the King of Israel. And the proof of that is the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit. When Peter had finished preaching
the God of Israel, Jesus Christ, our Lord, made his inaugural
declaration, pouring out his spirit upon all flesh. And every
man present heard the apostles preach in his own language. In his own language. Now, Ron,
that's entirely different from what we hear happening at Pentecost.
We hear that every man there spoke the apostles did in every
man's language. That's not what the scripture
says here. Every man here heard the apostles in his own language. He heard the word as God miraculously
caused it to be spoken to him, heard it in his own language.
And when the power of the spirit fell upon them, when Peter had
finished preaching in one day and in one day, 3,000 men and women were born of God. 3,000. And they didn't even have an
altar call. They didn't even have an advance
committee to go and set up a way to get them to make a confession.
God the Spirit moved upon their hearts. And that day, 3,000 were
baptized and added to the church. Acts 2, verse 41. Then they that
gladly received the word. Oh, what a good description of
faith. Gladly received the word. You rebel against it, fight against
it, fuss at it, and then all of a sudden God gives you grace
to believe and you gladly receive the word. They were baptized,
immersed. Learn as Brother Lindsey just
taught us earlier. Learn whenever you read the word
baptize, or baptized, or baptism in the New Testament to read
it this way, immersed. They that were immersed, they
heard the word were immersed. Oh, but the word baptize, it
means immersed. The word baptize, I told you
many times, is but a transliteration. If you take the Greek words and
write out the American or the English letters, the word is
baptized. That's it. Why did they do that?
Because they didn't dare translate the word. They simply transliterated
it so that you could make it mean whatever you wanted to make
it mean. Now, why the Lord arranged this? I don't know. I won't pretend
to know, but he did. It's choosing God's purpose because
goats have got to have something that you own, I reckon. But the
word means immerse. You can't have baptism without
a lot of water. You got to have enough to be
buried in. They were baptized and the same
day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly
in the apostles doctrine. What a good word. Doctrine. Doctrine. Oh, I don't want to
hear any doctrine. Well, close the Bible up and
go home. This book's all about doctrine. Good doctrine, the
apostles' doctrine, Christ's doctrine. The word, Alex, means
teaching. Teaching. And fellowship. And you can't
have fellowship without doctrine. The basis of the fellowship is
the doctrine held in common. The basis of the fellowship is
the gospel we believe. And if you don't believe the
gospel, we can't fellowship. We can't fellowship. I hear folks
say, well, I go to Masonic Lodge for the fellowship we had then.
Well, you might can fellowship with them. No, that's not it. That ain't fellowship. That ain't
fellowship. That's mass confusion. Fellowship is this thing God's
given us in Christ, in the gospel of God's grace. It's that which
we have only with other believers, only with others who believe
the doctrine. Read on. And in breaking of bread
and in prayers and fear came upon every soul and many wonders
and signs were done by the apostles and all that believed were together. How good and how pleasant it
is for brethren to dwell together in unity and had all things common. and sold their possessions and
goods and parted with them to all men as every man had need. And they, continuing with one
accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, did
eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising
God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added
to the church daily such as should be saved. One comment about that,
and I'll move to our subject. I hear folks say, oh, would God
that he would add daily to the church such he should be saved?
He does. Things haven't changed any. He
does now. He always has. He adds every
day exactly such he should be saved. Now in this passage of
scripture, the Holy Spirit shows us these three things that characterized
early believers. Three things that were tokens
of God's grace upon them. Ordinances of our Redeemer for
his church. Baptism. They gladly received
his word and were baptized. Church membership. They were
added unto them, added to the church, about 3,000 souls. And
the Lord's Supper, they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine
and fellowship and in breaking of bread and the prayers. We'll
examine each of these things briefly as they're set before
us in the word of God. Let's begin in Romans chapter
six. Romans chapter six. Just hold
your hands there. I'll get there in a minute. And
when we talk about the church, let me state this again. We understand,
I hope you do understand, the church of God universal. The church of God is made up
of all God's elect. Every believer is a part of the
body of Christ, the family of God of which the whole family
in heaven and earth is named. The church which Christ builds,
the church for which Christ gave himself is the church of God
universal, the church of God's elect. That does not mean, that
does not mean that all churches go together and make up one big
church. Now you'll hear folks make that kind of accusation.
Either they're ignorant or they're just lying. No, we do not suggest
that all the churches go together and make up one big church. But
we do declare, as this word clearly teaches, that everyone who's
in Christ is in his body, the church. That makes sense, doesn't
it, Larry? That's just what the book teaches. Everyone who's
in Christ is in his body, the church. That body which is the
fullness of him that filleth all in all. Yet the scriptures
plainly declare and show us that our God works in this world through
local churches. We are responsible to serve him
in his church where we are in local churches. It is the local
church to which the Lord God commits his ordinances. The local
church where God promises to meet with his people. The local
church from which God sends out missionaries and pastors and
evangelists to preach the gospel. The local church which is the
pillar and ground of the truth. And this local church is far,
far, far more important than any of us have yet recognized.
far, far, far more important. The local church is that family,
that brotherhood, that body of believers brought together in
Christ as one body. Paul describes it in Ephesians
2 as a habitation of God through the Spirit. It ought to be a
model of the church universally. Each part of the building, every
stone joined to the foot, to the headstone, to the foundation
stone, and joined together, fitly joined together. We're talking,
I think it was last week, some of us were at services, Celeste
and David, some others. In God's good providence, he
fits people together. In his grace, he fits them together. In the building of the temple,
They didn't make the stones. They didn't cut them out exactly
to size. We get our stones and the fellows
shape them and fit them in and they use mortar to make things
fit. In the temple, they took the stones and they were a little
bit too big. They put one stone between another
and rub it until it just dropped in place. And that's kind of
influence Larry Brown has on me. He just, he rubs the rough
edges off. And the kind of influence I have
on Bobby Estes, I rub the rest of the edges off and look here,
I'm the one who drops in place. Just drop in place. God fits
his people together in a local assembly. Our relationship to
the church of God is a matter of obedience to Christ. It's
like a privilege that we have in marriage, privilege we have
in family. It reveals much. It reveals much
about our relationship to one another and much about our relationship
to our Redeemer. And it is a relationship and
privilege that involves tremendous responsibility. A man or woman
unites with the body of Christ, he assumes tremendous responsibilities. Tremendous responsibilities.
You men who marry into a good family, a strong family, few understand it when they start
off. They just fall in love with that
pretty girl and say, boy, I want to marry her and spend my life
with her. They don't realize they've got to marry David, too. Marry into the family. You marry
the whole family. And when you unite with God's
people in a local church, unite together with the family, a commitment
to the family. All right. The first thing then
is baptism. I'll give you a little tip about
biblical interpretation. If you want to understand what
the scriptures teach about any subject, go to the place in scripture
where that subject is expanded. Romans chapter 6 is where the
Holy Spirit teaches us about baptism. And the baptism spoken
of here is not some kind of mysterious spirit baptism. It's baptism. There ain't any other kind. There's
not any other kind. It is baptism. You don't learn
about baptism by going to Genesis 15 and reading about circumcision.
Circumcision's got nothing to do with baptism. Well, if we
want to, we've got to begin. We're going to want to understand
baptism. We've got to begin back here with circumcision. No, if
you want to understand baptism, you've got to begin with baptism.
There are two different things. Circumcision is a seal of the
covenant outwardly, symbolizing regeneration, the seal of the
covenant inwardly. Baptism is an outward thing altogether. It's done with water. It's a
confession. Baptism is the believers public
confession of Jesus Christ. It is the believers' public confession. In the days of the New Testament,
when a man or a woman came to meet like this, like we do here,
body of believers, hear man preach the gospel, he could come from
the Temple of Diana and that'd be all right, they didn't care.
They didn't care. They could come from the Jewish
synagogue, that's all right, they didn't care. They didn't
care. They're all interested in learning something new. Oh,
boy, he'll be all right. He's just going over there for
a little while. He'll be all right. But as soon
as one was baptized, what you fixing to do right here? He went
down in that watery grave. And in doing so, he said, I was
lost without God. without the knowledge of God.
Now, I identify myself as a follower of Jesus Christ, the way. He was buried. He was buried
in baptism, but he was buried by his family. He would go. They'd
cut him off. He could come to church all he
wanted to, but as soon as he identifies himself with this
gospel, with this savior, he's cut off. The Union Guild shut
him out. He is suffering now for his confession
of Jesus Christ. Look here what this baptism is.
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? This is not just a play thing
here. I've been baptized into the son
of God. Baptized into his death. Symbolically,
because I've been baptized into him, really. Symbolically, because
I've been baptized into his death, really. Read on. Therefore, therefore,
since this is what this represents, 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 we also should walk in the newness of life. We are buried and we rise up and we
declare to the world and to God's people and to God when Christ
was buried Because I died in him, I'm buried in him. And when
he rose, because I live in him, I rose in him. And I walk now
as he is. In newness of life forever. I've lifted my hand to God, Jephthah
said, and I can't go back. That's what baptism is. Read
on. Verse five. For if when we'd been planted
together in the likeness of his death, We shall be also in the
likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead,
he that is dead, the buried fellow, the one buried,
that's the one dead, you got that? I know that's confusing. The one that's buried is buried
because he's dead. He that is dead is freed from
sin, justified from sin, shall never come into condemnation
because we died with Christ. Read on. Now, if we be dead with
Christ, if we are freed from sin, we believe that we shall
also live with him. Knowing that Christ being raised
from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over
him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that
he liveth, he liveth unto God. Well, let's read that again.
Knowing that Don being raised from the dead dies no more, death
has no more dominion over him. For in that Don died, he died
unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Well,
you can't read that like that. Let's see. Likewise, reckon ye
also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Baptism is a symbolic picture
of the gospel. Ananias, when Paul was converted
and he I went down to the house of Ananias to find out the instruction
he was to have. Ananias said to him, after he
believed, arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling
on the name of the Lord. Now the Campbellites, that is
those folks who call themselves Church of Christ folks, they
say that by baptism, sin is washed away as it is by the blood of
Christ. They say that we are saved by baptism as we are saved
by the grace of God. Well, If you were baptized so
many times that every tadpole in the pond knew you by your
first name, it wouldn't wash away anything. You just go in
a dirty center and come up a clean one, that's all. Baptism doesn't
wash anything away except symbolically. And symbolically it does. Do
you remember what our Lord said to John the Baptist? In Matthew
chapter three, when the Lord Jesus came to be baptized of
John, John saw him coming and he said, He said, I can't baptize
you. I'm not worthy to stoop down
and untie your shoes. No, baptize you? Baptize God
my Savior? I can't do that. And our Lord
said to him, John, suffer it to be so now. For thus it becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness. Now, listen. If sticking your
body down here can make you righteous, you've lost your marbles. That's
just all there is to it. No. Well, how does he fulfill
righteousness? Symbolically. Symbolically. What does it take to fulfill
all the righteous requirements of God for my soul? It takes
the obedience and death of one who is God in human flesh. And Jesus Christ, my Lord, obeyed
God unto death as my substitute. And I in him, my surety, obeyed
God by his obedience unto death. And when he died, I died with
him. When he arose, he arose justified in the spirit. And
I arose justified in him. And when he ascended on high,
I took my seat with him in new life forever at the throne of
God. That's what baptism symbolizes.
As a matter of fact, Peter puts it this way. Though baptism has
nothing to do with the accomplishment of salvation, it is a figure
of salvation's accomplishment. The like figure wherein to baptism
doth also now save us. What? The like figure wherein
to baptism doth also now save us? Not the putting away of the
filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God. Believers, baptism is that by
which we publicly identify ourselves with Christ and publicly identify
ourselves with the gospel of Christ in the answer of a good
conscience toward God, committing ourselves to him. All right. Here's the second thing. Church
membership. Church membership. is the believer's
fellowship and communion with Christ in his body. In Acts chapter 9, you don't
need to turn there, I've got to be brief. But in Acts 9, after the apostle Paul was saved
by God's grace on the Damascus road, He assayed to join himself to
the disciples at Jerusalem. Remember that? He assayed to
join himself to the disciples. In the New Testament, by some
means or other, those who knew Christ, those who were made to
believe on the Son of God, united with God's people where they
were. They united with the people of
God where they lived, joining together with them as one body
in the Lord. Phoebe was recommended to the
fellowship of the church at Rome in Romans 16. Paul said, I commend
Phoebe to you. He sends her with a letter by
his own hand and said, now this lady, she's a believer. She proved herself faithful.
Take her in and treat her that way. and they're to be received
without doubtful disputations. Brother Allen Kibbe said to me
last Sunday evening, said, I believe I should be baptized. And my
response was, well, I'll tell you what, brother, we'll set
up an appointment and we'll start a series of meetings and I'll
meet with you. We'll examine your profession and go over what
you've experienced. And then I'll have the deacons
to meet with us, and we'll discuss these things. And then we'll
meet in the church, and we'll take a vote and decide whether
or not you ought to be baptized." No, I didn't. I said, well, we
can do that next Sunday. How come? The responsibility
is his, not mine. The relationship you have with
God is your relationship with God, not mine. And all the thing
of the believer's relationship is altogether his. I'm just here
to enjoy the blessed privilege of helping him in his path of
obedience to the Redeemer. To identify with our Redeemer
and now committing himself to this body of believers. I don't ever hear you invite
folks to join church, I don't. I've never invited anybody to
join church. I say to you, if God's given
you faith in Christ, confess Him. Confess Him. Confess Him
in believer's baptism. Commit yourself to Him publicly
in this blessed ordinance of the gospel. Identify yourself
with Him. But that's... from you and God,
you're going to have to take care of that. You're going to
have to take care of that. Now, your children, mamas and
daddies, don't bring your babies to me and tell me, my little
boy wants to be baptized. I ain't going to do it. I ain't
going to do it. But they're 10, 12 years old. When they're old
enough to know God, they're old enough to talk to me about knowing
God. When they're old enough to know what they're doing, they're
old enough to come to me and say, I want to confess Christ
and believe his baptism. And until they can do so, I won't
baptize them. This is between you and God,
not between your mama and God, not between your daddy and God,
between you and God. So it is with church membership.
Church membership is that which is the privilege only of believers. This assembly is a body of men
and women voluntarily united together in the name of Christ
for the glory of God and the furtherance of the gospel. Voluntarily,
glued together, the fellowship of believers in this church is
vital to our spiritual welfare. It's vital to each of us. Several
years ago, I was just a young man. I read a story. I presume it's true. An old,
wise pastor had a man in his congregation who had begun to
absent himself from the meetings. He first would miss the midweek
service, and then Sunday night service, and Sunday morning service,
and just periodically show up, and first one thing, then another. And the old pastor went over
and sat down to visit with him. It was in the wintertime. And
while they talked, the pastor spotted a red hot coal on the
fire. reached over the tongs and pulled
it out and set it on the hearth by itself. And he got to talking
about how much we need each other. And that's all he said, he was
talking about how much we need each other. And the fellow sitting, listening to
his pastor, understood the message. He saw that coal die. And the pastor reached over and
picked it up with a bare hand, put it back on the fire. He said,
I understand. I'll be in my place Sunday morning. You can't survive without your
brethren. Can't do it. You can't. I'll
give it a try. Go ahead. Some of you have. You
can't survive without your brethren. We need one another's influence.
We need one another's care. We need one another's company.
God's just fixed us that way. Got to have it. Not only do you
need the preaching of the word, you need one another. You need
to walk together in the company of the disciples, in fellowship
with God's people. About four years ago, I was in
rescue preaching to some folks, preaching at the conference there.
And Sunday morning, I finished. There's a couple that had driven
down about two and a half hours. I didn't know where they were
from, but I knew they weren't there all the time. And I'd seen
them different times over the years. And this man and his wife
and their boy were there. And they got talking to me about
what they ought to do. And I said, I'm not about to
tell you what you ought to do. Talking about moving here or
moving somewhere else. I said, where do you live? And they told
me, I said, can you afford to pack up and move? I said, well,
no. No, I can't do that. No way I can do it. That's God's
arrangement. I'll tell you what you can do. You can do this.
You can come down here once a month. Yeah, I can do that. Twice a
month. Yeah, I can do that. Tell you
what I'd do. Next Sunday morning I'd be here
and I'd say to this pastor and this congregation, this is our
home. Can't be here like I want to.
Can't be here all the time. But we're devoting ourselves
to this family. Permanently. And this is when
you can expect us. And the last three years, out
there they are. Twice a month, every month, I
think this past year, they've managed to get up to every week.
Every week. Meeting with God's people in
the blessed fellowship of the saints. It's called commitment. Well, I don't like doing that.
I know it. I know it. We live in this day
when lots of folks don't like to have
a marriage ceremony. Well, that's no indication of
anything. That's the folks who don't have one. Woman moves in with a man who
won't commit himself to her, she's a fool. She's a fool. A cheap fool and a fool. A fool. Move into a man who won't commit
himself to you. That's because he has no commitment
in him. You ought to, I ought to commit
ourselves to God's church where we are. And I'm telling stories. Let me tell another one. Most
of you have heard it. On our 25th wedding anniversary, Shelby
and I went out to San Diego. I had some frequent flyer miles
and had some motel time and took her as far away as I could afford
to take her for a few days. And Faith had just graduated
from college. And she said, I could join y'all
out there Thursday. I said, OK. Well, wound up, we
went out Monday. She joined us on Tuesday. But
that's all right. That's all right. I told her
it'd be probably the last time we'll ever take a vacation, just
the three of us. And sitting out by the pool one
day, just Faith and I, I said, honey, if you were to move to
Danville to tickle me to death, I'd love to have you there. I'd
love to have you there. If you want to live in our house,
be delighted. But I know that's not likely.
I know neither of those are likely. And you've been trying to be
a part of Grace Baptist Church in Danville. and part of Todd's
Road Church in Lexington, American Avenue at that time, I said,
you need to be in that church over there. You need to commit
yourself to that congregation. Now, that was about the toughest
thing I've ever done in my life. But it was right. And took a
great deal of burden off her. She was happy. She'd go over
there, and then I'd come here every weekend. But what I'm saying
is this. Believers need commitment. We function best with commitment. Commit yourself to Christ in
his body. And the Lord's Supper, I can
leave that go for now. Preached to you on it just last
week, a week before. It's communion with Christ at
his table. Take the bread and the wine and
remember him. That will do tonight. This morning,
we had the privilege of joining our brother, Alan Kibbe. He moved
here a few months ago from down in Texas. He told me, what was
it, two years ago? He said, I've been listening
to you. You've been my pastor for 15
years. I figure it's time I moved to Danville. And went back, put
his house up for sale, and we're delighted to have you here. Thankful
God brought you here. And he's going to confess Christ
and believe his baptism. Should you wish to unite with
this assembly, you're welcome to do so. All you got to do is
say, I want in. That's all. I want in. And should
you wish to confess Christ, if God's given you faith in our
Redeemer, you let me know and we'll take care of that just
as soon as you want to tonight or this morning, whatever you
want. I'm sorry. And thankful, thankful for God's
goodness. And as you watch, join again. in the reaffirmation of your
own commitment to the Redeemer. I am buried with Christ and risen
with Christ. I've lifted my hands to Him,
to walk with Him in the newness of life, and I can't go back. Amen.