If you would, please turn back
in your Bible to the book of Acts, the 8th chapter. Let's begin our reading with
the 29th verse. Then the Spirit said unto Philip,
Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran
thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and
said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How
can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired, Philip,
that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture
which you read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter,
and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his
mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment
was taken away, and who shall declare his generation, for his
life is taken from the earth? And the eunuch answered Philip
and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this, of
himself or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth
and began at the same scripture and preached unto him, Jesus. And as they went on their way,
they came unto a certain water, and the eunuch said, See, here
is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the
chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water,
both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him." I will shut up to this passage
of Scripture and to this subject this morning, and that is the
importance of baptism, the importance of baptism. It seems to me to
ever be the tendency of fallen man to run to extremes. People just run to extremes,
and one of the places, I think nowhere, is this tendency more
evident than in religious customs and doctrines and practices. Now, with regard to the matter
of baptism, almost all men run to one of two extremes. Now, I would like for you to
listen carefully this morning to what we have to say. I believe
this to be a very important message and one that every one of us
need, and I hope that the Lord has prepared our hearts to receive.
Now, some men, they make baptism to be the means of salvation. There are some religious denominations
who point to the baptistry and say, there is our Savior. is our Savior. I'm speaking of
the Camelites. I'm speaking of the Church of
Christ people, the Church of God people. who point to the
baptistry and say that is our redeeming. This is where we're
saved is when we go down into the waters of baptistry. But
anyone who reads the Word of God with honesty immediately
recognizes that such teaching or that such doctrine as that
is absolute heresy. It's contrary to the Word of
God. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of God. It's not
the water of baptism that washes away sin, but the blood of Christ. We read in 1 John 1, in verse
7b, where it says, His blood cleanseth us from all sin. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Not the waters of baptism. not the baptismal fount, but
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. Now
we're not saved by baptism, but we're saved by grace. Ephesians
2, 8 and 9 and 10 says, For by grace are you saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. For where his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained,
that we should walk in them. We're not saved by baptism, but
we're saved by the grace of God. We're saved by the free favor
of God toward our souls. Now, there are others who run
to the opposite extreme, who make baptism an insignificant
thing. Some even neglect it altogether,
and this too is a perversion of the Word of God, because we
read In Mark chapter 16 and verse 16, where our Lord said, He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned. That's Mark 16 and verse 16. Now then, baptism is important. Baptism, let me say, is essential. Baptism is essential as a matter
of obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 28 in
verses 18 through 20 we read where that Jesus says and he
came and spake unto them saying all power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth though ye therefore and make disciples
of all nations disciple all nations and Baptize them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and lo
I'm with you always Even unto the winding up of the ages The
Lord Jesus told us to go and he told us to preach the gospel
to every creature and to baptize men and women in the name of
the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit. Now by example and by
the commandment of our Lord, we know that our Lord requires
that all believers, by example and by commandment, he requires
that all believers and only believers be baptized. that all believers
and only believers be baptized. I say that's by example and by
commandment. Now then, we know that to refuse,
and this is a conviction that I certainly have and I believe
that all those who read the Word of God and take the Word of God
and the testimony of Christ to be serious, I believe that to
refuse baptism is flat rebellion against Christ. It's rebellion
against the Lord Jesus Christ. It shows or it argues that there
is no love in the heart to Christ. That is, if one says, I will
not be baptized. I am a believer, but I just simply
don't want to be baptized. I don't want to do that. Well,
beloved, that argues that there's no love in your heart to Christ. And we'll explain a little more
about that in a few moments. Such rebellion, I think, is a
fair indicator or an indication that a person is not saved, that
they're not a child of God, when this rebellion has not been put
down in their heart against the Word of God and against Christ. If you love Christ, and if you're
in Christ, and if you've been saved by Christ, then you desire
to obey Him, and to submit yourself to Him, and to do that which
His Word commands you to do. Now, you can search the scriptures
carefully and you will not find a single believer in the New
Testament other than the thief on the cross who was not baptized. Baptism is an act of obedience
to Christ our King, to Christ our Lord. Baptism is essential
in confessing Christ before men. We believe that those who believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, that they ought to say so. If you
believe Christ, if you are willing to receive His blessings and
the blessings and benefits of his death on Calvary and the
blessings and benefits of his high priestly work at the right
hand of God. If you are anticipating the resurrection
and hope finally on resurrection morning to be raised from the
dead, then beloved, your baptism is a confession It's a confession
that you believe these things and that you're hoping in these
things. It's the confession of Christ
before men. This is the New Testament way
of confessing one's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there
are some churches that have people to come forward and they have
them to come up front and they have them to make some sort of
a commitment publicly in that way. The New Testament way of
confessing Jesus Christ is to submit oneself to the hands of
the church for water baptism. This is the New Testament way
of confessing the Lord Jesus Christ before the world. Now,
we who believe are symbolically buried with Christ in baptism. We're buried with Him in baptism
and we arise from the watery grave with Him to walk in newness
of life. We walk on the resurrected side
of the grave because we've been raised spiritually in the Lord
Jesus Christ to walk in His power, in the power of the resurrected
Lord Jesus Christ. Baptism is a vivid picture of
the believer's death and his burial and his resurrection in
Jesus Christ, their substitute. It's a picture of the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ our Lord. And when we are baptized,
we participate in his death, burial, and resurrection symbolically
and declare to the world that we believe that, and that alone
is the salvation, is the finished work of Christ, and that is the
soul's salvation. And by this public ordinance,
we confess to all men our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and
our hope of being accepted before God through Him. So baptism does
not save. Baptism does not put away sin. There is no merit before God
by baptism, but baptism is essential because it's the answer of a
good conscience toward God. It's an outward profession of
an inward reality. Now I say it's the answer of
a good conscience toward God. If you believe on Christ, then
obey Him and confess Him before men in water baptism. That's what the Lord would have
you to do. That's the will of the Lord for
you. If you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, then you ought to be baptized. Who should be baptized? Well, the picture before us in
our text here is a very simple and a very instructive one this
morning. We see the Ethiopian eunuch We
see him desiring baptism at the hands of Philip after having
heard Philip expound the gospel. And Philip told him plainly what
the scriptures required before baptism can be administered.
And in verse 37, we read it clearly, and Philip said, If thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now then, beloved, this
was his testimony. This was his testimony. This
was the profession that he made, the eunuch made, here before
his baptism. Now one thing is plainly taught
here in this text, and that is that faith in Jesus Christ is
the one thing that is essential for baptism. Faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ is the one thing that is essential for baptism.
Now then, in setting forth this proposition, I want to ask and
I want to answer four questions. I say, in setting forth the proposition
that there is one thing that is essential for baptism, beloved,
I want to ask and answer four questions. Number one now listen
now this won't be a short message. I just want you to listen to
it I believe that the Lord can answer some questions in your
minds this morning as we as we ask these questions and as we
try to answer them now listen closely in the number one question
is this who has the privilege of and the responsibility of
being baptized. Who has the privilege and the
responsibility of being baptized? Now, this is a point of controversy
in religious circles. There is a place, or this, I
would say, is the place where Baptists differ from all the
Protestant or Protestant denominations. Baptists differ right here. Baptists have held through their
history that baptism is to be administered to believers only. We have denounced, Baptists have
historically denounced unscriptural, the unscriptural practice of
infant baptism. We do not baptize infants. Well, and we also have denounced
the baptism of all unbelievers. Make no difference what age they
are. We do not, and God helping us,
take anybody into the waters of baptism that has not experienced
a spiritual resurrection, who has not experienced the new birth
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We will not do so. Well, is this
practice of requiring faith before baptism, is it a scriptural practice? Now, our concern is not what
do the Baptists believe, our concern is not what do the Protestants
believe and practice, but our concern is what does the Word
of God teach? What saith the Lord? What does
the scripture say concerning this subject? Now if we accept
something, now you listen to what I'm saying here. If we accept
something as a point of doctrine or as a religious practice, we
must have some direct precept of revelation or some direct
precedent in the scriptures for doing so. You can't just up and
say, well, we're going to do this. regardless of what the
Bible says. We're going to do that. The Bible
don't say anything about it, but that's what we're going to
do. You cannot have as a point of doctrine or religious practice
something that a precept of revelation or a direct precedent of scripture
does not teach. You've got to do as the Bible
says. Now this is the point I'm making.
We have to obey the scriptures in this area. There is no support
for infant baptism in the Bible. Not one single example or precept
to be found in all the 66 books of the Bible. Not one case. Do we find where infants were
baptized? We reject infant baptism. We will not accept it. The Bible
don't teach it. We will not accept it. On the
contrary, everywhere that baptism is spoken of in the New Testament,
it is performed only after an individual has come to faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Only after a man or a woman,
a boy or a girl, and it doesn't make any difference. We're not
talking about adult baptism versus infant baptism. We're talking
about believers baptism versus unbelievers is what we're talking
about. We're telling you that a man or a woman, a boy or a
girl is a candidate for baptism when they've come to faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. The universal teaching of Jesus
Christ and his apostles is that every person who has a genuine
heart, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can and should be baptized
if thou believest. If thou believest. Now, what am I pointing out here? You must confess your own sin. It won't do for some priest to
confess your sin to God for you. You, if thou believest with all
thine heart, thine heart thou mayest, you must repent and you
must trust Christ. with God-given faith you. No one can do this for you as
a representative. No one can stand in for you before
God and say, I believe in God for you as people do for those
infants that are baptized. My friend, that is absolute heresy
and it's damned thousands and millions of souls through the
ages. People thinking they can stand
in for an infant and when the questions are asked, they answer
the questions on the behalf of the infant. Do you believe in
God? Yes, we believe in God. My friend, let me tell you something.
If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. Only those
who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ are fit candidates
for baptism. Now then, here's what I'm saying. If Jesus Christ is the unsupported
pillar of your hope, if he's the solitary stay of your soul
and of your heart, His righteousness, your only garment that you would
wear before God. You know, someone says, well,
I wouldn't wear that to a dogfight. Somebody says, well, I wouldn't
wear this any place. And somebody said, if I was going
such and such and so and so, this is the only thing I would
wear. My friend, this morning, if you're
going to stand before God, what would you wear? If before this
day was out, If you knew that you were going to come before
the bar of a thrice holy God, what would you wear? What is
it as you go through your closet that you would pick out to wear
to stand before God? What would you wear? I want to
tell you, my friend, if you would say with me this morning the
only garment that I would appear before God in is the garment
of salvation which the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has woven from
the top to the bottom. I would only wear that garment
which God has provided for our immortal souls. I would only
wear that which the Lord himself has been the tailor of. That's
the only thing I would wear. Then, my friend, let me say to
you this morning that if your testimony is that I look only
to the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, The blood of the Lamb
for redemption and cleansing. If that be your testimony, I
say to you, arise and be baptized. If that's your testimony. If
that's what you believe, I say, arise and be baptized. But if you trust Him not for
yourself, the waters of baptism are forbidden to you. if you
trust him not for yourself. Or you trust in Christ. I'm not
talking about what your mama believes and what your daddy
believes. I'm not talking about what your
husband believes or your wife believes. I'm talking about you.
I'm telling you this morning that if you do not trust Him
for yourself, nobody else can. And I'm telling you that the
waters of baptism is off-limits to a man or woman, boy or girl,
who does not have this faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
that brings me to the second thing. The first was, who has
this privilege? of being baptized, and I'll tell
you who it is. It's that individual who has
come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Number two, what must
a person believe in order to be baptized? What do you have
to believe? You say you must come to faith. Well, what must
he believe? Well, whatever we're to believe,
we take notice of this, that we're to believe it with all
our hearts. We're to believe it with all
of our hearts. Listen to what Peter or Philip said there in
verse 37. He said, if thou believest with
all thine heart thou mayest. And so whatever it is we're to
believe, we must believe it with all our hearts. Now then your
faith, let me begin here to say that your faith that you have
in your soul that saves you, that it must be time to get healing. And she spent all of her living
on physicians. And they, all their concoctions,
and she spent all of her living on that. And she grew no better,
but just simply got worse. Day by day, day by day, her life's
blood was flowing out of her body, and there was no solution. Until one day, the Lord Jesus
Christ came by in the crowd, and there was a multitude of
people there. Just a touch. If she could just
touch the hem of his garment. If she could just get close enough.
She didn't want to make no public thing of it. She didn't want
anybody to know that she'd done it. All she wanted to do was
just get. She was desperate. Desperate. I mean, she was so desperate.
She said, I must, if I could just touch the hem of his garment.
And the Bible says that she, she got to him and she touched
his garment. And the Lord Jesus stopped immediately. Now picture him in this crowd
of people. And they're all jostling up against
him. And he stops and says, who touched
me? Who touched me? And Peter said,
well, master, why? He said, there's lots of people
around here that are jostling you and pushing you and pressing. No, no, Jesus says, he says,
who touched me? He said, virtue has gone out
of me. It's gone out of me. He had been
touched by a woman who had a personal need of him. And immediately
when she touched him, virtue went out of him. And it wasn't
the same kind of touch that was going on all of these people
bumping up against him and pushing. There was no virtue going out
of him to them. But this woman, she had this
personal need. And she was desperate. And she
got to Christ. And her need was met. And from
that very hour, she was made whole. She was healed. And I'll
tell you something about this business of faith in Christ.
It comes when you feel that you're desperate, that you can't do
anything else, that every other avenue is shut up to you, that
Christ only can save you, that you're a hopeless wreck and a
ruin apart from Christ. And you get to Him, and when
you've got to Him, Then, my friend, you then can be baptized. And Philip preached the gospel
to this eunuch. Christ is the gospel, my friend. He's the gospel. And the Bible
says Philip opened his mouth. The man said, who's the prophet?
He was reading the prophet Isaiah. He said, who's the prophet talking
about? Is he talking about himself or is he talking about some other
man? And Philip opened his mouth and preached unto him Jesus. Jesus is the gospel and this
was the message that the eunuch believed. He was made to own
his own sin and his guilt and its deserved punishment. He come to see himself as a sinner,
come to see himself guilty before God, unable to pay the debt that
he owed to God. And he come to see that he deserved
judgment and punishment for his sin. And he believed the report
of the gospel concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and his substitutionary
sacrifice trusting that alone this poor eunuch was saved and
he was delivered. The man believed that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God and that Jesus Christ alone has the power to
save sinners. He believed on the Lord Jesus
Christ. We read in the Bible in John
3 verse 14 and 15 And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him hath eternal life. For God so loved the world, verse
16 goes on to say, for God so loved the world, he's talking
about the world of his elect, the world of his people, that
huge family that are more numerous than the sand of the seashore,
which the Lord chose in old time before the foundation of the
world. For God so loved that world that he gave his only begotten
son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into
the world to condemn that world, this world of those that were
given to him in the covenant of grace, but not to destroy
them, but to save them. He that believeth, verse 18 says,
he that believeth is not condemned, but he that believeth not is
condemned already because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. And then we read further in verse
36 of that same chapter, he that believeth, the Son hath everlasting
life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but
the wrath of God abideth on him. And then in the fifth chapter
of John verse 24, Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life, and shall not come into the judgment, shall not come
into condemnation, but is passed. from death unto life. Now beloved Philip required such
faith as what we're talking about from the eunuch before he was
baptized and I must require the same of you You must believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. You must trust Him as your own
personal Lord and Savior. If the eunuch had not believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ, if he had not believed, he would
not have been baptized by Philip. Philip would not baptize an unbeliever. It's somebody who believes with
all their heart on the Lord Jesus Christ. All right, now the third
question is this. How is baptism to be performed? We've answered these first two
questions. Who is privileged to be baptized? Secondly, what
must a man believe in order to be baptized? And thirdly, How
is baptism to be performed? Now, if it were not for human
opinion and religious tradition, this is a question that would
not have to be asked. Wouldn't have to ask it. If men
just read the Bible, take what the Bible says, you wouldn't
have to ask a question about how baptism is to be performed. Now the word baptize translated
when it's always when it's translated it always means to dip, plunge,
or immerse. Now immersion, let me say that
immersion is not a mode of baptism. Immersion is baptism because
without it there is no baptism. Somebody says, well preacher,
I got sprinkled when I was baptized. You, my friend, have not been
baptized. You are not a baptized individual. You say, well, they said it was
baptism. I thought that's what I was getting.
A lot of people, you know, think they're getting a whole lot of
things they don't get. They go to different places and they
think they're getting something. They're not getting anything
at all. And that's exactly what you got when you supposedly was
baptized when they sprinkle a little bit of water in your face. That's
not baptism. It is not. Immersion is baptism. Now what happened here to this
eunuch? Philip commanded the chariot to stand still and they,
look at this, went down both into the water. That's verse
38. They went down both into the water, both Philip and the
eunuch, and he dipped him, plunged him, he immersed him in the water. That's what that word baptized
there means. It put him under. He buried him in a watery grave. That's what he did to him. He
immersed him. And I'm telling you, without
this, there is no baptism. Let the Protestants speak. Let them say what they want.
Let any religious individual come forward and let him produce
the proof from the Word of God that it's different than what
I say. Baptists believe and Baptists have preached historically that
you've got to put a man under the water to picture a burial. Paul speaks of baptism as a burial
in Romans 6 and 4. Therefore, Paul said, we are
buried with him by baptism unto death. And in verse 5 he went
on to say, for if we have been planted together in the likeness
of his death, Now then, friend, when you bury a corpse in the
earth, do you just take a handful of dirt, a few grains of sand,
and throw it in his face? Is that the way you bury a corpse?
No, my friend, you bury the corpse beneath the ground. You put the
body under. We're talking about a plot three
feet wide, six feet deep. That's what we're talking about.
We're talking about putting the body under. And when we baptize somebody,
we bury him. I mean we put him under the water
so that the water comes over and they're buried in that watery
grave. A man is not buried in baptism
by sprinkling a few drops of water in his face. He must be
immersed in water completely. That's the Bible way. That's
what the scriptures teach. Now then, that's how baptism
is to be performed. Let me say, now let me ask the
last question. And this last question, in the
last place, why should every believer be baptized? If baptism is pressed so urgently
upon believers, then there must be some good reason. There's got to be a good reason. Why that our Lord would say that
you ought to be baptized and the scriptures teach it and while
the apostles and the church has practiced it, there's got to
be a good reason for it. Well, what is it? Well, let me
just, I'm going to give you several things here, but I'm not going
to take too long in doing it. Number one, let me say that every
believer should be baptized because this, we mentioned this briefly
earlier, but I'm going to go over this. Because this is the
first act of obedience that your Lord asks of you after he saves
you. This is it. He asks you to submit
yourself to water baptism. That's the first act. That's
what he wants you to do. Baptism, as we said, is the answer
of a good conscience toward God. 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 21. So believing baptism to be an
ordinance of God, we submit to it as such, which brings us,
as it always does, joy and peace. And that's the answer of a good
conscience. God said, do it. And until you do it, you're going
to be bothered in your conscience. God said, this is what you must
do in order to please me. In order to do what I want you
to do, you've got to submit yourself to water baptism. Now that'll
haunt you until you do it in obedience. And then when you
do it, that's the answer of a good conscience toward God. Then you've
got peace about it, and it's settled with you. You've done
what the Lord told you to do. And submission to God, beloved,
I think will always bring a measure of peace and joy to the heart
when one has obeyed the Lord. Now the number two thing is that
baptism identifies us with Christ and his people. It identifies
us with the Lord Jesus Christ and with his people. Now the
church of the Lord Jesus, this family of God here in this place,
this group, this body of believers here, When you come and you present
yourself for baptism, you identify yourself with us, the redeemed
of the Lord, and those that have previously followed their Lord
in baptism. And let me say also that it's
a public, number three, a renunciation of the world, because we turned
our back upon the world. And we've said no to the world
and the ways of the world, and this shows our anticipation of
the Lord living in us throughout our days on earth and it shows
also our anticipation of the resurrection from the dead. We
believe when we're buried with him and raised up together with
him this pictures his resurrection and it pictures our resurrection
on resurrection morning. But number four and primarily
I'd like to say our baptism is an essential part of our public
profession of the faith of the gospel because by baptism we
confess our union with Christ as many of us as have been baptized
into Christ have put on Christ, Galatians 3 and 27. Now this
particular aspect I want to just hammer a little bit right here.
Because in baptism, we confess our union, our participation
with Jesus Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. Now,
it is my conviction that we are married to the Lord Jesus Christ,
that we're married to him. And when we are baptized, it
pictures this union and the fact that we are identified with him. A woman marries a man, man marries
a woman, and they are not ashamed to be identified with one another. They're not ashamed of that.
They want that because they're one. And so when an individual
is saved, they They're in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. The
old poet said, I am blessed, I am blessed, forever blessed. He said, my rags are gone and
I am dressed in garments, he said, white as snow. I'm married
to the Lord, the Lamb, whose beauties I can ne'er explain
nor half. His glory show. The believer
is married to the Lord Jesus Christ. Another poem is this,
Lord Jesus, are we one with thee? O height, O depth of love, with
thee we died upon the tree, in thee we live above. O teach us,
Lord, to know and own this wondrous mystery That thou with us are
truly one and we are one with thee You see there was a participation
when the Lord Jesus Christ died. I was in him when he died When
he was buried I was in him when he was raised from the dead I
was in him when he ascended up yonder on high to be seated at
the right hand of God I was in him And so that's why my citizenship,
the Bible says in Philippians 3 and 21, is in heaven. Our citizenship
is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, to come back for us. Because we were in Christ,
don't you see? And another poet said, O sacred
union, firm and strong, How great the grace, how sweet the song,
that worms of earth should ever be one with incarnate deity. That we are one with Him. Now
you see in our baptism we picture this. Now just listen to these
verses here that I'll read. I'll read out of Colossians 2
verse 12 and 13. buried with him in baptism, wherein
also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised him from the dead." See what I'm saying?
That's exactly what I've been telling you. That's it. And you
being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh
hath he quickened, made alive, to gather with him, having forgiven
you all trespasses. Colossians 3 and 3. For ye are
dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. In Romans 6, 8 through 11. Now
if we be dead with Christ, 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
now everything this says about Christ. It says about you and
me in him So notice this that knowing that Christ being raised
from the dead. He died no more Now beloved when we talk about
death and think about our own death We know the sting has been
taken out of death. I And we know that the believer
sleeps in Jesus. He does not die in the sense
that the wicked die. We believe that believers, they
fall asleep because Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the
life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall
he live. The people of God will not die
like the world dies and like unbelievers die. We fall asleep
in Jesus because, as it says here, death hath no more dominion
over him. Death has no more dominion over
us in that that is going to consign us to the second death, which
is the death that never dies. That's eternal judgment in the
lake of fire. For in that he died, he died
in the sin once. The Lord Jesus died unto sin
once and his death to sin is my death to sin. Sin could never
die until Jesus died. But when Jesus died, sin died
as far as all of the elect are concerned and it can never touch
them and it can never send them to hell since Jesus has died. He died unto sin once, but in
that he liveth, the Bible says, he liveth unto God. And you that
have been born again, you live now, praise God, you do indeed
live, and you live unto God. And verse 11, it goes on to say,
likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now that's what
you're to do, reckon yourself. Just like Jesus is dead to sin
Reckon yourself to be dead to it and as he is alive in the
garden lives forevermore Reckon yourself to be alive and that
you're living forevermore and in baptism. This is exactly what
we're saying This is what we're preaching and this is what we're
doing when we're baptized So we identify ourselves with Christ
our union with him and his death of sin Are being raised up from
the watery grave this my friend is what happens in baptism Symbolically,
it's a picture of what took place actually when Christ died, was
buried, and was raised again. Now do you believe with all your
heart that his death to sin was your death to sin? Is that when
sin died as far as you're concerned? As far as your immortal soul
is concerned? Has your sin debt been paid?
Has it been put away? Has God cast it behind his back
as far as the east is from the west? Has he buried it in the
deepest sea? Has he put away your sin? Is
Christ's death the sin? the death of your sin, if so,
then you ought to follow the Lord in baptism. You ought to
do it. You ought to say, well, if that
happens in my place, if Christ died for me, and I was in Him
when He died, in Him when He was buried, and hallelujah, in
Him when He was raised from the dead, then I'll picture it. I'll
picture it. I'll preach it by my baptism. I'll declare to everybody that
sees it that this is what I believe is going to keep my never-dying
soul out of the devil's hell. I believe this is what's going
to do it. And I'll picture it in my baptism. Secret disciples like Joseph
and like Nicodemus will always be suspect as far as I'm concerned. Those who say, well, I believe,
but I I just, you know, and you know that very woman I was talking
about a while ago? She slipped up and touched the
hem of Jesus' garment and she was saved. But you know the Lord
Jesus would not let her off the hook and say, well, just let
her go on. She's healed, just let her go
on home. I'll just go ahead on down the road here. No, no, he
stopped right there. And she come and she confessed
and said that she was the one that did it and told him what
the problem was. Somebody said, well, I'm not
interested in having my problems aired. I'm not interested in
people knowing I'm such a sinner. I need Christ and I need to be
baptized and all of that. I'm not interested in all of
that. Well, this woman, you can read it there in Luke chapter
8. You can read it sometime at home. Just read the story. And
the Lord Jesus, she come and she had to testify what her situation
was. She told what her need was. and
what the Lord had done for her. And so let us, my friend, not
think that we can have the Lord's salvation. We can participate
in the death and burial and resurrection of Christ, and then we're just
gonna keep it to ourselves, and we're never gonna let it out.
No, no, God's people will have to let it out. It's gonna get
out on you anyway. And so you might just as well
go ahead and publicly confess the Lord Jesus Christ. Now then
you say when you're baptized, I believe that I am one with
him. I believe I'm one with him in
life. I believe I was in him when he was keeping the law,
when he was obedient to God, when there was not a thought
that was evil and sinful went through his brain, I was in him.
I was in him. And when he died, I died in him.
That was my hell. I died in him, because he went
to hell for me on Calvary, and then he was raised from the dead.
Listen to what Revelation 1 and 18 says of him. I am he that
liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. And then there's another verse
that is a blessing, Revelation 1 and 18. I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and
which was and which is to come the Almighty. Now beloved, when
we're in Christ, then we can see and that's salvation, this
union with Him. That being in Him, that's what's
all that. It's not in these little things
you don't do, these little things. People misunderstand a whole
lot of times. We say that a can of beer's got
nothing to do with the salvation of the soul. We say that long
sleeves, or we say that do's and don'ts don't have anything
to do with the salvation of the soul. And it doesn't have anything
to do with the salvation of the soul. We're talking about the
fact that it's all in this union we have with the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's in Christ. Now we're not promoting drinking
beer, and you that know me, have been around me for years, know
that that's not the case with me. There may be others that
use it and so on and so forth, and I'm not condemning them,
and I'm not promoting all of that. You say, well, don't you
believe that a woman ought to wear long hair? I don't get involved in that
petty stuff. I don't get involved. Somebody
said, you think a man ought to wear his hair long? I don't think
he ought to wear it any way he wants to wear it. I don't have
any problem with that. That doesn't bother me or disturb
me in any way, shape, or form. When I'm talking about what matters,
when I'm talking about what counts, I'm talking about this union
that we have with Christ. That's what matters. That's what's
going to keep you out of hell, being married to Christ, being
one with Him, one spirit with Him. That's what's going to do
it. All this other stuff, you can have it all and go to hell
in the morning. It's not going to make any difference.
But this union with Christ, You cannot die outside of Christ.
You must be in Christ. In Christ. In Christ. Because
there's where life is. Christ who is our life. When
He shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory. He's our life. And you don't
have any unless you got it in Him. And unless you find it in
Him. You don't have any spiritual life. You say, Preacher, I've
got the other stuff. You can have the other stuff
and go as far as you want to, where they don't matter. I won't
get you through the graveyard, all of that stuff. The only thing
gonna get you through the graveyard is union with Christ. Being in
Him, in Him. Have you trusted Him? Do you
believe Him? Do you believe Him? Now if you
believe with all of your heart, then you can arise and be baptized
and confess your faith in the Lord Jesus. Father we thank you
this morning for your word and for this privilege we've had
to preach today and I pray that these poor souls that have longed
for a word from you that There was something said this morning
that would bless them and encourage them. Something said that would
be of relief to their souls. And I do pray for any that are
struggling in their hearts that thou will open their eyes to
see clearly this blessed truth that we've been talking about
this morning, oneness with Christ. And I pray that they shall rejoice
and praise you for what you've done in joining them unto Him. Thank you again for this privilege.
In Jesus' name, amen.