We're not going to be, now are
we sons of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be. But we know this, we know this, that when he shall
appear, we'll see him as he is and be just like him. And then
Paul writing in 2 Corinthians 11 said this, examine yourselves,
examine yourselves. Not to find a feeling, or experience,
or something. Examine yourself by the Word.
Examine yourself, whether you be in the faith. Know you're
not your own self. How did Christ dwell in you,
except you be a reprobate? I'm not a reprobate. I believe
the Word of God. I believe Christ. I find in Him
rest, and peace, joy. And Peter said, brethren, Give
diligence to make your calling and election sure. If you do
these things, you'll never fail. And then the men and women of
the scriptures, these people who are examples, they were sure
of their interest in Christ. Listen to Job. In Job 19, he
said, I know that my Redeemer liveth. I know that he liveth. And I know that the latter day
he'll stand on this earth, and the worms destroy this flesh,
this body. Yet in my flesh, in glorified
new flesh, in flesh, I'm going to see God, whom I shall see
for myself, not another. I know that." Wednesday night,
Pastor Paul Mahan preached here. David's confidence and assurance,
he said, the Lord is my shepherd. He is. Beyond a doubt, he is
my shepherd. I shall not walk. Surely goodness
and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Paul said, I know whom
I have believed. He didn't say I know when. A
lot of folks can't take you to the time and the place, but they
can take you, yeah, they can take you to the time and the
place, Calvary's cross. or back in eternity, God's covenant
mercy. I'll take you to the time and
place. But I wasn't there when it happened. But I know whom, not when, and
not even what, in the sense that I know all the counsel of God.
I do not. I do not. But I know whom. And redemption is a person, not
a place, not an experience, not a time, not even a a person. I know whom I have believed.
Now these are examples, and these, Isaiah, he was wounded for our
transgressions. Isaiah wrote this before he was
wounded, in person. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was laid on him by his stripes. We're healed. I'm healed. I'm
healed. And if you'll turn to my text
now in 1 John 5, the beloved 1 John, the book of 1 John, the
beloved John used this word, K-N-O-W, no, 23 times in this
epistle. 23 times. Not just no 23 times,
but no K-N-O-W in reference to our relationship with Christ. He used the word know in reference
to our relationship, our confidence, our assurance of our interest
in Christ, 23 times. Let me show you some of them. 1 John 2, verse 3. 1 John 2, verse 3, look at it. And hereby we do know that we
know him. If we keep his commandments,
we know that we know him. 1 John 2, verse 5. Whoso keepeth his word, in him
verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in
him. We know we are in him. 1 John 2 verse 20. Look at this
verse. But we have an unction from the
Holy One. You know all things. You know all things you need
to know about salvation. You don't know everything that
God has revealed or everything about the mysteries of God's
grace. But you know what you need to know. You know Him. And
that's all things. All things are in Christ. You know all things. All right,
verse 21, chapter 2. I have not written unto you because
you know not the truth, but because you know it. This is the scriptures
written to believers. The only thing an unregenerate
man has in this word of God is warnings. commands to come to
Christ, commands to bow to God, commands to believe God, but
the promises are to believers. I've never written unto you because
you don't know the truth, but because you know it, there's
no lie of the truth. Look at verse 29, that's Satan's
chapter, chapter 2. If you know that he's righteous,
and you do know that, don't you, then you know that everyone that
doeth righteousness is born of him, or they wouldn't have any
righteousness. He's our righteousness. You know that. Not anybody here
that thinks he's got any righteousness of his own. I know all of you.
You know where righteousness is found in Christ Jesus. You
know that. I know that. No righteousness
in ourselves. He that doeth righteousness,
if there's any in him, any faith in him, God gave it. Any repentance,
God gave it. Any love, God gave it. Any holiness,
God gave it. All right, chapter 3, verse 2.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear
what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we
will be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We know that. All right, chapter 3, verse 5.
And you know, this is something you know, that he was manifested
to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. The believer in Christ has no
sin. He was manifested to put away
our sins for the sacrifice of himself. They're gone. Our sins
are cast into the depths of the sea, separated from us as far
as the east is from the west. Before a God who never learns
anything or forgets anything, he remembers our sins no more.
Marvelous. Amazing. But I know it. You know
it too. That's why he was manifested,
to put away our sin. That's why he came. And in him
there is no sin. All right? Verse 14, same chapter. We know that we passed from death
unto life. We know that, because we love
the brethren. This love of God shed abroad
in our hearts, love of God for us, and the ability to love God
and love his people. We're not strangers to that.
And we know who gave it. And we know where the man can't
love is not born of God. That's the only reason we love,
we're born of God. We pass from death unto life. He that loveth
not his brother is still in death. Chapter 3, verse 18. My little children, let us not
love in word, neither in tongue, but indeed in truth. And hereby
we know. that we are of the truth, and
shall assure our hearts before him." Assurance. But if our hearts
condemn us not, if our hearts condemn us, if our hearts condemn
us, God's greater than our hearts. God knows all things. Beloved,
if our hearts condemn us not, then we have confidence toward
God. All right? Verse 24. He that keepeth his
commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. He dwelleth in
Christ, and Christ dwells in him. And hereby we know that
he abideth in us, how? By the Spirit which he hath given
unto us. We heard the gospel, the word
of truth, the gospel of our salvation. We believed and were sealed with
the Holy Spirit of promise, the earnest, whereby given unto us
the earnest token, the presence of his Spirit. We know that.
That can't happen and a man not know it, I'm sure. All right, chapter 4. Chapter
4, verse 2. Hereby I know you the Spirit
of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is coming to the flesh is of God. You know
the Spirit. You know the truth when you hear it. And the truth
is Christ is God, and he's coming to the flesh. And he's come for
a purpose. Who is? Son of God, God Almighty. What did He do? Came to this
earth, gave us a righteousness and an atonement. Why did He
do that? That God might be God, just and justified. Where is
He now? The right hand of the majesty
on our interceding foot. We know that. We know the Spirit
of truth. We know the gospel when we hear
it. And that's because we know Him. I know when you're talking about
somebody, I know, I recognize him. You come to me and start talking
about Ron Traubman. I don't know who you're talking
about by what you're saying. Now if you start, you get off.
I say, that's not him. And you come preaching to me,
and you do, about Christ, and you tell me things that are not
so. I say, whoop, wrong spirit. That's not Christ. But when you
tell me the truth about Christ, that God's already taught me,
I know that spirit. I know that's true. I know it. Spurgeon says that's one of the
reasons he had the church he saved, because he loved the gospel.
He recognized it and loved it. He said, even my sermons blessed
me. Barney used to say that. He used to say, I know when I'm
preaching, when I'm not. When I am, God blesses me. When I'm
not, he doesn't bless anybody. All right, look at chapter 4,
verse 6. We are of God. He that knoweth
God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth
us not. And hereby know we the Spirit of truth and the Spirit
of error. That's what I've just been talking about. Verse 13 and 14. Hereby know
we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given
us of his And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent
the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whosoever shall confess
that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and he in
God. And we have known and believe
the love of God that God hath to us. God is love, and he that
dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." All right,
chapter 5, verse 2. By this we know that we love
the children of God, when we love God. Keep his commandments. Verse 13. These things have I
written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life. That's one of the
reasons I've written. And that's the reason he used
the word know so many times. I've written this to you that
believe. It's written to believers. that you may know. You know you have eternal life
by the word. That's my confidence. That's
the foundation of my faith, the word of God. I'll show you that
in a few moments. That you may know you have eternal
life, and here's the second reason I'm writing, that you may continue. Keep on believing on the name
of the Son of God. Don't be drawn away. We're not
of them that draw back. But that's just a warning. It's
like your father, Jeff, used to say, John, he used to say
that the believer is hedged about. On the right by the promises
of God, lest he despair. On the left by the warnings of
God, lest he presume. Remember that? Lest he presume. This is the warning here. I write
these things you may know you have eternal life and that you
may believe. Believe. A little more today
than you did yesterday. Yeah, we grow in faith. Faith
groweth exceedingly. That's what the word says. The
disciples asked the Lord, increase our faith. Increase our faith. I think Peter
said that when the Lord told him he had to forgive his brother
70 times 7. He said, Lord, help my faith.
Increase my faith. Help me. Alright, here in chapter
5, verse 15. We know, let me hear this. Whatsoever
we ask, we know that we have the petitions we desire of him.
Verse 18, we know that whosoever is born of God, sinneth not,
that he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked
one toucheth him not. Satan can't touch you. I hear
all these preachers on the television always talking about the power
of Satan, the power of Satan, the power of Satan. I don't fear
Satan, I fear God. Satan can't touch you without
God's permission. He couldn't touch Peter without
Christ's permission. Satan had desired thee. But I'll
let him sift you, but he can't have you. I'll pray for you.
Job, the same thing. Don't listen to these fellas
who talk about Satan and his power and his greatness and all
these things. He's whipped. He's defeated.
He's in chains. As far as the believer's concerned,
he has no authority whatsoever. That's right. Toucheth him not. The wicked one touches him not. If you're touched today, it's
your father that touches you. If I'm touched with a pain, or
a heartache, or an infirmity, or an affliction, or chastisement,
it's my father. And it's for my good. For my
good. Not Satan. I don't have any business
with him. Now, let that be said and forget
it, all right? But what's for? Just don't talk
about Satan. Not in my presence, anyway. I
don't want to hear anything about him. All right. And I've talked
too much about him already, haven't I? All right. Verse 20, And we know the Son
of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we
may know him that is true. And we're in him that is true,
even in his Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God. This is
eternal life. So you see how John, the beloved
disciple, emphasizes the confidence and assurance of believers. But
back here in verse 14, this confidence and assurance arises not from
good feelings about ourselves. No siree, no siree, this confidence
does not arise from any good feelings I have about myself, nor my pride in Christian duties
and accomplishments. or our service, our gifts to
God, or our kindness to His people. Don't look for assurance in those
things, because they're not perfect in themselves. Only Christ makes
them even acceptable to God. Our righteousness is in themselves
and of themselves a filthy rag. They're not any better than Adam's
fig leaf apron. But our confidence, listen to
verse 14, this is the confidence we have in Him. concerning is
in your marginal reference, concerning him. Our assurance, the assurance
of our interest in Christ, of our redemption, arises not out
of any good feelings about ourselves, or confidence in things we've
done, or works, or pride in our Christian duties. It arises out
of our confidence concerning Christ. See if you can embrace this truth
here. In Romans chapter 4, we'll take the man of faith. We'll take Abraham, father of
the faithful. See if you can get a hold of
this right here, this scripture about Abraham's faith. In Romans
4 verse 20, he staggered not at the promise
of God, the promises of God. through unbelief. He was strong
in faith, giving glory to God. And he was fully persuaded that
what God had promised, God was able to perform. His faith, his
confidence, was not in himself, it was in his God. And what God
promised, difficult as it might seem to you and me, hopeless,
humanly speaking. He didn't have any hope that
The Savior could have a son, naturally speaking. His hope
was in the Word of God. God said she'd have a son, and
she'll have a son. That's just his faith. He believed
God. He didn't believe in God. He did believe in God, but that
wasn't his faith. He believed God. Abraham believed there was a
God. I don't think that describes his faith. He believed there
was a God. He believed God. And it was imputed to him for
righteousness. And this is the confidence that made Noah build
an ark. He believed God. Not a sign. It never rained. He'd never seen
a flood. But he believed God. Abraham
took an only son to the top of Mount Moriah and tied him to
an altar. And he wasn't a little lad. He
was a big husky, 20-year-old. And this boy consented to that. That old man didn't wrestle him
on that altar, he placed him on that altar. You see, our sacrifice
is willing. And Isaac believed God too. And
Abraham believed God. If he took his life, God would
raise him from the dead because God already said in Isaac, thy
sheathed seed shall be called. And Abraham, that was his confidence. If you want to know how he felt
up there with that knife in his hand, I'll tell you he felt like
a daddy was fixing to kill a son. That's how he felt. He couldn't
go on his feelings. He wished he wasn't there. But he believed God. And that's
why he had assurance. He believed God. And that's why
God blessed him. He believed God. It's that same
confidence that enabled David to die saying, although it be
not so with my house, God's made with me an everlasting covenant.
Ordered in all things, and sure. This is all my salvation. All
of it. All of it. No works in or in. All of it. And all my desire.
It's all I want. Although we make it not to grow.
This is the confidence that led Job to say, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And when his wife came to him and said, Old man, why don't
you just cuss God and die? He said, No, he slayed me. I'll
trust him. He cannot lie. He cannot. That's your faith. That's the
foundation of it. That's the confidence of it.
That's the assurance of it. It's not in how you feel or how
many times you walk this aisle or how many good deeds you've
done or how much money you've given to the poor. It's he who was rich, for your
sakes became poor, that you might be rich in grace." Confidence we have in him. And
this is the confidence that enabled the Apostle Paul to say, the
time of my departure is at hand. And I'm perfectly happy to be
absent from this body to be present with the Lord. I fought a good
fight. I kept the faith. henceforth
has laid up for me reserved in heaven a crown of righteousness,
and not for me only, but for all of you who love him and his
affairs." What is this experience? If a person here this morning
who has a desire to know Christ, or to come to Christ, or has
come to Christ, and there's no saving interest in Christ, if
you would ask me, what is it to come to Christ? What is this
experience that you and these other believers have in regard
to a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? I'd give you four
things. Now listen. You know, our Lord
said he was in the world, and the world knew him He came to
his own and his own received him, not them. As many as received
him, come to him, believe on him. To them gave he the privilege
to become sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
What is it to come to Christ, to receive Christ? Number one,
it's to allow my entire hope of eternal life to depend on
his Word. I've been saying that for the
last five or ten minutes. These men, Abraham, Noah, Job,
David, Paul, rested in the Word, and you're going to also. That's
right, because he said it. One can see the glory of God,
the creative glory of God in the heavens. David said the heavens
declare the glory of God. One can see the wisdom and the
power of God in earth, in this earth. It's creatures, it's fullness,
it's capacity, it's beauty, it's glory, even with sin. But you
can see the wisdom and power of God who makes all things.
The earth is the Lord's and the fullness of it. He keeps it full.
You get all the fish out of the sea you want to catch, and it's
still full. You breathe all the air you want to breathe, and
all the people in the world and all the animals in the world
are breathing, and all the gnats are breathing, and the ants are
breathing, and the spiders are breathing, but we're not going
to run out of oxygen. full, God keeps it full. Pick
all the apples you want to, there'll be more. That's right, the fullness
of God. That's a mystery, that's marvelous.
Breathe out all the carbon dioxide you want to, but it won't smother
anybody else because the plants will take it in and send out
a nice breath of fresh air. You can see the glory of God,
if you want to badly enough. One can know something of the
holiness of God by his own conscience. You know what's right and wrong.
And these homosexuals and divots and people can talk all they
want to about lifestyle, they know it's wrong. They know it's wrong. And that's
the reason they're hollering so loud. They know it's wrong.
They know it. God has put a conscience in every
human being. He knows it's wrong to kill.
He knows it's wrong to steal. He knows it's wrong to commit
adultery. He knows it's wrong to blaspheme God. He knows it's
wrong. Conscience. There's only one
way. You can't look at the skies or
look at one another or look in your heart or look at the creation
and find out if God will show mercy to a sinner.
righteousness and peace, mercy and truth are revealed nowhere
else but right here. I challenge any intellectual
scholar or atheist or anybody else to show me the saving character
of God apart from this book, the Word of God. And I include
in that the Son of God, who's the Word of God. You can't separate
this Word and that Word. The incarnate word and the written
word. And that's the only way any man will ever know God in
a saving relationship is by the word. The word of God. I'm not saying
he has to hear a physical preacher. I'm saying he has to hear God
speak through his word. And you say, well, the eunuch
had to have a preacher. That's because the eunuch was
reading the Old Testament. He didn't have a New Testament. He didn't
have a revelation of the Old Testament. He had a New Testament.
He had an Old Testament of his own. But you'll hear God's Word.
See, the Scripture says, "...of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. We are born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible seed, in the word of God, that liveth
and abideth forever." And preachers who are standing in pulpits and
reading the verse of Scripture and closing this Bible and putting
it aside and start running up and down here, hollering and
screaming and talking about foolish things, they're not preaching. The man who's preaching is preaching
the Word of God, he's preaching Christ. Line upon line, precept
upon precept, Scripture. You see that Scripture interprets
Scripture. The only true commentary of the
Word of God is the Word of God. I like what that dear old lady
said to her pastor. She wanted a commentary. So he
got her Dr. Gill's commentary, and that's
the best one. But he got Dr. Gill's commentary for her, and
she read it. She started reading. She didn't read all 8,000 pages,
but she read some of it. And she came back, and he said
to her, he said, well, the commentaries, do you like them? Are they helping
you? My Bible casts a lot of light
on your commentaries. There helps. That's all there
are. Read the directions. You want
to know the way, read the directions. Now the women here aren't as
bad about this as you men are. And I am. But every man here
knows what it's like to try to put something together without
reading the directions. I'm looking at my son-in-law. He and I shared
that. He said, won't you read the direction?
I never thought of it. But every man here, to ask directions,
that's something about that just not right. We're supposed to
just head the car in the direction we think we're to go, you know. And we try to put something together
and we can't get it together and the wife comes and says,
have you read the directions? Would you hush? Have you read the directions?
Isn't that right, John? Here it is, right here. Want
to know God? Want to know Christ? Want to be saved? You're not going to do it watching
Brother so-and-so. You're going to do it listening to the Spirit
of God. This is the way to go. Secondly, what is it to receive
Christ? It's to believe the record that
God had given concerning Christ. Now, it's not just to believe
there is a God and that Christ is his Son. is to believe what
Christ did and why he did it. You see what I'm trying to say?
There are a lot of people who all this Easter weekend have
been talking about Christ being born and Christ died and Christ
resurrected. Why? Was he an example? Was he a defeated
Reformer? Was he a martyr? Was it like
that preacher said on television not too many years ago, a preacher
named Humbard? I was listening. And he was crying. And he was
really getting emotional. He was talking about the Lord
Jesus dying on the cross. And he said, if I'd have been
there, I'd have stopped that. I'd have stopped that awful thing.
You'd have stopped it? That's what the Pharisee said,
come down from the cross. If you'd have come down from
the cross, you wouldn't be saved. Heaven would not be populated.
God would not be satisfied. Every one of Adam's sons would
still be under the curse. You see, who he is, the son of
God, became a man. Not just to show us an example,
he became a man to do, to restore our souls that were lost in the
first man. There are two men. The first man is Adam. In Adam
we die. In Adam we lost the way, the
truth, and the life. The second man's the Lord from
heaven. He's a representative man. He's a federal head. He's
a human being. He's bone of our bone, flesh
of our flesh. He's doing everything for us and in our place and in
our stead and in our room that God commanded of us we couldn't
do. God demanded of us we couldn't produce. Heaven requires of us
and we can't produce it. Christ did. And he did that as
a representative man. You say, how could one man die
for so many because of who he is? The scripture says, who is
he that condemns? It's Christ that died, the Son
of God, the God-man. And he died, he lived a perfect
life, tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin, to impute
to us that holiness. He died on that cross bearing
our sins in his body, all of our filth and guilt and rottenness
and sin. Our sins separated us from God,
and our sins separated him from God on that cross. And he died
under the judgment and wrath of God and imputed to us a perfect
standing before the Lord, a perfect standing before the Father. We
have no curse, we have no guilt, we have no condemnation, we have
no judgment. Christ paid it all, all the ditto. And he did that that God may
be God, that God may be just and justify you. God's a holy
God. a just God, and righteousness
and peace met together at the cross and kissed each other. Here's
the third thing. Let me give you this. It's to
believe who Christ is, why he did that. And it's thirdly, to
receive Christ and to value and esteem his righteousness and
his blood sacrifice to be totally sufficient for you apart from
anything you do. To come to Christ is to come
by directions for the Word. It's to believe what he did,
why he did it, where he is now. God may be just and justify it.
And it's to receive and value and esteem his righteousness
to be enough without anything I do. And His blood, atonement,
to be sufficient without anything I do. Add nothing. Now, you come to Christ and then
you do this not for salvation. Because I love Him, yes. Because
I want to please Him, yes. Because I want to glorify Him,
yes. But not for salvation. I'm saved like that thief was
saved. He never walked, he never worked, he never washed, he never
witnessed. He went straight to glory. He never did one single
thing. There's not a mark, not a commendable
mark on his record anywhere of something he did. And that's
true of me. Is that too strong? But not by
works of righteousness, which we've done, because of His mercy.
It's Christ plus nothing. Paul had it right. He said, I
count everything I've ever done. Ancestry, heritage, works to
be done, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having
my own righteousness. Can you do it? All right, here's
the last. Isaac Watts wrote this, "'Tis not by works of righteousness
which our own hands have done. We're saved by sovereign grace
abounding through his Son. Tis by the mercy of God that
all our hopes begin. Tis by the water and the blood
my soul is washed from sin. Tis through the merits of his
death who hung on that tree, the spirit is sent down to breathe
life in dead, dry bones like we." Isn't that right? All of grace, all of grace. And
when he said that, it's still all of grace. What is it to receive Christ?
It's to commit myself to him. Body, soul, and spirit. Moses
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, esteeming
the suffering and sacrifice of Christ to be greater treasure
than all the riches of Egypt. He forsook Egypt. and walk with
God. That's it. It's like a marriage.
Our Lord said that. Turn to Ephesians 5. Let me give
you this and I'll close. It's commitment. It's commitment. Like a marriage. Here's Ephesians
5. Look at this a minute. Paul said, I've committed. I
know whom I have believed. I've persuaded you they will
keep that which I've committed to him. And here in Ephesians
5, look at this. Wives, submit yourselves to your
husbands as under the law. The husband's the head of the
wife. Christ is the head of the church, Savior of the body. Therefore,
as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to
their own husbands and everything. Here's a couple comes to be married.
The wife, she leaves all others. Turns her back on her way of
life and all others. If a family is a problem as far
as the marriage is concerned, or like Christ is concerned,
she leaves them, clings to her husband. Man leaves his mother
and father and cleaves to his wife. She submits and she takes
his name. She trusts herself in his hands
as her head and leader to supply her needs. That's commitment.
And that's what the believer does. He commits to Christ. He's
my Lord. He's my master. He's my king.
I take his name. I leave all others. And don't
intend to go back till death does part. And death will never
part us. Amen. Husband, you love your
wife. Christ loved the church and gave
himself for it, that he might sanctify it, cleanse it with
a washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself,
a glorious church. He'll take care of you, too.
It is, that's what it is. We're his body, and he's our
husband. And you can't serve two masters. You can't have two lords. You can't walk two directions,
especially when they're opposite. It's joined to Him. Forever.
That's a commitment. And that's included in this.
I hope that's a blessing. Let it be determined by the Word
coming to Christ. Believe the record. He died for
our sins according to the Scriptures. He rose according to the Scriptures.
The Passover lamb is Christ. The blazing serpent lifted up
according to the Scriptures. Why did He die? that God may
be just and justify. And our righteousness is nothing
at all. It makes no contribution. We're
complete in Him. It's a commitment. And that's
the reason he said, a fellow that's going to build a house,
first thing he does is sit down and determines whether he can
finish it. That's right. people may not understand fully
my hesitancy in baptizing people. I'm ready any time to baptize
someone who believes Christ, but not immediately. There's
so much confusion and false teaching in this day. I like to see a
person, is this going to last? You know what I'm saying? Are
you dead to the world? Are you living to Christ? Are
you committed to Christ? Is this real? Don't make a mockery
out of a profession of faith or a baptism if it's not real.
Count the cost. He said, if any man come to me
and hate not his mother, father, brother, sister, husband, wife,
and his own life also, and will not take up his cross, he can't
be my disciple. It's a commitment, a commitment
forever. And that's where baptism is.
It's, I'm dead. I'm dead. to this world, it's
religions and everything else, it's traditions, it's ways of
salvation, it's popularity, it's approval or disapproval. I'm
dead, and I'm buried, and I'm risen to walk in newness of life,
committed to Him. That's what it says.