I want you to open your Bibles
with me again to 2 Timothy 1. I'm speaking tonight on this
subject, Paul's personal testimony. Paul's personal testimony. And I want to begin with verse
8. Now there's so much preaching material in these verses that
If I tarry there long on each verse, we'll be here for hours.
But I want to begin at verse 8 and just point out two or three
things before I get to verse 12, which I believe is his personal
testimony. In verse 8, Paul writes, Be not
thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. In other
words, he's saying this to you and to me. Do not blush or be
ashamed of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do not be
ashamed of Christ crucified. Do not be ashamed of salvation
by grace. Do not be ashamed of the blood
of the Savior. One old hymn writer put it this
way, ashamed of Jesus. Sooner far let heaven blush to
own a star. He sheds the beam of love divine
over this poor, sinful heart of mine. Ashamed of Jesus? Yes,
I may, when I've no guilt to wash away, when I've no tear
to wipe, no good to crave, no fear to quell, no soul to save. Till then, nor is my boasting
vain, till then I'll boast a Savior slain, and oh may this my glory
be, that he is not ashamed of me. Do not blush or be ashamed
of the gospel of our Lord." Then notice the next statement, "...nor
of me, nor of me his prisoner." Don't be ashamed of me. I'm a
prisoner for Christ's sake. Paul was in prison when he wrote
these epistles. suffering for the gospel which
he preached. And he's saying to Timothy and
to these other people, don't be ashamed of the gospel and
don't be ashamed of me, a prisoner for Christ's sake. But watch
this, but be thou partaker, be thou partaker. He's saying this,
stand with me and share the sufferings to which the gospel may expose
you. Don't be ashamed of the Lord.
Don't be ashamed of his gospel. Don't be ashamed of me, his preacher,
his prisoner. But stand with me. And whatever
sufferings may come our way because of what we believe, be willing
to bear it. Be willing to take your share
of it. And then verse 9, who have saved us. It's God who saved
us. We didn't save ourselves. who
saved us and called us with a holy calling. He called us unto himself,
not according to our works. God didn't save you because of
any merit he saw in you. God didn't save you because of
any deed you performed or any righteousness you possessed.
Not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace which was given us. in Christ. This salvation was
not because of our works, it was according to God's purpose,
and it was given to us as His free gift, unspeakable gift,
when? Before this world ever began. God gave us this kingdom. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, I
will say in that day unto those on the right hand, Enter ye,
into the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the
world. Now this salvation which God
hath given to us, and this holy calling with which he hath called
us, was given to us in Christ before the world began. But watch
verse 10. But it is now made manifest. It was purposed before the world
began, but it was revealed when Christ came. It was given to
us before the world began, but it was worked out for us when
Christ came. He was the Lamb slain in the
purpose of God before the foundation of the world, but he was actually
manifest on this earth in his appearing incarnate 2,000 years
ago. This purpose, verse 10, is now
made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And he hath abolished death,
he hath put away the death of sin, and hath brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel. Now notice the next
verse. Whereunto I am appointed a preacher. Paul didn't say, I'm appointed
a sacrificing priest, but a preacher. He didn't say, I'm appointed
a savior of souls. No sir, he said, I'm appointed
a preacher. He didn't say, I'm appointed
a mediator, you confess your sins to me and I'll go to God
and get pardon for you. He said, no sir, I have been
appointed a preacher. That's all, just a preacher.
I'm a messenger. God sent me as a messenger. Christ
is our priest. Christ is our Savior. Christ
is our Mediator. I'm only a priest. I'm an apostle. I'm a special messenger. I'm
a teacher. I'm a teacher. Richard Baxter
says, I preach as one who may never preach again. I preach
as a dying man to dying men. These men of God knew that they
were men of like passions, of like trial, of like burden, and
they didn't assume a holier-than-thou attitude. They didn't try to
impress people with their righteousness and holiness and religion. Paul
said, I'm less than the least of all the saints. I'm not worthy
to be called an apostle. I'm the chief of sinners, but
God appointed me a preacher. He appointed me a special messenger,
he appointed me a teacher. And for this cause, verse 12,
what cause? This cause, this being a preacher,
this declaring the gospel, this presenting the purpose of God,
for this cause, because God appointed me a preacher, Because I come
preaching Christ, because I'm not ashamed of the gospel for
this cause, I suffer these things. I'm in prison, I've been beaten
with rods, I've been shipwrecked, I've been a day and a night in
the deep, I've been scourged three times, I've been hated
and despised and cast out of cities for this cause, because
I'm a preacher of the gospel. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed. I am not ashamed. Now I want
us to look at his personal testimony, his hope, for I am not ashamed,
for this is my testimony. This is what I believe, Paul
said. This is my hope, this is my foundation, this is my salvation. For I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that
day. I want us to look at these words
almost one at a time, but a few phrases. Watch it now. First
of all, he says, I know, I know. Now, brethren, knowledge, knowledge
is that excellency which lifts a man above a beast. Knowledge
is the difference between the animal world and the human world.
We know, we have the power to know, we have the capacity to
know. Knowledge is that excellency which lifts a man above the beast. The knowledge of the gospel,
the knowledge of the gospel is that excellency which lifts a
believer above the heathen. Knowledge of the gospel is that
excellency which lifts the believer, the Christian, above the heathen,
and fits him for heaven. And then, more than that, a growth
in that knowledge of the gospel, a day-by-day growth in the knowledge
of Christ, is that excellency which lifts a mature Christian
above a weak Christian, a mature believer above a weak believer,
a mature believer above a babe in Christ, and not only equips
him for heaven, but plants heaven in his heart right now, and gives him a joy, an unspeakable
joy, even in the most severe trial. The ability to walk with
God, like Enoch walked with God, and was not because God took
him. I know, Paul said, I know. And knowledge is that which lifts
a man above the animal, and the knowledge of Christ, of the gospel,
is that which lifts a believer above the heathen, above the
natural man. I know, Paul said, I know. I
must know. for my soul's too valuable, and
eternity is too long, and heaven is too sweet, and hell is too
terrible to leave my soul in the hands of a church, or in
the hands of a preacher, or in the hands of a priest. I must
know. I must not think. I must know. I must not assume. I must know. I must not take for granted. I must know.
I must know. In Philippians 3.10, Paul said,
O that I might know him, and the power of his resurrection. Christ said in John 17.2, This
is eternal life, that they might know thee. the only true God
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." Turn to 1 John 5. I want
you to read this scripture here in 1 John 5, verse 20. Listen to this. John writing,
I must know. I know, Paul said, whom I have
believed. This is not a think-so proposition. This is not just a maybe-so,
a hope-so proposition. I know. I know. And John said
in 1 John 5 20, And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath
given us an understanding, that we may know him, that we may
know him that is true, and we're in him that is true, even in
his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God, and he is
eternal life. I know. When I was pastor over
at the Pollard Baptist Church in 1954, we had an evangelist come there
for a meeting. One Sunday morning he was preaching.
He preached a message on the atonement, on what Christ did
on the cross for sinners. And eternal life was to know
this crucified Redeemer. I was sitting down on the front
row listening to him preach and there was a friend of mine sitting
right behind me, a man about 39 or 40 years of age. And when the preacher finished
his message, he stepped down out of the pulpit and stood down
here in front of the congregation and began to talk to us about
what it meant, what it means to know the Lord. And he said
eternal life is not to know doctrine, it's to know the Lord. It's not
to know that you've had an experience, it's to know Christ. It's not
to know that you've had some good feelings, but that you know
Him. And he looked at the young man
sitting behind me, and he just, out of the clear blue sky, said,
Son, do you know the Lord? And this man looked at him and
He said, yes, sir, I do. I certainly do. I know him. And
the preacher said, do you know that you know him? He said, yes,
sir. He's my Lord and my Savior. Well, he went on with his message
just like nothing had happened. I paid particular attention to
that conversation. It impressed me because this
young man had been a soldier and had been discharged from
the army and he had had a religious experience and it wasn't real
and he was listening to me on the radio one time a few months
before this and was brought under conviction and I went by and
talked to him and preached the gospel to him and he came to,
I believe, a real knowledge of Christ. And I was interested
in that testimony. He said, yes, I know him. I know
him. He's my Lord and my Savior. That
afternoon, after the morning service, we went over to Paul
Williams' house for dinner. We were sitting there eating
dinner, talking, been sitting there a good while. About 1.30
or 2 o'clock, the phone rang. Paul answered the phone, called
me to the phone, said, it's for you. And I went to the phone.
This man's wife was on the phone. She said, Brother Henry, She
said, Charles has had a heart attack. Would you come over quickly?
So I jumped in the car and went over there. He was still on the
floor when I got there. I helped put him on the bed,
and he was still breathing, but unconscious, as far as I could
tell. The ambulance had already been
called and got there shortly after I got there, and we put
him in the ambulance, and the ambulance driver said, Would
you like to ride back here with him and give him oxygen? I said,
I'll try. I don't know what to do, but I'll try, and he showed
me. And on the way to the hospital, he died. And when we took him
in the room, Don Fitzer was with me. We rolled him into the room,
their emergency room, and the doctor came in, examined him,
listened to his heart and these things, no pulse, no heartbeat.
He said, he's dead, covered his face up. And I turned to Don, and I said,
Don, what's the last word you heard this man say on this earth?
And he said, I don't remember. I said, I do. I can hear them
as if he was speaking them right now. Yes, sir, I know him. He's my Lord and my Savior. Two
hours after he said that, he was standing before God. Do you
know him? I know. That's what Paul is saying
here. That's his testimony. It's not I professed I made a
decision, I joined the church, I had a good feeling, I did this,
I did that. He says, I know whom I believe. It's not a doctrine that I know,
it's a person. It's not a feeling that I know,
it's a person. It's not a religious tradition
that I know, it's a person. It's not an old experience that
I know, it's a person I know whom I have believed. Now brethren, do you know him? Introduce me to him, will you?
Well, let me introduce you to the Lord I know. Let me tell
you about him. First of all, I know who he is.
I know who he is. He's their God of their God.
When Isaiah wrote about him over here in Isaiah 9, he said, unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and his name shall
be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God. That's who he
is. He's the Mighty God. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,
and all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything
made that was made, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father." That's who He is. He's the mighty God. Philip said, Lord, show us the
Father, and we'll be satisfied. He said, Philip, He that hath
seen me hath seen the Father. He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. He's the covenant Savior. He's
the covenant surety. He's their God of their God.
He's God robed in human flesh. He's the God-man. He's the divine
and yet human one. Not only do I know who He is,
but secondly, I know what He did. He came down here to this earth
and took not the nature of angels, but he took on himself the seed
of Abraham. He was numbered with us transgressors. He was our representative before
the law as a man born of the virgin, and he was born of a
virgin in order that he might not partake of man's sin. He
came not from the lorns of Adam, he came from heaven. The second
Adam is the Lord from heaven, the scripture says. The first
Adam is of the earth, earthy. The second Adam is the Lord from
heaven. When any man says it makes no
difference whether you believe in the virgin birth or not, he's
revealing his total, complete ignorance of God's Word, and
the worst kind of inexcusable ignorance. If Jesus Christ was
born of a human father, He's nobody's savior. His bones are
in Jerusalem rotting in that grave. And he's liable to the
judgment where he will be called to account for lying to sinners. But he was born the seed of woman. That's what the scripture says,
the seed of woman. That's who Christ is. He is not
the seed of man, he's the seed of woman. And he was born of
the virgin that he might not be a partaker of Adam's nature
of sin. He is our representative before
the law. God gave him a human body. God
gave him a human nature, the Father did, that he might be
God to satisfy and man to suffer. And He not only represented us
before the law, but He represented us on the cross before the justice
of God, and there on that cross, bearing our sin, He took the
wrath of God in our place and in our stead. By His stripes
we're healed. He paid our debt. And I know why He did it. Turn
to Romans 3. In the third chapter of Romans,
verse 25, it tells you why He did it. Christ didn't die as
an example. He died as a substitute. Christ
didn't die as a martyr. He died as a sin offering. In
Romans 3, verse 25, it says, "...whom God hath set forward,"
speaking of Christ, "...to be a propitiation through faith
in his blood, to declare his righteousness." for the remission
of sins that have passed, that's Old Testament people's sins,
through the forbearance or long-suffering of God, to declare, I say, at
this time, God's righteousness, that God might be just, and the
justifier of him which believes in Jesus. Why did Christ die? He took our sins and died under
the wrath of God, that God Almighty might be just and righteous and
holy, and pardon your sins, and pardon your sin, and pardon my
sin. All sin must be punished. God
said, I will in no wise clear the guilty, the soul that's in
it, it shall die. And God can't state that and
then turn around and pardon sin without payment. Payment must
be made in order for God to be just and justified. I not only
know why he did it, I know where he is now. I know him. That's what Paul is saying. I
know whom I have believed. I know him. I know where he is
now. He's at the Father's right hand.
And there he is our intercessor. He's our mediator. There's one
God and one mediator between God and men. And that's Christ Jesus, the
man. The man Christ Jesus. Now let's move on. Paul said,
I know whom I have believed. Now brethren, salvation is by
faith. It is not by works. It is not
by ceremonial law. It is not by the obedience to
the moral law, it's through faith. Look unto me and be you saved.
I'm God. There's none else. For by grace
have you been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. He that believeth not on the
Son hath not life, shall never see life, but the wrath of God
abideth on him. For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever worketh for him
serveth him, no, sir, whosoever believeth on him should not perish,
but have everlasting life." Let me give you four things about
faith. First of all, the object of saving faith is Christ. It's
not his word, it's him. It's not his church, it's him.
It's not his ordinance. The object of saving faith is
Christ. I know whom I have believed. He that hath the Son hath life. Salvation's in a person. And
he is the object of faith. It is not even the cross that's
the object of faith. It is the Christ of the cross. One of the tragedies of this
and every generation is that men are worshiping the means
of grace instead of the gift of grace. Let me give you two
or three examples of that. God gave us this word to reveal
Christ, but there are men who worship the word. They make a
god out of the word instead of worshiping Christ. God Almighty
sent his son through a woman, Mary. And Mary was a blessed
woman, but still just a woman. Mary was a wonderful person,
but still just a sinner. A sinner saved by grace. She
was a fallen daughter of Adam. She wasn't without sin. She wasn't
born supernaturally. And she didn't ascend to heaven
either. Her body is in the grave awaiting the resurrection just
like your friends and my friends. But instead of worshiping the
fruit of her womb, who's supposed to be worshiped, Christ Jesus,
what do men do? They worship her. God gave the
means, and men worship the means instead of Christ. You take the
sacraments, they call them, really it's the ordinances of the church,
they're not sacraments, but they're called that by many people. Take
the Lord's table. The bread and the wine at the
Lord's table was given us these elements to represent Christ. He said, this bread represents
my body, this blood, this wine represents my blood. As you eat
this bread and drink this wine, you show my death until I come,
but men have put salvation in the bread and the wine. And they
say certain denominations saying that if you take, dip the wafer
in the wine and put it on your tongue, that you're taking Christ
into your body. That's not so. There's no salvation
in that bread or in that wine. They are means of grace. That's all. They're not saviors.
Baptism's the same thing. Christ gave us baptism to confess
Him, to identify with Him in His death, in His burial, in
His resurrection. And Christ told us to go and
preach the gospel and baptize men in the name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. And when we're baptized, we're
confessing that when Christ died, we died. When he was buried,
we were buried. When he arose, we arose to walk in newness of
life. But men have made second salvation
out of Christ, put it in the water. No salvation in the wine,
in the wafer, in the bread, or in the water. It's in a person.
But that's the sinful heart of sinful man. And then take the
cross. We have crosses on the buildings,
crosses on the pulpits, crosses on the chairs, crosses everywhere. People wear them around their
neck. They dangle them from their Bibles. They wear them on their
lapels. It's idolatry. There's no saving power in a
block of wood. It's in the person who suffered
and died on that cross. It's his blood by which I'm saved. If you could find that cross
right now and bring it down here and put it in front of this church,
people would come on pilgrimages from around the world to kiss
that cross and hope to find in it some power, some sanctifying
influence. And it do you no more good than
to kiss this wood right here. Now that's a fact. You know, the heathen don't have
a thing on us. People stand around making crosses
like this for good luck, superstition. I always wondered when they get
two fighters in the ring, you know, and they both do that,
I wonder which one Lord's going to help. That's a standoff, I guess. Let others who will praise the
cross of the Christ. The Christ of the cross is my
theme. And while we must cherish that
old rugged cross, it's not the cross, it's the Christ that redeemed. There is no power in the word,
it's in the person. You see what I'm saying? I'm
warning you with all my heart. I'm warning you. You might as
well nail a horseshoe over your doors to put a cross over your
door. Now I'm serious about this. It's Christ who saves, and he's
not on a cross. He's on a throne. He died on
that cross, but he's not on a cross. He's not a pitiful, defeated,
disappointed, frustrated, fumbling, failing person. He's a king! Never has been anything but a
king. He's a king on that cross. While he was hanging there, he
opened heaven's doors for a thief. The foundation of faith is the
Word of God. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. The seat of faith is the heart,
not the understanding, not the head, although we can't be saved
without it. But with the heart, man believeth.
Head faith won't change your attitude, but heart faith will.
Head faith won't change your ways, but heart faith will. Head
faith won't make you a new creature, it'll give you theology, and
that's what most folks have, just theology. The seat of faith is the heart.
And I'm saying that you can memorize 66 books in the Bible, you can
memorize theology, Arminianism or Calvinism, you can memorize
your position on prophecy, you can memorize church government,
and even be a preacher, and still miss Christ. Most folks have,
because the seed of faith is the heart. It's the heart. With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and the result of that heart faith is peace
with God, it is union with Christ, it is a holy walk, it is a righteous
attitude, it is a love for God and a love for people, it is
a hunger and thirst for righteousness, It is a living, vital, personal
union with the King that overcomes the world, that weans the heart
from the world and sets our affections on things above. I know whom I have believed,
and believe, the word belief, covers a whole lot more air than
most people like to think it does. And then he says, I am persuaded,
I am persuaded that he is able. Now brethren, when we talk of
the power, when Paul talks here of the power and the ability
of Christ, I am persuaded he is able. I hear preachers on
the radio and they want you to accept Jesus in order that you
might be happy. Happy all the time. You ever
heard that song, Happy All the Time? Are you happy all the time?
I'm not happy all the time. A fellow that's happy all the
time has got to be silly. Got to have something wrong with
him. A fellow that's happy all the time has got to be in an
institution somewhere. Happy all the time. Happy all
the time. That's foolishness. Paul wasn't
happy all the time. He said, I have continual sorrow.
I rejoice in the Lord, but I have continual sorrow. My heart is
heavy for my brethren who are not saved." A Christian's a paradox. He's happy, but he's miserable.
He's full, but he's empty. He's living, but he's dead. He's
rich, but he's poor. He has wisdom, but he's ignorant. I hear preachers say, except
Jesus, and he'll give you directions. for your life, a new dimension.
I heard one the other day offering me a new dimension. A new dimension. It'll help you get along with
other people. God wants to bless you financially. Some of the greatest saints who
ever lived didn't know where the next meal was coming from.
That's the silliest thing I ever heard of. God wants to heal your
body. That's not why Christ died. That's
not, that's not what, we're not talking about this, this, that
at all here. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. I am persuaded he is able. Able
to make me happy? Able to give me a due dimension?
Able to help me get along with other people? Able to heal my
body and give me wealth? My needs are greater than that.
Those are all temporary. They're all temporary. God's
going to burn this place up someday. Why should I invest my treasures
here? Why should I want the wealth
of the world? Why should I want the fame of this world? Why should
I want all these things that they're promising me if I'll
send them a dollar donation and accept their theology? Here's
what I need. I need somebody to put away my
sins. That's what I need. I've sinned against a holy God. I've broken the law of the Holy
God. On the record, books of glory
under my name are transgressions, iniquities, and sins, and I need
somebody to do something about that. And Christ is able. He is able, it says, He appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. I need somebody to
reconcile me to God. I need somebody to turn away
the enmity, the divine wrath from my soul. And the scripture
says God was in Christ reconciling the world to God. That's what
I need. I need somebody to give me a
perfect righteousness. The scripture says, who shall
stand in his presence? And the answer comes back, he
that hath clean hands But they're not there. And a pure heart. I need somebody who can give
me clean hands and a pure heart. And he's able. He's able. He
is able. He is able to present me, the
scripture says, holy, unblameable, unreprovable, in the sight of
God. That's what I need. Now you go
on running after this fellow that promises you happiness.
and wealth and bodily healing, I'm looking to this one who is
able to, and I need grace to die. One of these days, the doctor's
going to tell me Preacher, you're not going to make it. I'm sorry,
your blood pressure's just not there, and you've got a terminal
disease. This is it. You might have a
day or two, but this is it. Boy, I need somebody then to
give me grace to die. Grace to die. Die with hope. Die with confidence. Die with
assurance. That's what I need. And then
I need someone who is able to bring me to glory. I need somebody
who is able to take my body out of the tomb and dress it in immortality,
in corruption, in strength and power and make it like his own
and take me up yonder with him. And Paul said, he is able. That's what I'm offering you.
That's what I'm inviting you to receive Christ. That's why
I'm inviting you to receive Christ. That's what he's able to do.
He's able to put away your sins, reconcile you to God, give you
a perfect righteousness, give you grace to live and grace to
die, and then take you to glory. Now what's the last thing? He
is able to keep that. which I have committed unto him
against that day, the day of judgment, the day of death, the
day of reckoning. Now, I know that salvation is
of the Lord, and no doubt about that. I know it's the Holy Spirit
who awakens the sinner, who quickens the sinner. I'm a student of
John Calvin and Martin Luther and Knox and Whitefield and Edwards
and and Spurgeon and these other men, and I believe as they believe. I know something about the Heidelberg
Catechism, the Westminster and the London Confession of Faith
and the Philadelphia Confession of Faith and these things, and
I know As the Bible teaches and all these men of God have taught
through the years, it's the Holy Spirit who gives life, the Holy
Spirit who convicts of sin, the Holy Spirit who reveals Christ,
but I know this is taught in God's Word too. Repentance, though
it's a gift of God, is a personal sorrow for sin. God doesn't repent
for me, I repent. And I know that faith is a genuine
belief in my heart in Christ. Now look at Romans 10, just a
moment. Romans the 10th chapter. I know
that while faith is the gift of God, and while God enables
us to believe, the Holy Spirit does not believe for me. I believe. God said, Noah, come into the
ark. It was God who designed the ark.
It was God who revealed the art. It was God who gave Noah the
dimensions and directions for the building of the art. It was
God who sent the judgment. It was God who opened the door. But God said, Noah, come into
the art. And Noah willingly went in, just
like those other people willingly stayed out. And Romans 10 verse
9 says, that if the Holy Spirit shall confess for you the Lord
Jesus, and the Holy Spirit shall believe in his heart God... That's
not what that says, is it? It said, if you shall confess
with your mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in your heart God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved. That's what it
says. So Paul says, I know whom I have
believed, and I'm persuaded he is able, he's able to do what
no other person can do. And he's able to keep that which
I consciously, intelligently, willingly, lovingly, not under
the sway of some orator, not under
the pressure and pull of some personal soul winner, Not under
the fear of eternity in hell, but I committed myself to him. The Lord Jesus said to the disciples,
will you go away? And they said, Lord, to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And I'm saying this, Right here are the words of life. Right here. This is it. This
is the answer to all of my needs. It meets my need. And I think
if the Holy Spirit ever opens your heart, you will find it
meets your need. And I have committed. I have
received Christ. I have committed myself to Him.
And I confessed Him publicly. I confessed Him. How do you confess
Christ? Well, go through the Bible. And
you'll find all New Testament believers believed, and then
they confessed Christ in baptism. That's how they confessed him.
Start with the disciples of John, and then go to those whom the
disciples of the Lord baptized, then to Pentecost, then to the
Ethiopian eunuch, then to the jailer, then to Saul of Tarsus,
And then to Cornelius and then to Lydia, go right on through
the scripture, and you will find every one of those people, they
believed and they were baptized. They believed and they were baptized.
They believed and they were baptized. Confessing Christ. Our Father,
use the message for Thy glory. Speak to our hearts. Accomplished
by us, by Thy Spirit, a mighty saving work of grace. Get glory
to thy name from this message and this service tonight. In
Jesus Christ our Lord we pray. Amen.