Now let's turn again in our Bibles
to the book of Matthew, chapter 28. I want us to take a good, sincere look
at baptism tonight. Take away the frills and the
prying into the unanswerable and the unknown, and just simply
look at the subject. In Matthew 28, verse 19, the
Master said to his disciples, Go ye therefore and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you. Now let's go to another scripture
in the book of Mark. In the book of Mark, chapter
16, reading verse 15 and 16. Mark, chapter 16, verse 15 and
16. And he said unto them, this is
the master speaking to his apostles again, Go ye into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be
damned." Now, our Lord had died on the cross for our sins. He
had come into this world, clothed himself in human flesh. He had
met God's law as a man, as our representative federal head.
He had obeyed that law. He had fulfilled the covenant
of redemption He'd gone to the cross and bore our transgressions
and our sorrows and our sins in his body. He had died. He was buried, and on the third
day he arose from the grave. He appeared to many, instructed
his disciples. He was about to ascend to the
Father's right hand, where he is today, our mediator, our intercessor. And before he left, He instructed
his disciples, and these instructions were threefold. I have read them
to you from Matthew's account and from Mark's account. First
of all, he said, go and preach the gospel. Go and preach the
gospel. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. A man will never be saved without
hearing the gospel. The gospel is essential to faith. Turn to Romans chapter 10. In
the 10th chapter of Romans, verses 12 through 14, I believe it is,
the Scripture says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. That's verse 13. Now watch verse
14. But how shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? You say, is preaching absolutely
necessary to conversion? It certainly is. The word doesn't
have to come from an ordained minister of the gospel. It doesn't
have to come from a missionary or an evangelist. It can come
from a personal witness. It can come from a gospel tract.
It can come directly from the word of God, but that's preaching.
God hath chosen by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. And our Lord instructed us to
go into all the world and preach the gospel. The gospel is the
power of God, the gospel is the glory of God, and the gospel
is Christ. It's not about Christ, it is
Christ. Let me show you that in Romans
chapter 1. You say, what is the gospel?
The gospel is a person. The gospel is good news, it's
glad tidings of a person, of that person and of his works.
In Romans chapter 1, Paul begins the first verse with this statement,
I am a servant of Jesus Christ, that is, a bondslave, and I'm
called to be an apostle, and I'm separated unto the gospel
of God. And he puts the next verse in
parenthesis, which he had promised afore by his prophets in the
Holy Scriptures, that is, it's no new gospel. It's the same
gospel that Isaiah proclaimed. It's the same gospel that Hosea
proclaimed. It's the same gospel that Moses
proclaimed. It's the same gospel that Abraham
proclaimed. It's the same gospel. God has
always saved me in the same way. It's the gospel which he promised
by his holy prophets in the holy scriptures. The prophets wrote
of me. Now look at the next verse concerning
his son. Now let's just take verse 2 and
lift it out. You can do that without damaging
the sentence because it's a statement that's enclosed in parentheses
and it can be lifted right out. So Paul says, I'm a servant of
Jesus Christ, I'm called to be an apostle, I'm separated unto
the gospel concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which
was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. He came
into the world, David's son according to the flesh. and declared to
be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. So our Master's first instruction
to his disciples is to preach the gospel, not just to some,
not just to the Jews, not just to the Gentiles, but to every
creature. Now the second thing he said to them, go and preach
the gospel to every creature, go and baptize men. and baptize
them. Now that's our subject tonight,
baptism. His third instruction was to
teach them. Teach them all the things that
I've commanded you. Teach men. We're to take the
word of God and teach believers. We're to instruct them. Now if
you'll turn with me to the book of Acts, let's go to the second
instruction, baptism. Our Lord said, go and preach
the gospel. But he said, Go and make disciples and baptize them
in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Those
were the last words that Christ said to his disciples before
he ascended. Go and make disciples and baptize
them. Now, in Acts chapter 2, when
Peter preached this first sermon, after the apostles were filled
with the Holy Spirit, after the Spirit of the living God had
come upon them, Peter preached this sermon, and hundreds and
hundreds of people were brought under conviction. They were pricked
in their hearts for the Holy Spirit, and in verse 37 of Acts,
chapter 2, they asked Peter and the rest of the apostles, meaning,
brethren, what shall we do? What shall we do? Now the master,
his last instructions to his disciples were for them to go
and preach the and baptize men and teach them to do what the
Lord commanded them to do. Now, Peter's first opportunity
to preach, his first opportunity to preach after the master had
gone back to the right hand of the father, was this particular
time right here. And when the first convert asked
him what to do, here's what he said. Now watch it. Then Peter
said unto them, and be baptized. Every one of you, not some of
you, but every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for
the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit. Our Lord was baptized as the
first act of His public ministry. Turn with me to the book of Matthew,
Matthew the third chapter. Beginning with verse 13, the
Master, the Lord Jesus Himself. Look at Matthew 3 verse 13. Now I want to try to be as honest
as I can with you tonight concerning this subject of baptism. I want
you to wait carefully by the Word of God. Now I want you to
think for a moment as I go along, what have I done so far? I've
done nothing but just read the Word of God and comment on those
particular verses. You know this is so. Before our
Lord went back to glory, he spoke to his disciples and said, you
go preach the gospel and baptize. You know what he said? All right,
when Peter stood up to preach to people, the first time he
preached after Christ arose, the first time, and the first
person to ask him what to do, he said, repent and be baptized.
Now that's not adding to the Word of God nor taking from it.
All right, let's go to the third statement I want to make by way
of introducing this message. The Lord Jesus himself was baptized. In Matthew 3, verse 13, Then
cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized
in him. That's why he came there. He
came to be baptized. He made a special effort. He
made a special trip. This was a special occasion.
It was for a special thing. He came to be baptized. But John
forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee. Do you
come to me? And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Suffer it to be so now. For thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. Then he suffered it. And Jesus,
when he was baptized, he's thirty years of age here, went up straightway
out of the water, and lo, the heavens were opened unto him.
And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting
upon him, and lo a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased." Baptism was always the practice
of New Testament believers as the first act of their Christian
life. Always. Now I want you to take
your Bible with me, and I'm not going to hurry too rapidly. But
I want you to take the Word of God. Now please, please don't
be bound by tradition. Let's don't be bound by custom.
Let's don't be bound by the writings of men. Let's be honest. Let's
take the Scripture and just open now, as I announce them, you
open in the Bible and let's see. This is what I'm saying. Baptism
was the first act of our Lord when he began his public ministry.
And every New Testament Christian, baptism was the first act of
their Christian life. Now turn to Acts 2, verse 41. Acts 2, verse 41. Now this is
after Peter had instructed these people. They'd been convicted,
pricked in their hearts, brought to desire to be saved. Peter
told them, repent and be baptized. They that gladly received his
word were baptized. Acts 2 41. Then they that gladly
received his word were baptized. And the same day there were added
unto them about three thousand souls that all were baptized. That's their first act in their
Christian life, in their Christian faith. They did what the Lord
commanded them, go make disciples and baptize them. Turn to Acts
8, verse 12. Acts 8, verse 12. But when they believed Philip,
here's Philip now preaching to these people, and when they believed
Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, when they
believed it, and when they believed the name of Jesus Christ, baptism
is for believers. Don't get it backwards. You don't
baptize somebody before they believe. You don't baptize them
in their infancy when they're incapable of believing. Our Lord
said, go and make disciples and baptize them. Don't go baptize
people and then make them disciples. You make disciples and then you
baptize them. These people repent and are baptized. We preach the gospel to them
and then they're baptized. And when these people believe
Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, when they
believe on the name of Christ, they were baptized. You can't
be baptized before you believe because you don't have a name
to confess. You don't have anyone with whom to be identified. Baptism
has to follow salvation, has to follow faith. Now Acts chapter
8 verse 36. Here's the Ethiopian eunuch.
You know the story how Philip went down into the desert. The
Holy Spirit took him down there to preach to this man, the Ethiopian
the high-ranking authority in the Ethiopian nation, and verse
36 says, And as they went on their way, now he had preached
Christ to them, and as they went on their way they came to a certain
water. And the eunuch said, Here is
water, what doth hinder me from being baptized? I wonder how
he knew that he ought to be baptized, unless Philip had included those
instructions with his This man didn't even know what Isaiah
53 meant a little while ago. And here he is wanting to be
baptized. So evidently when Philip preached Christ to him, he instructed
him in the way of life. And that is faith and baptism.
Repentance, faith, and baptism. Confession. And Philip said why,
if you believe, you can't be baptized if you don't believe.
But if you believe with all your heart you may. No preacher has
any authority to baptize anybody who doesn't believe. Philip wouldn't
do it. If you believe, you may. And
he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. He commanded the church to stand
still, and they went down, both into the water, both Philip and
the eunuch, and he baptized them. What I'm saying now is that baptism
was always the first act in the Christian life in the New Testament.
This Bible is our rule of faith and practice. Turn to Acts 9,
verse 18. Now here is Saul of Tarsus, the
Apostle Paul, who himself said that he was a pattern of them
who should believe. Paul is our pattern. God gave
him as a pattern. He called himself a pattern.
He said, follow me as I follow Christ. In Acts 9, verse 18,
what was the first thing Paul did after he was converted? What
was the first thing? Acts 9, verse 18, "...and immediately
there fell from his eyes, as it had been scaled, and he received
sight forewith, and he arose and was baptized." Immediately. As soon as God gave him sight,
as soon as God gave him a knowledge of the gospel, as soon as God
gave him assurance of his interest in Christ, he arose and was baptized. Turn to Acts 10. What about Cornelius? You remember God sent Peter down
to preach to Cornelius and his people. In Acts 10, verse 47,
what's the first thing Cornelius did after he heard the gospel?
In Acts 10, verse 47, Peter answered, Can any man forbid water, that
these should not be baptized which have received the Holy
Ghost as well as we? and he commanded them to be baptized
in the name of the Lord. As soon as they heard the gospel,
they were baptized. What about Lydia, down in Philippi,
Acts chapter 16? Remember, Paul went down by the
riverside to preach to these people, and Lydia, the Lord opened
her heart, Acts chapter 16, verse 14, look at it, Acts 16, 14,
and a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple. of the city
of Thyatira, which worshiped God heard us, whose heart the
Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken
of Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought
us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord,
come to my house, and abide there." This woman was baptized. Philippian
Jailer, look down at Acts 16, verse 29. He fell on his face
before Paul and Silas, and he said, Sirs, what must I do to
be saved? Paul said, Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house. Acts 16.32,
And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that
were in his house. He took them that same hour of the night,
and washed their stripes, and was baptized he and all his straight
way immediately." The first thing you do. Acts 18. I could go on and just
keep on and on showing you these illustrations, and I want you
to be... What an avalanche of Scripture! If the Lord had just
given, we preach on, you must be born again, but I don't find
that but one place in the Word of God. John chapter 3, you must
be born again. But we know it's so. God doesn't
have to say anything but one. But here is illustration after
illustration after illustration of people who were truth-converted.
Sincerely converted, and the first thing they did was confess
their Lord in baptism, because that's what the Lord told them
to do. In Acts chapter 18, verse 8, here was a man named Crispus.
In Acts 18, verse 8, it says, And Crispus, the chief ruler
of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house.
And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed, and they were
baptized. That's the first thing these
people did. Now then, let's face some facts about baptism.
Honest, goodness facts. While I'm giving you these facts,
I want to ask you this question. Have you been scripturally baptized?
Have you followed the Lord in baptism since you believed? These
people all did. And I say, if you have not followed
the Lord in baptism, you have not scripturally confessed Christ
as the Lord commanded you. In the first place, it's a fact
which cannot be disputed, the Lord Jesus Christ was baptized.
Secondly, it's a fact that cannot be disputed, that his last words
to his disciples were for them to go and make disciples and
baptize them. Thirdly, it's a fact that cannot
be disputed that we are commanded by the Master to be baptized
in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Fourthly,
it's a fact that only one time in the New Testament was the
Godhead displayed on earth in triune character, and that was
at the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Son was baptized,
and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and the Father spake
at the same time. And the Trinity, the triune God,
was manifested, displayed on this earth in triune character
one time, and that was at the baptism at the River Jordan of
our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a fact, number five, that
all early believers, every one of them without exception, were
baptized. It's a fact. Now listen to this
carefully and weigh what I'm about to say. It is a fact that
with all the ceremonies that are practiced today, and I'm
including Lent, and I'm including Christmas, and I'm including
Easter with all of its frills and celebrations, and I'm including
child dedication, and I'm including child confirmation, And I'm including
child sprinkling, and I'm including all of these religious ceremonies
that we go through. We can find actually only two
ordinances commanded by our Lord in the Word of God. One on baptism,
and the other is the Lord's Supper. And you can't find any of these
other things that I've named, not a single one of them. And
yet, what are the two commandments and two ordinances we neglect
most? Baptism and the Lord's Suffering.
It scares me. We go through all this other
stuff. It's very important. We go through all these Holy
Weeks, and there's not a word in God's Word about having Lent
or Holy Week. We go through Christmas starts
at Thanksgiving, and we go through that mess and pay for it the
other 11 months, and it's not even commanded in God's Word.
And we put out the Easter eggs and the Easter baskets and dress
up, and this is even the wrong day. Christ didn't arise in March. He arose in April. We hadn't
even got there yet, and we've waged all this fuss over it.
But there are two ordinances our Lord commanded us to observe. He said, you go and make disciples
and baptize them. And he said, you take this bread
and wine, and as often as you eat this bread and drink this
wine, you show my death until I come. And those are the two
that some of you haven't even partaken of, some of you in your
lives and some of you this week, but you celebrate all this other
mess. You see what I'm saying? We are a perverted people. We claim to be Christians and
we're not even following our Lord. We're following the traditions
of men. We're following the traditions
of our fathers. We're following the customs and
patterns set for us by somebody else. Some of you have never
been baptized, but you celebrated Halloween, and that's the day
of the dead. That's the day when, back in
Catholic countries, they put bread out for the ghosts and
goblins. They put out food at night for
the skeletons and ghosts and goblins to come out and eat it.
That's where trick-or-treat came from. But you celebrated that,
but you've never been baptized. You celebrated those pagan holidays,
but you've never taken the Lord's table. And Peter stood there
and told those people in Acts, you'd better get out of this
perverted generation. You'd better save yourselves
from this untoward generation. That means perverted, twisted.
Let God command something, we ignore it. Let men pass it down
because it's pretty, or it's sentimental, or it's beautiful,
or it's emotional, and everybody just falls head over heels to
keep it. I'm not being radical. Please don't misunderstand me.
I give Christmas presents too. But honestly, it disturbs me
that the very thing Christ tells us to do, we don't do. And the
things that he does not tell us to do, we are energetic and
zealous in doing them. And it's frightening. They're
just two ordinances, and you can't find this other stuff in
God's Word. And that's baptism and the Lord's
Supper. And those are church ordinances. That's the love feast,
and that's the time of confession. Now then, let me ask the second
question. How were these New Testament believers baptized?
Well, let's go to Matthew 3, and I'm just going to let the
Word of God speak for itself. I know what the word baptized
means. It means immersed. It can't mean anything else,
never did mean anything else, but let's just, let's go to God's
Word. How were they baptized? Matthew
3, verse 5. Matthew 3, 5. Now listen. Then went out to him Jerusalem,
that's the people of Jerusalem, Judea, all the regions round
about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing
their sins. They were baptized in a river, in a river. They were baptized
in a deep water, a place not in a glass, Not out of a baptismal
fount, not with a little handful of water, they were baptized
in a river. Now look at Matthew 3, verse
13. Matthew 3, verse 16. And Jesus, when he was baptized,
went up straightway out of the water. He came up out of the
water. Christ was put under the water.
It's a burial is what it is. You don't bury people on top
of the ground. You don't bury people by sprinkling a little
sand on them. You put them in a grave. You
immerse them in the ground. You cover them over. And Christ
was buried in baptism, and when he came up straightway out of
the water. Now then, turn to John 3. John
the 3rd chapter. How were they baptized? John
the 3rd chapter tells us this, and this is an important scripture
here. John chapter 3, verse 23. It says in John 3, verse 23,
And John also was baptizing in Enon, near to Salem, Because there was much water
there. That's why he was baptizing there.
He picked a place that had a lot of water. You need a lot of water
to baptize. You've got to put that person
under the water. And that's why he was baptizing there, because
there was much water there. Now then turn to Acts chapter
36, and I wonder how many of you noticed this, Acts chapter
8. Acts 8, verse 36. I read this
a moment ago, I just wonder how many of you noted it as we passed
by it. I didn't pause, I just read right
on by it. In Acts 8, verse 38, listen to
this. This is when the eunuch was baptized
by Philip, and he commanded the chariot to stand still. And they
went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch. and Philip baptized him. And
when they were come up out of the water, both of them, the
Spirit of God caught Philip away. They both went down into the
river. Now let's look for a few moments
at this subject, the meaning of baptism. Turn to 1 Peter 3.
1 Peter chapter 3. What does it mean? Why is it
important? 1 Peter 3, verse 20 and 21. Now listen to this, this is very
important here. Talking about Noah and the people of his day
and the ark, 1 Peter 3, verse 20. It says, which sometimes
were disobedient at one time, when once the longsuffering of
God waited in the days of Noah. while the ark was preparing,
wherein eight," that is, a few, that is, eight souls were saved
by water. Now watch this. Talking about
the ark, eight souls were saved by water. Now the water didn't
save them, the ark did. He was talking about the ark
was floating on the water. The like figure whereunto even
baptism doth also now save us. Now what's this talking about?
This is a figure. Baptism is a figure. Verse 21
says it's a like figure. Like what? Like Noah's ark. It's
like Noah's ark. That baptism does save us like
Noah was saved in the ark. Now what's this? Baptism, like
the ark, is a picture of the work of Christ. The ark was ordained
of God. God told Noah how to build it
and when to build it. Baptism is ordained of God. He
tells us how to perform it. Noah and his family were shut
up in the ark, representing a burial. Baptism is called in Romans 6.4
a burial. We're buried with him. Noah was
surrounded by water. He was immersed. The ark was
sitting in the water. Noah was immersed, surrounded
by water. So is baptism. The art shows
the work of Christ for us, saving us from God's wrath and God's
judgment. Baptism pictures Christ's redemption,
his salvation, by showing how he died on the cross and he was
buried and he arose again. That's what the gospel is. Christ
died, Christ was buried, Christ arose again. shows how that Christ
died and Christ was buried and Christ arose again. It's a figure.
It's a type. It's a picture. Even as the ark
is a picture of Christ's work, Christ's deliverance from God's
wrath, Christ's deliverance from God's judgment. As Noah was safe
in that ark, we're safe in Christ. And baptism has a twofold meaning. First of all, it's a confession.
a confession of my faith in him who died, of my faith in him
who was buried, of my faith in him who rose again. And baptism,
secondly, is an identification, a public identification with
him in his death, with him in his burial, and with him in his
resurrection. I have died to the world as Christ
died to sin. I was buried and I've risen again
to walk with my Lord in newness of life. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, but I live
a resurrected life. I live a new life. I live as
a new creature. I'm risen to walk with Him in
newness of life. And that's what baptism is, and
that's how baptism does save us. It doesn't save. Christ saves. You see what I'm
saying? Now let me make four statements
and I'll close. Baptism cannot put away sin. The scripture says the blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. It's not water
that cleanses, it's blood. It's the blood that maketh atonement
for the soul. It's the blood that ransoms the
soul. It's the blood that cleanses
the soul. It's the blood on the mercy seat
that satisfies the justice of God. Baptism does not give us
access to God. It does not bring us into God's
favor. Hebrews chapter 10 says, Christ
has opened for us a new and living way into the presence of the
Father by His flesh. The water doesn't open the veil
and open the way to God. Christ opened that way. Baptism
does not make us children of God. Turn to Galatians 3. We're
not made sons of God by baptism. Listen to what Paul said in Galatians
3, verse 26. You're children of God by faith
in Christ Jesus. You're children of God by faith
in Christ Jesus. He said in John 1, 12, as many
as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of
God. And then baptism does not add to the work of Christ in
order that I might be redeemed. The work of Christ is not waiting
on me to be baptized to be complete. Turn to Colossians chapter 2.
Let me show you this. Colossians 2, verse 9. Verse 9. For in Christ dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete
in him. In Christ dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him. Don't make
a Savior out of baptism. Christ is the only Savior. But
man is such a perverted creature, he makes a Savior out of everything,
every means of God's grace. God used a woman to bring His
Son into the world, and people make a Savior out of her. God
used a cross on which to nail His Son to pay for our sin, and
men have made a Savior out of the cross. God used the Word
to communicate with us, to give us his message of grace in Christ,
and he has made a Savior out of the Word. Everything, everything. God used the Lord's table, the
bread and the wine, to show us the death of Christ, his broken
body and his shed blood, and he has made a Savior out of the
bread and the wine. God has given us baptism as a confession of
our faith in Christ and as an identification of us with Christ
in his death, burial, and resurrection, and man is made a Savior out
of baptism. And that's the reason the Lord
gave us that example of the thief on the cross. He was never baptized,
and yet he was saved. The Lord Jesus said to him, today
shalt thou be with me in paradise. But the fact, I'm not on a cross
like that thief. I wasn't a thief, but I am by
nature. The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day, and there may I, though vile as he,
wash all my sins away. But he couldn't be baptized.
His nails are a cross. I can't. And I can't use him
as an excuse not to obey my Lord, can I? You say, well, so-and-so
is saved without being baptized. I know that. I know that. But you're not so-and-so, you're
you. And your Lord has commanded you to be baptized, and if you
obey him, you will. And if you love him, you will.
And if you seek to honor him, you will. And if you want to
witness a strong and good confession, you will. And if you want to
be identified with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection,
you will. And if you want to obey the scriptures, you will.
And if you want to preach the gospel to somebody else, you
will. Because baptism preaches the gospel. It tells sinners
how God saves, by the death, burial, and resurrection of his
Son. That's what Paul said over in 1 Corinthians 15. Let's turn
there just a second and read that, 1 Corinthians 15. He says,
brethren, 1 Corinthians 15. 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have
received, and wherein you stand, and by which you are saved. to
keep in memory what I preached to you unless you believed in
vain, I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received,
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
that he was buried and he rose again the third day according
to the Scriptures." That's the gospel. And that's what baptism
tells us. Christ died, Christ was buried,
and Christ rose again. Now if you're here tonight and
you've never followed the Lord in baptism, you are a child of
God. You want to follow your Lord in baptism. I certainly
give you every opportunity. I'll be happy to baptize you."
Somebody said, well, let's talk about it. They know he's talking
about it. They either obey the Lord or don't, one or the other.
If you believe, you ought to be baptized. If you don't believe,
I don't want you to. I don't want you to. But if you believe, then you've
got, I've given you the Word. That's all I'm supposed to give
you. And we're not going to sit down and reason this thing out.
You have the word of the Lord. Now you do with it what you will.
Brother Ron, will you come and lead us in a closing hymn? We'll
sing number 222. Let's stand here. There is a fountain filled with
blood, drawn from Emmanuel's name. Transcendent blood, beneath
that blood, is all their guilty stains. lose all their guilty stains. And sinner's blood, beneath that
blood, lose all their guilty stains.