I want you to follow in your
Bibles again in 1 Peter chapter 2. Will you turn over there a
moment? I'm sure you noted as I read
through this second chapter of 1 Peter that the purpose of the
apostle is to exhort the people of God to walk in holiness. to exhort the people of God to
walk in righteousness. He says in verse one of chapter
two, laying aside malice and guile and hypocrisy and envy
and evil speaking, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk
of the word that you may grow thereby. Now skip down to verse
11. What he's doing is exhorting
us to walk in holiness, to walk in honesty, in righteousness,
in purity. Verse 11, he says, Dearly beloved,
I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly
lusts. These lusts war against your
soul, against your relationship with God, against your peace. and your rest, and your comfort,
and your joy. It wars against these things,
your relationship with God. It destroys your communion with
God. Verse 12, having your conversation,
your behavior, honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak
of you as evildoers, they will, he said, Christ told us that.
He said, marvel not if men hate you. They hated me before they
hated you. They're going to hate you, they're
going to speak evil of you, they're going to cast you out of the
synagogue. And they that kill you will think they're doing
God a favor, but read on. They'll speak against you as
evildoers, but they may by your good works which they behold.
And everybody's got sense enough to know a righteous person, and
holy person, and honest person when he sees one. Even while
they're cursing you, he says, they know in their hearts that
your works are of God. Like when they came to Christ,
they said, we know you come from God. No man could do the miracles
or the work you do except God be with him. So Peter says that
have your behavior so honest and so holy and so righteous
before men that even while they're cursing you and even while they're
mistreating you, they know in their hearts that you are of
God and they may glorify God in the day of visitation. Now
verse 13 and 14. He says we're to be law-abiding
people. The Christian is to be a person
who abides by the law. Submit yourselves to every law
of man. We're supposed to be law-abiding
people. For to every ordinance of man, or law of man, for the
Lord's sake, whether it be to the king as supreme, Or under
governors, he's coming right down the line now. He's picking
the man who is the highest office in the land. Submit yourself
to him. Come on down the line to governors,
or to those that are sent by the governor, to judges, to magistrates,
to aldermen, to officers. Submit yourselves to these people,
and come on down the line, the chain of authority. You submit
yourself as a law-abiding person to these people. Verse 15, for
this is the will of God. Now then, down to verse 17. The
Christian has a duty to all men, not just to the fellowship of
believers. He says, honor all men, love
the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Servants, be subject
to your masters with all fear, not only to the good master,
not only to those who treat you right, But you submit yourself
even to those who do not treat you right. For this is thankworthy,
if a man for conscience toward God endure grief and suffer wrongfully. Now then, if you be buffeted
for your own faults, if you're a person who is contrary, hard
to live with, and hard to get along with, and people don't
like you, and they mistreat you, and you take it patiently, what
thank have you? But, he says, If you do well
and suffer for it, and you take it patiently, this is acceptable
with God. Now, in all of this, as he exhorts
the people of God to holy living, to righteous living, to honest
living, as he exhorts them to submit themselves to every law
of man, to be law-abiding people, And as he encourages them to
be subject even to unkind taskmasters, he gives Christ as the example. Now look down here at verse 21. For even here unto where ye call,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,
that we should follow his steps. He did no sin. There was no guile
found in his mouth, and when they reviled him, He didn't deserve
it, but he didn't retaliate. He reviled not again. When he
suffered, he didn't threaten, but he committed himself to him
or to the Father who judgeth righteously. Now then, lest we
should look upon the patience and suffering of Christ as only
an example and nothing more, Peter quickly, in the next verse,
rights of the sacrificial nature of his sufferings. Now in this
chapter, and I'm getting to my text now, in this chapter the
Apostle Peter exhorts the people of God to holy living, to put
aside those inward things that destroy, malice and envy and
hypocrisy and lust, those things that war against your soul, against
your, that destroy your communion with God. And then he tells us
to let our behavior outwardly be honest and pure so that even
those who curse us and those who find fault with us have to
admit that you're an honest person and you must be of God. And we're
to be subject to the law, we're to be law-abiding people, we're
to honor the king. We have a responsibility to all
men, not just to the brotherhood, we're to love the brotherhood.
But we have a responsibility to these neighbors here, to the
people in this city, to the people in this state, to the people
in this nation, to the people of the world. We're to have a
Catholic, universal spirit. All true believers do. They love
people. And then he tells us that we're
to be subject to those in command. And Christ set that example,
he said. Christ, when he was reviled,
he reviled not again. When he was threatened, he didn't. And when he was threatened, when
he suffered, he didn't threaten those who caused his suffering.
And Christ is our example, but lest we should look upon the
patience and suffering of Christ only as an example and nothing
more. In verse 24, which is my text. The Apostle Peter quickly writes
of the expiatory nature, the satisfaction of Christ when he
says, he who his own self bare our sins in his body on the tree,
that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose
stripes you were healed. The atonement is the heart of
the whole. The death of Christ is the foundation
of the whole gospel. Sin demands more than sympathy,
it demands suffering. Sin demands more than service,
it demands death. Sin demands more than promises,
it demands the shedding of blood. Here is the foundation of it.
All grace proceeds from the death of Christ. Whether it be the
behavior of the believer, whether it be the holiness of the elect,
whether it be the favor of God, it all springs from the death,
from the blood, from the sufferings of the Son of God. Now let me
give you five things, and this is the message. It was in view
of his death, it was in view of his death, that God chose
a people to be holy. It was in view of his death that
God chose a people to be redeemed. Now even when the Apostle Peter
is talking about putting away inward malice and envy and lust
and those things that destroy or war against the soul, even
when the Apostle Peter is talking about our being law-abiding and
honest citizens, even when the Apostle Peter is talking about
our subjection to kings and governors and magistrates and those who
have the rule over us. The basis of the whole thing
is our relationship to God through the death of His Son. It was
in view of this death that God chose a people. Now let me say
something here, and I want you to listen carefully. There are
so many wrong notions about the relationship which Christ bears
to the believer. Now here are some of them. Now
you listen to this and see if this is not what you hear preached.
Now listen carefully to it. Erase your prejudice for a moment.
God created man holy and upright. with the expectation that man
would remain holy. But man fell. And then, after
man fell, God came down here and called out a man called Abraham. And God purposed to build a nation
of people from this man Abraham. And God instructed these people
to follow him. He called them the Jewish nation,
but they didn't. Then God gave to these people
a ceremonial law. He went down after they got themselves
in the mess in Egypt, and they were in slavery and bondage.
God sent a man called Moses down there to bring them out. Moses
went down and delivered them, and then God met them out there
in the wilderness, and God gave them a ceremonial law. a law
of sacrifices, a law of ceremonies, a law of rituals, and then he
gave them a moral law, ten commandments. And he told them to obey those
commandments and they'd live to celebrate those sacrifices
and he'd accept them. But they didn't walk in either
law. Then God sent his Son into the world. All of these things
had failed. He created man in holiness, in
righteousness, and man fell. His efforts through Abraham failed,
his efforts through Moses failed, his efforts through the ceremonial
law failed, his efforts through the moral law failed, and now
he sent his son to be the Savior. And his son went to the cross
and died, and his son sent twelve disciples out, no longer to preach
the law, no longer to preach the ceremony, no longer to preach
only to the Jew, but to preach the gospel. And if anybody will
believe on the blood of Christ, God will save them. If they'll
accept Christ, God will save them. Well, this is failing,
too, because they are not believing, no more than the Jew did, no
more than the followers of Moses, no more than the people in the
wilderness. They're not believing either. Now my friends, the very
character of God makes these theories ridiculous. The very
character of God makes that ridiculous. In the first place, God who knows
all things, does your God know all things? God who knows all
things, He's omniscient, He knows all things. He knew Adam would
fall. So he certainly didn't put Adam
in the garden with the expectation that Adam would not fall. God
knows all things. He knew Adam would fall. And
then God who has all power, does God have all power? He said all
power over all flesh. All power in heaven and earth.
All authority. God who has all authority could
have prevented the fall. There's no way in the world for
us to say that God could not have prevented the fall. And
God who has all wisdom, He knows all things, and He has all wisdom. Not only does He know all things,
but He has the wisdom to bring to pass those things which are
right. He would never and could never
present any kind of plan that would fail. I say from this moment
all the way back to the garden, nothing God has ever attempted
with any purpose has failed. Now, man's failed. Man's failed
under every dispensation, but God hasn't failed. And God's
purposes have not failed. So the very character of God
makes this ridiculous. That God should put man in the
garden with expectation that he would stand, but man failed.
That God would raise up a nation with expectation that they would
follow Him when they wouldn't. That God would give a law with
expectation that man would keep it when he knew he wouldn't.
And then the very character of man makes these theories ridiculous.
God said to Adam in the garden, in the day you eat thereof you
shall die, and he did. And then for God to start giving
a dead man orders, and giving a dead man requirements, and
giving a dead man things to fulfill, and paths to walk, and laws to
keep, the Scripture says, in the flesh no man can please God.
The Scripture says what the law could not do in that it was weak
through the flesh, God sending His only begotten Son in the
flesh condemned sin in the flesh. Now listen to this. And this
is what this Bible teaches, and you listen to it. There was a
Savior before there was ever a sinner. He said, Preacher, can you prove
that? I can prove it over and over and over again. You want
to look at it? 1 Peter 1, verse 18. 1 Peter 1, 18. There was a Savior
before there was ever a sinner. In 1 Peter 1, 18, forasmuch as
you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, ceremonies
and sacrifices, laws and silver and gold, from your vain conversation
your evil nature received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ. You were redeemed with
the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world." Go back yonder. Now, there wasn't a man. There
had to be the foundations of the world laid before God stood
a man on it. So you go all the way back here,
he says, you are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ
who was foreordained, who was appointed, who was chosen before
the foundations of the world. But he was manifest, he was revealed
in these last times, for you who by him do believe in God. Christ was the Lamb slain before
the world ever began, before the foundations of the world
were ever laid, before God ever made Adam, before Adam ever fell.
Christ was standing in the wings as the appointed, ordained Redeemer
of sinners who then didn't even exist. Now look, if you will, at Hebrews
9. Hebrews 9, there was a Savior
before there was a sinner. The Savior didn't come after
the fall, he came before the fall. The covenant of mercy was
not ordained after the fall, it was ordained before the fall.
Look at Hebrews 9, verse 24. Christ is not entered into the
holy place made with hands. Christ is not an earthly priest.
He doesn't go in the tabernacle. that was ordained in the wilderness,
which is the figure of the truth. But Christ is entered as our
great High Priest, as our sacrifice, into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of the Father for us. Nor yet that he should
offer himself often as the High Priest entered into the holy
place every year with the blood of others." Now get this picture
before I read the next verse. Back in Old Testament days when
the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies once a year,
he'd have to go every year, every year on the Day of Atonement
to put the blood on the mercy seat because that animal blood
could never effectually put away sin. It was a picture of Christ.
It was a type of Christ who would come as our great high priest.
Now he says Christ didn't go into the holy place made with
hands, into the earthly tabernacle. Christ has entered into heaven
itself, and not every year, not every year as the priest. Now watch this next verse. For
then, if he went every year, Like that Old Testament priest,
must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world. For that's how old his priesthood
is. He has an everlasting priesthood.
You see, when Aaron was down here, or Levi, whoever these
priests were that went into the Holy of Holies, when they made
a man the high priest, the next year he went into the Holy of
Holies. And he went every year as long as his priesthood lasted. As long as he was a priest, he
had to go in there every year on the Day of Atonement with
a sacrifice. Every year, as long as his priesthood lasted. Now,
he said if Christ did that, he would have been going into the
Holy of Holies since the foundation of the world, because he's a
priest forever having no beginning and no ending after the order
of Melchizedek. Turn to Revelation 13a. What
are you saying, Brother May? And I'm saying this. And I'm saying it not because
it's popular. And I'm saying it not because man likes to hear
it. And I'm saying it not because it's the religion of this day,
and it's the assigned lesson for this October the 22nd. I'm saying it because it's God's
Word, that before there was ever a sinner on this earth, there
was a Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord, who in the purpose of Almighty
God was the sacrifice for sin. In Revelation 13, 8, all that
dwell upon the earth shall worship him, that is, the false Christ,
whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb,
Jesus Christ, slain from the foundation of the world. There
was a covenant of mercy before there was ever a man to partake
of it. There was a covenant of mercy,
there was an agreement to save sinners before there was ever
a sinner. There was a covenant, a contract, if you want to call
it that, between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit to
redeem sinners before there was ever a sinner. That's what the
Scripture said. Because our God is an all-wise
and all-knowing and all-seeing and ever-present God, He cannot
do things in time that He did not know and decree in eternity.
Turn with me to Hebrews 13. What are we saying? Here's what
we're saying now. There was a covenant of mercy before there was ever
a sinner to partake of it. In Hebrews 13, verse 20. Listen
to it. Now the God of peace had brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. Whether in eternity, whether
in the garden, whether under the Mosaic economy, whether in
the Middle Ages or today, every believer is and has been accepted
in the Beloved. Now the second thing I want to
say. It was in view of the death of Christ that God appointed
communion between Himself and man. It was in view of the death
of Christ. As I said a moment ago, Peter's
exhorting us to holiness because Christ died for us. He's exhorting
us to honesty because Christ died for us. He's exhorting us
to righteousness because Christ died for us. He's exhorting us
to glorify God because Christ died for us. And you can take
this principle all the way back yonder to the very council halls
of eternity when in view of the death of Christ, God chose you. When in view of the death of
Christ, God loved you. When in view of the death of
Christ, God accepted you. And on no other principle. Now
look at this. Turn back to Genesis 4. In Genesis
chapter 4. Now here's what we're saying
here. And I'm, I'm, we're laying the foundation, this is the very
foundation of the gospel that I'm laying this morning. It was
in view of the death of Christ that God appointed communion
at all between him, self, and man. In Genesis 4, and Adam knew
Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bear Cain. And she said,
I've gotten a man from the Lord. She again bear his brother Abel.
Abel was a keeper of sheep, Cain was a tiller of the ground. In
the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought of
the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. Now, I don't know
what that was, I just suppose that Cain was a farmer, and he
might have brought his corn, he might have brought some beautiful
apples, he might have brought some tomatoes, things that he
had, that were choice products of his fields, things he'd worked
hard and plowed and sowed and cultivated. And he got the first
part of the fruit of the ground and brought it as an offering
to the Lord. But now Abel, he brought of the firstling of his
flock, he brought a lamb. Abel went out and got the lamb
and slew the lamb and brought the blood and put it on the altar
as an offering unto the Lord. Now look at the next line. And
the Lord had respect for Abel and his offering. God had communion
with Abel. Cain, no communion, no acceptance. Now what's the difference? The
difference in the whole thing was the blood. That was the difference
in the whole attitude of God toward one boy and another. It
was the right offering, brought with the right attitude, looking
for the right sacrifice. God can have no communion with
you at all except in Christ. That's the reason Christ said,
I'm the way, the truth, and the light. No man cometh to the Father
but by me. It's impossible for Cain to have
any communion with God on the basis of his works. Abel has
communion with God on the basis of the right sacrifice, the blood
of Christ. We can go all the way through
the Bible and find that. Let's go to the book of John,
chapter 5. In John, chapter 5, beginning
with verse 45, in view of the death of Christ, God has ordained
communion. That sinner cannot approach God,
or pray to God, or fellowship with God, or know God, or expect
God to look with favor upon him, except as he goes to God through
Christ and the blood of Christ. In John 5, verse 45, look at
it. How can you believe which receive
honor one of another and seek not the honor that comes from
God. Verse 44, Do you think that I will accuse you to the Father?
There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, whom you trust. For
had you believed Moses, you would have believed me. He wrote of
me. Abraham saw my day." The communion
which Moses had, which Abel had with the Father, was through
the blood. Which Moses had with the Father was through Christ.
Which Abraham had with the Father was through Christ. It's in view
of his blood that God's ordained communion. Now, the third thing. It was in view of Christ's death
that God forgave Old Testament sinners. A lot of people think today that
God forgave Old Testament sinners because they were faithful men.
Or He forgave them their sins because they brought these sacrifices. He forgave them in view of Christ's
death. Look at Isaiah 53, verse 5 and
6. He was wounded. This is Old Testament
writer. This is an Old Testament prophet.
This is an Old Testament believer. This is 100 years before Calvary. This is not somebody writing
in the 15th, 14th, 13th century. This is somebody writing a long
time before Christ. This is a man writing back in
the days of the law, back in the days of the ceremony, back
in the days of the priesthood tabernacle. He was wounded for
our transgressions. We believe in the 20th century
that he was wounded for our transgression. We believe all the way back to
Peter, James, and John, he was wounded for their transgression.
But we think maybe back before Jesus came in the Old Testament,
maybe they were saved some other way. He was wounded for our transgression. Job said, I know that my Redeemer
lives in me. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes,
we're healed too. Not only are you healed by his
stripes, we're healed by his stripes. That's what the Old
Testament people said. Let me show you another verse or two.
Turn, if you will, to Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9.15. Listen to this. Hebrews 9.15. How are the Old Testament people
saved? By the blood of Christ. Listen
to this right here. Hebrews 9.15. And for this cause, He is the
mediator of the new covenant by means of death for the redemption
of the transgressions that were under the first covenant. That by means of death for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant. That's the covenant of works.
They which are called might receive the promise. of eternal inheritance. How? By means of his death. By means of his death. Let me
show you a couple of other things as we move along. I'm saying
this. There was a Savior before there was a sinner. And it was
in view of his death that God chose sinners. It was in view
of his death that God ordained communion with sinners. It was
in view of his death that God forgave Old Testament people
under the first covenant. Now the third, fourth thing,
it is in view of his death that the invitation of the gospel
is extended to you and to me. Turn to 2 Corinthians 5. It is
in view of his death that the invitation of the gospel is extended
to you. The basis of his death, not on
the basis of your service, not on the basis of what God can
get out of your years, Not on the basis of the influence that
you will have over your home or your community or your church,
but truly and absolutely on the basis of his death. With his
death in view, God invites you. Now, verse 20, 2 Corinthians
5, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did bestow you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God,
for for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin."
You come to God, for you can come, Christ has died. You believe
God, you can, because Christ died. You be reconciled to God,
you can, because Christ died. That's the basis on which you
can be reconciled to God. That's what the Apostle said.
The Apostle said, I'm an ambassador, and I'm with you. Be reconciled
to God, for the way is made. For he hath made him a sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him." It's the only way we can be made the righteousness
of God. Now look at Hebrews 10. Turn to Hebrews 10. And reading
this in the light of what I've just said, Hebrews 10, it was
in view of the death of Christ that the invitation of the gospel
was extended to you this morning. On that basis. Now look at Hebrews
10, beginning with verse 19. Having, therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. By the
blood of Jesus. There's none other name unto
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. There's no
other way. Having boldness to enter into
the holiest. How? By the blood of Jesus. For by
a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through
the veil," that is to say, his flesh, and having a high priest
over the house of God who has a suitable sacrifice, who has
a suitable sin offering, who has a suitable atonement, having
that high priest, let us draw near. Don't do it unless you
have a high priest. Don't dare come. Don't come unless
you have the right sacrifice. Don't you dare call on God without
Christ. That's what he's saying. You
have boldness to come into the Holy of Holies by the blood of
Jesus. You draw near with a true heart
with full assurance if you have high priest. If you don't, you
stay away. Just like that high priest who
went into the Holy of Holies didn't dare go without sacrifice.
Now the next thing, quickly, it's in view of his death. that
baptism has been ordained. Turn to Mark 16, in his death. Without his death, baptism has
no meaning. Without his death, baptism has
no meaning, no picture. It has no message. In Mark 16,
beginning with verse 15, "...and he said unto them, Go ye into
all the world, and preach the gospel." to every creature, the
gospel. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. Now baptism has no meaning without
the gospel. I wouldn't hurt anybody's feelings
here this morning on purpose, but anybody who brings a little
baby up in front of a church to be what they call baptized
is making a mockery of baptism, because baptism has no meaning
without the death of Christ. Baptism has no meaning without
the gospel. The only person who has any right
to be baptized is a person who has believed. He that believeth
and is baptized. He that believes the gospel and
is baptized shall be saved. Now brethren, somebody asked
me one time about public invitations. I don't say that a person has
to come down the aisle after the preacher preaches the gospel
like I've preached to you this morning. I step down here and
I say, anybody want to confess Christ? God has convicted you
of sin. You're a sinner. You're lost.
You need a Savior. You've seen that Christ died
for your sins. And you trust Him. You believe
on Him. You've received Him in your heart as your Lord and Savior.
You say, He saved me, preacher. He's my Lord. He's my Savior.
Why should I walk down that aisle? No particular reason. except
maybe this, it gives you an opportunity to say to other people that Christ
is your Lord. He said in his word, he that
confesseth me before men, I'll confess him. And he that denieth
me before men, I'll deny him. and through the Bible and find
different places where the prophet of God, on God's orders, has
stood in front of the people and said, he is on the Lord's
side, make it known right now, step out here, and they did.
But really and truly, throughout the New Testament, and I tell
you honestly this is true, throughout the New Testament, the way to
publicly confess Christ is to be baptized. Now that's the way
they did it in the New Testament. I don't think in the New Testament
that they were on the isle. I have no objection to that.
I'm for that. You know that. There are several
other reasons. Number one, it gives you an opportunity to confess
Christ. It gives the church an opportunity
to meet you, the church with whom you are identifying yourself.
You're now identifying yourself with the people of God. It gives
those people an opportunity to be identified with you, and to
know you, and to welcome you, and to meet you, you see. And that's all right. That's
fine with me. But here's the way you confess Christ right
here. This is the New Testament way. I don't mean sprinkling
either. I mean immersion. That's the way the New Testament
confessed Christ. At Pentecost, Peter told them
to be baptized. The Ethiopian eunuch was baptized.
The Philippian jailer was baptized. Cornelius was baptized. Lydia
was baptized. Our Lord says right here, go
preach the gospel, and he that believe it and is baptized shall
be saved, and he that believe it not will be damned. Well,
let's go on record right here, and I want everybody to understand
this. When I close a message and step down here and say, anybody
who is saved and who wants to publicly confess Christ as your
Lord and Savior, I'm giving you an opportunity to do what Christ
told you to do. Let people know that you trust
Him, you believe Him, you're not ashamed of Him. He that believeth
shall not be ashamed. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel. Don't let your timidity and don't
let your inferior feelings make you sin against God. He said,
I'm so bashful I can't walk out in front of people. Don't you
let that make you sin against God. God's commanded you to do
some things too. And when they sent you your greetings
in World War II, if you're now drafted, you didn't sit in the
back room at home and say, I'm too timid to show up in a crowd.
You showed up because you got your orders. You showed up or
you went to jail. Now, a man, when he gets his
orders from God to confess God, Christ, publicly, he doesn't
sit in the back row and say, I'm too shy, I'm too timid. You
better follow orders. And the orders of God are that
you confess Him, and here's the way He said to confess in baptism.
That's true. And you turn to, if you will,
to Romans 6. Now turn over here a minute,
Romans 6. But now what I'm saying is, this is in the light of the
death of Christ. Baptism is in view of the death
of Christ. It's saying, here it is right
here, Romans 6, 3. Listen to it. No you're not.
So many of us, as we're baptized into Jesus Christ, we're baptized
into His death. Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism into death. That like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so also we
also should walk in newness of life. For we have been planted
together in the likeness of his death. We shall also, we shall
be also in the likeness of resurrection. Christ died, he was buried in
the grave, he rose again. Baptism is being carried with
him in baptism into death, in the likeness of his death, burial,
and resurrection. That's the reason baptism was
ordained. Now, 1 Corinthians 11, I'm keeping you long, but
I want you to get this now. This is the very heart of holiness. This is the heart of honesty.
This is the heart of grace, the foundation of mercy. This is
the whole story. This is it. The death of Christ. And my motivation is the death
of Christ. My love is motivated by the death
of Christ. My honesty and holiness and righteousness,
I have an obligation to the glory of my Lord. I'm supposed to live
not unto myself, but unto Him who loved me and died for me. Now, we recognize these young
men who gave their lives in the service of their country for
our freedom. Nobody would secrete those monuments
or the memories of those boys because they gave the ultimate
sacrifice that we might enjoy what we enjoy. And Christ Jesus
gave His life that I might enjoy His mercy. Now look here, if
you were 1 Corinthians 11, verse 23. It was in view of the death of
Christ that the Lord's Supper was ordained. For I received
the Lord, that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus,
the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when
he had given, I break it, said, Take eat, this is my body which
is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. After the
Sabbath, he took the cup, and when he had supped, saying, This
cup is the New Testament in my blood, this do ye, as oft as
you drink in remembrance of me." Now, the Lord's Supper is not
a Baptist fellowship supper. I know there are churches all
over the land who pray and believe and practice what they call close
communion. Now, as I said, I don't want
to hurt anybody's feelings, and I don't want to be mean, but that is
foolish. Foolish. It's not a church fellowship
supper. It's the Lord's supper. And then
I know people who say, I've known pastors who don't even practice
the Lord's table. They say, the church, well, the
church is not in fellowship. There's division in the church.
There's strife in the church. We don't eat the Lord's table.
We're not worthy. Our worthiness to eat the Lord's
table is not our fellowship with one another. It's our knowledge
of Him. of him. If I waited for everybody
in this church to be of one mind before we had the Lord's table,
we'd never have it. The Lord's table is not ordained
as a superstitious token either. It's not a magic thing that we
can come and take the bread and the wine and feel that. Here's
what it is. It was ordained as a memorial
feast. set forth and to show forth the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it's for. Look at
here, he said he took the bread and he break it and he hand it
to his disciples. It doesn't matter whether they're
from Ashland or from Texas or from Virginia or where they are.
They believe Christ, they love Christ, they're saved by his
blood, they're his disciples. Here, this is my body broken
for you. Eat it in remembrance of me. in remembrance of me. When I
take this bread up here and eat at the Lord's table with you,
I'm not thinking about my friendship and fellowship with Don Pfitzer.
My mind's not even on Don. My mind's on Christ. He died
for me. This is a symbol of his body. This is a representation of his
body broken for me. Oh God, thank you. The body of
Christ broken for me. And he said, this is the blood.
He took the wine and he said, this represents my blood shed
for you. And as often as you drink this
wine and eat this bread, you show my death. Not your holiness. You show my death. Not your worthiness. You show my death. Not your faithfulness. You show my death. Till I come. That's what it's all about. That's
what it's all for. If you come for any other reason,
you're in trouble because he said, whosoever, verse 27, shall
eat this bread and drink this cup unworthily. And what's he
talking about unworthily? He's talking about not discerning
the Lord's body, understanding the principles for which it was
instituted and ordained to show forth Christ's death. Churches
that don't preach the blood of Christ should never take the
Lord's table. because he eats and drinks that nation to himself.
That's what's said. All right, last of all, and I
quit. In John 3, it's in view of the
death of Christ that God's going to judge sinners. Now, the issue
between you and God, now listen to me, I don't want to minimize
this thing, but I do want to ring a clear bell here, the issue
between you and God. is not that you stole a watermelon
one day. That's not the issue. A lot of
people sit around and cry about different things that they did
back yonder. The issue between you and God
is not that you lied to your mama. The issue between you and
God is not that back yonder 21 years ago you went out with the
boys one night and got drunk. That ain't the issue. The issue between you and God
is Jesus Christ. That's right. That's the issue. You've got the blood of God on
your hands. Your sins, your rebellion crucified the Son of God. That's the issue. God's angry
with you. God's angry with you. You tried
to throw God off his throne back in the Garden of Eden. That's
the issue. When he did his son down here
in this world, you said, I'm not going to have that man reign
over me. And you took him outside the city wall, nailed him to
a cross, and you shouted, Let his blood be on us and our children.
And God's not happy with that. God's angry about that. And Almighty
God's going to judge sinners on the basis of their attitude
toward His Son. You read that, John 3, verse
18, He that believeth on Christ 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. It couldn't be plainer. The issue between you and God
is you're not giving glory to His Son. The issue between you
and God is you're not falling at the feet of His Son and worshiping
Him. The issue between you and God
is you don't love Christ, you don't adore His death and His
blood is not precious to you, and God's angry about that. God's
angry. This is condemnation. Look at
the next verse. Look at it. This is the condemnation
that light came into this world. Who was that light? That was
Christ. And you loved darkness rather than light. You didn't
love him because your deeds were evil. How about verse 36? He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life. that God abideth on him. One other verse, 2 Thessalonians
1, 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 7 through 9. Look at it now. And to you who are trouble, 2
Thessalonians 1, 7, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall
be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming
fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now this old boy here
preaching baptism got half a truth. Got half a truth. And his half a truth turns into
a whole error. But all error has some margin
of truth in it, or it wouldn't even be acceptable to anybody.
He's crying out to obey the gospel and be baptized. He's got half
a truth. The thing he's missing is the foundation of it all.
The thing he's missing, what I've been pointing out this morning,
it was in view of the death of Christ that God chose a people. It was in view of the death of
Christ that God ordained communion with man. It was in view of the
death of Christ that the Old Testament sinner is forgiven.
It was in view of the death of Christ that you're invited to
come to God. It's in view of the death of
Christ that baptism is ordained, and it's ordained. Now, don't
you go the other way with a half a truth and say, well, just believe,
and it doesn't make any difference whether you're baptized or not.
Now, you've got half a truth, and your half a truth develops
into an error. His that requires you to be baptized
in order to be saved, but yours that requires you not even to
confess Christ, is an error too, because God is going to judge
men on the basis of their relationship with Him through the death of
Christ. Our Father, take the Word and
honor Thy Name. Teach us something, not of ourselves,
reveal our need, open our hearts to see ourselves as we really
are, sinners needing a Savior, and open our eyes to behold the
beauty and the glory and the perfection, the holiness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Let our minds dwell on Christ
and His sacrifice and His blood and His offering and His intercession. Speak to the hearts of the people
this morning as it pleaseth thee, as it will bring most glory to
thy name. We ask for Christ's sake. Amen.