Let us go to the word of prayer to begin our service this evening. Our dear gracious Heavenly Father, we're thankful that we have been able to assemble together this evening. Our hearts are saddened because there are some among us who are sick and afflicted. We just pray your mercies upon them that you would be pleased to touch their bodies and heal them. Pray, dear Heavenly Father, that they might be able to return amongst us this coming Lord's Day. Now, dear Heavenly Father, as we open your word, we pray that you would teach us, that you would instruct us, and that the truths we see, we would be grounded, that we would stand fast upon. And yea, that as our forefathers in ages past have defended and even given their lives for, that we, dear Heavenly Father, would do the same. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Last week we began under the title Alien Baptism and really didn't get too much into what is alien baptism because Before we address what alien baptism is, it is essential, necessary, that we see what scriptural baptism is. And we got through three of the four scriptural standards for scriptural baptism last week, looking at the proper subject, which is one who has repented of their sins and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. And upon their profession of faith, they are then a candidate, scriptural candidate, for baptism. We want to get through this this week so we'll not reiterate much on each of the three points that we covered. The second point was the proper mold, or some say the proper method, the proper form, and that is The only thing scriptures know, in fact, the very definition of the word translated baptized, baptism, demands that it is immersion, a plunging, a burial in water, if you please. Which brings us to the next point that we covered, and that was the proper design, the proper purpose of baptism. Baptism does not save. There's no Such thing as baptismal regeneration. The purpose of baptism is to picture the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and your repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And thus you are saying when you enter into the waters of baptism that you have died to sin and that you are raised to newness of life. You're raised to walk in the paths of God and the ways of God, which is a new way of life before that you were Tonight we look at the fourth standard that scripture gives to us, and that is a proper administrator. You must have the proper subject, and it must be done in the right mold. the right manner, the right method, and it must be done for the right purpose. And there must be a proper administrator, one who is authorized to administer baptism. Baptism not involving A proper administrator is not valid baptism. A proper administrator is one of the Lord's kind of churches. A New Testament Baptist church One that is adhering to the doctrine of Christ. I don't mean one that says, well, they believe that, but one who is adhering to it in practice. You can talk all you want about what you believe, but if it is not evidenced in your practice, then you do not believe it. True Baptists believe that the Lord's kind of church, a local New Testament church, that is one adhering to the teachings of Christ, the doctrine of Christ, As we are given the doctrine of Christ in the New Testament, think about that. He gave his apostles his teaching. For three and a half years, they went to the Lord's university and they learned the teachings of Christ. And they carried on the teachings of Christ, but the apostles were to cease with the completion of the New Testament. And many of the apostles were instrumental in writing the New Testament. Matthew and John wrote two of the Gospels. The other two writers were influenced and taught by the apostles and wrote the other two, Mark and Luke. Luke writing another book, the book of the Acts of the Apostles, recording that. We have the Apostle Paul, instrumental in writing all the epistles and the church epistles and the pastoral epistles, as well as the book of Hebrews. We have John, the Apostle John, then not only writing the Gospel of John, but writing 1 and 2 and 3 John. the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ. So we have the New Testament is the recorded teachings of Christ. For us to read and to study and to believe and to practice in our own practice. That church is a body of baptized believers in Christ Jesus, assembled and banded together to carry out the command of Christ, the commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, to baptize the saved and teach them the all things whatsoever Christ had commanded unto them. He who has all authority gave to his church, Matthew chapter 28, and you can see in verse 16, he was speaking to the 11 apostles, representatives of his first church, when he gave them That commission, it was his church, the one he built, the one he called and he set apostles in and he set all the members in. And so they grew to a number of about 120 by the day of Pentecost. And then on the day of Pentecost, he multiplied that number, adding 3,000 souls. And you can follow the multiplication of that church into the eighth chapter of the book of Acts. Probably by the time the eighth chapter of the book of Acts comes around, They numbered 15,000 to 20,000 plus members at the church at Jerusalem. And then, upon the stoning of Stephen, the persecution of Stephen, they were scattered, scattered abroad, and they went everywhere preaching the gospel. They went as far as Antioch, not to be confused with Antioch and Pisidia. This was Antioch, maybe just at the outskirts of what is now known as Turkey. At least it's up there in the bend. right next to what is now known as Turkey. And that's a long ways from Jerusalem up to there. But they went as far as Antioch, preaching the gospel. And souls were saved at Antioch. And so the church at Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch to organize them into a scriptural church. And then he traveled up to Tarsus from there to seek out Saul and bring him to Antioch. And they continued there a whole year teaching the church. Teaching them what? Teaching them the things of the teachings of Christ. So that they might grow and be steadfast, not be a baby church, but that they might be a strong church of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can read all of that in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. You can see the progression and the vast growth of the church and how when they were scattered, when everywhere preaching the word, how the churches were organized and came up. You can see the church at Antioch sending out Saul and Barnabas. on their first missionary journey. And you can see their pattern of preaching the word, baptizing and organizing scriptural churches and ordaining of elders. Two. You must have a proper administrator. We didn't turn to the book of Matthew in chapter 28 and see that he had given the direction. We've been there several times over the last two or three months. You're familiar with that passage of scripture. But if you need to refresh your memory, you can turn there later on in your homes and you can review it. See, he didn't give that commission. to just anyone. He gave it to his church, to his kind of church, one that had his teachings and one who was standing for his teachings and not another. So we come this evening to what is alien baptism. What is alien baptism? What is any baptism that does not meet all four, all four of these scriptural requirements? It is Any baptism that involves the wrong candidate, one who's not really saved. So infants are not a proper candidate. Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc. Any of those who baptize infants. I don't care what the rest of their doctrinal statement is. Anyone who baptizes infants. It's wrong. Getting that infant wet the least little bit is not a valid baptism. Alien baptism is any baptism that makes use of the wrong mode, the wrong method in their baptism. Sprinkling. Pouring. Basically, as any non-Baptist, and some, and some so-called Baptists, It is any baptism that involves the wrong purpose. All those included in this category would be that in some way or form in their teaching or at least in their practice. Promote baptismal regeneration. It's alien baptism. Must be. They regenerated. They saved a believer. Alien baptism. is any baptism that was performed by the wrong administrator, which is everyone who is not a true New Testament church, like the Lord's kind of church, as is determined by The teaching which they teach and the practice which they practice. All of these that we have named who perform infant baptism or sprinkle or pour or for baptismal regeneration. They're not a proper administrator. Their baptism is null and void. It's alien. It's foreign to scripture. It's foreign to what we've seen in our studies of scripture. I want to give you an example. one such example in scripture. Turn with me to the book of Acts. The book of Acts in chapter 19. And we'll begin reading with verse one, read about five verses here. And it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus. and findeth certain disciples. He said unto them, have you received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, we have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. Well, that would be strange, huh? If they had received proper baptism. And he said unto them, unto what then were ye baptized? And they said unto John, Baptism. Well, John did not come baptizing in his own name. He preached the baptism of repentance. He preached repent and believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He pointed those in his preaching To Christ, not to himself. That's what Paul says here. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him. which should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. He pointed them to Christ Jesus, to faith in Christ Jesus. Repent of your sins, confess that you are a sinner, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one who can save you. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. They may have been saved disciples. They may have been baptized, but they were baptized by one who come along saying he was baptizing in John's baptism with the same baptism that John baptized. Well, he didn't baptize with the same baptism John did. If he'd have been baptizing with the same baptism John did, he would have been preaching Jesus Christ. and to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. So Paul took care of these. And the fact of the matter is, because of what Paul told him and everything, it leaves some doubt in my mind as to whether they were really believers or not when Paul encountered them. By the time Paul got done preaching the gospel to them, they were believers and they received proper scriptural baptism from Paul who had authority from the church at Antioch to baptize those. Improper administrators are those who believe salvation by works, that it is possible to lose your salvation, that it is possible to live above sin in the world. In other words, you reach a point in this life where you're sinless. What does 1 John 1a say? If we say that we have no sin, we've deceived ourselves and the truth is not in us. We're deceiving when we say that we reached that pinnacle of sinless. Perfection. It's a lie. It's not the truth. It's not the teachings of Christ. Those who deny the Trinity of the Godhead. Yes, there are those who call themselves churches, but they deny the Trinity of the Godhead. True Baptist churches do not recognize alien baptism. I believe we said last week at the start, our forefathers, even before they were called Baptists, defended this truth, insisted on those who came from other denominations, be scripturally baptized upon their profession of faith. True Baptists insist on it today, just as our forefathers insisted. In fact, thousands and thousands, tens of thousands of saints gave their lives, were burned, were beheaded for this great truth. And we have so-called Baptists today who are denying it and they receiving in to their membership anyone who wants to be a member regardless of where or how they were baptized before. What a shame. We believe that baptisms or other denominations are null and void. They lack one or more of the scriptural requirements. Turn with me to the book of 2 John. The book of 2 John, we opened with this passage of scripture last week. 2 John and Of course, chapter one, verse nine, whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, He hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house. Neither bid him Godspeed. For he that bid him Godspeed is partaker of his evil deed. Now, who is this written to? Go up to the first verse. The elder, John, unto the elect lady, a church, and her children, whom I love in the truth. And not I only, but also all them that have known the truth. So he's addressing this to a church and to her offspring, those who begat, she begat other churches of like faith and practice that she begat. Verses five through seven. And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. That's what the apostles received from the beginning. In the 13th chapter of the book of John, Jesus told him, a new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another. And this is love. That we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment that as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. For many deceivers are entered into the world. Many deceivers. Those who do not walk after that commandment, the commandment of Christ, who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. The children of God love one another. And true love is walking in it. It is walking in His commandments. Jesus said to His, the 11 apostles, if you love me, keep my commandments, John 14, 15. There are Many deceivers, those who profess to be walking in this love, professing to love people. Oh, they love this person and they love that person, but they're deceivers. And they deny that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. How do they deny it? By their deeds? By their actions? They deny it. They deny Him. They deny His church. They are deceivers. And our verse says they're antichrists. Hey, don't take issue with me. I'm just reading to you the Word of God. If you've got a problem with the Word of God, then you've got a problem. Look at verses 8 and 9. Look to yourselves that we lose not the things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. We're preaching these things tonight and last week. That we don't lose that which we've worked for, stood for, whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ. Is the Grace Baptist Church going to continue? Are they going to continue to abide in the doctrine of Christ? That's what we've been preaching to you the last couple of weeks. In our trek through Matthew and now the book of John, that's what we've been preaching to you. The doctrine of Christ. The doctrine of Christ is who he is, where he came from, And what he did and taught. And we have recorded for us all of that in the New Testament. Who he is, where he came from, and what he did and taught. And taught to his church. And so now we come to verses 10 and 11. If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, into the house of God here in Melbourne, receive him not. Neither bid him God's speed, for he that bid of him God's speed." In other words, put the blessings of God upon him. Come on in, brother. You're partaker of his evil deeds. And true Baptists stand for this truth. Because not to stand forward and to receive those in who do not have scriptural baptism, who have alien baptism, is to be partaker of those other denominations, whether it be individual or a organized denomination, is to be partaker of their evil deeds. And our forefathers have stood against it right up to this present day, and we have stood against it for all these years. Pray to God that we continue to stand against it. Well, that's our preaching on the subject of alien baptism.