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I might take just a short time
tonight. We'll see where this goes. But as we were singing
that last or second to last hymn of a very personal song of experience
that the writer was giving there, I was thinking as we were singing
those words, happy day, happy day when Jesus washed my sins
away. says, he taught me how to watch
and pray and to live rejoicing every day. So it's speaking of
a personal, a very personal relationship that a sinner saved by grace
has with the Lord Jesus Christ. And I was thinking about God's
work within his people and how that God works. And I was thinking
of everybody in this room that can say with truth and conviction
that he brought me to himself. He taught me how to watch and
pray. He taught me to know him. and to love him and to serve
him, I was thinking that's a whole lot of grace. So we just have
really a pretty small group of people in here this evening.
For those who have been called by God's grace, do you realize
what an amazing amount of grace that that represents? When we
think about our lives individually and think about the fact we know
what scripture says, that we're born into this world lifeless
spiritually, dead to Christ, dead to the things of God, blinded
to spiritual realities, in love with our own sins, hardened to
the gospel, hardened to Christ. And we know that by what the
scripture says, but also look at our own experience and see
the different ways that God called us by His grace. It really is
amazing. and how that God works to reveal
truth to us after that he calls us to be born again. He brings
us the gospel that we may understand and know and believe and rejoice
in Christ Jesus. I was reading this week an article
about the country of Albania, a country in Eastern Europe.
And I think for about 500 years, they were under the rule of Muslims
under the Ottoman, what used to be the Ottoman Empire for
many years. And then in the 1960s, they were taken over with communist
rule. And it really touched my heart to see how that Christians
in neighboring countries would, had a heart for these people
who were in these closed environment. This kind of thing still happens
today in places like North Korea. But some Christians would take
tourist trips over to Albania just to pray. They couldn't do
anything legally. They would go just, they had
a heart to pray for these oppressed people who also had spiritual
needs, obviously. And then some would send over
balloons over into the country that had some kind of gospel
literature in those balloons. Some would send over waterproof
packages that would float on the Adriatic Sea in bottles with
snippets, pages of truth in there. And the person who was writing
this article says, I know a man who picked up a bottle on a beach
and the Lord opened his heart and that which was written in
that page had a profound impact in his life. Now, your story
may not be that dramatic, but it is, right? Every story of
grace is amazing. Every story of grace is dramatic. I know a young man who grew up
in a Christian home, grew up in church, grew up, you know,
knowing all the lingo, knowing all these things, and then family,
grievous family trouble hit his home. and he turned far away
from God. He went wild, wild, he said. And he was down in another state
attending college. And he said the first semester,
because of his lifestyle, the consequences, he got a DUI. So
that was God's first punch. To the second one, I got a D.
The second semester, I got a D. Always been a straight-A student.
To the third semester, his grandfather, who he grew up next door to,
tremendous impact on his life, died. It's like the Lord was
just pound, pound, pound, and brought him to the dust, brought
him to the ground. And he said, it took me a long
time to see how God could really justify a sinner. It took me
a long time to see and understand that I who didn't deserve it,
I who had done all these terrible things could really be just in
the eyes of God. It seemed wrong in a way. But
now he rejoices, rejoices in the God of his salvation. I remember in my own life being
just a young boy of nine years old and Nothing super dramatic, but I
remember the words of a hymn in a Wednesday night service
that pierced my heart. And I remember, after the service
was over, grabbing my mother and dad and saying, I have got
to talk to you, and sharing with them what God was doing in my
life. Now, there was a lot of immature,
foolish moments after that. But I do remember coming up from
the waters of baptism and weeping tears of joy. And I remember
soon after that having an intense hunger for the Word of God. I
wish it had lasted forever, but an intense hunger for the Word
of God, to know the Lord. If you look with me in the book
of John, the Gospel of John chapter six, the Gospel of John chapter
six, Jesus is speaking to these Jews who were rejecting him.
And Jesus points them back to, they were following him here
because he had done some miracles with some bread. And he had been
able to use these small pieces of bread and feed thousands of
people with a little bit of bread. And Jesus said, you're seeking
me because you saw the miracles. But listen, there's a bread that's
far more valuable than that. So we start reading in verse
25 of John chapter 6. In verse 25 he says, When they
had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him,
Rabbi, when camest thou hither? Jesus answered them and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw
the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were
filled. Labor not for the meat which
perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting
life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you. For him God the
Father hath sealed. They said unto him, What shall
we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered
and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe
on him whom he hath sent. They said, therefore, unto him,
what sign showest thou then that we may see and believe thee?
What dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in
the desert. As it is written, he gave them
bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from
heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth
life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord,
evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But
I said unto you that ye also have seen me and believe not.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from
heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent
me. And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that
of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of
Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth
on Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the
last day. We'll skip down to verse 44 where
Jesus said, No man can come to me, except the Father which hath
sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught
of God. Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of
the Father cometh unto me. Jesus went back to this story
because they said Moses, our fathers ate manna in the desert.
They're talking about how that when the children of Israel were
wandering in the wilderness for those 40 years, that God miraculously
supplied them with bread. This bread that would come down
every single day and was enough for their needs and that which
was sufficient for them. And of course, we know eventually
they got tired of the manna and they wanted other things to eat, but God
was faithful to give them this bread from heaven. And so these
Jews are using this. They're going back to their heritage.
They're going back to all the stories that they know. They said, our
fathers ate in the man in the wilderness, and that's nothing
so special. But Jesus said, Moses didn't
give you that real bread from heaven. See, the manna was never
an end in itself. The manna was to supply their
needs, but the manna was also a picture of Jesus Christ. The
manna was pointing ahead to a true bread that would come down from
heaven. Not a literal bread, of course, but the bread which
Christ would bring, which was life to his people in the world. And so Jesus said, I am the bread
of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But
I say that ye also have seen me, and believe not. And then
Jesus says these words, All that the Father giveth me shall come
to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Jesus speaks here with confidence,
doesn't He? Jesus speaks here because He
knows the will of His Father. Jesus is not blind. He's not
ignorant of the will of His Father. And He speaks here with great
conviction. And He speaks even to some of them, that you've
seen me, but you don't believe. But I'm not panicking. because
all that the Father hath given me shall come to me." See, God
does an amazing work of grace in those that He gave to the
Lord Jesus Christ. God, by His power, by His Spirit,
draws people who naturally are opposed to Christ, who naturally
are in the shackles and the bondage of sin, and God changes their
heart and draws them to Christ Jesus to see His glory, and to
see His beauty, and by faith to eat of Him as the bread of
life. And the fact of the matter is
today, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, it's because this right
here happened to you. It's because God the Father drew
you to Himself. Because God, you were seen in
the covenant of grace from before the world began, and God the
Father gave you to His Son, and at a certain point in time, God
ordained to bring you to life, bring you to faith that you may
see His Son and believe upon Him and embrace Him. You know
that good news to know that? That we serve a sovereign God
who's a mighty God, a powerful God, who all of the sinfulness
of man, all the darkness of the world cannot hinder God and His
purposes that He is determined to fulfill. You know, we look
in a world today that's full of darkness, full of spiritual
just terribleness. I can't think of any adjectives,
but it's just an awful world that we live in. And getting
darker, we live in a culture that's increasingly running away
from God. And we pray, we cry out to God
for mercy, we say, Lord, we read some of the songs, Lord, how
long? The faithful fail from the children of men, the godly
man ceases. And we look at this passage of
Scripture and say, wow, even from this mass of filthiness
and sin, the Lord Jesus Christ will draw His people to Himself.
Isn't that good to know? That Christ, by His grace, by
His love, by His mercy, that everyone that He gave His life
for on the cross of Calvary, He's going to bring to Himself
in repentance and faith that they may know Him and have a
living relationship with Him, that they can be a vine in a
branch that Brother Jarrett prayed about in his prayer and have
faith and communion with the Living God. Some of you may have
never professed faith in Jesus Christ. You've never publicly
committed yourself to follow Christ and been baptized. You
may wonder, what does it take, what needs to happen before that?
Well, obviously this needs to happen, right? We as Baptists
believe in a regenerate church membership, that the assembly
of the house of God is for those who've been called and quickened
by God's grace, those who've been given life, who've been
given faith, who lay hold of the things of the Lord. Well,
Jesus said here, all that the Father giveth me shall come to
me. and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out."
To come to God, to come to Christ, means to believe upon Him, which
is obvious from the context. But Jesus gives some great encouragement
here. We may wonder, what does it mean to believe? What does
it really mean to believe upon Him? I know facts in my head. I've
been raised from a child that there's God, there's one God,
and the Trinity, and I can give you memory verses and all these
things. But let me look to a couple of passages of Scripture to show
the nature of true faith that God gives. Because faith is not
just bare facts. It is facts, but it's not just
bare facts. But it is a trusting of the heart. It is a confidence
of the heart. It's a throwing of the heart upon the grace of
God. I love the way it's spoken here
in the Gospel of John chapter 1. It says here in verse, we'll
start in verse 10. Speaking of Jesus, it says, He
was in the world and the world was made by Him and the world
knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His
own received Him not. But as many as received Him,
to them gave He power, the authority, to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His name." The expression there, believe
on His name, in the Greek, it's literally a believing into Him. It's believing into Him. It's
throwing oneself upon Christ. It's more than just saying, I
have an intellectual idea that Matthew 1.21 is true. I have
an intellectual thought that Jesus is the Savior. That's true.
But true faith is even more than that. It is a heart that throws
itself upon Christ for mercy. It is the Spirit of, like some
of these in the Gospel accounts, who would come to Jesus knowing
their physical affliction, knowing their leprosy, knowing their
need and saying, Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy upon
me. It's like the woman, the Syrophoenician
woman, a Gentile woman who came to Jesus and begged for a favor
and Jesus said, it's not right for me to give the bread to dogs,
you're a Gentile. And she said, Lord, even the
dogs can eat a crumb from the Master's table. She said, Lord,
I'm not going anywhere else. You are plan A, and there is
no other plan. You are the only option that
there is. I trust You. I look to You as
my sufficiency. I look to You as the fountain
of grace. I look to You as the only one who can cleanse me and
wash me and forgive me of my sins. So Lord, just let me have
a crumb. Do you have faith like that?
Do you see your need of a Savior? Do you see your need of one to
cleanse you and to wash you. We can know about our sins intellectually,
can't we? There's probably hardly anybody
you'll meet in the world that says, I'm a perfect person. Everybody goes, yeah,
nobody's perfect. But you know, the conviction of sin that the
Holy Spirit brings, it looks differently in some people than
others, but the conviction of sin brings what the Bible calls
godly sorrow. Godly sorrow. A sin that's not
just, oh, I messed up again, I look like an idiot again. A
conviction that says, oh, I got in trouble, I lost some privileges.
But the conviction of sin is sorrow of the heart over having
offended the God who's been so good to me. Conviction of sin
sees God as a glorious being, a wonderful being, a good God,
and sees my sins as one that I have crossed His line, I have
transgressed His ways, and is grieved over the ways that I
have offended God. That is true repentance or true
conviction of sin. Look also in the book of 2 Timothy
chapter 2. Here's what the faith that God
gives looks like. In 2 Timothy, I love Paul's words here. 2 Timothy chapter 1. Paul says
here in verse 12, this is Paul's last letter that he wrote. And
he says here in verse 12, he says, and have persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that
day." I love this. Now, Paul's not writing this
as an intellectual treatise from an air-conditioned office. He's writing from a prison at
the end of his life after he's been beaten with rods and shipwrecked
and he suffered for the sake of Christ for many, many years.
He's coming to the very end. He's not regretting the way that
he's living. He's not regretting because, listen, he says, I know
whom I believed. I know whom I believe and I'm persuaded that
He's able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against
that day." The word committed is the idea of depositing, of
depositing. Now, if you have a bank account,
children, if you're old enough for that, or adults, if you've
already got one, what do you do? You take your wealth, you
take your resources, you take something that's valuable to
you, and you deposit it with somebody that you don't even
know. You just know them by their name tags, all you know. But
you have confidence that your money is safe in that financial
institution. You have confidence that your
money is going to be taken well care of, and you leave, and you
don't even worry. You say, boy, I hope it's all right there.
Paul said, I have deposited the well-being of my soul into the
hands of Jesus Christ. He's able to keep that which
I've committed unto Him against that day. That's amazing. Paul
said, I can't save myself, I can't wash my own soul, I can't answer
for myself on judgment day, but I'm committing the welfare of
my soul to the One who's able to take care of all that, the
One who has taken care of all that by His glorious grace. And so, for one to follow the
Lord Jesus Christ, for one to take up their cross, in baptism
and to follow Christ is, this is the requirement of one who
sees their sins, of one who mourns over their sins, one who reckons,
they don't make excuses for their sins, but they see more than
their sins, they see Jesus and they see Him as a full and complete
Savior and they desire to follow Him. Now back in John chapter
6, Jesus gives some great, great words of encouragement to us. This verse 37, Jesus said in
verse 37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. We
rejoice in that. But then he says this, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise or by any means, we could
say, cast out. Those words have been great encouragement
to many, many people through the years. Some people might
think, well, how could I come to the Lord? How could I trust
in Him? How could I publicly claim His
name and me having something to do with Him because seeking
His grace? How could I identify myself with
Him in view of who that I am? I'm not worthy. I'm just little
old me. I make many mistakes. I'm not
like some of these spiritual people in church. I fall short
in so many ways. I have some skeletons in my closet.
I have things I'm embarrassed about, things I regret. What
does Jesus say? Him that comes to me, I'm not
going to shut the door. Him that comes to me, I will
no wise cast out. I won't cast them out when they
first come and seek forgiveness and mercy, and I won't cast them
out anywhere down the line. And along with that is the verse
Brother Zach read on Wednesday night in 1 Timothy chapter 1,
talking about Paul as a pattern. Notice something that Paul specifically
said here about God using him as a pattern. In 1 Timothy chapter
1, in verse 16, Paul said, Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy,
that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all what? All
what? All longsuffering for a pattern
to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting. Some might say, How in the world
could I ever hope for forgiveness? How in the world could I ever
dare to hope that God would think well of someone like me? And
Paul says, you know what Jesus did? He showed my experience. He showed my story as a pattern
of his long suffering to all those who will believe upon him.
Look at Paul's life. Look at Paul's life. Paul was
a hater of Jesus Christ. Paul persecuted Christians. Paul,
it says in his own testimony in the book of Acts, that Paul
compelled them to blaspheme. That means that Paul would take
Christians and he would torture them. That he would put physical
pressure on them to the point that they would deny Jesus Christ
was his hope. He was filled with hatred towards
this name. And we might think, phew, God's
going to get him, I'm going to tell you. And God did get him,
just not the way we might think, right? Sometimes you hear of
people I've heard of stories of people's conversions, murderers.
I think, I don't know. Is that legit? Is that real?
Would God really do that? I mean, sure if they were elect,
sure if they were chosen, He wouldn't let them go on and do
that much before He calls them. You know what? God doesn't always
work like I think He ought to work like. You know that? And
sometimes God's grace, His long-suffering towards sinners, which I don't
understand, I don't understand it toward me, I don't understand
it toward any of His people, just makes our heads go upside
down. But you know what it is? It's the wonder of His grace.
Read about King Manasseh in the Old Testament. King Manasseh
sacrificed his own children in sacrifice to pagan idols. King
Manasseh brought in the pagan worship into the very temple
of God itself. I mean, how much more blatant
can you get of poking God in the face, of slapping Him in
the face? And guess what? And God humbled King Manasseh. We have a hymn about that, that
the blood of Christ is sufficient to wash Manasseh's sins. We read
about the lineage of Jesus Christ. You ever considered that? the
genealogical lineage of Jesus Christ? We think, well, I guess
this is how God would do it. If He's gonna send His Son, take
on human flesh, He's gonna get the best of the best and put
them in that lineage of Christ. That's not what happened, is
it? What do you find in there? You find Judah. Talk about soap
opera material, right? Bad material. That was Judah's
life. Can't even go into all of it
right now, right? Blatant, gross immorality. And
from that line, Jesus is identified as the line of the tribe of Judah,
really, of this man. There was Ruth, the Moabites. The Moabites and the Ammonites
came about from Lot's ungodly, filthy relationship. And from
this Moabite nation, there's a Gentile pagan named Ruth. And
in God's amazing mercy, she's brought to trust, as she said,
under the wings of Jehovah in the book of Ruth. And Ruth is
in the lineage of Jesus Christ. You find also Boaz, the harlot,
which doesn't mean much to us. Let's say it in the clear language
of what it means, the prostitute. A woman who lived an openly profligate,
evil lifestyle. And in God's mercy, she was brought
to lay hold upon the mercy of Jehovah. And she's in the lineage
of Jesus Christ. We could go, no doubt there's
more stories than I can even recall right now through the
lineage of Christ. But the point is that Christ was willing to come
to earth. And He wasn't tainted with their
sin. Praise be to His name. His blood was pure and holy and
immaculate and spotless. He wasn't tainted with their
sins, but Christ was willing to be identified with such sinful
people that He might wash them and cleanse them of all their
sins. We sing of Him, there's a fountain
filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners
plunge beneath that flood. Lose how many? 95% lose all their guilty stains. Revelation 1 says, Unto him that
loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Isaiah 1 says, Come now, let
us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet They shall
be as white as snow. Jesus himself spoke to his disciples
that we love to use. We talk about the feet washing
service and Peter comes to him and says, don't wash me Lord.
I'm not worthy. He says, look out, if you don't, if I don't
wash you, you don't have part with me. Well, wash me all over. And Jesus says,
he that is cleansed doesn't need to be washed. because He's clean
every bit. Every bit, He's already clean
because of the blood that I will shed for Him. Listen, there is
no other Savior. That was Peter's message. That
was Peter's gospel. There's no other name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. There's no other one
who can cleanse sin. There's no other one who can wash sin. You know
that some people in India go in the Ganges River this literally
filthy river to wash, to bathe, to cleanse, thinking that's going
to do them some good. Having some sense, some vague
sense of guilt or sin and thinking, this river is deity to wash me.
People have gone through all kinds of different rituals, all
kinds of different self-flagellation, some of the monks would do. Beating
themselves, torturing themselves, inflicting pain upon themselves,
thinking somehow, some way, this will profit me, this will benefit
me. But you know what Paul says about the gospel? The salvation
of God. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made into us wisdom. He's our righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. There's no other Savior but Jesus. I'm saying that to Him. Happy
day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away. He worked in me.
He taught me. He brought me to see my sins.
He brought me to repentance, praised me today. He brought
me to love Him and want to worship Him and want to praise Him and
want to serve Him. So when we think about following
Christ, we think about what is needed and what is to be seen
in those who desire to follow Christ in baptism. It's a sense
of one's sins, a real conviction of sin. But it's also a real
faith in Jesus Christ, a real throwing of oneself upon Him,
saying, Lord, You are enough, You are sufficient, Your blood
cleanses from all sin. But it's also this, it's also
this. There were some who came to John the Baptist seeking to
be baptized. Remember what John said to them,
because he knew these individuals were not displaying the right
characteristics. And John said to them, bring
forth fruits meet or fit appropriate for repentance. That means this,
that following Jesus Christ is a glorious thing. And I'm gonna
speak for the pastor. I think he'll let me talk this
way because I know him and we've talked about this a lot. But
if you are here today and you are thinking about, you've thought
about baptism, you've thought about following Jesus Christ,
let me just speak clearly and plainly to you. It's a glorious
thing. There's nothing more precious
than that. But it's also not a light thing. One time someone
came to our church and had family there and been there, attended
all her life. And she asked me, said, I think I wanna join this
church. I said, well, tell me why you want to do that? She
said, well, it just seems like the thing to do. And we tried
to probe more, and it appeared that it was just, this is what
my family's done, what my grandmother did, what my mom did, what everybody
does. I think I'd just like to jump in. Listen, family in the
church is wonderful. It's a great blessing. It is.
And if you have that heritage, praise God for that. But to follow
Christ in baptism is not a family thing. It's not a family thing.
It is not something that says, well, this is what everybody's
done. Mom and dad will think well of me, and they're going to praise
me, and I get to have a handshake. Everybody shakes my hand. I want
to do that. It's not that. It's not that.
but it's one whose your heart has genuinely seen your sins
and you mourn over your sins. You believe what the Bible says
about Jesus. You believe he's your savior,
but then it's also a desire to follow Jesus Christ. That's what
John said, bring forth fruits, meet for repentance. In other
words, show by your life that you're willing to turn from sin
and to follow him. You're willing to hear and obey
the word of God. So Jesus says this in Luke chapter
nine. Very important words in Luke
chapter nine. Because Christ was not some kind of a dishonest
salesman, was He? He didn't say, follow me and
your life will be easy. Follow me and your bank account
will be filled and there's going to be roses from here on out.
No, He told us the good stuff, the great stuff, but He also
told the reality of what it means to be His disciple. So in Luke
9, verse 23, He says this, And He said to them all, if any man
will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross
daily and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake
the same shall save it." Jesus says, if you come after me, because
there were multitudes who went after him for a time who didn't
have the right motive. So Jesus says, let's make it
clear, if you come after me, you have to deny yourself. That
means you say, self, you no longer are Lord. That means you said
to yourself, I'm no longer my own boss, but now I belong to
Christ. He's more than my boss, he's
my loving, gracious master, but he is the authority in my life. He's the authority in my life.
When Paul was talking about the church, the Macedonian churches
who were generous in their giving, Paul said here's one of the keys
behind their giving was they gave themselves to the Lord.
That's a powerful thing, not only for generosity, but for
the whole Christian life, is they gave themselves to the Lord.
They recognized, I'm no longer my own. I've been bought with
a price. So therefore, no longer am I
the Lord even over my money, but I'm not the Lord over anything.
I belong to Christ, not to myself, so therefore I am willing to
follow His authority." That's what it means to be a true disciple. That we deny ourselves. Then
he says this, and he takes up his cross daily to follow me. Why did Jesus use that imagery?
Take up his cross daily. because, you know, the cross
now has some sentimental value, and it can no doubt be used in
appropriate ways. But the cross in Jesus' time
was not some kind of a sentimental value. People didn't get a warm,
fuzzy feeling when they thought of a cross. They thought of a
cross, what you might think of lethal injection, or the electric
chair, literally. It was an instrument of execution.
So nobody wears a little syringe around their neck. Nobody wears
an electric chair around their neck, right? It was a symbol
of execution, of death. And so Christ is saying to follow
after Me. You have to be willing, as it
were, to crucify yourself every day, to die to your own sinful
desires, to die to your own wisdom, to die to your own way in order
to follow after Me. And if you try to save yourself
from that, you're going to lose your life. But if you do that,
you're going to find it. You're going to find true joy,
true fulfillment, true peace, true satisfaction in following
after Me. So, none of us does that perfectly,
right? But that's the heart of it, that's the desire of it,
is that we want to follow after Christ, dying to ourselves, that
we may live unto Him. And so, we as preachers never
want to pressure anybody in an arm-twisting way to follow Jesus
Christ. I hope never I would ever would
ever profess faith in Christ because it would get brother
Zach or brother Timothy or brother whoever off your back. Maybe
they'll just leave me alone now. Hope nobody would ever follow
Christ just to make some people happy. But I do pray that if
God is working in any of your hearts and has worked in your
hearts and you, this stuff makes sense to you. You don't know
it perfectly, this makes sense to you. You wanna follow him.
You don't like your sins. You grieve over your sins. Your
heart kind of skips a beat when you think about, wow, my sin's
forgiven. Loved by God. I can call him my father. Hope
of heaven. Praise be to the Lord. You know
what? You ought to follow Christ. You ought to publicly profess
faith in His name. You ought to identify with Him
in baptism. You ought to say, I'm with Him,
and I needed what He did. I needed what this baptism represents,
and I want to follow and serve Him all the days of my life. See, Jesus is a powerful Savior.
Brother Zach said he preached this morning on the cross. And
Jesus, by His cross, not only paid the sin debt, but by the
cross, Jesus also assured, as He said in John 6, verse 37,
all that the Father gives me, they're gonna come to me. All
that are taught by the Father, have heard and learned of Him,
they'll come unto me. So we rejoice in a mighty Savior,
in a successful Savior, in a sufficient Savior to save all of His people
of all their sins. May we rejoice tonight in being
cleansed by His precious blood. I hope these thoughts have been
a blessing to you.
Baptism
| Sermon ID | 113161553210 |
| Duration | 33:28 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Language | English |
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