Well, if you would, open your Bibles to the book of 1 Timothy chapter 3. And when Brother Lewis mentioned me coming here, this verse came to my mind immediately because it was the verse that I was led to when I was here the first time. And I find that 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 15, for myself, I was saved back in California in about 1974. But I was a Methodist at the time. And as a Methodist, there were some things I just didn't know. But the Lord put me in contact with a man in the 1978 that made some things clear to me. And one of those things that was made very clear to me was this matter of the church. Paul writes Timothy and he tells him in verse 15 of 1 Timothy chapter 3. But if I tarry long, if thou mayest know, how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth. I used to wonder for the longest time, first of all, what did the word church mean? What does it stand for? What is a church? I used to kind of believe it was the building. And then I began to think and understand that no, it's not the building. It's all of the saved. It's all the believers. And then I found out that's not true either. But I used to wonder about what I thought that it was all of the believers, all of the saved. I used to wonder, as I look at the scriptures, that does not seem to fit. If you would, turn your Bible to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 1. And this was one of those verses that gave me a great deal of trouble. As I said, I was sprinkled as a Methodist. I grew up pretty much believing that the Methodist believed. But I looked at 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 10, and Paul said, And I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, that there be no division among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. Now you will notice also in verse 2 he says under the church of God which is at Corinth. Well now if that is the case if the church is all of the saved at any one time and there's a church at Corinth then we have a problem that maybe is all of us saved, but also those groups that meet together. But then when I noticed it, Paul said that there be no division among you. I couldn't understand how the Methodists took one position, the Pentecostals took another position, the Catholics took their position, and the Baptists took their positions. There was Division there was confusion Because they were not all saying the same thing And that just did not sit well with me, and I really could not understand it and I don't give myself any credit or any praise or any glory in this matter But that verse caused me a lot of trouble How can we have all of these different fragmented groups And yet, the church is to be of the same mind. Perfectly joined together in the same mind. There's another verse that tells us, if one suffers, we all suffer. If one rejoices, we all rejoice. Well, I've come to know some of you brethren and some of you that are in this building. But I can't rejoice with you when I leave here because I won't know what's going on in your life. You won't know what's going on in mine. Now if I hear of what is going on in your life, I will rejoice and I will mourn if it's a hurtful thing. But what I'm trying to get to is to say that the church is not all the same. It's not a universal invisible body. It is not a universal invisible or a local visible. It is a local visible assembly of baptized believers coming together. And Paul told Timothy, I want to come to you, but it takes me a while to get there. I want you to know how thou artest to behave thyself. in the house of God, which is the church of God, the pillar and the ground of the truth. I think when I read of a pillar and the ground, I think of the Acropolis in Greece, those pillars that still stand around it. And I think of something being upheld and supported. And then I think about the ground, those pillars rest on something. Well, that tells me that the church of God, the body, the house of God, has a responsibility. It has a function. And it is to support, it is to hold up. And I'm of the mind that it is of the truth of God, and that truth is God's word. Christ in his prayer for his church, he spoke of thy truth, thy word is truth. Well, then if the truth is to be held up and supported by the church, then the church should speak the same thing. There should not be that division. And there are, I want this morning with that in mind to consider some principles and some basis of let's say doctrines that need to be held and supported. I will say this from the very beginning that there are going to be some matters that are peripheral that we may not totally agree on. And we need to give each other room to do that. But there are also some things that there's no room for latitude at all. And one of those I find is the means of salvation. There's one. We are told that there is none other name given under heaven, under God, whereby you must be saved, but the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our salvation is based not in what we do, not by works of righteousness we have done. It is not by baptism. I have a very dear family of friends in St. Louis. that are of the mind, and I've been able to do nothing to change it, that their salvation is based in their baptism. They go to Acts 2.38, it says, repent and be baptized. That's what it takes. There's no work that we can do to be saved. Even if we did have a work that we could do and try to do it, we'd be miserable failures. I've been asked several times this morning, was I nervous? Yes, I am. I wasn't then, I'm still nervous. I'm nervous because there are some things that we need to really be careful about. And the way of salvation is one of those things. We need, if we're going to present salvation as a necessary thing, we need to be very clear. We need to be very concise on how that salvation is accomplished. And there's not a multitude of ways to get it done. You can't buy it. You can't earn it. Ephesians says, by grace are you saved. And that grace is not something that you've earned. If it's grace, then it's not of works. If it's of works, it's not of grace. So the way of salvation must be singular and it must be the same for this congregation, for this church, And every church is represented here. It must be the same in St. Louis. God is not the author of confusion. Very rarely have I seen cases in Scripture where God gave us a multitude of ways to get much of anything done. You know, we could use a turtle dove, or I believe there was another bird that could be used for some sacrifices. It could be of the sheep or the goats. But we have no room to alter where God is specific. He gave you two things, a goat or the sheep. Then you can't use anything else. Salvation is no different. Salvation must be accomplished one way and one way only. We find in the book of Ephesians chapter 4 And verse five, there is one Lord. There's one body. I said verse four, chapter five, verse four, verse five. There is one body, one spirit, even as you're called in one, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all. There's one. But I want us to pay strict attention to verse five. One Lord. Not Lord Buddha, not Lord anything else. There is one Lord, there's one sovereign. There is one that we are to look to There is one faith. There is not the Muslim faith. There is not the Christian faith. There is not the Buddhist faith. There is not the Hindu faith. There is one faith. And that faith is a gift that God gives. And He gives it sovereignly as He sees fit. But you know, faith, I mean, people even misunderstand. Because the object of that faith is what is essential and key. I know people that have faith in faith. They have faith in their works. They have faith in their pastor. They have faith in their own ideas. This one faith must have one object, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know how patriotic this is going to sound to some of you. But in our Constitution of the United States, there's what is called the free exercise of religion. I understand from history what they meant by that. But folks, I'm afraid to me that is a very dangerous principle. And why I say that it's very dangerous is because it is allowed. and given freedom for individuals to propagate and to teach things that are not true. Faith in things that are not of sound doctrine and not conducive to salvation. Now I'm not going to go out and take into custody or make it a crusade to shut down any other group, but I just do not, and this is my personal conviction, I just have very little stomach for any idea or any teaching that says man has the right to worship as he sees fit. Thou should have no God before me. That would be the first thing on the list. Thou shalt have no God, thou shalt have no other God before me. That is the only God that we have to worship. And I will admit, everyone is not going to do that. Because as I was speaking of faith, 1 Thessalonians tells us, all men have not faith. So therefore, if they have not faith, then they cannot understand what it is to worship one God. But that does not excuse them. one baptism, that one baptism is of one purpose, not for salvation, but for the purpose of showing publicly our relationship with the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. And if anyone applies anything other than that, they've gone too far. I will say to qualify that statement, that baptism is the first work that a child of God can do to enter into obedient service unto God. Christ himself put himself under that responsibility. He went to John and John said, well, you should be baptizing me. Christ has suffered to be sold for a becometh us to fulfill our righteousness. This is of God. John, let's get this done. Once that was done, the Lord Jesus Christ began His work. We have no right to change that order. We cannot change it. I want to try and maybe go a little bit less than 35 minutes. But there is also You'll notice in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 4, there's one body, there's one spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling. There is one hope. And this is something that I find to be very distressful to me. There is a school of thought in the world today called Christian apologetics. where individuals feel that it is their responsibility and their obligation to be able to give an answer to every question a person may ask. But if you turn in your Bible to the book of 1 Peter 3, in verse 15. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. I don't see there where I'm given the responsibility to be able to answer every question that comes to me out of the scriptures. If that were the case, I'd be a miserable failure because I can't do it. But I can't answer one question. What is the hope that is in me? And the reason for that hope? My hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ's finished work on the cross at Calvary. My hope is that the Father saw his work and was satisfied. My hope is And this hope is not a wished for, it is a secure determination of what is going to happen. I don't question the hope that is in me. My hope is sound because it's based in and it's resting on the living word of God. The word was God, the word was with God and the Word became flesh. That hope is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I can tell a man about my hope in Christ. The reason for it. Why do you believe that you're going to live for eternity? Because Christ purchased my salvation. Why do you believe that you're going to escape the wrath of God? Because Christ bore the wrath of God on my behalf. The brother last night spoke of his, gave his testimony. I won't go into mine because time will not allow. But the same God worked in me that worked in him. And that God does not change. I am the Lord thy God, I change not. Therefore thou art presumed. You know, if God were fickle like I am and changed from time to time over years passing, I would have no hope. I wouldn't be sure and secure that he was not going to change. But he does not. His Word does not change. And there is truly one Word. John chapter 1 tells us the Word became flesh. Think about what Christ said, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me. These things are things that we can truly rest in, hope in, and regardless to what turmoil or what catastrophe comes our way, God is not changing. We were talking this morning about a move and desires to change the Constitution of the United States. And I guess one day they may just do that. But the Word of God is not like the Constitution. It is not like a dictionary. It does not change. It is the same today as it was 32 years ago, 33 years ago when I came here the last time. It is the same as it was 100 years ago. Men have tried to re-translate it, transliterate it, Get words, different meanings. But God knew what he was saying when he wrote this book. Am I saying that I like everything in it? Does everything in it make me feel good? Does everything in it soothe me? No, some of these things convict me to no end. But it's God's word, it's true. And it must stand. I spoke a few moments ago of one way of salvation, and I'm saying this for clarification. I do firmly believe in St. Louis. I do teach the doctrine of election and salvation. I do not teach that election secures you salvation, but those that are saved are saved. because God, before the foundation of the world, chose them in Christ unto salvation. And that does not make God a tyrant, that does not make us puppets, that makes God sovereign, that makes us clay in his hands, and that makes him able to do with us as he sees fit. We all stand before God equally guilty and sinful And if God chose to send me and every single one of us in this room to hell, that would be his rightful prerogative. And we'd be rightly deserving of it. If we are saved this morning, it is because he was gracious and loving. The brother spoke last night of the love of God. How can we rise up in the morning? without the confidence, without the hope and the security of the eternal love of God shown forth unto us in the person of Christ. And these are the things that the New Testament Baptist Church is entrusted with upholding. I take great pleasure this morning in saying that 30 some years ago, the Lord brought me to these truths. And I trust if the Lord gives me another 30 years, some of these young people, if I get a chance to talk to them again, I'll be able to say the same things. The young lady that was beaming with being saved nine years ago this day, I hope that nine years from now that young lady is just as beaming and just happy about that salvation. But I want to say this in closing. I am, and I want to try not to get emotional, so thankful to the Lord God for the New Testament Baptist Church. Because it gives us something that we can hold to depend on, though we may not have all the answers, the church is given the responsibility of upholding this book. And if we do that with the diligence that God gives us, that until the Lord comes home, there will be the truth. Somewhere in this country, somewhere in the world, the truth will be there. May we never, those of us here, never leave that truth. It grieves me to find out that there are individuals that I've known as children that have left the truth of God's Word. The pastor that brought me here the first time, has gone up into some things that are not good. It grieves me at that. Some men that I've known for years have left the truth. May that be not sad of any of us here in this room this morning.