Lord, we do thank thee for the place where prayer is wont to be made. We thank thee for the mercy seat, and we bless thee that thou hast promised us wisdom from heaven. Give guidance tonight, we pray, for utterance in the things of the Lord, and we pray for the infilling of the Holy Spirit of God with power. O Lord, open our hearts to thee, help us to follow the Lord fully, and we ask thee that in this meeting thou wilt lay liberally to our hand. We pray for a ready recollection of thy holy word, and we pray for wisdom in the things of the Lord tonight, wisdom to speak of the things of the Lord, wisdom to hear and to understand the things of the Lord. So hear and answer prayer this night, and stand among us in all thy risen power. and put thy hand upon us, Lord, speak to our souls, build us up in our most holy faith, make us strong for the Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, this is the fourth in the special series on the false cults of today. You remember some weeks ago we were speaking about the Jehovah's Witness organization, which we labeled then the most persistent of the cults. Then we followed up with A talk on the Mormons, the most powerful of the cults. And then lastly, the Seventh-day Adventists, the most plausible of the cults. If we could squeeze another organization in under that category, I think we would make room there for the Church of Christ besides. That organization is not quite as plausible as the Seventh-day Adventists. Nevertheless, I feel that we will consider this organization under that particular category. Now we have spoken of them as the Campbellite movement. The Campbellite movement is variously known, known as the Church of Christ, for example, known as the Christian Church, and in some cases as the Disciples of Christ. What do the Campbellite churches teach? Well, they're best known for their teaching of what we'll call baptismal regeneration. That is, they teach a water gospel, they teach salvation by water, that it is impossible for one to be saved unless he's put into the water and kept under, not for such a long time that there would be a new resurrection, but the water is connected with salvation. That's what we're going to call baptismal regeneration. Then again, the Campbellite movement teaches a conditional salvation, that it's possible to fall away and be lost after having obtained that salvation. The Campbellite movement also teaches church apostasy. That is to say, the New Testament church began at Pentecost, that's their teaching. We don't believe the Bible teaches that, but the Campbellite movement believes the church started at Pentecost. Then after the days of the apostles fell away, the church apostatized altogether and was not restored until the Campbells started out in this new organization. And when the Campbellite church started, then the New Testament church was restored again. The Campbellites also believe in wearing the name, to be right. So they wear the name in this fashion. They're known as the Church of Christ, for example, or they may be known as the Christian Church, some of them, or others of them, the disciples of Christ. But wearing the name is very important. It will not be judged that the group has a testimony or belongs to the Lord unless it wears that particular title. Then the anti-organ brigade among them, and quite a lot of them won't have any kind of musical instrument in the service, the anti-organ brigade believe that salvation is peculiar to themselves. Nobody else in any other church or any other religion will be saved but those who belong to the Campbellite organization. Well, if we call this organization, the Campbellite movement, you will obviously be looking for someone by the name of Campbell. We go back to Mr. Thomas Campbell, who was a Presbyterian minister leaving Ireland for the United States of America in 1807. So like some of these other false cults, we have to go back into the last century. Here we have one of the ungracious gifts from Ulster to the United States of America. But on the other hand, we can say thankfully, Thomas Campbell left the shores of this island to set off for the United States of America. He went there as a Presbyterian minister in 1807. His more famous son, shall we say, Alexander, who became the master spirit of the Campbellite movement, he was to follow his father two years later, 1809, to the United States. He was 21 years of age when he arrived in America. He had had a brief education in Glasgow University, he had a useful knowledge of history and languages, and he had exceptional argumentative ability. He was a very able person with his tongue and also with the pen. And the Church of Christ owes a great deal of its progress, numerically, to the skills of Alexander Campbell. Campbell believed in debate. He believed that controversy was the lifeblood of the cause. In fact, Alexander Campbell said about debate, this is, we are convinced, one of the best means of propagating the truth and of exposing error in doctrine and practice. We are fully persuaded that a week's debating is worth a year's preaching. So in some way Alexander Campbell set the pattern for the Church of Christ, and probably there is no more argumentative group in all of Christendom than those who belong to the Church of Christ. those who belong to the Christian Church, or were disciples of Christ, or belong to the Church of Christ, you might expect to meet someone rather gracious and diffident, you would be greatly mistaken. Usually the Church of Christ members are characterized by a vicious or scornful, debating attitude. Campbell also used the pen. In 1823, he was to publish, first of all, a magazine which he entitled The Christian Baptist. By this time, the organization was getting more and more heretical, but Campbell took the name of Baptist, took the name of Christian for his magazine, put the two together, called the magazine The Christian Baptist in order to give currency to his teachings. He believed that he could use the name of the Baptist denomination, he could hide behind the name Christian, and try to infiltrate Christian homes with his heretical teachings. The Christian Baptist, as a magazine, was later to become the Millennial Harbinger in 1830. So after some seven years in existence, the magazine changed its name. Campbell was beginning to be recognized, so he changed the name of the magazine and called it the Millennial Harbinger. As a magazine, the paper was to be devoted to the destruction of sectarianism. After all, Campbell believed he represented the true Church of Christ and all other churches were false. So we had to destroy what he then called sectarianism in the favor of this new Church of Christ, which he was leading up. And the magazine too was devoted to the destruction of infidelity, anti-Christian doctrine and practice. Now the object of this magazine, you remember its title, the Millennial Harbinger, the object was to develop and introduce the political and religious order of society called the Millennium. That's why he published this paper. You'll notice that many of these false cults got tied up in some way with teachings concerning the Millennium. It was Campbell's object by publishing this paper to introduce the Millennium to the world. We can only say, in retrospect, that Alexander Campbell, the master spirit of the Campbellite movement, was a colossal failure. For instead of establishing the Millennium, And instead of destroying sectarianism, Campbell rather was the means of introducing another sect, and at that, one of the most sectarian of all sects. So he didn't destroy sectarianism, he fostered it. And Alexander Campbell did not establish the Millennium. Think of the brazen effrontery of this man, his arrogant pride. to attempt to introduce that to the world which the Bible tells us God himself will introduce by means of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ will introduce the Millennium. The Millennium will be God's work. But Alexander Campbell was so overwhelmed with his own abilities and skills, he believed that he was raised up of God to usher in the Millennium. He never saw that object achieved. Campbell never brought in the millennium. He never brought in the reign of Christ. But with his father, he was to form the Campbellite Church in May 1811. So the Campbellite Church didn't begin at Pentecost as they claimed. The Campbellite Church had a beginning the 4th of May. 1811, and the church began in the United States of America. What happened to Thomas Campbell, the Irish Presbyterian minister who set off for the United States to pioneer the way for his son to follow in two years' time? Well, when Thomas Campbell arrived in America as a Presbyterian minister, he was stationed or quartered in Pennsylvania, and that was in 1807. Inside two years, Campbell had fallen out with the Presbyterians. He could no longer conduct his ministry as a Presbyterian. He had to withdraw from the Presbyterian Church. He started his own association just two years after he arrived in America as a minister. So in 1809, I think it was, Thomas Campbell formed his Christian Association. Later, one year later in fact, He came back to the Presbyterian Church. It shows the mentality of the man. He tried to persuade the Presbyterian Church, although he had withdrawn from fellowship with them, he tried to persuade the Presbyterian Church to accept his association. And this the Presbyterian Church would not do. They would not accept his association on Campbell's terms. Campbell therefore was compelled to start the new church, and this he did in 1811. Thomas Campbell is the author of the slogan popularized by the Church of Christ everywhere they have been established. That slogan reads something like this, where the scriptures speak, we speak. Where the scriptures are silent, we are silent, and I think that that slogan, which belongs so much to the organization, entitles us to put this false cult in among the most plausible of the cults. For the words sound good when you hear them for the first time. Where the Bible speaks, we speak. Where the Bible is silent, we are silent. But when you study that statement through and through, you'll find that it is a claim to absolute infallibility. Absolute infallibility. The Campbellites are putting themselves on a par with the Word of God. Remember that the book of James chapter 3 and verse 2 reminds us that we all in many things offend. We cannot declare ourselves as infallible as the Bible. We cannot put ourselves on a par with the Word of God, nor can we claim an authority equal to the Scripture. Word of God must be the supreme authority, and there is no group on earth, Christian or otherwise, who can speak with the authority of the Word of God. That is, there is no Christian group or any other kind of group that can set themselves up and speak as infallibly as the Bible speaks. So there is a claim there to absolute infallibility, and this will be borne out whenever you have holding an argument with any one of them, you'll find that they put the Pope into the shade when it comes to infallibility. Now, Thomas Campbell wanted Christian union, and that's why he made his appeal to the Presbyterian Church for his Christian association. He was beseeching them to consider Christian union, and the basis of his plea was, unite on the Bible. Let us unite on the Bible, and to some degree that still echoed to this day by members of the Church of Christ. Let's work for union and the basis of our unity will be the Bible. Let's unite on the Bible. Again, that sounds very plausible. But when we define uniting on the Bible, we discover that uniting on the Bible to the Campbellite always means that we must accept the Campbellite view of every scripture passage. One striking feature of the history of the Church of Christ, and this is why I have given a little attention to the history of this particular group, this particular false cult, one striking thing about the history of this false cult is that this Campbellite organization, by its teaching, is at odds with its own history. Probably this is the only false cult whose history is contradictory to its teaching. Now, the Church, which was formed in 1811, was originally comprised of some 30 members. Not one of these people was baptized by immersion to begin with. Remember the Campbellite teaching. Remember that the position of this false cult is you have to be baptized to be saved. If you're not dipped in the water, you'll be damned. Hence all who are not baptized by immersion and baptized in the Campbellite way as well. It's not just immersion alone. You could be a Baptist, for example, born again member of a Baptist church and the Campbellite teaching you're still for hell because you're not baptized with the right motive, you're not baptized with the right understanding, you're not baptized in the scriptural way. So you're still lost. Therefore, if some of you have been baptized by association with the Baptist church, I have to tell you, you're still on very bad ground as far as the Campbellite organization is concerned. Now, this particular group, the Campbellite church at the beginning, didn't have one baptized member, not one baptized by immersion. That means, therefore, according to the Campbellite teaching, that their church was started by unsealed members. It means that their church was started by ungodly people. If they were not baptized by immersion, and not baptized in the Campbellite way, then their church was off the devil at the start. I think that's a very interesting thing. According to their own teaching, their work, logically, would have to be off the devil at the start, for there wasn't one of them right with God, according to the Campbellite system of teaching. Then later, when some of them did get baptized by immersion, it must be said once more that not one of the members baptized by immersion at the beginning hailed to baptismal regeneration. So even when they were baptized by immersion, and Thomas Campbell baptized two or three of them by immersion to begin with while he was unbaptized himself, and there was another anomaly, an unbaptized man baptizing some members of the congregation. But be that as it may, when there was baptism by immersion, among them not one of the people baptized, nor the people conducting the baptisms, believed in water salvation. So again, the Campbellite history is at odds with modern Campbellite teaching, and the Church at its very beginning could not have been right would be in the same bracket as all the other churches condemned by the Campbellite organization. And if we think of the foundation members of that church, Thomas Campbell the father, Alexander Campbell the son, these men were lost at the beginning of the church. They were off the devil. They hadn't been dipped after the Campbellite fashion and therefore were headed for damnation. So it's a strange way to see the start of a church that has such high-sounding claims as the Campbellite organization has for itself. Now Thomas Campbell himself, as well as his son, got immersed in 1812. That's a year after the church was formed. But even then, he himself, when he was immersed, did not have the notion the heretical notion of water salvation. No, not until some 15 years later was Thomas Campbell and his son, too, to turn to water salvation. And in 1827, one of the Church of Christ's teachers, Walter Scott by name, propounded the doctrine of salvation by means of the water. For clarity's sake, we will tell you that the Campbellite preacher will still refer to the blood of Christ as the means of atonement and the means of cleansing from sin, but he will say the water is necessary. You can't get to the blood of Christ unless you get to the water. And it is a well-known statement for them to make, you contact the blood in the water. So it's impossible for a soul in those terms to contact the blood of Christ. unless he's put into the water by a Campbellite preacher. So Campbell himself was immersed in 1812, but he didn't have the notion at that time of the heresy of the water of water salvation. The name of that church that Campbell started in 1811 is given to us. It's not the Church of Christ. Remember, the modern Campbellite says you've got to wear the name to be right. got to wear the name to show that you have an association with the God of Heaven. If you don't wear the name, then your work is to be counted an abomination. And those who are in it are headed for damnation. Now the name of the Campbellite Church at the beginning was the First Church of Christian Association of Washington. The First Church of the Christian Association of Washington. So by its very name, according to modern Campbellite teaching, this church in its original condition was led by unsealed, unbaptized, unscriptural leaders. There was therefore a man-made church. I am using the kind of language that Campbellite might use. When they deride all the other churches and christened them, they will brand these people is unsaved because they're not baptized in the Campbellite fashion. They will say the Church, therefore, is unscriptural. They'll say the Church is a man-made Church that doesn't bear the name, the secret name that they have, the Church of Christ, which the Church must have in order to be right. And we simply say, practice what you preach. We simply say your own Church didn't have the name, wasn't led by saved members according to your own teaching, wasn't led by people baptized in the Campbellite manner. No, your own church is unscriptural and your own church is a man-made church and is not, as you claim, a true church of Christ. Whatever those early leaders were called by the Campbellites, whether they're called reformers or people engaged in restoration work, The charge must still be sustained. The whole work itself was done by unsealed people. If we take the Campbellite teaching as fact, the whole work in finding that church to which they owe their origins was done by unsealed people and leaders, including Thomas Campbell, Alexander Campbell, Barton Stone, and Walter Scott, principal leaders of this organization. All of these men were children of the devil at the very beginning if we go by modern Campbellite teaching. So there's a great gap between the history of this organization and its present position and teaching. And this makes, I think, Campbellite outfit to be absolutely unique among the false cults. The other cults It would appear to have a consistency between their history and their teaching. So, after the new church was formed, Thomas Campbell, the father, was made the elder. Alexander was licensed. They chose four deacons to administer the communion. The church was formed, and Alexander Campbell later became ordained the 1st of January, 1812. When they were being baptized, they got a Baptist preacher to baptize them, and a Baptist preacher came along and baptized all the family on the 12th of June, 1812. Altogether, seven people were baptized that day. So the churches got off to a beginning, but not one of these people, including the Campbells, were baptized to be saved. The very founders of the organization, when they were baptized by a Martian, were not baptized to be sealed. They were baptized by a Baptist preacher. They didn't believe in water salvation. And this is a striking thing, a striking inconsistency in Campbellite teaching. Not one of these people were baptized to be sealed. In fact, Alexander, the argumentative member of the Campbell family, Alexander was not prepared to make baptism an issue at the beginning. A statement from one of his sermons on Mark 16, verses 15 and 16, includes the following. As I am sure it is unscriptural to make this matter a term of communion, I let it slip. I wish to think and let think on these matters. So Alexander Campbell himself The stronger one of the Campbells, the argumentative one of the Campbells, was sure it was unscriptural to make baptism a matter of communion or a task of fellowship. And if he was sure it was unscriptural to make baptism an issue, it's mighty strange that a little while later the Campbellite movement was making it an issue. Campbell, remember, at the beginning was sure it was unscriptural. If we let that statement stand, then the statement of one of the founders condemns the whole organization. If he was sure it was unscriptural, then surely if that statement stands to this day, it's still unscriptural for the Campbellite organization to make baptism an issue, and more than that, make it an issue of salvation, never mind a test of fellowship. So when the Campbells were baptized, they got a Baptist to do it. Isn't that a striking thing? While they were charging all other groups in Christendom of being sectarians, of being unsealed, of being children of the devil. That's a striking thing. In fact, it just ranks of hypocrisy that the Campbells secured the offices of a Baptist elder to come along and baptize them. Accordance with Campbellite teaching, this Baptist would have been sectarian, he would have been condemned of God already, he was a child of the devil, he was yet in the sins, but the Campbells were baptized by him. The whole history of the Campbellite organization reeks of inconsistency. The church, now that there was baptism established, baptism by immersion, The Church now had ten baptized members after the Campbells and others were baptized. At their next meeting, thirteen more were baptized by immersion, but according to present-day Campbellite teaching, not one of these people would be saved. Contrast the experience of many through the Scripture. If there are stages in a person's life, when we think of what the Scripture teaches, the first thing will be salvation. Then if baptism comes, it comes by conviction to the person, thus saved. So if we build up a pattern in a person's life, we may look first of all for salvation, and then baptism after salvation. And perhaps then comes church membership. But with the Campbellite, the church was formed first. Then came baptism. After that, there was no salvation, for with all our baptism, according to the present-day position of the Campbellite movement, there was no salvation for any of these people, including their founders. Alexander, as we have said, soon, by his dominating spirit, took over the leadership of the Campbellite movement. The group itself did join a Baptist association. and was in that association for 10 years. They got in among the Baptists, and you'll remember how the paper got to be published in 1823, the Christian Baptists. So being in the Baptist Association and publishing a paper with this name, it was published with this name, Alexander Campbell said, to give greater currency to the magazine, to the teacher. So they deliberately chose the title. to deceive. They pled the hypocrite. They pled by means of deception on the gullibility of other people with whom they were in association. When they got into the Baptist Association, the Presbyterian Church, you remember, wouldn't accept them, wouldn't receive them, wouldn't recognize them. But they got into the Baptist Association, called the magazine the Christian Baptist, in order to give greater currency. to the teachings put forward in that magazine. Then by debating and forming themselves a party spirit, which they pretended to be so much against, the Campbellite movement got more and more established by working from within the Baptist association rather than working from the outside. One of the aims of the movement was putting an end to all controversy, but Alexander Campbell made sure he was the person to start controversy and few people were more ready to debate than Alexander Campbell once he got himself established. Their teaching mainly then concerned the means of salvation. We have called their gospel the water gospel, salvation by water. Hence, this false cult will not differ much from the Mormons or the Jehovah's Witnesses For like them, the Church of Christ has a deal with the water in order to be saved. Now, some of the Campbellite preachers will not want to admit that baptismal regeneration as a term is applicable to their message. They'll want to use some other kind of language and will say that if you charge that they're guilty of teaching baptismal regeneration, you're guilty of misrepresentation. This was part of the usual practice of Campbellite preachers, to cry out misrepresentation, to say that you have deliberately perverted what they believe in order to use that perversion against their teaching. But what did Campbell himself say when later he became persuaded that one had to be baptized by a Martian to be sealed? and know that as he was being put onto the water, he was being put onto the water to have his sins washed away. This is where they fell out with the Baptists. Baptists were baptizing converts on the ground of their testimony. But Campbell would have been baptizing people that he said were not saved, not right with God, and children of the devil still, until they got their sins washed away in the baptismal water. So there was that fundamental difference between the Baptist position and the Campbellite position. Campbell himself, once he got persuaded of this false teaching, was to say that regeneration and immersion are two names for the same thing. Listen. Regeneration and immersion are two names for the same thing. If that isn't baptismal regeneration, I don't know what is. Further, Campbell goes on to say, as regeneration is taught to be the equivalent of being born again. Being born again and being immersed are the same thing. If that isn't baptismal regeneration, I don't know what is. Being born again and being immersed are the same thing to Campbell. So, baptismal regeneration, that's what we're going to call it, first asserted as a doctrine in 1823 in the course of a debate held by Alexander Campbell. It was not, however, practiced. This water gospel was not practiced until Walter Scott put it to the test in 1827. Now we come to a discrepancy again. Although the Campbellite movement had shifted, had come to believe in a water gospel and water salvation, and was practicing salvation by water. The Campbells, Walter Scott, and Barton W. Stone, the four main men in the organization, did not apply the teaching to themselves. What a striking thing. They believed it for everybody else. They didn't apply it to themselves, and they never did. So the four main founders even in their own lifetime, when they changed the position of the movement, when they required everybody else to be baptized for heaven, never got baptized in that way themselves, when they were teaching that all other forms of Christian baptism, or even by immersion, all other forms of immersion, were false, and would only land the person concerned in hell. These men themselves didn't change the way and didn't get baptized in the Campbellite fashion. So these men never got to practice what they preached. Scott drew up a gospel plan, and he had four parts to the plan. The plan was as follows. Number one, the person needed faith, and that faith could just be head knowledge. As far as the Campbellite movement was concerned, head knowledge was enough to constitute faith. Just with an intelligent grasp of whatever was put before you, the doctrines, for example, if you believed that, accepted it intellectually, that would be put down as faith. Then came repentance. Thirdly, baptism. Fourth, remission of sins. Notice the order. What we're calling head knowledge. Walter Scott called faith. Then came repentance. Then baptism. Then remission of sins. Notice the order. After that, the Holy Spirit was given to the person. So a person couldn't receive the Holy Spirit without being in the water. He couldn't have his sins washed away unless he got to the water and was immersed by a Campbellite preacher in the Campbellite way and with the formula for the forgiveness of sins. Baptism to them was the easy way of making converts. They found that to have a spiritual change in a person's life was difficult, often to obtain. And you will understand that by preaching the new birth, when the sinner realizes that a radical change of his nature is necessary, this requires something from God in the person's life. And the Campbellites came up against that obstacle. They felt that there were people ready to be converts, but they were not ready for the spiritual change. There was no way whereby the spiritual change could be brought about, so it was easy to get them to the pool. It was easy to get them to have the head knowledge, profess repentance, wash their sins away in the pool, have them rise up as disciples of Christ. Hence, many in the Campbellite organization of a head knowledge only are still argumentative and carnal in their attitude and are not born again. I wouldn't say that all the members are not born again. It would be possible, perhaps, to find a Christian there deceived and taken in by this false cult. Nevertheless, many, many members in this cult will have had a head knowledge only. And whatever the plan of salvation stated, a Campbellite preacher is needed at the end. The gospel preached in the Campbellite church requires the Campbellite preacher at the end. is the last touch, His touch is the final touch, and I may say His touch is the important touch. We would have the gospel, hear the word, see the scriptures, and read the invitation of Christ, place your soul's dependence upon the word of Jesus Christ, and look for the cleansing of the blood of Christ, But if you didn't have the Campbellite preacher to put you in, give you the formula and have you wash away your sins there in the baptismal pool, all would be lost. So you can't have salvation in the Campbellite way without having the Campbellite preacher officiate at your baptism. Later on the Campbellites were to squeeze in confession into the gospel plan of Walter They were to add the necessity of holding out faithful unto the end and also the matter of wearing the right name and being against organs in the church and all other musical instruments, of having weekly communion. All these things became a matter of necessity and a gospel plan, as it was outlined, had to be obeyed to be saved. Where that obedience was not forthcoming, then the person's salvation was in doubt immediately. Remember the Campbellite movement teaches falling away and being lost. Now the striking thing is that Scott himself, who drew up the scheme, didn't obey it. He was teaching obedience for salvation, but he never obeyed it himself. He wasn't baptized to deceive. He wasn't baptized to have his sins washed away. And it is a striking thing that Scott, who drew up the plan himself, didn't obey it. And he was demanding obedience, nor did he get the Campbells to obey it either. And the question might then be asked, why didn't Scott, who drew up the plan, and the Campbells who approved it, why didn't they obey the ancient gospel which they said Scott had restored in the Christian church? Now, some Campbellites say, oh, but we had our origins with Others, before the Campbells, came to establish their witness. And of course, Barton Stone was laboring in America. He was a Presbyterian as well. Then he got off the track. He started to form his own church when he got out of the Presbyterian church in 1803. And later, Barton W. Stone got into touch with the Campbells and they formed a union. So eventually, Barton W. Stone became a leader in the Campbellite organization on the basis of that union. But Stone himself didn't believe in being baptized to be saved. Stone himself was reluctant to accept that doctrine, but he did so, he did accept it, for the sake of peace and unity. Stone has left on record that he didn't accept the notion of baptismal remission. as taught by Campbell. Stone stated, into the spirit of the doctrine I was never fully led until it was revived by Brother Alexander Campbell some years later. So originally, Stone didn't go along with the doctrine that you had to be baptized to be saved. He had some reluctance about accepting it, but he eventually did so through the influence of Alexander Campbell. This is just one more of the leaders not baptized for the remission of sin. Christian baptism differs from Campbellite baptism in that its purpose is different. Christian baptism is for the purpose of testimony. Campbellite baptism is for the remission of sin. With the person being baptized, Christian baptism is performed upon a Christian on hearing the testimony of his conversion. The Campbellite baptism is performed upon an unsealed person, necessarily, for he can't be sealed until he washes away his sins in the pool. When the time came to get back to our history for the Campbellites to be put out of the Baptist Association, they weren't happy about that. The strange thing is, Campbellites were teaching they were the Church of Christ, that all other churches were sectarian and divisive. They wanted to put an end to these divisions and establish the true Church of Christ, yet they didn't want to be put out of the Baptist association. When that would happen, they would be plainly identified. They wouldn't have the same means of getting into Baptist congregations and disseminating their evil heresy. However, despite the fact that they called the church with which they were associated, the Baptist church, they called it Babylon, the mother of harlots. They were teaching separation from it. At the same time, they didn't want to get out of it. They wanted to stay in and spread like leaven their false teaching on the inside. So, being put out of the Baptist association, Campbell was compelled to go more and more on his own. The Church of Christ became plainly sectarian, teaching the water gospel, and Campbell himself was very strong in what he had to say about water salvation. There the phrase came to be known, you contact the blood in the water. And Campbell condemned all who were baptized by immersion who were not baptized in the Campbellite way. He was condemning himself. If he had been consistent, he was condemning himself. And this is what Campbell went on to say, without knowing and believing this, that it is by faith in the blood of Christ that we receive the remission of our sins in the act of immersion. The act of immersion must be combined with the blood of Christ. And Campbell says, without knowing and believing this, immersion is as empty as a blasted nut. The shell is there, but the kernel is wanting. And I'm saying tonight, Campbell was condemning himself. He was condemning his father's baptism. He was condemning the baptism of Walter Scott and the baptism of Barton W. Stone. But not one of these people were baptized. for salvation. With reference to what Campbell was saying about this immersion, what you might say was Christian immersion, it is as empty as a blasted nut. As far as the Church of Christ is concerned, we are now left with a shell. We can say that nothing has grown. we'll see you're still unpardoned, unjustified, unsanctified, unreconciled, unadopted, and lost to all Christian life and enjoyment. So if you haven't got to the water at all, you're in a very bad way. You're still unpardoned, unjustified, unsanctified, unreconciled, unadopted, and lost to all Christian life and enjoyment. You have to contact the blood in the water. Isn't it a striking thing that this infernal organization demands salvation by immersion? That the blood of Christ, when it's referred to as the ground of our salvation in Hebrews 12 and 24, is called the blood of sprinkling. How you contact the blood and the water, I don't know. When you're getting into the water by means of immersion, and the blood is the blood of sprinkling. It seems to be very inconsistent to me. Our time has largely gone. Campbellites will use principally Acts 2.38, that's one of the favorite passages, where Peter's words are found, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for." And with reference to the word for, the Campbellite preacher will say, you must do this to obtain forgiveness. And if you think of the English word for, for a moment, you will know that the English word is used many, many times without suggesting that It's used in reference to obtaining something. For example, if you heard that a man was arrested for murder, it wouldn't mean that he was arrested in order to commit murder. It would mean, rather, that he was arrested because of murder. Makes a big difference. Or, when the disciples, let's say, believe not for joy, or somebody else believes not for joy, Why, it wouldn't be in order to obtain joy that they believed not. Rather, could it be said they believed not because they had joy? Well, when we think of how Christ suffered for our sins, He didn't suffer in order to procure sin. Rather, did He suffer because of our sins. So oftentimes, the word for, even in the English, will bear the sense of because. And in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 2, we wouldn't have time to look up all the references where this word for is found in the original Greek, but in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 2, it's used in reference to the word baptism, referring to the people in the wilderness when they came through the Red Sea. They were all baptized unto Moses. The word unto is the same word translated for in Acts 2.38. So we can put in the word for if you like just to see how the word may have a certain sense or how it's used. Let's read it in that way. And we're all baptized for Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Now they weren't baptized at that time to obtain Moses. They weren't baptized in order to procure Moses, but they were baptized by means of their journey through the bed of the Red Sea because of Moses, because of Moses as a man of intercession, because Moses was appointed of God to lead them out. And by the way, they weren't baptized with a drop of water, for they moved over in dry ground. They were Pharaoh's men who got baptized, and you know what happened, they had baptism without a resurrection. is oftentimes read without any attention being paid to the punctuation. When you look at Acts 2 and 38, you find the word repent has a comma after it. And therefore, we have a command there, repent, or to use the word that's understood, repent ye. And that verb is put in the second person plural imperative, in the act of voice. Whereas the next clause, be baptized every one of you, is in the singular, and instead of being second person, as is the case with repent, this verb is in the third person, and in the passive voice, be baptized every one of you. So there's a change, a grammatical change. between the second clause and the first. And if you forget the comma after repent, you could read it right through as if there was no grammatical difference between the first clause and the second one. So repent ye, repent ye is in the second person, plural, repent ye. When you come to the next bit about baptism, it's in the singular and in the third person. And for that matter, it's in the passive voice. Be baptized, every one of you. for the remission of sins. If we had time to look at some of the other instances where this word for is used, let's go back up the page a bit, verse 25 of Acts 2. You find this word for is translated as concerning. David speaketh concerning him. That is, he speaks in regard to him. He doesn't speak to obtain him, to procure him, rather does he speak because of him. And there are many other places that we could turn to. Take Mark 6 and 34, Matthew 6 and verse 34 it is. Take no thought for the moral. For the moral shall take thought for the things of itself. Here the first word translated for is the very same that we find in Acts 2.38. And let's look at that. Take therefore no thought for the moral. We don't take thought in order to arrive at tomorrow. We don't take thought in order to procure tomorrow. Rather do we take thought because of tomorrow. Matthew chapter 12. Verse 41, here the word at is that which is translated for in Acts 2.38. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas. They repented at the preaching. Now take the word at. Does it signify to procure? Did they repent in order to procure the preaching of Joseph? Did they repent in order to get the preaching of Jonah? No! They repented because of the preaching of Jonah. The Campbellite preacher will often quote Mark 16 and 16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned. And there he says you need to be baptized along with your faith. You need to be baptized to be saved. But the Campbellite doesn't believe that. He doesn't believe that he has salvation. He's not sure he may fall away and be lost. So he could believe and be baptized and still not be saved. And if he says, oh, the reference there is to a present salvation, you believe in baptism for the present, you see, you would have to ask him, well, do you believe in a present damnation as well? No person, just by resting on Christ alone, he that believeth on him is not condemned, the Lord Jesus said. Another reference is 1 Peter chapter 3. Verse 21, and on the surface it looks like a very good passage. There's a reference in 1 Peter 3 to Noah and the ark, and how eight souls, verse 20 says, were saved by water. So it might be a good passage for a Campbellite to turn up when he finds words like these, they were saved by water. There he says, you can be saved by water. The like figure, verse 21, whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So it would seem that water baptism is effective for salvation here in this passage. shows indeed that there is no salvation by immersion. For the reference here is to the ark and to how the ark was a type or a figure of our salvation. Noah entered into the ark to be saved. The ark was a type of Christ. The ark wasn't immersed. If that's the kind of teaching that belongs to this passage, then Noah and his family would have perished. Noah and his family stayed alive and survived the flood was because they weren't immersed in the ark. All the other boats, if we may surmise, that other people took to sealing craft of a kind on that day when the flood came, those vessels went down. The people were immersed on to death. So because the ark wasn't submerged, wasn't immersed, Noah and his family were saved. When it says there they were saved by water, the word by has the sense of being saved through the water, as a vessel sailing from one port to another, sails through the sea, and it might also sail through the storm, but it arrives safely at the lab. No, Newell's family were not saved in the strictest sense by water, they were saved from it. That's why God gave to Newell the plan of the ark, that he might save them from the water. They were not saved by it, they were saved from it. The ark wasn't immersed, the ark stayed on the top. The rain came down through enough and fell on the top of the ark that that would be sprinkling. And certainly the ark wasn't saved by immersion or the people in it. To get to the Scriptures, Noah was saved before he ever got on the earth. He was saved by the grace of God when the Lord spoke to his heart and saved him. But if you look at the passage just the same, you'll find that it straightens out fairly well once you examine it all. Don't stop halfway through. Baptism is not, look at the bit and brackets there, is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh. baptism can't wash away the filth of the flesh. Well, you could try some strong detergent, probably would do the job all right, but that's not the kind of filth the Bible is talking of here. That's not the filth of the flesh. The Bible says baptism won't wash away the filth of the flesh, the filth of sin. What is the answer of a good conscience? It's the demand of a good conscience before the Lord. And when a person's baptized, he's not baptized to wash away the filth of sin. He's baptized in order to have a conscience at peace with God. And he knows in his heart he belongs to the Lord. He's saved. He's walking with God. And because of that testimony, he has been baptized in order that he might be a witness. The whole passage in itself relates to the resurrection of Christ. It's the resurrection of Christ that sees it, and baptism is only a symbol, only a picture of that resurrection. Baptism itself doesn't see it. It's only a figure and only a tape in itself. It's the resurrection of Christ which shows us that the life manifest in the gospel is He died for our sins, he rose again because of our justification. And because he lived, he said, we shall live also. And we know by his resurrection that we have eternal life, for he was declared by rising again from the dead to be the Son of God with power. And there the word toward, by the way, In verse 21 of 1 Peter 3 is the word which is translated for in Acts 2, 38. Remember, being baptized for the remission of sins. That word for is exactly the same as the word toward in 1 Peter 3, 21. Ask yourself the question again, is the good conscience necessary in order to procure God? Does the good conscience help you to obtain God or to get a hold of God? Not a bit of it. The good conscience is necessary because of God. When we leave these points before you, time runs rather quickly. We have not time to cover all the other facets of Campbellism, but that's the principle matter that we would be concerned about, that they would teach baptismal regeneration. We don't believe in conditional salvation, that one will fall away and be lost. We don't believe in church apostasy. We believe that Christ kept a witness on this earth in every age of history. The Lord never let the candle go out, but in all the days of history that intervened between our time and the times of the apostles, the Lord never left himself without a witness. That's what the Bible says, and I believe it. The Lord wasn't waiting in heaven for Thomas and Alexander Campbell to come along to establish a new witness and set up the Church of Christ. All these false cults teach that salvation belongs to them. All these false cults teach that God more or less sat up in heaven waiting until these Christian leaders, so-called, came along and set up their infernal organization. but no man's necessary to God's plan. The gospel of Jesus Christ was preached before any man now living, teaching false doctrine was born, and indeed that would apply to any of them, any of these false prophets, whether they belong to the last century or not, the gospel was still being preached, and it's still being preached after they're dead, gone, and forgotten. I thank God for the pure gospel. We're going to bow in prayer. will ask the Lord to speak to their hearts. Even Campbell himself, believing in the water gospel when he was pressed on it, seemed to change his tune at times and say, oh, he had no doubt that somebody wasn't immersed at all and yet would be a good Christian after all. It would seem that he would use his water baptism gospel more for argumentative purposes than for anything else. But the Campbellite Church teaches the matter plain and straight down the line. You have to be baptized by a merchant to be sealed, and you have to be baptized their way or you're not sealed at all. Thank God you can contact the blood without ever getting near the water. You could be sealed on the Sahara Desert. If not a drop of water around you, you can simply be sealed by getting on your knees and calling on the Lord for salvation. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be sealed. Dear Lord, we thank Thee for a real salvation. We thank Thee for the simple gospel, for the pure word of God. And we pray that Thou wilt bless Thy word, help us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. We pray that we may have wisdom to follow after the Lord and follow the Lord fully. Hear and answer prayer. Bless the fellowship. May each member grow in grace and be taught in the things of God. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.