Good to have you. I hope you have your Bible. We are so privileged in this generation to be literate. We can read, and not only that, we have a Bible, and we can have it in our language, and that's a lot to be thankful for, because it has not always been that way. Turn to the book of 2 Timothy, chapter number two, 2 Timothy two, and verse number 15. Second Timothy 2.15, scripture says, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Father, bless this book now in your holy name, amen. On the very simple teaching of the scripture, it says that the scripture is rightly divided. Therefore, you're not reading something that was laid out to be easy to understand. The Apostle Peter talked about things in the scripture that are not easy to be understood. And he referred to the Apostle Paul and his scriptures that he was writing. It talks about the prophets who prophesied of things that they did not understand themselves as they prophesied of it. But being led of the Holy Spirit, they gave what God gave them. The Bible is not written to make a Baptist out of you, a Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Catholic, and so forth. The Bible is the word of God. It's a living book. And if we're going to study it, then we have a lifelong chore. We should remain students of the scripture as long as we are alive. And by the grace of God, one of my prayers to the Lord is, Lord, please, please, please, let me retain my sense, my ability to think, so I can read the Bible, and you can speak to me from the scripture. Because once you've lost the cognizant faculties, you're getting in bad shape. So I still, I consider myself a student of the Bible, and the truth is, God is showing me things now. that he, just five years ago, that I hadn't seen. I'm gonna give you a few things tonight, instead of rambling on, and show you what we're talking about when we talk about the Bible. When I got saved 1973, I had no mentor, there was no one to teach me, no one to guide and direct me, and God knows me, he knows what I'm made of, and he knows what makes me tick. And so immediately I set about to learn the Bible, began to read it. And I found it a fascinating book. The fact of the matter is, for the first few weeks after I got saved, I hardly laid it down. The only time I laid the Bible down was when I went to work. And apart from that, I was reading the scripture. I couldn't get enough of it. It was just alive, feeding my soul. Now I want to give you some things tonight that the New Testament is going to give you. And this is going to be a kind of a panoramic view, but it's going to help you locate just exactly what it means to be a student of the Bible. First of all, I want you to notice that the New Testament talks about things that change. Look at the book of Matthew chapter number 10 and verse number 5. In Matthew chapter number 10 and verse number 5, The Lord said the 12 disciples sent them forth saying, go not into the way of the Gentiles. All right, there it is, as plain as it can be. But then when we get to Mark chapter number five and verse number 39, here's what we read. Mark chapter number five and verse number 39. I don't know why I don't have it marked. I'll get to it. Mark 5, 39. Here's what your Bible says. Let's see, I'm in the wrong scripture. Matthew 5, no, Mark 16, 15. Here we are. I've got my wrong glasses on tonight. I've got the wrong prayer going out the door. Mark 16, 15. He said to them, now remember, he said, go not in the way of the Gentiles. Now we have this in Mark 16, 15. He said to them, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Now, what's going on here? This is a complete reversal as to what he said before. Well, this challenges you. You have to find an answer to that. This is what it means to study the Bible, all right? This is what's going on. Why the change? Why did he say go only to the house of the lost sheep, the children of the house of Israel? Go not in the way of the Gentiles. Then he turns right around and tells them to go into all the world. and preach the gospel to every creature. And of course, when you study the Bible, the scripture will open up to you how that we have a progression of the offering of the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God and something profound had changed. And that's why the commission is changed. I want you to notice what he said in Matthew chapter number five and verse number 39, Matthew 5, 39. Here's what your scripture says, Matthew 5, 39. But I say to you, you resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. All right? You hear a lot of people get in and they start teaching the Bible and they get into things like this, and this is a wonderful truth. It is a truth, but it is not everything that can be said. Are you following me now? There is more to be said. And the more that is said is found in another place, but it's later. Look over here in the book of Luke chapter number 22, verse number 36. See, what I'm doing is laying before you tonight how to study the Bible. Luke chapter number 22, verse number 36. Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, likewise his script, and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one." So we're going from being smitten on the cheek and turn the other cheek to buying a sword. What's going on? Learn what happens between these two statements and you're beginning to study the Bible. And how much preaching do you hear where cherry pick certain things to build this agenda of the church and so forth? You hear that all the time. There are places in the Bible that do not on the surface match Baptist doctrine. Think about that. Because I'm obligated to give you the truth. And I'm obligated to set before you things that may not, it may not coincide with what you've necessarily been taught. Are you saying the Baptists are wrong? What I'm saying is that the Baptists could get a little deeper into some things and it might help them. And here you gotta understand this too. When we say Baptists, it's like saying the Jews, which bunch? Because there's all kinds of Baptists. Make no mistake about that. Now I want you to look at this one over here in Matthew chapter number 11. Matthew chapter number 11. Here's what he said to them, and this is remarkable because this is the kind of thing now that'll make you think. Matthew chapter 11 and verse number 14. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. And who's he talking about? He's talking about John the Baptist. He's saying a man could stand for another man. Therefore he could fulfill the prophecy of someone else. Be careful, folks. You might entertain an angel unawares. Be very careful. with any church or preacher or ministry that tries to simplify everything and just give you a surface understanding of it. The Bible can take you as deep as you want to go. And this one is quite a remarkable thing. Why is this? It's because the kingdom could have been fulfilled by the ministry of John the Baptist. the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom to Israel, there is nowhere in the Bible that says that we had to have a church age number one and that the church age lasted 2,000 years number two. That's not in the scripture. Think about that. It's not in the Bible. It's easy in retrospect to look back on a thing and try to make the Bible fit into it. There are types of it in the Old Testament, certainly, but this is easy to be where we are today and look back over 2,000 years of church history and think, well, they were preparing for the church age. No, they weren't. They were looking for the Mashiach. They were looking for the Messiah and a suffering Messiah and a reigning Messiah. that it would come. Now I want you to look at this one. In Matthew chapter number three and verse number two, in Matthew chapter number three and verse two, it says this. When he showed up, John the Baptist, and of course my Baptist bride brethren will say, you see, he's the first Baptist. John the Baptist. Somebody said, no, he's John the Methodist, or he's John the Presbyterian. Do you realize that he was not even in the church of God? He said, I'm a friend of the bride, I stand on the outside and I look in. The Bible says the law and the prophets were until John, but since that time, the kingdom of God is preached and every man presseth into it. He said, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force. And we're in the process now of another good war. It'll be a good one. We'll get a lot of young men, 18, 19, 20 years old. We'll put them out there on the battlefield and we'll get them blown all to pieces. Then we'll come back and we'll play the flute and the trumpet for them and this and that and this and that. Some of you are looking at me tonight like I'm crazy. See, I lived through the Vietnam War and I lost friends. I lost buddies. I know the spirit of that age. I know what it was all about. Everybody was gung-ho about going to Vietnam when it all started. Yes, they were. And did you know, my dear friend, to this day I'm not even sure what we were doing there because if when you get home tonight, don't you take the clothes you're wearing, you get home tonight, look at the tag in that clothes and some of the stuff you've bought for your home and you might be surprised at how much stuff you're wearing that was made in Vietnam. So what was it about? Doesn't it force you to ask the question? If we're trading with them and the money's being made and they're making all kinds of money and all kinds of jobs and this and that and this and that, what was all that war for? And what's this thing coming up now? What's going on with Iran? What's going on with Russia? What is it with China and Taiwan? What's all this stuff? You know, over here in the Ukraine, you know, they're preparing for another one. And let me tell you something. Do you know who makes money out of a war? Yes, Wall Street, wars are very profitable. A lot of money to be made. This is why the Lord said, buy a sword. And he said this, he said, the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God suffereth violence and the violent take it by force. Do you agree with that? Are they taking the rulership of this earth by? Yes, they are. Absolutely. They're taking it by force. Smedley Butler, who was a major general in the United States Marine Corps, I think in the 30s and the 40s. It's my understanding at that time, two-star general was the highest you could get. Here's what he said. Major General Butler. He said, war is a racket. He said, I've been down in Panama, and I've been in middle America, been down there fighting wars. And he said, I've been doing it for Wall Street. That's his very words. He's a smart man. All right, I'll move along. Y'all getting mad at me tonight. It's the truth, you better believe it is. I've been around here a while, I've seen this stuff. Now look at Acts chapter 18 verse 25. Acts chapter 18 and verse number 25. John the Baptist shows up and says, repent, all right? for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And this man was instructed in the way of the Lord, being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John." Now, if you'd heard the preaching of Apollos, and this is who we're talking about over here, if you'd heard that preaching, would you have gone to heaven? Of course you would have, just like Apollos would have, because he was preaching what he had and what he knew, and it was the truth when he received it. And then when more light came, he accepted the light, which lays down a principle in scripture. You may have a partial understanding of certain things, but if the Holy Ghost dwells within you, you will receive further truth and you will embrace it when it comes. Amen. That's a mark of a true Bible believer. Now the kingdom of God versus the kingdom of heaven. And the book of Matthew is the only book in the Bible, New Testament, that talks about the kingdom of heaven. There's a reason for that. Because the king showed up, they rejected the kingdom of heaven. And when they rejected the king, they rejected the kingdom of heaven. And so the apostle Paul says, I go to the Gentiles, the last chapter of the book of Acts, Acts chapter 28, and he says, they will hear. So something profound had happened. If the book of Acts finishes in 28 chapters, And we have every reason to believe that the Book of Acts was written before the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 AD. How do we know that? Well, not one word is said about that destruction, and that was a profound thing that happened to the Jewish people in 70 AD. But there's something else that's important about it. If you'll turn over there with me to the 28th chapter of the Book of Acts. I hope I'm not jumping around too much for you. I'm trying to show you some things though that, oh, how I wish they had been taught to me when I first got saved. But I guess it took time to prepare me to receive what God has showed me. If you look over here, in Acts chapter number 28, In verse number 25, it says, some believe the things which were spoken and some believe not, verse 24. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed. After that Paul had spoken one word, well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers saying, go unto this people and say, hearing you shall hear and shall not understand and seeing you shall see. and not perceive, for the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Be it known, therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it. Were Gentiles saved before this? Of course they were. Cornelius is saved. He's a Gentile, Acts chapter number 10. So what does this mean? It means the focus now of the gospel ministry is toward the Gentiles. And this is where he begins to build his church. It's important, too, to understand that the Apostle Paul is the one who said this, which brings us to one of the most important men who ever walked on the face of this earth, and his name is Saul of Tarsus. You can't study the New Testament without studying the life of the Apostle Paul and understanding a little bit about who this man was. He was saved somewhere between 31 and 36 AD, all right? He said, I was one born out of due time, but the Apostle Paul wrote more than likely, 14 books of the New Testament, which means that if he wrote 14, he wrote over half, because there's only 27 books in the New Testament. All you have to do is Google the Apostle Paul, and you'll be amazed at the people out there that hate him, yet they call themselves Christians. Now, if you hate the Apostle Paul, my dear friend, you are not my brother or sister in Christ, because you hate my Bible. He wrote that New Testament. You can't have it both ways. If you despise Paul, you despise his writings. And these include the prison epistles, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon, and it includes Galatians, 1st and 2nd Timothy, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, Titus, and probably Hebrews. What you have done is gut the New Testament. and you have done a disservice. And I want to rebuke you tonight with everything that's in me. You are a devil straight out of hell. I don't care who you are. If you go after the apostle Paul and try to denigrate that man and tear him down, your spirit was born in the pit and you don't know Christ. Amen. And whoever you are, if you're one of them, you better take that to heart because you'll give an account in the judgment for what you've done to our New Testament. You've gutted it. Amen. You can't have it both ways. Now, the Apostle Paul was saved, 31, 36 AD. You have what's called Pauline and Petrine. How many's ever heard of that? Pauline and Petrine. All right, what are we talking about? Pauline has to do with Paul's epistles and Paul's theology. Petrine has to do with the Apostle Peter, his ministry, and his theology. The Roman Catholic Church is big on Peter. And Protestantism, for the most part, has been big on Paul. This is not that we slight Peter in any sense of the word. Peter is an apostle of the Lamb. I'm not Paul, Lion, or Petrine. I'm a Bible believer. But I mention this tonight so you'll understand because you do get schools of thought. In the book of 1 Thessalonians, they say was written somewhere about 52 AD, all right? Now, some say this is the first book of the New Testament that was written. Now look what we're talking about. There are others who say that Galatians was the first book of the New Testament written about 48 AD. How many times I've said before, when it gets into dates, it's extremely difficult to prove one date over another date. and the date of the writing of books. Usually they'll give a latitude of something like six or seven or eight years as to the date of the writing of a certain book. But if 1 Thessalonians is the first book written of the New Testament, every chapter in 1 Thessalonians is pointing people to the second coming of Christ. And that was written by Saul of Tarsus, Paul the Apostle. Now, the Apostle Paul, died, we believe, somewhere between 64, 68 AD. You've heard many messages about the Mamertine prison in Rome, and I've even preached it before, may preach it again, makes good preaching. But the truth of the matter is, there's not one word in that New Testament that tells you that the Apostle Paul died, period. And it certainly doesn't tell you when or where he died. Did you know that? You see, some people are led to believe that the Bible tells you when, where he died. He did not. He was in his own house in Rome for two years, and it mentions that in the last chapter of the book of Acts. But it doesn't tell you what happened after that. We do not know. Now, I want to read you just a little history, okay? Paul's death is believed to have occurred after the great fire of Rome in July 64 AD, but before last year of Nero's reign in 68 AD. Pope Clement I writes in his epistle to the Corinthians that after Paul had borne his testimony before the rulers, he departed from the world and went into the holy place having been found a notable pattern of patient endurance. Ignatius of Antioch writes in his epistle to the Ephesians that Paul was martyred without giving any further information. Tertullian writes that Paul was crowned with an exit like John, although it is unclear which John he meant. Now these are what we call church fathers that I'm reading to you. Now listen to this one. Eusebius states that Paul was killed during the Neronian persecution, in other words Nero, And quoting from Dionysius of Corinth argues that Peter and Paul were martyred at the same time. This is also reported by Sulpicius Severus who claimed Peter was crucified while Paul was beheaded. John Chrysostom They call him the Golden Mouth. John Chrysostom provides an account of Nero imprisoning Paul, but none of his execution and no mention of Peter. Lactantius only mentioned it was Nero who first persecuted the servants of God. He crucified Peter and slew Paul. So what's all that mean? It means that there's a lot of extra biblical information out there. Some of it in what's called apocryphal books or pseudepigraphic books. There's a world of that stuff out there, folks. There may be truth in it, but we don't know that for certain. You cannot accept, we don't know. You see, someone says, well, I know how Paul died. Well, if you do, that's fine, but I don't have to believe it. Are you following? That's the way to study the Bible. Because people will take, for example, Tacitus. How many of you remember me mentioning the name of Tacitus? He was a Roman historian. Here's what he says. Many pagans believed that bad things would happen if the established pagan gods were not properly propitiated and reverenced. Bart Ehrman says that, quote, by the end of the second century, The Christian apologist, Tertullian, complained about the widespread perception that Christians were the source of all disasters brought against the human race by the gods. They think the Christians They think the Christians, the cause of every public disaster, of every affliction with which the people are visited, if the Tiber, that's the river in Rome, if the Tiber rises as high as the city walls, if the Nile does not send its waters up over the fields, if the heavens give no rain, if there is an earthquake, if there is famine or pestilence, straightway, the cry is, away with the Christians to the lions. Now, they're not far from that here in this country, not far at all, because you can see it building and they have buzzwords they're already using. These buzzwords they use among themselves to identify certain groups of people. Then once you identify a certain group, you demonize them. Therefore, once you identify them, and demonize them, then you're ready to do anything at your heart's desire, anything you please, and you know which side you belong on, because you know which side is using the words, and you know exactly their agenda. This is what's happening in this country. It's a shame that it really is. It's such a shame. There was a lady here this past Sunday. She was from Nigeria. She sat right back there. How many of you saw her? She had that headdress on, and she had her I think it was her husband. They're from North Carolina. And she's trying to get a green card. And I told her, I said, well, listen, don't mess with that. Go down to the south of the border, down there around somewhere in Texas or Arizona, and just come right across. And they'll give you money, put you up in a hotel somewhere, and give you $1,000 to spend, and take care of your physical needs. And you say, well, that's a joke. No, that's no joke. That's no joke. Oh, no, no, no, no. They have opened up the border so they can change the demographics of this country and create a voting block that will keep them in power in the foreseeable future. How many believe that? Good. Yeah. And it's nothing against these poor people coming across the border. Good night. I don't blame them for wanting a better life. I understand all of that. But you've got a country. And it would be a problem for you if you had to go. You needed to go to the emergency room. And you couldn't get in because it was full of illegal aliens. Is that a problem? Yes, it's a problem. Because the elite don't have that problem. They have their own doctors and hospitals and treatment. Oh yeah. They'll pass gun laws and take your gun away from you, but they have armed bodyguards. Y'all know what I'm talking about anyway. You know exactly what I'm talking about. It's a truth. Yes it is. So I told that lady, I said I'll be praying for you and that she's trying to do it the right way. She wants to come in with a green card and then in time become a citizen. When I was military, we had a lot of Canadians. I served with a number of Canadians in the military. These men would come down from Canada. They'd join our military. They didn't have any trouble either. Apparently, the armed forces of the United States didn't have one bit of problem taking a Canadian into the armed forces. They trusted him. I trusted him. No problem with it. Once they had served in the military, in the United States. They could get citizenship. They could be a dual citizen, dual citizen, Canada and the United States. So, you know, there's a lot of different ways to do things. And so they are our friends in the North. That's the way we see them because of situations like that. Never had any problem. And we have Canadians. You wouldn't believe how many Canadians come visiting to this church. It is absolutely mind-boggling, the people in Canada that listen to us. And they're warning us. They're saying, preacher, I had one tell me the other day, preacher, you think it's getting bad in America, you ought to see what's happening in Canada. And freedom of speech is gone. And it went out the door with what's called hate speech. You remember when that showed up? Amen. But in any event, how did he die? We do not know how the Apostle Paul died. If Eusebius, who wrote a history of the church, Eusebius, if what he's saying is true, then he died under the Neronian persecution. But we don't know that for certain. But it's good for you to know that that's what's said. That's okay, just as long as you remember. The only thing that you can take as absolute truth is the word of God. And judge everything else by that. And I accept the Bible as absolute truth. It's inspired, it's the canon of scripture. So, the Apostle Paul, we don't know when he died. The Gospels give us the history of the crucifixion, but the Apostle Paul gives us the theology of the crucifixion, or better said, the Christology of the crucifixion. So what's the difference? Theology is the broad study of those things pertaining to God, Theos. Christology bears directly on the ministry and person and salvation that Christ has to offer. That's called Christology. And in itself, it's a wonderful study in the Bible because you get your Christology right and you'll get your salvation right. Amen, amen. And so he's the one who set that up for us. Now, according to Tacitus, later Christian tradition, Nero blamed Christians for the great fire of Rome in 64 AD. which destroyed portions of the city and economically devastated the Roman population. Anthony Barrett has written that major archeological endeavors have recently produced new evidence for the fire. They can't show who started it. The Annals of Tacitus, it reads, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations. Now listen to this. This is Tacitus. He's a Roman historian, lived in the first century. And here's what he says. He's not a friend of the church. Okay. But listen carefully to what this man is saying. To get rid of the report, Nero, who was the Roman Caesar, fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations called Christians by the populace. Christus from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate. And a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out, not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular. So why is that important? It's important because Tacitus is a secular historian, no friend to the church, but he's writing from the perspective of the fact that this happened, and this is who got blamed for it, and there was a man in Judea who lived whose name was Christus, and he makes connections and mentions Pontius Pilate in it. Now, we have to make a choice. We either accept what Tacitus says, and he's not the only one. You've got Pliny the Elder and Suetonius and others. We either accept what he says as history or we reject it outright. Liberalism for decades, folks, absolutely rejected the notion that there ever was a Pontius Pilate. And liberalism had this material in their lap from day one. You know what they did? They did not want to believe what they had in hand, and they would stop at nothing to skirt it, divert it, hide it, somehow or another confuse it, until a stone was found at Caesarea Maritima. And that stone was found, I don't remember how many, 40, 50, 60, 70 years ago, and it had the name Pontius Pilate. They're in stone. Do you know what the liberals did? They had to shut up because there's proof positive. For example, they say that David, the king, David, Israel, David, the king of Israel, they say that he never really existed, that he was created after the captivity scribes created him to embellish the history of Israel and to give them identity in the world. So they created this Davidic throne and the reign of David. They said he didn't exist until in the northern part of Israel, the archeologist who I've told you before is your friend, folks. The archeologist is one of the greatest friends you have. He got digging, and he's a Jew. He was digging, and digging, and digging, and lo and behold, he comes upon a stone at what's called Tel Dan. A tel is a man-made mound like Tel Megiddo. And what's the name on it? Hamalik HaDavid HaYisrael. Melech is king, David is David, the king Yisrael, David, the king of Israel. Oh, did it ever blow their mind. Oh, did they ever hate that. And to this day, they despise that idea. Oh my, you mean to tell me that the stones literally cried out. That's what he told them. He said, if you don't, the stones will, and the stones have cried out. Oh yeah, they went into the valley of Ghana, went back up in a cave, and there they found an ossuary. An ossuary is a bone box. 2,000 years old, a bone box. It had a name on the side of it. The name was Caiaphas. Yeah, Caiaphas. Does the Bible mention anybody called Caiaphas? Of course it does. Of course it does. That's just three. There are many, many more. They keep finding stuff. They keep finding and keep finding and keep finding. The Bible is historically true, folks. They call it the historicity of the scripture. It's historically true. It is spiritually to the point because the Bible knows how to reach us. It knows exactly what we need. And here's the thing now, I'm gonna bring you to the last part. that did not change, and there never will be a change. In the book of Malachi chapter number three in verse six, the Lord said, for I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore your sons of Jacob are not consumed. We call that the immutability of God. He's immutable, he doesn't change. Then in Luke chapter number 23 in verse number 42, there was an old thief that looked over at the Lord, And he said, remember me. Now, you'd be surprised at how many people, especially here recently in the last month or so, just today I was reading and praying over some of the comments. They're saying, preacher, please help me. I want to know I'm saved. They say, would you all please help me? Would you pray for me? I mean, you'd be amazed at how many people, they're uncertain, they're unsure. They won't help, they won't prayer. And of course, as usual, five, 10, 15 people will immediately respond and reply and try their dead level best to help that person, to lead them to the Lord. Now I gave you a bunch of stuff tonight, jumped here, jumped there, this, that, this, that, but what I'm about to say to you tonight is probably the most important thing of all I have to say. It really is. There was no baptismal pool on that cross. There was no church membership on that cross. He had no good deeds to be measured and judged by. There was nobody there, you know, that was a go-between or someone who quote-unquote led him to the Lord. This is not to put any dispersion on someone who is a soul winner. God bless them, good for them. But here's what I'm trying to say. There's no baptism here. So in Mark chapter 16, it says, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Does it say that? Of course it does. All right. Why was baptism added? Because for the thief on the cross, it was not necessary for him to be saved. Now I've even talked to some and heard him say, well, how do you know God didn't, how do you know they didn't drag him off of the cross and take him over here somewhere and baptize him and then hang him back up there again? I thought to myself, well, if that's what you believe, son, go ahead. But you and I both know that didn't happen. But you know what it is? It's the simplicity of it. I wish I could get this over to people. Romans 13, chapter number 10, verse 13 said, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Have you noticed it doesn't say what you say to call? Have you noticed that? Have you noticed there's no formula? That if you will say thus and so, you will be saved? That means that you're putting your faith in what you said. See, that's not what it's about. It's a simple cry from the soul. God help me. Will that get you saved? Yeah. Yeah. Lord, I'm going under. Will that get you saved? Yeah. If you call upon the one who is able to save you, if you call upon him and in your heart you have not rejected whatever the light you have from the Holy Spirit because you reject the light of the Holy Spirit and that's what leads you to the unpardonable sin because there's no higher authority and there's nowhere else for you to go so if you cry out Lord remember me is that all he said Did he get saved? Well, you have to take Christ at his word. He said, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. Yeah. I don't remember exactly the words I said when I bowed my head in 1973 on that sofa. It was a deacon sitting there with a scripture open talking to me. But I do remember this. I do remember from my heart I spoke. And I do remember that I meant everything that I said. And I wasn't playing games with God. I was serious as I could be. I don't really, I don't suppose it's necessary for me to remember everything that I said. That's a tactic of Satan. He wants to confuse you. He wants to make it, he wants to, it's like, you remember the guy in the Old Testament. What was his name, the leper from Syria? You know the little girl down there? That's right, Naaman, he was a rich man. You remember the prophet had a servant whose name was Gehazi and all that? Well, listen. When he came down to the prophet's house, the prophet said, you go tell him to dip seven times in the Jordan River. He didn't even come out and speak to him personally. Just go tell him to dip seven times in the Jordan River. He went out and told him that. He got so mad he couldn't stay. He got angry, boy. He said, I thought at least he'd come out and tell me to wave my hand or say something or do some kind of a religious thing. I mean, what's this? Just, what do you mean, dip seven times in the Jordan River? It's always a simple thing when you come to God. If you're wondering tonight, I don't know if I believe enough. I don't know how much, what am I supposed to believe? What if I come to God and I can't remember all my sins? I can't confess them all because I can't remember all of them. There's not a soul walking the face of this earth that can remember all of them. I'm glad, thank God, tonight I can't remember all of them. Would you like to carry that around with you? Remember every sorry lowdown, dark place you've been to and you've done? No, I'm glad God's blessed me with a bad memory. I just simply said, God, remember me. I said it in my words, and I called on him, and he heard me. and He'll hear you. And if you're watching this thing tonight, He'll hear you. He's no respecter of persons. He doesn't want your money. He doesn't want your fame. He doesn't want anything you've got. He doesn't need you. You need Him. And that's the message I get out of everything I said tonight. The most important thing that I'll say to you is this. If you can say from your heart what that thief on that cross said, Lord, remember me. He'll save your soul. Yes, sir. He'll save your soul and you'll know it. Amen. I don't know why. Every reason why baptism was added, I've got some thoughts on it. But it was added. But I know this. I know toward the end of the ministry, the Apostle Paul, he got to where it was an impediment. Here's what he said to the church at Corinth. He said, God didn't send me here to baptize. He sent me here to preach the gospel. Now, hold on. If baptism is part of the gospel, we've got confusion going on. Yes, that's right. Baptism is not part of the gospel. Amen. It ran its course, did what it was designed to do, and it's gone. It had nothing to do with the salvation of a man's soul. The only reason we baptize today is because we identify with the one who was baptized in the Jordan River. Amen. And don't tell me, my dear friends, that when they baptized Christ that his sins were washed away. Oh, no. No, no, no. Does it to be so to fulfill all righteousness? If baptism washes your sins away, then why didn't it wash his sins away? He was sinless. What was the point in being baptized? See, he was identifying in obedience to the ministry of that time and that hour. He was identifying with men as the God-man. That was what it was for, and that's what we baptize for, because we identify with the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ, and we have the Lord's Supper because he told us to do this in remembrance of me. Amen. But the Lord's Supper and the baptism will not save you. It is simple faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, bless your word. Bless your word tonight. Bless your holy word. My Father, tonight I come against, in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit and the blood of Christ, I come against tonight every heretic, every devil out of hell, every last one of them that are trying to destroy the ministry of the Apostle Paul and tear down the New Testament. I come against them. May you judge them, and may you bring them to a place to where they come face to face with the heresy that they're in, and renounce it, and repent of it, and get right with God. I pray tonight that you'd bless your word now as it's gone forth. Bless those that have heard it. They didn't receive it as the word of men, but as it is the word of God. Bless it. In Jesus' name. Now, I don't want anybody looking tonight. I want you to keep your heads bowed for a moment. The Apostle Paul said that lest they come and confuse you and lead you away from the simplicity that is in Christ. He said it plainly. He said your relationship with the Lord Jesus is a simple thing. It's a simple thing. Oh, I understand there's a lot of profound issues involved, but it's a simple thing when it comes to a man's soul and the Lord. If you're sitting in this house tonight and you're not sure if you're saved, if you're born again, you've been confused, you've been drug off, led astray, some of you may have come out of a church that has taught you everything in the world that you have to do to be saved or stay saved, I want you to raise your hand and say, pray for me tonight, preacher. I want the truth from God, I want the truth. God bless you. God bless you. Amen. Anybody else raise that hand and say, I want the truth, preacher. God bless you over there. God bless you. God bless you. Amen. My dear Christian brothers and sisters, tonight, that should tell you to pray. That should encourage you to pray. We've got people in here who raised their hand. We love them. We're here to help people, not hurt them. The simplicity in Christ. Father, I pray for them now. I pray, Lord, that you're the only one who knows how to talk to the heart and search the heart and try the reins. You're the only one that can really communicate us on a level, Heavenly Father, where we can be saved. Out of the intellect into the heart. You can speak to the heart. You can speak directly to the heart. Lord, make it simple. Make it so simple to them tonight. Church, so many churches come between people and God, and it's not meant to be so. I pray for them. I pray that the work of Christ, that the finished work on the cross, that what he did for us, that he paid that sin price and became sin for us who knew no sin, and simply look at that thief who said, remember me. That's good enough for me tonight. Lord Jesus, in thy righteous name I pray, help them, help them. Those who may be watching tonight, and we can't see them, but they can see us. We pray for them, whoever, wherever they are. We pray for you. We want you to know that. If you're watching tonight, and you want to bow your head with me, and you want to call upon the Lord, and you want to ask Him to cleanse you, save you, write your name in the book of life. I don't know what words will come out of your heart, but it'll be words of sincerity. You may not say any more than the thief did. God remember me. That's all it takes. That's all it takes. It's honesty from the soul. Honesty. Honesty from the soul to connect you with God. Would you do that? In thy holy, righteous name, would you do that? Amen.