our baptism service. I'm John Gerizzo, one of the pastors here at Grace Covenant Church, and we're excited to welcome you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's also exciting to see that when we have a service like this, we have almost half the people who normally don't come to our church have come to show support for those who will be professing their faith in baptism, and also some who come because God has been tugging on their heart, so to speak, and nudging them to take this first step in obedience. The first step of a new Christian life is to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and profess in your faith publicly in baptism. And God has been working in several hearts and lives among us. And so there are some people who are seriously considering taking the step that two of our candidates are taking this evening. And so we're excited. to hear their professions, and to hear the word of God proclaimed before that. I'd like to open with a word of prayer, and ask that you please join with me as we look to the Lord and ask for his favor upon our time together. Let's pray. O great God almighty, heavenly Father, righteous Son, and Holy Spirit. You are the triune God, the one true and living God, from whom and through whom and to whom are all things, the creator, the redeemer, the sustainer. And we praise you, O Lord, that you are worthy of all honor and glory and adoration. And our purpose here tonight is to worship you. We come to you, Father, through the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit, that we might exalt the one name of the Lord God Almighty. And we give praise to you for those whom you have been working in, whom you have set your love upon from the very foundation of the world, whom you chose in Christ to be holy and without blame before you. And we thank you for these two young men, Paxton Bryke and Samuel Gonzalez. We thank you for what you have been doing in their lives. We thank you for their godly families, for the upbringing that they have had, for the fact that they have been sitting under the means of grace, the public means of grace, every Lord's Day. and that it has not been in vain that the power of the Spirit has renewed hearts, and they have looked to Christ by faith, and they have put their trust in the Lord alone. We pray tonight that your favor would be with us in this service, that from beginning to end the Lord Jesus Christ will be highly exalted, and that the presence of God will be truly manifest among us, that the people who are here today, those that may be watching from home, will be truly ministered unto by the truth of your word. professions of faith that will be shared today. So we commend our time to you, Lord. We ask that you would come and meet with us. We ask and pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. If you'll take your blue Trinity hymnals, turn to hymn number 667. Hymn 667. Let's stand together and sing to God be the glory. so To God be the glory, great things He hath done, So loved in the world that He gave us His Son, Who yielded His life in atonement for sin, And opened the light, yea, that we may go in. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice. O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory, great things He hath done. O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood To every believer, the promise of God The fileless offender who truly believes That moment from Jesus, forgiveness receives Praise the Lord! Oh Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done, and great all rejoicing to Jesus the Son. But purer, and higher, and greater will be our wonder, our transformation, Jesus we sing. Amen. You may be seated. Certainly it's very important to understand why we have baptism services, why people are baptized. And the simple answer is because the Lord commands it. It is a command by the Lord Jesus Christ. And certainly it's important for us to be able to find in God's word where those commands, those instructions are. And if you have your copy of the scriptures, I would encourage you to turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew. We'll be looking at Matthew 28. A couple verses from Matthew 28, a couple verses from Mark 16, and a couple verses from Acts chapter 2. So you can have your fingers in three different places if you have a hard copy of the Scriptures. But we'll begin by looking at Matthew 28 and starting at verse 18. And I want you to notice, as we read verse 19, that the word name is in the singular, but there are three persons. This is a very important verse in support of the doctrine of the Trinity. And let me read this out loud here, beginning at verse 18. And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. That is the promise of the Lord Jesus to be with his people, and in the context of baptism, how much more so when those who are being baptized are professing his faith. Then in the Gospel of Mark, we find in Mark chapter 16, verses 15 and 16, Very similar to what we've just read, but with some other emphasis in Mark 16, at verse 15 we read, and he said to them, go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And once again, the importance of baptism, which is crouched in a very clear gospel environment. And then the final passage of scripture is in Acts chapter two at verse 37, verses 37 and 38. And here we read, let me read verse 36, Peter's closing words. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thus far the reading of God's holy word. And that is God speaking to us in his word, but we also have a confession of faith. And if you have a copy of the confession, or you can just turn to the back of your Blue Trinity hymnal, the very back on page 682 brings us to chapter 22. This is our London Baptist confession. published in 1689. And we'll be looking here at a couple of paragraphs in this confession starting at chapter 22 and paragraph 5. Here we read, the reading of the scriptures preaching, and hearing the word of God, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord, as also the administration of baptism and the Lord's Supper are all parts of religious worship to be performed in obedience to him with understanding, faith, reverence, and godly fear. Moreover, solemn humiliation with fastings and thanksgiving upon special occasions ought to be used in an holy and religious manner." And so these components, as the paragraph mentions, Scriptures, preaching, singing, baptism, and Lord's Supper have all been and are about to be conducted here this day, and it's a glorious day. Then if you turn a couple pages over to the right, we'll be looking at chapter 28. on Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and 29, which these are the paragraphs regarding the sacraments. And so at 28, paragraph one, we read, Baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances of positive and sovereign institution appointed by the Lord Jesus, the only lawgiver, to be continued in his church to the end of the world. Paragraph two, these holy appointments are to be administered by those only who are qualified and thereunto called according to the commission of Christ. And then chapter 29. On baptism of baptism we read, baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ to be unto the party baptized, a sign of his fellowship with him in his death and resurrection, of his being engrafted into him, of remission of sins and of his giving up unto God through Jesus Christ to live and walk in newness of life. Paragraph two, those who do actually profess repentance towards God, faith in and obedience to our Lord Jesus are the only proper subjects of this ordinance. Paragraph three, the outward element to be used in this ordinance is water, wherein the party is to be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And then finally paragraph four, immersion or dipping of the person in water is necessary to the due administration of this ordinance. And so that is the instructions, the directions, the guidance that we seek to follow here at Grace Covenant Church in our baptisms. And Pastor David will now come and follow with the word of God. Remember the good old days? Some of you here tonight are old enough to remember a time when things just seemed better. A time when, I don't know, politics seemed more civil. A time when children would go outside and exercise a little creativity and come up with things to play. A time when Coca-Cola had real sugar and came in a bottled glass. the good old days. Surely sometimes we can look back at the past and we can see things through rose-colored glasses, believing that the old ways were better than today. Now perhaps that might be true in some very specific respects, like Coca-Cola. Perhaps we can and should fondly remember the good old days, but not always. Sometimes the new is just better than the old. A new car, a new house, the newest version of the iPhone, and of course, a Christian's new life in Christ. That's what we're here to celebrate tonight. When it comes to a Christian's new life in Christ, the one who is an adopted child of God never will look at their past life before Christ, outside of Christ, and consider it as the good old days. Those of us who have experienced the outpouring of God's love and the joy of His salvation in our lives, we will never look back at our pre-adoption selves and say, oh, how I wish I could go back. Oh, things were so much better then. No, in the case of God's salvation of sinners, the new is always better, and infinitely and eternally so. Now that's not to say that Christians won't be tempted at times to remember the ease of life before they took up their cross and followed Jesus. But if given the choice, a true disciple of Christ would sacrifice, no true disciple of Christ, excuse me, would sacrifice heaven and the joys of being united to Christ for the chance to go back and live the old life, no matter how good it might sometimes seem in the rear view mirror. No, because the new life is so much better. Tonight I want us to look at an important text of scripture briefly in Ephesians 4, and consider just a few simple truths from this text that specifically, that don't specifically mention or refer to this ordinance of baptism, but a text that certainly still applies to what we are here to witness and participate in tonight. So if you have your Bibles, you can turn there with me, Ephesians 4, beginning at verse 17, and follow along as I read there. The Apostle writes the words of God to us. Now this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life, and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self. created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Let's pray one more time and ask for the Spirit's help. Father God, we thank you for sending your son Jesus to live that perfect life under the law and to die a sacrificial death on behalf of sinners like us. We thank you for this opportunity this evening to see and participate in the gospel ordinance of baptism, that ordinance which points to something else, that signifies something for us, namely the washing away of sin, the death of the old man, and the new sanctified life in Christ. Lord, we pray that you'll meet with us now by your spirit and encourage our hearts through your word, and we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Ephesians chapter 4, here in the middle of his letter to the brothers and sisters in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul is encouraging them in this context to continue growing as believers. He's already written to them in the first half of the letter, reminding them of the glories of God's sovereign grace that have been poured out, that have been lavished upon them in the person and work of Jesus and applied by the ministry of the Holy Spirit in their lives. He's already reminded them of their spiritual union with Christ and the mystery of that good news that's not just for Jews, but for Gentiles also. And in light of these essential and life-giving truths, He urges them at the beginning of chapter 4 to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which they've been called. He urges them to be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. But for unity and growth in the Spirit to continue among the Ephesian Christians, and Christians everywhere for that matter, they must daily forsake their old sinful ways of living. And this is where we pick up tonight. Paul tells these believers not to live any longer like the foolish, ignorant, unbelievers they once were. Then he goes on to provide a description of the person who's outside of Christ. A person who's with a darkened understanding of the truth. And because of that ignorance, coupled by a hardness of heart, they are alienated from God. And what is the result of such alienation? What's the consequence of living in this darkness? Well, Paul writes very similarly here to what he wrote in Romans 1, that their hearts just grow harder and colder, and their consciences become more and more callous, and they give themselves up to all kinds of sensuality. Not just sexual sins, but anything that serves the idol of self. And in response, Excuse me. They're greedy, he says, to practice all kinds of impurity. But for those of us who've been saved from that sinful lifestyle, and saved to a life of holiness, a life of purity, we ought to read that description of unbelieving man, acknowledging that, first of all, that once described all of us. who have been saved. And in response, we ought to give thanks to God and live lives aimed at pleasing Him who died on our behalf. And this is how you have learned Christ. And Sam and Paxton, I know that this is how you have learned Christ. Because I know your parents. I know your Sunday school teachers. I know your pastors. I know that from a very early age, each of you has been taught according to the truths of Christ. And so this text before us tonight is for you as much as it's for anyone else who calls themselves a Christian. And I want us to consider three simple exhortations from this text. First, to put off. Second, to be renewed. And third, to put on. Put off your old self, Paul says, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires. What is Paul referring to here when he mentions the old man, the old self? Well, Matthew Henry describes this for us saying, it is the old man as old Adam from whom we derive it. It is bred in the bone. and we brought it into the world with us. It is subtle as the old man, but in all God's saints, it is decaying and withering as an old man, and ready to pass away. It is said to be corrupt, for sin in the soul is the corruption of its faculties. And where it is not mortified, where it is not killed, It grows daily worse and worse and so tends to our destruction. That's the old man. And so Paul urges Christians to put it off. That old self which signifies that which a Christian once was but is no longer. He says, put it off. All those things a Christian once did, in the words of Bob Newhart, stop it. Here's what's really been underscored. It's the doctrine of repentance. Putting off the old self involves a life of ongoing repentance. And here's a quote from the Scottish theologian John Cahoon. It's very pertinent and helpful here, I think. And Cahoon writes, evangelical repentance is a lasting principle. Repentance is the constant exercise of the true Christian as long as he is in this world. He will not leave off repenting till he perfectly leaves off sinning. He carries the exercise of repentance about with him as long as he carries about the body of sin. Romans 7, 24. So we're not sinless perfectionists believing that once we're saved we just stop sinning. That's it. No. We believe that Paul was a Christian when he wrote Romans 7, when he detailed that ongoing struggle a believer, a true believer faces with ongoing sin, sin in the old man. And so we also ought to read Ephesians 4 as directed to all Christians because we all continue to sin. Therefore, we must continue to put off the old self. Our confession is helpful here also in chapter 15, dealing with repentance. It explains in paragraph 4, as repentance is to be continued through the whole course of our lives, upon the account of the body of death and the motions thereof, we can read that as, on account of the old self. So, we're told, it is every man's duty to repent of his particular sins, particularly Put off the old self and keep putting him off until Christ comes again or takes you to glory. That's the first exhortation here, which leads us to the second, which is be renewed. And to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, Paul says. There is this regular everyday renewal that we need as we continue to walk in union with Christ and not according to the desires of the flesh, of the old man. This is that ongoing sanctification that the Holy Spirit works in the lives of those who are His. John Gill comments explaining that this renewal being referred to here is, quote, an increase of spiritual light and knowledge. of life and strength, of joy and comfort, and fresh supplies of grace, and a revival of the exercise of grace. As believers who still struggle daily with the old man, we not only need to put the old man and his desires to death, to put them off, but we also need to be renewed day by day by the Holy Spirit to help cleanse and wash our minds and hearts of that former filthiness which so often appears in our lives every day. Listen to 1 Thessalonians 5, 23. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Notice there that God is the one acting sanctifyingly. I'm not sure if that's a real word, but because He's working sanctifyingly, He is the cause of renewal in our lives. And then there's that classic gospel passage found in 1 Corinthians 6, beginning at verse 9. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. You see, if you are in Christ by faith, then you are no longer what you once were. But your identity today is in Christ, the one who has justified you, who has sanctified you, who has washed you clean from all of your sins. This is one of the things that baptism illustrates for us, that washing of sin and renewal in Christ. And it's another reason full immersion is such a meaningful picture for us, isn't it? Christ washes all of you. And Pastor Rob will make sure tonight that you are completely washed, completely immersed. Be ready. That's the second exhortation, to be renewed. Thirdly, and finally, put on. Put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. How many of you wear the same clothes day in and day out? Don't answer that. Put your hand down. My experience, thankfully, is that by the smell of you, not too many of you are wearing the same clothes every day. No, at the end of the day, what do you do? You shed the clothes. You take off the old clothes, the dirty clothes that you wore that day, and you put them in the washer, and they get washed, and then the next day, you find, hopefully, new, clean clothes to put on, don't you? Well, that's the analogy, I think, that the Apostle Paul is making here. At the same time that we have the righteousness of Christ, forever and always, eternally, we are new creations in Christ, permanently, if we are united to Him by faith. At that same time, we are still reminded here, in this passage in Ephesians 4, to continue doing the putting off and the being renewed and the putting on of the new self. That doesn't mean that for those of us who have been saved, we are to continue asking God every day to save us, that we need new salvation every day. But it does mean that because we continue to wrestle with the old self, We ought to continue seeking God's forgiveness for those daily sins, repenting particularly of particular known sins, and aiming to practice good works which we were prepared in advance to do. Just as we are in need of the daily putting off, we are likewise in need of the daily putting on. Similar to how scripture will talk about sanctification, we can talk about the putting on of the new self. A two-fold putting on. We have put on Christ and His perfect righteousness in justification. And at the same time, we continue to put on Christ each and every day. More and more, hopefully, throughout our lives as the Spirit of Christ continues to sanctify us progressively. In Romans 13, the apostle writes, almost poetically here, verse 12 and following, The night is far gone, the day is at hand. So then, let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. He goes on and says, But put on the Lord Jesus Christ. and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. We read also in Colossians 3, beginning of verse 5, a very similar text to ours this evening. Put to death or put off, therefore, what is earthly in you. And he gives a list of the old man's stuff, the earthliness that might be in us. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. And in these, you too once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away. And he goes on to further expound. Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk, put all of that away from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. And in Colossians 3, 12 and following, just a few verses later, Paul further elaborates on what he means by the new self. He writes, put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. And above all these, he says, No surprise here if you've read Paul in 1 Corinthians 13. Above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. To put on the new self is to put on these qualities, these characteristics of Christ Jesus himself. He perfectly displayed every single one of these things. And He is the image that we are to seek to live out and display in our own lives when we are putting on Christ. We are made new in Him and we are to become more and more like Him in this new life with Him. So what does all of this have to do with baptism, maybe you're wondering? Well, listen to Galatians 3.27. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ." This is one of the things that baptism signifies and it points to. You see, baptism is a sign, I think our confession said as it was read just a few minutes ago. It's a sign pointing to something outside itself, beyond itself. It's a public pronouncement to the whole world that a person is not who they once were, but that they are putting off the old self, that they are being renewed spiritually, and they are now putting on this new self in union with Christ. Paxton and Sam, we praise God for what He has done in your lives by bringing both of you to a saving knowledge of Himself. And at such young ages, too. You know, We pray so often here at Grace Covenant Church for God to save our children, don't we? And here we see Him answering that prayer in our very midst. We, the church, we have this front row seat to see God's amazing sovereign grace on display. And our hearts are filled with praise and thanks at what He's doing among us, specifically in both of your lives. And as much as we rejoice at the salvation of sinners in each of your professions of faith and baptism tonight, the reality is that there is likely a long road ahead of each of you. And we look forward to rejoicing with you over time when, Lord willing, five or ten, even fifty or more years from now, you are still walking with Christ in grateful obedience to Him for what He's done in your life by saving you. As we heard recently at the funeral of a dear old brother who ran with endurance and finished the race that was marked out for him, it's not how you start, but how you finish. And our prayer is that you too run so as to win the prize. And that means putting off the old self daily and being renewed by that progressive sanctification of the Holy Spirit and putting on the new self that you might more and more be conformed to the image of Christ over the course of your life. We pray that you run well so that you might finish well. And I hope that when I'm an old man, if God gives me that privilege to still be here serving among you and you among us. that I may know that both of you younger men are still loving and serving our Lord Jesus Christ, as the elderly apostle John could write in 3 John 3 and 4. For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. Welcome to the new life in Christ. now continue putting off the old self, being renewed, and putting on Christ daily. And one final word to the saints of Grace Covenant Church. May we support and encourage, come alongside and build up these two young brothers in Christ so as to help them along life's journey. And may we all be built up into Christ who is our head, putting off the old self, being renewed by his spirit and putting on Christ every day. May God give us all the grace to live for him. Amen. I'm reminded right now of a young man about 53 years ago who was baptized in water very much different than this. It was a murky pond in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Many, if not all, who saw him baptized have gone on to glory. But that young man has continued, as I understand, in the faith. certainly no Apostle Paul, but I am reminded that there are two testimonies in each baptism. One is your testimony of faith and repentance, but also the testimony of Jesus Christ in this expression of obedience that you are undertaking, you're professing faith in Christ, but Jesus Christ is also promising you that he will accomplish the work he started. You've been united with Christ by faith, you have the Holy Spirit, and through the ups and downs of your life in Christ, you can look back to this day and know that Christ has promised to complete the work he started. Now we'll hear the testimonies of these two young men. First, Paxton, would you enter the Lovely water, and give your testimony of faith in Jesus Christ. Hi, my name is Paxton. I'm 15 years old. I grew up in a Christian home, but for a long time, I never really took my faith seriously. Before I gave my life to Jesus, I never really read the Bible much. I was busy doing the things I loved. Baseball took up a lot of my time, and I never really made an effort to get closer to God. I also played a lot of video games, which pulled my focus even further away from Christ. I knew who God was, but I wasn't actively following him or making him a priority in my life. The only time I spent with God was on Sundays at church. Even though I had fun doing all those things, it sometimes felt like something was missing. I didn't really notice it back then, but now I can see that I wasn't truly happy. happy inside. I was just repeating the same things over and over without thinking about what really matters. One day, my dad mentioned going back to Grace Covenant, the church my parents had attended a long time ago. I didn't really want to go. I was content with the church we were already attending. But when we went, everyone was so friendly, and for the first time, I started to truly understand what it meant to be a Christian. The more I went to the church and devoted time to reading the Bible, the more I learned and the closer I grew in my faith and to Jesus. Since attending Grace Covenant, I have learned what it really means to follow Jesus and that being a Christian isn't just about going to church or following a set of rules. It is about giving your whole life to Jesus. I came to realize that I wasn't fully living for God, and I knew it was time to make a decision. I repented of my sins and turned to Jesus for forgiveness, wanting to live for God instead of myself, and I have given my life to Christ. Since accepting Jesus into my life, I have begun to live differently. I have been reading my Bible a lot more than I used to, and I've been praying a lot more too. I don't just go to church because I have to anymore, but because I truly want to grow in my faith. It's not like everything changed overnight, but I can see that God is changing my heart. I've started to think differently, and I'm learning to trust him more with the big and small things in my life. I want to be baptized to publicly acknowledge my faith in Jesus Christ and my commitment to following him as my Lord and Savior. It's a way to show everyone that I'm trusting him and choosing to live for him. This isn't the end of my journey. It's only just the beginning, and I'm excited for what God has planned for me. Paxton, have you repented of your sin and placed your faith and trust in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ alone? Yes. I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Married with Christ in baptism, raised in newness and life. Samuel. I'm Sam. I'm 12 years old, and I want to profess my faith in baptism. First things first, I would like to say that I am amazingly blessed to have been born and raised in a Christian household, a home where things like church and family worship are normal. But as I hope everyone here knows, that it's not going to save you. My whole life, I never really understood the Bible. We had gone to church before, but I, along with most seven-year-olds, didn't know why I was going to church every Sunday. It only got worse once COVID hit. Our church, being a pretty big church, was shut down completely during COVID. And we entered a time in our home where, at least me and my siblings, did not give Jesus or the gospel a second thought. We played video games every Sunday instead of reading our Bibles, and Sunday was just another weekend. But it was inevitable that having two Christian parents, we would start going back to church. It wasn't long before we found GCC. When I started going to Grace Covenant, even with the sermons being a lot clearer for me, I still had a hard time understanding what Jesus did for me. The gospel was of no importance in my life. Then one day, I was listening to a sermon. Before that, I was absolutely oblivious to sin, but that finally beat me down. I contemplated Christianity, but despite everything I was being told, the very fact that I was going to hell and hadn't put any faith in Christ didn't bother me. I had a sense as if I could wait until I was older to be saved. Praise the Lord that he brought me out of that mindset. For the first time in my life, I felt like being saved and putting my faith in Christ was a now thing. About halfway through the sermon, I excused myself to the bathroom, and I just started crying. I cried about the mountains of debt I owed to God, and I prayed to God to forgive my sin and save me. At that point, I felt a very strong sense of conviction. I felt as if I was in a pit and there was no way for me to get out. But there was always Jesus. I could hear myself calling him to be crucified and it felt like I was almost too sinful to be forgiven. But as Paul said, there was therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8.1. Now God has forgiven me of my sin through Jesus. Everything I had learned since I was able to talk made sense. Before then, I had heard of Jesus' death on the cross, but I had no idea why Jesus died. I didn't know just how sinful I was and didn't know that all the sin I commit is ultimately sin against God. I believe that people are sinful for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3.23. Christ and the scriptures have led me to believe that no sin can be next to a holy God. So that means that everyone needs a savior. Jesus died for me, washing away all my sins and allowing me to be forgiven of all my debts. All the sin I ever committed or will commit is atoned for. Jesus rose again on the third day and ascended into heaven where he is sitting on the right hand of God. And now I want to be dead to myself and wise Again, renewed in Christ, I look forward to having a God-fearing life that obeys the Lord's commandments and to not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let my request be made known to God. Philippians 4, 6. So now I want to confess Jesus as my Lord and Savior publicly through baptism and show everyone that God saves, because today is the day of salvation. Samuel, have you repented of your sins and put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, his righteous life, death, and resurrection for the forgiveness of your sins? Yes. Then I baptize you upon your profession of faith in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Buried with Christ in baptism, raised again in newness and life. Be praying for these young men as they continue on their journey in Christ, and Christ's church goes on. Let's stand together and sing, yet not I, but through Christ in me. What gift of grace is Jesus my Redeemer? There is no more for heaven now to give. He is my Lord, my righteousness and freedom, My steadfast love, my deep and boundless being. ♪ Through this I hope my hope is only Jesus ♪ ♪ For my life is wholly bound to Thee ♪ ♪ O thou stranger divine ♪ ♪ I can't see all is mine, yet not I ♪ ♪ But through Christ the King ♪ 2 The night is dark, but I am not forsaken, for by my side the Saviour will stay. 3 I labour on in weakness and rejoicing, for in my need his power is his grace. I hope my hope is on you and me Through the deepest valley, He will lead Oh, the night has been won, and I shall overcome Yet not I, but through Christ in me No fate I dread, I know I am forgiven The future sure, the price it has been paid For Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon And He was raised to overthrow the grave. To this I hold, my sin has been defeated. Jesus now and ever is my King. Oh, the chains are released, I can sing, I am free and not I. With every breath I long to follow Jesus For He has said that He will bring me home And day by day I know He will lead me Until I stand with joy before the Lord Oh Oh Oh When the race is complete, to my head shall it be Well, I trust that will be the confession of your own heart that God has been working in your lives. And as these two young men have professed tonight, it is not them, but Christ in them, Christ working in them. And we pray that as they have begun this walk, that the Lord Jesus will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ. So let us pray for them. and then will be dismissed. Let's pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, we do praise you for the work that you have done in the heart and life of Paxton Brike and Samuel Gonzalez. And Lord, we recognize the work of the Spirit of God. We see those in his home, in his church, how they are new creatures in Christ, that they have turned from their old ways and they have put off the old man and are putting on the new. They are being renewed. and yet not them, but Christ through them. And we pray, Lord, that this will continue, and that they will never look back, having begun this race, Lord, that they will run it to the end. And we know that you are a God who is faithful to all of his promises, and we ask that you would sustain them, Lord, in the good times as well as in the difficult times, that they will never grow weary, but they will remain steadfast, immovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord. For we ask this now in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, amen. Please be sure to welcome them and give them a good handshake.