We just sang this song, Jesus Paid It All. And it says here plainly, that I washed my garments white in the blood of Calvary's Lamb. In the blood. So the title of my message today is Acts 22.16. Baptism is not for eternal salvation. It is in the blood of the Lamb that we are washed. But the verse says in Acts 22 verse 16, And now, whiteriest thou, arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. Dear Holy Father, we do pray that I'd make it plain today with thy spirit, in thy word, we thank you for salvation through the blood. Now open eyes, ears, and let us do your will and be soul winners and teach this wonderful good news, this gospel of salvation and eternity through the blood. In Jesus' name, amen. So this is the verse today that I intend to examine in the Scriptures. Last week, the subject was the ending of Mark, there in Mark 16, 16. It reads, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. We have scriptures that plainly tell us that salvation is through the blood of Jesus, through faith alone, not of any works. And all throughout Romans 3, Romans 4, Ephesians 2, John chapter 3, John chapter 6. I mean, these things are made clear to us. But then you have some scriptures that appear to teach something different. And there have been certain groups that just take these without the other scriptures. And they just say you're saved through baptism. Certain Pentecostals, the Campbellites, When you drive down the road, you see Church of Christ. It's usually a Campbellite church, which means that they believe you're saved through the water. The water is getting you regenerated. Now, on the other side, people that understand that baptism does not regenerate you, it doesn't save you, it doesn't wash your sins away. I showed last week that there have been certain ways that people have tried to come up with, certain systems of interpretation where they've tried to understand these verses. I showed last week that hyper-dispensationalism is wrong. These are the people that say, well in the Old Testament you're saved by faith and works. And all throughout the Gospels, you're saved by faith and works. For much of the book of Acts, you're saved by faith and works. And let's see, Hebrews, Revelation, Millennium, Tribulation period, everybody's saved by faith and works. But only just a few people that happen to be living in this brief age are saved by grace through faith alone. And I showed that came from Bullinger, And then there are Baptist Bullingerites that have jumped on this Bullinger bandwagon. Works for eternal salvation is wrong in any age. Paul makes that clear. Then there are others that say, well, he says, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but baptized there is not a condition. And I think that's a weak view. Sounds like a condition. But when you understand the gift and the prize, when you understand that there is a judgment seat of Christ, as well as a future general judgment at the great white throne, when you understand that the gift is salvation by grace through faith alone in the blood of Jesus, And the moment somebody believes, they're saved and can never lose it. But yet, there is the walk of our Christian life. The race, the fight, the suffering, the confession, the public witness. All of that you're going to be judged on. not to see if you're saved in eternity, but to see if you're gonna have fellowship with the Lord Jesus in the coming millennial kingdom that begins at the judgment seat of Christ. Will determine, that is, your place in that coming millennial kingdom. So, I showed last week that the word saved refers to the full package in many verses. It refers to the gift and the prize. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Meaning not only eternally through belief, but through the baptism, through your confession. The baptism is the entry gate of your confession, your suffering, your witness to the world. It's something you do. But he that believeth not shall be damned. So this refers to how to be saved in eternity through belief. But he's been talking about the kingdom, as I showed last week, for 40 days. They even ask him, shall you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? The whole context is the kingdom. And he says, now here's how you do it. Go right ahead and preach this gospel. And we're not just to preach that here's how to be saved in eternity. You're to tell people Jesus is coming. And you need to be born again to get into this coming kingdom when Jesus comes. You need to be born again to have eternal life. But if you want to reign with Christ at His coming, you've got to be baptized after you're saved. You need to confess Him. And you need to live for Him. And He'll give you the strength to do it. As I said, baptism is usually the first work that you do after believing. It's a pledge of continual dying to the Lord. It's when you stand up and say, I'm willing to be persecuted. I'm going to admit I'm a Christian. I'm going to confess it. I'm going to be baptized, showing my identity. You're going to be kicked out of the synagogue. Your family might disown you. If your family was rich, you lose your inheritance. You lose future land. And you probably would be stoned to death, depending upon the time. These early Christians, a lot of them were persecuted to death. Baptists all down through the ages were persecuted by the Catholic Church. Over baptism. Over other things like the mass that they would not worship. So let me show you that baptism is that gateway. It's the first step. It's one thing to believe. But the Bible says many of the Jewish leaders believed. They had eternal life. But they would not confess Him. They would not come out and get baptized and come out and make that public statement. And they love the praise of men more than the praise of God. Back then is when you're kicked out of the synagogue and you die. You lose a lot to be baptized, to make your open profession of Christ. It's not how you get saved in eternity. So how sad it is to not be willing to be baptized now when you're not even going to be persecuted for it. At least in America. Maybe your friends won't think it's cool, but you know what? You've got to pay a little price. Because there's coming a time in America when there's going to be a big price we're going to have to pay. So let's stand up for Jesus right now. Amen? Let me show you baptism as the first step. Paul says in Romans 6 verse 1, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? That shows the gospel Paul preached. He preached a gospel that people would make the argument, So, you're telling me that we don't have to live for Jesus. Well, you don't have to live for Jesus to be saved in eternity. But if you want to be saved at the judgment seat, you need to live for Jesus. So Paul says, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Know you not that so many of us, as we're baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into His death. He's saying baptism was a symbol. You were coming out, confessing, pledging that you're going to live for the Lord. You're saying, I'm going to die to the world and live to Jesus. That's what you were saying when you were baptized. So it's a picture of you suffering against sin. Suffering against the world and what they think. Being willing to live for Jesus openly to the point of suffering with Him. Suffering against family members. That's one of the hardest things to ever experience is family members that persecute you for what you believe in your stand for Christ. This is why Paul says in 2 Timothy 2.12, if we suffer, notice the if, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He will also deny us. If you think every Christian is suffering with the Lord Jesus right now, you need to open your eyes, man. Every Christian is not suffering against sin. They're not suffering against the world. No, Paul says, if we, him included. Well, if you deny him, he'll deny you. When? At the judgment seat of Christ. He says, you confess me, I'll confess you before my father. before the angels of heaven, that's when He comes to judge Christians. Judgment begins at the house of God. He says it again in Romans 8, notice this, And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. There is an eternal inheritance that is a free gift that you have because you are a child of God by faith. But then Paul says in Colossians there's the reward of the inheritance that he tells you plainly, you've got to do good, not do wrong or you'll receive for the things that you've done. If so, be that we suffer with Him. Then we get to reign with Christ. So, my point in showing you all of this is to show you that when He says, if you believe and you're baptized, you're going to be saved, that's the full package saved. That's not only eternity, that's getting the prize and the reward of the free gift. And that's why you have to be baptized. That's why you have to suffer with Him. You have to bring forth fruit. Not all Christians do that. This is why Paul is in prison. in Rome, when he said these words in Philippians 3, verse 10, that I may know Him. Obviously, Paul knew the Lord Jesus as his Savior. But he's wanting to know Him by walking with Him in fellowship with His suffering. That I may know Him in the power of His resurrection. That is, His high priestly resurrection now empowering us in the Christian life. And the fellowship of His sufferings. Notice what He just said. Fellowship of His sufferings. Being made conformable unto His death. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. He knows he has the second resurrection on the last day. He's saying right here, he wants that seventh day resurrection. He wants that first resurrection where you gotta be faithful. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in that. So we went through the Bible last weekend, examined the word salvation. We showed that it often refers in the Bible to more than eternal life in the eternal kingdom. It sometimes includes salvation at the judgment seat of Christ, into the prize and joy of the Lord at His coming, where you're found that good and faithful servant, and you get that well done. Now let me quickly remind you, the thief on the cross was not baptized. He couldn't be. And he got saved right there when he's next to Jesus on the cross. He did the only thing he could do, rebuke the other thief. He had nothing else he could do for Jesus. He couldn't go to church. He couldn't tithe. He couldn't be baptized. He couldn't go soul winning. There's nothing he could do but look over at that thief and rebuke him. He had believed in the Lord Jesus. He had done what he could. So he not only, I'm telling you right now, not only was he saved, I believe the thief is going to be in the coming kingdom and have a crown and reign with Jesus. And people are going to say, well, that's not fair. That's not right. Hey, he did what he could. He came in at the last hour of the day and did what he could. And sometimes you're going to look at that and say, well, that's not fair. I had to live my whole Christian life. Well, the Lord says, is he not the one who's given? Is he not the one that can do what he wants with what belongs unto him? My point is, the thief on the cross not only was saved in eternity, but I believe he was said, the Lord said, today you're going to be with me in paradise. And I believe that that means that he's going to have not only eternal life, but he's going to reign in the coming kingdom. He's going to reign in the coming kingdom. That was the context. But there's more. In Acts chapter 10, the Gentiles, some of them believed through Peter. Peter at first didn't want to go preach to them, but God said, if I've cleansed something, you go do what you're supposed to do. And so Peter realized, okay. So he went and preached. And while he was talking, they believed. And the Holy Ghost came down and gave them sign. filling them with the Spirit. That was all before they were baptized. They got saved and even got the Holy Ghost sign gifts before they were water baptized. Why anybody would think that the water saves you, that baptism is how you get eternal life and regenerated. It's a shame. Now, they get it from verses that I'm about to read. Because somebody messed them up in regard to literal interpretation. The Catholics, the Protestants, these Campbellites, they didn't understand the Millennial Kingdom. They don't understand that there's a judgment seat of Christ for believers, and that we're judged not just for eternity, but there's also a judgment for how you live the Christian life to see if you're going to get the prize. They don't understand that. So when they don't understand that, and they come to verses like Acts 22, 16, where Paul has told these words, Now, why tarryest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. They think, well, there you go. Through baptism, I get my sins washed away. So let's look at the context of this. Let's back up to verse four. Acts 22, verse four. Paul is given a story of his past to explain some things that had happened unto him. And he's experiencing persecution from the Jews. And he was one of the chief persecutors. So, he knows what's going on in their mind right now. So he's trying to witness to them and explain. They know who Paul is. They know that he was like with them as the chief persecutor of Christians. But now they're about to kill him. So Paul says in verse 4 as he gives his story, as he explains what happened to him, how he became a Christian. He says, I persecuted this way unto the death. What way is he talking about? Christianity. Christians. I persecuted this way unto death. He killed people. Sometimes when you're sitting there thinking, boy, I look at my past life and look at some things that I've done. Just remember Paul. He had to look back and realize the men and women that were killed because of him. And you know, when you look back at your Christian life, at your life before you were saved, it ought to stir you up. It ought to stir you up that I've been forgiven much. I better love much. If you say, well, I never went out into the world. I was homeschooled. And while you still did some sin, and you need to understand everybody's sin comes short of the glory of God. And how good should you be with the light you have? If you're raising a Christian home, how good should you be? So my point is not to sit here and end up try to convict you throughout this whole sermon. My point is for us to know that we got a reason to love Jesus. We got a reason to get out here and be holy. And all of us can look at our past sin and realize, wow, if the angels can cover their face and they've never sinned, the seraphim, then how much more can we humble ourselves and say, woo, I owe it all to Jesus. I'm gonna love much, I'm gonna try to. I persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. And it came to pass that as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. And I fell unto the ground, and I heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" Now that must have shocked, not only the fact that he's getting this revelation, But in fact, what do you mean I'm persecuting you? So when I'm persecuting Christians, I'm persecuting you? You're like connected to them? And I answered, who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth. Just so you don't think it's somebody named Jesus. I'm Jesus of Nazareth. Paul knew who that was. Whom thou persecutest. Well, that moment, Paul gets saved. Paul gets saved. Just like they in Acts 10. That they were saved when they believed. The Bible doesn't always say, and then they believed. In Acts 10, they believed, but it doesn't say they believed. But Peter knew that they believed. So now, I said, what shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, arise, go into Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. If you don't think Paul is saved right there, you don't understand who Saul was before he got saved. Jesus of Nazareth, he just called Lord. The Lord answered and says, I'm Jesus of Nazareth, and he called him Lord. Paul knew all about the Christian story. He knew everything they claimed. He knew that they claimed that he died on the cross. He resurrected. He knew the whole story. He had been witnessed to so many times. He was convicted when... He was the one that was agreeing to the death of Stephen. And he held the garments of those that were throwing the stones to kill him. And I think that convicted him. I think that convicted just seeing Stephen, as his face shining like an angel, and giving the testimony. I don't think he was able to get the words that Stephen gave out of his mind, out of his heart. So Paul is saved, and he calls Jesus Lord, and he knows the whole Gospel message, and he believes it's true. It was that quick. Okay, this has been real. This is true. What have I been doing? And he says in verse 11, And what I could not see for the glory of that light being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus. And one Ananias, a devout man, according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, came unto me and stood and said unto me, Brother Saul. I believe he calls him brother because he's saved, not just because he's a fellow Jew. Ananias is a Christian, a devout Christian. brother Saul, received thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. And he said, The God of our fathers have chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and to see that just one, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now, Ytarius, thou arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. Let me just tell you right now. I believe it's plain as day. Paul is already saved when Ananias comes to him and tells him to arise and be baptized. We know this over and over. You can look back at Acts 10 and see the Gentiles were saved. And then Peter says, what, what, what? They let him be baptized. All throughout the Bible, you see salvation through faith, through believing, and then baptism. So now, everything had come together. He's been convicted. He now believes. And now he's told to be baptized. And wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. What can this mean? What can this mean? Let's go back and look at the actual Holy Ghost. That was Paul retelling it. And we believe Paul told us exactly what happened in an inspired way. But let's look back here at Acts 9 and see it through history. of Luke, writing the inspired scripture, telling us the story. In Acts 9, verse 1, it says, saw yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest. and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. He was going to Damascus to pick up Christians. He was a bounty hunter, but he wasn't getting paid. It wasn't money that was driving him. It was his hatred for Christianity. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saw, saw, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. But notice, we have these words that we didn't get over there. It is hard for thee, says Jesus, to kick against the pricks. Paul had been convicted. Have you ever seen somebody, an unbeliever, and they are convicted, they know what the truth is, but they're just trying to put off believing. They're trying to just put it off. You know, just like believers. Believers fall under conviction, and they know there's things they need to do, but they try to go against what their conscience and the Holy Ghost is telling them, and it's hard! It is hard to go against God. You understand that? The Bible said the way of a transgressor is hard. When you know there's something that you're supposed to be doing for God, and you don't do it, it's hard, buddy. It is hard. And Paul knew he needed to get saved. But to think about, his whole life, he was taught under Gamaliel. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what will thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man, but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink." I'm telling you, for three days, Paul was already saved. Paul for these three days was saved by the blood of Jesus. His sins were washed away by the blood of Jesus through faith. Through faith alone. Read Romans 3. Read Romans 4. Read Romans 5. There's no way Paul was saved and had his sins washed away in eternity by baptism. Or he would have told you that in Romans 3. He would have told you that in Romans chapter 4, Romans 5. He tells you plainly, it's not through works. It is not through the deeds of the law. It is not through anything. It even gives the example of Abraham. He says, Abraham was saved by faith. Look over there in Genesis 15. That was before he was circumcised, says Paul. You think Paul's going to then tell you that you're saved in eternity by baptism? No way! Now God tells Ananias, you need to go to Saul. And you need to bring him and heal him of his sight and his blindness. Then Ananias, verse 13, answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he has done to thy saints at Jerusalem. But the Lord said unto him, go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. Ananias went his way. That's what I mean when you don't walk according to your own understanding the Lord says something he's got his plans He has things going on. You don't know about just do what God says. Amen And he entered into the house and putting his hands on him. He said brother saw the Lord even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest has sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost and And immediately there fell from his eyes, as it had been scales, and he received sight, forwith, and arose, and was baptized." I believe Paul received the Holy Ghost. Paul believed. In other words, when he believed, he received the Holy Ghost. When he got healed by Ananias, I believe that he received the sign gifts. He received His sight and then was baptized. Now we get this one more time in Acts 26. We go through it again. You get it in Acts 9. You got it there back in Acts 22. Now we get the story one more time in Acts 26. And let's read it there. I said, Who art thou, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. But rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in which I will appear unto thee. This shows us that sometimes when somebody gives you a story, they're not giving you every single word that was said. And you talk to them the next time, and they might tell you a little more about what happened. And you might get more details. The Lord had a lot that He said then at that point. And so you're getting extra details as Paul tells the story at different times. It's not that he's remembering it different. It's just that he's summing up what happened and what the Lord said. So now you hear a lot of other words that the Lord told him at that moment. delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles of whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." He's basically telling Paul, you're gonna go soul winning for me. You're gonna go soul winning. Look at our verse again, Acts 22, verse 16. Now, why tarryst thou, says Ananias? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. In the 1800s, there was already the Catholics and Protestants that sprinkled little babies. And they believed when you took that baby, the baby didn't have to do nothing. Just the baby is going to be sprinkled. Parents are going to bring them to church, get the priest to sprinkle them, and they're saved. They're saved. The water brought them into the church. Well, in the early 1800s, there was a man that arose named Alexander Campbell. And he started the so-called Church of Christ. It's not the church of Christ, but he took the name and stole it just like Mormons do and things like that. They take these names and they say, we're the church of Christ. He taught regeneration or eternal salvation through baptism waters. Great Baptist men like James R. Graves rose up to counter him. and say, that's not true. You're teaching a false gospel. And Alexander Campbell says, if you're not baptized, you're not saved. And you can lose it, because salvation's through works. And that's what Campbell taught. So when you're driving down, and there's a lot of this in Missouri. There's a lot of this in Arkansas and throughout. When you're driving down the road, you see Church of Christ. They're saying, you have to be, the baptism water saves you. You're not saved unless you're part of that church and you are baptized. And you can lose your salvation in eternity because of works. The whole thing started on works. So obviously, if you're bad, you're going to lose eternal salvation. So James R. Graves, powerful writer, began to oppose him. And he wrote a book in 1881 about baptism and its relationship to salvation. And in that book, he refuted the Campbellites, the Church of Christ, so-called. Now, why I love Graves so much is that he's probably eaten a bunch of bacon, you know, and things like that, and he ended up with a stroke, which is a horrible thing. But he was one of the busiest preachers that you could see. He was writing and preaching and just bringing revival, where people don't realize the revivals that J.R. Graves brought. He was really the foundation for the whole Southern Baptist and Independent Baptist movement, you know, in America. That later arose in the 20th century. But something happened. He had that stroke and he was bedridden. And here's this busy man that liked to be doing and going and going and he had to sit there in bed. So he began to read. And he began to read the parables of Jesus. And he began to read a book by J.A. Seiss. And he began to look at these things and he started realizing, oh man, my whole ministry, I've been wrong about some things. There's a judgment seat of Christ that's coming and I can miss. the well done, now good and faithful servant. All Christians don't bring forth fruit. And you can get in a lot of trouble at the coming of Jesus. And he started understanding accountability at the judgment seat of Christ in relation to the coming kingdom and the rapture. And he started understanding all of these things. All the scriptures just came to him. And praise God, he published then a book in 1887 setting the record straight about the warning passages. And then he died about six years later in 1893. But back in 1881 when he wrote his book on baptism, he didn't have the fullness of light. But he knew something was wrong with the Church of Christ. He knew they had a false gospel. Even if he didn't have the kingdom message and the full understanding that he would get later, he knew With his logical mind, you folks are wrong, and you're wrong in a bad way. Let me just read a little bit from J.R. Graves of what he wrote in 1881. I submit here an illustration I submitted to Mr. Alexander Campbell in a written discussion I had with him in 1853 and 1854. Listen to what Alexander Campbell wrote. He said to me, I affirm then that the first institution in which we can meet with God is the institution of baptism. Remission of sins cannot be enjoyed by any person before immersion. So Graves wrote to Campbell about a little girl that was on a ship that got a fever. And she had the gospel preached to her. And she wasn't baptized, never did any good works, never did anything. But she died crying and so happy to hear that it's not of works. That the Lord had paid the full price and washed her clean through His blood. And as she cried, she had a smile on her face as she died. Graves is asking Alexander Campbell and these Campbellites, so are you telling me that she's not saved? Are you telling me that she had to be baptized to be saved? So he gives axiom number one. Contradictory propositions cannot be equally true. If one is true, the opposite must be false. You can't have contradictions. Axiom number two. The Holy Scriptures in no instant contradict themselves. Axiom number three. You need to look at literal and figurative interpretation. You can't have contradictions, you know. If the Catholic Church takes the Lord literally when He says, this is the cup. You know, this wine is my blood. They take that literally. They take that literally. Not that it's a picture of my blood, they take it literally. So, you can't just take things literal or figurative. You gotta have scripture agree with itself, you know. When the Lord says, I am a door, He didn't mean I'm a wooden door over here, you know. When He says, you are my sheep, you're not His literal sheep. Axiom number four, there is but one way revealed in the scriptures by which a sinner can come to God through Christ and receive the blessings of pardon, regeneration, and salvation. There are a few cardinal truths which underlie and form the foundation of the gospel plan of salvation. which all who have rightly apprehended the gospel and tasted of its blessedness know to be saving truths. Number one, that there is but one mediator between God and man, and he, the priest of Calvary, who once offered himself up for us all. No human priest or mediator is therefore tolerated in the gospel, because there is no physical sacrifice to offer. There's no sacrament to perform, no visible seal to be fixed. There is no priest but Jesus. Number two, saving truth. that not by or in connection with or because of works of any description or deeds of law of any character, moral or ceremonial, legal or ecclesiastical, does a sinner come or is a sinner brought to Christ and saved, but by unmerited grace alone. If it is only in or by obedience to baptism that sins can be remitted, then it is by a deed of a law that salvation is obtained. And it violates the first great truth, because the sinner not being allowed to baptize himself must depend upon the will and physical assistance of another as the administrator of baptism, thus exalting him to all intents and purposes into a real priest. We learn in Acts chapter 10, It reads, to him give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. There is, there never has been, but one way of pardon, one plan of salvation, and that has been by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. While Peter spake these words, what words? That whosoever believeth in him shall receive the remission of sins. The Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished. And many as came with Peter because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then answered Peter, can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? All these, the first converts of the Gentile world, were actually pardoned and regenerated before they were water-baptized. But this forever decides that remission of sins is not secured through baptism. And Paul is very clear on this point in Romans 3, verse 25, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, that means wrath appeaser, through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness. The work of Christ is the only efficient and faith the only instrumental agency in our salvation. Neither baptism nor any right or ordinance of religion is a means in order to this end." Well, how does he explain it? Well, he mainly explains it by showing you it's impossible. And to this I agree. It's impossible. It goes against all of scripture. He ends it by saying, many will doubtless be saved who were never baptized, as was the thief. But all these are saved without baptism. As in other circumstances, they could be saved without good works, nay, without verbal confession. He gets very, very close. His eyes are going to really open in a few years after he writes this. But he's on the right track. He does kind of say, well, baptism must be the evidence. It's not the cause. It must be the evidence of you believing. But yet he knows that that can't be exactly true. So he's very, very close and does get close. And then before his death, he understands He gets more light about the judgment seat of Christ and accountability for believers that so many are bound. They might say, I believe in the judgment seat of Christ. I know there is one, but you're blind. You are blind as can be in regard to it. You need to open your eyes and you go back to the scriptures and read from Matthew all the way to the end of book of Revelation. And you need to read about the judgment, get rid of all these preconceived ideas that you've gotten in your head and read what the Lord says. And then you'll see there's a prize and there's a gift. Once through suffering and striving, through the grace of God in us, the other is by simply believing. And you'll see, and boy, it's such a blessing when you rightly divide the Word of God. Now, speaking of which, if you look inside the book of Acts, and take a Peter Ruckman commentary in the book of Acts, you say, well, what is he going to do with this verse? You know, because this is in Acts 22. This is way up in the middle of the book of Acts, almost close to the end. So what is he going to do here with this? Because he says, everybody's saved by works earlier. And until you get to Paul, you know, and so he goes on with all these unrelated stories, politics, jokes. And when he finally does deal with it, he says, well, Ananias didn't know what he was talking about. That's his conclusion. So when Ananias says, and now, why tarryest thou? Rise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. He says, well, Ananias, he just didn't understand. He didn't understand that's not how you get saved. I believe there's a better way. I believe there's a better way. Let's remember that Paul was already eternally saved. He already had his sins washed in the only way possible, and that is by the blood through faith. Look at Revelation 1 verse 5. John in the book of Revelation says, And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in the waters of baptism. Does it say that? You wait. looking over here to these young men, washed us from our sins in His own blood. That means His blood paid for your sins. And that is the cause and basis of your salvation. Through believing, you're washed in blood. How do you get that washing? Romans 3, whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood. He said, what are you trusting in for eternal salvation? Blood of Jesus. That's why a lot of new Bible versions, every time they see blood of Jesus, they try to get rid of it. You wouldn't believe how many times they removed the blood of Jesus from the New Testament. Well, we know this is clear. So now let's go back to Acts 22 again. And Ananias says, Now, why tarryest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. I say to you again that you have to believe before you can get baptized. Now there might be many people that go out here and get baptized that don't believe, but that water didn't do anything to them. It didn't give them eternal life. The water never gives you eternal life. You have to believe before you get baptized because baptism is just an act of obedience you do for Jesus after you're saved. Acts 8.36, as they went on their way, they came into certain water, and the eunuch said, See, here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? Did Philip say, Oh, would you like to get saved right now? Let's go down into the water. No, he didn't say that. Philip says, If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest. And he answered and says, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The Lord Himself, just to answer Ruckman's nonsense. The Lord Himself says, I'm going to send you to Ananias, and He's going to tell you everything that you're supposed to do. Have you ever thought about that? So you're telling me Ananias didn't know what He was talking about? But God sent Saul to Him? Some people sure have a time of it. Here it says in Acts chapter 8, that if thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest be baptized. So let's go back to Acts 22, 16. And now, why tarriest thou? Arise, be baptized, he must already believe, comma, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. Already eternally saved through faith, already washed in the blood, Calling on the name of the Lord. Why? I've already showed you, you have to already believe before you can be baptized. Well, let me show you this. Paul says, before you can call on the Lord in the way he's talking about, you have to already believe. Paul, Romans 10. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Talking about at the judgment seat. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? Whatever Paul means by calling here, he's talking about for a believer. It's something a believer does in regard to the judgment seat of Christ. It's something a believer does. This calling on the Lord is for believers. Ananias knows this. So when Ananias says, Why tarryest thou? Arise, be baptized. He knows he already believed, or he wouldn't have told him to go be baptized. He knows he's already saved, or he wouldn't have told him to go be baptized. And wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. He's telling him as a believer, because he knows believers are the ones that call upon the name of the Lord in this way. The only way sins can be washed away is through the blood. And this is eternal. No works. Through faith alone. Now here is the key to understanding all of this. Listen now. After you've been washed in the blood, Through faith, there is a washing in the blood of Jesus that you need to have continually in your Christian life. The first washing is for relationship through faith alone. All washings after that are for fellowship. One is for your position, your standing in the Lord, your relation. The other washing is for your fellowship, what we call our walk. Our walk in Jesus. Do you know you need to be washed in the blood of Jesus? So when we sing these songs, are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? We're talking about eternal salvation. Have you been washed in the blood? But some of these songs are sanctification songs. Have you been washed in the blood of Jesus? Are you trusting daily in His power? In His cleansing power? Are you trusting daily in His cleansing power? That's not a one-time thing which you've got saved. This is being washed. There is washed in the blood of Jesus, and then there's a being washed by you trusting in your High Priest, confessing your sins, calling on Him for forgiveness, for daily cleansing. See, before you have the book of Acts, you have the book of John. You're supposed to read the book of John. You're supposed to understand the book of John, and then go to the book of Acts. And so, in the book of John, you're told, even by John the Baptist, that salvation, everlasting life is through belief. You're told by Jesus Himself, everlasting life is through belief alone. And then you have these words, right here in the book of John. Take a look at it. John 13, verse 10. Jesus saith unto him, to Peter, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every wit. You say, what does that mean? In King's English, it means this. He that has been washed in me doesn't need to be washed again, except for his feet. His feet need to be washed. Jesus is saying, You've been saved and washed in the blood of Jesus, and you're clean. And anybody that's clean does not need washing, except their feet. What does Jesus mean by the feet? What do you do with your feet? You walk with your feet. What is the Christian walk? It's all the stuff you're supposed to do after you're saved. Nothing you do in your Christian life after you're saved has anything to do with your eternal life. That's a free gift. That's a free inheritance. You were made a child of God, adopted into Abraham to receive the promises through faith. There it is. Not circumcision, not baptism, not anything. But after you're saved, for fellowship with Jesus, for your daily fellowship with Jesus, you need to be cleansed. And people that don't know this get so confused. They're like, why would I ask Jesus to forgive me of my sins? It's like, because that's your fellowship. Do you have a father and mother? Are you their child? Do you mean you never have to say you're sorry for something you did wrong? No, we maintain fellowship because God is a person. He's our God. He's our Father. And when you get out of here and do things wrong, you didn't lose your eternal salvation, but you might be in a lot of trouble. Christians do some terrible things sometimes. Omission and commission. And you need to go to God and say, Lord, I've been omitting a lot of things that I should be doing. I've been out of fellowship with you, Lord. I don't have your power. I don't have your joy. I don't have your answered prayer. I don't have the peace of conscience that I need. Lord, all these things I've been admitting, by your power, please give me strength. And right now, please forgive me and wash me clean in thy blood. Forgive me and help me in my Christian life right now. Now look, look at these words right here. In 1 John, this is written to believers. If we, if we, John's talking. John is saying, this is the apostle John. He was the one that leaned on Jesus' breast. If we say that we have, what's the word? Fellowship with Him. Who's He talking to? He's talking to believers. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk, what's the word? Walk. That's with your feet. In darkness we lie and do not the truth. Some people read these verses and they say, oh, John's telling you how to be saved right now. No, He's writing His epistle to people that are already saved, man. We. He's talking about your walk. He's talking about what Jesus was talking about in John 13. If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. Oh, you want to stay in fellowship with the Lord Jesus, because then you get the high priestly work operating on your life. Walking in Jesus means obeying Him, loving Him, suffering, being baptized. If we say we have no sin, talking to Christians, we deceive ourselves. Because a lot of Christians are going to say that. They're going to say, oh, I don't sin now that I'm saved. I was at a thrift market one time and a woman actually told me that. I witnessed to her and she says, oh, I've already been saved and I don't sin. I looked at her and I said, right in the eyes. I said, you never disobey your husband. You never get mad and throw an absolute fit inside your house. Boy, her eyes looked down. She could no longer keep looking at me anymore. And she says, well, those aren't sins. I said, really? You know good and well you have sin in your Christian life right now. You're living a delusion. You're deceiving yourself. This is what John's saying. If you say you have no sin, if you say you don't need Jesus' continual cleansing for your dirty feet, then you're not smelling your feet that everybody else is smelling. You're not seeing what everybody else is seeing. And you're just, you're blind. You're deceiving yourselves. And the Bible says you can deceive yourself about sin. If you say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. He doesn't mean in an absolute sense. He means in regard to this. If we confess our sins, our, we, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There's people that read this verse and they say, this is how somebody gets saved. John can't be talking to a believer. Of course he's talking to a believer. John needs to confess his sins even though he's John. The Apostle John. Now listen to what he just said. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins, but not just forgive, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. How do you get cleansed? Look up in verse seven. If we walk in the light, part of walking in the light is confessing your sins, calling out upon your high priest. As he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. What's the conclusion? Of course Ananias is gonna tell Paul, you now have relationship with the Lord Jesus. You are now saved, you are regenerated. Now, let's get in fellowship with him. And the first act of your fellowship and of your walk is to clean your feet right now. Be baptized, comma, and wash away thy sins. How do I do that? By calling on the name of the Lord. It is totally proper to come to... And some people do it right when they get saved. You should, right when you get saved, not come just into relationship, but you ought to come into... Now, it's not going to be perfect. But you ought to write then and there. Say, God, I'm sorry for this. I'm sorry for this. I'm sorry for this. All of that doesn't save you, but it does bring you in fellowship with God. And there's even more. Nobody even had to tell me this. I went and knocked on some doors after I got saved. I had to go apologize to some people. You know, I had to apologize to some parents, apologize to people, and they're like, wow, come down, sit down at my table. We're very shocked, you know, that you're here. But because I lived a rock and roll, reckless, sinful lifestyle, I had to apologize to people. I'm sure you have some things that need to be apologized about. And restitution. You confess to God and you confess to man. And you make restitution. There's things you can't bring back. There's things you can't fix. But you can at least express sorrow. You can at least go and say, hey, I just want to let you know, I can't make restitution for this. There's nothing I can do. But I'm sorry for what I did. And I'm going to live the rest of my life and try to preach against the things I've done. Try to preach against these things and to not have any fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Of course, Paul was told to wash away his sins, but not for eternal salvation, but for fellowship in regard to the coming kingdom, for fellowship now, for answer prayer, for power. It's the same thing that we already read when he's in prison as the aged, elderly Paul. It says that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. My point is this. After you're saved, call on the Lord, buddy. After you're saved, go out here and confess Him. Confess your sins to God. Confess Him every day. In fact, the old preachers used to say, this is where revival comes. Go out into the woods somewhere. Get alone. And just start naming your sins one by one. And telling God. And just name it. At first you'll be cold. At first you'll just be naming. But then start thinking about them. And naming them. And thinking about them. And naming them. And then pretty soon, that hard ground will start getting soft as you plow it up. And pretty soon, there might even be tears. There'll probably be tears. And you'll be weeping to the Lord, man. And you'll be a different person. You'll be a broken person. You'll be a person God can use. And you'll see the Holy Ghost on you in a way you've never seen it. Peter had those broken moments. Job had those broken moments. He said to the Lord, depart from me, I'm a sinner. That was after he's already saved. I'm going to run through the book of Hebrews just for a minute here. We're closing. I'm just going to give you a verse or two, or a few verses. Hebrews 4.11, Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest. That's the seventh millennium. That's the first resurrection, the thousand year kingdom. He makes that clear, the seventh day. Lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. Verse 13, neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him whom we have to do. We have a judge. After you're saved, you have a judge still. And the Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, 9-11, you've got to stand and receive of the things done in the body before the Lord Jesus. So seeing Verse 14, that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. Let us hold fast our profession, for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. And listen to what Paul says, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. What do you do to your high priest right now? It's the throne of grace. It's the throne of mercy. It won't always be. When Jesus comes here soon, it will be a throne of judgment. If you want mercy, now's the time to get it. So as a believer, in regard to the judgment seat of Christ, we need to confess our sins, get them washed away in regard to fellowship in the walk. We need our feet washed. We need cleansing by the blood on our feet, is the picture. He says in Hebrews 6, 12, that you be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Chapter 7, he says, wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, not just the gift, but also the prize that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. He's talking about believers. He's your high priest. He can save you. You're already saved to eternity, but now you get the extra. the uttermost which is being saved into the coming kingdom. That means you need to get baptized, you need to confess, you need to confess your sins, you need to confess before the world, you need to go soul winning, you need to go to church, you need to do all the things God tells you to do. For Christ has not entered into holy places made with hands, which are figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in presence of God for us. To do what? He's waiting for you. He's waiting for you right now in your Christian life to go and say, Lord, I'm sorry. Cleanse me of this. He says, okay. You're wiped away. Now go get back in the race. Having therefore, brethren, says chapter 10, boldness to enter into the holiness by the blood of Jesus. Amen. We can go into the holiness by the blood of Jesus. Having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Talking to believers, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Lord, just cleanse me. Cleanse my conscience. Let us consider one another to provoke and to love and to good works, so they can stay in fellowship with Jesus and we can stay. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. For if we sin willfully, after we receive the knowledge of truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins. Meaning you can't just say in regard to fellowship, we're talking about regard to fellowship, in regard to reward, in regard to the coming kingdom of a thousand years. You can't just say, oh, I've already believed upon Jesus. I know, but wait a minute. Your high priest now has the blood to make intercession for you in your walk, in regard to your feet. If you get out here and sin willfully, you need to ask forgiveness from God. Like David did after he went and murdered and committed adultery. For we know him that hath said, Jesus doesn't have to be crucified again for you, but you've got to go apply the blood for fellowship. For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people. But we are not of them who draw back into perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. That is in your Christian life, at the judgment seat of Christ. Hebrews 12, wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, that is the power to live holy, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire. And he ends the whole epistle by saying in chapter 13, now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will. See, it's the power of the blood. The songs were right when they say, are you walking in the power of the blood? Have you been washed in the power of the blood? Working in you, that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Jesus is your high priest right now waiting on you at the throne of mercy, the throne of grace. He's waiting for you to confess. He's waiting for you to ask for power. He's waiting on you to come into fellowship with Him. Baptism ought to be a time of confession. Matthew 3, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. They were calling upon the name of the Lord. Psalms 86, for thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Asking. is one of the conditions for mercy in the Christian walk. Psalms 32, I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and my iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. For this shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found. That's what the book of Hebrews is about. Hey, the hour's late. Now's the day of salvation. That's talking to believers, my friend. You need to go to God and ask God for forgiveness because you're not going to find a place of repentance at the judgment seat of Christ. You can't get there and say, oh, by the way, Lord, I want to tell you right now, all those things I didn't do that I should have done, I apologize for it. Well, that's what Esau tried to do. No, now's not the place of repentance. The place of repentance is right now. Now's the time to confess. Now's the time to get right with God. Not then. What are the conditions for mercy through the blood in the Christian walk? Calling, hoping, fearing, forsaking. He says in Isaiah 55, this is talking to the believer. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him. And to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. Psalm 51, wash me throughly from my iniquity. This is David after he sinned with Bathsheba. Cleanse me from my sin. And I acknowledge my transgressions. My sin is ever before me. Isaiah 1, the application is to the Christian life, the Christian walk, the foot cleansing, the relative righteousness. But people use this as a salvation message. This isn't how you get saved in eternity. This is how a believer gets right with God after he's saved. Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Come now, let us reason together. Say, if the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the lamb. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. And 2 Chronicles, if my people, my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will hear their lamb. That's foot cleansing. That is the fellowship cleansing that we need from our Holy Father. Again, Ezekiel 18, if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him. In his righteousness that he hath done, he shall live. Finally, Exodus chapter 20, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments. Over and over it says He has mercy to those that hope in His mercy. He has mercy to those that call upon Him. He gives mercy to those that fear Him. He gives mercy to those that forsake their sins. And this isn't how you get saved in eternity. It requires absolute righteousness to be saved in eternity. You'll never have absolute righteousness except in the righteousness of Christ. But in our Christian walk, we are to have the righteousness of Christ in a practical way. And we're to grow, hopefully, better and better and better, that we may know Him in a deeper way by growing more and more holy. Dear Holy Father, we thank You for Your goodness. We thank You, Lord, for the understanding The distinction between the general judgment, the eternal salvation by the blood of Jesus through faith alone, and then understanding how important it is after we're saved to get that cleansing in the blood in a practical way through daily renewal, daily dying, daily confessing, Father, there's many out here confusing things. But Lord, now that we understand the resolution, may we go soul winning to believers and unbelievers. May we give the unbeliever the gospel. And then after he's saved, teach him. the full gospel message, the full salvation of how to get the prize and the fellowship and the answer prayer and the peace and the joy and the reigning in your coming kingdom. Help those that have not been baptized, that are listening to this message to understand while it doesn't save an eternity, it is very, very important in regard to fellowship. We thank you, Lord Jesus, amen.