Let's continue some thoughts from this morning. The third chapter of the Gospel of John. I will start reading verse 22. After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea, and there he tarried with them, and immersing. And John also was immersing in Enon, near Jerusalem, because there was much water there. They came and were immersed. Believe it or not, John Calvin says, obvious, that John and Christ both immersed their disciples, but we don't have to be so concerned about the mold today. That's what he says in his commentary on these verses. Verse 24, For John was not yet cast into prison. Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying, and they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, behold, he the same immerseth and all men come to him. John Ashton said, A man can receive nothing except to be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Messiah, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom which standeth and heareth him rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, I must decrease." Now, my text. For this afternoon is verse 29. John the Baptist speaks of three groups of people. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth and rejoiceth, and greatly because of the bridegroom's voice, this my joy therefore is fulfilled. Now, there are three groups of people mentioned by John the Baptist. Very clearly, obviously, we know who one of them is. The bridegroom, the friend, that's Christ. But then he speaks about the friend of the bridegroom and the bride. Now, who are they? Well, look at who the friend is. But the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly, because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy, therefore, is fulfilled." So John identifies himself as being one of the friends of the bridegroom. Then that leaves the question, well, who is the bride? Now, there is a popular teaching today that all believers are in the bride of Christ. And fact matter, John Gill himself says that all believers of all ages compose the bride of Christ. Who does John say he is? The bride or the friend of the bridegroom? Well, obviously John the Baptist says he's a friend of the bridegroom. So all believers don't compose the bride because John the Baptist is not in the bride. Well, who is? What is the bride of Christ? Do we have any hint anywhere in the Bible about what it is? Well, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Paul, writing to the Church at Corinth, speaks to them about his concern. 2 Corinthians, chapter 11. Would you, God, you would bear with me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. I am jealous over you, for I have espoused you. That's marriage language. Espousal means engaged. Mary was espoused to Joseph. She was not yet married to him, but she was engaged or espoused to him, promised to him. So Paul, writing to the church at Corinth, says, I have espoused you to Christ as a chaste virgin. The book of Revelation gives us some more understanding, I believe, about this subject. The 19th chapter of the book of Revelation. John sees things futuristic and even present. Book of Revelation, in my understanding of the Book of Revelation, it is a cycle, repetition of things, and it goes somewhat like a book that you would write today. If you were to write a novel, you would have to write it so that you would say, Chapter 1, 2, and 3, you're setting the stage and something's going on. Chapter 4, you would say, here's some things that are going on while this is going on over here. And we use a praying language like, meanwhile, meantime. That would help us to understand that while this was going on over here, other things are going on over here. And so all of these things are kind of going on in a cycle or in a simultaneous way, and they're going towards an end. Well, that's my understanding of the book of Revelation. It is something that, some things that are present tense, as the angel told John, he said, I'll show you things which are now and things which shall be yet. And so there were futuristic things in the book of Revelation set forth. And so, the book of Revelation takes us all the way through the end time. The fact of the matter is, in chapter 6, you have the end time been given to us, for you read I'll read in chapter 6, verse 15, "...for the kings of the earth and great men, the rich men, chief captains, mighty men, every bondman, every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, follow us and hide us from the face of him that sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath is coming, who shall be able to stand?" That's not yet taken place. John Paul talks about that in Philippians where he says that they will come when every knee will bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, the glory of God, the Father. That's at the end of time. 15th chapter, 1 Corinthians, Paul talks about things that are going to happen at the end of time. He says, Then the end, the last end of minutes shall be dealt with is death. And he speaks about prophetic future things. So John here takes us to the end of time, the 19th chapter of Revelation. I heard a man speak at I believe it was at an R.C. Sproul conference with your dad, by the way, in which he put forth these two ideas, and I liked it very well. I thought it was a good explanation. The book of Revelation is a tale of two cities, one of them being the city of God and the other, the great whore, which is pagan religion headed up by Catholicism. But not just Catholicism, it's all of her daughters also, pagan and false religions. Nineteenth chapter of Revelation, Verse 1, After these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Hallelujah, salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God. For true and righteous are his judgments. For he hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his saints at her hand." That obviously has not taken place yet. That will consummate at the end of time when all the false religions who have been the enemies of God's people, their blood will be avenged of God. And the four and twenty elders, the four living creatures, fell down and worshiped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were a voice of great multitudes, a voice of many waters, and a voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." We know that He reigns now. And the manifestation of this reigning will be when the Lord comes. And so that's the reason why the Lord taught us to pray, Thy Kingdom come. We're praying for the manifestation of the Lord's Kingdom to the whole world when every world will be made to know who indeed is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's the language somewhat that Paul uses in 1 Timothy chapter 6. He talks about the appearing of the Lord, that thou keep this commandment without spot or rebuke, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is in His time, shall show who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality dwelling in the light, which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen or can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen." That's a coming great day. We sang a while ago what a day that will be. But a day that will be when the world will be made to know and see the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We see Him by the eye of faith, and as John says, whom having not seen, we love. But when the Lord comes, and when we are transformed and glorified and be like Him, and we are sent to be with Him forever and ever, that will be indeed a great day. And every knee will be made to bow, the wicked, ungodly will be made to acknowledge Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And so here in the 19th chapter, they are shouting, hallelujah, for that great day of the Lord has come. For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Verse 7, Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him. Note these next words, For the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. So we had a bride spoken about in the 11th chapter of 2 Corinthians, and now we have a wife here. The marriage is now coming, and they are coming together. I read then, verse 8, Who are these? And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen. clean and white. Well, if we stopped right there, we would say this fine linen is the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's the only righteousness that we have, is the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. But, it doesn't stop there. The Holy Spirit gives us some more words here. For the fine linen is the righteousnesses, plural, of saints. Plural, not singular. Christ's righteousness is singular. This is plural. The righteousness of the saints. What is that righteousness? What is this all about? Well, let's go to Ephesians chapter 5. Paul, writing to the church at Ephesus, talks about the work of the ministry in chapter 4. Then he says in chapter 5, verse 21, "...submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your husbands unto the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife." Now let me ask you a question, verse 23, "...for the husband is the head of the wife." What kind of husband and what kind of wife is Paul here speaking about? Is he talking about some kind of big universal husband? Some kind of big universal wife? Or is he talking about all husbands and all wives? And is he using the language, in what we refer to as a generic word, speaking about all husbands and all wives? Of course, that's the understanding. He's not talking about some kind of big universal husband who is ahead over some kind of big universal wife. He's talking about a particular, all husbands and all wives. This is your relationship. Husbands are the head of wives, even as Christ is the head of the church. He's not talking about some kind of big, universal, invisible thing. He's talking about each particular church. Every church, Christ is the head of that church. It's not our church, it's Christ's church. He is the head. We, as a body of Christ, we are under control and we're to follow the head. Therefore, the church is subject unto Christ, and that's the reason why we do not believe in association, denominations, church hierarchies because each church is self-governing, self-ruling under Christ as its head. So let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Now, very obviously here, Paul is talking about particular wives and particular husbands. Every woman is not the subject of every husband. He is talking about wives and husbands, each particular wife and each particular husband. Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Now a lot of people say, well that, love the church, that means everybody that Christ died for, loved here. Well, there is a special sense in which it says that Christ loved the church. Back to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. Paul speaking to the elders of the church at Ephesus, verse 28. He says to them, take heed therefore unto yourselves and all the flock, over the width of the Holy Ghost that made you to be overseers, to feed the church of God. Now, he's talking about the church of Ephesus, and he calls it the church of God, and he says that these men are overseers, which just means that they are pastors, ministrators, to feed, to nurture as a shepherd, which he hath purchased with his own blood. Now, the word purchase is a very special word. To buy something, you purchase something, you buy it for your own particular use. You buy a house, you purchase that house for your own particular use. We have an illustration, the Lord gave that parable about a man who found a pearl of great price in a field and he went and sold all that he had and bought the field for the pearl that was therein. Now he bought the field, but what he really was buying was the pearl of great price. He purchased that. Christ has a family that he is loved, died for, and redeemed by his precious blood. There's a good illustration of this, what I'm talking about in the 22nd chapter maybe 25th chapter of Genesis, where Abraham sent his servant out to get a wife for his son Isaac. And he said, don't take a wife from these people. I want you to go back to my kindred and get a wife for Isaac. Well, God has a family, all born-again believers are in the family of God. Out of the family, Christ has purchased especially to be his bride. And they are what we refer to as being those who are members of his churches, New Testament churches. Let's see if I can support what I just said. Verse 25, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also has loved the church and gave himself for it. Now note verse 26, that he might sanctify and cleanse it. Well, that's what he did with his blood. He sanctified and cleanses us. We are sanctified, justified. But note this, he's talking about something beyond the sanctifying work of the blood of Christ, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word. Do you get that? The washing of water by the Word. That is, as we as believers follow to Christ, as we read the Word of God, as the Word of God is taught to us, as we believe the Word of God, as we obey the Word of God, and as the Word of God, by the Holy Spirit of God, works in our lives, our lives are being conformed unto Christ. Let me just look at another verse of Scripture to you, 2 Corinthians, please, chapter 3. He's talking about, in this chapter, Paul is talking about the ministry, preaching the Word of God, and I won't read all of this right now. But verse 15 of the 3rd chapter of 2 Corinthians, For even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veils upon their hearts. Nevertheless, when it, talking about hearts of Jewish people or anyone, when hearts shall be turned to the Lord, the veils shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, note this phrase, but we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed, and the tense of the verb here is, we are being changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Now, what is to be taking place in our lives individually, personally, as we read the Word of God, as we hear the Word of God, by the Holy Spirit of God working in our lives, there is to be a transformation going on, a transition whereby we are not what we were even when we were first regenerated, but we're growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ, and we are conforming more and more unto Christ, the outworking of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We are being sanctified by the washing and cleansing of the Word of God. You see, that's ongoing. And as that is impacting our lives, Our lives, our conduct, our manner of living is being more made Christ-like. And there was an outward manifestation of the inward nature. When we are regenerated, we are new creatures in Christ Jesus. We have the imputed righteous giving unto us. But that is not the end of the work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. The whole work that the Lord has given to His churches and to His ministers is that we might sanctify and cleanse the congregation and our lives too by the ministry of the Word of God. Go back to the fourth chapter of Ephesians, just for a minute, please. I'll just support what I've just been saying by reading to you the fourth chapter. I'll begin reading at verse 11. He gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastor-teachers for the maturing or perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying and building up of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God unto a mature man unto the measure of the statue of the fulness of Christ, that we henceforth need more children tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the sight of men, and cunning crafted for by the lying weight to deceive. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplies according to the effectual working in the measure of every part making increase of the body under the edifying of itself in love. And so here's what's supposed to be going on in New Testament Church. As the Word of God has been taught and preached, and as we read and say the Word of God personally, there is to be a maturing of individual persons in that congregation, that body, whereby the body has been made to mature. Now, we've got a little boy in this congregation, and he's growing, and you see him growing. But let's say that ten years down the road, He's the same size as he is right now. Something's wrong. Or let's say that one leg doesn't grow with the rest of the body. I had a friend who had a son that way. He was a preacher, Baptist preacher, and he had a son. Amazing thing that one leg was not growing as fast as the other. And they went in, the doctors did, and they first got some information about how tall his grandfather on both sides were. And they went in and they shortened the other leg. took out some growth section of that other leg, so that as the boy grew older, he came out with an even walk. Now he had kind of short legs, but he walked, he didn't have to have a real thick boot like he seems to. He walked level. Well, if one part of your body begins to grow faster or doesn't grow like the rest of the body does, something is wrong. What Paul here is talking about is, here's the work of the ministry in the church, here's what we do in church relationship with each other, we edify each other, we encourage each other, we exhort each other, and we thereby build up the body of Christ personally, collectively, and so the whole body is maturing and we are maturing as individual believers. I keep saying a church is no stronger than what the individual people are in the church, not who the pastor is or what the doctrine is, but what the individual people, the weakest person in the church is what the strength of that church is all about. You take a chain, you got a chain that real big long link, real big links in it, and every link is about that big around, man, that's a real strong chain. But then you got another link out here that they're just real small, tiny links. Well, that chain is not going to be able to pull very much because that little small link is going to break. Well, that's what church members are. We are linked in the chain. We're part of the body. And so we are building up that body. We're maturing it. And Paul says here, that by the sanctifying and cleansing of it, with the washing of water by the word, that we may be maturing. Now, Ephesians chapter 2, 8 and 9, everybody knows what that says. All Baptists know what Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that in all yourselves is the gift of God, and not of works, which any one should boast. But many Baptists don't know what verse 10 says. And many Baptists ignore totally what is said in verse 10. Verse 10 says, For we are his workmanship, we are his product, created. He's talking about the spiritual person of us. Created. in Christ Jesus. Unto, unto means for what purpose? Unto good works. What kind of good works? Which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. That means I'm not free just to be whatever I want to be and do whatever I want to do. No. There's a foreordination. The word foreordination talks about boundaries. The Greek word from which you get the word ordination is a word from which you get horizon, because it talks about the horizon out there, that's where the sky comes down and where the earth comes up, there's the boundary of it. Well, the word ordination has the root of it as that concept, the boundaries. The boundaries on which we are to walk. I like baseball, football, sport, I like baseball. Do you know that a man can get up to bat and knock the ball out of the park? and run the bases and cross home plate and be called out. You all know that? You know anybody know how it is that would happen? There are two ways in which it would happen. One of them is if in batting he interfered with the catcher catching the ball. If he'll hit the ball, he'll be called out. Second way is if he ran the bases the wrong way. If he goes third, second, and first, when he crosses home plate, he'll be called out. Now, what's the point of that? Because there are rules and regulations. Even though you knock the ball out of the park, and everybody's yelling, home run, if he runs the wrong direction around those bases, when he crosses home plate, he's called out. My point is, there are good works with God before ordained that we should walk in there. Now, that doesn't mean everybody's supposed to be preachers, but it does mean that all of God's people have a course which God has laid out, that especially for certain people, certain people especially, And I'll call that the Bride of Christ, the Church of Jesus Christ. We're to walk in that. Our Lord, I quoted the verse Matthew 28 this morning, teaching them to observe all things what I've commanded you, and lo, I'm with you. And as our lives are brought into conformity in our conduct and in our obedience to those good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them, including baptism, including the Lord's Supper, as our lives are being conformed to the Lord and those things, We are being washed, sanctified by the Word of God. You know, I used to go to a church, and I used to believe very sincerely that we were right in doing this. We used unleavened bread, but we used grape juice. And I thought it would be a bad thing to ever use wine in the Lord's Supper. I really did. And I used to be, believe it or not, a music director at a church. My wife played the piano in it. And if somebody told me someday you will be a member of a church where you will not have any musical instruments at all. I said, you're crazy. I'll go a little bit further, you know. I used to, not that I ever preached Armenianism doctrine, but there was a time when I believed Armenianism, and I came to a better understanding of things. I would argue that everybody's got a choice. Everybody's got a free will, and everybody makes a decision. But as the Lord taught me some things, I learned the truth about some things. I'll tell you, there was a time I played Santa Claus. I don't believe in Christmas now. I don't throw rocks at those people who still practice Christmas, but I don't believe in Christmas now, and I don't believe in Easter observance either. Why? Well, because I think, as I've studied the Word of God, I've come to understand some things a little bit better. And so now we use wine to Lord's Supper. We wouldn't do it any other way. So there's a growing that all of us are to be doing. And as we're growing in this way, we are being separated from the world. We're being sanctified from the world's religious orders. and were being made conformed to the teachings of Christ. And as the Word of God sanctifies us and cleanses us, Paul says here in verse 27 of the 5th chapter, that he might present it to himself as a glorious church, not having spot, nor wrinkle, or any such thing, but it should be holy without blemish. This is the impact of the Spirit of God, by the Word of God, working on the hearts and lives of regenerated individuals whose lives are being impacted by the Spirit of God and by the teaching of God's Word so that we are ultimately presented unto Christ as a glorious church without any spot or wrinkle. That, to me, is that Revelation 19, the righteousness, plural, of the saints. Not that it's their own righteousness in the sense that what we are, but what God by the Holy Spirit has produced in us that we have been conformed to Christ and we have been brought to walk in those good works which God had before ordained that we should walk in them. Now let's go to another verse of Scripture, a portion of Scripture. Revelation chapter 14. Chapter 1, verse 1 of the 14th chapter of Revelation. And I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on Mount Zion. Now, that's very significant right there, but I don't want to spend time there. And with him, 144,000. Well, there's all kinds of discussion about who this 144,000 is. Well, I will just give you a brief summary. 144, I bet Luke could tell me. 144 is something squared, isn't it? 144? Isn't that 12 squared? In other words, that's a perfect number, 144. 144,000! It speaks of a perfect number of people having his father's name written in their forehead. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and the voice of great thunder, and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps. And they sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures and the elders. And no man could learn that song but the 144,000 which were redeemed from the earth." Now, who are these people? I was going to tell you, verse 4. These are they which were not defiled with women. Celibacy? No, not talking about celibacy. It's talking about religious defilement. These were those who have come out of the corrupt religious order. They've not been defiled by this corrupt religious system identified as being a whore. These are they which are not corrupted, defiled with women. These, for they are virgins. This is not, and the word virgin here is not in the feminine sense, but in the male sense. These are they which follow the Lamb, whether it's wherever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, having the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God." Now, an important, significant phrase right here in verse 4, "...these are they which follow the Lamb, whether so ever he goeth." I submit to you that this is New Testament Church Saints who have followed the Lamb wherever He has taught them to go. back in the Gospels, back in Matthew we read, teaching them to observe all things what you have commanded you. These are they who didn't follow after the whore of Rome. These are they who have not been caught up in the world's religious systems. They have come out from that, and they have followed the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. The fact of the matter is, in the 18th chapter of Revelation, the Lord speaks to these people in verse 4 of the 18th chapter. And I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, and be ye not partakers of her sins, that ye receive not her plagues. For her sins have reached into heaven, and God has remembered her iniquity. And so God's people are always a coming-out people, separating themselves from the world. And they are not defiled with religious systems. They follow Christ, whether it's where we go. And so John said, There is a bride and a bridegroom. The bridegroom is Christ. The friend of the bridegroom, I believe that's all the family of God who are not in the New Testament churches. The bride is composed of those who are brought by the Holy Spirit of God to be in New Testament churches. And they follow the Lamb, whether it's wherever he goes. And they're owned in heaven, ultimately, when Christ shall come as being the bride of Christ. Go back to Luke chapter 1. I'm going back in full circle now. Luke chapter 1. The ministry of John the Baptist. And he shall go before him in the spirit, I'm reading verse 17, the power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to children, to disobey to the wisdom of the just, and to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. John the Baptist, the first Baptist preacher, and God called him Baptist. What was his ministry? Well, he used to preach about regeneration, he used to preach about repentance, he used to preach about obedience, and to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. John prepared people for Christ to establish his church with. Baptist ministers, God-called Baptist ministers and Baptist churches are making ready a people to be in the Bride of Christ. Paul said, I have espoused you, I have engaged you as a chaste virgin, espoused to Christ. Each and every New Testament church is one of the things, relationships they have with Christ is a Bride of Christ. That doesn't mean Christ is a polygamist. We say each New Testament church is a body of Christ. The Greek word the is not in the 12th chapter of 1 Corinthians. Not that you are the body of Christ. You are a body of Christ. Every New Testament church is a body of Christ. Every New Testament church is a temple of God. Every New Testament church is a house of God. Every New Testament church is a garden of God. Every New Testament church is a body of Christ. Every New Testament church is a bride of Christ. That's our relationship with Christ. He is our head. And when you are espoused unto Christ, you belong to Him, purchased by His blood. It's a sacred thing. When a man and a woman get engaged, they make some commitments to each other. And they declare that commitment when they come to get married. They say, having forsaken all others. Now, I really had a problem with that because I had thousands of girls chasing me, you know. I'm being facetious. But they say, I'm forsaking all others. We give ourselves to this person. That's what New Testament Christians do. They forsake everything to follow Christ. Our Lord said, if you don't hate mother and father, brother and sister, you're not worthy of me. That's a hard thing to do. I know. I've had to do that. My wife had to do that. You go contrary to what your family says. You go contrary to what your mother and father say. You go contrary to what your brothers and sisters say. Because you love Christ, you follow Him. If you all were engaged today, all of y'all individually, You were espoused to an individual, you said to that person before you ever got married, you said, I'll be faithful to you, I love you, I'll marry you. And your espousal, your fiancé or your fiance, they both had reason to expect that you would not be dating other people, that you would keep yourself pure, undefiled, and that you might come together as chaste people to be married together. That's what you would expect. In fact, remember that was a problem Joseph had when he learned that marriage was with child. He wanted to put her away privately. Now there's some question what that means. The law said she was to be stoned. But at least this was a problem Joseph had because he learns that Mary has a child and he knows that he's not been with her. So every husband, every fiancé, every fiance has every right to expect that this person is going to keep himself separated from others when we get married. They come into that marriage as a chaste virgin. That's what a New Testament church is, to be separated from the world. You see, the bride of Christ is a chaste virgin, which follows the Lamb, whether it's wherever He goes. And our love is to Christ so much that we love Him above the world, above friends, above family, above everything else, even our own lives. Thousands of God's people have died, been put to death, simply because they would not disclaim the name of Christ. One of the most bloody, one of the most One of the most frequent reasons why saints died throughout the ages since the days of Christ is because of the doctrine of baptism. They wouldn't allow their babies to be sprinkled. If they would have allowed their babies to be sprinkled, they would have been spared. But because they believed in believers' baptism and would not do that, Catholics and Protestants both alike put Baptists to death. It cost them many times their lives over this one issue, the bloody doctrine of baptism. Election has never been that kind of issue. I believe election. I believe predestination, but unfortunately, we have made that to be the issue of Distinction between true churches and false churches. Well, I believe it is a an important doctrine I don't deny it one bit, but that's not the only important doctrine Baptism is an important doctrine. The Lord suffers important doctrine. The mode of church government is important doctrine What we believe about the Lord's Church is important doctrine What we believe about Godly living is important, Doctor. You see, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever are commanded to you. And Lord, I'm with you always. So John the Baptist had a ministry of getting people ready, preparing people for the coming of the Lord Messiah. What's Baptist preachers doing today? Baptist preachers are to be teaching those things whereby they get the bride of Christ ready for the coming of the bridegroom. So when he comes, she will be a robe arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness. the good works, the good godly living, the good life, the good doctrine, the purity of doctrine, the purity of practice which the Lord gave unto his churches. And when he comes, he will claim her as his bride. One more verse of scripture and I'll stop. Revelation chapter 3. I'll read verse 9. He's writing to the church at Philadelphia. And of course, these seven churches are all seven real New Testament, I'll say, Baptist churches. at least Baptistic, they weren't Baptists in name, but they were all New Testament churches. And he's writing to church at Philadelphia, and he says this to her. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan. Now, this is figurative language, the synagogue of Satan. What is that? Well, I believe that's false religious systems, which say they're Jews. What's that mean? Which say they're God's people, and are not, but do lie. Now, note this phrase. I will make them to come and to worship before thy feet. and to know that I have loved thee. This is the promise to churches that the Lord gives to faithful New Testament churches. I'll make the world to know, to bow before your feet to know that I've loved you. May God bless you to be faithful. God bless you.