Participants: Pr. Jac Colon
Series Code: RN
Program Code: RN000010
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01:05 Lord each one of us just long for that touch every
01:09 day, healing, calming, making us whole and Lord help us 01:20 understand more and more as we learn what it really means 01:27 to follow the lamb. We ask in Jesus name. Amen. 01:38 We were doing a Revelation Now meeting in a little town 01:43 was Waynesboro, Virginia, and in small towns you can 01:49 afford a lot more advertising because it's not expensive. 01:53 So, we just saturated, we had hundreds of radio ads 01:58 and newspaper ads all over the brochures everywhere 02:03 and I was listening on the radio trying to see if I can 02:06 hear some of the adverting and sure enough as soon as 02:10 I turned it on. I heard a man breathing rather heavily and 02:18 his friend the other DJ said hey what's the matter? He 02:22 said, man I am out of breath, I've been running, 02:24 what are you running for? Trying to get away from all 02:27 those dragons and seven headed beasts running 02:29 around in the parking lot. You know a lot of people 02:37 think that's what was Revelation is all about, 02:41 dragons and seven headed beasts, but Revelation is 02:47 about the lamb, it's not about the beast and 02:53 Revelation is about those who would worship the lamb, 02:57 it's a spiritual book filled with spiritual themes. 03:05 And those who want to hear only about the dragons and 03:07 the beasts and all of the animals can't understand 03:13 why, do we take the time to talk about the Gospel. Why 03:16 do we take the time to talk about the Cross. Why do we 03:19 we take the time to talk about the law and the grace 03:22 of God and the Lord's day. But when we understand 03:29 the issues of Revelation it's the Revelation of Jesus Christ 03:34 and all of these things teach us who Jesus is, who God is. 03:40 The Bible begins with the words, ''blessed is the one 03:43 who reads and take to heart the words of this book.'' 03:47 There is blessing here and that blessing only comes as 03:53 we know God and Jesus Christ. 04:00 Book of Revelation is a book about worship, 04:06 in the 12th, 13th and 14th chapter we've discovered 04:10 a conflict. A conflict between those who would 04:14 worship God the creator of the Heavens and the Earth 04:17 and those who would worship the beast. The Bible tells us 04:22 we worship God for two reasons. We worship him 04:25 because he is the creator but we find the second reason 04:29 for worshiping God in the 5th chapter of Revelation, 04:34 in Revelation chapter 5, verse 6, And then I saw a lamb 04:39 looking as if he had been slain standing in the center 04:43 of the throne. So here is a lamb, a poor, pitiful, 04:48 bleating lamb standing in the center of the throne 04:52 and the four living creatures and elders all fell down 04:56 before the throne and they sang in a loud voice, verse 12 05:00 worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power, and 05:05 wealth, and wisdom, and the strength, and honor, and 05:09 glory, and praise, and I heard every creature in 05:12 heaven, on earth, under the earth and in the sea, all that 05:16 is in them singing to him who sits on the throne and to 05:20 the lamb be praised in honor and glory and power forever 05:25 and ever and the four living creatures said Amen and 05:28 the elders fell down and worshiped the lamb. 05:35 We worship God because he is the creator and we worship 05:39 God because he is our redeemer and it is the death, 05:44 burial and resurrection of Jesus that makes life 05:48 possible. God gave us a memorial, a reminder that 05:53 would emblaze on our hearts and minds forever if we 05:57 would just recognize it that he is the creator, he carved 06:01 that monument out of time. The seventh day is 06:05 a reminder, a memorial to the creative power of God. 06:08 Tonight we are going to see the second monument, 06:11 the second memorial to the death, burial, and 06:14 resurrection of Jesus Christ. We worship God because he 06:17 is the creator and we worship God because he is our 06:20 savior. And we find that in Matthew the 28th chapter. 06:27 In Matthew chapter 28 verse 18, these are the last words 06:30 of Jesus before he ascended into heaven that Matthew 06:34 recorded. Usually a person saves their most important 06:40 words for the last words. And here Jesus, his most 06:45 important words. In verse 18, all authority in heaven 06:49 and on earth has been given to me, therefore go and 06:55 make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in 07:00 the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 07:04 the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything 07:08 that I have commanded you and surely I'll be with you 07:12 always even to the end of the age. Go Jesus said, 07:15 teach them all things, make disciples and baptize 07:19 them. Baptism is mentioned over 80 times in the 07:27 New Testament. Baptism is so important that Jesus 07:33 included it among his last words and yet today there is 07:36 much confusion about the question of baptism. Many 07:40 people ask well how should a person be Baptized when 07:44 should a person be baptized, how many times can 07:47 a person be baptized, does God recognize all forms of 07:52 baptism. I want to begin by answering that last question 07:55 first tonight. Does God recognize all forms of 08:00 baptism. In the little book of Ephesians, chapter 4 verse3 08:04 Paul writes, make every effort to keep the unity of 08:08 the spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body 08:14 and one spirit just as you were called to one hope, one 08:20 Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all 08:26 who is overall through all and in all, how many Gods 08:30 are there? One. How many Lords are there? How many 08:34 faiths are there? How many baptisms are there? One. 08:42 Now Paul is not saying that a person can only be 08:45 baptized one time when he says one baptism, that's not 08:49 what he saying because we can find examples of Paul 08:53 himself encountering people who had been baptized, 08:57 didn't understand what it meant, taught them what it 08:59 meant fully and baptized them again. So, no he is not 09:04 saying you can only baptized one time, most of 09:07 the time one time is enough, but there are examples and 09:10 times when people are baptized and it didn't really 09:14 mean that much to them and they would like to be 09:16 baptized again when it's more meaningful, there are 09:19 times when people are baptized and then go far off 09:22 the path from what God has in mind for them and when 09:26 they come back they chose to be baptized again. I was 09:29 baptized again, there's nothing wrong with that. 09:35 Some people get baptized and don't even know it. 09:39 One man said to me, he said Pastor, I think I want to be 09:42 baptized again. And I said well, why do you think you 09:46 want to be baptized again, because I am not sure if 09:49 I ever got baptized before. Why not, well because I guess 09:53 I was too little, my mom told me I was. See baptism 09:58 is so important that we need to understand what it means 10:05 and it's not wrong to be baptized again but most of 10:09 the time it's not necessary, most people are baptized 10:15 then they live their lives following Jesus and they 10:18 don't need to be baptized again. But the Bible is 10:22 saying the God only recognizes one form of 10:26 baptism and that is the only form of baptism that was 10:29 ever practiced in the Christian church for the first 10:32 500 years of existence and that was baptism by immersion 10:36 underneath the water. In fact, the word 'baptize' 10:43 means to immerse, to submerge under the water. 10:50 In fact, the word baptize is not and was not even 10:56 a religious word. It was a common, ordinary word 11:00 used by everyone. If a person, a lady back in Bible 11:08 times wanted to dye a piece of cloth, she would say I am 11:14 going to baptize the cloth in the dye, because that's what 11:19 it meant. If you lived in Bible times and you wanted 11:24 to dunk your donut, you would say I am going to 11:30 to baptize my donut. Now, any donut dunker 11:39 that knows anything about Dunkin Donuts knows 11:43 that you don't just sprinkle a drop or two on your donut, 11:47 you got to put it under the surface, get it good and wet. 11:50 Amen. That's what it means to dunk a donut. And that's 11:55 what it means to baptize. You see the Greek word 12:01 Baptizo was a common ordinary word it meant to 12:05 immerse, and when the Bible translators who were 12:09 translating the Bible from Greek into English came to 12:14 that word Baptizo they should have translated it 12:17 immerse. Go and immerse them, the problem was they 12:23 were not baptizing by immersion anymore and so 12:28 they couldn't translate the word. So they did what is 12:31 called the transliteration, transliteration is simply 12:37 instead of translating what the word means they 12:41 translate the letters. The beta was a B, the alpha 12:47 is an A, pie is P and they got the English word baptize 12:52 see you knew a little Greek and you didn't even realize it 12:55 Baptize is a Greek word, it means to bury, to immerse 12:59 under the surface that's the meaning of the word. So, 13:03 when Jesus said go and baptize he really said go and 13:06 immerse, put them under the surface of the water. And we 13:11 can understand why these is important when we 13:13 understand the true meaning of baptism. In Romans, the 13:17 6th chapter, we find in Romans chapter 6, verse 1. 13:21 Paul begins by saying what shall we say then, shall we 13:26 go on sinning so that grace may increase? Now why did 13:31 he say that. Obviously, he was answering a question 13:36 that was being raised at the time. They were people who 13:41 were actually so upset with Paul's teaching they were 13:46 saved by grace through faith and not by works but it's 13:50 a gift of God, they were upset with Paul's teaching that no 13:54 one is saved by keeping the law, they got so upset they 13:58 said well, if that's the case then if we're saved by grace 14:02 and not through obeying the law then why don't we just 14:06 go on sinning because the more we sin, the more grace we 14:12 can have. You see that's how the sinful human mind 14:17 works, that isn't how God's mind works and watch how 14:23 Paul answers that question. Shall we go on sinning so 14:26 that grace may increase, by no means he said, why not? 14:32 Because we die to sin, so how can we live in it any 14:37 longer, what do you mean Paul? We died to sin, what 14:43 does that mean? And watch how he answers that 14:47 question. What is it mean to die to sin? Don't you know 14:53 that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus 14:58 were baptized into his death. You can't go on sinning, 15:07 why not because you died to sin what's that? You are 15:11 baptized. That's why you can't go on sinning, you 15:16 were baptized into his death. You were baptized into 15:21 Christ death. We were therefore buried with him 15:29 through baptism into death in order that just as Christ 15:35 was raised up from the death through the glory of the 15:40 Father, we too may live a new life. That's why you 15:47 can't go on sinning, of course we're saved by grace 15:52 through faith, we are not saved by obeying the law, 15:55 obeying the commandments of God saves no one. But 16:01 you can't go on sinning because you're saved by 16:04 grace, why not? Because you're baptized, and when 16:09 you're baptized you die to sin. You are buried into his 16:16 death and that's precisely why God can say like he 16:23 said to Adam and Eve, if you eat the fruit of the tree 16:26 you will die and like he says to us, the wages of sin 16:30 is death. If you sin you are going to die. That's why 16:34 God can say that and then save us and give us eternal 16:38 life because we do die in Christ with him in his death 16:43 by baptism we die with him, we are buried with him in 16:48 the water and just as Jesus was raised up from the death 16:52 we too come up out of the water with him in order to 16:56 live a new life for God. That's what baptism means, 17:01 that's why you can't even think about sinning. 'Cause 17:06 you die to sin, you see we are born sinful, headed for 17:15 destruction, but the movement you encounter 17:20 Jesus Christ and repent of your sins and confess your 17:26 sins. You are born again and you died to that old life, you 17:37 are buried in the water with Jesus, just as he was buried 17:41 in the grave and you come up out of the water a new 17:45 person to live a new life of obedience to God. That's 17:50 was baptism means that's why it's so important, it is 17:54 monument, it is a memorial to the fact that Jesus died on 17:59 the cross. He was buried in a grave then three days later 18:03 he was raised up again and when we're baptized we 18:08 enter in to that experience with him. Now, today 18:18 practically the entire Christian world observes 18:22 Sunday in honor of the resurrection of Jesus. But 18:30 the Bible never says to set aside a day in honor of the 18:33 resurrection. The Bible says that baptism is the 18:38 monument, the reminder of the death, burial and 18:41 resurrection of Jesus. And when we set a day in honor 18:47 of the resurrection then we no longer have a day in 18:51 honor of the creator and evolution comes into the 18:55 church. And the devil kills two birds with one stone, 19:00 because when we set a day in honor of the resurrection 19:04 even though the Bible never says to do it, then baptism 19:09 loses its meaning. And Christianity can become 19:17 watered down and meaningless because we are 19:21 no longer dying to the whole life being buried with Jesus 19:25 and rising up again to live a new life. Now I am not 19:30 saying that everyone that is baptized by sprinkling does 19:33 it, because they don't want to die to the old life. 19:38 Most people aren't even aware of what the Bible teaches 19:42 about baptism. But once God reveals his will and his plan 19:51 to us, then I think he expects us to follow him, Amen. 19:58 That's the important point, you see we can rationalize, 20:03 men always rationalize. You know what rationalizing is, 20:06 is trying to find a loop hole, we're trying to find a way 20:09 out from doing whatever it is that you're expected to do. 20:15 It's dangerous to rationalize, when you saw it 20:18 rationalizing how do you know when to stop 20:21 rationalizing. I think the two young men that were 20:24 worshiping God, they were both raised and born into the 20:28 same Godly family, they both had the same Godly 20:32 parents and they were both prepared and altered to 20:35 worship God. Their names were Cain and Able. Now, 20:44 Able worshiped God exactly the way God said, he said he 20:48 wanted the lamb and Able offered a lamb. Cain 20:52 rationalized, Able was a shepherd, I am a farmer, 20:55 I don't have lambs, he's got lambs, I got fruit, 20:58 vegetables. But I have some fruit and vegetables with 21:01 juice it looks just like blood after all the lamb doesn't 21:06 save anybody, it's a symbol and so my symbol can be 21:11 just as good as his symbol and he offered the 21:13 vegetables and God rejected that, he accepted his 21:17 brother's and Cain became so angry he murdered his 21:20 own brother, why? Over the issue of worship. Now you 21:26 can understand why worship is such an important part of 21:29 the book of Revelation. People who worship God 21:33 properly are always despised by the ones who try to 21:40 rationalize God's word. It's easy to rationalize, Eve did 21:49 it. Now, that apple looked like the other apple, I don't 21:53 see any difference there, whatever kind of fruit it was 21:55 somebody said to me that like, where does it say it was 21:58 an apple, it doesn't say it was an apple. I'm just using 22:02 that as an illustration, let's say fruit. God said don't eat 22:04 the fruit, well that fruit looks like this fruit, 22:06 doesn't matter, I'll just not eat this one and eat this 22:08 one. Rationalize, we know what happened is the result 22:13 of that. And so people rationalized today, a little 22:17 bit of water, a lot of water doesn't matter, just the 22:19 symbol. One day, seventh day, first day, sixth day what 22:23 difference does it make? See rationalize, I want to tell 22:30 you that the way I understand the Bible God means exactly 22:34 what he says, when I said you think he really cares 22:41 what day? The question isn't the day, the question is do 22:46 you trust God. Do you believe God? Just like Eve, 22:50 the real issue wasn't the fruit, the real issue was she 22:56 didn't believe God when he said don't eat from that tree 23:01 and so did they, God says this day is the day I make 23:05 holy, the real issue isn't which day it's, do you 23:08 believe God means what he says. That's why it's 23:12 important, baptism, he says be immersed and some say 23:17 a drop or two will do. God means what he says and he 23:26 started to rationalize how do you know when to stop. The 23:28 first 500 years the history of the church they baptized by 23:31 immersion under the water. But then maybe one day 23:35 somebody said, Oh! This is too much work in the desert 23:37 here. Not that much water, get together, maybe we can 23:42 just get a bucket and pour it on top and they start baptizing 23:46 by pouring. Rationalizing, and then one day a lady was 23:51 going to be baptize perhaps and she said you know I just 23:53 came from the beauty parlor I got a new hairdo? All that 23:58 water, hey it's just a symbol a little water, a lot of water 24:00 doesn't matter just sprinkle a drop or two. That's okay, 24:03 it's a symbol. Make sense, but not to God. God 24:09 says immerse under the water. Now you know when 24:14 you to stop when you start rationalizing. I read about 24:16 churches in the Orion they sprinkle salt on top. Their 24:20 heads to baptize, other churches baptize with a drop 24:23 of oil on the forehead. I've even read about a church in 24:27 California, in Hollywood where a beautiful blond 24:30 movie star wanted to be baptized and she thought it 24:33 would look nice if they sprinkled rose petals on her 24:35 pretty blond hair and in that church they used rose petals. 24:37 How do you know when to stop when your rationalize God's 24:41 word. I read about a Pastor on the east-coast, his 24:45 grandson wanted to be baptized on the west coast, 24:47 couldn't afford a plane ticket so he did it long distance 24:52 Baptism by long distance. There are even churches where 24:58 the people being baptized stand in front of the church 25:00 and the Pastor raises his hands and says I now baptize 25:03 you in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 25:06 That's the dry cleaning method. See the point is, 25:09 how do you know when to stop when you start tampering 25:14 and rationalizing with God's symbols. How do you know 25:18 when to stop? A long time ago a Native American chief 25:27 walked into the mission on the frontier, in the frontier 25:31 town and the padre was busy there in the mission and the 25:36 chief saw a Bible sitting on the table. He said what's 25:40 that, the padre said that is the word of God. And the 25:46 chief said I want to read that. So the padre loaned 25:51 him his Bible and every night the chief stayed up 25:55 late, reading by the light of the fire the word of God. 26:01 Finally he finished the book, all the way through, went 26:06 back to the mission and he told the padre, he said I want 26:11 to be baptized. And the padre says great, no nothing 26:16 was more exciting than somebody wanting to be 26:18 baptize. So he turned around and he took a little gold cup 26:22 out of cupboard and took some water to put in the cup 26:26 and the big chief looked at that gold cup he said, that's 26:29 too small. Padre says no, you won't get in the cup, 26:36 I am going to just sprinkle a drop or two on your head 26:39 from the cup. And the chief said Oh! If that's the right 26:47 baptism then you gave me the wrong book, because he 26:53 understood that baptism meant to be buried under the 26:57 water to die to that life of sin. To rise up again in order 27:03 to live a new life for God. Once you rationalize how 27:09 you know where to stop. Well, okay Pastor 27:14 I understand, baptism means to immerse, to bury under 27:16 the water but I mean really how important is it. What a 27:21 question, God doesn't say anything that's not 27:25 important does he. Every word that comes from his mouth 27:29 is important But Peter makes that clear to us in 1st Peter 27:34 chapter 3, looking at verse 20, here he's speaking about 27:41 the flood, you remember the story of the flood and he 27:45 speaks about the flood and those who disobeyed long 27:49 ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah 27:53 while the ark was being built in it only a few people eight 27:59 in all were saved through water. Now, listen to this 28:05 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you, 28:16 say Peter, you don't mean that, we are not saved by 28:21 baptism, we are not saved by doing anything. We're saved 28:25 by grace through faith in Jesus. How can you say 28:29 we're saved by baptism, he answers that. He says at the 28:34 verse 21 not the removal of dirt from the body but the 28:39 pledge of a good conscience towards God. It saves you 28:44 by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into 28:50 heaven and he's at God's right hand. No, we are not 28:54 saved because we're baptized, we are baptized 28:58 because we are saved through the resurrection of 29:01 Jesus. See baptism, the waters of the flood were 29:05 symbol of baptism, God used the flood to destroy the 29:10 old world, the way it was, full of sin and then the flood 29:13 went down and the Earth comes up again, a new Earth 29:16 ready to be inhabitant by people willing to obey God 29:20 and that symbolizes baptism, dying to the whole life of 29:24 sin, burying in the grave, watery grave, coming up 29:27 again to live a new life and that's what saves you. Now 29:33 how can baptism can save you? Through the 29:36 resurrection of Jesus, follow me. Jesus was 29:43 baptized by John the Baptist, he never sinned, but when 29:51 he was baptized John said I am not worthy, Jesus said 29:54 this must be done in order to fulfill all righteousness and 30:00 so, Jesus was baptized, why? In order to fulfill all 30:04 righteousness, you see we have sinned, we cannot obey 30:07 God's command and therefore he sent his son Jesus to come 30:10 into this world, he kept the commandments, he did 30:13 everything that we should have done. He was even 30:15 baptized for us. And when we accept him, his perfect 30:21 life stands in our place. Even his baptism stands in our 30:25 place, because your baptism and mine is not good 30:28 enough, only the baptism of Jesus was good enough. 30:32 It's his resurrection that saves us. And that's how 30:38 the thief on the cross can be saved. He didn't get 30:42 baptized after he believed. He couldn't get baptized, 30:47 he was hanging on a cross. But Jesus baptism stood 30:54 for him. It's his baptism that saves you. And 31:00 therefore when we accept Christ then we follow and 31:03 we obey. Noah wasn't saved because he built the Ark, 31:08 he built the Ark because he was saved and had faith in God 31:13 We are not baptized in order to be saved, we are saved 31:18 and we're baptized because we are saved. Can we accept 31:23 the blood of Jesus and reject the waters of baptism and 31:28 claim to be following the lamb. Well okay, I need to 31:33 be baptized you convinced me. What should I do in 31:37 order to prepare for baptism? I found three things that 31:40 I think the Bible points out for us in the preparation 31:44 for baptism. In Mark Chapter 16, verse 16, Jesus said, 31:50 whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. 31:57 Baptism is for believers, there is nothing magic 32:04 about the water. You can't pick somebody up and 32:08 throw him in the water and say now you're baptized, 32:11 whether you wanted to be or not now you're saved, no? 32:16 Baptism is for believers. He who is, who believes and is 32:21 baptized is going to be saved. We're saved because 32:25 we believe in Jesus. We're saved by faith and we're 32:28 baptized as a visible expression of our faith in 32:31 God. So it doesn't do one bit of good to be baptized if you 32:36 don't believe in Jesus. Now there's something else that 32:41 flows naturally from that. In order to believe in Jesus 32:46 a person must be old enough to understand about Jesus. 32:52 You can't baptize an infant because they don't know 32:56 how to believe. The Bible says we dedicate infants to 33:02 God. It's a special service of dedication to God. And then 33:08 we dedicate them hoping that their parents will raise 33:11 them and train them to follow the lamb. So that 33:14 when they're old enough to believe then they will be 33:17 baptized too. Then the second thing, Jesus said, 33:25 we've already read the verse it began tonight with, in 33:27 Mathew 28 he said, teach them to obey all things that 33:32 I've commanded you. All things, so baptism means 33:38 that we need to understand what Jesus wants us to do. 33:43 Before we're baptized we should understand what it 33:46 means to follow the lamb. We should know a little bit 33:50 about what that life of sin is that we're dying to. And we 33:54 should understand what the new life is that God wants us 33:57 to live and we should be willing to order our lives in 34:00 harmony with God's plan for us. Then we're ready for 34:05 baptism. Now, it doesn't mean that we need to be 34:07 perfect and mature? Baptism is not the graduation service 34:13 for Christians, it's the enrollment service. So the 34:18 movement we understand what it means and the movement 34:21 we repent of our sins and we want to follow 34:24 Christ at that movement we are ready to be baptized. 34:29 And then the third thing that I see in the Bible, on the day 34:34 of Pentecost when Peter preached a powerful gospel 34:37 sermon. They came to him and said what should we do 34:40 in order to be saved and Peter said repent and be 34:44 baptized. In fact John the Baptist in Luke the third 34:49 chapter, if you look with me in the Gospel of Luke, 34:53 chapter 3, John the Baptist went through all the country, 34:58 in verse 3, all the country around the Jordan River 35:01 preaching of baptism of repentance for the 35:04 forgiveness of sins. So baptism is a demonstration 35:09 of our repentance for sin. John said in verse 7 to the 35:13 crowds coming out to be baptized imagine he makes 35:17 an all to call and a crowd comes down and says 35:20 baptize us John, wow! You think he would really be 35:24 excited. Amen. "Amen" No, not so fast. 35:30 He said to the crowed in verse 7, you brood of vipers. 35:36 Modern terminology you bunch of rattlesnakes. Who 35:41 warned you to flee from the coming wrath, produced 35:44 fruit in keeping with repentance. And don't begin 35:48 to say to yourselves we have Abraham as our father. God 35:50 can raise up stones out of it make children of Abraham 35:54 out of stones. Some people say I don't need to be 35:57 baptized, my church doesn't do it. You're not going to be 36:01 saved because you belong to a church. You're gonna to be 36:06 saved because you follow the lamb and you believe 36:10 in Christ. Amen. God can raise church members up out of 36:16 stone. Repent, produce fruit in keeping with repentance, 36:24 what does repent mean? Repentance means to be 36:28 sorry for your sins, not just lip service. A deep heartfelt 36:35 sorrow and anguish for sin. And we have two boys you 36:40 know and when they were little. The little one always 36:45 came out on the short end of things when they played 36:47 together, you know three years apart. And he would 36:51 always get knocked down and hurt. So we'd tell his big 36:54 brother, now go over there and tell your brother you're 36:58 sorry. No, that didn't always go over too well. And 37:03 sometimes he would just take his time to get over 37:08 there and get there and mumble something no one 37:13 on Earth could ever understand. That isn't 37:16 repentance, repentance is being so sorry that you hate 37:24 it when you sin. You hate it when you lose your 37:29 patience. You hate it when you snap at your kids and 37:31 your wife. You never want to do it again and you say 37:34 God! Help me never to do it again, that's repentance. 37:39 Now notice, John the Baptist would not baptize everyone 37:43 who said come baptize me John. He wanted to see 37:46 demonstration of repentance before he baptized. Produce 37:53 fruit in keeping with repentance. Again, it doesn't 37:56 mean that we need to be perfect, if you're perfect you 38:02 wouldn't need to be baptized. But it does mean 38:05 that we should be willing to make the changes in our 38:07 lives that God wants us to make. And then we're ready 38:11 for baptism. Well then when should a person be baptized, 38:20 in Acts, the Book of Acts the 8th chapter, one of my 38:24 favorite baptism stories. In verse 26 an angel of the 38:28 Lord went to Philip and he told him, go down the desert 38:30 road and so he started out and on his way he met an 38:34 Ethiopian. He was sitting in his chariot reading the book 38:37 of Isaiah the Prophet and the Spirit told Philip, go to 38:40 that chariot and stay near it. So Philip ran to the 38:43 chariot and he heard the man reading from the book 38:46 of Isaiah the Prophet. Do you understand 38:48 what you're reading Philip asked? How can I understand 38:52 he said unless somebody explains it to me? 38:55 Don't be embarrassed if you don't understand everything 38:57 about the Bible and God sent someone to explain it to 39:00 you. That's one of the gifts of the Spirit and the ministry 39:03 of the Spirit? And so how can I understand unless 39:07 somebody explains it to me. So he explained to him 39:10 about Jesus. He knew about how to live the Godly life. 39:13 He understood those things, but he didn't know Jesus. 39:17 So I explained to him about who Jesus was and it tells us 39:21 right there in verse 35, he told him the good news 39:24 about Jesus. As they traveled along the road they 39:28 came to some water. And the Ethiopian said look there 39:32 is the water, why shouldn't I be baptized and then both 39:35 Philip and the Ethiopian went down, look, down into 39:40 the water. Where did they go? Into the water. And 39:44 Philip baptized him and when they came up out of 39:47 the water. He didn't sprinkle a drop or two here and 39:51 a drop there, they went into the water. He baptized him, 39:55 they came up out of the water. Now there's 40:01 something else here. As soon as the Ethiopian was 40:07 ready to be baptized, he was baptized. He wasn't even at 40:13 home. He was in a foreign country. He didn't say well 40:18 I want to wait until I go home. So that everybody 40:20 I know can see me. When a person is ready for baptism 40:27 they need to be baptized. Don't give the devil another 40:33 day, another movement. They're ready, it didn't say 40:38 well my birthday is next month let me wait until 40:42 my birthday to get baptized. Now that sounds nice. 40:46 Get baptized on our birthday, but that's not what baptism 40:50 is all about, baptism is dying to that old life. 40:53 Buried in the grave. Rising up again to live 40:55 a new life and it's time to do it now when you're ready. 41:00 Oh! Well, my grandma and grandpa coming in three 41:02 more months. I'll be baptized then. It doesn't say 41:06 wait until grandma and grandpa can come. Baptism 41:11 is far more serious and urgent then that, he was 41:16 baptized right then. In a foreign country because the 41:21 Spirit prepared him and he was ready. I like for you to 41:26 follow along with me in, this time I'm in the Book of 41:30 Acts, chapter 16, in one of my favorite stories, it's about 41:34 Paul. In chapter 16 verse 25, Paul and Silas had been 41:42 preaching the word of God and they were put in prison 41:46 because they were preaching the word of God. You know 41:51 I don't think we can begin to understand or appreciate the 41:56 value of the freedom that we have in this country. Amen. 42:01 I mean we can feel free to preach and teach whatever 42:05 we want to believe. But there are a lot of countries 42:09 that aren't that way. And I'm just thankful for that, I'm 42:11 thankful for that and here Paul had been preaching the 42:14 Gospel and Silas together, evangelistic team, in verse 42:18 25 of Acts chapter 16. About midnight, Paul and Silas 42:24 were praying and singing hymns to God and the other 42:29 prisoners were listening to them. Have you ever 42:31 thought about that. Here they were in prison having 42:36 been beaten in stocks, locked up, midnight and 42:43 what do they do. They're singing hymns to God. 42:47 I mean the rest of the prisoners can you imagine 42:49 what they were thinking. What are you guys doing 42:52 over there, be quite it's time to go to sleep. And 42:54 they're singing hymns to God. You know I really, I love that 42:57 picture of peace in the middle of adversity, like 43:03 Paul and Silas. And then in verse 26 it says suddenly 43:09 there was such a violent earthquake that all the 43:14 foundations of the prison were shaken and at once all 43:19 the prison doors flew open and everybody's chains 43:22 came loose. Man, wouldn't you've liked to been there. 43:27 We see demonstrated the power of the Holy Spirit. 43:31 Here they were prisoners singing hymns to God. 43:33 Midnight and in the middle of their captivity, chained in 43:36 their cell. A great earthquake, all the doors are 43:39 opened. Now, watch this, in verse 27 the jailer woke up 43:49 and he saw the prison doors open and everybody's 43:53 chains loose and so he drew his sword and was about to 43:59 kill himself. He knew if he didn't somebody else would, 44:05 because it happened on his watch. So here he was about 44:09 to kill himself. He had himself figured out for dead. 44:15 Nothing he could do to change that. Now here are 44:17 all these prisoners, the doors are open and their chain 44:22 are loose. See he figured everybody was gone and he 44:26 lost all of his prisoners and so just when he's about to 44:29 take his life. Paul shouted out, in verse 28 he said, 44:34 don't harm yourself, we're still here, he couldn't believe 44:40 it. Here they are still here why they didn't run away. 44:44 The jailer called for the lights and he rushed in and 44:48 he felt trembling before Paul and Silas. And then he 44:56 brought them out and said sirs, what must I do to be 45:04 saved? What a story. God works in ways that we can't 45:11 even begin to comprehend and understand. What must 45:15 I do to be saved. They replied believe in the Lord Jesus 45:19 Christ and you'll be saved, you and your household. 45:26 And so that night, what time wasn't it, it was after 45:30 midnight. After midnight that night they spoke the 45:34 word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his 45:38 household. And at that hour of the night the jailer took 45:43 them and washed their wounds and immediately he 45:48 and all of his family were baptized. Now that is the 45:55 power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 45:58 He didn't even want to wait until morning. You see 46:02 baptism is urgent. Baptism is important. The movement 46:06 a person understands that Jesus wants us to follow him 46:10 into the waters of baptism to die to that old life, to be 46:15 buried in the grave with him. To rise up again in order to 46:18 live the new life, the movement we understand 46:20 that Jesus wants us to be baptized, right then. Baptism 46:27 is urgent. Baptism is important. Then there are 46:35 always people who say what about me. Hey, I've been 46:38 a Christian all my life, over 50 years. And I've had 46:43 miracles when I pray God answers. I can heal people. 46:47 I can speak in tongues. I can have visions. God has 46:50 used me in wonderful ways. I've never been immersed. Are 46:53 you telling me I need to be immersed, I can do 46:56 miracles? I want to show you and I believe without 47:04 a doubt is the most miracles conversion story that has 47:08 ever happened. In Acts the 22nd chapter, verse 6, about 47:15 noon, I, Saul of Tarsus came near Damascus. Now why 47:22 was Saul of Tarsus going to Damascus. He was going 47:27 there to persecute and put to death Christians. That's the 47:32 kind of man Saul of Tarsus was. So I was going to the 47:36 Damascus, I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright 47:39 light from heaven flashed around me, I fell to the 47:41 ground and I heard a voice say to me. Saul! Saul! Why 47:45 do you persecute me? Who are you Lord I asked? I like 47:52 this, I'm Jesus of Nazareth whom you're persecuting. 47:59 You know why that's so special to me, sometimes 48:03 I have to confess, I feel like I am getting persecuted. Like 48:08 the old devil is just attacking me relentlessly, 48:13 but you know this tells me that whatever happens to me 48:19 Jesus is so close that it's happening to him. He 48:26 understands me. He understands you. Some of 48:30 you have told me, oh man, I've had a terrible day. I've 48:34 had a terrible week, I don't know what I'm gonna do. 48:39 Whatever is happening to you is happening to him. He 48:45 is so close to us, that whatever anyone else does 48:49 to us, they're doing it to Jesus. So he understands 48:53 you. He knows what you need. And he is going to 48:57 help you see it through. That's encouraging to me, 49:00 isn't it encouraging to you. Why are you persecuting 49:04 me, who are you? I'm Jesus of Nazareth whom you're 49:06 persecuting. Now watch this verse 10, what shall I do 49:09 Lord. Now Saul of Tarsus the persecutor is calling 49:14 Jesus Lord. That means something happened to him. 49:19 That means he was converted. He surrendered 49:21 his life to Jesus. That's his conversion, what shall I do 49:25 Lord, whatever you want me to do now, not my Will let 49:27 thy Will be done. And the Lord said go to Damascus 49:33 and you be told all that you have been assigned to do. 49:39 Now God has already got something in mind, 49:43 something assigned for him to do. And some of you 49:47 sitting here tonight may not yet have committed your life 49:50 to Jesus like Saul did. He still has something in mind 49:55 for you to do. He's got plans for you. So what would you 50:00 have me do, go and you'll see all you've been assigned 50:02 to do. My companions led me by the hand into 50:05 Damascus because the bright light had blinded me. 50:08 Now folks that's a miracle isn't. I mean that's 50:11 a miracle. He saw Jesus and it was so bright that it 50:16 blinded him. He heard Jesus speak to him, isn't that 50:20 a miracle. Are you with me tonight. Amen? 50:22 Nod you're head, raise your hand, say Amen to 50:24 something. It's a miracle. In verse 12, a man named 50:29 Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the 50:32 law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He 50:34 stood beside me and said, 'Brother Saul, receive your 50:37 sight!' And at that very moment I was able to see 50:41 him. That's a miracle isn't. I never have seen anyone 50:46 more miraculously converted then Saul. Then 50:51 he said in verse 14, the God of our fathers has chosen 50:54 you to know his Will and to see the Righteous One, that's 50:58 Jesus. And to hear words from his mouth. And you 51:03 will be his witness to all men of what you have seen 51:07 and heard. And at that point Saul of Tarsus the persecutor 51:12 became Paul the apostle. What a conversion. 51:19 Even had his miraculous call to be an apostle, and so 51:26 Ananias said, now what are you waiting for? And you 51:29 think he would say get on out there and do the work of 51:31 an apostle, that's not what he said. What are you waiting 51:35 for, get up, be baptized and wash your sins away. 51:45 Everybody say more miraculous conversion in 51:47 Paul and he still needed to be baptized. When Jesus 51:53 said go and be baptized, he 51:54 meant exactly what he said, in fact he even told 52:00 Nicodemus, he said unless a man is born of water and the 52:05 spirit, he will not see Kingdom of God. 52:11 That sounds serious to me, but just in case someone isn't 52:15 convinced, I want you to go back with me to the Jordan 52:21 River and John the Baptist is standing there baptizing 52:29 people. He looks up and then he sees Jesus, points to 52:38 him and says look the Lamb of God who takes away the 52:44 sins of the world. And he couldn't believe what he 52:51 saw next, because Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God 52:59 began to take off his outer robe and walk down into the 53:08 muddy water of the Jordan River. He said John, baptize 53:19 me. John said Jesus, I am not even worthy to untie 53:29 your shoes. But Jesus said John, this must be done. In 53:38 order to fulfill all righteousness. And so John 53:46 baptized Jesus the sinless son of God in the muddy 53:53 waters of the Jordan River. And after Jesus came up out 53:59 of the water they heard a voice of God saying this is 54:05 my son in whom I'm well pleased. Imagine Jesus 54:11 going up on the bank of the river, standing there with 54:17 water dripping from his beard and his robe and he sees 54:24 a man standing next to him and he says were you 54:26 baptized, the man says no I wasn't baptized. Jesus says 54:31 I was baptized. And the man says well maybe it was 54:37 necessary for you, but I don't think it's necessary 54:40 for me. Makes me feel blasphemous just to say that. 54:46 If it was necessary for the sinless son of God to walk 54:50 into the muddy waters of the Jordan River in order to be 54:54 baptized. How much more should you and I be willing 55:03 to follow the Lamb. 55:09 This is Nolan Mosley and he has decided to follow the 55:14 lamb. I really enjoyed getting to know Nolan and 55:19 I appreciate his grasp of not only scripture, but his whole 55:23 idea of letting God, the Lord and master of his life and 55:27 I appreciate that so much Nolan. And I just covet this 55:32 awesome opportunity to baptize you today. Nolan, 55:42 because you love God and you've repented of your sins 55:46 and you're trusting him to give you a new heart and 55:50 a right Spirit. I now baptize you in the name of the Father 55:54 and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 56:02 Amen. God bless you. 56:06 Wasn't that special. Some of you have never seen a Bible 56:11 baptism like that before. For some it's the first time. 56:16 And I just trust and pray that it'll strike a chord in 56:19 your heart. And that God will use what you've just 56:22 experienced to put a desire in you to follow the lamb, 56:27 just like Nolan did. And to go down into the 56:30 waters of baptism before it's too late? Pray with me 56:37 tonight. Oh Lord! It's been beautiful, we understand 56:48 what baptism means. And we've seen it happen and we 56:55 can sense the special presence of your spirit right 56:58 in this place tonight. And so Lord I pray that you will 57:05 touch each one our lives. Some of us have already 57:08 been baptized. Some have and wandered away and 57:13 perhaps they're thinking about being baptized again, 57:16 and Lord there are others that have never taken that 57:18 beautiful step. And I pray that you'll put a conviction 57:22 and determination in their hearts to step forward to 57:27 follow Jesus Christ. To follow the lamb, we ask in 57:32 Jesus name. Amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17