Amen. I'm thankful this morning for God to allow
us to participate with His presence, to interact
with His presence. Amen. Today I'll be reading
from our main scripture text found in Luke chapter
24, verses 46 and 47. Then I'll be reading from
Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 22, and then Acts
chapter 2 and verse 38. Praise God. And I would
like to speak to us today on these three things,
forgiveness, repentance, and baptism. Forgiveness,
repentance, and baptism. And I think about Palm
Sunday, I can only imagine Jesus coming into
Jerusalem saying, victory is coming. Victory
is coming. You've been waiting so long and I
have finally showed up and victory is coming.
And today, hallelujah, we don't have to say that
victory is coming because victory is coming.
He shed some blood for somebody today. Luke chapter
24 and verse 46. And said unto them, thus it
is written and thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day. And
that repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in his name among all nations beginning
at Jerusalem. In Hebrews chapter nine and verse
22, and almost all things are by the law purged
with blood, and without shedding of blood is
no remission. Acts chapter two and verse 38,
then Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ.
for the remission of sins, and you shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost. God, we thank you
today. I thank you today for your word. Thank
you, God, for granting us access to your presence.
Thank you, God, for the shedding of your blood.
Thank you, Lord. For allowing us Lord to turn
from our sins and to be baptized with you to
be baptized Lord Unto your death that we might
receive That we might receive God and that we
will receive I give you all the glory and all
the honor for it in Jesus name. Amen. You all
may be seated Amen. So the Bible says that it
behooved Christ to suffer and then to be raised
from the dead the third day so that repentance
and remission of sins could be preached in His
name. And He goes on to say that without the
shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.
The Bible is clear today that the wages of sin
is death. So something had to die for sin. And
each of every one of us here today would find
ourselves in a sinful state. In this body dwelleth
no good thing. Your righteousness is as filthy
rags unto the Lord. Your best effort is still
not good enough, not pure enough, and not holy
enough for a righteous sovereign God, a holy
God. So the wages of sin is death. The wages
of disobedience is death. And a price had to
be paid. Someone had to shed their blood. But
it couldn't be someone that was a sinner. You
cannot sin and apply a clean, precious blood,
a pure blood to be shed. You cannot apply a pure
blood or you can apply a pure blood, you have
to, for sin, for the remission of sin. You cannot
sacrifice and shed unclean blood to remit unclean
sins. This is why. Jesus had to shed his blood
for us. He says, I am the way, the truth, and
the life. And no man come to the Father except
by me. We find in scripture that we must turn
from our sins, turn from our wicked ways, and
repent of them. And I can submit to you today
that many of us, hallelujah, are quick to ask
God to forgive us our sins. And I'm speaking
today because I was and am one of those. Many
times I come running to Calvary, running to Jesus
Christ because I found myself sinning. Maybe,
you know, a bad thought come to my mind. Maybe
it was a cuss word. And I don't know where it
came from, but it's important, imperative that
we must repent of our sins. We must ask God to
forgive us of our sins. The Bible states that
Paul said that he dies daily. He dies out to
himself each and every day. But too many times
we find ourselves going too long without this
dying out to self. And then sin will take root
in the hearts of our lives. And God has made
a way for us today, a way of escape from the
punishment of sin and of death. Hallelujah. And
I actually ended up wanting to talk about this
because I was sitting at Burger King taking a
lunch by myself. And my family don't particularly
like Burger King. And so while I was alone, I
was saying, you know, I'm going to take advantage
of this and go have some Burger King. You know,
a double whopper with cheese. Come on somebody.
Well, while I'm sitting there enjoying it, you
know, this just pops into my mind and said, what
is the difference between forgiveness and remission
of sins? And you know, for the most part, I believe
that they were one and the same. I always thought
that, you know, I asked Jesus to forgive me of
my sins. He gave me of my sins. My sins were
done. So I got to looking that up. I'm curious
now. And I pulled it up. And of course, I've
asked Google a couple things too. And I found
that when somebody... forgives you of a sin or
of an offense. What that means is that the frustration
that the individual felt from that sin or that
offense was no longer there. So think about that.
Whenever you come before God and you say, Jesus,
forgive me of my sins. I'm sorry. You know, I've
done some things. I know it's not pleasing in
your sight. frustration that God feels toward
you is no longer there because He forgave you.
The Bible says if we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But then
the Bible goes on to say that you must be baptized
for the remission of your sins. You see this
in Acts chapter 2 and verse 38. You must be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of your sins. And so what I found about remission
was that when your sins are in remission, they
are blotted out. They are remitted unto you.
And so how this plays out is if somebody goes...
before a judge, and they're being tried. This
is just an example. They're being tried. A judgment
is coming. You know, the people that you cause
the offense to, if somebody stole something from
somebody, they can forgive them of the sin, but
the judge is going to say, you have to recompense.
You have to pay back what you took. You have
to pay for those sins. You have to pay for that
offense even though you have been forgiven. And
so if you have forgiveness of sins and you've
asked God to forgive your sins, He no longer
has that frustration or resentment. There's none
of that there. The anger for you sinning against
Him or being disobedient is no longer there.
but it is imperative that you have remission
of your sins. You cannot make it into the kingdom
of God or the heaven of the Almighty God without
repentance and without being baptized for the
remission of your sins. But somebody should be
thanking God today. Because not only has He made
a way of escape, not only has He forgiven you
of your sins, but He has made a way for you to
remit your sins, for them to be blotted out.
And I've known people who have gone to court
and they were forgiven of certain judgments.
And then their record would still follow them
everywhere that they go. And then there have
been people that were forgiven of those judgments
and they were able to get it expunged, get it
to be wiped off of their record. And so what
does that mean? That means that that sin, that
offense was wiped out like it never occurred,
like it never happened. And so whenever something,
you know, an accuser comes by and they say, hey,
well, let's check the record, and they pull up
the record, they don't see any history of that
offense because it has been wiped out. That is
remission of sins today. And whenever you take
on Jesus Christ and you go down into that water
in the name of Jesus Christ, it is for the remission
of your sins. too many people that have been
walking around saying forgive me of your sins
but they have not taken the next step the way
that God has made for them to have their sins
removed judgment is coming one day for you very
soon one day you will be standing before a holy
God and a holy judge and you need your sins remitted
you need your record wiped out and there is a
way of escape today for you if you will move
in faith if you will accept the way that Jesus
Christ has made for you and so I wanted to walk
us through this question today that has challenged
many scholars and challenged minds and caused
many to search the scriptures for answers for
these questions for many decades. And that is,
if the Bible says that without the shedding of
blood there is no remission of sins, then how
can it also say that we are baptized for the
remission of sins? At first, these two truths
may seem to be in tension or in contradiction
with each other. But when we study the Word and
rightly divide the Word, as it says in 2 Timothy
chapter 2 and verse 15, it says study to show
yourself approved, a workman that needeth not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.
So if there's a right way to divide the Word
of Truth, that means that indicates that there
is a wrong way to divide the Word of Truth. So
we are to study these things out and to rightly
divide the Word. And whenever you rightly divide
the Word, you can find that there is no contradiction.
There's no contradiction with what the Scripture
clearly outlines. There's no contradiction in
repentance, turning from sin and turning back
to God. There's no contradiction for you asking
for forgiveness and then choosing to be baptized
or buried with Christ through baptism. These
are all the biblical plan for salvation. This
is one unified message for salvation for the
individual. And if you don't want just forgiveness
of your sins but remission your sins to be blotted
out, I encourage you today to take the next step.
This church is almost always ready to baptize
somebody in the name of Jesus Christ. And fortunately,
you know, they keep the water warm. I can hear
it running back there now, I believe, the heater.
And so you don't have to worry about being too
chilly. And then they also have robes. And that's
because it's so important. It is imperative that
your record be blotted out. Your sins be in remission.
This is a must have. This is not just something,
a suggestion. This is not a suggestion in the
Word of God. Oh well, you can choose today whether
or not you be baptized. We find in Scripture
that they were commanded to be baptized. And
I believe it's because they understood the connection
between repentance, forgiveness of sin, the shedding
of blood, and baptism. I believe they understood
that connection. So today then maybe you've had
that question. Well, which is it? I've heard
several over the years Confession is made unto
salvation He that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved So is it by confession where I confess
that the Lord Jesus Christ has died for my sins
and that's good I Don't think that that's the
end of it. We don't see that in Scripture, but
is that part of it? The answer is yes That is
absolutely part of it. You should not be baptized
unless you believe. Believe what? You shouldn't
be baptized unless you believe that Jesus Christ
died on the cross for your sins. If you don't
believe that and you get baptized, you get submerged
in water calling on the name of Jesus Christ,
you're just getting wet. This is why we find
in scripture where one of the apostles asked
an individual when he stopped the chariot and
he said, well, here is water. What's hindering
me to be baptized? He said, if you believe with
all of your heart, you shall. And so if you are
a child of God today, you're a believer. You
believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for
your sins today. You shall be baptized. You should
be baptized. You should be buried with Christ
through baptism. The Bible is explicitly clear
that there has to be shedding of blood for remission.
That is a factual foundation that cannot be changed.
Blood must be shed for the remission of sin,
for the wages of sin of death, for all have sinned
and fallen short of the glory of God. Hebrews
chapter 9 and 22. And almost all things are by
the law purged with blood and without shedding
of blood is no remission. So the connection.
How is it that we have to have shedding of blood
for remission? But then it goes on to say that
you must be baptized in His name for the remission
of sin. It's almost contradictory, but it's not.
Once you understand how it is laid out. From
the very beginning, sin has always required a
sacrifice. In the Old Testament, animals were
offered for the sacrifice. Their blood was shed,
but this blood was only a temporary covering.
They would find a spotless lamb, the purest animal
that they could find and bring it for that sacrifice.
And if it had blemishes on it, they shouldn't
bring it. Because as I stated earlier, you had
to have the shedding of pure blood. So this shedding
of blood in the Old Testament was only temporary.
Temporary. But it was pointing to one to come.
The Lamb of God. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
4. It says, For it is not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats should take away sins. Those
animal sacrifices pointed forward. John chapter
1 and verse 29 it says the next day John seeth
Jesus coming unto him and saith Behold the Lamb
of God which taketh away the sin of the world
When Jesus went to the cross he offered his own
blood first Peter chapter 1 and verses 18 and
19 For as much as you know that you were not
redeemed with corruptible things as silver and
gold but with the precious blood of Christ as
of a lamb without blemish and without spot. A
sinless lamb of God came, robed himself in flesh
and decided to take on that death that you deserve.
It is the blood of Jesus and only the blood that
removes sin. You can't go down into... water
in the name of Jesus Christ without the shedding
of blood today. But your God, your Lord, your
Savior took on that death and shed His blood
and made a way of escape to where not only you
can receive forgiveness of sins, but that your
sins could be blotted out. And I don't understand
how people could refuse. once I realized that
not only has He forgiven me of my sins, but blotted
them out. Blotted them out, washed them away.
No record. And so I can come boldly before His
throne of grace. How did he in a time of need
but I can come boldly because I know Not only
am I forgiven but they are blotted out So the
question remains for some people why them baptism
You got to remember this Luke chapter 24 verses
46 and 47 and Said unto them thus it was is written
and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to
rise from the dead the third day For what? That
repentance and remission of sins should be preached
in His name among all nations, not just some
people. He said, My kingdom has come. I have
made a way of escape. Now preach repentance.
Tell my people to turn from their sin. Tell them
have to do is ask me to forgive them confess
their sins and I will forgive them oh but they
must turn away from those sins that's repentance
oh Lord forbid that we come up and we say Lord
forgive me of my sins today and then we run right
back into those sins he's saying no I made a
way today And it's through repentance I paid
the price. I've shed my blood. Repent of your
sins and be baptized for the remission of your
sins. Turn from your sins. Oh, and that anger,
that frustration, that guilt, I'll remove it.
But if you're baptized today, I'll blot them
out. Acts chapter 2 and verse 37 and then we'll
read verse 38 now when they heard this They were
pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and
to the rest of the Apostles men and brethren
What shall we do? So in this instance They just
heard about Jesus Christ You watched the Messiah
Get tortured you watched the one that was to
come You watched Him. Some of you even cheered
it on. You watched as they forced the crown of
thorns upon His head, as they nailed the nails
through His hands and His feet. You watched Him
as He was being beaten and spit upon. You watched!
And they were pricked in their heart. They realized.
They realized what just took place. Their eyes
were opened up. that blood was shed for them.
And that same blood today, I'm telling you, was
shed for you. That same access was made for you
today. And they said, well, what should we do?
In Acts chapter 2 and verse 38, Then Peter said
unto them, Repent, turn from your sins, and be
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins. and you shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. I came across
an individual that was so frustrated about this
that he decided that he was going to do everything
that he could to tell people that baptism was
not necessary. Like it was not necessary for
salvation. And that bothered me. That bothered
me. And I said, you find throughout scripture
where it says that baptism is necessary. And
then he goes on to say, for God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten son, that
whosoever believeth in him shall not perish.
And you know that's absolutely true. That's absolutely
correct. Remember, if you don't believe, that
Jesus Christ came into the world. And if you
don't believe that He died for your sins, there's
no point in getting wet in the water. But if
you believe that He came, that He loved, and
He died, then you should be baptized in the name
of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins.
So, I loved it because He finally got to Acts
2 .38. And he was going through every scripture
and trying to prove it wrong. And he says, Peter
said unto them, repent and be baptized every
one of you for the remission of sins. I said,
pause. Could you read that statement one more
time? Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins. So you're telling
me that baptism does not remit sins? He had no
answer But shortly after that started baptizing
everyone that he could in the name of Jesus Christ
Because something happened in that moment God
gave revelation that you need repentance of your
sins and a turning away from sins But you need
to be buried with Christ through baptism So that
your sins can be blotted out So we see that baptism
is not a replacement for the blood, but it is
connecting you to Christ's death. It's connecting
you to the power of the blood that was shed for
you. Covering, that's what we're all after. Every
denomination that has the foundation of Jesus
Christ. We're looking and searching for a covering
for our sins. And we have it today. We have access
to it today. Baptism doesn't replace the blood.
It connects you to the blood. The power is not
in the water. The power is in the blood. Colossians
chapter 2 and verse 12. It says, we are buried
with Him in baptism. Where and also you are risen
with Him through the faith of the operation of
God who hath raised Him from the dead. Acts chapter
22 and verse 16. And now why tarriest thou? Arise
and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling
on the name of the Lord. And so what we see here
is the Apostle Paul's conversion when he became
a believer. We say that the Apostle Paul was
knocked off of his high horse on the way to Damascus
and became blind. He also heard the voice of
the Lord. So you mean to tell me that somebody
can have a powerful experience with the presence
of God and even hear his voice? But still...
needed to be baptized for the remission of his
sins. He was blinded even though he was a believer.
And they always say sometimes those physical
representations are for a spiritual now. So you
can be a believer but you're still blind to the
biblical plan for salvation. You can be a believer,
but still be blind, walking around saying, well,
I've asked him to forgive me of my sins, but
judgment's coming. And there's a record of those
sins that God is wanting to blot out in your
life. And you need to take the next step. And
I tell you today, even as they told the apostle
Paul, why, terrius, why wait any longer? Why
put it off any longer? Arise and be baptized.
washing away your sins. There is the cross and
then there is a response. Jesus finished the
work. He paid the price on the cross. And so
what's your response today? John chapter 19 verse
30. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar,
he said it is finished and bowed his head and
gave up the ghost. You can't add to it. You cannot
improve it. You cannot earn it. Everybody says,
well, baptism is like earning it. No, baptism
is obedience by faith. Faith without works is
dead. Do you have dead faith today? Do you have
dead faith today? Or is your faith in Jesus Christ
motivated you to action? You see the way out.
Does that very faith you have in God today motivate
you to make the next steps of faith? You must
respond to the Gospel. This is why I say baptism
is not separate from the gospel. It is part of
the gospel This is why everywhere that individuals
receive the gospel the good news That there's
a way of escape They quickly were baptized. I
don't see too many folks in there wrestling with
whether or not they should get baptized soon
as they hear it They say here's water Let's do
this now 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 7 through
9 and to you who are troubled Rest with us when
the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with his mighty angels In flaming fire taking
vengeance on them that know not God and that
obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ
That obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ
I believe I'm amongst the people that have chosen
to obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to align themselves according to the Word of
God so that they can have forgiveness of sins
and that their sins could be blotted out. Luke
chapter 24 verse 47 I read to you again, and
that repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in His name among all nations. Remember
it behooves Christ to suffer and to be raised
from the dead. He suffered so that repentance
and remission of sins can be preached. Mark chapter
16 verse 16. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. When you rightly divide the Word
and you understand what's taking place, you see
it clearly. And once you see it, you can't unsee
it. There's no going back. There's only aligning
yourself up to it and be in obedience, taking
the next step of faith. You do have to be a believer.
shedding of blood had to take place. But now,
as a believer, you need to be baptized in His
name. Do not try to divide what God has joined
together. If you all stand with me, I'll be moving
to a close. Do not try to attempt to separate
the blood from the cross. Don't try to attempt
to separate Christ's burial from baptism Because
scripture is clear in Romans chapter 6 and verse
5 Says for if we have been planted together in
the likeness of his death We shall be also in
the likeness of his resurrection Mark 16 and
16 he that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved. He that believeth and is baptized might
be saved. It says he shall be saved. The Bible
says to restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.
I think of the cross. I think of the blood. And
I think of the opportunity for me to repent once
again. But then God, I don't want to just ask
for forgiveness. I want a true repentance. I
want a true repentance. I want a turning away
from those sins. Some of you may have been struggling
with the same sin for years. I know people that
have been struggling with the same sin for decades.
I was one of them. Such as, right? We are as
a sinner. We were one of those people. So I'm
not coming to you today judging you. But I'm
telling you today that there's a way out. There's
a way of escape. There's a way to escape that
sin. And it's through true repentance. Not just
to come to an altar to say, God forgive me of
my sins. But Lord, I'm gonna put in effort to
turn from those sins. I know it's not gonna be
easy. Some sin is deeply rooted in the heart.
And the longer that that sin has been there festering,
the harder it is to rip out. I know. But when
I open these altars today, I want you to come
up to the front and I want you to ask God to
baptize you with a heart of repentance. God baptized
me just like John the Baptist's baptism unto
repentance. I want to be filled with the spirit
of repentance. to the point where I will turn
away from that sin. I want true repentance in
my heart today. And God, I accept the way that
you've made for me. And if you have decided and
you have already made the decision to be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ, maybe you've done
that in the past, I want you to just repent of
your sins today. and not just ask God to forgive
you, but turning away so that God can restore
the joy of His salvation to you today by His
Spirit. And if you haven't made the decision
today, and you're a believer, and you've never
made the decision, or maybe you didn't understand
why you were getting baptized, today's your day.
to get your sins blotted out, removed, taken
off of your record. And so when the altar is
open, ask God to forgive you of your sins and
say, God, I'm gonna put my best effort in. I'm
telling you, I know that it's hard. But you know,
I didn't really start seeing those victories
until I got serious with sin. And that's what
God is asking you today to do, is to get serious
with sin. Serious enough to where you're like,
I'm pulling this out of my life. I'm uprooting
it. I'm getting it out. That's going today. I
don't care what it is, that's leaving out of
my life. And I don't have time to go into it,
but I used to have a problem playing games. I
mean a terrible problem. I would skip church
to play it. You know, to this day, that was...
20 years ago, I went home after repenting of
that. I put my PlayStation in the attic. And
that's where it's been ever since. Because I
decided to get serious about what was separating
me from God. And God is wanting you to get serious
about what's separating you from Him and turn
from it. And then not only is he going to forgive
you, but he's making a way today. And these altars
are open. For anyone that would come today, all
to repent of their sins. All to be baptized in
his name. To blot out the sins. We have people
ready today. Let an elder know, let someone know
if you want to get baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ today. for the remission of your sins,
we are ready. We'll have people standing right
over here, Brother Mark and them. Brother Daniel,
hit the light. Over here on this side, hear the
column.