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Tonight to be with you in the ministry of the Word of God. I can only thank God that in his divine providence that I'm privileged to be here tonight to witness the baptism of those who are going to obey the Lord tonight. I thank God for these periods of time. I get excited about a baptismal service because the Lord dealt with me in a very real way on the subject of baptism. I didn't plan on telling you this, but I'm going to. My father was Lutheran, my mother was Reformed, and both of them, uh, neither one baptized, they sprinkle, as uh, most people, uh, now they would say it's not that way, but, uh, looking over, I read a book recently called The Reformers and Their Grandchildren by Verdine, and it's a great book that there, I think it's a book on church history.
Uh, not the, the Reformers and their stepchildren, I'm sorry. And the stepchildren were the Anabaptists. The Anabaptists, uh, that term simply means a second baptism. Uh, many of them had been baptized in the Roman Church but had never been saved, and out of the Reformation came those who were called Anabaptists. They believed that you should be baptized upon confession of faith. And, uh, the preacher was called to baptize my brother, who was older than I, and my sister, who was older than I. I was the youngest, but when they called for me, he just didn't know, he didn't come.
There was no baptism until I was twenty two years of age when I was baptized. I was saved as a boy, but my dad always said it isn't necessary. It isn't necessary. But when I was married, my wife and I were both baptized the same afternoon at a Bible conference grove in Pennsylvania, out in the open, at a place called Beulah Heights. And I thank God for that afternoon, because it marked the beginning of my ministry of the Word of God.
The very next Sunday, I was in a little mining town in western Pennsylvania. I don't know how the preacher knew I was there, but he arrived at the town- at the house. He was from the Grace Brethren denomination. And, uh, that's a good gospel-believing group, and he asked me if I would speak the next morning, and I've never quit yet. So here we are, and we want to turn tonight to Matthew's Gospel, chapter twenty eight. We're going to read three portions of the Word of God tonight. We begin with Matthew chapter twenty eight.
and verse sixteen, where we read, then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee unto a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
Now from the book of Acts, chapter two, verses that I know you all are acquainted with. Acts chapter two, verses forty one and forty two. where we read, then they that gradually received his word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Now from the gospel by Luke. Luke's gospel, chapter fourteen.
And we begin our reading at verse twenty five. And there went great multitudes with him, and he turned and said unto them, If any man come after me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
Lest happily, after he hath laid the foundation and hath not, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king going to war against another king sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
May the Lord bless the reading of his word. Let's pray together. Father, in the precious name of thy dear Son, we thank you tonight for the privilege of being united in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that whosoever believeth in him is declared righteous by thee, that one has a standing in thee, that one is united to thee eternally. We thank you tonight for those who are going to be baptized, and we pray that this ministry of the word will be such that prepares all our hearts to rejoice together when we see them as they show forth their death in Christ, and we'll thank you in Jesus' name, amen.
Believers in this present age have a privilege which believers in ages past looked forward to with amazement. We are partakers of the New Covenant, the New Covenant that was prophesied by Jeremiah in chapter thirty one. The sign of the Old Covenant was circumcision. The sign or signs of the new covenant is baptism and the Lord's Supper. I don't think they can be divided for the simple reason that our Lord introduced the new covenant that night when he sat with his eleven disciples, and he took the cup and he said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.
And I tell you, on the cross on Calvary's Hill, our blessed Lord graciously cut the covenant in his own blood, and he made us partakers of him. The Lord's Supper speaks of Christ's death for us. He died as a substitute. He died under the wrath of a holy God, which I deserve. But when we come to baptism, baptism speaks of our death with him. We identify ourselves with Christ once, but we remember our blessed Lord as often as we can.
For as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we show forth his death till he come. And you and I can never be too acquainted with thoughts concerning Calvary and what was accomplished there on the cross when our Lord Jesus, as a divine holy substitute, took our place in death. Now, when we consider the covenant, beloved, under the old covenant, God expected his people to obey it. He expected that.
They came up out of the land of Egypt, and then there was a whole generation that was born in the wilderness. And when they came to the plains of Jericho, God said to Joshua, make sharp knives. Circumcise again the children of Israel. For those who came out of Egypt, they had a good excuse. We were in the wilderness. But God says, no, they must be circumcised. They're part of the covenant. The sign of the covenant must be there. And to you and I, in this age of the New Covenant, beloved, what a privilege it is to take our place in the waters of baptism.
We speak of baptism as a church ordinance, don't we? Let me ask you a question. What makes anything an ordinance? In other words, what makes an ordinance an ordinance? Uh, let me give you a quick definition. An ordinance is that which was instituted by our Lord, practiced in the Acts of the Apostles, and commanded in the Church Epistles. And therefore we have two ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper. So we come to the importance of the Great Commission, and we ask, who is supposed to be baptized?
Our Lord says, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teach or disciple all nations. And you see, beloved, it's disciples that are baptized. Therefore, it's a duty of every believer. This calls for the evangelization of the lost. Oh, what a joy to realize that the one who died on the cross on Calvary's Hill, he said, all that the Father giveth to me shall come to me. There's a man who felt called of God, and he went in French-speaking Quebec as a missionary.
And he had opposition, opposition, opposition. He went down and he rapped on the door of the Roman Catholic priest. He said to him, Mr. Priest, I have something to tell you. I believe God has a people in this city whom God the Father gave to Christ before the foundation of the world. And they're going to be saved. They're going to come because I have the promise. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. They're going to come through the preaching of the gospel, and I'm going to preach the gospel.
I'm going to go from door to door, and I'm going to tell people how to be saved. And there was a man there who worked in the Roman Catholic Church, and his son was going through the garbage, and he found a, a book, an old book. You know, he found a Bible. And the boy gave it to his daddy, and his dad began to read it. And as he read the book, he realized that he was lost, but God has provided a savior in the person of Christ, just reading the Bible.
And God saved him. Then the boy was saved. Then a few more were saved. The evangelization of the lost is a blessed privilege. It's a tremendous responsibility, and when they're re-saved, when they trust Christ, as we saw in Acts chapter two, they that believed the word were baptized. This shows the importance of the gospel. They're baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and this calls for church-centered evangelism. I often wonder who baptizes the converts of a lot of these people.
They talk about the so many being saved. Who baptizes the converts? And beloved, what a privilege it is to meet with a group of believers who love one another and who get excited about someone obeying the Lord to stand with them. Church-centered evangelism. And then, of course, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. They gladly received the word, Acts chapter two verse forty one. That's salvation. Paul could write to the Thessalonians and say, for this cause, thank we God without ceasing, because when ye heard the word of truth, that ye obeyed it, you believed it, and that word effectually worketh in you.
And if you read those verses in Acts that we read tonight, that was followed by baptism. It was followed by fellowship and by breaking of bread and prayers. But then in Luke's gospel, we have genuine discipleship. Our Lord never had a mamsy-pamsy invitation that he gave. The multitude was following him, according to verse twenty five, and he turned and he said to them, he was very direct, and he lays d- and he laid down the tests of genuine disciples.
Our Lord was honest with the multitudes, and he said in verse twenty six, if any man come to me and hate not his father and his mother, and he goes down the list. What does this mean? Doesn't the scripture say other places, honor thy father and thy mother? Doesn't it say in the book of Proverbs, despise not thy mother when she is old? What does our Lord mean? Are there contradictions in scripture? No. This is a Hebrew idiom. It means to love.
We love and we honor our parents, but what is our Lord really saying? He is saying there may be no rivals when it comes to love for me. You can't love your mother above me. You can't love your own self above me. You can't love your father, your brother, your sister, or anything else. There may be no rivals in your love for me. And when you go through the scriptures, we find there's a classic example for no rivals in our love for Christ. There's a man by the name of Abraham. Abraham had to give up his homeland and go into a land that God would show him, and he did.
Abraham had a part with his brother Lot. Abraham had a part with Ishmael. Abraham had a part with Sarah. And then God said to Abraham, take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, and offer him for a burnt offering there upon one of the mountains of which I will show thee. And up the mountain they went. And Hebrews eleven says, Abraham received him back from the dead in a figure.
And our Lord could say of Abraham in John eight. Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. There can be no rivals, beloved. Christ must be all in all. But then he went on to another test. In verse twenty seven he says, and whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. So we come to the meaning of that word cross. In the Greek, it is the word staros. It means an upright pail or stake, according to Vine's ex- expository dictionary.
It was the center pole in the Arab's tent. When the Arab chieftain came in, he said, take down the staros. What did it mean? It meant we're going to move. There may be no rivals in our love for Christ, but there may be no refusals either. There are no refusals. Whosoever will not take his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. And just as Abraham is a classic example of no rivals, there's a classic example of no refusals, and the example is Moses.
Hebrews eleven says he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. No refusals, no refusals. He esteemed the reproach of Christ, greater treasure than the treasures of Egypt. All beloved, our Lord says, go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations. How can we identify a disciple?
We identify them when we say there are no rivals. We love Christ supremely. There are no refusals. We're willing to take our cross and follow him. But more than that, when we come down to verse thirty three, he says, so likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. There may be no retreats. No retreats. There's no going back. In other words, a disciple, a genuine disciple, lets nothing stand in the way of his obedience to Christ.
And as Abraham is a classic example of no rivals, and as Moses is a classic example of no refusals, we have a classic example of no retreats. It is the Apostle Paul. In Philippians chapter three, he gives us his pedigree. He says, those things that were gained for me, those I counted loss for Christ. And he uses a metaphor of the marketplace. The marketplace is a place of profit and loss. He says, the things that people think are gain, they're loss.
And he says, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of the Son of God. And then he moves on and he uses another metaphor, the metaphor of friendship. He said, that I might know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering being made conformable unto his death. And then he moves on, and he uses another me- another metaphor, the metaphor of the race. He said, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Beloved, go ye therefore into all the world and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. Beloved, what a privilege. What a privilege to make disciples. It's an impossible task. But remember, there's only one class of people you have to work with, and they're all dead. Dead in trespasses and in sins. More than that, they have a carnal mind that is enmity against God and is not subject to the law of God.
More than that, they're natural men, and the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they're foolishness unto him. Lord, you're expecting me to do the impossible. Is he? What did he say before he told us to make disciples of all nations? He said, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go. And beloved, you and I tonight are in the hands of an omnipotent God, a God who cannot fail in that which he is determined to do, a God who is triumphant, and we're going to witness at this time those who unite themselves publicly with him in whose hands are the power of the universe.
He says, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. And I trust you can look into the face of the Son of God and say, thank you. I don't want any rivals for your love. I don't want to refuse your word. And I'm not going back. We're going on. We are not of them that go back. We are of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Let's pray. Father, what a thrill to announce thy glorious gospel, the revelation thou has given us in Christ.
And we ask you now that you will take this word, challenge all our hearts, and bless us as together we join, as we witness thy grace and thy mercy in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.