Hi, I'm Matt Henry, and I'm the pastor at Missio Dei Fellowship in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Very thankful that you found our sermons, and I hope that they are a way of encouragement to you in your Christian walk. However, it's important for you to understand that this sermon was given in my church's context and for the people that God has entrusted for me to shepherd. So if you're in the Kenosha area, I would encourage you to come on a Sunday and worship with the body of Christ here. And if you're not in this area, these sermons are a great tool for supplementing your walk, but they are by no means a substitute for the local church. So you need to submit yourself to a faithful Bible teaching church and shepherd in your area. Thank you. Well, we're in Acts chapter 10. We have finally come to the end of this chapter. As I said, the first service, I always look at a chapter in the book of Acts and think, oh, this should take a week or two of preaching. That's about it, and we're now in sermon number eight. So I've already looked at chapter 11, and I thought this one should probably get preached in one to two sermons. We have no idea how long we'll be there. Thank you for your patience. We have been looking, though, at the 14 qualities about Jesus Christ. Now, I ask you to have your Bible. If you don't have one, make certain that you grab one. We actually just got 25 more pew Bibles in so that we put them out for you to use as well if you don't have one. Again, we always say take it home if you don't have a Bible, but read it. Now, in this, we have seen so many qualities, and we're coming to the 14th one tonight, or today, rather. He is the peacemaker, the Messiah, and the Lord. All of that is found in verse 36. It is through Christ alone that we find peace with God and with one another. He is the one promised to come from the Old Testament, and he is Lord of all. In verse 37, we have two more. He is historically verifiable. and he was a focus of every prophet. Ultimately, what they were pointing to was the coming of the Messiah. In verse 38, he had been anointed by the Holy Spirit so that all that he said and did was through and by the power of the Holy Spirit. In verse 39, we see the glory of him being our sacrifice and our high priest for the forgiveness of sin. In verses 41 and 42, he was the resurrected one, that in him we find our life because he is the one who conquered death In verse 42, we see two more. He was the focus of all of the New Testament preaching. So in every book of the New Testament, ultimately its basis, its ground, foundation, will be Jesus Christ. And in light of who he is and what he is, the apostles will tell us what we ought to be and do. In verse 42, he's also the judge of all. all shall stand before him, living and dead. None shall escape his piercing gaze that will be done in impartiality and righteousness." Praise God that in verse 43 is also our Savior. All who place their faith in him find themselves saved from God's wrath. And now, We also see in verses 44 to 46 that we focus on last week, the giver of the Holy Spirit. The very fact that the Holy Spirit dwells with and in a believer is simply because a son, Jesus Christ, sent him. And we looked at that, and I won't belabor that today. You can hear that, if you wish, by listening to the sermon last week. Now with that in mind, by way of introduction, let me just say this. Our identity, how we identify ourselves and what we identify with is very important. And there are many things that you and I can choose from, isn't there? There are many who want to be chosen and identified at or choose to be identified with the fact that they're a parent. They love the fact that they're a mother or father. They love the fact that they're a grandma or grandpa. And that's really all that they are identified with. Others will be identified by some sports team. Others, it will be their favorite hobby or a type of music. In our church, one of the temptations that we can do is become identified by being a homeschooling family or a classical school family. And that becomes what we bind ourselves up in. That's what identifies us. Right now, in the heat of the moment, it's a political position and where we stand and how we think things should be. And another exceedingly common one that we all fall into at some point or another will be our vocation, what we are. Who are you? I'm a nurse, I'm a doctor, I'm an electrician, whatever it might be. Many of these are very simple and innocuous, but what is your primary identity and why? If you've been here for any length of time, you already know the answer you should say, right? Already in your mind, you're already saying, oh, that's Jesus. But before you lock that in, ask yourself if you're being honest. Nobody else is listening. It's just you and the Lord in your heart. Do you come home to a shrine for your favorite sports team? Is that what you actually come home to, though, when you walk in the door? Are you assaulted or enamored by the favorite sports team and memorabilia? If you were to look at your spending and everything that you pour out your spending on, does it reflect your identity in Jesus Christ? If you were to ask those around you if they would see that your identity is Christ, that when everything is said and done, it's Christ, it's Jesus Christ, I follow Christ. Would they agree, in other words, with what you were already hoping is true or you're saying is true in your mind? Well, Peter told these people filling this house that Jesus is the Lord of all, that he is Lord. That is the Jews' identity. That is the Gentile's identity if they are a Christian. That ultimately, Christ is Lord. Everything else is subsumed under that. This is not an option. There shall be no escape from His Lordship, right? He is Lord of all. Not shall be, wants to be, hopes to be, eventually will be. He just simply is Lord. And you say, well, okay, that's fine, but I don't feel like he's Lord. That is just simply revealing your identity, that you don't identify with him as Lord of all, even though he is Lord of all. And it already begins to show a bit of a trouble or a problem within you. Not that one would not be a Christian necessarily, but this is a deficiency in your faith, if you will. Jesus, or Peter also, though, said that Jesus shall judge both the living and the dead, and part of that judgment will include all of those cheap replacement gods that people acquire for themselves. There is no small thing, or this is no small thing, and the scripture is very blunt, brutally blunt about it. If you want, you could turn there. It'll be in verse 13 of Matthew 7. We're gonna go there eventually, so if you wanna go there now while I just make passing reference and put your finger, you might as well find Jonah as well, the book of Jonah in the Old Testament. In Matthew 7, we know this as the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5, 6, and 7 are the Sermon on the Mount, and Peter is speaking to a mass of people, most of them quite religious, and he describes the absolute singular right that he has over every person, but he says it in a unique way. The absolute right that he has over every soul. He says this, he says, enter through the narrow gate. We'll worry about that in a bit, but enter through the narrow gate, and that narrow gate is gonna be the Lordship of Christ, Him, Jesus. Why ought we do that? Because the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to a destruction. And there are many, not a few, many who enter through it for the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life. And there are few who find it. Here's what's fascinating with that passage. And you just think and ask yourself if I'm speaking truthfully. When you ask a person if they're going to heaven, the consistent answer is yes. By and large, most people in one way or another say, yeah, I'm going to heaven. Yeah, I'm saved. I'm a Christian. I believe in Jesus. In fact, this happens so often that one becomes tempted to ask that why does it seem that so many people are on the path that leads to life and salvation, especially when Jesus says few are? There's a problem there. Why is it that so many seem to be on the path that leads to the life when, in fact, Jesus says, no, few are on it? Right now, at this very moment, churches throughout the land, over the last 24 hours, churches throughout the world are filled with people who are filled with zeal and excitement, and they're bouncing and full of energy, and they're looking for that next pump up for the next week. And yet the Bible speaks to the fact that we may have zeal like the Jews do, but it's not in accordance to true knowledge. We say the words, we make the claims, and yet we've never bothered to enter the narrow way through the narrow gate. And of course, that narrow way and that narrow gate is Christ and only Christ. So we have countless people claiming Christ, claiming salvation from the wrath of God, but in reality, their only claim is really that they ask Jesus in their heart at some point, or they acknowledge certain facts about Jesus. So they will do this. They will invoke the first half of John 3.36, where Jesus, this is Jesus' word, says, he says, he who believes in the Son has eternal life. And they're like, yeah, that's me. I have that. I believe in the Son. I believe in Jesus. So I have eternal life. And they don't keep reading. And the second half, where he says, the same Jesus, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God abides on him. I believe, I will not obey, but I believe, Jesus says, and all you have is wrath. Add to this all that there is in the promise for the false teacher to come, and that follows in Matthew 7. You'll see, he immediately goes to the false teachers and warns them. The promise that false teachers will abound. And how will they walk among us? They won't walk around with a sign around their neck saying, I am a false teacher, beware me. No, they'll come dressed like sheep. They'll come like one of us. They'll come like a Christian. They'll come in, and they'll mix with the other, promise the people in the churches that there is another way, a better way, a simpler way, a more glorious way, a more relevant way, a more fulfilling way. And in the process, the churches themselves will be eagerly gathering for themselves teachers, according to 2 Timothy. that they will gather for themselves teachers who will simply tickle their ears, because let's face it, that's a lot more pleasant with vapid and false teaching, and what you end up with is a mess. It's always fascinating to me as a pastor, I've been doing it long enough that I have the right to say these things, and so I exploit it. It never ceases to amaze me, week in and week out, how I'll have people come to me and say, you know, pastor, what you should do and they'll fill in the blank. Tell me, you know, if you could preach this way or do that. And I'm like, thanks. Appreciate it. Now, I will attend my ears very carefully to a man like John Randall, my elder. I'll listen to Taylor, I'll listen to other pastors who have been found faithful over the years. If my old pastor, John MacArthur, were to pull me aside and say, Matt, I think you need to work here. But oftentimes, what I hear people thinking about is a way to gather more people, keep more people, and so on. But by necessity, faithful preaching automatically pushes you away if you're not true, if you're not a believer. It just does. We must, by faith, start well. But we also must maintain close vigilance about what we call our faith, who we believe in. If we say, I believe in Jesus Christ, in Him born, He died for my sin, He rose again on the third day, in Him I rest, And we take that, and then after we enter into the life of the church and the Christian, we simply cast that aside and go our own way. We will quickly fall. And that's what Paul warns us in 1 Corinthians 10 and 12. He says, therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed, lest he what? Fall. How many Christians, even Christians, have discovered that, that they start well, and they're doing well, and then they slowly are gradually led astray into other things. And then they find that they've made a mess of their lives, and they've fallen. And now comes the painful process of standing back up and repairing the ruins to the best as possible, accepting the fact that it will always have a level of ruination because we did not take heed. So with all of this as introduction in our minds, what I want to do is look at that last quality of Jesus as found in this passage, and it's in verses 47 and 48. He says this, can anyone refuse water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did? And he ordered them, worth underlining, he ordered them, commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and then they asked him to remain a few days. It's all centered on this idea of being baptized in the name of Jesus. And so notice that without any further ado. He sees what's happened, and he orders them to be baptized. He orders them, not suggests, orders them, commands them. They are to be baptized in the name of Jesus. And that's where we see this last quality that I want us to focus on. And that quality is that Jesus alone is worthy of our public testimony. Or to use the term I've been using up to now, Jesus alone is worthy of being our identity. That when they look at you, they should identify you as a Christian. Jesus, and only Jesus, is with whom we must identify ourselves. Now, the Jewish companions in this section are simply amazed. They're blown away. In verse 45, it says they're astounded. Why? Because the gift of the Spirit had been poured out upon these Gentiles. In chapter 11, it's very fascinating, when they go back to Jerusalem and they report what's happened, you would think, you would think that here Peter and the guys, the other men who were his witnesses who were Jewish too, they all come back and they're telling what happened to the leadership, and they're like, it was crazy. First of all, Peter gets this crazy vision of all these animals on a sheet, and it's lower down, and then God's telling him, take and eat. This does it three times. Isn't that wild? Then there's a certain man that he's commanded to go 30 miles away, and he has to walk over there and visit this guy to speak to him. And when he walks into the door, it turns out it's a house filled with Gentiles. Gentiles! Can you believe that? And it's not just the guy. He's invited all of his friends, all of his family, the whole place is packed. We walk in as Jews, and guess what we got? A bunch of Gentiles. Well, Peter just kind of looks around, gulps once, and then starts talking. And of course, you know Peter. He's going to just preach about Christ, and that's what he did. So he's preaching about Jesus Christ. They're listening. And here's the crazy thing, guys. You're not going to believe this. He doesn't even get to finish his message. While he's still talking, bam, spirit comes on these people, just like he did with us. Same way. All of a sudden, they're all talking in languages they didn't know. They're praising and exalting God. It was crazy, I tell you. You had to have been there. And so Peter's like, okay, he stops what he's doing, looks around, looks at us and says, we got baptized, these people. Come on, let's go find a place and let's get you baptized. And we did. So what do you think the leadership's thinking back in Jerusalem? Do you think they're like, that is amazing, let's give thanks to the Lord? No, you know what they do? Wait, you guys were in the house of a Gentile? What? How dare you? Why? What are you doing there? And again, it just shows you that the gospel, though we must believe it, it requires us to grow through it, right? Until we start putting away certain things are stupid and wrong and sinful. All they can fixate on is the fact that they were talking to Gentiles in the house of a Gentile and that was wrong, while people have come to faith and salvation. They were amazed. And when they go back to Jerusalem, those people are amazed, and they really are struggling with it. Now, what happened with that pouring out of the Gentiles was simply the reality of the new covenant coming into play. We've talked about that much. I know it's something still vague on many people's minds, and I don't know how to help it. other than to continue to teach. But last week I did deal with this, and so I would appeal to you to go back to it. The New Covenant, though, is interesting because it was implied and intimated about in Deuteronomy 30 at the advent or the beginning of the nation of Israel through Moses. But it never was explicitly described until near the end, when everything was falling apart, where both Judah and Israel, the 10 tribes of Israel and the two tribes of Judah, were in sin, and they were undergoing great punishment by God, and they're being drug off into captivity, and the land is being literally raped before everyone's eyes. Everything is falling apart because of the sin of the nation. And in both of those, in a time of great horror, God, through these two prophets, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, give them the promise of the coming new covenant, a true covenant, a long, a lasting covenant, a perfect covenant, better than the old one made with Moses. It would only come through the promised Messiah, it would only come through the death of the Messiah, because only through the shedding of blood does any biblical covenant happen. which is why we remember it in the Lord's Supper every week. We remember this cup is the blood of the new covenant. Why? Because Christ shed his blood. We have to remember that, that I am the recipient of this new covenant and its promises because of Christ's blood. Part of that was the giving of a new heart, which is what we call regeneration. Again, we talked about that last week. And also the giving of the Holy Spirit. That's what they literally saw and happened to right in front of their eyes. They saw the giving of the Spirit. And so the question that he raises to his fellow Jews is who can prevent the Gentiles from being baptized? And the answer is simply, no one. It's assumed, but it's no one. How can we do that? They are clearly full recipients of the salvation that we have enjoyed. Now in that, I wanna talk briefly about baptism, and there are a few principles here that we need to see before we continue on. First, you'll note in verses 47, 48, we can draw out this principle that only believers are to be baptized. There is, in the Bible, in the New Testament where baptism is talked about, there is no discussion ever about baptism until one has evidence that they have faith in Christ. Never. Whenever a question then arises about infant baptism, and that's the most common thing, you'll see that in just about every denomination and outside of the Christian world, Whenever there's a question arising about infant baptism, the baptism of the children, babies, one of the first things said by those who are against it, like myself, is nowhere does the New Testament give ever an example of it or the instruction to do so. Never. And you have to come to grips with that. Like it or dislike it. Say, Pastor Matt, you just don't understand the nature of the covenant, and you don't understand biblical interpretation. Fine, that's great. We can talk about that. But ultimately, you'll never still find a verse in the New Testament that teaches it. In fact, every example of baptism is always administered only and always to those who have already made a profession of faith, are giving evidence that they are a Christian. And this is why we do not, at Missio, accept into membership those who claim Christ, but were not baptized as a believer. Not that we would permanently reject them, we would just simply say, you need to be baptized as a believer, and you were baptized as a baby, and that's fine, but it's not a biblically ordained baptism, and so you need to now stand before the people, give your public testimony, and be baptized. No, we're not saying you weren't a Christian, that's not the issue. The issue is that, or that you're not a Christian right now, the issue is that you have not yet gone in the proper order. You have been baptized before you believe, and the scripture teaches you believe, and then you are baptized. And so we never do that. Second principle is that baptism is not, now listen to this one, is not to be withheld from anyone who is able to show that their faith does rest in Christ. That's the whole point of the passage. These Jewish believers would not have allowed baptism for the Gentiles left to their own. If Peter wasn't there, they would've looked at it and said, well, that's crazy, and then they would've gone home. But Peter's gonna push it. And I love this about Peter, and he pushes it a little bit farther, and he looks at his guys, he's like, okay guys, so are we able to refuse baptism from these people? And they're like looking. He's like, they've experienced, just like we did, and we're believers, and we spoke in tongues, or again, foreign languages, by the power of the Spirit, they're doing it. Can we, and of course the answer would be no. The very fact that their experience mirrored what happened to the Jews, and these Jews who were with them were likely either those who watched people have that happen to them in Acts 2 at the day of Pentecost, or they were part of the group in the upper room who actually experienced it themselves and were speaking in these tongues. Either way, they knew that that was the same thing here. Bottom line, it's this, though, is if a person's able to explicate the truths of the gospel and how their hope and faith rests in that gospel, then nothing should prevent them from being baptized, ever. Third, the statement to be baptized in the name of Jesus is not a formula for what is to be said. Rather, it's a statement of identification. Why do I say this? Well, within the realm of what's called Pentecostalism, a fairly large contingent of the Christian church, realize there's all sorts of flavors and whatnot. There's a group called the Pentecostals. Not every one of them, but many of them hold to what's called oneness doctrine, or Jesus-only doctrine, which is that the only proper, acceptable baptism is that you are baptized only in the name of Jesus. And they get it from a passage like this. They say, see, be baptized in the name of Jesus. But what's actually happening here is this. He is saying that their baptism is because their faith is in whom? Christ. And therefore, if they're going to be baptized, they must be identified. And this is a key thing, that baptism is a statement of identification. I stand here prepared to be baptized, and I'm being baptized because of my faith resting in Christ alone. their hope is in Jesus, their faith is in Jesus, they are agreeing and embracing the claims of Jesus to be the Christ, to be the Savior, and to be the Lord, and to be the judge, and so on. That's all that happens in your testimony as a Christian before your baptism. It's interesting that they say, well, the Bible says that we're to be baptized in the name of Jesus, so that's the only one. They're really big about saying that we need to be baptized in the name of Jesus, but then when we look at what Jesus commanded, what did he say in Matthew 28? Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. So if we're gonna be all about Jesus, then shouldn't we look at what Jesus says? And he says, no, you will be named, baptized in the name of the triune God. Why then, in the New Testament, do you see this, they were baptized in the name of Jesus? It is the idea that you must identify yourself with Christ. For the Jews in Acts 2, that was huge. Because they had killed Jesus, the same Jesus they had put to death on the cross. But as Peter says in his sermon, but God raised him from the dead. What must we do? They were pierced to the quick, right? They were core to the core. They were broken. They're like, what must we do? And he says, be baptized. Repent and be baptized. Why? In the name of Christ. Why? Because the very one that you have pierced through is in fact the true Christ. And you must identify yourself now and forevermore with him. And now with these Jews, Gentiles, same thing. You must not identify with Caesar as your Lord. You must identify with Jesus as your Lord. And so if you had one preparing to be baptized, and this is what one of the things I do for a living, is I'll interview people who need to be baptized or want to be it. you will ask them, what is the purpose of the baptism? And they would answer, hopefully, something like this. Well, because I believe that Jesus is the Lord and Christ, my Savior. I believe that he died and rose again on the third day for the forgiveness of sin and life eternal. That's what I'm looking for. It might come out in a jumbled mess. It might be out of order and this and that. But I'm ultimately, as I'm listening to him, that's all I care about. We do this, in fact, with our own baptisms. All of you who have been baptized, you are required to add these words to your testimony, and you know it. We add at that very end, so that everyone is hearing that nice and clean and simply, I believe and testify that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He took on flesh and lived a perfect life of obedience to His Father's holy will, and that He died on the cross in my place, paying the full penalty for my sin, and that He rose again on the third day, securing my life in Him. This is my confession, and this is my hope. The formula that's given to us again in Matthew 28 is what Christ says we're to baptize a person in. But the reality in all of that is you are now identifying yourself as Jesus and a follower of Jesus. And then the final principle we can draw out of this is that baptism is not optional. Listen to me very carefully. Baptism will not save you, nor is baptism required before a person is saved, even though some groups will try to teach this. But you do not have the freedom to refuse baptism, not one person. And this is something that I'll deal with over and over again. I had a situation where a couple actually left our church many, many years ago simply over this issue. The wife, had almost drowned when she was young, and so she was terrified of water. And so she was professing faith in Christ, and she's like, I can't be baptized. Because I said, okay, we're gonna need to set you up for baptism. She's like, I can't do it. And I'm like, well, you got it. And she's like, I can't. I said, but you have to. You don't understand, I almost drowned. I said, okay, you still have to. Why? And this is where all kinds of things become very clear is how free are we to disagree with God? How free are we to negotiate? This is what we oftentimes will do. We'll negotiate. Well, what about this? What about that? I was kinder. I commiserated with her. It wasn't like I was just a tough nuggies lady. Get in. But I had to appeal to her. I said, look, I appreciate that. I can accept the fact that you'll go into the water full of fear. I can accept the fact that you'll even be terrified. But I can testify to you that you, since that near drowning, you have never once been killed by water. In fact, you weren't even killed then. And the reality is that you need to trust and obey your Lord. The husband got so angry that he took her from us and they just are gone. Was I right or wrong? I won't back down from that. I know it was hard, but it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It is an issue of obedience. Notice that at no point does Peter in verse 48 say, okay, so based on the fact that you have been speaking in tongues and the spirits come upon you, I'd like to bring up and discuss the possibility that maybe you be baptized. What's your thoughts on that? He doesn't, right? He commands them, gotta be baptized now, let's do it. And it was apparently quite quickly because he only stayed around for a few more days at their request. It is not an option. You don't have the freedom to back out of baptism if you're gonna follow Christ because the very first command of being a Christian is be baptized. So you're already off when you say, yeah, no, I won't do that. Notice that the apostle is simply commanding the Jewish believers to baptize the Gentile believers and there is no discussion. He doesn't care if they feel comfortable or proper or anything else, it is to be done. I would argue this includes those who were baptized in the Roman Catholic Church, or as Mormons, or as JWs, Jehovah's Witnesses. And you say, well, I had that baptism, so I don't need to be baptized. No, you don't. And that's why we also say, and if you were baptized an infant, that's fine. Even if, as a professing Christian, and you are able to show so obvious evidence that your faith rests in Christ, and you say, but I was baptized as an infant. Great, now it's time to obey what the scriptures show. And the scripture never shows you being baptized as an infant, and then growing into that faith. It is, I have the faith, and now I exhibit it in this public testimony of baptism. Because baptism should always be with believing witnesses who are watching. It's not to be done in secret. There might be a situation where there is, you're in prison, something like that. And let's say I was in a prison and I was with just one guy and there's no other way to have any witnesses. Well, I wouldn't withhold that. But those are the exceptions. And there's still a public testimony that that guy's like, I gotta be baptized. It is the very first step of obeying the call to be a public witness of Jesus Christ. Beloved, I emphasize this, if you have not had this, you need to do it. You need to do it. And you need to begin to, right now, order your life. And if you don't know how and approach it, Taylor back there is someone you can talk to. You can talk to me or John. We will help you. We even have a site part in our website under resources on even the process and how to write out a testimony, because everyone way overthinks that. But we will sit with you and walk all of those things through. And some of you have actually been through that process. I have had people absolutely terrified. They're like, you don't understand. I can't talk in front of people. Do you know what you're asking me to do? And I've done this countless of time. I'm like, I know what I'm asking. But you don't know me, man. I'll pass out. And I have told people, that's fine. Go ahead and pass out. And while you're lying there and recovering, I'll finish your testimony for you on behalf of you. And once you come to, we'll get you in the water and baptize you. And you laugh, I'm that cruel. And you're like, it's gonna be embarrassing, I can't have people look at me. Then you can't follow Christ. So stop saying you do. Really. And here's what I'll say to every one of them, and I've said it countless times. I am kind, and I try to show that during these times of resistance. But I'll say, look, Christ commands this. So you can't disobey your Lord. Second, do you really think that Christ would command you to do something that you can't do? Would the very first thing he's gonna do to a brand new baby Christian is something that's impossible? Is he that cruel, that unkind, unfeeling? I said, is it not possible, just possible, think about this, just give this thought, that the spirit of God who is now in you because of your faith in Christ, would you think that he would abandon you in your time of need? The very spirit given to you that you might be empowered to walk in obedience, do you think he's gonna wait until you're up there in front of the people, then say, psych, and then you just collapse? Will he not be the same gracious God that saves you, that he will then bear you up through the time of testimony and baptism? Here's what's really funny. I've had people, I'll say, all right, so I want you to write out your testimony. You have to write it out, and you're not allowed to deviate from it. You have to read what you write, because when you get up there, you get nervous, and then you start wandering. You don't know how to land the plane, so to speak. Oh, pastor, no, that's not going to be a problem. I've had people say, oh, no, no, I do a lot of public speaking. I'm good. I'm not afraid of this at all. And in my mind, just so you get a glimpse of your pastor and how worthless I can be, I'm laughing. I'm like, oh, you're one of them. Great. Because time after time, the guy who is so confident about his ability to public speak gets up there behind the microphone, because he's doing it in his own power, and he flips it out. He starts to talk, and you watch him melt under the gravity of the situation. And hands tremble. I'm like, oh, yeah? Where's your public speaking now, bro? That's what I'm thinking up there. I've got my pastoral look. But in my mind, I'm thinking of those thoughts. I'm like, yeah, the Lord will bring down the proud. He always does. Meanwhile, the poor girl, and it's usually a girl, but it can be guys too. It doesn't really matter. They're over there just dying a million deaths, right? And they're like, oh, I'm next. You know, at first, you're like, OK, who wants to go first? And they're backing up. I don't. All right, do you want to just sit? Yes, I want to. In other words, I really just want to postpone this horrible act that I'm about ready to do. And then they're angry with me sometimes because, why'd you make me wait? You asked! And they're back there, and I say, come on up. And they're up there, and they're just, and you can see it. And I watch, and you've witnessed it. They start to read, and their voice gets stronger and stronger and stronger. Why? Well, the Spirit takes the weak and empowers them. He brings low the proud. Baptism is not an option. But it is also something where you, in your very first steps, begin to see the work of God in your life. And it's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful thing. This all now sets us up for the rest of our time to develop my point, though. What's my point in all of this? Our identity and our testimony in and through our lives must always be identified with Jesus Christ and only Him. There is a great distinction between a religious individual and a true Christian, and that distinction is the identification of Christ alone. Ask yourself that simple question, and while you do it, turn to Jonah. Ask yourself the simple question, and everything else tends to clutter your mind, becomes brushed away. Ask yourself, is Christ central? Is he my foundation? Is there nothing else but Christ? Is He the one, the absolute non-negotiable in my life? Jonah 1 is a fascinating little book. I preached on this many, many years ago. It's somewhere. You can find it in our archives. Jonah is a great book. Jonah is a prophet of God. He is a believer. He just happens to hate Gentiles, especially Ninevites, who are Assyrians. They're a wicked, wicked nation and have done wicked, wicked things. He used to go to the capital city Nineveh and preach against them. But he knows God. He knows Yahweh, and he knows that God has a bad habit of preaching wrath and then giving them grace. And he didn't want these people to have grace. And so instead, you know the story if you've read it. He gets in a boat and goes the exact opposite direction. A huge storm, it says that Yahweh, if you read it in the Hebrew, it's really, which you can't, but it's really obvious. It's controlled by the name Yahweh, God's name. And all of the places is where it sets the direction and the purpose of the book. And it says that Yahweh caused a great wind and storm to come. And now these guys are about ready to die, and so they're very afraid. So look at verse eight of verse one. Then they said to him, well, they cast lots. They got kind of like dice. They cast dice, find out who's at fault. It falls on Jonah. He's asleep, so they wake him up. And they say, tell us now, on whose account has this calamitous evil struck us? In other words, on whose account has evil struck us is literally what it says. And now they ask these weird questions. What's your occupation? Where do you come from? What's your country? From what people are you? Isn't that weird? Unless you know the culture. What they're asking is, name your gods. Because you would be the god of clay and pottery, or the god of farming, or the god of sailing, whatever it might be. And your occupation, your land, your country, everything would define the various gods that you hope in. And they're trying to figure out which god is angry. And here in the midst of all of this, he cannot deny his God. He says, I am a Hebrew and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven. Hang on, I lost my place. Who made the sea and the dry land. It's fascinating, when it comes right down to it, he hates the Ninevites, but he can't deny Yahweh. He has to be identified by him, and nothing else matters. And so they're afraid, why have you done this, verse 10, for the people knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Yahweh, so they realize this whole thing is your problem, and he still hates the Ninevites so much, he's like, look, it will go away, just throw me overboard. They actually show more mercy than he does. They actually try again to get him to shore. unbelieving sailors, and they're like, we can't let the guy die. Let's just try one more time. It gets so bad. So they're like, all right, over the board he goes. And it then says, Yahweh appointed a great fish right then to be there so he would swallow him. And it's in the belly of the fish that he repents. And chapter two is his prayer. It's done in a poetic language of him drowning, twisted around with seaweed in the fish's belly, where he realizes that he is being cast away. And he repents, and then God vomits. That causes a fish to vomit him up on the land, and guess what he sees before him? Nineveh. He's like, now go do it. Some of you will feel that hand of the Lord. When I hit my motorcycle, I hit that car head on, and I land, and I watch my legs separate itself from my body, I had that moment, that little moment where I'm like, God did this, and I deserved it. Some of you have felt that or will feel it, and it's a painful thing, but it does tend to center you. He hates these people. He doesn't want them. I have sat years ago or stood in a hospital room of a man dying who was a wicked man, worthless man. And some Christians from our church or family members were there with him. And we're watching these beyond everything. He's just gasping for breath and things are falling down quickly. And eventually the line goes flat. And he's dead. And this woman said, good. She's like Jonah. Her hatred for him was so great that she did not want him to hear the gospel, know the gospel, or be forgiven. Why? Because there was no forgiveness in her own heart. And there I had the great temptation to look at it and say, all right, not now, Matt, but you know me, I just gotta. So I start poking at it and I'm like, what do you mean? He had done so much evil. It's good that he's dead. It's good he deserves hell. And this is when it caused me to realize she doesn't understand grace. Some of you may be that way. There's those people you're gonna withhold the gospel from because you don't want them to know. What's interesting with Jonah, though, is he cannot deny his Lord. Even in his sin, the Lord deals with him very, very harshly. But in all that time, his faith rests in Yahweh. His identity drives him. There's another passage. Boy, we're running out of time. Romans 6. Go to Romans 6. Now, I preached on Jonah. I preached all the way through Romans. So if you want to hear an in-depth exposition, you can just go to my old sermons. We'll just touch lightly here. In Romans 6, 1 through 4, he's talked in chapter 5 about how God's grace abounds over our sin through Jesus Christ. So as great of our sin might be, the grace of God is even greater. And so now foolishness comes from our mouths, and we become like this person that Paul speaks of, what shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so grace may increase? In other words, wow, so you're saying, I can't out-sin grace, then I'm just going to do more sin because I like grace. And he's like, no, no, may it never be. Verse 2, how shall we who died to sin still live in it? Now that provokes a question, when did we die to sin? So he says, or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? That's when, when he died, we died. So this baptism, what is it? And most of you are thinking water baptism, but it's not talking about water baptism. In fact, the Bible, the New Testament talks about four different types of baptism. And we all assume It all means water baptism, but it doesn't. This is, in fact, talking about the baptism with the Spirit. This is what 1 Corinthians 12.13 is talking about, that we were baptized with the Spirit into one body, Jesus Christ. This is that idea, and we have to take time to explain it, but it all happens at once in reality, is that I am dead in my sin, and the Spirit of God makes my heart new, gives me a regenerate heart. We talked about that last week. And so what we hated, we now love. And so now I believe. Why do I believe? Because my heart is alive in Christ. And because I'm alive and believe, Christ himself baptizes us with the Spirit of God into Christ's body. And now all that is Christ's is ours. And so you say, I don't remember dying to sin. You're in Christ. Yes. That's how Christ died to sin. And Christ rose on the third day, and that's why you have his life. Everything about us is because of our identification with Christ. It's a wonderful thing, but it's a mind-blowing thing. It makes our heads hurt. And so don't ever look at this and say, oh, so what baptism is is we're now baptized in his death and raised. No, we can say that baptism, water baptism has an imagery of that, but that's not what this verse or this passage means. There's no idea in the Bible where you get to accept Jesus and then go on and live as you always lived. You have died to sin because you're in Christ. The Christian who is truly a Christian has been so tightly connected with Jesus that everything else starts to unravel in their life. And everything begins to change because you desire to be conformed in the image of your Lord. You just develop what I talk about a lot, and that is a holy discontentment. You just keep seeing things that need to grow and change. And so to wink and nod with others while they and you pursue sin is actually just a shameful thing. Going back to the narrow way, ask yourself this, where on the narrow way do you find the rest area where you get to play and live as you please? Where is the off-ramp where you can get off the narrow way for a while so you can just romp? There's no room. And the true Christian quickly finds the narrowness of the call of Jesus Christ is pressing on them. Let's go now to Matthew 7. Matthew 7. Now when we drive or we walk, we can go a direct route, right? Or we can go a scenic route. I love the scenic route, unless I want to get someplace, as I said last message. when I want to get somewhere, I don't care, let's just get the most direct route, right? And then I get angry when we have to pull over to use the restroom or fill up the gas because then we see a car that I carefully planned to pass, and I did successfully pass him, and then I'm on the gas station watching that guy go by me. It's like, get in the car, woman, we gotta go. I got a guy to catch. And notice it's all the men laughing. But in Matthew 7.13, let me get to Matthew 7, it says, enter through the narrow gate. Why? For the gate is wide, the way is broad that leads to destruction. There are many who enter through it, for the gate is narrow, and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it. So let me say it this way. If you think you have entered through the narrow gate and what's on the other side is a wide vista, you're in the wrong gate. Does that make sense? I mean, you can open the door. Yeah, that's not the door. That's just not the door. I don't know what it is, but it's not the door I gotta go through, because the door I go through is, first of all, hard to get through, and second, on the other side, it's just a narrow path. What you find as you come to Christ is that you climb through that gate that's Christ alone. And you'll find that as you walk down that, and this is what some of you right now, especially some of you who are younger Christians, you're finding it gets more narrow. You keep waiting for the promises of all these false teachers who are out there talking about how your best life is now and how you can have this and that and blah, blah, blah. Meanwhile, you keep seeing that it gets tighter and tighter. Why? Because Christ constricts upon you. And you start finding that this has to go away and that has to go away. Kim and I were on our sabbatical, and there was a place that had the waterfalls, and I showed her some pictures, and she's like, ooh, I wanna go there. And I said, okay, so we drive there, and then we start the path, and she decided, looking at the path, she didn't like that path. And I said, babe, that's the path. And she says, I don't like that. And it was kind of sketchy, which I love. And she's like, I don't like it. And I said, but the waterfall's at the end. She's like, I want to see the waterfall. Then you got to walk the path, babe. I don't want that path. I said, then you don't get to see the waterfall. But I want to see the waterfall. I'm like, there's no other way. This is it. And we ultimately went on the path. And she got there, and we got to see this really cool waterfall. This is the Christian life. You want Christ. You want life. You want eternal life. How are you going to find it? It's through this path, starting with Christ, following Christ. And it gets narrower and narrower. And it does not allow you the latitude to just go wandering as you wish. For the false believer who climbs onto that path, meaning they go to church and they make some vague claims, you'll quickly find that the Christian life will push you away. It's not worth it to you. The narrow way is utterly different from the wide path. It's marked by a level of aloneness. So if you, as a Christian, are starting to feel alone, you're not alone. because it necessarily restricts you. Few are on this path, beloved, few. So if you find yourself walking down the path of Christ and surrounding you is a whole bunch of other people, you're probably not on the right path. You'll find yourself all the time very alone as you have to deal with you before your Lord and you realize this is hard. Father, this is hard. Praise God, Jesuses, and lo, I am with you always. Everything you love, everything, love, desire, treasure, ultimately has to be sacrificed simply to get through the gate. And that will only occur when you see that Christ is worth it. Kim and I took our kids on a final vacation. And we were coming back in South Dakota. And there were some caverns somewhere. And we went down there. And that was cool. I like caves. I like them with lights. But I like caves. And Becca and I don't like darkness. And invariably, when you go on those cave tours, they always have to turn the light off to let you know what absolute darkness is. I'm like, I already know. Don't need to see it. And we're all down there, and the guy's like, and so, and then he clicks the light off. And boy, you can feel that darkness, right? And if you've never done it, it's not fun unless you like that kind of stuff. I don't. And so I feel Becca, and I take her hand, because I know she's feeling what I'm feeling, and we're both not happy campers right now. And other people are giggling and laughing, and I'm like, how? Why? Why would you do that? We can't see anything. And the guy's rambling on. And he's like, and so about this time, people start wanting me to get the lights on. Of course, we're going to just leave it off as I continue to talk. And I said, no, turn them on. I actually was rude. I said, turn them on. He's like, no, no, we'll leave. And I just picked my phone up and turned it on. I'm like, fine, I can do it a different way. But I'm tired of absolute darkness. And I may have gotten some glares, but I didn't care. Once we'd get out, it was cool. It was neat. And so then my oldest daughter, who thinks this is fun, she's like, Dad, I was like waving my hand, and I couldn't even see it. Wasn't that neat? And I'm like, no, it wasn't. And she's like, hey, there's this lantern tour. And they take you, and you have to carry a lantern. And it's a little bit more involved, and you really have to go deeper into the cavern. Can we do it? And I love my daughter, and this was our last hurrah. And I'm thinking, sure. But then we go up, and there's this rock. And they carve out this little rectangle. And the sign says, to go on the lantern tour, you must be able to crawl through it. I looked at it. I'm like, I can crawl through it. I'm just not going to crawl through it. And I told her, no. We cannot go on the lantern tour. I will not go on the lantern tour. I have no interest of that, if that's what I'm going to be doing. Because you don't know Henry's, my lantern would break. And then I'm in the absolute darkness, and this is really fun. Oh, yeah. The point is, if you're going to go through there, you got nothing, nothing that you can drag with you. You have to go through as tight as it can be. That's what it means to come to Christ, beloved. It's all or nothing. But when you gain Christ, when you walk through that narrow gate, your identity is now Christ and only Christ. It's not the Packers. It's not the Bears. It's not that. It's not classical school or homeschool. It doesn't matter. It's not city life or homestead life. You have to beware the false prophets, who he talks about right away in verse 13. I mean, sorry, 15. Because they're going to come in with the clothing of the sheep. And they're going to lie to you. And they're going to tell you that there is a better way, an easier way, a place you can rest, a place you can frolic. Just be you. The worries of this world, the worries of your reputation, the love of money, the fear of pain, the fear of confinement. And these people are whispering in your ear all the way. They will cause the false believer to climb and fight for a wide path. And you know what today that wide path is called? It's called self-care. It's just self-care. Oh, you just need to do self-care. No, you need to die to yourself daily and take up your cross and follow Him. The narrow way is utterly different from the wide path. So in Mark, Jesus says this, just listen to these words. Jesus summoned the crowds with his disciples and said to them, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, follow me, for everyone who wishes to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it. For what does a prophet demand to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man, meaning Jesus, will be ashamed of him when he comes in glory of his Father and holy angels. He says, take up your cross. You wanna come after me? Then pick up the cross. This side of heaven, a mark of shame, a mark of weakness, a mark of harm, a failure, a rejection, but it's the way of life. You find your life in it. He says, follow me. What's he mean? Absolute identity in Christ alone, nothing else. He says, whoever loses his life for my sake in the gospels, He says, meaning this identity with Christ goes to the furthest limit, and that's the loss of even your own life. Even your life breath is not yours anymore. You gave it to Christ to gain the whole world. Is that not belonging of every false believer and every non-believer? They want, in some way or another, to gain the world. This is a longing of all who belong to this age. We labor. We fight. We dream to get to that next level. And finally, we have the land we dreamed of having. We have our car. We have our reputation. We have the money. And you know what? We've arrived. We find that there's only new things now that we have to pursue, and that these things are stained with the fallenness of this age, and they do not provide what we thought they would. But in the end, if that is our whole life, we end up losing the most precious thing, which is our soul, because He will not let you go through the gate. That gate has to be so precious that you'll lose it all to gain Him. And so when you get on the other side, you can't be mad that the narrow way is narrow. It's like the gate, but its end is life. And so we claim Christ, and he says in that passage, but we're really ashamed of him. So we will not speak of him, follow him, obey him, anything. We play down his words, his commands, his standards, and then when all the things come to the end and we say, well, now we get to be saved, woo-hoo, we find he turns his back on us, because we never were his. And so the weak and foolish gospel that we are so afraid of telling today is now seen to be a glorious gospel that saves then. The one who died and rose again, who seems so narrow and outdated today in this vile generation, now is seen to be in that day full of glory and majesty. And all you find out you've done is that you've nuanced yourself into hell. So when we come to the end of this little story about how the gospel came to the Gentiles, it's a beautiful little story. It's a wonderful thing. In fact, you as a Gentile, you can thank the Lord for that moment. But at the end of it all is a call to be baptized in the name of Christ. Identify yourself. Publicly identify yourself. And that is the glory of baptism. Not that it saves you because it cannot and does not. It's not a religious rite. It's not so you feel special and this really was good. No, it's just simply you publicly saying to everyone who witnesses it, I believe and testify that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that my only hope is in him, and it fully rests in him. He is my master, and he alone shall I follow. And so to deny baptism is to deny Christ who commands it. I ask that you would consider these things as we pray. Father, help us. So many ways that we can lose ourselves, in and of ourselves, if it was not for the sealing of the Holy Spirit, none of us would see the end. Pray, Father, you'll take our faith and crystallize it and clarify it as you promise that you'll do. And I know that means that I'm asking you to bring hard trials upon us, but it is the way our faith becomes purified. And so I do ask for it. I ask this church as we're moving through such uncertain times that you would again magnify Christ in our hearts and let us see that he alone is worthy to be followed For all of us, Lord, that we ask, we place our faith in Him alone. And then, having done so, that we remind ourselves day in and day out, He is my Lord and there is no other, that we would find that in the end we are called good and faithful servants. Show us mercy as we need it. Guide us as we desperately need it. But bless us as we go forth, in your Son's name, amen.