 Amen. So here we are in Acts chapter 19. I can tell you right now that we're going to spend a few weeks getting through Acts chapter 19. We're going to get through six verses tonight. So look down at Acts chapter 19 and let's see what we can find here. So Paul heads to Ephesus, all right? Paul heads to Ephesus and he meets a group of disciples, meaning he meets a group of people who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. These people are saved. Look at verse number one. The Bible says, and it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coast came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples. So he finds this group, we'll later find out that this group is about 12 people, and he said out of them, have you received the Holy Ghost since ye believe? So there again we know that, you know, they believed, that's what it takes to be saved, is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So these people are saved and he's asking them, have you received the Holy Ghost, all right? And look what these people say. I just love this answer here. They say, we have not so much as heard whether they're being the Holy Ghost, whether they're be any Holy Ghost. So basically Paul says, oh, you're saved to this group of disciples in Ephesus and remember Paul is confirming the disciples, right? And he asks them, have you received the Holy Ghost? You know, we're talking Acts chapter 2 stuff. We'll get into that in just a couple minutes and they say, holy, holy what? Holy, holy, holy, what is it? What's that? They have no idea what he's talking about. They're like, we don't even know, like, what, is there a Holy Ghost? What in the world? But here's the thing. Here's the thing you need to realize. Just because, and this is such a perfect example of this, when someone gets saved, do they know every doctrine in the Bible immediately? Do they suddenly just like absorb every single doctrine in the Bible? No, they don't know anything, all right? So the Holy Ghost is something that these people do not know about. So let me just give you two things. First of all, as believers, we are going to interact with the Holy Ghost in two ways, okay? The Bible is very clear about this. Let me just give you a quick update on this doctrine. Go to Ephesians chapter 1. The first thing is every single believer is sealed by the Holy Ghost. So basically the Holy Ghost, see, the reason that you don't have to know about the Holy Ghost to be saved is because to be saved, you have to believe on or trust on what is known as the Son, you know, the Son in the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. You have to believe on Jesus. You have to trust on Jesus. You don't have to trust on the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is actually the mechanics of how God saves you, if you want to look at it that way. Basically, God seals you with the Holy Ghost. That's how we know one of the reasons. This is one of the greatest verses explaining eternal security, that once you're saved, you can never lose your salvation because God is the one that saves you and God is the one that seals you. And what is the mechanics? How does He actually seal you? Look, He literally actually literally seals you. How? With the Holy Ghost. That's how He does it. Look at Ephesians chapter 1 in verse number 13. So this is the first thing. Every single saved believer is going to have the Holy Ghost inside them, sealing them. Look at Ephesians chapter 1 in verse 13. The Bible says, in whom He also trusted. That's where we get that idea that synonym of believe on is the same as trusting in Jesus. So to believe on Jesus is the same as trusting Jesus. That's why, you know, even the devils believe, even a demon in Acts chapter 19 believes that Jesus is God and believes that Jesus exists. But that's not trusting in Jesus. So believing that Jesus exists is different than trusting on Jesus. Okay, so this is where we get this idea that believe on equals trusting. Look at, in whom He also trusted after that you heard the word of truth. What's the word of truth? Gospel of your salvation, in whom also that after you believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. The Holy Spirit is what God uses to seal you. Verse 14, which is the earnest of our inheritance and tell the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory. Look, He puts a down payment of the Holy Spirit. That's what earnest means. He's saying, when you get saved, when you believe on Jesus Christ, He gives you enough of the Holy Spirit. He puts a down payment on you enough to seal you until the day of redemption of the purchased possession. And look, here's the thing folks, whether you knew it or not, whether you knew the mechanics of how that worked or not, that's what God did to you when you trusted on His Son. And that's how you end up with these saved people in Acts chapter 19. They're like, holy what? They're like, what? Holy ghost? What's that all about? This is why I don't, you know, when I go out soul-winning and I give the Gospel to somebody, I don't explain the doctrine of the Trinity to them. You know, I don't go into these complicated doctrines of the Trinity and all these other things because it's not necessary. The Gospel is simple, the Bible says. The Gospel is so easy to understand that a child can understand it. But we could go and we could just make it all complicated. And you know, all these other doctrines that are not necessary, that's why we don't do that. All right? So the first thing, the first interaction, and even these guys in Acts chapter 19, they've had this interaction. They have this Holy Ghost in them. They are now temples of the Holy Ghost because they believed on Jesus. They just don't know the doctrine. They don't know the doctrine of the Trinity. They don't know what Paul is talking about as far as have you received the Holy Ghost, which is different, by the way, than, you know, being sealed by the Holy Ghost. So that's the second interaction. Turn to Acts chapter 2. The second interaction that hopefully, now every believer will be sealed by the Holy Ghost. But being filled with or receiving the Holy Ghost, what Paul talks about here is what happened in Acts chapter 2 and many other places in the Bible. Once people, you know, were baptized in the name of Jesus and, you know, they did great things after that. Okay? Look at Acts chapter 2 and verse number 4. This, of course, is the day of Pentecost when the disciples, you know, were in Jerusalem and look at verse number 4 and it says, And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. So basically, the Holy Spirit, this is the Holy Spirit filling them. The Bible also calls it the Holy Spirit coming upon them, you know, for them to do a great work for the Lord. All right? This is one thing that, you know, I pray for this, you know, I pray for this before I preach every sermon. I'm like, I pray, Lord, that the Holy Spirit would be with me tonight. That you would fill me with the Holy Spirit tonight. And I would not say things that I want to say, but I would say things that you want me to say and all that. All right? So look, but being filled with the Holy Ghost had a purpose. So in the purpose of Acts chapter 2 and all throughout the book of Acts, by the way, including Acts chapter 19, is they would be filled with the Holy Ghost and then they would speak with other tongues, by the way, other languages. They spoke the gospel. They were in Jerusalem at the time when there was all these other nations there. There was all these other people that spoke all these different languages and they got up and they preached the gospel and everyone heard in their own language. It was a great miracle. It was a great miracle, but it wasn't. That's what it wasn't. Okay? Tongues is very clearly defined in the King James Bible as languages. It says, every man heard them in his own tongue. You know, the people that were there, that were Jews, they were like, oh, you know, they're drunk because they didn't understand the languages they were speaking, but every man heard in his own language. So the point is the Holy Ghost filled them. The Holy Ghost came upon them and they preached the gospel. Why in the world would God do that? Because God wanted the gospel to go to all nations. That's why. It had a purpose. It wasn't just to get up there and just babble a bunch of nonsense and just be overly emotional with whatever and make note. What was the point of that? Nothing, right? So it was languages that they were speaking. So we're sealed by the Holy Ghost. God puts a down payment on us. That's the first thing that we interact with. As a saved believer, as long as your heart is beating on this earth, the Holy Spirit is walking with you. That's why the Bible says that you can grieve the Holy Spirit. You say you get saved, you know, I got saved and then I never went to church another day in my life and I never got anything right in my life and I'm just going to take the chastisement of God for the rest of my life. Well, you know what? You're going to grieve the Holy Spirit in you and you will feel that. You will feel that. You will grieve the Holy Spirit if you choose the flesh versus the Spirit because the Spirit's trying to help you. It's trying to lead you. But look, you're still going to have the flesh. You're still going to have temptations and all these things as long as you're alive on this earth. So look, that's the two interactions that we have with the Holy Ghost. These guys didn't know any of it, but it didn't stop them from being saved. That's the whole point that I'm trying to make at the beginning. That's why I don't preach, you know, I don't preach the Trinity soul winning. You know, we don't go out and preach these doctrines. You know, I don't go out there, you know, 1 John 5 7, there are three that bear record in heaven, you know, the Father, the Word, and you know, the Holy Ghost. And these three are one, you know, do you understand that? Look, I barely understand that. You know, the Trinity is a very complicated doctrine. You know, it's kind of you just, you know what I do with the Trinity? I kind of just kind of take it as the Bible says. That's one of those things where maybe I'm going to tap Jesus on the shoulder when I get to heaven and be like, Hey, how does that all work? Was it like an eggshell with the white and the yolk? Or was it, you know, was it a pie? I mean, how does it work? Right? We don't have to understand how it works. We just have to take the Bible for what it says. All right, so look, on the Trinity, now here's another thing. You don't have to be, you don't have to believe the Trinity or even know about the Holy Ghost to be saved. That's the first thing. However, once you're saved, you should believe what's in the Bible. So somebody that is saved and and read something in the Bible and is like, is like, Yeah, I don't like that page. Yeah, I don't agree with that. I don't agree with that because that that that's weird. That's questionable. Why? Because Jesus is the Bible. Because you trust it on Jesus. Jesus is the word become flesh. Jesus is the literal Bible. The Word of God is Jesus. You know, it's it's another complicated doctrine. But it's true. So if you're saved, you won't know everything in the Bible. But as you read the Bible, as you learn the Bible, you'll accept it because it's God's word. It's not anybody else's word. It's just God's word. Go back to Acts chapter 19. So all that to say this, that's the interactions that we will have with the Holy Ghost in our lives. Look, we're all going to be sealed with the Holy Ghost. And hopefully if we deny the flesh and we walk with God, we will be filled with the Holy Ghost in our lives and we will be filled with the Holy Ghost to accomplish a purpose for the kingdom of God, not for ourself. I'm not going to be filled with the Holy Ghost to pick winning lottery numbers or something like that. That's not how this works. All right, we're going to be filled with the Holy Ghost to accomplish God's purpose because the Holy Ghost is God. It's the third person in the Trinity. All right, go to Acts chapter 19. Acts chapter 19. So they didn't know. They didn't know about the Holy Ghost. So here, what is Paul going to do? He's going to confirm the disciples. He's going to sharpen them. He's going to exhort them. He's going to teach them doctrine. Look at verse 3. And he sent unto them, unto what then were ye baptized? He's like, man, were you baptized? And they said, unto John's baptism. So now we have another complicated thing here that I want to explain to you. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. All right, so let me say this. Baptism is always after salvation. But let me point out something here. There's two baptisms in the Bible here. Okay, there's only one for us. But John the Baptist was preaching a different baptism than Jesus. So after Jesus there was a different baptism in the name of Jesus. Okay, John was preaching the baptism of repentance, which I'll explain to you, which was what? It was preparing the way for Jesus. Okay, and look, here's another thing you need to understand. People before Jesus came were still saved in the same way that we are saved today. Meaning they were saved trusting in the promise of a Messiah. Whereas they were looking forward at the Messiah, at the coming Messiah. They didn't know who it was at this point until John the Baptist came and told them who it was. They didn't know it was coming. All they knew is that God promised the Messiah and they trusted in that and that's how they were saved. That's how Abraham was saved. The Bible is very clear about that. People have always been saved the same way through faith. Now, John was preaching this baptism of repentance. What does that mean? Turn to Luke chapter three. So let's look at the baptism of John and hopefully I can make this clear to you tonight. But he says, what were you baptized? He's like, with what baptism were you baptized? And they said we were with John's baptism. And then Paul explained the difference. He says, that was a baptism of repentance. He says, saying unto the people that they should believe on him, which had come after him, that is Christ Jesus. So what was John doing? He was pointing to Jesus. He was preparing the way to Jesus. Look at Luke chapter three. Let's look at the baptism of John. Because John was, I mean, John the Baptist. He was literally baptizing people. Look at verse number one. The baptism of John. A lot of false doctrine comes from this. So I want to be clear about this. A lot of false doctrine comes from this and this is a huge reason that you need to have a King James Bible tonight. You need to have the King James Bible or you're just going to, this will show you how you will fall into all sorts of false doctrine. Look at verse number one of Luke chapter three. Now in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea and Herod being the tetrarch of Galilee and his brother Philip and tetrarch of Arturia and the region of Trachonius, I didn't say that right, and Lysanius, the tetrarch of Abilene. Anus and Caiaphas being the high priest, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. This is John the Baptist. Look at verse number three. And he came into the country about Jordan preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Okay, a lot of people now they run with this and this is where a lot of false doctrine comes. Mark chapter one of verse four says the very similar verse, but notice how it says baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Alright, so the remission of sins. It says what people will do now is they will say you have to be baptized for the remission of sins. Okay, but no, this is talking about a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. So I want to dig deep into what remission of sins means and what the difference between remission and this other word forgiveness in the King James Bible is. Okay, look, remission means, remission means a cancellation of debt. That's what remission means. It is a deeper word than the word forgiveness. And there are two separate words that are used very differently in the King James Bible. Alright, for good reason. Turn to Acts chapter 10 and verse number 43. So we see that there's this baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Let's look at this word remission and see how this is used in the King James Bible. Look at Acts chapter 10 and verse number 43. The word remission is used nearly a dozen times in the New Testament. I'll just show you a few verses, but they are all used every single time. They are all used in the same context and we're going to look at that now. Look at Acts 10 and verse 43. Acts 10 verse 43. To him give all the prophets witness. This is talking about Jesus. All the prophets, the Old Testament, this is saying, hey what was the Old Testament about? You know what the whole, here's the whole Old Testament in two seconds. Jesus. That's what the Old Testament was about. It was all pointing towards Christ. All the prophets gave witness to Jesus. That through his name, who, what's that name? Jesus, whosoever, leaveeth in him shall receive what? Remission of sins. Okay. Go to Romans chapter 3 and verse 25. So the Bible is saying that remission of sins comes through what? Remission of sins, this cancellation of debt, comes through believing in his name. And look, that fits perfectly. That's talking, that is straight up talking about salvation right there. It is talking about, hey, if you want your debt canceled, what's your debt? Your debt is an eternity in hell. That's what your debt is. If you want that debt canceled, you must believe on the name or trust on the name of Jesus Christ. That's it. That's salvation right there. Look at Romans chapter 3 and verse 25. This is what remission means. Romans 3 25. Whom God had set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness. So look, you are not saved. This is against work salvation right here. You are not saved through your righteousness. A little bit? No, none. Like your righteousness, I don't care how nice you are. Your righteousness doesn't factor into the equation because it is his righteousness. It is because Jesus, this is why no matter how good a friends I am with brother Alex or whoever in this church, I can't die for your sins man because I'm not innocent. I am not righteous. There's none righteous the Bible says. It is only through the righteousness of Jesus that we can get what? Remission of sins. That is the only way. What? That debt, that debt cancellation is what it's talking about. Nearly a dozen times this word comes up. Go to Hebrews chapter 9 of verse 22. Nearly a dozen times this word comes up in the New Testament and every single time it is talking about our sins being, our debt being cancelled through Christ. That is always how this word is used in the New Testament. Look at Hebrews 9 in verse number 22. So you say, well it sounded like baptism gave you remission of sins. Well look at Hebrews chapter 9 in verse number 22 and let's just look. If you are interpreting a verse in the Bible, remember our Bible reading rules. If you're interpreting some verse in the Bible that contradicts clear verses elsewhere in the Bible, you are interpreting it wrong. The problem is you, not the Bible. Look at Hebrews chapter 9 of verse 22. People are like, oh well it sounded like baptism was was necessary for the remission of sins. Well I guess that means every single verse that clearly says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and now shall be saved. I guess all those verses are wrong because they left out baptism. Look at Hebrews 9 verse 22. The Bible says in almost all things are by the law purged with blood and look at this. Really look at the second part of this verse. Without the shedding of blood is no remission. When we baptize people here is there blood anywhere? My goodness I hope not. Look it is only through the shedding of the blood of Christ that there can be remission through His name. Because without, I mean without shedding of blood is no remission. And we have remission through His name as we just looked at, we could look at 10 more verses. We have remission through His name because there was shedding of blood there. Now go to Mark chapter 11 in verse 25. So that's remission. Remission always refers to us having our debt canceled through the blood of Jesus Christ, through the name of Jesus Christ. Always. Every single time. It is a deeper word than just forgiveness. Forgiveness in the Bible 99% of the time. There's only one verse really that you could look at that even references Christ. But every single time forgiveness is talking about relationships, personal relationships. Look at Mark chapter 11 verse 25. Mark chapter 11 in verse number 25 the Bible says, and when you stand praying, forgive. If you ought to, if you ought against any, that your Father also, which is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses. So this is saying, you know, hey, you should forgive other people that have wronged you. Because God has forgiven your trespasses. Look at Ephesians chapter 4 in verse 32. Ephesians chapter 4 in verse number 32. Ephesians chapter 4 look at verse number 32. The Bible says, and be kind to one another, tender hearted. Who's one another? Who's he talking to? He's talking to the church at Ephesus. He's talking about us here. He's saying, hey, we should be kind to each other in this church. To be kind to one another, tender hearted, what? Forgiving one another. Even as God for Christ's sake, have forgiven you. He's saying, Jesus was an example for you. He's like, forgive your brothers and sisters in Christ. You know, if they didn't pay you back or whatever. I mean, just like, don't have all these differences. Just let it go. Forgive it. Matthew 18 verse 21 says, then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how off shall I, my brother sin against me? And I forgive him till seven times. And he says, seven times seventy. You know, he's just like, he tells him like, basically, just keep forgiving is what he tells him to do. 99% of the time, it is very clear that forgiveness is talking about personal relationships. And look, turn to 1 John chapter 1 in verse number nine. Even talking about our personal relationship with God. 1 John chapter one in verse number nine, the Bible says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, we've already believed on his name, and we've already had remission of sins, but this is talking about a good personal relationship with the Lord here. Just saying, look, confess your sins, you know, get right with God, acknowledge your sins. Matthew 6.14, I'll just read for you again. It says, for if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Actually, what's your turn to Matthew chapter six? Because look, this would, if this was talking about remission of sins through Christ, then we have clear contradictions in the Bible. We do not, you know, this is a clearly against eternal security, but it's not talking about that. It's talking about our personal relationship with our heavenly Father. Alright, look, you should ask for forgiveness for your sins. Did you know that? Why, so I can go to heaven? No, you can have a good relationship with your heavenly Father. It's like my kids. If my kids go and they do a bunch of bad stuff, you know what they should do? They should come to their dad and say, dad, please forgive me for that. Dad, they should confess their sins. They should say, dad, I did this. I did this and please forgive me. That's what they should do. They should confess and they should ask for forgiveness. Why? So they can have a good relationship with their Father. Is it, I mean, is it true just because they're, just because I have a son? Does that mean I'm always going to be in a good relationship with my son? That's not true. It's like he has to do certain things. I have to do certain things. Look, if I do something wrong, I should confess it to any of you. It's all the same thing. It's about personal relationships when the Bible is talking about forgiveness. Matthew 6, 14. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Oh man, am I going to hell? Can you imagine if you equated that with salvation? I mean, none of us would get to heaven. Everybody's going to hell if that's the case. I mean, tell me you never held a grudge before. This is talking about just having, he's like, hey, you know what? You know what the Bible's saying here? And this is a clear doctrine in the Bible. The Bible's saying, hey, you know what? You want God to have mercy on you? Who wants God to have mercy on them? You want God to have mercy on you? You have mercy on other people. This is clearly taught everywhere in the Bible. Jesus talked about this all the time. He's like, you want to be just this unmerciful person who will never forgive anybody. He's like, God's just going to beat you with the biggest stick that he's got available. Now, it has nothing to do with your salvation. It's just talking about having a good relationship with your brothers and sisters in Christ and with God, your heavenly Father. Now, can you imagine how confused you would be if you equated remission with forgiveness? You know what you would be? You would be Catholic. You would be Lutheran. You would be Protestant because that is exactly the doctrinal problems. Turn to Hebrews 10, chapter 18. Let's take it up a notch. Turn to Hebrews 10, chapter 18. All it would take to just fall into this horrible false doctrine thinking that you had to ask for, you know, you basically had to, you know, works based salvation would be to equate these two words in the Bible. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 18. Hebrews chapter 10. Look at verse number 18 in your King James Bible. Look what the Bible says. And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. What's your Bible say? That's the NIV. What did the NIV just do right there? It equated, it replaced remission with the word forgiveness. You see why you need to have a King James Bible? Turn to Luke chapter 24 in verse number 47. Luke chapter 24 in verse number 47. Luke chapter 24, look at verse number 47. Luke chapter 24 in verse number 47. I want you all to get there. Look what your King, look down at your King James Bible in Luke chapter 24 in verse number 47. And repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. That's the NIV. You see what's happening here? You tell me that there's not an agenda behind these new, we just changed the gospel is what we did. We just changed remission of sins to forgiveness. Acts chapter 10 of verse 43 in the NIV. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives, I already read this to you from the King James Bible, receives forgiveness of sins through his name. It replaces remission everywhere with forgiveness. The NIV. You say, well, turn to Mark chapter 11. You say, well, maybe they switched. Maybe they went, maybe they didn't equate them. Maybe they, they replaced remission with forgiveness and then they put forgiveness, they put remission in forgiveness. Maybe they did that. Look at Mark chapter 11 verse 25, which would be completely wrong anyway. But look at Mark 11 in verse 25. Mark chapter 11 in verse 25. Look down at your King James Bible. Here's what the NIV says, and when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them so that your Father in heaven may forgive your sins. See? There's no way, there's no way reading an NIV where you could understand the difference between being saved and having a personal, good personal relationship with your heavenly Father. Can you understand how people are so confused? Just by having the wrong Bible. Look, it's sinister folks. It's on purpose. Why? Because the devil is behind it. That's why. The devil has always been trying to change God's word. I mean, God said is what he told Eve. He's always been trying to cast doubt on the word of God. That's why we need to have a King James Bible. The funny thing is though, you read the Bible enough, you read the King James Bible enough and you recognize these doctrinal differences, you can almost tell. You can almost tell. You can always be like, you know what? I bet that's changed in the new Bible versions and you go there, sure enough. You can, it's really cool. It's not cool that it's been changed, but it's really neat when you just, when you read the Bible and you know the word of God so well that you can be like, you know what? That's a really, that's a really kind of a subtle doctrinal change that could really mess up a lot of people. I bet they changed that and sure enough you'll find that they did. Now let's go back to the baptism of John. Hopefully I made that clear. That difference between remission. Look, remission of sins is what you were granted by having your debt canceled through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That's the remission of sins. Forgiveness of sins is, you know, you want to confess your sins. If I wrong wanted somebody in the church, I want to confess that and make things right. It's about personal relationships. I need to be confessing my sins to God. I need to be praying daily and confessing my sins to God. Why? You know how many people tell me? Just today it happened again. How many people tell me that in order to go to heaven you have to pray and ask for forgiveness? Everybody believes this. Why? Because look at the Bibles they're reading. Look at what the false prophets are telling them. It's like no, it's trust on Jesus. That's it. And then yeah, you should pray and ask for forgiveness for all the dumb things you do every day. You want a good relationship with your heavenly Father. Go to John Matthew 3. Let's look now at the baptism of John. Let's look into the baptism of John. That's all for introduction. That was the remission versus forgiveness in the Bible. Very clear. I mean the King James Bible you just can't change, look these words matter. Why? Because they're God's words. That's why. You know it's on purpose that God used these words. I look at it like these massive rounding errors. You know except they're not just rounding errors. They're just, they're on purpose clearly to change the Gospel. Look at Matthew chapter 3 verse number 1. In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. He's preparing the way for Jesus. Remember what Malachi chapter 4 and verse 6 said that we studied a few weeks ago is he was preparing, he's trying to turn the hearts of the fathers toward the children and the hearts of the children towards their fathers. What's he trying to do? Trying to get people's hearts right. So when Jesus comes they'll be ready to receive him as the Messiah. Right? Look at verse 4. The same John had raiment of camel's hair and a leather girl about his loins and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then he went out to Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan. Then went out to him Jerusalem, sorry, all these people from all these areas. And what? They were baptized of him in the Jordan. And look at this. Confessing their sins. You know what? Look, here's another thing that they were doing. They weren't repenting of their sins. Like this is another weird doctrine. They were confessing their sins. What does it mean to confess your sins? When the police come and they bring a murder suspect in, what do they want them to do? They want them to admit it. They want them to confess. They don't want them to, look, they could care less if he's like, listen, I'll never do it again. I'll never murder again. I'm going to stop murdering. I'll never, you know, this is this weird repent of your sins doctrine. You know, this repute meaning turn from your sins and like stop sinning. Yeah, good luck with that. But they were getting baptized. They were confessing their sins. What were they doing? They were admitting their sins. They were admitting that they were sinners. But look at the verse 7. Not everybody was though. Not everybody was admitting that they were sinners here. All right. But when he said many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, instead of them, he said to them, hey guys, how are y'all doing? Look what he says to him. This is like, this is hard preaching right here. He says, oh, generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come. Bring forth therefore fruits, meet for repentance. And think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our Father, for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also as the ax laid under the root of the trees, therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. What's he saying? Why wouldn't they get baptized? Because they're like, we're children of Abraham. We don't need any of that. They're like, they didn't feel like they had anything to confess. He's like, oh, because John the Baptist saw it. He said, you're not going to come here. He's like, you're not going to get your heart right. You're not going to turn your hearts towards the Lord. He's like, because you think that you just have this great ancestry that's going to carry you through everything. They were proud. They were proud. And look what he says in verse 11. He says, you're going to be cut off, basically. He's like, these people, then he starts talking about replacement theology. He says, the ax is going to be laid to the root of the trees. And God's able to raise up stones as children of Abraham, meaning everybody that believes on Christ is going to be children of Abraham is what the Bible teaches elsewhere. Romans, I'm sorry, look at verse 11. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. So he's saying, I'm baptizing for repentance. I'm baptizing so people get their hearts right. But he that come after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I'm not worthy to bear, he shall baptize you with what? The Holy Ghost. And with fire, whose fan in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. So the baptism of John is the baptism of repentance, the baptism of changing your mind, of turning, of turning. And look, what were they doing? What was the action that came? Just look at this. What was the action that came out of them being baptized? They confessed their sins. They acknowledged their sins. Now, look at this. You say, why was John there? Why was John there before Jesus? Why did God had to send him? So let me ask you this. What's the first step that we use when we go out soul-winning? Do we just go to somebody and say, hey, you want to go to heaven, here's what you have to do. And just show them one verse that you just need to believe on Jesus? No, because what is necessary for someone before they can get saved? It is necessary for people to acknowledge that they need to be saved. Because it is impossible to trust on someone if you don't believe that you're in any trouble. You're never going to grab a parachute if you don't think that you're hanging over a cliff, or you don't think that the airplane's going down. So everyone, and look, is it possible to get saved if you think that you're not a sinner? Because that's where we start. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And if somebody says, I have never sinned, we're done here. That person could never trust on Jesus. They will never trust on Jesus. Because why would they? Save from what? That's what the Bible keeps saying. Shall be saved. I mean, believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ. Now, I mean, it's all about being saved. What would you need to be saved for if you're perfect? But there is nobody that's perfect. There's just people that think that they are. So these people were getting right. It was that baptism of repentance. They were getting their hearts right. And look, this was still a believer's baptism. These people were saved. You say why? Because they were just looking for the Messiah. But they were just, they didn't know who He was. So John was just preparing the hearts of the people so when Jesus Christ showed up, they would know it was Him. It's that simple. It was a different baptism. It was one to prepare for the Messiah. But Jesus said, my baptism, I'll baptize you with what? The Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost. So these people were just getting right. They were just having a remembrance of their sins. They were just humbling their hearts, getting their hearts right. But look, this is where this doctrine of repent of your sins to be saved all comes from. You know, it starts with baptism. But still, here's the funny thing. It still doesn't say repent of your sins to be saved. It's still, the Bible never says that anywhere, anywhere at all. But all it says about what their sins, even with John's baptism, all it says that they were doing was confessing them. That's it. Admitting them. And this was the Pharisees' root issue, is that they didn't feel like they needed to admit anything. You can't get saved if you have nothing to be saved from. So this repent of your sins all comes from this doctrine that I'm talking about tonight. And look, it's got some weird variants. Let me just list some of the variants of this repent of your sins. And I'll show you how none of these variants this repent of your sins doctrine or any of its variants makes any sense. There's no way, know that you're going to heaven if you believe this doctrine. So here's the most popular one, is that you need to turn for me. This is what's the guy that Ray Comfort, this is the one that Ray Comfort preaches. He'll preach the whole gospel to somebody. And you're like, that sounds pretty good. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, trust on Jesus, all right? He's like, yeah, and then you just got to, all you got to do is just trust in Jesus and then turn from your sins. And then you'll go to heaven. I'm like, oh man, so close. But that's such a false doctrine that's out there and a lot of people preach it. So I mean, here's the thing. If you had to turn from your sin to be saved, good luck with that. Look, you should get sin out of your life. That's what we preach here. That's why I yell and scream every three times a week from the Bible is to get sin out of your life. But you will never become sinless. If you have to get sin out of your life, I mean, the question becomes, how much sin do I have to get out of my life? The Bible doesn't say because it has nothing to do with salvation. I mean, but here's the thing. A lot of people, they make up their own bar on how much sin they need to get out of their life, which basically means these people just think, well, if I'm pretty good, I'm going to go to heaven. No, you're not. No, you're not because you're trusting in yourself. And you're not, you've never trusted on Jesus. Many people are like, oh, at least make an effort. You have to at least make an effort, which, you know, I'm looking for that one in the Bible. Make an effort and then you'll get to heaven. Not in there. See what people do is they set their bar, their good person bar, people they believe in works-based salvation. They set their bar just high enough to where they can step over it. And it's not in the Bible, folks. Repent of your, turn from your sins to be saved is not in the Bible. But look, in everyone's mind, their effort is going to be good enough. Everybody thinks they're a pretty good person that believes this. Here's another one. Here's the, here's the Protestants. Here's how I grew up. Ask for forgiveness to be saved. You know, ask for forgiveness every single week in church and you'll go to heaven. Like this one doesn't, you know, how often? How often do I need to ask for forgiveness? You know, this is the Etch-a-Sketch theology is what I call it. You know, I ask for forgiveness and, you know, I confess my sins, I ask God to forgive my sins and then my state is clear until I sin again, which is in four minutes or whenever this next stupid thought that comes into my mind is. Because the Bible says a foolish thought is a sin. I mean look, what if I forget a sin? What if I did something dumb that I forgot to, look, none of us have a chance if this is the truth, which it isn't. It's nowhere in the Bible. It just flies against everything in the Bible and there's no way you could ever know that you were saved as the Bible says that you can, that you may know. There's no way you could know if any of this is true and it just contradicts everything in the Bible. So you can see how just like equating two words in the Bible leads to terrible false doctrine. You know, this is just one of the reasons that we're King James only here. I mean because it's, it's, it's, I try to, there's too many for one sermon or even one sermon series. Go back to Acts chapter 19. Acts chapter 19. Let's finish up. So they were baptized. They said they were baptized. They don't know what the Holy Ghost is. They were baptized with this baptism of repentance. They're saved. You know, they're saved as a baptism for the remission of sins. So their sins had already been remitted. Okay, their sins had been remitted and they got baptized confessing their sins, just getting right, just being ready for Jesus coming. Look at Acts chapter 19 verse 5. And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. So he baptized them in the name of Jesus. So anybody that gets baptized here, so when you get saved today, look, there is no baptism of John anymore. Because why? Because Jesus is here. That's why. All right, so there's no need for a preparation for Jesus because Jesus has already come. So when you get baptized here, you're going to be baptized, you know, in the name of Jesus. You're going to be baptized in the name of Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them after he baptized them, the Holy Ghost came on them and they did what? The same thing as Acts chapter 2, they spake with tongues and prophesied. Again, prophesied meaning they spoke the word of God, not blub blub blub blub. So this baptism of Jesus, this baptism in the name of Jesus, this is, go to Romans chapter 6 and verse number 4, this is what you will be baptized. If after you're saved, this is the baptism that you should immediately get baptized with. Right here, go to Luke, I'm sorry, Romans chapter 6, Romans chapter 6 and look at verse number 4. Romans 6 and verse number 4. Why? Because this is why, right here, it says, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. So yes, it's similar, but now it's in Jesus' name and it's a picture of us identifying with our Savior's death, burial, and resurrection. That's what the believer's baptism is, right? And look, it's talking about how we should walk in newness of life. So this is the first act of obedience that we should take as believers. It's just showing God like, hey, you saved me, thanks for that. You know, thanks for saving me. Thanks for giving me this gift that I didn't deserve. And you say I should get baptized to identify with my Savior? No problem. It's just an ordinance. It's just a command of something that we should do. And look, here's the thing. All these people in the Bible were filled with the Holy Spirit after they did this. I think it's important for your Christian walk. I think it's something that God wants you to do. And God will help you in your Christian walk if you show that first step of obedience. Now, if you get saved and you're like, ah, I'm saved, thanks for that, I'm not going to do anything that you tell me to do, though. I mean, you're still saved, but God's like, what? But I just saved you. I can only imagine. But look, it's important, being filled with the Holy Spirit, that is what helps you do great works for the Lord. Who would say they don't want to do that? Who would say they don't want to do great things for the Lord? Look, it's all about showing our obedience and our willingness to walk with Christ. That's what baptism is about. And the Bible says in Romans chapter 8 and verse number 9, it says that being filled with the Holy Spirit is also about whether or not if you just go with the flesh all the time, you're not going to be filled with the Spirit. But if you're grieving the Holy Spirit and you're in the grieving Holy Spirit your whole life, you're never going to be filled with the Spirit. The Bible says you need to deny the flesh and follow the Spirit, which means obey what the Word of God says and the first act of obedience should be baptism. And look, Luke chapter 11 and verse number 13 says, look, if you just ask for the Holy Spirit, God will give it to you. That's another thing. Just like just ask for the Holy Spirit. You know? So look, baptism is important. It's the first act of obedience, you know, being baptized in the name of Jesus. And look, it is tied directly with these people being filled with the Holy Spirit. It's super important. It has nothing to do with salvation. And the way that people equate it with salvation is because they just mix up this word remission with forgiveness and all these new Bible versions and they just twist up all this doctrine. Look, anybody that's adding works to the gospel, you know it's wrong somewhere. All right? So that is the baptism of John. There was two baptisms, but there's only one today because Jesus is here. He's come. And we are only baptized in that baptism today. So thank God for that. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.