Some Can Not be Saved

Some Can Not be Saved
John 3:16

Good evening to everyone. It's a pleasure to be here. Mark said don't worry if he passes out. I've never had that problem with anybody when I've been preaching, but I have had a problem with people going to sleep sometimes. That's the one I have to watch out for.

It is a privilege to be here. It is great to see Ralph and his family and to be with Dale and have some of us guys that were in class together for two years at the Memphis School of Preaching. That was certainly some great days. We look back on them with fondness and it's hard to believe it's been that long since we were in school.

Time goes by in a hurry. I've enjoyed time this week. I got to go to Lake Erie yesterday and to go to see the Graveside of James Garfield today and John D. Rockefeller and Elliot Nest and the man that invented the phrase rock and roll. I never knew that.

We learned that today that tomorrow we get to go to the NFL Hall of Fame. My daughter said, I didn't know there was that much up there to do. I didn't either, but am finding out there's a lot to do here. It's good to be here and study God's word. There's nothing better that we could be doing, is there?

That's the greatest thing that we need to know is what is the will of God. How does God want us to live? The Bible tells us. Let's look at the topic first. It may sound strange to you, but our topic tonight is Some Cannot be Saved. That seems contrary to what we've already been studying because we're here to teach the Gospel and we've offered if anybody wants to study the word of God we would be glad to do that at any point.

Let's look at some things first. Let's notice in John 3:16 and a verse that we've used a couple of times already in this meeting and a passage that everybody knows well. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. What? Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

That seems to defeat the case that I just said, doesn't it? Jesus Christ came, that man may have life and live forever with God when he comes back. Let's notice some other passages.

First Timothy 2:4. The Apostle Paul is writing to a young evangelist. Notice what he says in reference to God who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. God wants people to know truth. Notice how very important truth is.

He wants men to come to the knowledge of the truth, not just any thought, but what is truth? It still sounds like I'm building the case that people can be saved and we're going to go through some things tonight. We'll eventually come to a conclusion before this is over.

Second Peter 3:9. I remember in school, by the way, in Brother Liddell's class, having this chapter given to me to present a sermon on in class. We had to be timed. You had to have a time. If it was ten minutes or 15 minutes, whatever it was, you were not to go over. If it was 15 minutes, don't stop at ten minutes, don't go to 20 minutes.

We were taught those things. Notice what is said in Second Peter three, verse nine. The Lord is not slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness. God keeps his promises. We know that.

We know that God does what He says that He will. Notice what he goes on to say, but is long suffering to usward not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Why hasn’t the world come to an end already? Sometimes people get into a conversation. You see what's going on here and there in our country and around the world.

Why does God keep putting up with it? That verse answers that right there. Because God is long suffering. He doesn't want anyone to perish. There are people out there that when the Gospel is presented to them, they will still obey the Gospel.

We have some brethren out there, and this is at every congregation. It doesn't matter where you're at. We have brethren that have fallen away. God knows that some can be brought back, maybe not all, but some can. God is long suffering.

He doesn't want any to perish, so he bears with us. When you stop and think about it, God bears with us for a lot of things, doesn't He? We as his children sometimes don't always do what God wants us to do, but he's long suffering. Notice another passage, Hebrew 7:25. The Hebrews writer said wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, Jesus, He ever liveth to make intercession for them.

All these passages look like this is leading to salvation. That's true. Jesus makes intercession for us. Aren't we glad that we have that? I'm glad that I have somebody pleading my case.

We have the greatest attorney that we could ever have in Jesus Christ. I know you probably have them here, too. We have those back home. We call them ambulance chasers. When these attorneys get on TV and say call them if you're in some kind of automobile accident.

That's not really the kind of attorney I want to represent me. I want somebody that is upright. We have the one that is the most upright in Jesus Christ. He pleads our case. What does that mean? We're in good hands, right? Let's go back to what I started with. There are some that cannot be saved. Let's notice some of those situations tonight. With this being said, maybe we as God's children can help them to get over the hump with these things.

We want to always keep that in mind as we go through this. That's always important, because if you look back in our lives, before we were Christians, what were we? I know this is pretty simplistic, but before we were Christians, we were lost? Right? We were living in sin.

God, through his Son, through the blood that he shed on the cross, made it possible for our salvation. We didn't stay in the same condition that we were. There are other people that can do the same thing. Notice first some people that cannot be saved. There are those who do not desire salvation. Yes, there are some that simply don't want to have anything to do with God. That would certainly include the atheists, the evolutionists, but much more than that. There are some people that know and believe in God. That's not really the problem. I'm not going to obey Him. I'm going to do what I want to do. They can't be saved because they don't desire salvation. They had rather be on the weekends or in the evenings when they get home drinking and doing whatever they do. They had rather do that than serve God. They don't desire the salvation that is made possible by God.

Notice in Romans 1:28, and there's some other reading there we could do, but we won't cover that in this particular sermon. Romans 1:28 says, even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, didn't even want to think about Him. That's getting pretty bad, isn't it? God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. The King James says not convenient, not right, and not proper. Go do those things, but when you read the entire context there in Romans one, you're not going to enter the kingdom of God living like this.

There's some that just simply don't have the desire to serve God. One thing that we do and have done since I've been at Chalmette is knocked on doors. It has to be in the thousands. Ralph and Dale and myself, when we were in school, we learned in campaigns about knocking on doors. I don't know if I ever told you two guys about being there.

I don't know who went to Godfrey, Illinois, and somewhere in Indiana. I got with Patrick Morrison. I know you remember he was a year behind us. We were out knocking on doors, and we went to one apartment. We knocked on this one. Patrick and I would take time about, and it happened to be Patrick's time, and this one worked out well for me. He knocked on this door. I'm Patrick Morrison. This is Mark Lance. A woman said, I don't care who you are, and she slammed the door. She didn't want to hear about God. So we proceed. You don't stop because somebody slams a door in your face. You can't do that.

Think about what Jesus went through. Are we going to stop because somebody slams a door in our face? Of course not, but it's not over just yet. We went on to the other apartments up above. We come back. She had put the dog outside on a chain. She certainly didn't want to hear about the Gospel. Some people don't want to be saved. They're not interested in what God has to offer. That's a shame, isn't it? They just don't want anything to do with it.

Think of the great price that has been paid so that we can be saved. Remember what we've already read. God wants everybody to be saved. That's his goal. That's the reason that Jesus died, that all men could be saved. It doesn't mean they're all going to be saved.

Number two, some cannot be saved because they reject the Bible. We have the word of God, and we mentioned that last night. If we read the Bible tonight, come back next year. Next year it's going to read the same. It doesn't change. It doesn't need to be updated. It still tells man how to be saved, how to live, how to treat other people. Yet some are not satisfied with this. They want to come up with something else and teach for themselves what will benefit them, what they like. We could go into other subjects that I'm not going to go into tonight, but we don't have the time for that. They change, even the worship. Why do they do it? It pleases them. I like it. That's not the way that we look at it when we worship God. It's not what pleases me.

When we come together to worship, as God has commanded us, we should enjoy that, so don't misunderstand, but there are some that are not satisfied with what God said and they want to go beyond that and worship in a manner that is not pleasing to God. They reject the Bible and set their own standard. Notice in John 17:17 what Jesus said sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Thy word his word. The apostles that he sent out were guided by the Holy Spirit, thy Word is truth.

Where does that leave the other words of men? Another testament? It's not the word of God is it? God has given us all things that pertain to life and Godliness. What else do we need? We've already got it. We have all that we need.

Notice also John 8:31-32. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him. If you continue in My word—conditional now they believed on Him. Here's a condition if you continue in My word, then are you My disciples indeed. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Who's the audience? It always matters who's speaking, who's being spoken to. Jesus speaking, speaking to people that believe. He says if you continue in His word, not the words of some other men.

There were people in the days of Jesus and the apostles that were teaching things that were not true. Jesus had to deal with that. There were false apostles claiming to be from God. Jesus said if you abide in My truth, you can be saved. He also said something else—you can know the truth.

Do you realize some people think that you can't really understand what the Bible says, you just can't know it. God didn't give us this word right here and give us a word that we can't comprehend. That wouldn't be a loving God, would it? He gave us a word that we can understand. Even me, I can understand the plan of salvation, how hard it is.

Is it to understand? He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. How many years do you have to go to school to understand that one? That's pretty simple, isn't it? That's not a complicated plan.

You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Then again, in John 14:6, Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one cometh unto the Father but by Me. Well, there are some that have said, some are very popular people too in our society, “Jesus can't be the only way.”

That would make Jesus a liar then, wouldn't it? Because he says you can't come to the Father except by Him. There's somebody teaching that Jesus is not the only way. There's another way that you can be saved.

They both can't be right, can they? Because they're teaching different doctrines, different things. Abide in the truth, the word of God. We read also back in the book of Hebrews again chapter four, verse twelve, where he says for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow and as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. God knows even our thoughts.

This Word, it pierces even to the heart. This Word does all that it needs to do. We don't need anything else. Some are not content with that, are they? They want more than that. You can't be saved that way. Jesus said I am the way.

Number three, those who trust in their own goodness. Some of you are going to think of some situations like this. That sweet lady, she seems so nice and she does good things. She even takes baked goods to people. That's wonderful, isn't it? That is great that she does that. Here's the problem with people like that. Think about this. If we could be saved by our own goodness, if I could be good enough to be saved, Jesus would not have to have come here and died on the cross. I cannot be saved by what I do.

I can't earn my salvation. That is that very thing. That is when somebody says, what did I do that was wrong? There's something sometimes that we misunderstand about being Christians. Sometimes people think of the list. Here's what the Bible says don't do. There it is. There's certainly some things the Bible says don't do. No doubt about that. You know that God's going to say some things of that nature.

There's another part of that that's just as important. There's things that God tells us to do, to be out doing and helping, helping others. When we are Christians, members of the body of Christ, and we help, it brings glory to God.

Hurricane Ida, we get the hurricanes where I live. I guess you guys get the snow and the tornadoes and different things. During Hurricane Ida we were able to set up and power was out, but we still had enough people that showed up and cooks came. We fed over 17,000 people with hot meals doing that. That brings glory to God. Who did that?

Who helped people? We had a whole semi that came down from Nashville of boxed goods and we gave those out. We had a group from Mississippi that came over, young people that have stronger backs than I do, and they unloaded that truck in a heartbeat. It helped a lot of people. That also happened to be the week that I caught COVID. That was a difficult week. No electricity and we've got a hurricane and now I've got COVID. Anyway, we could help people by the things that were there. There's something also that's interesting. There was a man that showed up just by his own desire to do it and wanted to help. How many times do you see that? Not a lot. Do you? It's usually you're trying to find somebody who will help.

This guy showed up and he helped. The next day he was there again. Next day he said, I'd like to talk to you. I said sure. We went in the office and sat down and he asked the question that any preacher wants to hear. What do I need to do to be saved? We covered that.

Sometimes you go through lengthier studies. You can do things different ways. When people ask you that direct question, you might start in a different place. We went through that study. He did not obey the gospel that day and we studied more. A few months later he became a Christian.

On the third Sunday nights, we have singing and a fellowship meal afterwards. This past Sunday night and the one before, he led a song. Here's a man that just simply showed up to help people, but along with that, he learned the word of God. He was saved by that.

He didn't trust in his own goodness. He said what must I do? I know there's something that I have to do. He was willing to do that. He is always ready when somebody needs something to be done, you can call upon him. We still study to this day. We study normally once a week when things are intact.

Now to get back to the passage I was on. Let's look at Matthew 7:21-23. We were talking about those that trust in their own goodness. This passage covers that not everyone that saith unto me, lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. You can stop there. There are a lot of people that do that very thing. Lord, we love you, Lord, this.

Keep on reading. But not everyone that saith. Lord, Lord, unto me shall enter the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven, many will say to me in that day, lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works? What is Jesus going to say? Then will I profess unto them. I never knew you depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. There's only one way you can be saved, and that is through Jesus Christ.

They had devised their own plans. Here's how we're going to serve God. We still see people like that today. I used to work at a community college, even did through Hurricane Katrina. I worked there for 15 years. We had a guy and I knew him quite well, talked to him often when he came up to me and said, I want to be baptized. You would think, well, that's great, isn't it? I said, I'd like to sit down and study with you a little bit. He got extremely mad because I said that I wanted I'd like to sit down and talk to you, son. There were certainly some things to talk about because I knew him. I knew that he was living with a woman. I knew that he was living a worldly life, drinking and everything. I also understood we needed to talk.

Are you ready to repent? Not just be baptized. You need to repent first. He didn't like the repentance part, just the baptism part. Obviously somebody else in a different group baptized him. That's one thing we need to learn in the Lord's church. Some people are not ready to be baptized. They have to repent first. Don't they? Peter told those on the day of Pentecost, repent and be baptized and you shall be saved. Your sins will be washed away. Just because one had never sat down to speak to him, he was very angry. People were looking around, what's going on here? Some people refuse to obey the will of God. I want to be saved my way.

In Jeremiah 10:23, he said, O Lord, I know the way of man. It's not in himself to direct his own steps. It's only in thee to walk and direct his steps. It is in God, isn't it? That's the only way that we can do it. Jeremiah understood that. Go back to the days of Jeremiah. Can you imagine anybody that has stepped in a pulpit? Jeremiah was told to preach. Go preach to the people, and they're not going to listen.

That would be a tough one. That would be a hard one, but that's what he was told and he did it. There were some false prophets that said, it's not going to be like Jeremiah said, all those things are not going to come to pass. What happened? Just like the word of God said, it came to pass. What those false prophets said, they couldn't be saved by their own goodness, by any other man's way of salvation. It had to be by the way of God. That was the only way they could be saved.

Number four, those that can't be saved—those who refuse God's call. We are called. Some misunderstand that badly. They think that the Holy Spirit comes and speaks to them. He does not.

Once we have the completed will of God, once the last letter and all the books were put together, what we call the Bible, we don't need anything else. It's finished. God is not going to reveal anything else to us. One example you can look at a building. When I was growing up, my father, he built houses and various things and he laid the bricks on the outside. When you were laying the bricks, you had to have some scaffolding on the outside when you got to a certain point. When you got there and all the bricks were laid, what did you do? The scaffolding came down and was taken away. It's not even there anymore. Those miraculous indwellings that people had, like the apostles had, they don't exist anymore.

How did people get the power to do various things? Acts eight, verse 18 says, when the apostles laid their hands on them, they imparted the power to do that. When those people died, and the apostles died, we have the complete revelation of God. That's the end of that period.

Notice this and this passage will answer that Second Thessalonians 2:13-14. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Notice sanctification of the spirit. Now we're seeing that thing. We’ve got to keep on reading. You can't stop there. That's not the end of the writing. Whereunto? What was already said whereunto he called you. How did he do that? He called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. How are we called by the gospel? By the word of God. That's the only thing that will save people. The preacher can't save anybody. It's not within me or any other man. We don't have that ability. God does.

There's power in that word, power that saves man. In Romans 1:16, Paul said, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it, the gospel of Christ, is the power of God unto salvation. He understood there's power in the gospel. One time I was preaching, actually when we were in school, and I think Dale went over to this congregation and preached one time, just a small group. We would go over on Sunday mornings and preach.

There was an older man, member of the church, but he wanted to entangle a young preacher. Sometimes you meet those guys and that subject came up, well, how do you know that's how God speaks to us? I referred to this passage and then after that he didn't say anything else. That happens sometimes, you meet those people.

How does God speak to us? Through his word. Stop and reason. If God gave some this plan of salvation and gave others another plan of salvation, I might like that one better than this one. God's not fair.

God is fair. He gave the one gospel in order to be saved. In Hebrews 11:6, But without faith it is impossible to please God. For they that come to God must believe that he is and he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

We can put some emphasis on that word, diligently. That takes some effort, doesn't it? We should want to put our heart, our entire being into knowing God's will. Our salvation is the most important thing that we have. It's not our houses, our cars, our 401K, those things are all going to perish at some point. The house that we live in, do you realize at some point somebody else is going to stand in front of that house and say, this is my house. It used to be ours, didn't it? It's going to change. It won't always be ours. It may have the same number on it, going to be in the same location, it won't belong to Mark anymore. We can't keep those things, but you can keep what God has given unto us and what we call the Great Commission in Mark 16:15-16, and Jesus said unto them, go into all the world.

What are you supposed to do? Would you go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature? He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned. Preach the gospel. Preach the word of God. Jesus, why do you want us to preach the word of God? Because that is the only thing that will save man's soul. We see even people in the Bible, like Demas that once was faithful, but for whatever reason, he went back out into the world. He forsook Paul. He turned away from that. He turned away from the salvation that he had and no longer followed God as he should.

Number five, those who will not turn from their sins. That covers quite a few people, doesn't it?

They are not willing to change their life. God, here's how I'm going to serve you and you better accept it. They don't say it in those words, do they? Their life, that's exactly what it is. Yes, they may even go to services sometimes, or may not go to services sometimes. If you ask them are you going to heaven…

I know you have been to funerals and you know the people. Of course, the preacher gets them right into heaven. I knew them pretty good. I didn't know all those things about them.

We go to heaven based upon God's word. Jesus is the judge, not man. I can't preach anybody into heaven or out of heaven. Only the word of God can lead us to heaven. Notice in Isaiah 59:1,2, what the Old Testament prophet had to say. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save. God can reach out and save us. That's not the problem. He can. He will. Keep on reading. Neither is his ear heavy that it cannot hear. God could hear us if we would call to Him in the right manner. What is the problem? He tells them, but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear.

I'm living a life of sin, but I still want to go to heaven. It won't work. You've got to turn from those sins. I will not stick out my hand to save you. I will not hear your prayers. He knows the people pray, but if they're not serving him according to his will, he will not save them. It must be according to his will. Sin is a bad thing. Sometimes we do this. I think we've been guilty of this, probably a lot of us. Big sins, little sins. You know what the big sins are and what the little sins are, don't you? Other people have the big sins, I have the little sins. That's usually how that works. I don't have those big sins.

What the problem is? Sin period. That is the problem. Isaiah said, it will separate you from God. That's pretty powerful, isn't it? Isaiah spoke some powerful words. He was inspired to write this. Isaiah also foretold about the coming of the Christ. He never saw that, but he wrote about him some 750 years before he ever came. Isaiah had some strong faith, didn't he? And he was willing to teach the truth.

Sometimes they didn't treat the prophets so well. Today what's the worst usually here, at least in America now, it could change. Don't think that it couldn't change, but the worst thing is somebody slams the door, somebody says something bad to you. It’s not that we like those things. That's not what they went through. They went through beatings, or like Jeremiah put in a mirey pit, but they still stood for God.

Notice in Luke 13:3, let's go to the New Testament and the time period of Jesus. Jesus said, I tell you nay except (unless) you repent, you shall all likewise perish. I thought Jesus was loving. Didn't you? Jesus is supposed to just save. Isn't he just like a big teddy bear? Jesus loves us more than anybody could ever love us. Dying on that cross like he did, that is true love. Man's never seen any love like that. He says, except you repent, change your life, change the direction you're going. That was verse three. Go to verse five. He says exactly the same thing again. Why? For emphasis sake. This means something. It's important. Does Jesus love us? Did he love us when he said those things? Yes.

He wanted them to repent. He wants all of us to repent. That would include those who have never become Christians. Those that are, when we do sin, go to First John, of course. If we walk in the light, as is in the light, we have fellowship one with another in the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleanses us from all sins. It's a continual walk, a continual cleansing. Even though we've become Christians, we're not going to be perfect.

I had a brother one time, he had become a Christian, I studied with him. Unfortunately, he's fallen away since then, and this may be one of the reasons he fell away when he was a member and he was doing some good things. Anything that he did that was wrong, yes, if it's wrong, you shouldn't do it. We agree with that. It was like, I can't be saved anymore. What was happening he depended upon himself. You can't do it that way. You can only be saved through the blood of Jesus Christ. Quit carrying that weight on your shoulder. Turn things over to God.

There's going to be some big things in life that happen. You can't bear them by yourself, but with the help of God, you can. Notice Matthew 16:24. Then said Jesus unto his disciples (Who's speaking? Jesus unto the disciples), if any man come after me, (any man doesn't matter who it is, and that means mankind.) Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

I thought we were saved by the grace and mercy of God. We are. Absolutely. You can't be saved without the grace of God, can you? You can't be saved without the mercy of God, but we're also saved when we do our part. God wants us to do something. He said, Take up your cross you're following me, you're teaching God.

We were talking on the way over here as we were riding here. There's a shortage of preachers in the brotherhood. Sometimes in congregations there's a shortage of members. There's that small nucleus, and the weight of the congregation should be upon everybody. You will notice in most congregations, I think you will find this to be true. Likely here. There's usually more women carrying the weight than men. Men? Where are they? They need to do what this says right here and take up their cross and follow Jesus.

The last one, number six, those who reject the death of Christ cannot be saved. This is the last group that we're going to look at. In Romans 3:23-25, it says for all have sin. Again, who's writing? Paul. Who's he writing to? This is important. He's writing to Christians. Christians. You need to understand this.

You need to understand some things that have taken place in life and that are taking place in life and that will take place in life. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, been justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God. Look at the plan God has for us. Jesus is bearing our sins.

Why did he die on that cross? Not a single sin was his, was it? Mine were part of it. All of ours were, weren't they? Every man that has ever lived and that means mankind, all of those sins he died for, all mankind. He was the only perfect sacrifice. No animal sacrifice could do it. The blood of bulls and goats can't take away the sins, but the blood of the Lamb of God could. Do you remember Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane? Father, if there be any other way, let this cup pass from me. What? But thy will be done. He's bearing his cross. Thy will be done. Father, I'm going to do what you told me to do. What did he say on the cross after he'd been there? Father, it is finished. Into thy hands I commend my spirit. I did what you wanted me to do. This wonderful plan works.

We're going to stay in Romans for just a little bit. Let's go to Romans 5:-8-9. But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners there, there's where we are. And remember Paul's writing to members of the body, that's where I was. I need to remember that Christ died for us much more than being now justified by his blood. We shall be saved from wrath through him.

That's how we're going to be saved, through him. You reject that. If you reject that, there's no other way, there's no other plan that will save you. There may be something that becomes popular with some people, but it won't save you. Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can.

One thing to think about, sometimes is people may try to make the Christians look like they're not very smart people. You ever watched a movie and somebody's supposed to be the religious person and he looks like a dork all the time? That happens so often, and evolutionists and the atheists, they think we're not smart. I beg to differ.

I beg to differ if you think that there was nothing and it became all that we have. It became the Earth, the sun, all the planets and all the stars, and everything is perfectly aligned. If the sun was any closer, we would burn to death or any further away, we would freeze. Look at this earth. Some of the things I've seen even today like Lake Erie.

You go down where I live. We got the Gulf of Mexico. I love to fish. I've seen a lot of the kind of different, various fish. They say man crawled out of that did and he became male and female, and they procreated and finally become to what we are. You think my faith is crazy? I think you're the one that has the problem--not being a Christian.

Do you understand? Never be ashamed. Remember what Paul said. I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. Never be ashamed to be a child of God. You don't have to be.

In Romans 6:3-4, Paul said, no, you not. We might say today, don't you know that so many of us were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death, 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. I remember the date, the time when I became a Christian. I remember I had boots on, they were shaking just a little bit, but I still remember the time, of course, the person that baptized me. You buried something, he said, something was buried. What did you bury? That old man of sin. What was resurrected? He said, resurrected to walk in newness of life. What did Jesus talk to Nicodemus about in John chapter three you must be born again. There's that new birth you see Paul even telling about it. It’s the same thing here.

The last passage I want us to look at is First Corinthians 15:3-4. Paul says, for I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received. What he received, not what some man says, how that Christ died for our sins. How do you know that? He says, according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day.

How do you know that? According to the scriptures? Brethren, we have the same message today, don't we? According to the scriptures. This evening if anybody here is not a child of God, we can certainly help you. We've covered several scriptures that talk about becoming a Christian, and that's important. If there's something in our life that we need to take care of, never let it stand between you and God.

Let me tell you, it's not worth it, is it? Then I mentioned also sometimes people fall away because they didn't take action at one time themselves when they needed help, not necessarily living in sin. That's not what we're talking about. They were struggling, needed help, but didn't ask. They could have had the help they needed.

Brethren that are faithful, we need to be built up, don't we? That's what it is about being a child of God. If we can help you in any way, please let it be known as we stand, as we sing.