The Presentation of The Christ

Luke 2:21-35

The Christ Event Part Four

V. 21-24...After Jesus was born and at the appointed time Joseph and Mary being just and devout Jews observed all the ceremonies of the Law of Moses. There were four altogether:
1. Circumcision on the 8th day; the sign of the covenant, Gen. 17:10
2. Naming the child; Jesus, as the angel said, Matthew 1:21,25
3. Purification of the mother; 40 days later, Lev. 12:2
4. Presentation of the child in the temple; Num. 3:12,13
This was done because Jesus was born "under the law" Gal. 4:4,5
He was born subject to the law (not above it) and obeyed it perfectly. He had to in order to be the sinless sacrifice for sin.

V. 25-27...Of all the characters of the Christmas Story, Simeon is one of the most overlooked, yet most interesting. The wise men and shepherds had their place in the story, but they came and went and said nothing memorable or profound. Simeon’s words are heavy, and loaded with divine insight.
Three times in these three verses The Holy Spirit is mentioned in connection with Simeon:
v. 25...Holy Spirit was upon him
v. 26...Holy Spirit revealed to him he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
v. 27...The Holy Spirit led him to go to the temple at the very time that Jesus would be there.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ and point men to Him, Jn. 16:13,14.
...and here we see the Spirit doing just that.
Simeon takes the baby in his arms and speaks. He has three themes; salvation, missions, and prophecy.

V. 29,30...Now Simeon is ready to die. Very few of us are ever ready to die. After all, we come into this world kicking and screaming and go out clinging to the very last breath. However, we can be prepared to die, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ.
"Depart" has several meanings: to release a prisoner, set sail in a ship, take down a tent, II Cor. 5:1-8.
No one is ready to die until they have seen the Lord’s Christ through the eyes of faith. Death, for God’s people is a matter of closing your eyes and seeing the light. Death isn’t fatal for the Believer.

V. 31,32...This had to be inspired for this would have been a very unusual statement for a Jew. Messiah would bring the light to the Gentiles...Isa. 60:1-3
Simeon sees the salvation of God going out to all people, not just the Jews.
Jesus has restored the glory to Israel; Shekinah glory, the presence of God in power and majesty.
Ezekiel saw the glory depart...Ezek. 10:4, 18; 11:22.

but Jesus brings the glory of the Lord back to the temple by His presence.

There were three temples:
Solomon’s temple, which was destroyed by Babylon; Jews exiled because of sin
Zerubbabel’s temple, which was so inferior many Jews wept remembering the old one.
Herod’s temple, which stood in Jesus day. 40 year renovation by Herod wasn’t even completed when Jesus was born, or when He was crucified. His death on the cross put the priests and temple out of business and made it obsolete.
There is no verse in the Bible which speaks of the glory of God coming into the second (Zerubbabel’s temple) or the third, Herod’s Temple.

Jn. 1:14...When Joseph and Mary brought the baby Jesus to the temple it was the first time in over 700 years that the glory of God came into the temple. Lk. 9:32

V. 34,35...As a true prophet, he tells the good and the bad; both the Bitter and the Sweet aspects of the coming of the Savior. Too many people only think about Jesus at Christmas time; the sweet baby meek and mild who brought joy and peace.
There is a "feel good, gospel lite" that many want. But not even Jesus made people feel good all the time. Many opposed and hated Him,...His own people, Jn 1:9-11.

Simeon said, "This child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel."
I used to think that this meant that many would reject Christ and fall to eternal destruction, and many would receive Him and rise in the resurrection to eternal glory.
That’s true. Jesus is the chief cornerstone; but to some He is the stumbling stone of offense.
But that’s not what Simeon is saying here. Read it closely...He is talking about many Jews who would "fall" in conviction of their sins, and repent and then "rise again" in salvation.

Even today many stumble over the meaning of the cross. It is Bitter-Sweet.
He was a "sign which shall be spoken against" or, contradicted. It’s still going on today: In government, public schools, and the entertainment industry to name a few.
In some places it is illegal to post the 10 Commandments, or for Chaplains to pray in Jesus’ name, and to pray at all before ball games and graduations. Why? Because Christ is the sighn spoken against.
The College of William and Mary removed the cross from its chapel because it was offensive to some, and wanted to be more inclusive of other religions.
Books and movies like: The Passover Plot, Last Temptation of Christ, and the DaVinci Code are all blasphemous works of heresy. Why? Because Christ is still a threat and the sign spoken against. Many would rather believe Hollywood than God.

Your response to Christ will reveal the true thoughts of your heart. There must be the bitter conviction before there can come the sweet salvation. "What think ye of Christ?" Matthew 22:42

The Incarnation of The Christ

Matthew 1:18-25

The Christ Event, Part 3

We begin this morning first of all by reiterating what has become our church motto which is:
"The Bible is true. Even the parts we do not understand. We do not criticize the Bible; but the Bible criticizes us. We do not correct the Bible, the Bible was given to correct us.

It is important that we establish the ground rules because today we come to that sermon in our series "The Christ Event" which deals with the incarnation of Christ.

Ever since the first century there have been those who have either rejected, mocked, or ignored this great doctrine but as we will see, it is important that we understand and believe this critical teaching of the Bible. In this sermon we will examine the fact of and the purpose for the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

First of all, let’s define the term:
In the incarnation of Jesus Christ, God the Son assumed a human body and nature. Without ever ceasing to be God, He became a man, temporarily setting aside His glory, but not His deity. It was the union of perfect God and perfect man in the person of Jesus Christ. Not only was this a miracle, it was unique to Jesus Christ alone.

It must be made clear that we are not talking about reincarnation. Reincarnation is a pagan, heathen, false teaching which says that we are subject to a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth until we reach the perfect state. The false prophet Edgar Cayce, Henry Ford, and Gen George Patton (as well as some of the poets) all believed in reincarnation, but the Bible settles the issue once and for all in several passages, Heb. 9:27, Lk. 16:26, and Eccl. 12:7.So, if you insist on believing a lie that’s your decision, but you cannot use the Bible to support reincarnation.

The Fact of the Incarnation

The incarnation of Christ is taught plainly in the Bible. In the Christmas Story of Matthew 1:18-25 the angel of the Lord makes a few things plain:
1. The child is conceived by the Holy Spirit, and Joseph should not be suspicious of Mary,...

v. 18-21.2. The child was to be named Jesus, and the purpose of his coming into the world is to save his people from their sins...v. 213. This is a fulfillment of the prophecy given by Isaiah over 700 years prior,...v. 22,23; see also Isaiah 7:14

.
II Cor. 1:20 tells us that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all the promises of God. In other words, at Christmas God kept His promise by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to be the Savior of mankind,...Gal. 4:4,5.
In the incarnation God identified with the human race... Matt. 7:23; Lk. 3:23-33...and in so doing put away sin, and the fear of death...Lk. 2:10; Jn. 16:33; Matt. 23:20

The Purpose of the Incarnation
1. The incarnation was necessary so that God the Son have a body so he could experience the same temptations we do...Heb 4:15Not long ago there was a religious, although idolatrous, fad going around called angel worship where people were actually praying to and singing hymns to angels.
The angel Gabriel cannot sympathize with us in our temptations, because he has never known temptation in the flesh.
Now comes the Son of God who assumed a fleshly body like ours so that he could experience all the trials, infirmities, and temptations we do.
In other words, God knows what you and I are going through, and He is able to help us. Heb. 2:18.

2. It was necessary that God the Son have a body in order to endure bodily suffering and death
If he were God and not a man, he could not die. And if he was not God His death could not have infinite value.
If Jesus was God only, He could not have died. If He went to the cross just as a man, his death would have meant no more than the death of any other man.
Some say Jesus was just a good, moral man; others say He was a great teacher who died for His cause, others say He was just a prophet, one among many. But the Bible says He was the Son of God who died in our place to satisfy God’s wrath on sin, I Jn. 1:7.

3. It was necessary that God the Son live out a life in a human body so that His righteousness could be imputed to us.
When Christ died on the cross, He died for our sins. The righteous law of God was broken and the law had to be satisfied, just like in our civil courts.
On the cross, our sins were placed on Christ and He suffered and died in our place as though He were the guilty party.
When we repent of our sins and place our faith in Christ a divine transaction takes place, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to our account. And the old account really was settled long ago.
This righteousness only comes to us through faith in Jesus Christ.
There are those who believe we can work for and earn all or part of God’s righteousness but the Bible says it comes only by faith, Eph. 2:8,9.

It means that we don’t do "church stuff" in order to be saved, but because we are saved. Not because he have to, but because we want to. But, if the incarnation is false there is no reason live a moral life.

The incarnation makes the rest of the Bible make sense; How Jesus could do miracles, why demons feared Him, how He could die for forgive sins.

Preparing for the Messiah
Galatians 4:1-7

The Christ Event, Part Two
December 16, 2007

"Are you ready for Christmas? is a question we hear a lot at this time of year.

Your answer will probably be one of three responses: "Yes, I am" or "No, I'm not" or "I'm as ready as I'll ever be."
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem the world (especially the Jews) had long been awaiting the coming of the Messiah, and God had long been planning the birth of His Son in that manger.

Lk. 2:1-5 Caesar Augustus decreed that all the world must be enrolled for tax purposes. A census would to be taken and everyone had to return to their hometown to be enrolled.
Caesar didn’t know it, but he was actually being used by God to get Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem so Jesus could be born there according to the prophet Micah 5:2.

No other nation in all the world, and in all of human history had the blessed opportunity that Israel had. Of all the nations on earth, God had chosen them to be His special people. God gave to Israel:
His laws, priesthood, and temple to teach them righteousness and how to worship rightly and how to deal with their sins
The prophets and the covenants to teach, and comfort them
The Holy Scriptures to comfort, instruct, and warn them
The judges, and kings to give leadership, stability, and direction. And in spite of all this they turned their backs on God.

The prophets had done their prophetic work,
The priests had done their priestly work, and
The kings had done their political and kingly work and it all served to prove that mankind could not be brought savingly to God by keeping the law, or by obeying the preachers and kings because they were incapable of it.
Ezek. 7:24-27...As a result of their disobedience, God turned them over to the wrath of man but even that served His purposes. Then came 400 years of "Divine Silence."
For four centuries after Malachi no prophet spoke or wrote, no angel was sent with a message. There were no dreams or visions sent by God to anyone in Israel.

But just because God was silent, it does not follow that He was inactive. God was orchestrating and moving in world events to prepare the world for the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

During this time Alexander the Great conquered the known world in 12 years and united Europe and the Middle East into one culture.
Greek became the universal language of writing and commerce.
National and cultural barriers were broken down; ideas from all over the world were accepted
The OT was translated into Greek and people other than Jews began to read the holy scriptures.

Then the Romans conquered the Greeks; and thanks to the Greek and Roman Empires the world was one.
Pax Romana...The Peace of Rome. Rome ruled thew world with an iron fist, and crushed any uprising anywhere in its empire.
Lex Romana...The Law of Rome. A legal system that civilized the world.
Via Romana...The Way of Rome. Rome built an elaborate system of highways of over 50,000 miles and a postal system.
Travel was free and the roads were open to the public, patrolled, guidebooks and maps, stables and inns were everywhere.
This was the the shape of the world when Jesus was born into it: peace and safety, one language, one monetary system, great roads, and a great postal system.
A situation like that would make the spread of the gospel so mush easier wouldn’t it?
Because there were great roads and travel was free and easy Paul could travel anywhere without even a passport
Because there was one universal language, the apostle Paul could preach everywhere he went and be understood. He wouldn’t have to learn a new language everytime he crossed into a new country.
Because there was a good postal system in place Paul could write letters to the churches all over the empire and communicate God’s Word to them. Paul puts it like this, Galatians 4:4,5

So, the time was just right when the Son of God came into the world born in Bethlehem.
This is no myth, or legend. It is historical fact.
When everything was just right in the world, God broke His 400 year silence with the cry of a baby in a manger. That baby, the virgin born Son of God grew up to become the Prophet, Priest, and King and came to earth to redeem us from the curse of the law and our sin.

I. God sent forth His Son...Jesus didn’t come from the world as we did, He came into the world. He was always God the Son and the Son of God. Jn. 3:16

II. Made of a woman...He who had no mother in Heaven,had no father on earth. It was the seed of the woman that was to bruise the serpent's head, Gen. 3:15. With the birth of Christ, God became man in order that man might be brought back to God.

III. Made under the law...Man had broken God’s law and Jesus came not only to be subject to it, but to obey and fulfill it perfectly. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves, lived a perfect, sinless life.

IV. To Redeem...He then offered that perfect life as a sacrifice on the cross as an atonement for our sins. In doing so He accomplished our redemption, I Peter 1:18,19
Jesus Christ fulfilled all the prophecies and promises of God, lived the perfect, sinless life, and gave that life on the cross for our redemption so we could be adopted into God’s family,
Gal. 3:26

Have you received the Son of God by faith? Are you really ready for Christmas?

The Prophecies of Christ

The Christ Event, Part One

Isaiah 7:14; 9:6,7

December 9, 2007

Dr. H. Leo Eddleman was the wisest man concerning the Scriptures I ever knew.
- He and his wife were missionaries in Israel prior to the outbreak of WWII, but they were then called home by the U. S. State Department.
- He earned Phd. in Hebrew, and became a professor at Southern Seminary in Louisville.
- He was president of Georgetown College, and also president New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and the Criswell Center for Biblical Studies
- When I met and knew him he was a professor of Old Testament at Clear Creek Baptist Bible College. He could lecture the full hour without a Bible or notes of any kind, and did many times.
One day as I walked by his study door he invited me in and we began to talk. He asked me, "Of all the events around the life of Christ, which is the most important? Is it His virgin birth, sinless life, His death on the cross, His resurrection, or His ascension back into Heaven?"
He could see I had no clue as to how to answer, so he answered it himself. "All aspects of the life of Christ are equally important. You cannot eliminate a single one of those events in the life of Christ and retain the gospel message. They all stand or fall together. So, taken all together, I prefer to call it the "Christ Event."

Today I am beginning a series of sermons called the "Christ Event." Between now and Easter I plan to preach on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ from the prophecies until His death, resurrection and ascension back into Heaven.

Of all the gods in history, only one had his birth, life, and death foretold in his own "holy book." This is one way we know the Bible is the true, inspired Word of God,...fulfilled prophecy.
Isa. 7:14...Immanuel was promised to Israel
A "sign" was a miracle which signified God ‘s intervention in human affairs. King Ahaz was under attack and rather than find help in Egypt, Isaiah was telling him that God could deliver him and Israel from the enemy.
But remember the most important rule about reading any O.T. passage is, "What does this teach me about Jesus?"
When the prophecy becomes history, the history becomes prophecy.
This verse looked forward to over 700 years in the future to the birth of Christ.
But it would be no ordinary birth,...a virgin would give birth to the Son of God, Matt. 1:23.
In heaven He had no mother, on earth He had no father.

Isa. 9:6,7...Immanuel’s Character
To the Hebrews, a person’s name had a meaning and indicated his or her character.
Names given by God were especially significant:
Isa. 8:3,4, the prey speeds. Those who preyed upon Israel would temselves be destroyed.
Many names and titles were given to the Messiah:
His personal name is "Jesus" which means, The one who saves.
Another is "Immanuel" which means, God with us.
In our text we see four more titles given; Wonderful Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, and The Prince of Peace.

What was true then is still true today. There was conflict between God and His people:
They were not looking to their God for His counsel and wisdom, they were trusting in their own might instead of the power of God, they had forsaken the eternal for the temporary, and as a result they had no peace.

The Prince of Peace...Hate is strong that mocks the song of peace on earth, goodwill to men.
ILLUS...Our presidents have been men who have tried to broker peace in the world. And the result has been wars and rumors of wars; WW II, Korea, Viet Nam, Desert Storm, 9-11, Afghanistan and Iraq, not to mention the sabre rattling going on in North Korea and Iran.
Every evil, maniacal, tin-horn dictator is invited to address and is even applauded in the United Nations, but the doors of the UN are shut tight against Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. And we wonder whay there is no peace on earth when the Prince of Peace is kept out as an unwelcomed, uninvited intruder.

Rom. 5:1,2...The Good News is that the Counsel, Power, and Love of God that the nations reject can be received by individuals by faith in a personal, saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
Man-made peace treaties are fragile and easily broken.
The peace God gives to the soul is not only real, it is also eternal.
The guilt is gone, and we are justified by faith in Christ.
Friendship and love replace guilt and conflict.
Add to this the access we have to God through Christ, and here the apostle says is where we stand,...firmly and safely.
...and in Christ is found our only hope for God’s counsel, power, love, and peace.

The Victory of Faith

I Thessalonians. 1:1-10

November 25, 2007

BACKGROUND
The book of I Thessalonians is most likely the oldest book in the New Testament being the first of Paul’s writings, even predating the gospels.
Paul was writing to commend them for remaining steadfast and their growth in the faith, and also to teach them about the second coming of Christ.

V. 4...THEIR ELECTION
The free will of man and the election of God will never be fully understood this side of Heaven, but remember the Bible teaches both.
"How do we reconcile these two truths?" a man once asked Spurgeon. "I never try to reconcile friends. They are not contradictory, but complementary."
ILLUS...Like rails on a railroad track running parallel, but meeting in the distance at the vanishing point on the horizon.
To the Father...we were saved when He chose us in Christ before the world began, Eph. 1:4
To the Son...we were saved when He died on the cross for us
To the Holy Spirit...we were saved when we repented of our sins and placed our faith in Christ alone.

I believe in election because the Bible teaches it.
Jesus, John, Peter, and Paul all spoke on the subject.
Some call it Calvinism, but that’s just a nickname.
John Calvin didn’t come up with the doctrine, nor did Paul.
(Besides Calvin was no friend of Baptists)

I’m not a Protestant or Reformed Baptist, I am a Historical Baptist
All the founders of our denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the founders of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, to a man, believed in and preached the doctrine of election as it is taught in the New Testament, and they were evangelistic.

I believe in and love the doctrine of Election because without it no one would ever be saved.
Jn. 6:44...God puts the desire in our hearts to be saved, then He draws us to Himself in conviction.
Jn. 6:37...No one is predestined to Hell. If you die and go to Hell, you’ll have no one but yourself to blame. But if you go to Heaven, you will have no one but God to thank.
So then, why be evangelistic and missionary? Because we are commanded to be, Mk. 16:15.
We are called to preach the gospel to as many people as we can, and leave the results to God.
We get off track when we try to do the Holy Spirit’s job Him. If the Holy Spirit can’t move someone after they have heard the gospel, I figure I have no business trying.
I cannot say that I understand all about election, but neither do I understand allabout the virgin birth, the Holy Trinity, and the hypostatic union, but I believe them all.

V. 5...THEIR EVIDENCE
The evidence was spelled out in v. 3:
Jn. 6:29...Their work of faith, labor of love, and the patience of hope that was evident in their lives.
II Peter 1:10...It was how they made their calling and election sure.
The Word came to them in power and assurance by the Holy Spirit. It gave them the power to change their lives and assurance to persevere in trials and temptations.

II Thess 2:13,14...Election also enables us to spot a true believer from a make believer
ILLUS...A Muslim man from Pakistan was in the congregation in a revival service where I was preaching. He was very attentive, and at the end of the service he shook my hand and said, "I enjoyed your lecture very much!" He had listened attentively, but to him it was just a lecture and not the Word of God coming in power and assurance.
Preaching is not a lecture, an address, or a speech,...it is a sermon. It is God speaking His Word through an individual.
A true gospel sermon can be preached to anyone, anytime, and anywhere because the gospel does not change, ever.
A speech or lecture is usually tailor-made to fit that particular crowd, and is some man’s ideas.
It is not important what I have to say, but it is all important what God has to say.

Faith in Christ is the most important matter in life. But so many people are entangled in things that do not matter; sports, hobbies, etc.

100 years from now it won’t matter how many fish you caught, how many trophies you won, or how many trinkets you were able to collect.
But 100 years from now the only thing that will matter is did you receive the Word of God, the message of the gospel? Did it come to you in power and assurance?

It is so important that it will probably have an effect on your own children and grandchildren.
V. 9...For their sake alone is reason enough for you to turn from your idols to serve the living and true God.

V. 10...THEIR EXPECTATION
These believers who were experiencing temptations from within and persecutions from witout could bear it all patiently because they were waiting for the Son to return
He had Himself been raised from the dead and became the firstfruits

But there is another reason to trust God, to escape the wrath of God, v. 10.
God is perfectly just, and that is why no one will get away with their sin.
He punished Christ on the cross when He paid the penalty due us. God will not punish two people for the same offense.
You can trust Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, or spend all eternity in Hell paying for your own sins.

The Priesthood of All Believers

I Peter 2:5,9 (Rev. 5:9,10)

As we go through this series of sermons on the Historic Baptist Distinctives, one thing that is plain to see is that they are all based solidly in the Bible.
Remember our first distinctive is that we believe in the Sole Authority of the Holy Bible.
No other creed, confession, or tradition of men supercedes what is plainly taught in the Bible.

It is very important that we have solid doctrinal beliefs to guide us and that we get our doctrines only from the Bible because a doctrineless church is s directionless church.
- and, a doctrineless church is a spineless church who have no great convictions which shape their principles.
- they avoid controversy at all costs, forget the sacrifices of their forbears, and are easy prey for every new religious fad that comes down the pike (such as the tongues movement) and are easily led into heresy.
- they do not sense the dangers of liberalism, nor do they understand the issues involved.

Definition...Every true Believer is a priest before God and may enter into His presence in prayer directly through our great high priest, Jesus Christ. No other human mediator is needed to represent man to God. There is no hierarchy in a New Testament Church, and every Believer has equal access to the throne of grace. As priests we may study the Bible, pray for ourselves and others, and offer spiritual sacrifices to God.

At the heart of the teaching called The Priesthood of All Believers, is the idea that the Christian faith teaches that all true believers have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
- Faith is established and maintained only through Jesus Christ. I Tim. 2:5
No one is competent in themselves to bypass Christ and go to God directly on their own, Jn. 14:6b.
- How well we cultivate that relationship is up to us, because no one can do it for us.
- Baptist have always believed and taught that this relationship is direct, while others teach that it is indirect, and one can only approach God through another person called a priest.

- That is another reason that Baptists are not Protestants. We were never a part of the Roman Catholic church, and so we did not “protest’ and come out of her as did Martin Luther, John Calvin, and their followers. You cannot come from somewhere you have never been.

Not only are we able to go to God in prayer, we must do so because according to the New Testament there is no proxy or ceremonial evangelism.

Misunderstandings and misinterpretations

Priesthood is a great privilege and a great responsibility, and like every other teaching there are misunderstandings:
- Don’t think that because you are a priest that you can do anything you want, or that you can interpret the Bible any way you and even change it teachings to mean what you want it to mean.
- It doesn’t work that way, and we are still responsible to get it right.
- God is never worshipped by a lie, no matter how sincere the worshipper may be, Jn. 4:24.

As we study the Bible and pray Holy Spirit leads us into the truth, Jn. 16:13,14.
- We are not allowed to invent our own doctrines, they are only revealed by God, Matt. 16:17,

I Cor. 2:1-5.

The Duties of New Testament Priests

Every Believer has direct access to God through Jesus Christ, and the Church is a fellowship of priests serving together under the Lordship of Christ.
- In the Old Testament only the high priest could represent man to God by coming before the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies once per year.
When Jesus was crucified, the veil separating between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies was miraculously ripped into two pieces, Mk 15:38.
- By His death Jesus opened the way to God, and there is no more need for the temple, an altar, sacrifices, or an established priesthood.

Our duties primarily consist in three things: Sacrifice, Witness, and Intercession.
1. Sacrifice...Rom 12:1,2; Phil. 2:17
We are to offer ourselves as spiritual sacrifices in worship to God and in service for others.

2. Witness...I Peter 2:9 “proclaim the praises…”
The church is to be God’s witness to the world. Israel failed in this and was rejected.

3. Intercession...It is our privilege and duty to pray for ourselves, and others that they may come to know the Lord, and be comforted in their time of trouble and trial, Heb. 4:12-14.

As we can plainly see, the doctrine of the Priesthood of All Believers is a precious teaching that, as much asany other, makes known to us the great privilege and responsibility we have as God's people.

The Ordinance of the Lord’s Supper

II Corinthians 11:23-34

Sermons have differing purposes, but mainly they are to Evangelize, Edify, and Educate. According to II Thess. 5:23 each person is a three part being, that is, we have a spirit, soul, and a body. With my body I relate to my environment, with my soul I think, invent, and relate to myself, with my spirit I relate to God.
I believe that a good sermon will relate to all three parts of a person. It will give us something to feel with the soul; something to think about with the spirit, and something to do with the body.

In most all Baptist Churches you will see up front a table and chairs. The table will usually have the inscription, "In Remembrance Of Me". This speaks of a memorial meal in which the partaking of the broken bread and the fruit of the vine commemorates in a figure the broken body and shed blood of Jesus Christ.

In Roman Catholic and most all Protestant churches you will see an altar up front, but not in Baptist Churches, and that is because Baptists are not Protestants.
We never were a part of the Roman Church, and nor could we protest and come out of the Roman Church.
Nor are we “Reformed Baptists,” but we are “Historical Baptists”. The doctrines we believe and practice are found in the New Testament and have not been changed or updated to this day.

The reason we have no altar in a Baptist Church is because an altar speaks of a sacrifice for sin, (that was the purpose of the altar in the Temple) and we believe that the sacrifice was made by Christ on the cross once-for-all almost 2,000 years ago and never needs to be repeated again, Heb. 9:26,28; 10:10-12.

There are at least three conflicting views of the Lord’s Supper that have been held down through the ages:
1. Transubstantiation...The Roman Catholic view that when the priest consecrates the bread and wine it actually becomes the body and blood of Christ. Although it is unchanged outwardly, they teach that the substance changes and they actually partake of the body and blood of Christ.
2. Consubstantiation...The Lutheran view which denies that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, but yet still teach that in some unique, mysterious way Christ is present in the substance of the bread and wine.

3. Symbolic...The Baptist view that the bread and fruit of the vine are entirely symbolic. The Lord’s Supper is meant to be a picture, or visual aid to commemorate the broken body and shed blood of Christ for our sins.
Matt. 28:20...Our Lord has already promised to be with us always, and is no more present with us when we observe the Lord’s Supper than He is at any other time. We may be more aware of His presence because we are focused, but He is always there.
The Lord’s Supper is in no way salvific. That is, no saving grace is given for partaking of the Lord’s Supper; taking the Lord’s Supper does not save, nor help save anyone.
Unlike baptism, the Lord’s Supper is to be perpetually observed until Christ comes again.

How often should we observe the Lord's Supper? The Bible doesn’t say. But I believe it should be often enough that we do not forget it’s significance, but not so often that it becomes routine.

Someone once said, “I’d rather see a sermon than hear one.” In baptism and in the Lord's Supper we can see in a symbolic representation the essence of the gospel message. The ordinances preach the gospel message in a figure, and their purpose is to keep the gospel pure and plain.

Baptism pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and our identification with Him in dying to the old way of life, being buried in a watery grave, and rising to a new life in Christ.

The Lord’s Supper pictures the suffering Christ endured as He went to the cross. His body was broken and His blood was shed for us. He really suffered and He really died and that perfect life untainted by sin was offered for us as a sacrifice for our sins, and it was accepted by the Father as the full payment for sins.

How do we know the Father accepted Christ’s sacrifice of Himself on the cross? Because three days later God raised Him from the dead, and in the ascension exalted Him to His right hand in heaven, Mk. 16:19; I Tim. 2:5.
In Rom. 8:32-34...We have the gospel in a nutshell.

Like sheep we are prone to wander away from the shepherd and even forget His mercies and grace. The ordinances are pictures to remind us of what He did for us, so that when we observe them we will not forget His sacrifice and promised return.

The design of the Lord’s Supper is to “show forth His death until He comes again.” I Cor. 11:26

In the ordinances there is the retrospect...“Christ died for us.” Rom. 5:8
There is also an introspect…”I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live…” Gal. 2:20
But in the Lord’s Supper there is also a great prospect…”This same Jesus...shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1:10,11.

Now we come to the question, to whom did our Lord commit the ordinances?

To a certain denomination? To those disciples? Or, to His churches?
In the 1st century there was only one denomination.
It could not have been committed just to those 11 disciples for the same reason baptism was not committed to them as the ordinances would have died out with them.
We believe that Jesus committed the ordinances to His churches to be observed in and by them alone.

No denomination can make the exclusive claim to the rights of the Lord's Supper.

No individual, nor any other club, organization, or society has the right to observe or authorize baptism or the Lord’s Supper as the church does.

Why do we restrict the Lord’s Supper? It is true that we only invite those who are members of this church to partake of the Lord’s Supper with us, but we do not restrict it. At the close of every service everyone present who is not a member is given the opportunity to join this church. And, if you are a Christian and believe as we do you will be accepted into the membership.

However, if you are not a Christian, or even if you are and do not believe as we do, I can’t imagine why you would want to observe the Lord’s Supper with us anyway.

If you are not a member you are more than welcomed to attend and worship with us in any regular worship service, but membership has its privileges and one privilege of church membership is participation in the Lord’s Supper.

No one is ever required to join, and will never be pressured to join, but you are invited to join if you believe as we do.

Baptism is the door to church membership, and is a prerequisite to the Lord’s Supper.

BELIEVER'S BAPTISM

Romans 6:3-9

(Number Two in the series on The Baptist Distinctives)

Today I would like to preach on the subject of the Ordinance of Baptism, and what Baptists have historically believed about it. I say historically, because many today have forgotten our history and heritage and have backed away from what our Baptist forbears have stood and suffered for in the past.

In Baptist history there have been many who suffered and died at the hands of the state church because they dared to stand on the principle of Believer's Baptism by Immersion Only. And for Baptists today to forget, ignore, or otherwise "dumb down" the ordinance for convenience sake or to spare someone's feelings is a terrible slight to those Baptists of former generations who sacrificed, suffered, and died to stand for the truth of scripture.

Baptism is one of our ordinances (Lord’s Supper being the other) and a Christian ordinance is defined as a rite or ceremony ordained by Christ Himself to be observed in and by the churches.
An ordinance is a symbol that pictures the gospel message and keeps it plain and pure. In fact, whenever the church began to go astray and become corrupt from within it always began when men tampered with the ordinances and changed certain aspects of them.
For example, neither ordinance saves or even helps to save anyone. As we will see, we are saved by faith in Christ alone. Baptism is not required for salvation, but it is required for obedience. We are not saved by our obedience to be baptized, we are saved by faith in Christ’s obedience to the Father in going to the cross to pay sins penalty.

Our baptism pictures the message of the gospel and when we submit we publicly identify with Christ through His church.
Why do Baptists insist on immersion, while others think it is proper to sprinkle or pour?

For one thing,...Jesus Christ was Immersed..."And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water" Matt 3:16 The Scripture is clear that Jesus was immersed, and Baptists insist that this is the proper example for every believer to follow. Because of this and the following reasons we insist on a baptism that is taught in the New Testament our sole authority for faith and practice.

We are called Baptists not because we are followers of John the Baptist, but because of our strict interpretation of what the New Testament teaches concerning baptism. We believe that there are four biblical requirements for a New Testament baptism:

I. A Scriptural Authority...A New Testament Church.
Matt. 28:19,20...Jesus gave the authority to baptize to the church, not individuals.
v. 20b...Obviously those men would not live to the end of the world, but the church would, Matt. 16:18.

No one has the right or authority to baptize whomever they please, the authority to perform baptism resides in the local church. The church then, may authorize whomever they please (usually the pastor) to actually perform the baptism.

II. A Scriptural Method...Immersion only.
In 1604 the leaders of the Church of England asked King James for permission to translate the Bible into the language of the people. The king agreed to this more for political reasons than spiritual, and in 1611 the King James Version came off the press. When the scholars came to the word Baptizo in Greek, they did not translate it - they transliterated it. They lifted it out of the original and coined a new word "Baptize." But the word still means to dip, plunge, or immerse. Every translation since has done the same thing.
There are Greek words for sprinkling and pouring, but they never appear in the New Testament. There is no justification whatsoever for changing the method.

III. A Scriptural Candidate...A Believer; someone who has already repented of their sins and placed their faith in Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness. There is no record in the New Testament of any unbeliever being baptized.

Likewise, there is no record of any infants being baptized since they do not have the mental nor spiritual capacity to repent and believe. Being still in a state of innocence, they do not yet have the need for redemption, Jn. 9:41.

The grace of God covers those who are mentally handicapped or too young to exercise repentance and faith. Those who have no mental and spiritual capacity to understand the nature of sin and the grace of God are not charged with the sin of rejecting Christ.

IV. A Scriptural Purpose...To identify with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. Only immersion pictures this. This is the purpose of baptism; to symbolically portray the gospel message, I Cor 15:1-4.

As we see from our text baptism is not pictured as a bath which washes away our sins, but a death to the old life of sin, a burial, putting away the body of filth, and a resurrection to walk in newness of life.
Sometimes Acts 22:16 is used to prove that baptism is a washing, but the grammatical construction of the verse is not that sins are washed away by baptism, but by calling on the name of the Lord. The Bible never contradicts itself, and this agrees with the rest of the New Testament, Acts 2:21; Rom. 10:13.

Accordingly, we believe also that the salvation pictured by baptism is eternally secure because of Christ’s intercession for us.

When Jesus rose from the dead He rose never to die again. Here is our picture of eternal security.

Therefore, we reject as invalid a baptism not authorized by the New Testament, baptizing infants and unbelievers, sprinkling and pouring and calling it baptism, baptizing in order to be saved, baptizing without a proper authority, and baptizing with the belief that you can lose that salvation once it is gained. These are all considered unscriptural and invalid by the Word of God.

In the first century there was only one church. In the last 2,000 years hundreds of denominations have cropped up everywhere. Most of them have doctrines and observe practices that are not found in the Bible. But if you take all the doctrines and teachings of all the denominations, and subtract from them everything that is unscriptural, the net result will be the doctrines of a Baptist Church!

Did the first church believe:

...that the Bible was their sole authority for faith and practice?

...in salvation by grace through faith alone?

...that baptism is only for Believers and has no saving efficacy?

...in Eternal Security?

...in Local Church Autonomy?

The answer to all these questions is YES, and so do we, because we are Baptists!

Jekyll Island Sunrise

Science and the Bible
"The heavens declare the glory of God"

Psalm 19:1

The Bible is not particularly a science book, but in every instance where it speaks on scientific matters it does so accurately. This cannot be said of the ancient writings of the so-called holy books of other religions. Were the Bible to make such preposterous and blatant errors concerning scientific facts we would have reason to doubt what it says concerning Christ and the way of salvation. But as we shall see, the Bible is true because it was inspired by the same omniscient God who also set the laws of science in motion.

ASTRONOMY 1. THE EARTH HANGS IN SPACE ON NOTHING..Job 26:7
Many years ago man could not imagine how this could be until the gravitational pull between the earth and the sun was discovered.

2. THE EARTH HAS A SPHERICAL SHAPE...Isa. 40:22
The Hebrew word which Isaiah uses is a word which means "orb", which means round like a ball and not round like a CD. It took Columbus, Magellan, and NASA to prove this when people thought that the earth was flat. (The Hindu holy book, Vedas, states that the earth is flat, triangular, and is supported upon the backs of elephants.)

3. CLOUD BALANCING..Job 37:16
Clouds are floating in the air, balanced by two forces: gravity pulling them down, and warm air pushing them up. How did Job know this? God told him!

4. PLEIADES IS A BOUND CLUSTER...Job 38:31
The Pleiades is a cluster of about 500 stars which are bound together and not expanding or breaking up to go their separate ways. This is an uncommon situation in space as the reverse is usually true of all open or galactic clusters. Scientists say that Pleiades is 50 light years across and 410 light years away from earth and even as the universe is expanding the stars in this cluster are "bound together" by gravitational forces and cannot break apart to expand on their own course.

5. ORION'S BAND, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS LOOSED...Job 38:31
The constellation Orion is a star system that is steadily expanding outwards, which is just the opposite of the Pleiades. The gravitational bands that hold Orion together have been loosed and the stars are steadily drifting apart. Orion is 350 light years across and 1600 light years from earth. This distance is so great it is not observable to the naked eye.

MEDICINE
6. ALL MANKIND CAME FROM ONE WOMAN...Gen. 3:20
DNA is found in every cell, in both the nucleus and the mitochondrial, or energy station. Mitochondrial DNA is always and only inherited from the mother. Analysis of this DNA in humans from all over the world shows that all humans on earth have inherited it from one woman.

7. THE BLOODSTREAM CARRIES LIFE...Lev. 17:11
From about 400 BC to 1900 BC a procedure called "blood letting" was popular in the medical profession. Sick people had blood drained from their bloodstream as a supposed therapeutic measure. As a result millions of people died including George Washington. People thought that the blood carried disease instead of life. Today we give blood to sick people, and see that the Bible was right all along.

8. LEPROSY WAS TO BE QUARANTINED, AND INFECTED ARTICLES WERE TO BE STERILIZED BY FIRE...Lev. 13:46, 57
The law of Moses, inspired by God, stated that the infected person should be separated from the general population to prevent the disease from spreading. This measure helped check the spread of "Black Death" or the Bubonic plague in the Middle Ages.

HYDROLOGY
9. THE WATER AND WIND CYCLES...Eccl. 1:6,7
Rain falls on the land, runs into rivers to the ocean where it evaporates into clouds which are blown by the wind back over the land and the cycle is endlessly repeated.
Wind is caused by the uneven heating of the around the earth by the sun. The sun also heats the surface of the earth unevenly.

METEOROLOGY
10. THE SUN IS THE SOURCE OF THE EARTH'S WIND
SYSTEMS..Job 38:24
Air above hot areas such as land expands and rises. Air from cooler areas then flows in to take the place of the air which has risen. This is called circulation.

11. THE WINDS MOVE IN CIRCUITS...Eccl. 1:6
At the equator, the sun heats the air causing it to rise. In the upper atmosphere this air flows away from the equator. When the air returns to the surface of the earth, it flows across the surface. This moving surface air produces the six belts of prevailing winds around the earth.

12. THE WINDS HAVE WEIGHT, HENCE AIR PRESSURE.. Job 28:25 Torricelli invented the mercury barometer and proved that air has pressure and hence weight, just as the Bible said about 3,200 years ago.

13. THE FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS...Gen. 2:2
No new matter or energy is being created in the known universe, it is only being changed from one form to another. Matter and energy can change forms, but they cannot be destroyed.

14. THE SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS...Heb. 1:10-12
Disorder in the universe is increasing. Systems are running from a high to a low state of energy. In other words, everything is running down and decreasing in power and substance. For example, the sun itself will eventually burn up.

In the Library of the Louvre in Paris, France there are 3.5 miles of obsolete science books on the shelves. Today they are but museum pieces, and cannot be relied upon for scientific research.

The Bible is true, even when it speaks upon scientific matters because the God who inspired the Bible is the same God who created the universe and set the laws of physics in motion. Every "new science" (archaeology, e.g.) that has been discovered since the writing of the New Testament has served only to verify the truth of scripture. The Bible is truth without any mixture of error, even when it speaks on scientific matters.

The Sole Authority of the Holy Bible

II Tim. 3:16,17

(Number one in the series on "The Baptist Distinctives")

I believe that it is vitally important that we Baptists know who we are as to our heritage and history, and what we believe as Christians in general and Baptists in particular. We are living in a time when many churches have decided to take the name "Baptist" off of their church sign for fear of giving an unfavorable impression and in favor of passing themselves off as a community oriented with non-offensive doctrines and beliefs. "Come one, come all" is the battle cry in their quest for nickels and noses all the while forgetting (or worse, never knowing) the great sacrifices of our forbears who without wavering would earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints, Jude 3.
What is especially grievous is that all the while we are seeing Baptists back off from their name and heritage, we do not see the cults doing that. Every Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses and every Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is plainly marked so there is no doubt who meets there. However, some Baptists appear to be ashamed or want to conceal their identity from the public. I, for one, am not at all ashamed to be called a Baptist and in the next few weeks I will share with you why. We have a grand and glorious heritage which needs to be shared, and not hidden.

The historic distinctive principles of the Baptists are those doctrines or practices which distinguish us from other Christian denominations.
All Christian denominations believe in the essential or cardinal doctrines: The Holy Trinity, Virgin Birth, Sinless Nature of Christ, Substitutionary Atonement, Bodily Resurrection, Ascension, Second Coming. But in the coming weeks we are going to be taking a look at those distinctive beliefs that Baptists have always held that distinguish us from other denominations. Baptists believe that the Holy Bible alone is the inspired Word of God, and the believer's only rule of faith and practice I Tim. 3:15; II Tim-2:15, 3:16-17; Heb. 4:12

The Bible Itself is Proof of the Existence of God
A. IT'S UNITY...The 66 (39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament) books of the Bible were written over a period of about 1,400 years by more than 40 men from various backgrounds and cultures. They were shepherds, fishermen, farmers, kings, priests, prophets, tentmakers, etc. and yet they never contradict one another in any instance.

B. IT'S ACCURACY...Hundreds of fulfilled prophecies, accurate archaeological and historical information, factual scientific information all testify to the fact that the Bible is true.. John 3:11,12

C IT'S PRESERVATION...No other book in history has been as attacked and suppressed as has the Bible, yet it is indestructible, Ps. 119:152, Isa. 40:8.

Only The Bible Answers the Crucial Questions of Life

Questions concerning our Origin (Where did I come from?); questions of Meaning, (Why am I here?), questions of Morality (How should I live?) and questions concerning Destiny (Where am I going?) are all answered only on the Bible.

The Main Subject of the Bible is Jesus Christ and the Redemption He came to Achieve for Mankind, Eph.l:3-14 Our Redemption was:
1. Purposed and Planned by the Father...I Jn. 4:9,l 0
2. Accomplished by the Son, Jesus Christ..Matt,20:28; I Cor. 15:3,4
3. Revealed and made Effectual by the Holy Spirit...Jn. 16:7-9; 13,14

In other words, "God thought it, Christ bought it, the Holy Spirit brought it, the devil fought it, but we got it. "
The first of our Baptist Distinctives is that we believe "the Holy Bible is our sole authority for faith and practice". We can make such a statement and believe it because of the Bible's:
1. Authority...All the words in the Bible are God's Words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey and word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.

2. Clarity...The Bible is written in such a way that all things necessary for our salvation and for our growth in the Christian life are clearly set forth in Scripture.

3. Necessity...The Bible is necessary for knowing the gospel, for maintaining spiritual life, and for knowing God's will. No other source reveals God and His will as does the Holy Bible.

4. Sufficiency...The Bible contains all the revelation of God that we need for salvation; for trusting and for obeying Him completely.
Nothing can be added to the Bible with equal authority. No other book is on par with the Word of God.

Only the Bible Reveals God's Plan of Salvation for Mankind, II Tim. 3:16,17

All Scripture...The serpent began by tempting Eve, "Hath God said? " casting doubt on God's word. But the scripture says, "Thus saith the Lord."
All the Bible is truth, we don't have to wonder which parts are inspired or uninspired; it is truth -without any mixture of error. All of the Bible is our reliable authority.
You agree with Satan anytime you generate questions and cast doubt on any part of the word of God.

I. Doctrine...Some people despise sound biblical doctrine and would rather hear the pleasant things and have their "felt needs" met instead. But the apostle Paul said that we are to preach it, Titus 2:1
Doctrine is simply "Christian teaching"...or what's right.
We don't need to defend the Bible...C.S. Lewis said the Bible is like a lion, turn it loose and it will defend itself.

II. Reproof...scripture is the Holy Spirit's instrument to bring conviction of sin,...to tell us what's not right.
Like a mirror, the Bible reveals our sins and faults. No other book can do what the Bible does. Most psychology books tell us nothing we ever do is our fault, the Bible tells us we are sinners. Rom. 3:23

III. Correction is "improvement"...How to get right. After the Spirit reproves us, He then shows us the right things to do. Punishment alone is not correction

IV. Instruction in Righteousness...How to stay right. We never outgrow our need of instruction. Everyone always needs to be taught the things of the Lord to be fully equipped.

The Bible alone reveals the plan of salvation:
I. Our Need..Jn 3:18
II. Our Provision... Jn 3:16
III. Our Security...Jn. 5:24; I Jn. 5:13

I took this picture of these ossuaries, or bone boxes, just outside of Jerusalem. There are thousands of these in the Holy land which have been discovered and stored in the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The Lost Tomb of Jesus?

On Sunday, March 4 the Discovery channel will air the documentary, The Lost Tomb of Jesus. In the program it is stated that in the Talpiot neighborhood of Jerusalem a tomb has been unearthed which is believed to be the family tomb of Jesus. Actually, the tomb has been "unearthed" twice before, so there is no new discovery here. In the Talpiot Tomb (which is just one of about 900 in the area) ten ossuaries were found in 1980 with names etched on the outsides. As published, they read as follows:
Yeshua` bar Yehosef - "Jesus son of Joseph" (It is debated whether this inscription could read Hanun bar Yehosef)
Maryah - "Mary"
Yoseh - "Joses," short for "Joseph"
Mariamene e Mara - "Mary also known as Mara" - (the only inscription in Greek)
Mattiah - "Matthew" (no relation ever given of a Matthew as being related to Jesus)
Yehudah bar Yeshua` - "Judas son of Jesus"

These bone boxes were removed, catalogued, and stored with thousands of others in the Israel Antiquities Authority many of which were also inscribed with the names Jesus, Mary, very common names in the first century.
The $4 million documentary will try to convince viewers that this is the burial tomb of Jesus, that he and Mary Magdalene were married and had a child together whom they named Judah. (Can you say, Da Vinci Code?) The producers and staff of archaeologists, theologians, and statisticians will also insist that such a belief will do no damage to anyone’s Christian beliefs.
Simcha Jacobovici, who incidentally has written a book, The Jesus Family Tomb said on Larry King Live, "We don’t challenge the resurrection...I spoke to theologians, they said, if he rose from one tomb, he could have just as easily have arisen from a second tomb...most Christians believe in a spiritual ascension and bodily resurrection." (Emphasis mine.)

Why Christians should be very skeptical:
1. The timing makes it suspect every lenten and Easter season at least one of the networks will produce a program and news magazines will publish stories which are designed to cast doubt on the resurrection, the divinity of Christ, and the Christian faith.
If it could ever be finally proven that Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead,and that the resurrection was a fraud or a hoax, then Christianity fails and becomes worse than a myth or fairy tale.

2. The producers claim that recent "DNA evidence" will strongly suggest that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married.
Upon hearing of DNA, most would assume there is an attempt to identify Jesus directly which is impossible because there is no other DNA to compare.

3. An ossuary is a small, limestone box which is used to rebury the skeletal remains of someone after the body and organs have decomposed. If there is an ossuary which held Jesus’ remains then there was no bodily resurrection and the Bible cannot be believed at any point.
The Bible plainly teaches that the resurrection of Christ was bodily, and not spiritual, and that after He died Jesus’ body did not see corruption.

The Lost Tomb of Jesus strikes at the heart of several Christian doctrines:
A. Bodily Resurrection:
Luke 24:36-43...A spiritual ascension (as the producers of "Lost Tomb of Jesus" imply would also assume a spiritual resurrection which the Bible denies. The bodily resurrection of Christ is taught all through the gospels: Matt. 28:1,2; 16-20; Mk. 16:1-8; Lk. 24; John 20,21; and Acts 1:6-11.
John 2:14-21...In the cleansing of the temple Jesus spoke of His bodily resurrection.
Christians are dependent upon the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ for their own bodily resurrection, Rom. 8:23; I Cor. 15.

Even Job, writing many hundreds of years before the advent of Christ believed in and had the hop of his own bodily resurrection, Job19:25,26..."For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms shall destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall see God.

B. The Bodily Ascension: The ascension of Jesus Christ was also physical...Mark 16:19; I Tim. 2:5

When Jesus was born in Bethelhem, by the miracle of the virgin birth, He had two natures; the divine and the human,neither of which He gave up when He ascended back to God the Father. Paul writes in I Tim. 2:5 of "the man Christ Jesus" and not "the spirit Christ Jesus."

C. The Body of Jesus Experienced No Physical Corruption:
Prophesied...Psalm 16:10
Fulfilled...Acts 2:25-32

The producers of The Lost Tomb of Jesus claim that Jesus could have been buried in the garden tomb, the tomb of Joseph of Arimethaea, and then moved to the Talpiot Tomb, but Matthew 27:62-66 tells us that Roman soldiers were sent to guard the tomb where Jesus lay and no mortals could have removed the body.

In the final analysis, The Lost Tomb of Jesus has many agendas. Some of which are:
1. To further the Da Vinci Code myth,
2. To make money for its producers,
3. To cast doubt on the divinity of Christ, and the truth of the resurrection, and to doubt the inspiration and truthfulness of the Bible.

The Mount of Olives Cemetary, Jerusalem

On the hillside leading up to the Mount of Olives lies the oldest continuously used Jewish cemetery in the world. An ancient tradition holds that those buried here will be resurrected first when the messiah arrives. Here you will find the grave of Menahem Begin, who as Prime Minister initiated peace talks with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. The local custom is to place a stone on the cenotaph to indicate a visit.The desire to be in Jerusalem on the Day of Judgment has led many Jews from around the world to pay as much as $30,000.00 to be buried here. They are not masonry-built but are almost entirely hewn from the rock, in the hybrid Hellenistic/Roman style of their period.The Mount of Olives, which is located on the east side of Jerusalem, is sacred to all three religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). Here you will also find some beautiful buildings like The Church of All Nations , a Russian Church named for Mary Magdalene, and the Dominus Flevit Church.

A Familiar Site to Every American

As we were approaching Jerusalem we stopped for lunch at a very familiar restaurant, MacDonalds. Even though the menu was printed in Hebrew we had no language barrier, and no one had any problem communicating their lunch order to the cashiers. The Big Mac tasted just like it does back home, and if you closed your eyes you would think you were back in the USA. Except for one huge difference. It was the first time I had ever been to the "Golden Arches" where there was a policeman stationed at the door with a hand-held metal detector to check suspicious looking back packs. We were told later that there had been a bomb found in the dining area the week previous. It is sad how the Israelis have to live with the threat of violence hanging over them every day.

St. Peter's Fish

This is what I had for lunch the day we went to the Sea of Galilee. It is called "St. Peter's Fish" and believe it or not, it was quite tasty although it was very bony. As you can see,it was deep fried eyes and all.

Pictures of my Pilgrimage

This is a picture I took of the chapel located at the traditional site of where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. It is on a hill just a stones throw from the Sea of Galilee. It is very interesting to me how that this particlar location forms a natural amphitheater making it possible to address a multitude and be heard by everyone present.

The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew, chapters 5-7) tells us how God expects His people (Kingdom people) should live. It was never meant to be a plan of salvation. In other words, no one can claim that "If I live by the sermon on the mount I'll go to Heaven when I die." No one, except Jesus, could live up to all these teachings 100% of the time. This sermon tells us how we should live after we are converted to faith in Christ, not in order to be saved, but because we are saved.

Pictures of my Pilgrimage

This is a picture of me at the Jordan River at the "traditional" site of Jesus' baptism. Obviously we cannot know the precise location but we do know that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist (Matt. 4:13-17) and we know from the language of the scriptures that He was immersed. After all, it is difficult to come up "out of the water" if one is merely sprinkled.

Baptists have always held strict views of baptism and in times past many were tortured and killed because of these views. We reject sprinkling and pouring as invalid because they are never taught in the New Testament. It is hard to make the claim of being a New Testament church if that church ignores or changes what the New Testament teaches.

The word baptize only has one meaning and that is to dip, or immerse. Besides immersion only can portray the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and our identification with Him in that when we are obedient to the divine command after our conversion. Baptism is not essential to salvation, but it is essential to obedience. "But aren't they the same? Aren't we saved by our obedience to God?," someone may ask. No, we are saved by Christ's obedience to the Father. We are not saved by what we do, we are saved by faith in what Christ has already done for us in giving His life on the cross for our sins. If baptism was essential to salvation we could not sing such hymns as "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe..."

If there was something for us to do, we could claim some of the credit for our salvation but we read in Ephesians 2:8,9..."For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works lest any man should boast." Baptism is important and certainly every Believer should be baptized and unite with a church, but beyond repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ there is nothing we can do to save ourselves because Jesus Christ is the only Savior and He paid our sin debt on the cross. All we can do is admit our need and accept that sacrifice as full payment for our sins.