Acts

[0:00] May the Lord direct our thoughts to words you'll find in the 22nd chapter in the Acts of the Apostles.

[0:11] Chapter 22, reading from verse 14. And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldst know his will, and see that just one, and shouldst hear the voice of his mouth.

[0:34] For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now, why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

[0:55] Amen. Many who have been truly called by God's grace and taught by the Spirit are perplexed because their early experience of the grace of God does not seem to be so clear and deep as that of the Apostle Paul.

[1:26] It is a striking fact that the Holy Spirit has passed in silence over the early experience of most of the people whose lives are recorded in the New Testament.

[1:42] In a few cases we have details of the way in which the Lord first met with them and blessed them.

[1:54] But as I say, for the most part, the Holy Spirit passes in silence over the intimate and personal experiences of those who are evidently proved to be true believers by their later behaviour and testimony.

[2:11] Now, it seems to me that there are two things to notice in that fact.

[2:21] The first is that the Holy Spirit would not have us over much depressed when we look back in our lives and see that things are not as they were with the Apostle Paul.

[2:38] What is left on record regarding the Apostle is not left on record so that we should say that unless we have had experiences identical with his, we cannot be called by God's grace.

[2:56] Many whose beginnings have been small, have endured in the faith and have died in the faith.

[3:08] Many whose experiences in the beginning were not so deep and profound as those of the Apostle Paul have found as time has gone on that the gracious Spirit has deepened the work of God in their souls.

[3:23] They have become truly established in the faith and, if not at the beginning, then, toward the end, they have been able to witness a good profession amongst many witnesses.

[3:39] But God is sovereign. And that is a second point to notice, that in his sovereignty, he has left on record the intimate experiences of men like the Apostle Paul.

[3:53] To show us that there are those marked and definite signs of the Lord's blessing. Now, we are not given these things to distress us, but we are given these things that we might be instructed by them.

[4:14] And so, as we turn to the word that I have read, you will find a very brief outline, really, of the way in which Paul was affected at the time when God mightily changed him.

[4:35] I need not go through the details of those experiences and the way in which the Lord met him on the Damascus Road, the determination of his heart to persecute Christian believers and so forth.

[4:51] I come immediately to these words of Ananias, the devout man whom God sent to be a minister to Saul, not only to open his natural eyes so that he could see again, but also to open his understanding and to be a real messenger of God to him.

[5:13] And that may be helpful to some. You see, even a man who had such a remarkable conversion as the Apostle Paul was still in need of a spiritual helper.

[5:28] For Ananias was undoubtedly a spiritual helper. Even a man so suddenly and so profoundly affected by God's grace was in need of a minister of the word to lead him along.

[5:48] And this godly man comes to Saul and says, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. The same hour I looked up upon him and he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will and see that just one and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.

[6:12] I want this evening to try and to show you that in Paul's experience we have the elements of a true and gracious experience that will be found in all of the Lord's people.

[6:29] Now the circumstances evidently will be very different. Our situation in life is different. Our upbringing is different. The early part of our life and our attitudes all vary.

[6:45] Some are bitterly opposed to the truth in the early part of their lives. Others cannot remember a time when they had any such feeling as Saul of Tarsus in their hearts.

[7:01] And there are some, I do believe, who God graciously affects when they are very young. And, quite literally, they cannot remember a time when they hated Christ.

[7:15] Now that may sound very strange. But I believe if God does and he has a sovereign right to do so, if he touches the hearts of little ones, well then, it is scarcely likely that they would remember a time when they were feeling like Saul of Tarsus.

[7:35] Saul of Tarsus was a grown man, an intelligent, intellectual man. He was a man of tremendously strong will. And he bitterly hated the Christian teaching.

[7:49] And he hated the doctrine of Christ. And he knew why he hated it. He knew precisely why he was persecuting these Christian men and women.

[8:01] And that would be, of course, impossible in the case of one who was very young. And besides which, it is the sovereign will of God to lead some much more gently than others.

[8:16] For one reason, he has a different work for them to do. And not one of us is called to the work that Saul was called to.

[8:26] And few of us are called to the work of the ministry. But as I said, there are in these words, as it were, drawn for us the outline of vital Christian knowledge, vital Christian experience.

[8:51] Notice then, Ananias speaks first of God's sovereign choice. The God of our fathers hath chosen thee. You know, for all, I don't doubt for them, for all his intellectual knowledge in the past of his life, Paul had felt that this was true of him.

[9:16] Until God met him. As a proud Pharisee, he was sure that he was one of God's people. And he went on like that until God met him.

[9:30] Now, the difference is so great that he needs to be assured. He never did before because he always thought he was. Now, it is a question.

[9:42] Can this God who I fought against, can this God who sent these pricks into my conscience and against those pricks I kicked, can this God be my God?

[9:59] The God of our fathers hath chosen thee. So then, for all his knowledge of God before, this man has to learn right from the very beginning that there is a God.

[10:15] And that this God is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it is this God with whom Saul now has to do. Not a traditional God, but the living God, the God of our fathers.

[10:34] That would have meant a great deal to Saul, more perhaps than it does to us at first sight. Remember what this must have meant to him. The God of our fathers. A man who had for so many years been proud of his descent, proud of his position, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisees.

[10:56] But now, everything is in question. Has he anything to do with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Jacob? Yes, says Ananias. This God has chosen you.

[11:08] Well now, though the circumstances be very different, and we are not Jews brought up in that pharisaical atmosphere, that presumptuous claim of God that all Jews may, that those who are born of the family of Abraham were undoubtedly the children of God.

[11:32] God, no, we were not brought up like that. But when God meets us and begins by his spirit to deal with us, I'm sure this will be a question.

[11:45] Can God have anything to do with the likes of us? Well now, says Ananias, the God of our fathers hath chosen thee. Yes, the answer is that this holy, eternal, ever-blessed God, has to do with sinful men and women.

[12:06] And he chooses them. He chose them before time began. There in his infinite understanding, his eternal foreknowledge of all things, he has chosen in Christ a number which no man can number.

[12:27] What a wonderful assurance that is, brought home into the heart of a sinner by the Holy Spirit. God hath chosen thee.

[12:39] The same God who looked down upon the world in Abraham's day and saw that man down in Ur of the Chaldees, a wicked, ungodly, unbelieving city, who looked down upon a world which was largely sunk in unbelief and ignorance and chose out that man.

[13:00] or should I say, according to his eternal choice, calls out that man and separates him from his own family and surroundings. Yes, that God is still the God of our fathers and some of us say that God is the God in whom we hope and trust.

[13:22] the God of our fathers hath chosen thee. Was it for any good he saw in Saur of Tarsus?

[13:33] Evidently not. Paul was under no illusions about that matter. There's a wonderful passage, if we turn to it for a moment, in the first epistle to Timothy, where Paul therefore speaks of the way in which God met with him.

[13:56] he was a man who was always conscious of the way in which God had sovereignly called him out.

[14:12] He says, how be it, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me, first, Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him, to life everlasting.

[14:33] And just previous to that, he's described himself. He says, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor, and injurious.

[14:58] But I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly, in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus.

[15:11] This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

[15:25] God chose the chief of sinners. Those simple words of the hymn come to mind, and if free grace, why not for me?

[15:41] If God's electing love comes down so undeservedly, so graciously, into the heart of the chief of sinners, why, friends, there is hope for the worst.

[15:56] The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will. There had never been any doubt in Saul's mind that he was doing the will of God.

[16:11] Verily, he says, I thought I did God's service. And you know, many who have a religious upbringing and possess a kind of outward form of religion are like that.

[16:30] They think from early days that they're very good people, very religious, they really do think that God is in some way indebted to them, until God meets with them.

[16:44] And then all together the attitude of their heart is quite changed, you know, friends, one of the striking characteristics of real conversion is deep inward humility.

[16:58] I believe it's rightly been said that a proud Christian is an impossibility. Now, don't misunderstand me. There are proud men whom God has called by grace and they have had many a conflict with their proud natures.

[17:15] I'm not speaking about that. But what I'm saying is this, that if God meets with a sinner, then that sinner will be humble. Conflict with pride he may have and will have, doubtless, but here's the principle.

[17:32] God will humble the proud sinner and he did this proud sinner. God hath chosen thee that thou shouldest know his will.

[17:45] I believe, friends, that that was the first time in Saul's life that he had ever said anything like it. What wilt thou have me to do? Or as we have it in the tenth verse, and I said, what shall I do, Lord?

[18:00] What shall I do, Lord? You see, the rabbis, the Pharisees, the leaders, the men like Gamaliel had told him what he ought to do before.

[18:14] That was all made very plain, very clear what a devout Jew had to do to these Christian believers. No question at all. Get rid of them. But when God meets him, he says, what wilt thou have me to do?

[18:32] What shall I do, Lord? Now, friends, isn't that expressive of the deep attitude of a person's heart when God meets with them?

[18:44] Though not in the same circumstances, though their conversion may be very different to that of Saul in detail, yet fundamentally there is this deep feeling in the heart, Lord, thou art the Lord, thou art God, thou art sovereign, thou art the King of Kings.

[19:05] Lord, what part have I got in the will of so great a God? And yet God says, there is a part. I have a will which I express for you that thou shouldest know his will.

[19:27] Oh, friends, how wonderful is the chain when we're brought from self-will to fall before the will of God. Have you ever said that?

[19:42] You know, the two things to notice in Paul's expression, what shall I do, Lord, or what wilt thou have me to do, one is a recognition of God's sovereign power over him personally, and the other is a deep desire to do the will of God.

[20:02] Now, friends, I feel that there will not be the one without the other. There will not be a gracious feeling in our hearts, that is, a gracious and spiritual attitude to the will of God without there be a strong desire in our hearts to do it.

[20:20] The will of God is not going to be a kind of theoretical, theological idea in your mind. It was no longer just a matter of theological differences between Saul of Tarsus and Christian.

[20:36] Now, it was a matter between Saul and his God. What wilt thou have me to do? And, friends, when God meets with the sinner, there is a reality felt deep within about the being of God, the authority of God, the feeling about the will of God, a desire that your life might be lived according to that will.

[21:06] Oh, you may say that sounds so high that I shall never attain to that. Friends, you will. If you're one of God's children, by his own electing love, you'll come right into the very centre of his will.

[21:25] No doubt about that, that thou shouldst know his will. You know, this is one of the evidences of God's gracious work in our hearts, that he bends our will to his.

[21:45] You may not see it so suddenly accomplished as it was with Saul. You may have to look back, and see a much more gradual development of things in your soul.

[21:58] But can you see this? That God is drawing your will, so it is humble before his will, and yet attracted to his will. And you want to do his will.

[22:11] It often begins in very simple ways. You see, Saul of Tarsus was not in religion just for religion's sake, he was in religion for a living.

[22:22] But now what a difference when God meets him like this. Now that leads me on to this point.

[22:35] You may have been living your life just for yourself, but when God meets with you, the things of this life, the providential developments in your life, become a matter of concern to you that you might know the will of God in these things.

[22:53] And I believe many young people whom the Lord teaches begin like that. They begin to pray that God will guide them because they feel they need direction in life.

[23:06] You say, well that doesn't sound very gracious. Well, friends, we must leave that in God's hand. Things, he moves along in a mysterious and often gentle way.

[23:18] And I believe that's how it began with me. My first prayers were about providential matters. I've not the least doubt that I sincerely believe that God controlled all things in the world and could direct me and would direct me if it was his gracious will.

[23:39] So I prayed to him to show me his way. Well, it was so with this great apostle that thou shouldest know his will.

[23:55] And you'll notice the order that the Holy Spirit has given in this verse that thou shouldest know his will and see Christ, that just one.

[24:10] So I say many have begun as it were in a simple childlike way to ask God to show them his will and guide them in the right way and undertake for them in life, provide for their needs, whom he has then led on to see the just one.

[24:33] But friends, this is absolutely vital. We shall not go to heaven unless we see that just one. Now you may say immediately to me, well I haven't seen a light from heaven that blinded me.

[24:50] Very few have. Very few. Very few have been literally, physically blinded as the apostle was by a light from heaven.

[25:02] Very few have been favoured with the visions and revelations that Paul had. Caught up into the third heaven so that he didn't even know whether he was in the flesh or in the spirit.

[25:14] He was in such a state. So greatly blessed. Whether in the body or out of the body, he says, I cannot tell. Ah, but you know friends, come back to this.

[25:31] It's a simple expression and see that just one. Now how do believers see that just one? Well, by faith.

[25:43] By faith. Some undoubtedly in vision see that just one. Some in dreams on their beds at night see that just one.

[25:54] Some saw him in the flesh. Paul had a very special revelation of Jesus to himself to mark him out as one of the apostles apostles.

[26:06] That he might be one who could stand before men with the authority of God and say, I am an apostle. I have the marks of the apostle. I have seen Christ in the flesh.

[26:23] But friends, whatever we lack of those striking and remarkable things, the one point is this, that we must see Jesus by living faith.

[26:38] We must be brought to that place where the whole of our spiritual faith rests in and upon the Lord Jesus Christ. You must really be brought to that simple expression of the hymn writer, my hope, my only hopes in thee.

[27:00] Now that is to see the just one. Notice also his name as Paul, or as the Holy Spirit records it here, and see that just one.

[27:19] Ananias doubtless felt something of the power of that holy name, and I am sure Paul did. his persecution of the Christians had been most unjust, most perverted attitude of mine he had been guilty of.

[27:40] No wonder he said he felt to be the chief of sinners, now he sees the just one. He thought it was just to persecute and to kill those who believe differently to himself.

[27:55] now he sees one in heaven, and he sees something of the purity of God's holy justice. But you notice, friend, he sees a precious doctrine, he sees God manifest in the flesh.

[28:16] Who do you believe in? Of Jesus Christ. Shall I ask you this question, whose son is he? Whose son is he?

[28:29] What do you believe concerning this one? Do you say he is the just one? Notice how our translators have put capital letters, just one.

[28:41] This is the name of God. This is the word made flesh, dwelling among us, the just one. with all the holy, blessed justice of God, and yet revealed here on earth, the just one.

[29:00] one. Or you say, if only I knew more of him. And friends, you say that because you know a little.

[29:13] However little you do know, it will make you want to know more. And you'll say, Lord, let me see that just one. The very name given to the Savior here will affect your spirit.

[29:31] You know, there's something about true conversion which is like this. It makes a person open and simple and honest before God. You couldn't bear to think of trying to deceive the just one, could you?

[29:49] That's because you know something about him. Well now, I mustn't take too long on each point, but here is the next point.

[30:01] And shouldest hear the voice of his mouth? Of course, again, the circumstances are different for Saul heard a voice from heaven.

[30:13] I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. Some have heard a voice from heaven. Some have been so affected that they say, well it was just like a voice speaking to him.

[30:32] Now friends, I say about things like that, that time proves the reality of it. There have some been affected in most striking and remarkable ways with voices, who have later proved that it was never the voice of Jesus in grace and love speaking to them.

[30:56] Don't covet remarkable experiences for their own sake. It is far wiser and more gracious to fall into the hands of God and say, Lord, show me the truth, teach me the truth, guide me on in the truth, by whatever means, in whatever way God chooses, but do leave it in the hands of the Lord and don't covet remarkable experiences for their own sake.

[31:26] For many have done that and many have received remarkable experiences which have proved in later life never came from God God.

[31:38] Because these people never endured in the faith. things are tested, tested in the crucible of time.

[31:52] God. But friends, there is something vital and fundamental here, that thou shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. Now, I am sure of this, that no sinner goes safely to heaven at last, but what in this life hears the voice of the mouth of this just one?

[32:11] Jesus must speak. That is, the Lord Jesus Christ in his gracious power must send his own divine truth down into your soul with living power.

[32:29] The circumstances vary, the means vary. Sometimes it is in reading, sometimes in meditation, sometimes through the preaching of the word, sometimes in the conversation of friends.

[32:44] The Lord alone knows the many different ways in which he will bring his own precious truth into your heart. heart. That thou shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.

[32:59] It would take me far too long this evening to speak in detail about how God speaks and the things he says. Friends, let me put it this way.

[33:12] As you look back over the period, long or short, that you feel the Lord has been dealing with you. Do you feel that there is now a deeper concern to hear the voice of Jesus?

[33:29] To feel the compelling power of this just one? They said when he was here on earth, never man spake like this man. And you can say, I know there is no voice like his.

[33:43] But you know there is one thing which unites all this speaking of Jesus. And it is this. It is his word.

[33:55] Jesus never speaks apart from his word. I believe the days of immediate revelation, such as were given to the apostle Paul are ended.

[34:08] God will make no further revelation of truth to anyone. what he does is bring home into the heart the truth which he has already revealed in the scriptures.

[34:28] And that's a very important doctrine. If anyone comes to you and says, I have a new revelation, be very careful, be very careful.

[34:41] God. If someone comes to you and says, I bring you a new doctrine and claim the authority of God for it, reject him immediately. But we want to hear the voice of his mouth and he speaks to us through the word.

[35:01] It is the Holy Spirit who takes of the things of Jesus and reveals them to us. And there is that in real experience where, friends, we feel that Jesus is speaking to us personally with all the authority that he has as the just one.

[35:21] And Paul speaks of having Christ revealed in him.

[35:38] Well, that was a wonderful blessing. And now today through the precious gospel, believers have Christ revealed to their hearts by faith.

[35:51] I can't explain it better than that, friends. I know so little of this compared with what I want to know. I do believe I felt the power of the word of Jesus.

[36:07] I do believe he has brought teaching and instruction and comfort and conviction and help and encouragement and reproof to me at different times that thou shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.

[36:25] for thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. Called to go to the Gentiles principally into all the world in a literal sense he had to go.

[36:43] Throughout the Roman Empire he had to go. Preaching to Jew and Gentile. Thou shalt be his witness. Again the circumstances are different but friends why does God call his people?

[37:00] Why does he reveal to them his truth? Why does he show to them the just one and speak to them with the voice of his mouth that they might be his witnesses? Not that they should hide the light under a bushel but that they might be his witnesses.

[37:17] Ye are my witnesses saith the Lord and thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And friends that's the only witness that is worth anything.

[37:34] What thou hast seen and heard. What you have seen with the eye of faith and heard with the ear of faith. That's the only thing that is worth speaking of.

[37:49] My friends however feeble however simple your witness may be. You can bear witness to what God has done for you and in you. No more.

[37:59] No need to pretend. No need to add to it. No need to dress it up. Just bear witness to what God has done for you and in you. You know that was a lovely verse in that hymn wasn't it?

[38:14] My Jesus hath done all things well. I can't think of a more attractive testimony than that. Thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.

[38:34] And now why tarry us thou? Arise and be baptised and wash away thy sins calling on the name of the Lord. Ananias is very insistent and so were all these early preachers of the gospel.

[38:51] Very insistent in this matter of being baptised. You know when Saul was the pharisaical Saul of Tarsus he wouldn't hesitate about holy things.

[39:11] Why he had the command regarding sacrifices and the ceremony of religious worship and he was a child of Abraham why should he hesitate he had the right to enter into all these things never a question in his mind about it as touching the law he says a pharisa but now I read behind this question a very different spirit in Saul why tarry us now?

[39:43] Why are you holding back? why are you hesitant? What is it that is troubling you? Ah friends it's a different spirit now this kind of thing never used to trouble him but it does now and he needs to have these difficulties removed he needs to have a gracious encouragement why tarry us that and many I believe who are truly taught of God need just the same urgent encouragement why do people tarry so long in this matter?

[40:23] There is no evidence from scriptures to suggest that baptism is something to come at the end of a person's profession right as the sort of dying testimony of their lives I don't think I speak against some who may be in different ways hindered and held in bondage until late in life no friends that's not my intention at all what I'm trying to say is this that in the pure teaching of these apostolic days baptism came at the beginning not at the end of a person's profession it did so you know with the eunuch when Philip met him see here is water he says what doth hinder me now why did he say that only because surely Philip had plainly taught him the importance of these things and so it's an urgent question within now what doth hinder me to be baptized why tarriest that you say well

[41:39] I'm afraid to presume no that's no hindrance that's no hindrance for if the opposite were true I should want you to tarry a long time yet and so would every other gracious person oh friends if you had no fear of presumption then this way is not the way for you you say well I'm afraid my experience isn't deep enough or clear enough oh now that is a much more difficult question to resolve much more difficult but friends can you look back again on what we've been thinking of can you not see some evidence of God's gracious work in your life and experience thou shouldest know his will you say

[42:41] I don't begin right at the beginning because I'm not sure about my election no well that may come later but you know his will you felt it and friends in your heart and conscience you know his will about this matter as well you've seen his example you see his way of constraining John suffer it to be so now notice that now why tarry us that what doth hinder me the same kind of feeling in all these expressions Jesus the just one spoke with his own lips suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness why tarry us that you know his will by faith you've seen the just one you say well not not in a vision no maybe not but in such a way that your heart rests in him and trusts in him you say if ever my poor soul be saved tis

[43:55] Christ must be the way that thou shouldst know his will and see that just one and shouldst hear the voice of his mouth I heard the voice of Jesus say come unto me and rest do you hear anything like that constraining love of Christ when he says come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest why tarry us that oh you say I don't feel my experience has been tested yet I question whether it's real I must not read into scripture what is not there but you know if I had had a past like Saul of Tarsus's past there would have been some deep questioning in my mind

[44:57] I know the wonderful way in which God changed him was so clear so evident that that would have resolved many of the questions but you know he goes on to say I'm the chief of sinners I'm the chief of sinners I can never forget that I'm the chief of sinners why tarry is that and I do feel friends there's often a great deal of unbelief in this tarrying it's as though people are saying that they can't really trust the Lord by his spirit to go on teaching Peter you know speaks about growing in grace and it is as though people can't trust the Lord to work that work in them and so they say well I won't be baptized until I'm sure that

[46:01] I have grown in grace that kind of reasoning friends leads to spiritual bondage and confusion for we're the last people to see our own growth in grace we've not got the spiritual grace to discern it certainly not at the beginning no friends the the plainest simplest path is the path of God's gracious command and the spirit of submission will be like this well he has said it he has commanded it he has left us an example this is enough for me why tarry us thou arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins quite quite impossible for me to expound in detail the meaning of baptism but I just want to stress this this evening see how closely we have here baptism and the washing away of sins now some people have said if I could be fully settled in my mind that I have received the forgiveness of my sins then I would be baptized now often those people are people whom God has graciously blessed and given a gracious hope in their hearts regarding salvation their arguments about the assurance of sins forgiven and receiving what they call the forgiveness of their sins are often very confused and not at all scriptural now friends the Lord is joined these two together some misunderstand it of course and they join it together in a quite unscriptural way and say that the mere water the washing of the water literally washes away sins this of course is the Roman doctrine of infant sprinkling that the holy water washes away origin or sin and this is not the teaching of the word

[48:27] Peter says not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God sin now having said that on the other hand there are people who will look at baptism just as an empty sign it doesn't have the strong definite significance that the apostle saw in it which Ananias saw in it arise and be baptized and wash away thy sin now friends in baptism the believer I believe has a perfect unscriptural ground to say here God has graciously given to me a lively testimony that through the blood of Jesus Christ my sins are washed away I believe in him by his grace I've been brought to trust in him and to look alone to him for my salvation and now he is saying to me in the waters of baptism I have washed away your sins with blood you know the same kind of confusion arises over the

[49:47] Lord's supper some say in the bread and the wine you have the literal body and the literal blood of Jesus and that there is literally transferred to the recipient the blessing of that body and blood when they receive it physically into their mouth on the other hand you have people who empty the Lord's supper of all scriptural significance now the saviour did not say for nothing this is my body which is broken for you this cup is the new testament in my blood why friends he would convey in those gracious words to the heart of the believer the confirming testament that he died for them faith so received so I say there is a narrow narrow path through these two extremes and it is so in this verse arise and be baptized and wash away thy sin you know friends the gracious assurance and confirmation that some have been seeking for many years they have received in this ordinance if not actually in it either just before it or after it or in reviewing it afterwards later on

[51:23] I know not how it will be with you that you must leave in God's hand but I'll close just with a true account of a godly man who lived up in the hills near Rochdale where I used to live as a boy I know the spot well where he used to live he was a very gracious man and John Kershaw the pastor at Rochdale knew him well went to preach over near his home and this man although he was such a gracious man had never been baptized now he had a gift for writing on religious matters and one day John Kershaw met him on one of his preaching visits and he said to him now George I want you to do something for me I want you to write an essay on a subject that I'm going to give you so this man said well yes I I'll agree to do that what's the subject he says well I've marked it in your

[52:27] Bible look at it after I've gone and in his Bible he'd mark this page and this verse and now why tarryest thou rise and be baptized and wash away thy sins calling on the name of the Lord and as he began to think about it he relates that these words came strongly upon his mind physician heal thyself so up he gets and walks across to Rochdale and comes to his old friend and minister and he said I've come to be baptized you see he couldn't write about it in theory it came home to his heart my friend it's time that many stop thinking about these things in theory and I pray God that may come home to them in their hearts and now why tarry us down you know

[53:31] I sometimes wonder friends I say this kindly I sometimes wonder whether we shall end up with strict Baptist chapels full of unbaptized people be a sad day if that ever comes to pass a very sad day that was not how these places began no friends the testimony of our forefathers was very plain on this point arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins calling on the name of the Lord it's still a way of dependence faith and trust and man this and and you you you