Baptism and the Gospel

Romans 5 and the Problem of Abusing Grace

Turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans 6. Romans 6, beginning in verse 1. We will read verses 1 -14. When you find Romans 6, beginning in verse 1, if you'd please stand this morning as we reverence the reading of God's Holy Word.

Romans 6, beginning in verse 1. What should we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we should be certainly united with Him in a resurrection like His.

We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life He lives, He lives to God.

So you also must consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under the law, but under grace. Let us pray. Father, this morning, we are thankful for so many things. We're thankful for You. We're thankful for Christ and the gospel of Christ.

We've already heard it many times this morning. Pray that You would give us grace, that You would give me grace as we hear it yet again, as I preach Your gospel from this text. I pray that You would help me to preach it rightly, Father.

Lord, I would not rely on my own wisdom, Lord, but would rely upon Your Holy Spirit. Pray that You would give us ears to hear Your gospel. Lord, the gospel is for believers, so I pray for believers this morning that they would be strengthened by Your gospel.

Lord, they would be encouraged by it. The gospel, Lord, is for those who, Lord, haven't yet repented, but Lord, by Your mercy shall we pray that You would use this, Lord, for Your glory. You might be pleased this morning to draw sinners to Yourself, Lord, adults and children alike, Lord, that we know that it's through the proclamation of the gospel that You save.

We pray that You might do so this morning. We pray, Lord, that we, as we hear Your gospel and as we see, Lord, a picture of it, the baptism this morning, that, Lord, we might grow in our understanding, Lord, that we would be gripped by it, that it would change our lives.

Lord, we love You. We pray that You would receive all the glory this morning and be pleased with our efforts. Help me this morning as I preach. We ask all these things in Christ's name, amen. To rightly understand verse one and two and to really understand the argument that Paul makes in the following verses after that, we really have to go back to chapter five.

And so I'm not gonna have you stand again, but I do wanna read the final four verses of chapter five that really kinda will help propel us into the sermon this morning. So verse 18, beginning in verse 18 of Romans five.

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, talking about Adam, the trespass, we know the sin in the garden. Therefore, as one trespass led to the condemnation for all men, that all born of a woman, that all who are born of Adam, that is all of us, are born into sin.

We are born condemned. We are born apart from God. We are born in Adam. And we are born under the curse of sin. As one trespass led to the condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness, this is referring to Christ, leads to justification in life for all men.

For as by one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, again, speaking of Adam, and then of all those who come following Adam. So by one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous. Now, the law came to increase the trespass.

The law shows us that we are sinners. The law shows us, it is as a mirror that we look into and see our sin as we have broken this law that God has given us. We have not just broken it. We have broken it miserably and completely and wholly.

Now, the law came to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. This is speaking of the gospel, of the new covenant that Gunnar spoke of earlier. So that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So this gives us kind of an understanding of what Paul is addressing here in verse one. In response to something such as verse 20 of chapter five, now, the law came to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

Possibly someone might take this to an extreme of abusing grace. And Paul asks, should we continue in sin that grace may abound? That maybe like the more that we sin, the more grace may abound, the more grace may come.

The greater the grace, right? More grace has to be a good thing. And we may scoff that there may be this thought that people would sin so that grace may abound. We scoff and we think nobody would believe that.

Nobody would take that attitude. That Paul's argument here, it's true, but it's unnecessary. The problem is that while we may not say it, many live out this attitude that Paul is addressing here. To come, to repeat a prayer, to walk out those doors and continue in sin.

Unchanged, most likely, not a believer. If you haven't been changed, you're not a believer. Because we know that we do not continue, or I hope we know, or more I should ask the question, do we continue in the same lifestyle as before once we've been saved?

By no means. Paul is not saying that believers are sinless, this side of glory, and that complete sanctification happens overnight. We know it is progressive. But Paul is asking the question, should believers continue to pursue a sinful lifestyle, a life of sin, so that more grace will be given?

Is this the attitude of a believer? Paul says no. No, this is not the attitude of a believer. This is not the belief that we have. We do not continue in sin that grace may abound. Why? That's the question this morning.

We understand that, but why? Why do we not continue in sin that grace may abound? Paul gives the why to this statement, to this question and statement, and that's where we're gonna spend our time this morning.

Why do we reject this belief and this practice that we just continue in sin so that grace may abound? Because of the Gospel. Because of the Gospel. Because we have died to sin, our text says, because we have been baptized into Christ.

We have been baptized, our text says, into Christ's death. This is why. What does all of this mean? We have died to sin. We've been baptized into Christ. We've been baptized into Christ's death. There's a few things this morning that I wanna look at here to help us better understand what Paul is referring to.

And he uses the imagery here at the beginning, in the first four verses, he uses the imagery of baptism to help support his point that we do not just continue in sin that grace may abound. Why did he use that?

Why did he use the imagery of baptism? First of all, what baptism? Well, Paul is rightly should be following the example of Christ. And if we think for just a moment of the physical act itself, getting baptized, baptized is the submersion of a believer into water and then bringing them back up.

That is the biblical model of baptism. We see no biblical model of sprinkling or dipping a part of the body. It is immersion into the water. We read this morning in our confession of this. And believers are commanded to do this.

They're commanded to be baptized by Christ. Matthew 28, 19, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. But Paul's use of baptism here, it has a kind of a double meaning describing the physical act of baptism as well as what is being represented by that baptism.

Nine marks definition that I found that I want to read. Baptism is a church's act of affirming and portraying a believer's union with Christ by immersing him or her in water and a believer's act of publicly committing him or herself to Christ and his people, thereby uniting a believer to the church and marking him or her off from the world.

Looking deeper at this question, what is being represented by baptism? When Paul says, you know that we have all been baptized into Christ Jesus. Do you not know that all who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. What is being represented here by baptism?

That Paul goes in such great detail is regeneration. Regeneration here is represented, not regenerated by baptism. That's important to note. There is nothing salvific about the physical baptism. We do not receive grace because of it as many wrongly believe.

Being baptized doesn't make you a Christian, but those who are regenerate should be baptized. It is following regeneration. That is why we as Baptists, we only baptize believers. Water baptism is a sign that regeneration has already taken place in the heart of a believer.

This morning, we're baptizing Noah because we believe that Noah has been regenerated. He has been born again. In the mode of baptism, what we do, the going under and the coming up, pictures the meaning.

It pictures what we believe it is representing or what Paul says it is representing. We are buried with Christ in baptism and raised with Him in faith. This is what you would call a spiritual baptism, baptism of the soul or regeneration.

And our physical baptism is symbolic of regeneration. And Paul this morning, what I want to spend our time on, is Paul, he drives this home with several images. And the first one we find in verse two, the image of a death.

By no means, how can we who died to sin still live in it? There's two deaths that I want to talk about this morning in relation to this point. The first one comes in verse three. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

Whose death?

Christ's death, the death of Christ. And then verse four, look at verse four. We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death. The death of those who have been given grace. Verse five, we read more of His death.

For we have been united with Him in a death like His. What was His death? He was crucified. It was a crucifixion. A death like His. Let's start there. Christ's death was a crucifixion. It was a real death.

Christ really died. That's important. And that the real death of Christ was prophesied. And what really happened, and that it was preceded by a perfect life. Christ, He came, was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, and really died on the cross.

He never sinned. He had kept God's law perfectly, and He died for sinners. He was the atoning sacrifice for His people. A real death. The death, verse 10 says that for the death He died, He died to sin.

This is not saying Christ was a sinner, but that His death was the punishment of sin. Not His sin, but our sin. The wrath of God was poured out upon His Son for the sins of His people. For our sins poured out upon Him.

As we mentioned, Christ was perfect. He lived a perfect life.

He did not sin.

We sinned. He died for His imperfect children. That is why He died. We had broken God's law, and we're by nature, the Bible says we were by nature, the children of wrath, haters of God. That is who we are apart from Christ.

Haters of God, covered in sin. That is each and every one of us apart from Christ. All of us who are believers, this was us apart from Christ. Maybe this is you this morning, because you are apart from Christ.

All apart from Christ stand under God's judgment for breaking His law, because He is a righteous judge. But in Christ was the propitiation, the wrath-satisfying sacrifice upon the cross for all those who call upon the name of the Lord.

For all of those who repent of their sins and trust in Him, taking upon the wrath of God Himself to save for Himself a people. And those people must die as well. Not just a physical death. We will, unless Christ returns before, we will die a physical death, but those who are in Christ had to die an internal death as well.

An internal and a spiritual death as well. Look with me to verse six. We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

Our old self, who we were apart from Christ, what does it say had to be done? We know that our old self was crucified with Him. For believers, those of you that are in Christ this morning, who we were before Christ is dead.

And this is only possible through His atoning death. We can only die to sin through the death of Christ. This killing of the old self, when you are saved, a new man, and I'll explain this more in depth here in just a minute.

When you are saved, a new man is not just added to the old man, where you've got an identity crisis as far as I'm the old man and the new man. Now, I'm not preaching sinless perfection, but when you are saved, a new man is not added to the join the old man.

And that sometimes you're the new man, sometimes you're the old man. The old man is killed. There's a killing of sin, the sin of the old man. And like I said, I want you to understand, I'm not preaching sinless perfection after salvation.

It is true that the body of sin is brought to nothing.

That is true.

Through the death of Christ and the death of the flesh, through regeneration. Our confession speaks of this on the chapter of sanctification. Puts this, I think, pretty plain. They who are united to Christ, effectually called and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit creating in them through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, are also further sanctified really and personally through the same virtue by His word and the spirit dwelling in them, the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed.

We need to understand that. The dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed and the several of us of it are more and more weakened and mortified. And they are more and more quickened and strengthened in the saving graces to practice of all true holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.

This sanctification is throughout the whole man. Yet imperfect in this life, there abides still some remnants of corruption in every part. Where from arises a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh.

In which war, although the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail, yet through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying spirit of Christ, the regenerate part does overcome. And so that saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, pressing after in heavenly life an evangelical obedience to all the commands which Christ is head and king in His word has prescribed to them.

The part I want to focus on is the dominion of sin has been destroyed. The dominion of sin in the life of the believer has been destroyed.

This is true.

But yet at the same time, it is also true that there are still remnants.

Of corruption.

But the old man no longer reigns. The point that I'm making, the old man, who you were before Christ, the nature that your natural man before Christ no longer reigns. He has been replaced and he is dead.

He's not just dead, but he's buried. What do you do with dead people? You bury them. And it serves as a reality to show that they're really dead. That they've been buried. They are dead. And baptism portrays this burial that has taken place in the life of a believer.

Christ was buried. We don't talk all that much about His burial, but Christ, He died on the cross. He was taken down and He was buried.

He died.

He was placed in a tomb. He was physically dead and He was physically buried. The old man is spiritually dead and buried. Look at verse four. We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

We, the old man, spiritually dead and buried. The old man, the old self, condemned by its depravity has been crucified with Christ. For the new man to rise, the old man had to be buried. The old man that was dead in their sins.

We really have to, and I've spoken of this before, we really have to recover biblical language when we view who we were apart from Christ. Why did the old man need to be crucified in Christ? Because the old man, who we were apart from Christ or who you may be still apart from Christ in our natural state, we are dead in our trespasses and sins.

We were not merely poor beggars who dabbled in sin, but could just walk out any time that we wanted. One preacher said, you know, dead men don't walk. I don't know if it was him or who said that. I don't want to wrongly attribute that.

But we weren't kind of good. You know, we weren't kind of good. He's lost, but you know, there's good in there. That's unbiblical. We weren't just bad. We were dead. A Leonard Ravenhill quote, y 'all have heard me quote many times.

Jesus did not come into the world to make bad men good. He came into the world to make dead men live. As we just stated, and it's worth repeating, we were called, those who are apart from Christ, were called in Ephesians, the children of wrath.

We are haters of God, the old man. So who we are, when I say old man, I hope we understand who we were apart from Christ. The old man didn't need just simple reform. The old man didn't need a 10 step program on how to be better.

We didn't need a change of morals. We didn't need to start doing more good. We couldn't do any good. The old man, who we were apart from Christ, had to be crucified and buried with Christ. Why does baptism symbolize being buried?

Because we were dead. And that old man had to be buried. And upon regeneration, the old man is gone. But praise God, a new man has been made alive in Christ. We have been saved. In verse five, we see a union.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We are united with Christ in a death, by the death of our old self, by the working of the Holy Spirit.

But just as with Christ, there's not only a death,.

But what did he do? He rose.

The same is true of the believer. The old man is dead and buried, but that's not the end of the story. There is a union in death, but there's also a union in life. A rising from that union.

A resurrection.

In the case of Christ, we talked about how he was dead. He died for our sins, the atoning sacrifice, the propitiation. He was dead and he was buried. But on the third day, he arose victorious. Christ rose on the third day.

And what this means for believers is that we are justified by the rising of Christ, by his resurrection. It means that there's no other payment that is required or needed. There can be no other payment.

It's paid in full. It means that those who are in Christ are truly saved by the work of Christ. And because he rose, our faith is not in vain. And our burial in Christ is joined with a resurrection. A resurrection that has taken place in the lives of believers.

As Christ was raised from the dead, we are raised to a new way of life. You know, when Jesus was talking to the Samaritan woman by the well, he said to her, everyone... He's talking about the water that's in the well.

He says, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

Christ, who is the living water, and those who drink of it shall never thirst again. For we have been made alive in Christ. Galatians 2 .20. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

In the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. We've been born again. Those who are in Christ have been born again. Not only has the dead man been crucified and buried, a new man has been given life in his place.

And the new life of a believer from the old life apart from Christ, they're as different as death and life. Prior to his conversion, Augustine, he lived with a mistress. This is before he was saved. After his conversion, they say she met him on the street.

And she said, Aurelio, Aurelio. She calls out to him and he continued walking, ignoring her calls. Then she ran to him and she grabbed him and she said, Aurelio, what is the matter?

It is I.

To which he responds, the matter, dear lady, is that it is not I. You see, in one sense, that was the same man walking there. Outward appearance might have been the same. Maybe the same hobbies. Maybe the same food choices.

Many things the same. But in another sense, it was not the same man at all. The same is true of us. A new man has been born. A new man, a new woman has been born. We may look the same on the outside. We may look at Noah and say, well, he looks the same as he did before.

He wears the same clothes. He still loves to hunt and fish. He still loves to say buck deer. We may look at him, we may say that, but we must understand that if he has been born again, that's not the old Noah.

He's been made new. And the same is said of all who are in Christ. We have been made free. A freeing has taken place. We've seen a death, a burial. We've seen a union. We've seen a resurrection. And now we see a freeing that has taken place through the death and the resurrection of the believer, made possible by the death and resurrection of Christ.

The believer is free. Look at verse six and seven. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin for one who has died has been set free from sin.

Those who are in Christ, those who have been born again, those who have been regenerated are no longer in bondage to sin, no longer a slave to sin. Before we were in Christ, we were in bondage. We were absolutely in bondage.

We were in chains to sin. And there was nothing we could do in and of ourselves to escape that bondage. But in Christ, we are free from the burden of sin. I think of this summer when we did the Pilgrim's Progress VBS.

In Pilgrim's Progress, where was Christian freed from the burden of sin?

Where?

At the cross! He was freed at the cross! The burden of sin, if you have read the story, and we have the little children's story that we showed them, and in that children's story, he's walking up and he's at the cross, and the burden of sin falls off its back and it rolls away.

That's what happened. Burial, we have a death, a burial. We have a resurrection, a union, a freeing. We have a picture of new life. In Pilgrim's Progress, staying on that, Christian is given a couple of things at the cross.

First thing he's given, I think it's a coat, or representing new clothes. And what this represents is the new life that has been given to the believer. It's a reflection that Christian had been redeemed.

Those in Christ have been given new life. Those apart from him are still in bondage. They have no hope, but those in him have been given new life. He was also given a sealed scroll, which represents that Christian had assurance of salvation.

Not because of his work, but because of the work that happened upon the cross. All in Christ have that assurance. That if they are in Christ, they are sealed. That they are sealed and will remain in Christ.

But those apart from Christ, if you're apart from Christ this morning, here's this assurance that you have. That if you remain in your current condition apart from Christ, you will spend eternity in hell under the just wrath of God.

But believer, what hope we have in the work of Christ. What hope we have in Christ. What hope we have in his life, his death, his burial, and his resurrection. That is represented in the ordinance of baptism.

That is pictured in the ordinance of baptism. So what does this baptism represent? We've seen that. Who is baptism for? I want to briefly look at who's baptism for. Well, very simply from our text, baptism is for those who were dead, but have been made alive.

Baptism is for those where the old man has been buried and a new man has risen. Baptism is for those that have been freed from the bondage of sin. Baptism is for those who have been given new life. And these things, I do want to note, these things, they don't happen in sequential order over a period of time.

They happen simultaneously upon regeneration, upon spiritual baptism. And those who have been spiritually baptized, born again, should be physically baptized. We're going to baptize Noah today because we believe him to be a Christian.

And baptism is for Christians. Those who have been saved and are trusting in Christ. It is not for unbelievers. It is an ordinance given to the local church to be practiced by the local church. We see it practiced not according to Scripture all the time.

You know, I think many times they mean well, but it is not Scriptural. We see the baptizing in locker rooms and things of this sort. It has been given to the local church. The church and the elders, they play a role in regulating this ordinance, not based upon who they like or who they want to be baptized, but upon Scripture to try and protect the purity of the church and only baptizing believers.

Are we perfect in this? No. But we should strive here at Providence Baptist to be discerning and to strive to baptize only believers. Baptism is not for babies, for they are unconverted. But also there's another issue with sprinkling besides the fact that you don't see it in Scripture.

Baptism by immersion, what will take place here in a few moments, provides a clear picture of the Gospel and everything that we have discussed this morning. If you're apart from Christ, you don't need to be baptized this morning.

You need to be born again. You need to be saved to repent of your sins and trust in Christ. You have not been crucified or buried with Christ. You have not been spiritually resurrected. You are not united with Him.

You haven't been made alive. You are still dead in your trespasses and sins and in your current state, eternal wrath is waiting for you. This morning, be saved today. Turn from your sins. Believe upon the Gospel of Christ.

We've heard it several times this morning alone. Believe upon it. Believe upon Christ. Live for Him. Believe upon His Gospel. And you shall be renewed, not based upon your ability to form a prayer, but based upon what Christ did and upon the working of the Holy Spirit in your life.

It is my prayer this morning that the Holy Spirit would draw sinners to Himself and that you, this morning, who are apart from Christ, might repent and believe in Him and be sanctified, not continuing sin, but by God's grace, living according to His Word.

Going back to the beginning and closing here and the main point that Paul was trying to make in describing all of this. Why do we not take the attitude of continuing in sin so that grace may abound? That's because of Christ's work in our lives.

Because we have died, we've been buried, we've been united, we've been spiritually resurrected, made possible by Christ's resurrection. Because we've been freed. We've been freed from the bondage of sin.

Why would we want to continue? Why would we want to live a life apart from Christ? Why would we want to live a life that is completely disobedient to His Word when we have been made free from the bondage and given new life?

And so, we see a therefore in verse 12. And that therefore is based upon the truths that we've spoken of this morning. And I close this morning, pay close attention. I close by reading verses 12 through 14.

Everything we've discussed. I'm gonna read verse 11, back up to verse 11. So you also must consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions.

Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. And your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under the law, but under grace. Let's pray. Father, this morning we are thankful for Christ's atoning work on the cross. And it is through His work on the cross that we might be saved.

If Christ did not die, did not raise on the third day, we could not be saved. And what we are preaching this morning, what we are talking about in the gospel is all in vain if Christ is not risen. But we have assurance through your word, through the infallible, inerrant word of God that Christ really died and He really rose.

And He has risen this morning and He is reigning this morning. And we can have hope in that. I pray this morning for the Christian here that we would, Father, not run to sin, but by the working of your Holy Spirit and sanctification, Lord, that you would strengthen us to resist temptation, to resist sin, to run to Christ each and every day.

It's my prayer for the unbeliever here that they would hear this gospel and that you might work through it and draw them to yourself, that they would repent and trust in you and live a life, not in bondage to sin, but made alive in Christ.

We ask all this in Christ's name, amen.

Baptism as the Sign of Union with Christ

Let's stand together and let's go to page 329 in our hymnal, Grace Greater Than Our Sin. Grace of our love That exceeds our sin and our guilt That will cause sins pardoned

Can you hear me okay? I speak for everyone when I start this particular baptism with the phrase, buck deer. Noah is one of a kind. That's a good thing. I say that in a good way. I don't understand how God works his providence and why we're even standing in this baptistry today, but God brought Noah to us and it's been quite an amazing journey.

There was a time, and he can tell you more about it later if he wants to, but there was a time back in the spring that I thought he was gone. He got mad at us, I thought, and he left. He didn't come for a couple weeks.

And I think it was right around that time when God got a hold of his heart and changed him and so saved him. So I'm gonna let Noah read his testimony in just a minute. Before I do that, I just wanna give an exhortation.

Some of you need to hear his testimony. Some of you need to remember the gospel you've heard this morning, and you too, you should be standing in here and come to Christ. Repent of your sin, believe the gospel, and then follow him in believer's baptism.

Thank you for that message today, Pastor Jacob. Now we'll have Noah read his testimony.

Prior to Christ, I was a lost, dreadful sinner. I was dead in sin. I'd go to church on Sundays for all the incorrect reasons. I would go because I was greedy and just wanted to spend time with my friends.

I did not listen to the messages or pay attention. I was greedy. I was in love with myself, not Christ. I wished for ungodly things in my life. I was a sinner running straight into the path of hell. Although I don't remember the exact day I was saved, I would say it happened about a month after the Kentucky trip.

I realized at school I was around lost sinners all day and realized I was a lost sinner myself and no different from the rest. So I started repenting and turning from my sins. After this, I started looking at life differently.

I no longer find myself in constant sin. I put my trust in Christ and he's blessed me. I'm so thankful that Christ shed his blood on that cross to save miserable sinners like me to not perish but have everlasting life with him.

Amen. Amen.

Well, brother, we're now gonna baptize you and accept you into membership. Here you go. Sorry. Give me a hand. We need to have a baptism class. Give me another hand. You're gonna hold on to that, okay?