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Mark chapter 10. This is a glad 
occasion. Thankful that all the friends 
and family and brothers and sisters of John could be here to share 
in this special day. I want to answer two questions 
this morning. Why should I be baptized and 
what does baptism mean? Well, strictly speaking, the 
word baptism is immersion. That's the translation. If we 
went from the Greek language of the word baptism into English, 
we would translate it immersion or dip to immerse one. But I want to try and develop 
that a little bit more as we go along. But why should I be 
baptized? And secondly, what does baptism 
mean? And I want to look at Mark chapter 
10, beginning in verse 32. We'll read through verse 45. 
Now they were on the road going up to Jerusalem. And Jesus was 
going before them. And they were amazed. And as 
they followed, they were afraid. Then He took the twelve aside 
again and began to tell them the things that would happen 
to Him. Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son 
of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes. And they will condemn him to 
death and deliver him to the Gentiles. And they will mock 
him and scourge him and spit on him and kill him. And the 
third day he will rise again. Then James and John, the sons 
of Zebedee, came to him saying, Teacher, we want you to do for 
us whatever we ask. And he said to them, What do 
you want me to do for you? They said to him, Grant us that 
we may sit. One on your right hand and the 
other on your left in your glory. But Jesus said to them, you do 
not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup 
that I drink and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized 
with? They said to him, we are able. So Jesus said to them, you will 
indeed drink the cup that I drink and with the baptism I am baptized 
with, you will be baptized. But to sit on my right hand and 
on my left is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom 
it is prepared. And when the ten heard it, they 
began to be greatly displeased with James and John. But Jesus 
called them to himself and said to them, You know that those 
who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, 
and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall 
not be so among you. But whoever desires to become 
great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires 
to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man 
did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life 
a ransom for many. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, 
we thank You for the Holy Scriptures and we thank You for our Lord 
Jesus Christ and the good news concerning His life, His ministry, 
His death, and His resurrection. God, we know apart from Your 
grace, apart from the blood of Jesus, we would all be dead in 
our trespasses and sins. How we thank You that You have 
powerfully made us alive together with Him by Your Spirit and by 
Your Word. We pray even now that Your Holy 
Spirit would be at work among us that You would encourage our 
hearts in the events of this day, that You would cause us 
to see yet another trophy of Your sovereign grace, of Your 
power in the saving of sinners. We ask through Christ Jesus our 
Lord. Amen. Well, if we ask the question, 
why should I be baptized? Or in this instance, why should 
John Williams be baptized? The Bible tells us several things, 
but I just want to focus on two reasons this morning. The first 
reason is the death of Christ. Why should I be baptized? Because 
Jesus died for sinners and rose again. And the second reason 
is because He commands it. This is something that the Lord 
Jesus has given to His church in order to observe and to obey 
until He comes again in glory. So those are the two reasons 
why I should be baptized. Now notice, first of all, the 
death of Christ. In this particular passage that 
we see here, Jesus speaks of His baptism. In verse 38, Jesus 
said to them, You do not know what you ask. Are you able to 
drink the cup that I drink and be baptized with the baptism 
that I am baptized with? He is referring here not to his 
baptism that he underwent through water. Remember that he came 
to John the Baptist. John the Baptist saw him and 
John the Baptist said to him, why are you coming to me for 
baptism? I should be baptized by you. 
That was His physical baptism, going into the water, down with 
John, and coming up. And the Spirit came down, and 
the Father said, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. That was Christ's physical, or 
first, baptism. That's not what He's referring 
to here. What He's referring to here is 
His death. He's already spoken of His death. Notice back in chapter 10 at 
verse 33. He says, Behold, we are going 
up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man, that's Jesus Christ, 
will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes, and 
they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles. And they will mock Him and scourge 
Him and spit on Him and kill Him. And the third day He will 
rise again. That is Christ's baptism. That is Christ going through 
the torment and the suffering associated with His death at 
Calvary. That's what He refers to when 
He chides these disciples, John and James, when they've come 
to Him and they're looking for position in the kingdom. He says, 
grant to us that we may sit on your right and on your left. 
Jesus says, you don't know about the cup that I need to drink. 
You don't know about the baptism that I need to undergo. He is 
referring to His death. That is why people get baptized. Not because they performed well. Not because they have changed 
their life. Not because they have done some 
noble deed. They are baptized because Jesus 
went to the cross. Because Jesus died on Calvary's 
tree for the sins of all those whom the Father had given unto 
Him. Christ speaks in this passage 
about drinking a cup. Now, this doesn't mean a physical 
cup. He's talking about drinking the wrath of God. We could look 
at several Scriptures in the Old Testament that highlight 
this fact. where God would give a cup of 
wrath to a particular nation. Sometimes Israel. Sometimes surrounding 
nations. In the New Testament, we see 
Jesus refer to this cup. Well, it means simply that. God's 
wrath and anger because of sin. Jesus Christ would drink down 
the very wrath of God. There's an instance in the Garden 
called Gethsemane. prior to going to the cross, 
where Jesus prays and He says to His Father, if it is possible, 
let this cup pass from Me. Then he resolves and he says, 
nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. He is willing 
to drink that cup down because God would be pleased to save 
his people from their sins. He speaks of this baptism. Are 
you able to drink the cup that I drink and be baptized with 
the baptism that I am baptized with? Again, the word means to 
immerse. We might say someone's immersed 
in their work. We might say someone is immersed 
in their hobby. We might look at Canuck fans 
and say they are immersed in the Canucks. You meet someone 
whose every thought is about a particular thing, and you come 
away saying, boy, they're really into that. They're really into 
that particular activity. That's what Christ is speaking 
of here. This baptism would be an overwhelming, See, the word 
baptized wasn't just used in religious contexts. It was also 
used in military contexts. One time a ship was baptized. That means it was sunk. It was 
immersed. It was shot down in such a way 
that it went fully into the water. Jesus is speaking about this 
baptism of being overwhelmed unto death. You ask the question, 
why did He do this? Because we're sinners. That's 
the glory of the Christian gospel. Sometimes the Christian gospel 
is sort of presented like this. Accept Jesus into your heart 
and you'll have a really happy day. The glory of the gospel 
is rather this, that God is accepting sinners into His heart through 
the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus went to the cross for us. Jesus went to the cross for sinners. He himself said, I did not come 
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So you ask and 
you say, why would Jesus be baptized in such a way? In Luke 12 50, 
he says, I have a baptism to be baptized with and how distressed 
I am till it is accomplished. His baptism here refers to being 
overwhelmed by some difficult experience or ordeal. His death and sufferings are 
compared to a raging flood of sorrow. When we look at that 
tank and we see our brother go into that water and we ask the 
question, why is he doing that? The primary answer is because 
Jesus did so much for him. It's all about the Gospel. The 
gospel simply is a word that means good news. And the good 
news is this, that God is a holy and a righteous God. That all 
we, like sheep, have gone astray. That's bad news, actually. But 
in order to have good news, you've got to have bad news first. All 
we, like sheep, have gone astray. We've not done what God says 
to do. He's told us the good that we're supposed to do. We 
don't do it. And yet the good news is that Jesus came. Jesus 
lived obedient to His Father. Jesus fulfilled the righteous 
requirements of God's law. And Jesus died as a sacrifice 
and as a substitute on the cross. Probably that word substitute 
is one we need to appreciate more and more as we are Christians. 
If I would have been hit by a truck on the way to church today, Cam 
would have preached. Pastor Porter would have brought 
it. He would have been my substitute. I was scheduled to preach. I 
was supposed to preach. I was to take this place and 
proclaim the Word this morning. But if I got whacked en route, 
Cam would have been a substitute. He would have taken my place. 
He would have stood behind this pulpit. That's the glory of the 
word, substitution, when we think about Jesus. We should have been 
on that cross. We should have been what Jesus 
describes here, delivered, condemned, mocked, scourged, spat upon. That's what we deserve because 
we're sinners. The Bible says the wages of sin 
is death. The gift of God is eternal life 
through our Lord Jesus Christ. We deserve the death. We deserve 
the mocking. We deserve the scourging. We 
deserve the spitting. But Jesus is our substitute. Jesus took that for us. Jesus went on that cross, not 
because He was a sinner, but because the Father heaped all 
of our sins upon Him. And He was our substitute when 
He cried that cry at the end of the Gospel account, when He 
said, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? You know in 
your heart of hearts that should be true of you. God should forsake 
us because we've sinned. God should cast us off because 
we have rebelled against His holy law. God should banish us. Hell and suffering and judgment 
and all the wrath of God ought never to surprise anyone who 
has that much understanding of our sin against the holy God. But Jesus is our substitute. 
Jesus stood in our place. Jesus took the wrath of God. 
Jesus suffered hell so that we don't have to. So when we ask 
the question, why should I get baptized? Or why should John 
Williams be baptized today? It is because that Jesus Christ 
was baptized unto death. That He was overwhelmed with 
distress. That He went to the very lengths 
to save His people from their sins. But he speaks here, not 
only of being killed, but on the third day he will rise again. So he goes on to command this 
as an activity. Baptism doesn't save us. It's 
not like we go into the water as sinners and we come out as 
Christians. That's not the way it works. 
There's only one way of salvation, and it's by grace through faith 
in Jesus. It's the blood of Christ that 
cleanses us, that makes us alive. But baptism is commanded by our 
Lord nonetheless. And Jesus commanded it to His 
church. Turn to Mark 16 for just a moment. In Mark 16, after Jesus had risen 
from the dead, just before He goes back to heaven, the Lord 
Jesus gives this instruction in Mark 16 at verse 15, and He 
said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to 
every creature. He who believes and is baptized 
will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. 
In Matthew's account, in Matthew 28, verses 18 to 20, the Lord 
Jesus gives this command. He says in Matthew 28 at verse 
18, And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority 
has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, 
and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the 
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching 
them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And, lo, 
I am with you always, even to the end of the age." So, we should 
be baptized because Jesus died and rose again. Now, of course, 
for those who believe that, if you've not believed the Gospel, 
if you have not come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, then 
baptism isn't for you. But if you have believed in that, 
if you have taken Christ as your Savior, you can say with that 
hymn that we sing, I am His and He is mine. And then as well, 
because of His command. And that brings us to consider 
next, what does baptism mean? I mean, why on the 7th of December 
would John Williams go into some water? I mean, do you ever stop 
and kind of break it down that way? I mean, it seems a little 
odd when you stop and think about it. I mean, not odd because Jesus 
commanded it, but why? Why does God give us water when 
we come into a saving knowledge of Christ and identify with Him? 
Why does He give us bread and wine? Because we're real people. Living in a real world. And God 
gives us real symbols and real helps for our faith. We need 
to understand what baptism is not. It's not a magical rite. There's no hocus pocus here. 
The water didn't just magically appear. I actually came last 
night, about 6.30, went down into the boiler room and opened 
the tap. That water, if it wasn't warm, would be the same water 
we're going to drink today. Unless, of course, you like warm 
water to drink, you're free to go and drink some of that warm 
water. It's not magical. There's no hocus pocus there. 
It doesn't become something other than tap water in Chilliwack. Believers are made holy and believers 
are blessed, not through physical water in a Baptist tank, but 
through the blood of Jesus Christ alone. Don't forget that. Baptism 
is not for unbelievers. It is not to be done because 
everyone else is doing it, or because someone is pressuring 
you, or because some certain church says that unless you do 
this you can't be saved. No. Not a magical rite. It's not for unbelievers. It 
is not ultimately necessary for salvation. It is a command by 
Christ. It is something that we should 
obey. But when we look at the thief on the cross, he was not 
baptized, and nevertheless, he went to heaven. Jesus said, whoever 
does not believe will be condemned. He doesn't say whoever does not 
believe and is baptized. So we need to understand what 
it does not It's not a magical rite. It's not for unbelievers. 
It's not necessary for salvation. It is rather an act of obedience, 
as we've said. An act of obedience. This is 
something very important for the church today. We seem to 
have forgotten this little act of obedience. We like to do things 
our own way. We like to pick and choose what 
of God's commands we're actually going to follow. And that's not 
acceptable. Jesus says that you must be baptized. As a believer in him, this is 
a means by which you identify publicly with him. So, it's not 
an option. As well, baptism is a declaration 
of the gospel in a non-verbal form. Isn't that great? A declaration of the gospel in 
a non-verbal, without words. When our brother goes into that 
water and he goes down into it and he comes back up, that highlights 
the glory of the gospel. It shows something of what it 
is to die with Christ, to be buried with Christ, and to be 
risen again with Christ. One man said that baptism simply 
expresses the verbal content of the gospel in a non-verbal 
form. Our confession of faith says 
baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus 
Christ to be unto the party baptized, a sign of his fellowship with 
him in his death and resurrection. of His being engrafted into Him. Engrafted means to come into 
the Lord Christ. It signifies remission of sin 
and of His giving up unto God through Jesus Christ to live 
and walk in newness of life. So, baptism teaches identification 
with the triune God. That's what Jesus says. Go, therefore, 
and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the 
name singular of the triune God, in the name of the Father and 
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." So, when our brother goes into 
that water today and he comes back out, he is making a public 
declaration of his identification with the living God. There are 
no more other gods in his life. There's no idols in his life. 
There is nothing else that he is chasing after. All the sin 
that the Lord has given Him the power to overcome is being sacrificed 
through the blood of Christ. He is making a public declaration 
of His unity with the God of the Bible. Isn't that a blessed 
statement? It's almost like the wedding 
ring that you exchange at the altar when you get married. What 
does that ring do? It identifies you. It marks you. It's like the brand 
on the cattle. Your wife can be in another room, 
or you could be in a big place with a lot of people. Your wife 
can look across and see that ring and say, he's mine. He's 
mine. That's what it is. You're marked. You're marked property. You're 
owned. See, it's never a question of 
being owned and not being owned. The Bible teaches us we're always 
owned by someone. Pastor Cam read in Ephesians 
chapter 2, if we are not believers in Jesus Christ, we are owned 
by the devil. But when by God's grace that 
power of sin has been broken, when the blood of Jesus Christ 
has cleansed us from all sin, when we by His grace have believed 
on Christ, we are now His property. I remember early on preaching 
a sermon from Matthew 1230 in this church, probably 11 or 12 
years ago, where Jesus said, He who is not with me is against 
me. He who does not gather scatters. I remember using an illustration 
of what it means to be God's property. Imagine if you were 
driving down in Chilliwack and you saw an old deserted building. 
It used to be a restaurant, but now it's all covered in dirt 
and grime and all the stainless steel looks betrayed because 
it looks full of stains. You see rats and you see mice 
and you see all kinds of rodents and all kinds of cockroaches. 
Thankfully, I haven't seen any in Chilliwack, where I come from 
in Southern California, there's quite a few cockroaches. If you're 
not hip on the whole cockroach thing, count yourself blessed 
that you live here in Chilliwack. But you see this place and you 
drive by it every day and it's just mucky and filthy and full 
of garbage and you think, man, how could that have ever been 
a place where anybody would have ever wanted to go? Lo and behold, 
some other week you're driving by and you can't believe it. The stainless steel really is 
living up to its name. It looks shiny. It looks clean. 
There's no more rats. No more mice, no more cockroaches. 
People are going in there. They're having dinner. They're 
enjoying it. You're hearing about all the good things that are 
going on in that place. You notice a sign and it says, 
under new management. That's what it means to be a 
Christian. You're under new management. See, at one time your heart was 
filled with cockroaches and rats and mice and sewage and all those 
things. See, that's where the Bible says 
we are all at. apart from the knowledge of Jesus 
Christ. You see, Jesus comes in the power of the gospel, in 
the power of the good news, and He washes that heart clean, and 
He plants His flag, and He writes above you, under new management. And so, baptism is the identification 
with the triune God, that you are now someone else's property. 
This is a public declaration of, I do. And I ain't going back. By the grace of God, I will go 
on. Baptism also teaches us union 
with Jesus Christ. Union means, again, that whole 
marriage bond. We have come together with the 
Lord Christ. Paul uses this in Romans 6, verses 
1-6. Baptism does not provide that 
union, but rather baptism portrays or pictures that union. Union 
with Christ. Being in Him. Hopefully you were 
following along when Pastor Cam was reading in Ephesians 1. Over 
and over and over again, the words, in Him, are used by Paul. Union with Christ. We're in Him. In John 15, our Lord Jesus teaches 
us something of the solidarity or the unity between Himself 
and His people. He is the true vine and we are 
the branches. In the epistle to the Corinthians 
and in Ephesians and Colossians, He uses the analogy that the 
body is His and He is the head. We are in Jesus Christ. We are in union with Him in His 
death, in His burial, and in His resurrection. Christ is ours 
and we are Christ. A third thing pictured is the 
forgiveness of sins. Again, baptism does not provide 
forgiveness, but rather portrays or pictures forgiveness. He goes 
into that water. It's not the water that cleanses 
him from his sin. It's the blood of Jesus. It's 
the death of Christ at Calvary. Paul in Hebrews 9 says, without 
the shedding of blood, there is no remission. That's why when 
you read the Old Testament, there's all these animal sacrifices. 
Those all pointed forward to the Lamb of God who takes away 
the sin of the world. That's why when God dealt with 
Adam and Eve, He made skins for them to cover them after they 
sinned. That's why when Abraham was about 
to plunge that knife into his son Isaac, the angel of the Lord 
came and stopped him. And the instruction from Mount 
Moriah that day was, the Lord will provide a lamb. That's why 
Christ came and died for sinners and rose again. We talk about 
the blessings of the Gospel. I think forgiveness is probably 
right up there at number one. There's nothing better than having 
God say, I forgive you. Isn't it? No more guilt. No more pain in the conscience. 
No more fear. I mean, there's still fear. I 
mean, if you walk out in front of a bus and you see it coming, 
You know what? It's not unrighteous to feel 
a bit of fear. If you're staring eyeball to 
eyeball with a grizzly bear, fear is a legitimate response. But not fear in terms of God. Maybe fear about being mauled 
or ripped apart by this big, huge grizzly bear. But not fear 
of where you're going. God's taking care of my sin. 
God has covered it. God has washed it. God has provided 
a Lamb. God has given us Jesus as the 
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The forgiveness 
of sins is uniquely portrayed through baptism. He comes up 
out of the water. We see a man who has, by the 
grace of God, been forgiven. I want to close with three brief 
applications. The first is to John Williams. It's another thing that the Confession 
says. It speaks of newness of life. It says, and of his, the 
person being baptized, of his giving up unto God through Jesus 
Christ to live and walk in newness of life. That's what you're supposed 
to do. I have been richly blessed in 
knowing John Williams. We've had a lot of Bible studies 
together. It's like a blessing that God, in his grace and in 
his kindness, would give me a friend and a brother like John. And we've actually gone over 
some of these things before. And I just want to remind you, 
John, this is what a Christian looks like, giving up unto God. See, Christian, there's a lot 
of misconceptions about what Christians are out there. They're 
perfect or they're holy or they're somehow arrived. No, they're 
sinners saved by grace. The day that any of us as Christians 
ever portray pride and arrogance and we're something someone else 
isn't is the day we betrayed the gospel. The gospel is not 
about a bunch of good, polished, handsome people getting better. The gospel is about sinners being 
convicted, being shown the mercy of God through Jesus Christ, 
and knowing what it is to be cleansed. That's what the gospel 
is. A Christian looks like one who 
is giving himself to God through Jesus Christ. It's not always 
easy. In fact, it's probably always 
hard. Some of you are familiar with 
John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. He depicts Christian as having 
that burden of sin on his back. He leaves the city of destruction 
and he comes to that cross and that burden of sin is gone. Do 
you know what? In the Christian life, there 
is a burden placed there. It's easy. It's light. It's not 
painful. It's not destructive. But Jesus 
did say we are to take His yoke upon Him. We need to live in 
a manner that is worthy of the Gospel. And it's hard. It's one of the things we've talked 
about a lot. It's difficult. You've got three constant enemies 
as a Christian. The world. I mean, face it, this 
world is no friend to those who are trying to follow God. Through 
media, through friends, through peers, through whoever, we have 
a lot of pressure about not following God. We have the devil, whom 
Peter describes as one who goes about like a roaring lion, seeking 
whom he may devour. You know, it may be the case 
that we can guard our hearts against that world and against 
that devil. But it's the flesh, it's what's 
inside here that perhaps at times is the most difficult. And so, 
John Williams, I encourage you today, a Christian is not one 
who has perfected himself. A Christian is one who continually 
throws himself at the mercy of God. That's what a Christian 
is. He's not one who has performed 
and been rewarded. He is one who has been saved 
by grace through faith. And to continually cast yourself 
upon Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus is the one thing 
needful. Faith in Jesus is the one thing 
needful. The best way to feed that faith 
is through the Bible. You need to nourish your heart 
and soul. You need to instruct yourself 
in the things of God. Prayer. Prayer is absolutely 
crucial. Living in dependence upon God. One man is well said of prayer. It isn't, you know, the fridge 
magnet. It isn't, you know, the light-hearted, 
you know, let's just have a little bit of a conversation. He likens 
prayers to walkie-talkies on the field of battle. If you are 
in the thick of battle, you would be dependent upon that walkie-talkie 
because it connects you to others. It connects you to power. It 
connects you to airstrikes. It connects you to defense. It 
connects you to resources. That's how we are to view prayer. 
It is a walkie-talkie on the field of battle for our well-being 
and for our protection and for our faith to grow. And also fellowship, 
being with the Christian people. being with the Church of Christ. 
The Scripture is very clear that bad company corrupts good morals. It isn't usually the case that 
we wear white trousers. Hopefully none of us as men wear 
white trousers. But if we do, we don't wear white 
trousers, walk through a muddy day in Chilliwack, and clean 
up all those puddles. That's not normally what happens. We wear the white trousers, we 
go out into the puddles, and our white trousers get filthy. We need to remember that analogy. 
It's not always the case that we're going to exercise godly 
influence on everybody. There is a righteous doctrine 
of running and hiding. Remember Joseph and Potiphar's 
house. Potiphar's wife was coming on to him day by day. Joseph 
was a red-blooded man like all the rest of us. How did he guard 
himself? He ran. Fellowship with Christians is 
absolutely crucial, and that brings me to some charges for 
our church. John Williams is being baptized 
today because Jesus died on the cross and rose again. We ought 
to give glory to God. We ought to give glory and praise 
to God. We need to receive John Williams 
as a brother in Jesus Christ. We need to love him. I say need. Hopefully we already all do. 
I'm just reminding us. We need to encourage him. We 
need to pray for him. We need to be everything to him 
that we pray and hope he'll be to us. See, God never intended 
for us to live the Christian life in isolation. In fact, the 
Proverbs speaks against such a mindset. Whoever separates 
himself, according to Proverbs 18.1, seeks his own desire. We are to live in community. 
We are to be with one another, even if we don't always agree 
on everything. Even if sometimes people bug 
us. We need to bless God for the 
fellowship of the saints. We need to praise God that he 
has given to us a church and that he is saving sinners, that 
he is adding to our numbers, that he is giving us those gifts 
and tokens of his grace. Baxter said, in the communion 
of the saints is wisdom, safety and delight. And when my heart 
declines and faints, it's raised by their heat and light. That's 
a great sentiment. So we need to encourage, pray 
for, love, and help our brother along the narrow way in this 
church. And for any here that don't know 
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you know, again, sometimes Christians 
talk as if they're part of an exclusive club. Well, it is exclusive 
in one sense because the only way in is through the blood of 
the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's not exclusive in the 
sense that it's only for this group or it's only for these 
people. This is a faithful saying, Paul 
said, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the 
world sinners to save. If you're a sinner, If you have 
rebelled against God, if you have gone astray, there's hope, 
there's mercy, there's grace. And it's in God through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. The Gospel is about belief. John and I have talked about 
this as well. God calls us to walk by faith, not by sight. You know, when we get saved, 
it's not as if now the road just opens up, and there's rose petals, 
and there's blue birds, and everything's just happy. We need to believe, like the 
psalmist said, that yea, though I walk through the valley of 
the shadow of death, I will not fear, for Thou art with me. See, it takes faith. It's easy 
to believe in God when there's rose petals and when there's 
blue birds and when the sun is always shining. You need supernatural grace from 
on high to believe that in the midst of the valley of the shadow 
of death, God is there with you, seeing you through it. So if 
you don't know Christ today, the answer is, believe on Him. 
Believe the gospel and you will be saved. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you so very 
much for the glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We thank you 
for the forgiveness of sins. We thank you for mercy. We thank 
you for all of the kindness that you have demonstrated at the 
cross. And I would pray this day, God, that John, our brother, 
would look back upon this day with fond thoughts. with great 
joy and great encouragement, that God He would give Himself 
wholly unto you, that He would walk in newness of life, that 
He would seek by grace each and every day to fear and to honor 
and to glorify you. Help us as a church to pray for 
one another. Help us to encourage one another. 
Help us, Lord God, to worship You as we are supposed to in 
spirit and in truth, and keep from us the pettiness and the 
the frivolity and all the things that so often sidetracks us. 
Help us to be like Paul, reaching forward, forgetting the things 
behind, pressing toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 
And we pray for any who do not know you here, we call upon you, 
God of sovereign power, God of glorious grace to open the heart 
and cause sinners to see themselves before You and to see the glory 
of Jesus Christ as Savior and as Lord. And we pray in His most 
blessed name, Amen.