Two Mountains | Sunday, May 19, 2024

Amen. Thank you, Anthony and team. Good morning, Cross Connection Church! You can be seated if you would like. I know I look a little more casual than normal; there is a reason for this, and I'll explain as we get into our message this morning.

Before we get into the message, I want to share a little bit of an announcement in addition to the announcements that we had up on the video this morning. Beginning next week, we're going to be starting a new series in a different book of the Bible through the summer. This has become kind of our pattern here at Cross Connection Church. We have been studying through the Book of Judges, and we're a little bit more than halfway through Judges. However, we're going to skip through the summer and do something different. We'll come back to Judges and finish it up in the fall.

During the summer, for the last few years, we have been going through a different passage of Scripture. This summer, we're going to be studying the Old Testament book of Hosea, the minor prophet of Hosea. There are Minor Prophets and there are Major Prophets. It's not like the minor leagues and the major leagues; I'll explain what that's all about next week. Why are there Minor Prophets? So, through the summer, we're going to be studying the Book of Hosea. If you're going to be coming with us, I would encourage you to read through at least the first chapter of the Book of Hosea this week, or the whole book. It won't take you very long; it's a short book, and I think that you will be encouraged by it.

Today is an important day. Today is what is called the Day of Pentecost, and I want to take some time to talk a little bit about what that means and what it's all about. As I was thinking about what I would share this morning, it hit me that something happened 30 years ago, which is kind of frightening now to think about. I was in high school, or just starting high school, 30 years ago. For some of you, you're like, "Oh, come on, you're young," but I feel old all of a sudden when I think, "Wow, I was in high school almost 30 years ago."

I remember when I was probably about a sophomore or junior in high school. I was attending this church, and I was next door in the youth ministry. On a Sunday morning, one of the guys who was teaching us at that time had this big, huge box TV. You know, the kind we had back then? It was not a very big screen, but it was a box TV with a VHS player. Some of you might still have some of those. He had this video that he wanted us to watch, and it was a short documentary about an amateur archaeologist by the name of Ron Wyatt. He was kind of an interesting character who loved to go to the places that are mentioned in the Bible.

Many years ago, Ron Wyatt, who is now with the Lord, passed away. He, along with his son, embarked on a short amateur archaeological expedition to Egypt. Ron wanted to retrace the steps of the children of Israel as described in the book of Exodus. They left Egypt, crossed through the Red Sea, and came to the region of Midian. Ron aimed to find the exact location of these events.

There is a traditional site on the Sinai Peninsula that has been recognized for nearly two thousand years as Mount Sinai. However, there is not much archaeological evidence to support this claim. Ron had a different idea about where the true site might be, so he set out to search for it. In a documentary, he presented his findings and believed that the actual area of Israel's Red Sea crossing was from Egypt across the Red Sea into what we know today as the land of Midian, which is in Saudi Arabia.

In the documentary, he showed the trek through the wilderness to an enormous split rock that he believed was the rock from the book of Exodus, where Moses struck the rock and water came out for the children of Israel. After that, they arrived at a great mountain in Midian with a blackened peak. This mountain, which is not photoshopped, is exactly what it looks like. Ron believed that this was Mount Sinai, and I will explain more about that later.

I can remember thinking as a sophomore or junior in high school that I would love to go there someday; it would be really cool. A little more than a year ago, I had the opportunity to visit with my friends Pastor David Guzik, Lance Rollston, and Chuck Musalwhite. We all serve together on the board of Enduring Word, which is a great website, enduringword.com. There, you can find Bible commentary written by my friend David Guzik on the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. If you ever find yourself confused by a text of Scripture, his commentary might be very helpful.

We flew into the country of Jordan and visited with our missionaries, Bubba and Kathy Holer, who had been in Jordan. They are now transitioning out of there, but we had the chance to visit with them before continuing our journey.

Our way across the border into Saudi Arabia was a very interesting experience. Until just a few years ago, you could not visit Saudi Arabia as a tourist, especially as a Christian visitor seeking to look at Jewish historical sites. They were kind of against that until they began to open the doors. Now, there are expeditions going into this area along the coast of the Red Sea to see the sites that are there.

We went to the place where it is likely that the Red Sea Crossing took place. From there, we traveled a few miles inland to the ruins of the ancient city of Midian. If you've read the Book of Exodus, you might remember that Moses fled from Egypt when he was about 40 years old. He went into the land of Midian, where he worked for a man named Jethro, who was a priest of Midian. Moses married Jethro's daughter, Zipporah, and lived there for the next 40 years before he brought the children of Israel out of Egypt. We know where the land of Midian is located; it is in Saudi Arabia.

We visited the ruins of Midian and explored several different places in that area. Then, we took a great four-wheel excursion out into the wilderness to see a huge split rock. I had seen this rock on a 4x3 20-inch screen when I was in high school, and I remember thinking I wanted to go there. Here is a picture of that rock to give you an idea of the scale. You might look at it and wonder how big it is. The next picture shows people at the base of that rock. If you can't quite see all the people, we can zoom in and highlight them. There are five people there.

At the base of the split rock, my friend Lance Ralston, who pastors Calvary Chapel Oxnard, shared that before he became a pastor, he was training to be a geologist. He pointed out that there is evidence of water flowing at the base of this rock at some point in the past, which is fascinating for such a dry desert area. We had the great privilege of visiting some of these sites that I had wanted to see since I was in high school.

We hiked up to the top of a mountain, and I took a picture when we were at the base. The base of the mountain is at about 5,300 feet, and then you climb up to the peak, which is about...

7,800 feet up, and I'm not much of a hiker. There are no trails, but we had a great time climbing to the top. You may wonder why I bring this up. Well, for two reasons. First, I want you to know that there is evidence to support that the stories of the Bible are not just myth. You can go to these places, and hopefully someday we will organize a trip where we invite you to come with us to see some of these sites in Saudi Arabia. I've talked with the guy who runs these tours; his name is Andrew, and he would love to bring a group back over there to see it. He has gone to the top of the mountain at Mount Si many times, and we went with him. So maybe in the future, we will do a trip.

We have done trips to Saudi Arabia to see some of these things, to Jordan to see other things, and throughout Israel. You can go and see these places that are described in the Bible, and the archaeological evidence is there. It points back to the fact that these things are not just fiction; these are real events that took place. This is history.

The second reason I bring this up is that I want to talk this morning about two very important mountains from the Bible and what those two mountains symbolize. To do that, would you take out your Bibles this morning and open to the New Testament book of Hebrews? Hebrews is near the end of your Bible. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of the ushers will bring you one. Open to the last book of the Bible, Revelation. You can turn there like you're an authority on the Bible, and then turn to the left. The next largest book after Revelation to the left is the book of Hebrews.

Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. As you're turning there, I want to give you a little bit of information about what is significant about this book. Hebrews was written by an anonymous author in about the mid-60s AD. There is a lot of speculation about who that anonymous author is. My own conviction is that the anonymous author of the book of Hebrews is a guy named Timothy. If you want more information about that, you can find my messages on the book of Hebrews on our website.

It was written by an anonymous author in the mid-60s AD to disciples, followers of Jesus who had converted to Christianity from Judaism. These Jewish converts to Christianity were having a difficult time trying to navigate a shift, a transition from one worldview or one way of living to another.

Covenant to the New Covenant, they were in this weird place where they were split between two covenants and two ways of seeing the world. They were having a very difficult time with that. The fact is, all of us kind of experience this to a certain extent. Every single one of you, if you're a Christian today, is kind of between two worlds as well. You have the culture and the worldview that you grew up in.

One of the deficiencies with Americans, a lot of times, is that we don't think we have a culture. It's kind of like you don't realize you have an accent until you meet someone from Austria. You hear them talk and think, "You sound funny." They respond, "No, you sound funny," and you realize that you have an accent. But you also have a culture, and you don't know that you have a culture until your culture is stepped on by another culture.

When you travel to other places, you quickly realize you have a culture. You start to think, "Man, they do things funny here. I don't like how they do this. I don't like how they deal with that." This is an indication that you have a culture, but that culture is almost invisible to you, like the water is invisible to the fish swimming in it.

You have been enculturated from the time you were born until whenever you become a Christian, a follower of Jesus. Now you're born again into a new reality, into a new culture. You become, as the Bible says, a citizen of heaven. You begin to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and you find yourself split between two worlds.

This is exactly what the earliest Christians experienced. They were coming out of the Old Covenant and the worldview of Judaism into Christianity, and it was very different. Always, when that is taking place, you feel the tug of the old culture and the new. Sometimes, you feel kind of pulled back towards the old culture. This is exactly what these Christians, about 30 years after Jesus had died on the cross, risen from the dead, and ascended into heaven, were feeling. These early Jewish converts to Christianity were feeling that tug back to their old way of thinking and their old way of living.

The author of the book of Hebrews writes this letter to them to encourage them to stay on the path they were on. He says this in Hebrews 12:18: "For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, into blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore."

They could not endure what was commanded, and if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow. So terrifying was that sight that Moses said, "I am extremely afraid and trembling."

What is the author of Hebrews talking about here? He is writing to these Jewish Christians who would have understood exactly what he was referencing. He is referencing the Old Testament, specifically the book of Exodus and the mountain called Sinai, where the children of Israel came in Exodus 18 and 19. When they arrived at the base of that mountain, Moses said, "I am going to go up the mountain and meet with God. You need to prepare yourselves for this, for in three days God is going to come down and meet with you. Sanctify yourselves and do not come close to the mountain."

When they saw the presence of God in the form of a burning cloud that was going to come upon the mountain, Moses warned them not to approach it because the mountain would be holy and they were not holy. If they touched it, judgment would come upon them. When God did descend upon that mountain and Moses was there, God came down to the people and gave Moses the law to bring to them.

When did all of that take place? Jewish tradition tells us it happened fifty days after the children of Israel had come out of Egypt. If you read the story of Exodus, you know that the last thing that happened with the children of Israel before they left Egypt was that they celebrated a feast. God was going to bring judgment upon the people of Egypt because of the harsh taskmasters and the wicked things they had done to the children of Israel for many centuries. Now, He was going to deliver His people from there, and this judgment was to come at the hands of a destroying angelic messenger who would enter the land of Egypt.

Moses told the children of Israel, "You are going to sacrifice a lamb, and you will take the blood of the lamb and put it on the doorpost of your house. You are to stay in that house, and if this angel sees the blood on the doorpost, he will pass over your house." They celebrated the first Passover, and the following day they left and started their journey out of Egypt. Eventually, they reached the Red Sea, crossed it, and came into the land of Midian. They arrived at the split rock where God provided them water, as described in Exodus chapter 17. Eventually, they reached Mount Sinai, where Moses went up on the mountain, and God came down to bring the law. What day did that take place?

Fifty days after Passover is Pentecost, the day we are celebrating today, which happened 3,400 years ago. Consider the significance of that event on the Mountaintop. In Hebrews 12, the author describes the moment when God gave the law to the children of Israel through the hands of Moses.

He states that we have not come to that mountain symbolically referred to as Mount Sinai. However, if you look at verse 22, it says, "You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the Living God, to the Heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly of the church, to the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of the sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel."

What we have here in Hebrews chapter 12 is a tale, if you will, of two mountains. The first, Mount Sinai, which Paul tells us in Galatians is in Arabia, was the place where the children of Israel received the law from God through Moses. It was there that they became God's people, the people of God, at the base of that mountain.

The amazing thing is that all of this took place on this day, according to Jewish tradition, 3,400 years ago. The Feast of Pentecost, in part, celebrates the giving of the law and the children of Israel becoming the people of God, separated unto Him. At the base of Mount Sinai, Exodus records that the children of Israel said to Moses and to God, "Everything that you have commanded, we will do and be obedient." God was going to give them the law, and they professed and proclaimed, "God, we are going to follow your law. We will keep all the covenants, statutes, and commandments. We will do it all."

However, within two months, as you may remember from the story, they broke their commitment. They broke the Covenant when they were dancing around a golden calf. It is fascinating because in the valley just below this mountain, just a couple of miles into the valley, there is a large tableted rock outcropping.

The sign is mostly in Arabic from the Saudi Arabian government, but it says underneath that this is an archaeological area. They recognize that this is an archaeological site, and you can still go in and see it, even though there is a big gate and a fence around it. You're allowed to enter and observe. If you get close, you will see pictographs of cows all over it.

The people in that area, who have lived there for a very long time, call this the Golden Calf altar. They believe that this was the altar where the incident with the golden calf took place. On top of it, I have another picture. I went up on the tabletop, and you can see the mountain in the distance. The black part at the top of the mountain is really amazing. This mountain, Mount Si, is believed to be the one associated with the golden calf incident.

The mountain has turned black, and I have a piece of the rock from the top of the mountain. It is so stark and clear when you see it. At first glance, it looks like just the shadow of a cloud or something up there, but it is not. When you get higher up, you can see that the rock is all the same type, but it suddenly changes from very white rock to blackened rock. My friend Lance was with us, and he mentioned that this is just the surface; it is just superficial. The rock has been changed somehow, maybe by the presence of the Lord. I have no idea, but there are archaeological teams beginning to research this area now that they have the ability to go in.

I share this to say that there are places you can visit where you can see archaeological evidence. These things are not just myths. However, if you go on Wikipedia today and read about Exodus, you will be told that it is the supreme source of all knowledge. You will be informed that this was just a myth and didn't really happen. But you can go and see these locations, which is an awesome thing to consider.

We have these two mountains. The first mountain, Sinai, is not just a physical location, although it is that. There is something more; it represents the place of the law. Mount Sinai always represents the moment when the children of Israel entered into a covenant relationship with God, where God became their God, and they became God's people. They said, "All that you have said, we will do and be obedient." However, on the day they broke His law and danced around the golden calf, as the Scriptures say, they harlot themselves to it in an idolatrous way. It was at that point in time that, according to God's law, judgment came upon the people.

Broke God's commandment, and 3,000 people died. Exodus 32 tells us in verses 26-28 that 3,000 people died that day because they broke God's commandment. Now keep that in your mind—3,000 people—because it's important.

Fast forward from Mount Sinai 3,400 years ago to about 1,400 years later at Mount Zion. Where is Mount Zion? Mount Zion is in the midst of Jerusalem. The Scriptures say the city of Jerusalem is built on a mountain range, and that mountain in the middle of the city is called Mount Zion. When you see pictures of the Temple Mount, it's built on top of Mount Zion. It extends up a little bit further to what's called Mount Moriah, and right across from Mount Zion, there's a valley called the Kidron Valley. To the east is a place called the Mount of Olives. Maybe if you've been around the church before, you've heard these terms and words before. But Mount Zion is in the midst of Jerusalem.

Now, fast forward from Sinai 1,400 years to about 2,000 years ago, there in Jerusalem. Turn in your Bibles, if you would, from the book of Hebrews to the left to the book of Acts. Right after the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, John—comes Acts. Acts was recorded by the author who wrote the Gospel of Luke, so Acts is like the sequel to Luke. Luke is the story of Jesus's life and ministry, His death, burial, and resurrection, and Acts is the continued story. It tells the story of the early church.

In Acts chapter 1, 400 years after Mount Sinai and Moses there with the law, we read this: Luke writes, "The former account I made, O Theophilus," which refers to the Book of Luke. He had written this to present it to someone named Theophilus. The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day He was taken up, after He, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen. To whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, having been seen by them for 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

Being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which He said, "You have heard from Me. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You now restore the kingdom to Israel?"

Israel, he said to them, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put under His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth."

Now, when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. While they looked steadfastly toward Heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand here gazing up into Heaven? The same Jesus who was taken up from you into Heaven will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into Heaven."

The Gospels make it very clear that Jesus was killed on the cross on Calvary, just outside of Jerusalem, during Passover. This is significant because, 1,400 years before that, the lamb was sacrificed so that the children of Israel could be covered and delivered from Egypt. Egypt is a place of bondage; it is a type and a picture of the world in Scripture.

So, Israel, 1,400 years before this, was delivered by the sacrifice of a lamb. They were delivered from the judgment of God and from their bondage out of Egypt so that they could leave and go to the Promised Land. It is a perfect picture. Fourteen hundred years later, Jesus is crucified; the Lamb is slain. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is crucified at Passover.

Now, the text here in Acts tells us that 40 days later, He has been with His disciples for 40 days after His resurrection. He is with them on the Mount of Olives. Probably all of you have seen that great picture of the city of Jerusalem with the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. Many times, that picture is taken from the Mount of Olives, and the Kidron Valley is in between you and the Temple Mount.

So, He is with His disciples, and they do not see the Dome of the Rock; they see the Temple in Jerusalem, which would not be destroyed for another 40 years, in the year 70 AD. There they are, sitting and looking at the city of Jerusalem, Mount Zion in the midst of Jerusalem. He says to His disciples, "Listen, I want you to wait in Jerusalem until you receive the promise from the Father, the one that I have been telling you about, that God is going to baptize you with His Holy Spirit not many days from now. This is going to take place. Wait here."

Now, He has commissioned them to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, but first He says, "Wait until you receive power." This is 40 days after Passover; this is 10 days before Pentecost. If you look at a calendar, it was just a couple Thursdays ago.

We call Ascension Day the day that Jesus ascended into heaven. As He was talking with His disciples, He told them that they were going to receive the promise of the Spirit. Instantly, their minds went to the end times, which is a distraction for us many times as well. They asked, "Are you now going to restore the kingdom?" Jesus replied that it is not for them to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put under His own authority.

He continued, "You are going to receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts." Jesus constantly has to refocus us back on our mission—the Great Commission to go into all the world and make disciples. He refocused them by saying that the Holy Spirit was going to be poured out, and then He ascended into heaven.

Ten days later, we read in Acts chapter 2, verse 1: "When the day of Pentecost had fully come." What day is that? This day, as we are gathered here on this Sunday morning, is the day of Pentecost, 50 days after Passover. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, Jesus's earliest followers were all with one accord in one place, gathered together just as we are here.

Suddenly, there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. There appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus had promised, and they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The first celebration of Pentecost was 1,400 years before this, when the children of Israel were gathered at Mount Sinai, and the law came down to them. However, this Pentecost is more important. God's people, Jesus's disciples, were gathered together on Mount Zion in the midst of Jerusalem, and the Holy Spirit came down and filled God's people.

What we are doing here today is remembering these two mountains and the two events that took place: the law coming down under the Old Covenant and the Spirit coming down under the New Covenant—Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. Pentecost is the celebration of the law coming down, but it is also the celebration of the Holy Spirit coming down upon God's people. But it's more than that, because look at Acts chapter...

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem at that moment Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. When the sound occurred, the sound of the rushing mighty wind, the multitude came together and they were confused because everyone heard these individuals speaking in his own language. These were people from all different nations, gathered together in Jerusalem, and now they hear their own native languages. They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Look, are not these men Galileans?"

Get the picture: Jesus's followers are gathered together on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, and there is this sound of a mighty rushing wind on Pentecost Sunday. Gathered as God's people, they begin to speak with languages they don't know. It must have sounded pretty strange to them. A multitude of people comes together, and they hear this. Every single person gathered together is hearing their own language and the praises of God in their own language from these people. They are blown away by this.

Peter, the same Peter who fifty days prior had denied Jesus three times and fled in fear for his own life, now stands up before this multitude of people who are gathered there. He begins to preach the gospel to them; he preaches Christ crucified. Look at Acts 2:36. He says to this gathered multitude of people, "Therefore let all of the house of Israel know for sure that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

When they had heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord will call," even those in San Diego County 2,000 years later.

With many other words, Peter testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." Now note this: verse 41 states that those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about 3,000 souls were added.

Did you catch that? At Mount Sinai in Arabia, the law came down, and the heavy weight of the law was established. There's nothing wrong with the law; Paul says in Romans chapter 7 that the law is good, the commandment holy, just, and good. The law is perfect, but it exposes our imperfection. Due to our imperfection, the law says we ought to be judged.

As an illustration of that, 3,400 years ago at Mount Sinai, when the law came down, 3,000 died and were judged. However, 1,400 years later at Mount Zion, under the New Covenant through the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit came down. The blessing of God, in the form of the Holy Spirit, comes down to man through the gospel, and 3,000 people are saved. This is a beautiful picture that we see here: the church in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost is born. This is the birthday of the church.

If you go by the traditional accounting, the traditional view is that Jesus was crucified, raised, and ascended into heaven around 33 AD. If you follow that traditional accounting, this marks the 1991st birthday of the church. So, happy birthday, Church!

The author of the book of Hebrews says, "For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched, that burned with fire, and to the blackness and darkness and tempest, the sound of the trumpet, and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them. For they could not endure what was commanded, and if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow." So terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I am exceedingly afraid and trembling."

But you have come to Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly of the church, the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Two mountains, two covenants: the old covenant and the new covenant. For the law came by Moses; the Gospel of John 1:17 says, "The law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." Paul in Romans chapter 7 says, "I was alive once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." The commandment, which was to bring life, I...

Found to bring death for sin, taking occasion by the Commandment, deceived me, and by it, it killed me. Therefore, the law is good; it’s holy. The Commandment is holy, just, and good. But I am carnal, sold under sin. The law perfectly does what it was intended to do; it reveals very quickly and clearly that you and I are far from God and deserve His justice, His wrath, and His punishment according to the judgment of the law.

But Jesus comes and speaks better things. Jesus comes and gives the gospel, the good news of the New Covenant. He calls us to experience His grace; He calls us to experience His forgiving grace. We are carnal and sold under sin; we cannot justify ourselves by the working of the law. But Jesus came and took the punishment of the law so that you and I could be saved, so that we might have His grace and His truth. He fulfills all righteousness.

Today, the day of Pentecost, is a day of celebration. It’s a day of rejoicing where we celebrate the good news of the gospel, the good news of the New Covenant, which far surpasses and is far better than the news of the Commandment. Now, the Commandment is important; it is really essential because it’s only through the Commandment that we realize our enmity with God, the distance between us and a holy God. But it’s only Jesus who can come and actually deal with that through His grace and the truth that He brings.

So today is a day of rejoicing. We rejoice, as Acts chapter 2 shows, in the blessing of the Holy Spirit by the gospel of Jesus Christ. We rejoice in the birth of the church; that’s where the church started, in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost. We celebrate the baptism of those who trusted in Christ, the first ones to follow Jesus by faith. Three thousand of them, on that day when the church was born, were baptized.

We are going to do that today after the second or after the third service. I want to invite you, second service people, to make sure you come back today at 12:15 because we’re going to have a celebration. We’re going to celebrate the way the Gentiles celebrate. We have barbecued pork, which is not, I don’t know, Pentecost pork. You know what God has called clean, let us not call common and unclean. So we’re going to have a barbecue, we’re going to have a celebration, and we’re going to have birthday cake because it’s the 1991 birthday of the church. We’re going to have a baptism just like the early church did.

Two thousand years ago, which really brings up the question about baptism: Why baptism? What is this whole thing of baptism all about? It’s an important question. Maybe some of you were baptized when you were little babies, but you had no part in that; you didn't get to choose it, and you probably don't remember it. Perhaps there are some pictures of it, but you don't know much about it. Hopefully, if you are a Christian today, you've been baptized. If you have not, then you ought to be baptized.

You may ask, "Why should I be baptized?" Well, here at Cross Connection, I like to say that there are three reasons why we should be baptized. First, we baptize in obedience to Christ's command. Jesus said to His disciples before He ascended into heaven. Matthew 28 records it, beginning at verse 18: "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all 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. Amen."

So, the first reason that we baptize here is in obedience to Christ's command. I, as one of His leaders, one of those He has called to lead others, have been commanded to baptize people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If you are a believer in Jesus, you have been commanded to be baptized. Therefore, as an issue of obedience, you should be baptized if you've never been baptized before.

The second reason we baptize is in identification with Jesus. Matthew chapter 3 says that Jesus was baptized. He said to John the Baptist, "Allow me to be baptized by you so that we fulfill all righteousness." By being baptized, we identify ourselves with Jesus. If you identify yourself as a follower of Christ, which being a Christian basically means, then you ought to be baptized in identification with Him and in obedience to Him.

The third reason we baptize here is in association with His death, burial, and resurrection. Paul, in Romans chapter 6, says that baptism is a picture of dying with Christ, going under the water, and rising with Christ to walk in newness of life. We are associating ourselves with His death, burial, and resurrection. We are saying, "I've died to my old way of living. I've died to all the old things that I did, thought, said, or whatever it is. I've laid those things down; they've been crucified with Christ."

I rise to walk in newness of life. If you've never been baptized, this is a great opportunity to obey the Lord, to identify with Him, and to associate with His death, burial, and resurrection.

Now, that brings up the question: What exactly is baptism? In some places, they sprinkle with water, but we prefer to dip people under the water. The word "baptism," which is derived from the Greek word, means to immerse or dip under. Therefore, we practice baptism by full immersion. We have a little portable baptismal out there, and we will immerse you in water in obedience to the Lord and in identification with Him and association with His death, burial, and resurrection.

This brings up the question of when a person should be baptized. I think the best way to answer that is through a passage of Scripture in Acts chapter 8. There was an evangelist named Philip who preached the gospel to a non-Jewish Ethiopian man, a wealthy emissary coming from Ethiopia. He was on his way back there, traveling on the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza. Sound familiar?

In that context, Philip preached the gospel from a beautiful passage of Scripture in the Old Testament, Isaiah chapter 53. If you've never read it before, you should read it later on because it talks about the suffering servant. This prophecy came 700 years before Jesus arrived and describes what Jesus did for you and me.

As this Ethiopian man was reading from Isaiah 53, he asked Philip, "Is the prophet talking about himself or someone else?" From that passage of Scripture, Acts chapter 8 says that Philip preached Jesus to him. As they were on their journey, they passed by some water, and the Ethiopian said to Philip, "What is keeping me from being baptized?" Obviously, he had been transformed by what he was hearing from the gospel, and upon seeing the water, he asked, "What's hindering me from being baptized?"

Philip replied, "If you believe, you may." The Ethiopian responded, "I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God." So they stopped the chariot they were riding on, and Philip and the Ethiopian went down into the water. Philip baptized him; he dunked him under the water. When the man came up out of the water, by a miracle, Philip just departed—he was gone. The Scriptures say that the Ethiopian went on his way rejoicing.

So, if you have trusted in Christ, if you believe that He is the Anointed One, the Christ, the Savior, if you believe that He is God in the flesh and that He rose from the dead, then you should be baptized.

Obey the Lord in baptism, identifying yourself as a follower of Christ and associating with His death, burial, and resurrection. If you've never been baptized before, or maybe you were as a little baby and you don't remember it, today is a perfect day. It's Pentecost, the day when the first converts to Christ were baptized, the day when the church was born, and the day when the Holy Spirit came down. Through Christ, we experience new life. Whereas the law brings death, this is a great day.

As I said, I want to invite you to come back today at about 12:15. We'll have a party together. We have plenty of food, and we've got the water for baptism. We also have birthday cake, and we would love to rejoice with you. If you want to be baptized, you don't have to, but you can sign up on our website. Just go to CCchurch.com/baptism; there's a form you can fill out so that we're prepared for you. Even if you just show up and you're ready to go, or while you're there eating pulled pork, God stirs your heart by His Holy Spirit and you decide you want to be baptized, we can do that in your full clothes. That's perfectly fine; it happens every single time. If you come unprepared, we'll even give you a shirt if you'd like one. We would love to baptize you today in identification with the Lord, showing that you are His disciple, following Him. You associate with His death, burial, and resurrection, and you want to say to all of your gathered friends and to the rest of the world, "I've decided to follow Jesus."

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? God, I thank You that there are actual places we can go to see the evidence that the things we read of in the Scriptures are not fiction. We can see and touch with our hands the reality that You walked on this Earth and that You came to give and bring the gospel, the good news. You said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." I'm certain that in a group this size, there are probably many people who have been laboring by their own strength to try and deal with their guilty conscience and the shame of their past. They have tried to deal with the sinful things they have thought or done, whatever it may be. They might think that by coming to church, they can deal with those things, but ultimately, Jesus, You are the only one who can deal with those things because You died in our place for us. You speak better things than that of the law. The law is good, but Jesus, the gospel...

We rejoice in the good news of the Gospel. Lord, I pray that you would move in hearts today, that there may be many who would say, "Yes, I want to obey in baptism, identifying myself with you."

Lord, we rejoice in the good work that you have done, in the good work that you are doing, and in that which you promise to do in and through our lives. I pray, God, that you would once again fill us afresh and anew with your Holy Spirit. Help us to be yielded to the working and the power of your Spirit so that we would bear fruit unto you and be witnesses unto you here in North County, in San Diego, in California, and maybe even to the ends of the Earth.

God, do a work in and through your church, we pray.

And now, may the Lord bless and keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He lift up His countenance upon you and give you His peace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of His Spirit be with you.