These Scriptures do not set aside the formula given in the Great Commission in Matt. 28:18-20. From the study of these Scriptures we find that the full Scriptural formula would read like this,

"In the name of the Lord Jesus, I baptize thee, my brother (or sister), in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost."

I challenge any theological professor; I challenge any Greek student to prove it otherwise. Did you get that? There is no contradiction, and you don't have to try to explain away Matt. 28:18-20. So you see, "In the name of the Lord Jesus" is your authority to baptize unto the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Is that clear? Just as clear as the nose on your face, but you can't see it because you are blind (II Cor. 4:3,4). Only spiritual blindness would lead a person off at a tangent on the formula of baptism, just as spiritual blindness leads a fellow away from the Lordship of Christ. Scriptural baptism is based upon the authority of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, just as repentance is based upon the authority of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Now, there it is! It is just as clear as can be when once the Holy Spirit shows it to you.

In connection with the Lordship of Jesus in baptism, let's notice Peter's sermon in the house of Cornelius. Let me give you this introduction as found in Acts 10:34,

"Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)..."

Now, that's Scripture. In the very introduction of his message, Peter began to lay stress on the Lordship of Christ. Then, as we said, when he closed his message and the Holy Ghost fell on them, and they were brought to Christ as Lord and Saviour, he baptized them by the authority of and in the name of the Lord. You hold that. There is no repentance in preaching "Jesus"; the repentance comes when preaching the LORDSHIP OF CHRIST!

Then, when Peter was called in question down at Jerusalem about eating and associating with Gentiles, he defended himself on the basis of the Lordship of Christ. He said to those folks down there at Jerusalem,

"And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?" (Acts 11:1517).

Now, brother, that puts a different coloring on the whole thing -- "Who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ." Peter never divided Him up into installments. He never did. He never cut Him in pieces. You'll accept Christ in all three of His offices or go to hell. That's right! My friend, the authority of every God-saved, God called, and God-commissioned ambassador is the Lordship of Christ! There is where I stand, if I have to stand alone. I am not going to sacrifice God's Word to have peace and fellowship with you or anybody else. I am not going to sacrifice the Lordship of Christ by hiding under an old Mother Hubbard to hold friendship with you. Do you know what a Mother Hubbard is? It's something that covers everything and touches nothing. Brother, we have such a Mother-Hubbard religion today over the land until it's nauseating. The average individual does not know what he believes. He is my Lord, and because I am true to your soul, it does not mean that I am critical. I am not against you -- I'm against your damnable sin and error and false doctrine. I am not judging a human heart when I probe it with the Word of God under the power of God's Holy Spirit to let you see whether or not you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. No! A doctor is not judging when he diagnoses a case and says the patient is dying with cancer; and I'm not judging you, or being critical of you, when I probe your heart with the Word of God. If you get mad, that shows you know nothing about the Lordship of Christ; and therefore you are not saved and have no part in the atoning blood of the Son of God. Now, you hold that! Satan hates the Lordship of Christ, and every one of his emissaries hates it!

Let's turn to the thirteenth chapter of Acts and see the call of the Apostle Paul to missionary work. He had been preaching in the church at Antioch and associated with other men of God. The Scripture says (verse 2),

"As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them."

Note that it didn't say, "As they ministered to Jesus," but, "As they ministered to the LORD." It is the Lord Jesus Christ who calls men to special work and not "Jesus." It's the Lord Jesus Christ who calls men to repentance, and not "Jesus." It's the Lord Jesus Christ who calls His men and commissions them, empowers them and puts them in the pulpit to preach His Word. You will never find one time in the life of the Apostle Paul that he spoke of his Lord as just "Jesus." The name, "Jesus," to him was always connected with Lord or Christ, as the Lord Jesus or the Lord Jesus Christ, or Jesus Christ. You'll be amazed, my friends, if you will read Paul's letters to the churches and find out how many times in speaking to those brethren he says, "Our Lord." I was struck with it in First and Second Corinthians especially -- "Our Lord."

Now turn to Acts 16:9. Paul with his missionary party had come to Troas and didn't know which way to go. They waited, and the Scripture says,

"And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after we had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the LORD had called us for to preach the gospel unto them."

Notice that expression, "The LORD had called us for to preach," not "Jesus had called us," but "The LORD." The word, "LORD," is His official title of authority. When the LORD calls a man to preach, he goes forth with authority based upon the Word of the Lord. Go back and read your Old Testament, and you'll find nearly every one of those old prophets opened his prophecy with, "And the Word of the LORD came unto me." Brother, when you stand in the power and authority of the Lord, "the Lord Jesus Christ, " all hell can't move you, all hell can't shake you, all opposition from Satan can't move you. You can die, but you can't compromise; you can die, but you can't turn back. You can't do it!

Let's turn back now to Acts 13:6-10, and we find the Apostle Paul dealing with a demon-possessed man in the name of the LORD, not in the name, "Jesus." Then turn to Acts 16:18, where Paul met a demon-possessed woman, and after many days, "Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour."

All of this so-called casting out of demons today "in the name of Jesus" is a farce. No demon would pay attention to the name, "Jesus." There is no authority in that name. When you hear an individual say, "I command you in the name of Jesus to come out," put it down he is not casting out demons. That individual is under a spirit of delusion. That is Satan camouflaging himself under the name, "Jesus," and leading poor, blinded, religious leaders to hell, and those who are following them. You might ask, "Brother Shelton, do you know what you are talking about?" I certainly do, or I wouldn't be here speaking to the nation. I do! I know there are all types of people listening to me -- the rich, the poor, the learned, the unlearned, the theologians and the professional men. I know that. I know preachers are listening. I have seen demons cast out of individuals in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in answer to prayer. I've seen that, but not in the name,"Jesus."

Now let's notice the fact of the salvation of a soul. Turn with me to Acts 16:14, "And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the LORD opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul."

We notice that it was the LORD who opened Lydia' s heart -- not "Jesus." Only the Lord Jesus can open a sinner's heart, and I praise God that is so. One day He opened my heart. When I was a child, the preacher asked me to trust "Jesus" for salvation. I did, but that "Jesus" didn't open my heart. I was 43 years of age before the Lord Jesus opened my heart and let me see that I was a lost sinner and brought me to Himself for salvation, and when He did, I bowed to Him as Lord. He's my Lord.

Notice Acts 16:30-31. Paul and Silas had been shut up in prison. One night they had a prayer meeting and the Lord opened the prison doors, loosed the prisoners from their stocks, and the jailor, thinking all the prisoners had fled, came with a light in his hand to where Paul and Silas were. Tremblingly he brought Paul and Silas out of the prison and said unto them, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Listen to their answer, "Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."

That's the same scripture Peter used in Cornelius' home when he preached unto them the Word of the Lord, and they "believed on the Lord Jesus Christ." If they had been modern-day preachers living in this day, they would have said, "Trust Jesus, give your heart to Jesus, and come on down to my church and be baptized and all will be well." That's far different from what Paul and Silas said to that poor jailor who knelt at their feet; they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."

We notice here that the Lordship of Christ comes before His Saviourship. When an individual comes to Christ for salvation, he accepts Him in all three of His offices -- as Prophet, as Priest, as King -- as the Lord - Jesus - Christ. Our modern-day preachers argue that the individual does not know what all that means, and so they will tell them to trust Jesus now as their Saviour and be saved and then later on teach them the Lordship of Christ, or Christ as their King. Now, do you know why that individual does not know the three offices of Jesus Christ? It is because there has not been and is not now any Holy Spirit conviction. It is only under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit that the sinner is taught who the Lord is, and will be brought to know Him and accept Him as Lord before he will ever come to know Him as his Saviour. Brother, it's not you or I that's teaching that sinner; it's the Holy Spirit. You and I must preach the Gospel, preach Christ and Him crucified--Christ buried, Christ risen, Christ exalted at the right hand of God as Lord and Christ -- and the Holy Spirit will do His work. He'll take an old ignoramus out there who can't read or write and open that individual's heart and mind, and let the light shine in. Oh, my friend, He'll teach that individual what you and I can't teach him, and before that individual is ever saved, and comes to the forgiveness of his sins, he will learn the Lordship of Christ. You cannot separate the Lordship of Christ and the Saviourship of Christ in the salvation of a sinner!

Let me point out something else. The individual who "trusts Jesus," or "gives his heart to Jesus" for salvation does not have anything, experimentally; therefore, the preacher, in order to hold that individual, has to lead him into something else -- he has to substitute ball games or religious movies, socials and banquets, to hold the young people (and the adults) to the church, because he says, "My people have to have some pleasure and satisfaction; if they don't find it in the church, they will find it in the world."

Brother, preach the Lordship of Christ and bring about a revival, and it will settle that question! There are others who lead their people into what they call "the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and speaking in tongues" to give them an experience to hold them to the church. Or, they will put on their so-called healing programs -- and put the emphasis on that -- because their members don't have anything else; then they will establish a cloth factory, buy a yard of cloth for 49 cents and sell it for $81 with their so-called blessing on it to raise money.

So you see, my friends, when an individual does not have anything and is just hanging on to the name of Jesus, he has to substitute something else to take the place of the Lord Jesus. But when a poor, lost, hell-deserving sinner lies in the dust of repentance at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit reveals Christ to the heart of that individual, you don't have to substitute anything else, because he has all he needs, all he wants, and he finds all his satisfaction in the Lord Jesus Christ! Can you say that? Do you know what I am talking about? I've made it plain; I've brought God's message.

Now, if you will take your Bible and read it, asking the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind, you will find exactly what I found there -- the Lordship of Christ. Do you know Him? Have you ever bowed to Him as Lord? No, you haven't! You want Him only as Saviour, to save you from hell! you just want Jesus as a door mat, just something to keep you out of hell -- that's all you want. Face this fact, you don't want Him as Lord, and there's where the rub comes in. When you are faced with the demand to bow to Him as Lord, you take to the bushes as a cottontail to the brier patch, because you don't want Him as Lord. You want Him only as Saviour, and you can never have Him as Saviour until you know Him as Lord!

Would you like to have a recorded copy of this message by the late Pastor L. R. Shelton, Sr.? It is Message No. 464, and is available on cassette tape. To inquire as to how you can secure the message, please click on the First Baptist Church of Algiers Home Page listed below, then click on Voice of Truth Tapes. Instructions for ordering are found there.