December 19, 2007

• Doctrine of Baptisms Part 2 by Pastor don.

  Pastor Don continued with the basic principles mentioned in Hebrews 6:1-3, covering baptisms. Note that baptisms is plural, meaning that there are more than one, so Pastor Don took us on a study of different baptisms, the first we covered was the baptism of repentance that was given by John the Baptist. Besides it being mentioned in the book of John, we see the baptism of repentance in the book of Luke.

  Luke 3:3-6 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:“ The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘ Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low;  the crooked places shall be made straight  and the rough ways smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

  John prepared the way for Jesus, our savior. Immanuel, or God with us. John’s baptism was not a baptism of salvation but of repentance.

  Luke 3:7-8 Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

  John wanted to see fruits worthy of repentance. It was not a fleshly repentance, but one that needed to last. Repentance had nothing to do with who you were related to, but a state of the heart, and a demonstration of the fruit of the repentance.

  Luke 3:9-11 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?” He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.”

  Do good works, not to earn salvation, but it is in response to forgiveness that we are to do good works, for the good works show the fruit of what happened in your heart.

  Luke 3:12-15 Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than what is appointed for you.” Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?” So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”  Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not,

  People wanted to know what to do differently. Water baptism was a picture of repentance and new works. But John was not the Christ.

  Luk3 3:16 John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

  Even John pointed out that a different baptism was coming to the people, not his of water and repentance, but a baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire. Repentance was administered by John the Baptist; but Jesus, the Messiah, the Logos, would baptize with Spirit and fire.

  Everyone can come to God through the baptism of water for repentance. But for salvation, there must be the baptism In Christ, by the Holy Spirit, who authorizes the second baptism.

  These baptisms can be made in any order, and in any way God wants them to occur. That is up to God and the Holy Spirit. We do not need to get legalistic about this.

  What is baptism in Christ? Jesus explains it himself, John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

  (Heather’s note: this is the chapter I like to think of as Nick at Night – Nicodemus comes in secret to find out about Jesus, and in his discussion, Jesus explains Baptism in Christ, being born again. It was a hard teaching for Nicodemus.)

  John 3:4-8 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

  Jesus tells Nicodemus that he has to be born of WATER and the SPIRIT. What is this water? Notice it is water AND the Spirit in order to enter the kingdom of God. Pastor Don asked if the water was amniotic fluid (as Nick asked when he asked about crawling into the womb again)? Is it water that we commonly use? Is it the water that is used when people climb into the baptismal pool and have water poured over their heads, or are dunked? Is it water that we drink? What is this water? Pastor Don told us that the Bible is the best dictionary to understand a word from Scripture.

  It is not of the flesh, it is a Spiritual water. What is of the flesh is flesh, what is of the Spirit is Spirit. We can enter into that baptismal pool in the flesh, and come out achieving nothing but getting wet. Or we can go into the pool a sinner and come out a sinner. In order for the baptism to take effect, we need to have a change or heart. What is this water that changes our hearts?

  What is water? Ephesians 5:26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,

  The Spirit of God immerses a person into the Word of God, there is something supernatural about the Word of God. If a person cleans up their life, but is not given the Word of God to build them up, their changes may not be permanent. Only by pouring on the water of the Word, washing in the Water of the Word does real change occur.

  Pastor Don told us that the pastor is a water man.

  1 Peter 1:22-23 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever

  How do you get born again? From the Water and the Spirit of God, we find the revelation of that in the Word of God.

  God poured his water on you, which sanctifies you, sets you apart, and purifies you. You receive His words and are born again. The Spirit of God poured on you, sanctifies cleanses and creates incorruptible seed. Pastor Don talked a bit about the different soils from the parable of the sower. Some seed is planted in hard places and doesn’t grow, others grow and brings forth hundreds of bushels of grain. It is no accident that Jesus often said in the book of Revelation, “He who has an ear to hear, let him hear…”Pastor Don told us that if truth be told, all of us have hard places, places we have covered with plastic to prevent plants from taking root. But once we let His word get into our Spirit, even though others look at us and think we don’t seem righteous, He can get in and that fruit of the Word can change our corrupt heart to a pure heart.

  Someone mentioned that Daniel was given a scroll that initially tasted sweet, but then turned bitter when he ate it. Sometimes we find that the Word in us can taste bitter as it does it’s work. We have to be fruit testers. At times it is hard to be nice to people, but we need to be good to them, so that God can begin to change their hearts.

  John 1:29-31 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!  This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me. I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”

  John’s baptism was repentance. The first step towards being born again is to be honest with our shortcomings, our fallibility, and with what is keeping us out of the Kingdom. When the Presence of God comes to us in our sinful state, we need to pour our heart out to Him. When it is expressed, that kind of Love that He has breaks our hearts, and we will repent. In the real presence of God, repentance is expressed. We see how impure we are when we compare ourselves to the pure presence of the Lord. We have to ask Him to forgive us. We have to tell Him we are sorry. We come face to face with the reality that God is good and we aren’t.

  The love of God is what causes change. What overwhelms us. Isaiah speaks to God about how unclean his lips are, and asks for them to be purified.

  John 1:32-34  And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

  When John said, “I did not know Him,” he wasn’t saying that he didn’t know his cousin – John was saying that he didn’t know Jesus as savior. He didn’t know that Yeshua of Nazareth had the Logos in Him. Everything was being progressively revealed about Him.

  Mary received the truth from an angel, but she had to accept that truth. To receive and know the truth is different from accepting it. Some might have reasoned that if Jesus was God, why didn’t he go to “seminary” and come up the way that we would expect a son of God would come up. Jesus did not meet the fleshly expectations of people. And Mary received prophetic words when she and Joseph brought baby Jesus to the temple, she was told that her heart would be broken – she did not know how that would occur, so she held those words in hear heart and watched. The hardest moment for her was at the Wedding of Canna when Jesus pretty much told her that he would not always do her bidding, he put up with her stuff at canna, and turned the water into wine, but He had to be doing the will of the Father.

  Luke 2:39-40 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

  He was not in violation of the commandments, He was not a sinner. He was habitually obedient.

  Remember, these baptisms are not given in any particular order. When did John the Baptist receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit? In the womb – when he leapt at the presence of the unborn Christ child. Not all recognize Jesus.

  John 3:16-17  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

  Notice that this passage does not say, whosoever works hard, whosoever feeds the poor, whosoever does good works. It says whosoever BELIEVES IN HIM, in Jesus. We are not saved by goodness, only In and through Him.

  At one point, Christianity was called THE WAY, which implies a road which one walks upon, and the road ends up back at Jesus. It is the Zoe kind of life, the God kind of life. You throw away your flesh, your politics, your attitudes, and become a believer to the point that you obtain eternal life. People within the church and those who are not in the church have the same problems – divorce, trouble, death, life, sickness, financial troubles. The difference is that those who are in Him, have God, and we face it victoriously. I trust in God. I may be facing an illness, I may be being thrown out of my home, I may be facing problems in my marriage, but we are not facing it alone, we have God.

  Reach up and grab hold of your highest potential. Trust in God, not what you are facing or who you think you are. Trust that you have in your hand the keys of the kingdom, and reach up to your father, accept His love and know that He deserves the highest praise.

  Hoping your day is blessed.

  Heather

  • 6:27 am
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