" He who believes and is baptized shall be saved " Mark 16:16
" Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into His death." Roman 6:3
Let me start out by saying straight off that He who believes IN JESUS and is baptized in water which typifies and signifies the death and resurrection union of the believer with Jesus shall be saved.
Is it water alone that saves us? Nonsense. It is the spiritual reality behind it. Is it Jesus alone that saves us? Absolutely. For both faith in Jesus and baptism belong to the same. It is my experience of Jesus. My confession and testimony through baptism is but putting feet to my faith. I am saying to the world and the universe through my baptism that I am joined with Christ. I am even testifying of some powerful things through faith.
I am testifying through baptism that I have entered into the death of my Lord so that as He died so I died too in Him. There is a passing away of the old Adam for in Adam we all sinned for we were all in Adam. As the same was true of Adam so the same is true of Christ for we are in Christ if we believe and if we believe in Christ then when Christ died we were in Him and died in Him so the old Adam passed away. When Christ arose we also arose in Jesus as a new creation to the glory of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.
When we are baptized we enter into the water to signify our death and union with Christ's death and when we are lifted from those waters we are lifted a new creation in Christ Jesus. We died to that old creation life and all associated with it and something also associated with it was my self-centeredness for in Adam man and woman became so independent of God and self loving and not caring for their brothers and sisters but in Christ we are suddenly made One Body and members one of another so when we are raised we are raised now as members into the Body of Christ. Immediately we are brought into body life with others like us and so we enter into fellowship with other believers by the Holy Spirit.
A great thing happened in baptism. A life-changing , life-altering thing happened. An old creation passed away and suddenly a new day dawned and a new creation was ushered in the very person of Jesus and we were ushered in IN HIM. If we could just grasp that through faith and realize what possession we already possess and walk in that oh the glory there would be to the Father and the testimony in life there would be through the church today but as I have said before ...I believe a certain blindness has entered in and the Holy Spirit has to do a work to give us new eyes again.
Another matter concerning baptism which I will not shy away from is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. All of these are gathered up in this word baptism and we as the children of God have been so robbed of our promised possession that I cannot remain silent on this matter. I will speak more on it next time.
My desire is to bring all this down to the present to where we live. How does this effect where you live? What does this have to do with changing diapers if you have children? What does this have to do with putting gas in your Suburban if you own a gas guzzler? What about my front yard and the trees trimmings that I need to gather up on Saturday? oh yeah.. I didn't mention those extra calories I'm trying to peel away at the gym on my free hours seeing I have such a few? What does this do with anything I refer to as life?
This is my greatest fear dear people of God. We here in the West especially the United States are caught up with these matters and as real as they are I must be honest with you and tell you they are really not life at all. There was a time when we as a people weren't so caught up with these things. We weren't so busy a people. Our economy and way of life has made us so busy we have ruled God out. Jesus is not even allowed to be uttered in the work place. You can't say the name of the Lord at work or you may be cited for some sort of violation. Now everyone else can talk about their life but if you talk about your life in God your out of line. The basic family unit which encouraged faith in God has been so eroded there is little talk about trying to get together with other believers for bible study during the week. You make mention of it and it seems like a dark cloud descended on the whole household. The Individual is so inundated with tasks that the kingdom of God may be the last thing that enters his or hers mind. We must be honest with ourselves if we want to really let Jesus meet us right where we are.
It was the same when Jesus came in the flesh. People are people and we need things and our loving Lord so knows and what does He most graciously say..and oh that we today would hear His voice
" Don't be concerned about what you shall eat or drink, or about what you shall wear... don't you know that all the nations SEEK after these things... but not so with you.. look at the sparrows in the air.. look at the lilys in the fields.. they nether toil nor do they spin.. not a sparrow falls to the ground without my Father knowing and not Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like these... but you..seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." Matt 6:25-34
" Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into His death." Roman 6:3
Let me start out by saying straight off that He who believes IN JESUS and is baptized in water which typifies and signifies the death and resurrection union of the believer with Jesus shall be saved.
Is it water alone that saves us? Nonsense. It is the spiritual reality behind it. Is it Jesus alone that saves us? Absolutely. For both faith in Jesus and baptism belong to the same. It is my experience of Jesus. My confession and testimony through baptism is but putting feet to my faith. I am saying to the world and the universe through my baptism that I am joined with Christ. I am even testifying of some powerful things through faith.
I am testifying through baptism that I have entered into the death of my Lord so that as He died so I died too in Him. There is a passing away of the old Adam for in Adam we all sinned for we were all in Adam. As the same was true of Adam so the same is true of Christ for we are in Christ if we believe and if we believe in Christ then when Christ died we were in Him and died in Him so the old Adam passed away. When Christ arose we also arose in Jesus as a new creation to the glory of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.
When we are baptized we enter into the water to signify our death and union with Christ's death and when we are lifted from those waters we are lifted a new creation in Christ Jesus. We died to that old creation life and all associated with it and something also associated with it was my self-centeredness for in Adam man and woman became so independent of God and self loving and not caring for their brothers and sisters but in Christ we are suddenly made One Body and members one of another so when we are raised we are raised now as members into the Body of Christ. Immediately we are brought into body life with others like us and so we enter into fellowship with other believers by the Holy Spirit.
A great thing happened in baptism. A life-changing , life-altering thing happened. An old creation passed away and suddenly a new day dawned and a new creation was ushered in the very person of Jesus and we were ushered in IN HIM. If we could just grasp that through faith and realize what possession we already possess and walk in that oh the glory there would be to the Father and the testimony in life there would be through the church today but as I have said before ...I believe a certain blindness has entered in and the Holy Spirit has to do a work to give us new eyes again.
Another matter concerning baptism which I will not shy away from is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. All of these are gathered up in this word baptism and we as the children of God have been so robbed of our promised possession that I cannot remain silent on this matter. I will speak more on it next time.
My desire is to bring all this down to the present to where we live. How does this effect where you live? What does this have to do with changing diapers if you have children? What does this have to do with putting gas in your Suburban if you own a gas guzzler? What about my front yard and the trees trimmings that I need to gather up on Saturday? oh yeah.. I didn't mention those extra calories I'm trying to peel away at the gym on my free hours seeing I have such a few? What does this do with anything I refer to as life?
This is my greatest fear dear people of God. We here in the West especially the United States are caught up with these matters and as real as they are I must be honest with you and tell you they are really not life at all. There was a time when we as a people weren't so caught up with these things. We weren't so busy a people. Our economy and way of life has made us so busy we have ruled God out. Jesus is not even allowed to be uttered in the work place. You can't say the name of the Lord at work or you may be cited for some sort of violation. Now everyone else can talk about their life but if you talk about your life in God your out of line. The basic family unit which encouraged faith in God has been so eroded there is little talk about trying to get together with other believers for bible study during the week. You make mention of it and it seems like a dark cloud descended on the whole household. The Individual is so inundated with tasks that the kingdom of God may be the last thing that enters his or hers mind. We must be honest with ourselves if we want to really let Jesus meet us right where we are.
It was the same when Jesus came in the flesh. People are people and we need things and our loving Lord so knows and what does He most graciously say..and oh that we today would hear His voice
" Don't be concerned about what you shall eat or drink, or about what you shall wear... don't you know that all the nations SEEK after these things... but not so with you.. look at the sparrows in the air.. look at the lilys in the fields.. they nether toil nor do they spin.. not a sparrow falls to the ground without my Father knowing and not Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like these... but you..seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." Matt 6:25-34
There is the need for us first as individuals to really enter into our promised possession in Christ and to walk in it by faith in a very revolutionary way. To truly live by faith this life through union with Him through that daily walk, minute by minute, hour by hour testifying to the world that our Christ died and is risen.
Then there is a need to find others of like faith that will encourage and walk with us together as members of that same body.
To raise our children in the light of that truth and anything that we face practically to raise it up to that reality of Jesus and to let the kingdom of God to come to bear on our lives no matter where it may settle.
That we may read His word and come to know His will more and more till the day dawns and He comes back again as He said He would but till that day He is establishing His kingdom in you and me and let us not shrink back on the shores of that river but let us all dive in calling out His name knowing He will hear us and answer.
1 comment:
This is great, thanks for doing this. I only had the luxury of reading a few paragraphs before being innterupted by the kids. I will try to read more later. Love you.
-J
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