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Salvation (part 3)
In the bible, water baptism is likened to burying the dead:
Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death…
Buried with Him in baptism…
In repentance, God gives us a tangible means of killing the flesh…of dying to the old life, and to the old nature of the body. In repentance, we pick up our cross, and follow Jesus to Golgotha’s death. In water baptism, we bury what we just killed. The old nature is buried, and the name of Jesus replaces that guy who’s been piloting your vessel through space all these years. Repentance deals with the body of sin. Water baptism deals with the soul that sinneth. Your mind gives way to the mind of Christ. Your will becomes His will. Your emotions are re-directed to things above. In water baptism, we are taken down from our cross of repentance, and buried with Him. Are we earning our salvation? No. We are taking up our cross and following Him in death, and in burial. I’m not sure how it is that folks hope to rise with Him, if they refuse to die and be buried with Him.
We now lack but one thing, as we follow in His footsteps. We died with Him at repentance. We were buried with Him at water baptism. Now, to follow Him in resurrection, we must rise to walk in newness of life. The original question was: Men and brethren, what shall we do? The original answer was: …repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Today, some still believe that repentance is part of the salvation experience. Not so much the kind born of godly sorrow. Not the weeping, snot-slinging, fall on your face and cry out to God kind. Not the prodigal, waking in a pig sty. Theirs is a quaint little one liner included in the sinner’s prayer. Many more are still convinced that repentance violates the grace, the finished work, and the free gift of God. A few do believe that water baptism is part of the salvation experience…sort of. Actually, they see it as an after-salvation ritual…something you should eventually get around to.
But these issues pale in comparison, to the controversy surrounding the new birth itself…the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Spirit baptism addresses the last part of man’s triune nature…his spirit. The body was killed at repentance, the soul redeemed at water baptism; and now the spirit is resurrected, or born again, at Spirit baptism. Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
There are two main schools of thought concerning Spirit baptism today. One is that the experience is no longer necessary…or even available. The other teaches that Spirit baptism happens automatically, silently, when one accepts Jesus into their heart as Lord and savior. A third position has recently emerged to bridge the gap between these two. It states that you are born again at the instant you make a decision for Christ. Spirit baptism is a later experience that may or may not happen in your lifetime. Doesn’t really matter if it happens or not, because you’re already born again when you believe on the Lord.
It is impossible to rightly divide the bible, and still hold to any of these three positions. You’d have to ignore more bible than you embrace. But reaching some folks is next to impossible. They are taught by clergy, pressured by peers, and swayed by their sheer numbers; that they must never, ever doubt that they have been born again. Doesn’t matter that they don’t feel born again. Ignore the growl of an unsatisfied urge to live. It must simply be accepted by faith. To doubt it, or to entertain studies to the contrary, is giving place to the devil. Simply believe it, and be done with it.
Listen friend. No matter what you’ve heard, the baptism of the Holy Ghost is not an automatic perk of accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and savior. God is not mocked. It is Jesus Christ Himself who baptizes with the Holy Ghost. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you… He alone issues this incredible stamp of approval. He alone can grant this seal of acceptance. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. Modern Christianity has tried to turn that around. They accept Christ. They approve of His sacrifice.
The gospel has been completely committed to the Lord’s church. How easily Jesus could have instructed Paul how to be saved on his Damascus Road vision. He certainly had Paul’s full attention. But He refused to so instruct him. Instead, He sent Paul to a born again disciple named Ananias, who would preach the gospel to him. Jesus could have told Cornelius in his vision, how to be saved. But again, He didn’t. He said send to Joppa for a man named Peter, who then delivered the gospel of grace to this devout man. The Lord has given to His church, the awesome responsibility of preaching the gospel; and of commanding those who believe the message to repent, and be baptized in His name. But that is as far as the church can go. They can walk the believer through death at repentance. They can guide the believer through burial at water baptism. They can tell the believer about the promised gift of the Holy Ghost. But the new birth…the baptism of the Holy Ghost…the resurrected life…the final seal of approval, can only be issued by He who knows the hearts of men. Its one on one…you and God. Only Jesus can baptize with the Holy Ghost.
John the Baptist spoke often of the greater ministry that would follow his own. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: But He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Although Jesus’ arrival on the scene fulfilled John’s prophecy, we find that He never baptized anyone with the Holy Ghost before He died. Instead, He continued pointing forward in time: (…but this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) Jesus dies, is buried, is resurrected, and is seen for 40 days after resurrection by His disciples. Still, the blessed event tarries. Prior to His ascension and glorification, Jesus confirms the promised event to His followers one last time. And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith He, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Finally, the blessed event arrives. Jesus had ascended to heaven, ministered in the heavenly tabernacle, atoned for the sins of all humanity, been glorified, and in the 2nd chapter of Acts: …they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Maybe you missed this the first time around. In Peter’s first sermon, he was pretty clear that the baptism of the Holy Ghost, is an event that is both seen and heard. …and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
2,000 years ago, the new birth was something that could be seen and heard. Not only on the day of Pentecost, but in other recorded cases. For those who still think that this experience is an automatic result of believing on the Lord, I give you Acts chapter 8. In this case, the Samaritans heard the gospel Philip had delivered. They had believed it with all their hearts, and had obeyed it. They’d all died at an altar of repentance, and been buried with Him in water baptism. But for some reason, these believers did not receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. So, you gotta ask yourself, friend, how did Philip, Peter, John, and Luke know that these believers had not received the Spirit yet? According to million and millions today, it’s supposed to be a magical, silent benefit of believing…to be accepted by faith and never doubted. But that didn’t happen here. How did the apostles know that it hadn’t happened? Was it their acute spiritual perception? Did they camp out for six months, and fail to see any fruit of the Spirit develop? Or could it simply be, that no evidence of Spirit baptism was seen or heard? Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost. (for as yet He was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. Now, after they received the Holy Ghost, a new puzzle emerges. How did the apostles now know that the Samaritans had received the Spirit? Did God tell them in a dream? Did they camp out another six months, and finally see the fruit of the Spirit evident in their lives? There was also an unbiased witness present. A sorcerer named Simon saw the laying on of hands, and the Spiritual birth of the Samaritans. And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostle’s hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money. Again, friend, if Spiritual birth is just a warm fuzzy feeling, or a silent affirmation of faith, or an automatic perk of believing, then what was it that Simon saw?
The baptism of the Holy Ghost is the end purpose of the Son of God’s death, burial, and resurrection…that you and I might be born again of the Spirit. It is not a perk…available but optional…to saved believers. It is what saves believers. Nor is it a direct deposit when you hear and believe the gospel. It is your spiritual resurrection…your new birth…the stamp of approval which Jesus Christ reserves the right to issue.
There are many examples in the Old Testament, and in nature, that confirm the gospel message in Acts. Tabernacle worship required an altar of death and a laver of washing, prior to entering into the presence of God. Paul noted the significance of Moses and the kids being baptized in the Red Sea. Even a corn of wheat abides alone, lest it pass through death and burial. The term “obedience of faith” is scorned and ignored by so many millions today. But to the few…to the called out ones…it is a privileged response to the grace of God that bringeth salvation: which has not only appeared to all men, but has found each one of us, as a face in the crowd.
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