Baptism

He [John] went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Luke 3:3

Baptism: an act, experience, or ordeal by which one is purified, sanctified, initiated, or named.

There's a lot of confusion and explanations and religious doctrine regarding the ordinance of water baptism and what it means. How important is it? Is it essential for becoming a Christian, or something extra that you can do when you happen to get around to it? 

The most important baptism any Christian can or will have is the baptism of repentance. Without repentance, no one will come to God. If you are not sorry and willing to change, why would you even bother with God? Refusing to repent is simply telling him you do not care about him or about what he says, because he says that all men need to repent.

When we repent of our wickedness and turn our lives over to God, he then purifies us and makes us whiter than snow. 

Water baptism is an outward confession that you have partaken in the baptism of repentance. You are telling the world that God has cleansed you, purified, and sanctified you. You are telling the world that you have died to your sinful nature and have been reborn as a new creature in Jesus Christ, filled with his grace and the power to live for him. 

Both forms of baptism are important. The baptism of repentance is your declaration to God that you are willing to die to your sin, change your ways, and follow him. You give him permission to change you, that you will obey his commands, and that you believe that he and he alone can save you. Water baptism is you publicly announcing to your fellow man that you believe that God alone is your rock and your salvation and that you will follow and obey him. You are letting all men see that you are willing to die to your sin, change your ways, and follow God. You are not ashamed of him or of your belief that he and he alone can save you.

If you believe in Christ, you need to go one step further and be baptized in his name as well.

Sin Separates

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

God likes people.

Did you know that? God is a God of love, and he loves us all, but more than that, he likes people. He doesn't want to be some ritualistic, judgmental God who only appears in order to condemn us for our wickedness or even to reward us briefly for our successes before retreating to his throne on high, separate from us lowly mortals. He wants to walk with us. He wants to speak with us, to have us learn about him, to form a real relationship with us. He wants to be involved with our lives, with our petty problems, with our triumphs, and pains, and fears, and joys. He just wants to be with us. That's why the human race was created—to commune with God and to fellowship with him. 

But we can't. When the human race decided in the garden of Eden to disobey God, to partake in that which was forbidden, sin entered us. We are literally born steeped in sin, and God is not just merciful, compassion, and love. He is justice. He is righteous. He is Holy.

He will not fellowship with sin. 

We don't often realize this, but the Bible actually says there are things that God will not do. The Bible says that God will not lie, refuse to fulfill his promises, or change his mind. (Numbers 23:19) It says that he does not change at all (Psalms 55:19). For God to do any of these things would be like asking a cat to bark or a fish to live on the land. You could ask them to do it all you want, but they still won't do it, because doing so would be foreign to their very nature. The things the Bible says God won't do are things that are completely foreign to God's nature. You can trust the Words of God because everything he says is truth, and there is no lies nor deception within him. 

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. Isaiah 59:2

Sin is dangerous because it is the only thing on earth or below it that can separate you from God. He will still love you, not even your sin can separate you from God's love (Romans 8:35-39). But sin will still separate you from God himself. Isaiah states that God will not even listen to someone who is sinning. You are cut off. 

But there is one prayer that God will always hear: a prayer of repentance. Jesus Christ took upon himself the punishment of our sins so that we would not have to be separated from God. 

I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. Acts 20:21

Since Jesus paid the price for our sins, when we believe in him and repent of our sins, then God will take away our sins and wash us white as snow. Then we will be pure, righteous, and holy, not because we are righteous and holy, but because God MADE us holy. Then we are able to fellowship with him again, the way that he has always desired us to, even since the beginning of the world itself.

None is Good Save God

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Genesis 1:31

All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good. Not even one.” Psalms 14:3

Did you know when God created the world, he declared everything good? In fact, if you read the first chapter of the Bible, each day he creates something new, and each evening he declares that thing good. Even mankind, when he creates us, is declared good. God does not lie, nor does he exaggerate. If he says something is good, then it is good. But somewhere between the beginning of the earth and the time when the Psalms were written, something had changed. All had become corrupt, and there was no one who did good. What was it? Why is mankind no longer good? Why was the world no longer perfect?

And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” Genesis 2:16

Why did God give this rule? Does he just have this thing about rules and laws and regulations? Actually, what God desires most is a willing heart. The rules and laws are not as important as our willingness to obey God. If God gave Adam and Eve—the first man and woman—no rules, then they could not choose to obey him. And if they could not choose to obey him, then were they worshiping him because they wanted to, or because they had no choice? God does not want, nor does he accept, a ritualistic worship of him that is forced. He wants willingness to obey, and it is far more important to him than the act of obedience itself. 

But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” 1 Samuel 15:22

So he offered mankind a choice, and we chose not to obey. We chose to sin, to go our own way. And because of that choice, wickedness came into the world, and into our own hearts. We corrupted ourselves from the inside out, and the only way we can be cleansed of our corruption is through the power of God himself. This is why we need a Savior—why Jesus Christ came to earth. We were good; but we chose evil. No one is good save God, and only through the blood of Christ can we be redeemed from our evil and be accepted into heaven.

Who is Jesus?

Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptists; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say that I am?” Mark 8:27-29

This is a question that resonates throughout the ages. Who is Jesus? Is he a man? Is he a prophet? Is he the Son of God? This is a question that I believe is asked of each of us, and our answer affects our eternity. But what is the correct answer? Let us start by asking: who does Jesus say that he is?

“I and the Father are one.” John 10:30

...Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the cloud of heaven.” Mark 14:61-6

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Jesus claims that God is his Father. He says that he and the Father are one and the same. He says that he is the way to God, the truth, and the life. These words are from the mouth of Jesus Christ Himself. 

Next let us see, what does the Bible say about Jesus? Who does it say that Jesus is?

Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 5:5

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:30-31

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. Luke 2:11

So then, the Bible confirms Jesus' statements: it declares that he is the Son of God; that he is part of God. It says that he is our Messiah. It says that he is our Savior. So we know what Jesus said about himself, and we know what the Bible says about Jesus. It's all there for us to read. But in the end, only you can decide what you believe about Jesus. 

So then, here is a question that you and you alone can answer: Who do you say that Jesus is?

God is One

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:4-6

We believe there is one God. One God, not two or six or fifteen. One of the hardest aspects of God is the idea of the Holy Trinity. If God is one, why do we talk about three? God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. That's three—but we say there is one God. That makes no sense. How can one be three?

“You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.” Isaiah 43:10-11

Here we have from the mouth of God himself that he is the only God that has ever existed or will ever exist. He declares that He himself is the savior and that there is no other savior save for him. So if the Bible says that Jesus Christ is the Savior, then he MUST be God, because the Bible says there is no savior apart from God. But if Jesus is God, then why does he call God Father? Why not just call God, 'me'? And where does this Holy Spirit thing come in?

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7

So here the Bible confirms: It states that God is our Savior, and it also positively states that he saves us through rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, and that Jesus Christ is our Savior. It speaks of all three, yet, it also says God is one. The best way I have heard to explain this is like this: we as human beings, have three parts to us. We have a body, a soul, and a spirit. We all have three parts; yet we call ourselves one person. God is the same; he has three parts, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, yet he is one God.

The Bible is God-Breathed

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”  2 Timothy 3:16-17

One of the fundamental truths about God is that his Word—his Scripture, his Holy Bible—is completely inspired by God himself.  But in fact, it is not only inspired, literally, it is God-breathed.  Inspiration can come from many things, and it means something or somebody inspired someone else to do something creative.  Stars, friends, teachers—it isn’t that hard to find inspiration if you need it.  God inspired men to write books that became the Bible, that is true. But He did much more than that.  What sets the Bible apart from other books isn’t mere inspiration; it is the literal breath of God within its pages. 

In Genesis we see first hand what happens when God breathes into something.  He breathed into a pile of dirt and gave it life.  This is what makes the Bible special.  This is what makes it meaningful, unique, and incapable of error.  Not human inspiration, but the breath of God that has given it life!  But what does that mean?  It isn’t alive in the physical sense, the way we know life.  It doesn’t eat, or sleep, or even do whatever it is plants do to be classified as alive.  That’s because the Bible isn’t physically alive, it is spiritually alive. 

I love to read.  There are members of my family who think I am a nut because of that, but that doesn’t change the fact that I love to read.  I have, in my lifetime, read hundreds of books.  And I can confirm that not one of them is even remotely similar to the Bible.  Other books I have read can be informative, or interesting, or gripping, or thrilling—but eventually I get to the end of it, and the second time I read a book, it loses something.  I know what has happened; it’s not as interesting as it was the first time I read it.  But not the Bible.  No matter how many times I read it, it is still as potent each time it is read as it was the first time.  Sometimes it is even more interesting, when God opens my eyes to understand something I didn’t at first. 

The Bible is inspired by God.  The Bible has been given the breath of life by God.  And that life sustains and feeds those who believe in Him and do His will.