The first work of gospel proclamation is conviction. In Acts 7 Stephen preaches that great sermon to the Jews in Jerusalem, and essentially it ends the same way as Peters does in Acts 2.
In Acts 7: 51, the end of Stephen’s sermon it reads,
“You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit. You’re doing just what your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.”
You’re just like your fathers. They killed the prophets, and you’ve killed the ones the prophets spoke of. And you, who received the law as ordained by angels, and didn’t keep it. And when they heard this, they were cut to the quick again, and began gnashing their teeth at him. And what did they do? They stoned him to death.
So what do you do? Change the message? Conviction is the first and primary work of gospel preaching. So, they said, brothers, collectively to one another: what do we do? At this point, the first expression of amazing grace appears in apostolic preaching.
Verse 38. Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Is that not shocking grace? How fast did they go from this massive overwhelming trauma, this indictment, to this compassionate, merciful word of grace? “For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” So then, those who had received His word were baptized; and that day there were added about 3,000 souls.
Three thousand had been stabbed to the heart for having murdered the Messiah. They felt the burden of that crime so profoundly that they were fearing the vengeance of God would fall on them instantaneously. They’d cry out, “What shall we do?” Knowing they can’t undo what they did.
They hear this staggering word from Peter, repent, be baptized, receive forgiveness, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit from the one that you executed, who rose from the dead and ascended to heaven, and sits at the right hand. He will give you the same Spirit He has given us.
Peter invites them to repent. But we know what that means, don’t we? Turn and go the other way. Turn and go the opposite way in what you think about Christ, and turn from your sin, the horrible sin of your life which culminated in you killing the Messiah. Turn, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Make a public profession of Christ, and symbolize it by baptism. Open, public baptism.
That would have been some testimony. In the city of Jerusalem, 3,000 people were baptized, and all 3,000 of them were saying to the entire population of Jerusalem, “We committed a massive crime against the Messiah, and we are now confessing Him as Messiah, Savior, and Lord, and being baptized in His name.” Being united with Him in His death burial and resurrection.
Change your view of Christ. Flee the horror of your wretchedness, culminating in the sin of murdering the Messiah. Peter doesn’t allow for secret disciples. Change your association. Demonstrate a clean break with Judaism. In the name of Jesus Christ. This is a public act of severing your ties with Judaism and a new identification with the Messiah. Big step. Alienation. You will be thrown out of the synagogue, dispossessed from your family. You will be persecuted, and that’s what happened, wasn’t it?
Peter insists on the ordinance of baptism to make the repentance full and public. There’s no salvation in the water. In fact, the better way to translate this, would be to translate it this way: repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ because of the forgiveness of your sins. When you repent and confess the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven sin. Baptism is the obedient act that makes that public. That is consistent through the whole of the New Testament.
For example, Acts 10, Cornelius and his friends believe, receive the Holy Spirit, and then are baptized. Believe, receive the Holy Spirit, and then are baptized. That’s always the pattern. But the magnanimous grace that is here is just absolutely shocking.
You might say, well, I’m a pretty bad sinner. I don’t know if the Lord could forgive me. Well, I don’t think you’re any worse than this group. I don’t know what you’ve done to other people, but you didn’t kill the Son of God. You didn’t murder the Messiah. They did. And grace is extended instantaneously to them, and complete forgiveness if they will repent for their crimes against God, and if they will embrace Jesus, confess Him as Lord, be identified with Him in His death and resurrection, and baptism. Complete forgiveness will be theirs. They will receive forgiveness, and they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, who will come to dwell in them as He did those believers on that same day earlier in the day when it all began.
Throughout the whole New Testament baptism always follows salvation. That’s the pattern. If you haven’t been baptized, you’re disobedient. You don’t have any price to pay. You’re not going to get thrown out of something. You’re not going to be alienated from your family, most likely. It’s not going to maybe cost you your life, but it did them.
Baptism’s just a matter of obedience. Not just you, he says, verse 39. “For you and your children all who are far off,” that’s Gentiles. Middle-wall, partition broken down, Ephesians 2. Jew and Gentile, went in the church. This is for everybody. For everybody. For everybody. You, your children, everybody who’s a far off, and oh by the way, as many as the Lord God will call to Himself, and we’re back the sovereignty of God again, aren’t we?
Back in verse 21, did you notice? Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. That’s verse 21. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, from Joel 2. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And in verse 39, as many as the Lord Our God will call to Himself. There are those two things put together without any explanation. DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY AND HUMAN WILL!
Those who had received his word were baptized, and that day there were added 3,000 souls. Somebody wrote a doctoral dissertation on: was there enough water in enough pools in Jerusalem to baptize 3,000 people in one part of a day? There was. I’m not sure how that all works out, but that’s what they did. They must’ve used every available pond, pool. You say, well, why would they need that?
Because there weren’t any Presbyterians yet, so they had to put them under. Do it right.
Can you imagine what was going on in Jerusalem, where all of a sudden 3,000 people in every available part of that city, wherever there was water, there was mass immersion going on of 3,000 people. You’re fairly well into the day by now, and this is going on all over everywhere, and they’re all confessing Jesus as Lord, and Savior, and Messiah, and repenting. Shocking. They listened to Peter and wanted to escape this perverse generation. They needed to escape, because in just a few decades, that whole city would be destroyed in 70 AD. Escape. Escape while you can.
The final results are wonderful. 3,000 people. Nobody, and then 3,120. They kept going from there, and thousands more were added.
Throughout the whole New Testament baptism always follows salvation. That’s the pattern. The command is “Repent and be baptized” Acts 2:38 – If you haven’t been baptized as a believer you are guilty of the sin of disobedience.
Sadly there is so much confusion about baptism in the various Christian denominations. However, this is not a result of the Bible presenting a confusing message on baptism. The Bible is abundantly clear of WHAT BAPTISM IS, WHO IT IS FOR , AND WHAT IT ACCOMPLISHES.
In the Bible, only believers who had placed their faith in Christ were baptized – as a public testimony of their faith and identification with Him (Acts 2:38; Romans 6:3-4). Water baptism by immersion is a step of obedience after faith in Christ. It is a proclamation of faith in Christ, a statement of submission to Him, and an identification with His death, burial, and resurrection.
With this in view, infant sprinkling is not a Biblical practice.
An infant cannot place his or her faith in Christ.
An infant cannot make a conscious decision to obey Christ.
An infant cannot understand what water baptism symbolizes.
The Bible does not record any infants being baptized. How does pouring or sprinkling illustrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ?
Many Christians who practice infant sprinkling do so because they mistakenly have been taught that infant sprinkling is the new covenant equivalent of circumcision. In this view, just as circumcision joined a Hebrew to the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants, so baptism joined a person to the New Covenant of salvation through Jesus Christ.
This view is unbiblical. The New Testament nowhere describes baptism as the New Covenant replacement for Old Covenant circumcision. The New Testament nowhere describes baptism as a sign of the New Covenant. It is faith in Jesus Christ that enables a person to enjoy the blessings of the New Covenant (1 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Hebrews 9:15).
Baptism does not save a person. It does not matter if you were baptized by immersion, pouring, or sprinkling – if you have not first trusted in Christ for salvation, baptism (no matter the method) is meaningless and useless.
Water baptism by immersion is a step of obedience to be done after salvation as a public profession of faith in Christ and identification with Him.
Infant baptism does not fit the Biblical definition of baptism or the Biblical method of baptism.
Should Christian parents wish to dedicate their child to Christ, then a baby dedication service would not be unbiblical.
However, even if infants are dedicated to the Lord, when they grow up they will still have to make a personal decision to believe in Jesus Christ in order to be saved, and be obedient to the commandment to “Repent and be baptized.”
You will not find infant sprinkling in the Bible. You have to go to a seminary to be taught it, or read books on theology, or follow the traditions of men.
HAVE YOU LOST YOUR FIRST LOVE?
This week I have been camping on Revelation 2: 4-5, and have been challenged and deeply moved. It is directed at a group of Christians in the city of Ephesus, and applies equally to you and me. It reads:
4 “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 REMEMBER therefore from where you have fallen; REPENT and REPEAT the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you REPENT.”
1. REMEMBER
In 2 Peter 1:12 we read “I write these things to put you in remembrance.” Go back and REMEMBER what you felt at the beginning when you were overwhelmed with joy.
You couldn’t get enough Bible teaching.
You couldn’t get enough time alone with the Lord, couldn’t get enough Christian fellowship.
You couldn’t talk about Jesus to the people around you enough.
You couldn’t get enough of him.
REMEMBER the flashes of first love, because if you don’t, you follow the path of a diminishing love. You follow it right into compromise, and then into corruption.
Look at your life.
Is there anything you love more than Christ?
Is there anything you want more than Christ?
Is there anyone that you want to serve more than Christ?
Anyone you might want to honor more than Christ?
Anyone you might want to proclaim more than Christ?
If there is, you left your first love. Go back and remember how it was, or find out how it is for people transformed from a Pagan environment.
2. REPENT. Secondly he says, “not only REMEMBER from where you have fallen,” and by the way, where you have fallen indicates this is sin.
Leaving your first love is sin. That’s why you have fallen. It is a fall. And when you have fallen into sin, you need then to REPENT.
He says repent there in verse 5, and he repeats it again at the end of the verse, “unless you REPENT the judgment will come.” The second thing is to REPENT. That means you need to:
Confess the sin of losing your first love, or leaving your first love.
Confess the sin of your coldness.
Confess the sin of the sort of routine approach to worship and everything else in your Christian life.
Confess the sin of serving the Lord without exuberance, without joy.
Confess the sin of only doing your duty.
Confess the sin of doing what you do because you think somebody wants to see you do it, and therefore somehow will think well of you.
If you love your theology more than Christ, you’ve left your first love. There was a time when you didn’t know enough theology to love it, and you just loved him. Paul says that, “I may know him.” He loved him so much he could never get enough of him. And so, REPENT.
3. REPEAT – And thirdly, he says, “REPEAT”. Do what you did at first.
Go back. When you were swept up in:
PRAYER
WORSHIP
BIBLE STUDY
FELLOWSHIP
WITNESSING
and it was all so exhilarating. Basic Christianity! REMEMBER how it was, how it is, for people transformed. And if you have fallen, REPENT because it’s a sin not to love him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. I don’t know if you often ask for forgiveness for that sin, but you should, and so should I. And then begin to REPEAT the things you did at first when you were swept up in the joy of salvation.
It is a disaster, but it’s a silent killer when a group of believers leaves their first love. And they don’t necessarily see it. If you stop loving Christ and making him the focus of everything, and you will descend in the COMPROMISE with the world, and the whole idea of loving Christ will disappear from your vocabulary, and then you’ll go from COMPROMISE to CORRUPTION.
In other words, you’ll go from Ephesus to become a church like the one in Pergamus, to become a church like the one in Thyatira, to become a church like Laodecia which was dead. And it all starts with losing your first love for your SAVIOR and LORD.
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Существует ни одного праведного, даже не один (Римлянам 3:10).
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Все согрешили и лишены славы Божией (Рим. 3:23).
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Возмездие за грех является смерть (Римлянам 6:23).
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Но Бог продемонстрировал свою любовь к нам, Христос умер за нас (Рим. 5:8).
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Бог оправдывает (верующих) в подарок, по благодати его, Римлянам 3:24).
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Если устами твоими Иисуса как Господа и сердцем твоим веровать, что Бог воскресил его из мертвых, то вы должны спастись; с сердцем человек считает, что приводит к праведности, а устами он признается, что приводит к спасению. Тот, кто призовет имя Господне будет сохранен. (Римлянам 10:9-10, 13).
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ЗНАКИ СВОЕГО ИЗБРАННИКА. 1 Фессалоникийцам: 1-10
29 августа 2013 г.
Знаки своего избранника
Я Фес 1: 1-10
Ты избранный, потому что у вас есть 1.A веры, которая работает, 2. любовь, которая трудится,
3. Надежда, что переносит, 4. Проповедь, которая является мощным.
5. Новая жизнь – имитирует Властелина.
6. преодолевая радость
7. поведение, которое является образцовым
8. один из свидетелей, что является сильным
9. представление к Богу. Превратилась из идолов
10. в ожидании возвращения жениха
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