Jesus is Hope for the Hopeless!
Thank you for joining today as we seek God’s wisdom together. Let us begin with prayer.
“Lord Jesus, I ask that you search our hearts and see if there be anything wicked in them. We ask that your Holy Spirit show us what you are saying to us today. I ask that the words on this page would jump out to us as you speak to our hearts and minds truth and life. In Jesus name, Amen.”
Romans 6: 1-7 (NASB).
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2Far from it! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. 5For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7for the one who has died is freed from sin.”
What the Word is Saying
Paul brings us back to the mercy seat here again. When Jesus took the form of the atonement lambs one was for the sprinkling of blood and the payment for our sins. The other was the lamb in which the high priest laid his hands on the lamb and confessed the people’s sins and released it into the wilderness carrying away the sins of the people. Jesus did that when he died on the cross. He took our sins upon himself and carried them into the wilderness which is separation from God and left them there when He rose again from the grave. Here Paul makes that action done for us when we get baptized in water for repentance.
When we get baptized in water for repentance. It is a confession of the sins we have committed and a turning away from them and leaving them with Christ in His death. Therefore, when we are submerged under the water, we die to those sins with him and then leave them there when we rise up out of the water cleansed of the sins we have committed. We are quite literally washed clean and made white as snow. This is why infant baptism or sprinkling baptism is inefficient to accomplish the requirement for repentance of sins. In the one the child is not yet of an age where they understand what the action, they are taking means. In the other we have not completely been washed of our sins. Without getting legalistic there are exceptions. For the deathbed conversion or the one who is too ill or infirmed to be baptized God’s grace is sufficient. However, if one has the ability to become water baptized through emersion in water, they should do it. Like a public confession of Jesus as Lord and belief in his resurrection. The act of baptism is the personal proclamation of what Jesus has done and is doing in them.
Again, we are not requiring a formula here, but the act of baptism is an act of faith. Just like conversion we are now by faith applying our sins upon Christ in his death and when we rise out of the water, we rise with him to new life in Jesus. It is part of the great commission that Jesus gave to the disciples.
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matt. 28:19-20).”
Paul also continued to practice this in his missionary work to the gentiles. Spelling out the concept I am teaching you here:
“Having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead (Col. 2:12).”
The concept is not new it is just not followed in the church today. However, it is a significant event. Significant enough that Jesus required it in the last words He gave to the disciples before ascending to heaven.
Let me ask you this: “Are you struggling with a sin in your life? If so, was it placed on Jesus and sent into the wilderness in His death? Have you been baptized and immersed in water since you came to salvation in the Lord? Have you turned away from God and retrieved those sins in which you formerly gave to Him when you were baptized before?” These are all questions you can only answer for yourself. Is there a requirement for a second baptism when you have walked away from Christ? I am not sure; however, Peter was not baptized again after denying Jesus three times that I am aware of. I would say that would be a personal question between you and Jesus. Certainly, in returning to a life of sin you made a public proclamation of your return to a life without Christ at the center. So, a second baptism to proclaim your recommitment to Jesus might be appropriate. However, a confession to Jesus of your sins and placing those sins upon Him in that way might be sufficient. I guess it is a decision you will have to come to with Christ.
The Disciples did not have just one initial outpouring of the baptism in the Holy Spirit:
“And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:31).”
These were not new converts. Rather it was the disciples regathered after facing persecution from the Jewish leaders. They had already been filled with the Holy Spirit, but the experience happened again to them.
It was a proverbial reinforcement of what they had already been given. At Pentecost they were baptized with the Holy Spirit to give them the Power to go into all the world to preach the Gospel. Here it happens again to recharge them again as they had started to face persecution. So just as we need to be filled again to continue the work that Jesus has for us to do. It may be helpful for the triumph over persistent sin that a second water baptism might be useful or for nothing else than to publicly proclaim what Jesus has brought you back from and into.
If you have not yet given your life to Jesus, I encourage you to do it right now. Pray this prayer right now with me. Say the words out loud, right where you are: “Jesus I confess that you are Lord of all, I believe that you came to this world and lived a sinless life, I believe you suffered and died on a cross for my sins, I believe they put your lifeless body in a tomb, I believe that three days later you rose again from the dead. I confess to you that I am a sinner and ask you to forgive me. In Jesus name, Amen.”
If you prayed that prayer, I urge you to contact us here so that we might come beside you and hold you up in prayer as you begin your journey with Jesus. I assure you that we have all been where you are. We may have committed different sins, but we are just as guilty, nonetheless. We all needed forgiveness and someone else supported us as we began our Journey with Him.
Thank you for joining me today as we searched the scriptures for What the Word is Saying. I pray that God will send His Holy Spirit into our lives anew and fill us again with His love and His purpose for us. So that we can fulfill the mission He left us in bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world.
“Scripture quotations taken from the NASB (New American Standard Bible) Copyright 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved.” lockman.org.
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