Freedom is Good News Part 57

God promises us a gift.  “And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  And who is there among us that does not enjoy receiving a gift?

If you have been with me through the past several articles, you know that we have been talking about repentance and baptism.  We now come to the result of these things; the receiving of the Holy Spirit of God! 

I believe we already understand that God has given us the gift of His Son.  “For God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son …”  This gift was given in order that we may receive another gift – the gift of eternal life.  The blood of the Son of God cleanses us from every sin.  We obtain from Him a righteousness that allows us to enter into the presence of our Heavenly Father.  But the good news here is that God did not just remove our past sins from us and then leave us to figure things out for ourselves.  He gave us a helper – the Holy Spirit!

Shortly after the Passover meal (called the last supper by some), Jesus addressed His disciples with many encouraging words.  Let’s read what He had to say about the Spirit.  “If you love me you will obey what I command.  And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth.”  (John 14:15)  “All this I have spoken while abiding with you.  But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”  (John 14:25)  “When the Counselor comes which I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth which goes out from the Father, it will testify about Me.”  (John 15:26)  “I tell you the truth: it is for your good that I am going away.  Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send it to you.”  (John 16:7)

We find out several things here: first, it is a Spirit of truth.  If you want to understand the truth of God, you must receive the “Spirit of truth”.  It is my opinion that God will give you some of His truth so as to lead you to realize that you need to repent and receive His Holy Spirit.  Going hand in hand with repentance, Jesus tells us that we are to obey His commands.  We also see that the Spirit is sent from the Father.  And most interestingly we see the Spirit is called a “Counselor”.  The King James Version calls the Spirit a “Comforter”, and the Greek word used here really means “one who is called to another’s side, for aid, counsel, defense or comfort”. 

I must stop here and praise the heavenly Father who has thought of everything.  He has given us His word, from Genesis to Revelation.  He has given us His Son – the Savior of mankind.  And if that weren’t enough; He gives us a Counselor to aid and comfort us as we walk through this world. 

Embrace these things my friends.  The hope of eternal salvation lies before us.  What then shall we do?  “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Until next time.

Freedom is Good News Part 54

“Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  In the last article I mentioned that with this short statement, Peter tells us several things.  We talked about the first step for those who have been “cut to the heart” concerning their involvement with Christ’s death; they must repent.  The second item is baptism. 

I have heard some people say that we do not necessarily need to be baptized for salvation because that would be a type of “work” and we are not saved by works.  I must ask the question, why was Peter so emphatic?  This statement is imperative and that which is imperative is, by definition, a command!  We may also turn to the words of Jesus in His directive to the disciples after His resurrection, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them … and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

So, what is so important about putting someone under the waters of baptism?  Paul said it this way, “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” (Romans 6:3)  If we would want to be identified with our Savior, we must be identified with Him in His death.  This identification with Him is quite important for even He, who was without sin, underwent the waters of baptism to set for us an example.  Two weeks ago I mentioned another scripture in the book of Romans, “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”  In the scheme of all things Godly we must recognize that our commitment to God, and the covenant He made with us through the blood of the sacrifice of His Son, takes place in and through the death of our “old man”.  Our sins are washed away in that watery grave of baptism.  How else would we expect to live a new life?

The next thing Peter says in Acts 2:38 is “every one of you”.  This is a simple statement but has great significance.  Salvation is not a group thing!  We are not saved because we belong to the “right” group or go to the “right” church building.  This commitment we make to God is a personal vow or promise.  We stand alone before God repenting for our own sins and accepting Jesus as our own personal Savior.  Each one of us must act upon Peter’s statement by ourselves - alone.

Peter then tells us that we must be baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ”.  Is this important?  We’ll talk more on this, God willing, in the next article.

Freedom is Good News Part 53

In our previous article we spoke of baptism.  We saw that there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.  Is there a connection in the bible between these two ideas?

Last Saturday, as we gathered around the baptismal, I read a scripture that is found in Acts, chapter 2.  This chapter starts out with the feast of Pentecost when all the believers were gathered together.  There came the sound of a blowing mighty wind from heaven that filled the whole place.  (I am sure you remember the event.)  Something like tongues of fire appeared over each of them and the promise of God was fulfilled wherein each one was filled with the Holy Spirit. 

At the sound of the wind a large crowd came running to see what was happening.  Many of those gathered in Jerusalem for the feast, had come from distant lands and they heard from the disciple’s lips “the wonders of God in their own languages.”  Eventually Peter gets everyone’s attention and brings forth a message concerning a prophecy from the book of Joel.  I leave it for you to refresh your memory on this message in Acts 2 at some other time, but at the end of his sermon, Peter says this, “Therefore let all the house of Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”  Have you ever considered that if you were there, Peter’s finger, as it swept across the crowd, would have pointed to you?  “Bill Rollins, this Jesus whom you have crucified …” Yes it was my sins that were the cause of Jesus having to shed His blood on the cross. 

In Acts 2:37 the crowd responds to Peter’s words, “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’”  Isn’t it interesting that the reaction of the people wasn’t something like, “Bah, you can’t put the blame on us for this man’s death.”  No they were cut to the heart and desired to know what they should do.

“Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  In this short statement, Peter tells us several things.  The initial step is not baptism.  The first step is to repent.  What does “repent” mean?  The Greek word used here means, “to change one’s mind or purpose”.  In a sense it means to turn around and go the other way.  When God calls someone to join themselves to God’s family, the first thing they must do is to turn around, no longer walking in the ways of the world, but rather walking in the ways of God.

And God willing, we shall talk more of this in the next article!

Freedom is Good News Part 11

Previously I mentioned that there are certain “types” in the scriptures. Abraham’s son Isaac and David’s son Solomon were both types of Jesus Christ. How do we know that these “types” and others are used in the Old Testament? Very simply, the Apostle Paul tells us unequivocally in his letter to the Corinthians, that they are there. In talking about Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea and then traveling in the wilderness for 40 years, Paul says this: “Now these things occurred as types to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were.” Paul admonishes us about idolatry by using the Israelites as an example.” (1 Cor. 10:6) A little later, in the same chapter, Paul says, “These things happened to them as types and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.” We are in the latter days. In fact the “latter days” were ushered in at the time of Jesus crucifixion, death and resurrection. These types in the Old Testament are for us to read and learn from.

A wise man once said, “Anyone can learn from his own mistakes, but it takes a wise man to learn from someone else’s mistakes.” I have tried never to forget that simple lesson. We can learn from the mistakes of those who have gone before us; namely the Israelites. They were God’s chosen people then and we who have accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior are God’s people today. And speaking of accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, we have come to the heart and core of the Gospel, i.e. “the good news”.

I have heard some people say, “I’m a good person and try to do what God wants me to do”. But let me be quite emphatic here, God does not want a “good” person. God does not want a “better” person. God wants a new person!!! Paul says this in his book to the Romans, “Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:3-4) Do you desire that new life?

We sometimes forget that it is God who is in charge and not we ourselves. We cannot tell God how things should be. Remember that God said it is we who are created in His image but we sometimes want to create God in our image. This will not work. If we think that we have some goodness aside from Jesus Christ we are mistaken. In Isaiah 64:6 it says, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” That’s not saying “some of us”. It is all of us!

So, have you repented of your sins and accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and then, understanding what Paul says is a symbol of death, undergone the immersion of baptism? Yes, the new life we receive at that point is truly good news.

We’ll visit more on this later.