" In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,
And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan.
And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
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:
Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." - Matthew 3:1-12
We see in verses 7, 8 & 10 that repentance, and fruits meet for repentance are required preceding baptism. Now that was the baptism of John, but it set a precedence for the baptism Jesus commanded in Matthew 28:19-20, and Mark 16:15-16, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. ... And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned"
It is also inferred in Luke 24:47, " And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Note, teaching to observe all things Jesus commanded, that belief and repentance come before baptism, as in Luke. #1, Repent, and #2, then remission of sins; which we now go to Acts 2:37-38 "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." There it is once again, in that order: repent and be baptized.
Then we see in Acts 8:9-24 that Simon the sorcerer believes and is baptized, but is actually not repentant, because Simon seeks to buy the Holy Ghosts power with money. Peter then rebukes him mightily: "But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity." (Acts 8:20-23)
That man did not go down into baptism right. He had not believed with pure motives, and his heart wasn't right. He was commanded to repent immediately. There was no waiting. What a far cry from today when people "believe" but do not repent; they get baptized, but there is no change. And they go on their way in sin. God knoweth if they are no more saved than the world headed to hell, for by their fruits ye shall know them, and there are no fruits of righteousness, nor fruit of the Spirit. Their mouth utters what is in their heart, and if their language is full of filth, that means the heart is also.
Proverbs 23:7, " For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee"
Ezekiel 36:26-27,
" A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." A truly repented and converted soul will be given a new heart, and become a new creature: the old things are passed away and all things become new (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Romans 6:1-4,
"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
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."
This is key. Sin is cut off. That means your actions of sin are stopped. I'll share my personal testimony here:
I "accepted Jesus as my saviour" a few times. I had no change of heart, but a little emotional guilt perhaps. I didn't quit partying, or lusting after women, or cussing, or anything of the sort. that was NOT real salvation. There is a belief that is not saving belief as James writes about even the devils believe and tremble, and Jesus spoke in Matthew 7 about those who say Lord, Lord in the end, but He never knew them. Heavy and scary and it SHOULD put the real fear of God in anyone, especially those who continue in sin!
In 1985 I had an encounter with Jesus on my bed at night. I knew He was real, and I was under heavy conviction. I confessed all my sins and received Him in tears. Next day I awoke new and felt new. I immediately got rid of all my satanic and occult books, writings and jewelry. I destroyed artwork of anything depicting Satan, or nudity. I did drugs twice and both times came under heavy conviction, so I quit. In about 3 weeks time my language cleaned up, I'd quit all substances, even cigarettes, and I rejected all temptation, and trust me there were more temptation then with free stuff than before when i had to pay for it! That is real repentance.
Like Romans says, that old self is dead with Christ, and in newness of life means plainly to quit sinning. Romans 6:7, " For he that is dead is freed from sin." Galatians 3:27, "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." And, if you have put on Christ you must walk in the righteousness of Christ, otherwise you are none of His.
"Down with the old, Up with the new" is often said at baptisms, or some variation of that phrase: maybe "The old life is dead, The new life alive in Christ." But if there is no "new" then the whole thing is a sham. It's really a baptism of no value, and you may even be mocking God. It's not on the people doing the baptizing, or those watching as witnesses - it's all on you who are being baptized. You might deceive people, but you won't deceive God, who sees your every move, and some of the people might be aware you aren't bearing fruit also.
This is a serious matter! Repent, and be baptized! Some say repent is "metanoia" in Greek, which just means a change of mind. No! It means that, but also means to change your mind in a way that correlates in action by doing a 180 degree turn from your sins. Remission of sins means your past sins are forgiven, and you are commanded to go and sin no more.
Romans 3:25,
"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God"
And here's where we go to 1 John 2:1-4,
"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
And I'm gonna put in 3 John 11 from our Wednesday lunch devotional, because it totally went along with this message written yesterday:
"Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God."
Take this seriously brethren, for sin is a serious matter, and for you to claim one thing, but practice another, your heart has no change, and you are hypocritical. Repent! Repent! repent! And be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, who is the name (singular) of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Let him who steals steal no more. (Ephesians 4:28) Flee fornication (1 Corinthians 6;18) Let it not be named once among you as becometh saints (Ephesians 5:3), Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour (Ephesians 4:25), Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks (Ephesians 4:29 & 5:4) But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; (Colossians 3:8-9)
Are you going to play with eternity, and directly sin against God, who only can save you? The Scripture is clear that those who sin and do these things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. That is exactly what the Scriptures say and they cannot lie, and they do not lie!
Ephesians 5:5-7,
"For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
Be not ye therefore partakers with them."
1 Corinthians 6:9-11,
"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."
Repent means both to change your mind about these things, and to quit doing them. Repent and be baptized. It's not, be baptized and repent. It's not, be baptized and go on living in sin. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness (Romans 10:10) That is Christs righteousness imputed and imparted: imputed by being justified by His blood, put in right standing with the Father, and imparted by being sanctified by His blood and the power of His resurrection by the Holy Spirit that enables us to live holy lives in His righteousness.
2 peter 1:3,
"According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue"
His Holy Spirit is holy, and part of true salvation is holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14)
Oh, repeating these things are necessary because some who read and hear these messages repeat the sins they were supposed to have put away and fled from! Fly away from your deadly sins, whose wages are death; and receive the gift of God which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
If you read about Cornelius conversion in Acts 10 we see in 10:22, " Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee." And after he heard the gospel, and even received the Holy Ghost, then verse 47, "Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?"
Now, is there a case where water may be forbidden? John did when he warned the Pharisees who tried to come to his baptism. He knew there weren't coming right. In Luke 3:8 he says " Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." He also cried "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" In other words, REPENT, and be baptized.
Then there's the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8, and Philipp gave a condition, "And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
See? believe with ALL THINE HEART, - so we see the heart again, just like Romans 10, with the heart man believeth UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS. Believeth means,
in a moral or religious reference:
- used in the NT of the conviction and trust to which a man is impelled by a certain inner and higher prerogative and law of soul
- to trust in Jesus or God as able to aid either in obtaining or in doing something: saving faith.
It also means believing that results in behavior changes in line with the will of God as set forth in the scriptures. There must be actions that follow: the fruits meet and worthy of repentance.
Amen.
