I Don’t Have to be Baptized – Lies of the Enemy #15– Purity 1027

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of the Kinderhook Creek from the vantage point of the Hudson Avenue Bridge comes to us from yours truly as I looked back in my photo archives to share something and came across this scene that I captured back on August 22nd, 2020. While I was visiting nearby Stuyvesant Falls Park. During those days, I had not only dreamed the impossible dream of getting a new home for my children and I, I had followed the Lord's guidance and accomplished it. Although I was basking in the glory of a new chapter of my life, I was still working two jobs and was intentional to use what little leisure time I had to do something, and spent that summer exploring the parks and nature trails near my new home before having to go to into work. Well, it's hump day, and even though my— no mountain is pictured today, I thought this photo from the middle of the Hudson Avenue Bridge was good enough to serve as a visual representation of our arrival at midweek. Maybe not, but oh well, here it is. Uh, yeah, maybe it's not perfect, but I guess I'll share it. I share it intentionally to demonstrate that our walk of faith is not about perfection It's about progress and our ability to find peace and joy in what is, rather than lamenting over what we don't have and how we haven't arrived yet. Uh, this past weekend I was reminded, uh, by my wife that sometimes there can be peace found in the journey. But if we aren't traveling with someone, uh, uh, if we are traveling with someone whose expectations are to get somewhere, we may discover that our efforts to stop and smell the roses can cause contention. Just because we both know where we are going doesn't mean we are fully in agreement with how we get there or share the same spirit. My photo reminds me of this because in those days my time was limited, and while I could have spent time driving around enjoying the countryside before going to these little slices of appreciation, uh, if I did that, there would be even less time to enjoy them. The solo trips were constrained by time, but I was free to go and see what I wanted to see and to abruptly leave the moment I felt that time was up or I had enough. But when we are traveling with someone else, they don't necessarily know what we are thinking and may not realize that our expectations are not the same. Similarly, in our walk of faith, there are varying opinions about following the Lord and what is expected of us. One of those expectations, a sacrament, is baptism, and while this may ruffle some denominational or doctrinal feathers, it is the topic of today's Lie of the Enemy. Uh, our current series is an examination of some of the common lies, sometimes sneakily whispered into our minds as first-person statements, uh, that the enemy tells us to cause us to doubt our faith, lose our peace, cause division or influence us to not follow the Lord with the way we live our lives. So today's big, big lie, um, is lie number 15: I don't have to be baptized. Uh, whether you were infant baptized or not baptized at all, baptism is commonly taught to be an outward expression of an inward decision to make Jesus our Lord and Savior. And to surrender our lives to following him. Um, I— it should be a beautiful moment in a believer's life where they have decided to follow Jesus in newness of life, as the baptismal waters represent our death and resurrection with Christ. This is reflected in Romans 6:3-4, which tells us, or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. Baptism can be a definitive moment in our walk of faith that marks our death to our old life and our decision to live the new life in Christ. Being baptized in public or telling the testimony of our baptism should be a sign that we are Christians. And we are going to live like a Christian. Of course, just getting wet doesn't make you a disciple of Christ any more than hanging out in a garage makes you a car. But for those who follow the Lord in spirit and in truth, baptism is a rite of passage, uh, to walking in the spirit, applying God's wisdom and ways to the way we live our lives. There we go. Uh, personally, I don't care if you were baptized or not. Um, rather than, uh, looking, uh, at your splashdown, um, I'll watch what happens afterwards in your life to see if the fruit of the Spirit grows from that watering or not. But the enemy loves to tempt believers with non-compliance to this basic ordinance of our faith by proclaiming, I don't have to be baptized because of infant baptism. I was baptized. I even have my white baby baptismal gown. Or because it isn't specifically required. What about the thief on the cross? Granted, uh, we are baptized into God's kingdom by faith. The testimony of the thief on the cross is an extreme example of someone who put their faith in Jesus, wasn't baptized, and was still welcomed into the paradise of God's kingdom. However, I'm sharing a link to openbiblesinfos.com's 100 verses about baptism for those who want to get a quick look at what scripture has to say about it. I give you the warning that these verses may convict you to be baptized and provide— and I provide some of the, some of the verses from that list that will indicate that unless you die before you can, we We are commanded to be baptized. Mark 16:16, Jesus' words say, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned." In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus tells us to go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. The implication is that if you are a disciple, you would be baptized. And for those who would stand on baptism by faith alone, Jesus said in John 3:5, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Oh, and Jesus himself was water baptized. Matthew 3:13-17 tells us Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent him, saying, 'I need to be baptized by you, and are you coming to me?' But Jesus answered and said to him, 'Permit it to be so, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.' Then he allowed him. When he was— when he had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven saying, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' Sounds like God the Father was pleased by Jesus's baptism, so I have to believe he would be pleased by our baptism too. So rather than standing on your liberty, I invite those who have not taken the plunge of water baptism to consider making it your next step of faith. To demonstrate to God and all the world that you, you are a Christian whose heart is set on following Jesus. Um, let's see, we move along to today's Bible verse, uh, which comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is, are, uh, Romans, uh, 8:3 35 through 37. And the word of God says, can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity or pers— or are persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with life? As the scriptures say, for your sake we are killed every day, we are being slaughtered like sheep. No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us. Um, today's verses encourage us that nothing can separate us, uh, separate those who put their faith in Jesus from the love of God. We have victory in Christ, except for not being baptized. Uh, just kidding. Or maybe I'm not kidding. Um, me, I got baptized on the day of the Boston bombings in 2013, April 15th. Um, so 10 years baptized. Woo! Uh, while on work— while I was on work at— in New York City at Hillsong Church NYC, they just happened to be doing baptisms that day, and I had signed up the Sunday before because even though I was born again in 2010, I stubbornly refused it until the Lord put it on my heart to do it. That day, New York City was a veritable police state because of the terrorist attack, and as I traveled by subway to the Midtown Hotel pool where I would take the plunge, I got a real sense that I was officially leaving the world behind as I was going to commit my life fully and publicly to following Jesus. It was a positively wonderful and electric experience as I was awestruck and filled with joy in the community of the saints and left the hotel into the evening air, still wet and awash in the bright lights of Times Square, knowing that I had entered into a new dimension of my faith. And that declaration and experience of faith was just another piece of evidence that the Lord did indeed save me, and the words of Romans 8:35-37 really were true about me. I was his. I was— I am God's child, baptized and adopted into his family by water and the Spirit, and there is nothing that can separate me from his love. This is true for all of us who put our faith in Christ. So believe it, rejoice over it, and endeavor to share that love with others. Yeah, no matter if we have calamities and persecutions, um, in Christ, you know, we have the victory. Um, you know, so, uh, anyway, we, and as always, we encourage all to go to mtforchrist.org where we always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with their Today we continue sharing from A.W. Pink's The Sovereignty of God, and we're still— we're finishing up as we're in the appendix, uh, the third appendix for the meaning of cosmos or world in John 3:16. So if you want to see what the, uh, fifth, sixth, and seventh, uh, uses of cosmos is in the word of God, um You can check that out at the end of today's blog post by going to that, um, uh, that, that resource anyway to mtforchrist.org. You'll see them at the bottom of the, uh, today's blog post. Um, so if you wanted to see the first 4 uses of cosmos in scripture in the beginning of that appendix, you can check out yesterday's, uh, yesterday's blog post as we split that resource into 2. So you'll have to do, you know, have to look at two posts to see it all. Um, but yeah, you say, what does world mean? And Jesus saved the world, you know. So you can check that out if you like word studies. As always, we encourage a life of Christian discipleship that would lead you to get water baptized and do so much more with your life of faith. Um, basically we recommend a a daily spiritual practice of Bible study and prayer and, uh, you know, trying to live, live according to the word of God, uh, process we call walking in the spirit, where we literally walk and talk with God throughout our day, um, to, you know, see which way he would lead us. So we did that, and our life has been, you know, not always easy, but so much better, um, as we have turned away from the empty promises of the world world to enjoy the Lord's presence and guidance and love, to, uh, to experience the new abundant life that he gives to those who put their faith in Christ. So we recommend that highly, and we also recommend our discipleship teachings that, you know, teach about that, about who we are in Christ, the spiritual forces of darkness, and experiencing our freedom in Christ. Um, those classes are Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. They're all based on the work of Dr. Neil Anderson and the word of God. And we provide our Word documents of all the things we handed out in class if you contact me at mtforchrist247@gmail.com. We also recommend Bible study, um, and we do that in the blog and podcast by doing a Bible study once a week with our good friends Arthur and Susanna Sincotti.. And all of our previous Bible studies going back to April 2021 are available on the podcast and the, uh, the YouTube channel as well. So if you want to— didn't have a Bible study and wanted to be a part of ours, you can just watch us and see all of Arthur's outlines on the blog. So, so that's it for today. It's Wednesday and we— I have to work. So we should pray and go. Uh, Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for all that you've done for us. Lord, we love these memories that remind us of times gone by, but that were in your presence as we walked with you in 2020 and, and 2013, and we'll walk with you today. Um, Lord, thank you. Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening, or reading today's message. We pray for you to bless them and come alongside them and their prayer requests. Um, Lord, we pray for the people that we know that we're thinking of that have, um, medical issues. Um, there's a lot of people with those today. Uh, some unexpected things have happened in my local church community that they asked for prayer, so we, we're thinking those people, and we're thinking of people who've suffering loss, uh, or who are grieving right now. Um, pray for the Lord to be with them. Um, and of course, Lord, we, we pray for you to be with us today, and we just pray for you to go before us, set things up, help us out, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, and move our feet in the way we should walk. Um, Lord, because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom and We need all the help we can get, so we're asking for it today. And we know that, uh, you give good things to your, your children when they ask. So Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.