So, what is baptism? When and why should someone be baptized? To someone like myself, who’s grown up in a Christian home, baptism is just the thing to do after you become born-again. There’s no real thought put into it. America is not like many other countries, where baptism is done publicly in a river, and could very well mean rejection and excommunication from lost family members. In America most people are baptized in a climate-controlled church building filled with people who are happy for them. Over the past few years I’ve come to understand a little bit of what baptism really is (But there is a lot that I don’t understand, and probably won’t know until eternity). It’s not just “the thing to do” after you are regenerated… it’s much much more than that. Baptism is about the Lord Jesus, just as everything about salvation and the Christian life is about the Lord Jesus.
What is baptism? Well, do you remember when you were regenerated by the Spirit of God? What happened that day? Jesus was everything to you. God did all of the work; you only had to respond to Him in repentance and faith. The blood of the Lord Jesus paid for your sins. And His work on the cross struck much deeper than that, by taking you, the sin factory, out of the way. You knew that He was your only hope, and you reckoned it so. Then you acted in faith and accepted His gift. Now He became your life. You were included in Christ’s death. Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”
Your life after salvation should be no different than this. Now that you are saved it is not up to you to live your life with God’s help. He is now your life. You have been included in His death, you are dead. You were crucified in Christ. Romans 6:6 “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Victory over sin is not found in our determination or ability to live a holy life. This is simple, foundational Christianity that we so often miss. Romans 6:7 “For he that is dead is freed from sin.” But this is not the end of the story. Romans 6:8 “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him:” Romans 6:11 “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Our death in Christ is not a figure, it is a fact. God says that it is so, and therefore we must reckon it so. Not only have we been crucified in Christ, but we were buried with Him and now we are alive through His resurrection. His life has taken over where our life has died. When we know and reckon this, Romans 6:13 will follow automatically.
Colossians 2:12 “Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead.” Baptism is a burial. With baptism, some people try to die by getting buried. How foolish. Burial is for those who are already dead. You will never allow someone to be buried unless you are sure that they are dead. So with baptism, you should be baptized when you understand that you are dead. Romans 6:3-5 “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. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.” Do you see that we are buried with Him by baptism into death? We should therefore walk in newness of life. Baptism is not only a picture of what Christ has done. It is more than that. It is a picture of what God has done to us in Christ. It is our understanding of what God has already done to us in Christ. God has put us into Christ’s death and resurrection, and so we must submit to burial.
Galatians 6:14 “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” How can the world be crucified unto you and you unto the world? Peter gives us an illustration to help us understand: 1 Peter 3:20-21 “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:” The story of Noah’s ark is an incredible picture of what the Lord Jesus has done for us. The eight souls in the ark were saved from their old world by the power of God. Their old world was drowned, never to be seen again. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” They passed to a new world, a new kingdom. Everything was new. Colossians 1:13 “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son:” Does baptism save us? The verse says that it is by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is alive. He has risen, and we are risen with Him. He is alive in us. Because of His life in us, we are saved from our old world, our old kingdom. Baptism is a burial. When once we understand that we are already dead to ourselves, to our natural man, we submit to burial.
Do you see it? Baptism is about the Lord Jesus. Christians can get so caught up in the side-points of baptism. “Baptism is the first step of obedience after salvation” you may say. Of course it is, but that is not the main point. “Baptism joins you to the church” almost like its initiation into a fraternity, like swallowing a goldfish. But in a way, baptism unites you to the brethren. You are publicly joining the ranks of the saints. “Baptism is by immersion”, well of course it is, and this becomes clear when we are focusing on the main point – Death with the Lord Jesus, burial with the Lord Jesus, and LIFE WITH THE LORD JESUS!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Jesus Only, Jesus Everything: Me-ward – Romans 6
In Romans 6 we see the power of the cross to destroy our old life. The Christian life is not a changed life, but an exchanged life.
This chapter is jam packed with the power of the cross, but we’re just going to look at it in a nutshell. We already know that the Holy Spirit points us to Jesus Christ. Throughout the Christian life 1) the Holy Spirit reveals to us something about our Lord, 2) in faith we accept what He has said and count it to be so, 3) then our life begins to exemplify what we have accepted. This is the Christian life; this is growth in Jesus Christ. And this is what we see here in Romans 6.
1) KNOW (6:1-10) “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (6:6) “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him” (6:9). The heart cannot be cleansed. It must be crucified. We just saw this in the last blog article, however very briefly. The old nature cannot change; it must be put to death. And God provides this death through the Lord Jesus’ work on the cross. Romans 6:6 and 6:8 – we WERE crucified with Him. It is a fact. You have died; just as much a fact that He has died on the cross. It is nothing we do, or try to do, or work into. It is done. God has done it.
We cannot overcome sin, only the life of Jesus Christ can overcome sin. When I came to salvation, it was because God revealed Jesus Christ to me – that is the know stage. Now that I’m saved I might say “I need more strength to overcome my sin” But that is not God’s way. The sinner must be put to death, not fixed.
2) Reckon (6:11) “reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (6:11). Sin, the old master, is still around. But the sinner, the slave who served him, has been put to death. Satan is very successful at lying to us. He always tries to tell us that we are very much alive. And if we look at our day to day experiences we will probably think that he is correct. But what did God say here in Romans 6? He said that we are dead to the power of sin. We must reckon it so in spite of what we may think. We are dead, not in ourselves, but in Christ. The work of God is done not in ourselves, but in Christ. Reckoning is a definite attitude that we must have. God does not remove the sin, but the sinner. He doesn’t give us victory over sin, he puts away the sinner.
3) Yield (6:12-13) “…yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead…” (6:13). You will yield yourself to God if you know and reckon that your old man is dead. You yield yourself, as alive from the dead. He is our life. Your old man was crucified with Him, now you are raised from the dead with Him. Alive unto God, and not unto yourself. When it came to salvation God revealed Jesus Christ to me, and immediately I reckoned it so and yielded to Him. It happened quickly. You might say that someone can know the gospel for a time before they reckon it true and yield to it. But knowing is not just an intellectual knowing, but an opening of the eyes by God. But if you know that you have a check for one million dollars in your pocket, it won’t be long before you reckon it so and yield to walk cautiously and with one hand in your pocket on that money.
So, when I know that I am crucified with Christ, then I will reckon myself dead (vs. 6 & 11), and when I know that I am raised with him, then I will reckon myself alive unto God (vs. 9 & 11). In death the focus is “I in Christ” and in resurrection the focus is “Christ in me”. When we know and reckon with this, then the outcome will be yielding to His life; for now our life is dead, and Christ is our life (Colossians 3:3-4). He is the source of our life. Holiness is separation unto Him. Holiness is simply being wholly His.
This chapter is jam packed with the power of the cross, but we’re just going to look at it in a nutshell. We already know that the Holy Spirit points us to Jesus Christ. Throughout the Christian life 1) the Holy Spirit reveals to us something about our Lord, 2) in faith we accept what He has said and count it to be so, 3) then our life begins to exemplify what we have accepted. This is the Christian life; this is growth in Jesus Christ. And this is what we see here in Romans 6.
1) KNOW (6:1-10) “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (6:6) “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him” (6:9). The heart cannot be cleansed. It must be crucified. We just saw this in the last blog article, however very briefly. The old nature cannot change; it must be put to death. And God provides this death through the Lord Jesus’ work on the cross. Romans 6:6 and 6:8 – we WERE crucified with Him. It is a fact. You have died; just as much a fact that He has died on the cross. It is nothing we do, or try to do, or work into. It is done. God has done it.
We cannot overcome sin, only the life of Jesus Christ can overcome sin. When I came to salvation, it was because God revealed Jesus Christ to me – that is the know stage. Now that I’m saved I might say “I need more strength to overcome my sin” But that is not God’s way. The sinner must be put to death, not fixed.
2) Reckon (6:11) “reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (6:11). Sin, the old master, is still around. But the sinner, the slave who served him, has been put to death. Satan is very successful at lying to us. He always tries to tell us that we are very much alive. And if we look at our day to day experiences we will probably think that he is correct. But what did God say here in Romans 6? He said that we are dead to the power of sin. We must reckon it so in spite of what we may think. We are dead, not in ourselves, but in Christ. The work of God is done not in ourselves, but in Christ. Reckoning is a definite attitude that we must have. God does not remove the sin, but the sinner. He doesn’t give us victory over sin, he puts away the sinner.
3) Yield (6:12-13) “…yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead…” (6:13). You will yield yourself to God if you know and reckon that your old man is dead. You yield yourself, as alive from the dead. He is our life. Your old man was crucified with Him, now you are raised from the dead with Him. Alive unto God, and not unto yourself. When it came to salvation God revealed Jesus Christ to me, and immediately I reckoned it so and yielded to Him. It happened quickly. You might say that someone can know the gospel for a time before they reckon it true and yield to it. But knowing is not just an intellectual knowing, but an opening of the eyes by God. But if you know that you have a check for one million dollars in your pocket, it won’t be long before you reckon it so and yield to walk cautiously and with one hand in your pocket on that money.
So, when I know that I am crucified with Christ, then I will reckon myself dead (vs. 6 & 11), and when I know that I am raised with him, then I will reckon myself alive unto God (vs. 9 & 11). In death the focus is “I in Christ” and in resurrection the focus is “Christ in me”. When we know and reckon with this, then the outcome will be yielding to His life; for now our life is dead, and Christ is our life (Colossians 3:3-4). He is the source of our life. Holiness is separation unto Him. Holiness is simply being wholly His.
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