In This Issue

• SCRIPTURAL BAPTISM
• “GIVE NO PROVISION FOR TO THE FLESH”
• “MAKING” JOHNNY GO TO CHURCH
• UPCOMING GOSPEL MEETING SCHEDULE
• MORE INFORMATION...

SCRIPTURAL BAPTISM

In Mark 1:9-11, the Bible says, "It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven, 'You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'"

There are some matters in this passage of which we want to take special notice. The first concerns the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan River. As we noted in a previous lesson, Jesus, unlike others, was not baptized for the remission of sins. He had no sins to remit. His explanation for His reason in insisting on being baptized by John was “it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt. 3:15). John was reluctant to baptize Jesus, because he knew Jesus was the sinless Son of God, but Jesus refused to be dissuaded.

We as sinners, certainly need to submit to New Testament baptism "for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38). Let no one dissuade us from doing so.

As we consider baptism in the New Testament, it is important that we realize that Scriptural baptism requires going down into the water -- a burial or submersion in water. John baptized Jesus into the water of the Jordan River. Then Jesus came up out of the water.

Likewise, the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 was baptized by Philip the evangelist in a pond of water. “Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him” (Acts 8:38).

In two different passages, Paul described New Testament baptism as a burial. He says the Christians at Colosse were buried with [Christ] 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).

In Romans 6:3-5, Paul reasons, “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 also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.”

In Scriptural baptism, we are buried, planted, immersed in water. We submit to it to be saved, cleansed, to have our sins remitted, Acts 2:38; Mark 16:16; Acts 22:16.

--CRJ

“GIVE NO PROVISION FOR TO THE FLESH”

A Cuban gentleman named Mr. Rodriguez sat beside me on a recent flight from Miami to Newark. In a few minutes, he dispensed with the conversational niceties and was telling me of torture and imprisonment that he and his family had suffered under Fidel Castro. As he talked, his eyes burned with hatred for anything related to the communist system. It was immediately obvious that, when Mr. Rodriguez thinks of Marxism, he has no illusions about its propaganda of equality and justice for the poor, because to him it has meant separation from loved ones, pain, shame and anguish. There is absolutely no possibility that he will ever be a communist or give help or sympathy to that system in any shape or fashion.

Mr. Rodriguez’s attitude toward communism is much like the attitude we should have toward the sins of the flesh. The thought of giving provision (literally forethought) to the flesh to fulfill its lusts should be as foreign to us as the idea of sending arms to communist subversives would be to my anti-communist friend.

Sadly, instead of abhorring the sinful desires of the flesh too many Christians are mesmerized by the avalanche of gaudy appeals to carnality in the media and join the world in rushing along like lemmings trying to get all the gratification they can, not realizing that they are headed over the cliffs to destruction.

How can we maintain our purity and give no provision to the flesh when its appeals are so prevalent in almost every aspect of our lives?

How To Give No Provision to the Flesh

1. Hate it! Contemplate the broken homes, pain, lost confidence and hopelessness suffered by those who succumb to the flesh. Consider the wrecked lives of loved ones and once strong Christians who have fallen and are therefore spiritually crippled, if not dead.

By looking beyond the glamorous front the flesh tries to present and coming face to face with its harsh reality, we will be injected with a healthy dose of hatred towards it that will render us as unmoved by its shallow enticements as my Cuban friend by the propaganda of communism. We won’t naively associate the flesh with glamour, partying, or Hollywood, but with anguish, selfishness, greed and other fruits of the flesh—and thus won’t have any difficulty obeying the Lord’s admonition in Psalm 97:10: "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil."

2. Flee it! People who love life do not play with barrels of nuclear waste, bottles of nerve gas, or test tubes of the AIDS virus. Pure Christians who love God and their souls learn not to play with suggestive movies, excessive flattery, alcohol, scanty clothing (on beach or street, compromising situations, get rich quick selling schemes or any other activities that involve one in flirting with the lusts of the flesh. Weak Christians who insist on practicing or defending such activities are frankly naive about their dangers and are the first to see their children swept away into the world or be swept away themselves.

Flee fornication and youthful lusts, avoiding every appearance of evil! (1 Cor. 6:19; 2 Tim. 2:22; 1 Thess. 5:22).

3. Be optimistic about victory over it! "Nobody’s perfect." "Everyone is wrong about something." "Tm just so weak and temptations are so strong." These statements, though true in certain contexts, are often made in an effort to build the flesh up as some kind of invincible monster so that we won’t look or feel so bad when we join the world in giving in to it. Such a defeatist attitude reveals a lack of confidence in God who has given us a spirit of power, of love and of self- discipline (2 Tim.1:7). Ultimate victory can be won by anyone who truly wants it, in spite of our stumbling, because God gives adequate armor to overcome the flesh. Consider yourself to be more powerful by God’s grace than any shallow lust Satan might use to defeat you and refuse to make hackneyed excuses for giving in to it or treating it as unconquerable.

Christians who give no forethought to the sins of the flesh by hating them, fleeing them and being confident of victory over them will win the victory. And, after 10,000 years in heaven, we won’t have much difficulty in seeing such lusts as the shallow and empty bait that they really are.

--Gardner Hall, Christianity Magazine, April 1987

“MAKING” JOHNNY GO TO CHURCH

A newspaper article reported the results of a poll showing various opinions concerning parental force or pressure in seeing that children attend church.  The article states:  “…many voiced the lament of a New Mexico mother who wrote: ‘We forced our son to go to church.  As soon as he left the parental roof, he left the church.’”

The logic of this mother and other parents is interesting.  You will notice that only one factor in this child’s life is taken into consideration as to why he might have “left the church” – the fact that he was forced as a child to attend.

It might be revealing to know:

1.      Did the mother and father attend church regularly?

2.      Did they live their faith, or were they merely “Sunday morning Christians”?

3.      Were they firm, fair and consistent in their teaching and discipline of the child?

4.      Did they attend a church where the truth of God’s word was taught, or where the Bible is regarded as a spurious book of ancient myths and fairy tales?

5.      Did they attend where the Bible was studied, or where children (and older folks) played games and learned crafts?

Also, we wonder if this mother “forced” her son to bathe, eat vegetables and go to school.  Did he cease to bathe, quit eating and forsake education “as soon as he left the parental roof”?

Parents, your children will probably turn out to be pretty much like you.  Therefore, if you want to see your child study the Bible regularly when he grows up, study the Bible with your child now.  If you believe that your child should attend church after leaving home, don’t send him to church – take him.

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6).

“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).

--Tom Moody, Bible Comments, July 1997

Your strength is seen in what you stand for; your weakness in what you fall for.

MORE INFORMATION...