“Baptized Into Jesus Christ”

Romans 6: 1-6

1) What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

2) God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

3) Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

4) 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.

5) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

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.

Preface

W

e will, perhaps, realize just how much “more than just a name” Jesus is when we realize the power of His sacrifice.

Through Him, we have been freed from the bondage of sin. Our freedom could have come only from Him, for there existed no one else Who was free from sin, Himself. By being sin-free, He was also qualified to die in our place and once again, was the only One qualified to do so!

The only salvation available to Man is that which saves him from himself and this will be a reality only if one is saved from the flesh. Over the years, Man has tried other “ways” of being saved and has been convinced that such a thing is possible. The fact of the matter is, however, that the Lord is looking for one thing only—a life that is submitted to Him. Our hope, deliverance and victory is “tied up” in our willingness to be “put to death” with Jesus—and staying there!

Main Thought

When one accepts salvation, he is introduced to a completely new life. Along with the receiving of the Holy Spirit, the completion of that acceptance is our baptism into the death and subsequent life of Jesus Christ.

Though the Spirit housed within us recognizes Who Jesus is, the “human being” (that we often allow to operate) continues to attempt to live life by his own “standard.” Were everyone’s “standard” the same (that is, like Jesus’), this would not be a problem. Because this is not the case, deviance from God’s “program” cannot be accepted.

We are “blessed and highly favored” that salvation is “by faith” rather than through understanding, for all of us (in that we are human beings and incapable of spiritual understanding) would be “left out.”

Believe it or not, we are expected (by the Lord) to draw the same conclusions from our Bible reading—no matter the edition or language in which it is written. How can He expect this of us? Through the fact of our baptism and subsequent conversion to spirituality through the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

The state of “redeemed” man is tragic, indeed. You see, ever since Man has been receiving the Holy Spirit, he has attempted to retain who he is and what he does—and still claim salvation! Has this been willful and malicious? One would have to say “no,” for until this point in spiritual history, Man has largely not known of his expected rote as a spiritual being, the teachers teaching him and the preachers preaching to him had not received the revelation of operation in the Spirit. We, however, are blessed above measure to live in these “last days” in which God is revealing more and more of Himself to His people.

An issue with which the Lord is forcing us to “deal” involves the true significance of “speaking in other tongues.” Apostolics have always known and accepted that Man cannot be saved without this experience, but we have not always known what the experience really implies. Though we have always known that the experience provides the evidence of the infilling of the Holy Spirit, we have erroneously believed that this, alone, “proved” one’s salvation. This is why, when one “speaks in tongues,” yet fails to change, our “elders” often count them as having received “devil tongues” or simply as having not received the Holy Spirit at all! Blessedly, we have been enlightened by God to understand that “speaking in tongues” is not like saying “abracadabra”—and everything changes. The speaking, representing the infilling proves to us that we now have the power of Jesus Christ resident within us to lead us and guide us through all situations. But God, remaining the Gentleman that He is, requires us to submit our human spirit to that leading—that He might be given the requisite position of authority in our lives.

Along with the “infilling” is the necessary baptism (into Jesus Christ) whose symbolism, perhaps, has never been made as clear as it has in our time. Representing as it does the “death of the flesh” (or, the “old man”), it has always been meant to be a tenet of our faith. You see, without the death of the one who separated us from Christ in the first place (the natural, fleshly man) there can be no salvation, for salvation’s thrust is reconciliation to God.

The “power of God” has been “prostituted” by those who would be known as being “of’ God from time immemorial. It has been used to bless, curse, supplant, rob, cheat, steal, extort and destroy much more frequently than to uplift and liberate—its true purposes. That which is true power from God is power that enables its “possessor” to live a resurrected life Though one might spend his every waking hour in the church building, preach and/or teach every Sunday, witness on street corners and pay (most of) his tithes faithfully, if his life is not “resurrected” (that is, redeemed from service of self to that of the Lord), he will not be recognized by God.

Man’s fundamental problem with turning his life over to the Lord is his “fear”—that no one but himself can be trusted. God’s wish to liberate us from this fallacy is the reason behind His thrust toward getting us to accept that through His death, He completed His mission to supply all things pertaining to all situations that the Man that He created would ever need. Since few of us have come to accept this, most of us have no idea how it is meant to liberate us. You see, if we would only accept and acknowledge this, we would also come to realize that we need accept absolutely nothing negative from the devil.

So many “things” have been allowed to get us so “off track” that we have lost our focus of what “salvation” is really supposed to be. If God intends for us to he free from sin and flesh, then most assuredly, we are expected to “walk in faith” and conduct ourselves according to what is “spiritual” and not “natural.”

This year can and will be a “new year” for the one who is willing to change the way that he deals with the issues of his (spiritual) life A good start would be to purpose within oneself that whatever God says will be accepted.

With the rising “popularity” of the name of Jesus in the nominal church (and much of its spillover into the apostolic church), we are going to have to return to the fundamental principals of Who Jesus is why He came the purpose of His death (and our baptism into it) and His expectation of our, “resurrected” lives. The rest of the redeemed world and those looking, to be redeemed must understand that no man is changed simply because he knows the name of Jesus. He is changed (as he must be if he would be pleasing to God) only as he accepts the direction of the Holy Spirit. If we can become convincing examples of this there will be nothing of which we will not be able to convince our fellow man.