From the ministry archive
Salvation and Discernment
I have a simplistic, to the point post today; but it truly "lays the ax to the root of the tree," as pertaining to the prospering of the people of God. I'm talking about the born again experience that makes any person a child of God. Because God's people do NOT understand what the only biblical born again experience is, they do not truly know who is their brother or sister, and who is not. This is an absolutely devastating malady, because the lack of this simplistic Bible knowledge has massively diluted the fellowship of the body of Christ, and has led to an enormous degree of "unequally yoked" marriages by God's people. The scripture speaks clearly of what it is to be born again: "Therefore if any man be IN CHRIST, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (II Cor. 5:17). So it is evident that it is being "in Christ" that constitutes the new birth experience whereby a person is spiritually transformed, as the aforementioned scripture states. So let's look at the three passages of scripture that tell us HOW someone gets into Christ, and while we look at these passages it is worthy to note that these are the ONLY passages of scripture that definitively state how we get into Christ. Since the wording of the following passage goes hand in hand with II Cor. 5:17 which is quoted above, we'll start with it: "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" (Rom. 6:3,4). If we are truly "baptized into Jesus Christ" as this scripture says, we are thereby able to "walk in newness of life;" which agrees with II Cor. 5:17, which tells us that "all things are become new" upon being "in Christ." Now let's look at the next one: "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:26,27). Again we see that we must be "baptized into Christ," and also that the baptism that puts us into Christ comes by faith. Not only so, but we are plainly told here that this baptism is what makes us the children of God. Don't see that? Just read the passage again. And lest someone try to make some kind of "weak and beggarly" argument for water baptism here, this passage also lets us know that whoever EXPERIENCES this baptism literally "PUTS ON CHRIST." Now there is nowhere in the Bible where we are told that Jesus Christ is composed of earthly water, but the scripture DOES tell us, "Now the Lord IS that Spirit" (II Cor. 3:17). What this means is that it is the holy Ghost baptism, the one that is evidenced initially by speaking with other tongues, that enables us to actually "put on Christ." That is why Rom. 6:4 says that being baptized into Christ makes us able to "walk in newness of life," because he IS that newness of life! In fact he is that "SPIRIT of life... [that] makes us free from the [condition] of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2). That is why Jesus came here, and it is the ONLY reason that he came; "that [we] might have LIFE, and have it more abundantly" (Jn. 10:10). That is as in a new birth UNTO "newness of life."
Now for our last scripture that tells us how we get into Christ, whereby "old things pass away, [and] all things become new." As you will see, it tells us exactly what the other passages told us, and even specifies the baptism that gets the job done: "For BY ONE SPIRIT are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit" (I Cor. 12:13). So there it is my friend, once again we see that it is the baptism of the holy Ghost, which Jesus died and rose to provide, that puts us into the "one body" of Christ, which is to say "in Christ" (Eph. 4:5). And as we have seen clearly from the Bible, one is NOT a "new creature;" which is to plainly say they are NOT born again or able to "walk in newness of life," before or apart from being "in Christ." We have also seen equally as clearly that nobody is in Christ before or apart from being baptized with his Spirit, which experience always comes with the sign chosen by God which is "speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance;" even as it was in the beginning of the covenant (Acts 2:4). What this means is that everyone who has "gotten saved," or "accepted the Lord as their personal savior," but have NOT been baptized with the Spirit with the accompanying witness; are NOT YET the brother or sister of those who ARE in Christ. And because these erroneous 'Christian' "new births" are so widely recognized and accepted by everyone, including those who HAVE been baptized with the Spirit; EVERYTHING has just been thrown off course, meaning away from the leading and teaching of God's Spirit (Rom. 8:14; I Jn. 2:27). Most integrally, and most damaging, as I alluded to in the beginning of this article; are the circumstances of fellowship of worship, and marriage. Those who are not baptized with the holy Ghost are not ABLE to "walk in newness of life" because they have not received the true remission of their sins, and therefore have no chance of "worshiping God in spirit and in truth;" unless they go on to BE baptized with the holy Ghost. To acknowledge that they ARE able to do so is to lie against the truth and put EVERYONE in a spiritually compromised position in terms of fellowship of worship. "Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" (I Cor. 5:6). Someone will undoubtedly ask, "Are you saying that someone should not be allowed to be in the worship services unless they have already been baptized with the Spirit?" OF COURSE NOT! But they should be there with the sole motivation of RECEIVING the baptism of the Spirit, with the knowledge that they are not born again or a member of the one body of Christ until the DO receive that experience. If they are there with the acknowledgment from everyone else that they are already born again and have the remission of their sins, that is where the damage is done; and that is where it becomes a "leaven that leavens the whole lump."
To add insult to injury there is also the dilemma of Spirit baptized believers going to "Christian churches" where the Spirit baptism isn't even believed on, and no one even has the experience. All I can say about that is the same thing the angel of the Lord said to those who came to the tomb of Jesus on the third day: "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen" (Lk. 24:5,6) Jesus is NOT present wherever his SPIRIT is not present. The same is true with marriage, except that the damage is done much faster, seeing that it is only one person in a compromised position there. Not marrying apart from the faith is one of the biggest and most important commandments of God in both the old and new testaments, as well as BEFORE the old testament (Deut. 7:3,4; Ezra 10:10,11; Neh. 13:23-27; I Cor. 7:39; II Cor. 6:14-18; Gen. 24:2-4; Gen. 28:1,2). The reason that this commandment is so vital to the faith of a believer is clearly told in Deut. 7:4: "For they will turn away thy son [or daughter] from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly." My friend, I would say that those are some really serious words from God that need to be really seriously heeded by his people. In fact the large scale transgression of this commandment led to the destruction of the pre-flood world, which destruction was brought by God (Gen. 6:1,2,5-7). And again, the erroneous "new birth" doctrines of the Christian religion, which are universally upheld by God's people who DO have his Spirit, have led to a large scale transgression of this commandment; as Spirit baptized believers choose to marry those who are "Christians," but have NOT been baptized with the Spirit, and do NOT have the Spirit's witness of the experience. The result has been and is always spiritual disaster for the Spirit baptized believer because they are very simply living in transgression against the "Lord who has bought them" (II Pet. 2:1). Not to mention that this malady ALWAYS drains what life the true believer may have, right out of them; as they are forced into compromising the holiness of the very "Spirit of life" that had made them free from sin. And it almost never results in the non-Spirit baptized person BEING baptized with the Spirit, especially in a case where the Spirit baptized believer knew that they were entering the marriage in transgression of the Lord's commandment. What can I say? Only this: God is grieved, his Son is grieved, and those who know him in truth are grieved; as these things go on as they have for so long. Truly this saying is refused today like never before: "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" (Eph. 4:30). And seeing that "the holy Spirit of God [has been] grieved" beyond my comprehension, all that is left is for this saying to be fulfilled among God's faithful people: "I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden" (Zeph. 3:18). It is certain that in such a time as this we cannot afford to fulfill THIS saying, though it be fulfilled in every place: "[They] chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David; [They] drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph" (Amos 6:5,6). May God help us to acknowledge his truth and walk therein, lest his wrath be kindled upon us. Amen
