Grace Church, Modesto: Why Use the Means of Grace?

#26. Baptism Calls Us to Live in the Light of our Union With Christ, Part 4 - We Are Seated With Christ and Will Judge with Him

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 01 Nov 2014 03:00:00 +0000

Ephesians 2:4–7 — But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

The believer's union with Christ is proclaimed in baptism - union in His life, death, burial and resurrection - but there is more!

As we close out this short series of reasons why we should reflect on baptism, we want to see that our union with Christ extends to the point where, since He is ascended to heaven and seated at the right hand of God, so is the believer. Since He is reigning, believers are seated with Him on His throne with Him, and since He is appointed Judge of all, they will also judge in Him.

First, see the passage above. It is a mystery, for sure, but Paul makes it very clear (using a tense that has a sense of an event having taken place in the past), that believers have been seated with Christ in the heavenly places "in Christ Jesus" - because of our union with Him. He uses the same tense in Romans 8:30 to indicate that those who are foreknown (fore-loved) by God have been glorified already! There is no doubt that the use of this tense at one level demonstrates the security of the believer and the certainty that these things will surely come to pass. But there is another sense in which they have already come to pass because we are in Christ and He is in us. Therefore, because He is seated at the right hand of God in heaven right now, so is every true believer. There is a solemn majesty and glory in these things, as we contemplate the work of Satan so completely undone in what Jesus Christ has accomplished - sinful wretches made clean and even now in Christ seated with Him in the heavenlies!

But again, there is more - our union with Chist extends still further. Elsewhere in Scripture there are indications that believers will have a role in judging angels and nations (1 Corinthians 6:2-3). And although it is implied in the believer's sitting with Christ as we saw above, Jesus even says in Revelation 3:21 that those who overcome the snares of this world will sit with Him on His throne, and will reign with Him - something that is confirmed in other passages (Revelation 22:5). How amazing! All of this comes about through our close and indissoluble union with Christ - and is something we need to reflect on in respect of baptism.

So, to summarize this series, we have seen that baptism should not be an event that happens once and is then forgotten. Believers need to cultivate the habit of reflecting on their baptism often, in order to enjoy all the blessings that are proclaimed in it - especially cleansing from sin, anointing with the Spirit and union with Christ. And unbelievers should see a clear sign of their need for cleansing and should hear a clear call to turn from their sins and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ each time they witness a baptism, or in their own baptism if they were then unbelievers and have still not come to Christ.

#25. Baptism Calls Us to Live in the Light of our Union With Christ, Part 3 - We Rose with Christ

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 25 Oct 2014 03:00:00 +0000

Colossians 2:11–12 — and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

The fact of the believer's union with Christ is proclaimed in baptism, and that calls us to live in a certain way. So far we have seen the practical outworking in our lives of our union with Christ in His death and burial. This time, we want to consider how we should live given our union with Christ in His resurrection.

Paul tells us in our text above that we were raised up with Jesus when He rose from the dead. In Ephesians 2, he tells us that when we were dead in transgressions and sins, God made us alive together with Christ. But what should this actually mean for us?

If our burial with Christ meant that the old life is dead and buried, so that we shouldn't live in that way any longer, this resurrection in Christ means that there is a new life for use to live! SO radical is the change, so fundamental and far-reaching, that Paul tells the Corinthians it is in reality a new creation:

2 Corinthians 5:17 — Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

He tells the church in Rome a little more about what this new life ought to look like:

Romans 6:1–14 — What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

So believers are to count themselves dead to sin, but alive in Christ. On the one hand, they are no longer to present themselves as instruments of sin, as they used to do - that life is dead and buried. Now that they are alive with Christ, they are to offer themselves as instruments of righteousness, to do those things that they could never have done (and never would have wanted to do) when still dead in sins. To put it in a slightly different form, believers are to stop doing the things they had no choice but to do before, and are to begin doing the things they could never have done before and had no desire to do. We are not to live in sin, but are to do good works out of love for our wonderful God and Savior!

Think of that in relation to your baptism, and the baptisms of others that you witness, and let those events call you again to count yourselves dead to sin and risen with Christ. And heeding that call, by God's grace live the life and do the works for which He saved you!

#24. Baptism Calls Us to Live in the Light of our Union With Christ, Part 2 - We were buried with Christ

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 18 Oct 2014 03:00:00 +0000

Romans 6:4 — Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

We have seen that baptism proclaims our union with Christ and now are meditating on how we are called to live in the light of that union. Last time we saw how we should live given that we died with Christ. In the passage above, Paul makes it very clear that we were also buried with Christ.

The Christian life is described everywhere in Scripture as a new beginning. As one example, take the words of Paul to the Corinthian believers:

2 Corinthians 5:17 — Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Old things are passed away and new things have come, he says. When we bury someone, we are putting their remains away. Their souls are parted from their bodies. They are lifeless, and there is no further use for them in this world. We understand, of course, that when the Lord returns these bodies will be reunited with their souls and raised for the final judgment, but in the meantime they are put away, finished with.

In everyday matters also, we understand the putting away of old things so that new things may come. Most of us do not continue to wear pairs of shoes that are cracked, worn and useless. We do not keep them on our feet while we try to put new shoes over the top! Rather, we take them off and dispose of them so that we may put the new shoes on.

It is precisely the same in the Christian life. We cannot live the old life of sin, fleshly and worldly pursuits at the very same time we are trying to live the new life of consecration to God, holiness and godliness. The old life has to be discarded - put away - buried. We must understand that when Christ was laid in the tomb, our old man (who had died in Him on the cross) was also laid to rest with Him. That person, as far as each true believer is concerned, is history - consigned to the past and never to put us back into the place of rebellion and condemnation again.

We use the phrase "dead and buried" idiomatically to indicate a complete and final end to something. If we say a business is dead and buried, we mean that it has ceased to trade and there is no hope that it will ever appear again. In the same way, believers should understand that their old man (the enemy of God and the slave of sin and Satan) is completely done away with because they are joined with Christ in His death and burial. While the believer may be troubled by residual sinful tendencies, the old man and all his loathsome characteristics can never return - he is dead and buried!

We are not very good at living in the light of these truths. It is a constant deception on the part of Satan to convince believers that the old man is still very much alive, and that we cannot live any differently now than we did before we came to know Christ. That is why so many passages in the New Testament call upon us to realize what has happened to us through our union with Christ and to live accordingly - to wake up and smell the coffee, effectively! So in the coming days, think of your baptism, of being joined to Christ and of your old man being buried with Him, and live your new life in the light of this wonderful truth!

#23. Baptism Calls Us to Live in the Light of our Union With Christ, Part 1 - We Died With Christ

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 11 Oct 2014 03:00:00 +0000

Colossians 3:3 — For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Galatians 2:20 — “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

We have considered over the last few meditations that baptism proclaims the union with Jesus Christ into which a believer is brought at conversion through the activity of the Holy Spirit. Scripture is very clear that this union has practical implications in the life of the believer, and that is what we want to focus on for the next few devotionals, because baptism not only proclaims these things but calls us to live in the light of them. It is clear, then, that this should form part of our reflections in respect of baptism.

We saw that in being joined to Christ, the believer is joined to Him in His death. Our passages above confirm this truth and encourage us therefore to consider ourselves dead to our old way of life, which we used to live before we became believers. Paul works this argument out in much greater detail in Romans 6:1-14 (emphasis added):

Romans 6:1–14 — What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Notice how practical this union with Christ becomes! If indeed we died to sin along with Jesus Christ, how can we keep living as we did before, when we were slaves to sin? If we have been set free from that slavery, how can we continue to live as if we were still in its grip? So, says Paul in effect, (and talking here to believers) you need to live in the light of your union with Christ in His death. That means you are to consider that your old man, the slave to sin, is dead and that it is no longer inevitable that you yield to temptation. Don't let sin reign in you any longer, because you died to sin through your union with Christ, and it no longer has the right to reign over you - He is your master now!

This realization should fundamentally affect the way we deal with temptation. Yes, we will still be tempted, and yes, we will sometimes trip and stumble and fall through our weakness. But sin is not our master, and our succumbing to sin when tempted is not a foregone conclusion any more!

All this because we are joined to Christ and when He died to sin, we died to sin in Him. And we should be reminded of this if we are believers each time we reflect on our own baptism and each time we witness the baptism of others. This is a reflection that should strengthen us in our ongoing struggle with the world, the flesh and the devil!

#22. Baptism Proclaims an Inscrutable Union Between Christ and the Believer

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 04 Oct 2014 03:00:00 +0000

Ephesians 5:29–32 — for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body. 31 FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

We are completing a brief survey of the character of the union that is forged by the Holy Spirit between a believer and the Lord Jesus Christ, and is proclaimed in baptism. We certainly haven't by any means touched on all the things that could be said, but we will leave the reader to explore more of the dimensions and facets of this wonderful truth.

For now, we will consider that this union is inscrutable, which means it is impossible to understand or interpret. In the words of Paul, it is a great mystery. He quotes the passage from Genesis 2:24 in which Adam and Eve are joined, becoming one flesh in the marriage union. Then he says that this is the nature of the union that has been created between Christ and His bride, the church. Immediately we pause in wonder and our minds stumble at truth so deep and unreachable.

What we can grasp by analogy of the union between husband and wife, though, is that this is most intimate - there is no more intimate relationship on earth than that between a husband and his bride. It is also a union that is (or should be) founded upon deep love. It is a bond that is (or should be) long-lasting. In fact, it is eternal as we saw last time. Finally, it is a sharing union in which everything that is the husband's belongs to the wife, and all that is hers belongs to him. If these things are true on earth between a man and a woman, we can only imagine that they are magnified, sanctified and made far more glorious insofar as they pertain to the union between Christ and His bride, the church (comprising all true believers down through the ages).

We have to admire and adore our God and our Savior for such unspeakable love and condescension! If our minds cannot take it in, it is equally certain that our lips cannot find words that can bear the weight and the glory of these things. We can only marvel and rejoice that we who are believers shall have eternity in heaven to experience this union first hand, and gradually to understand it more fully.

This is a good place to conclude our devotions on the union every believer has with Christ, and why baptism is such a precious opportunity for us to reflect on it, whether our own baptism or that of others. In the next few meditations, we'll think about the practical implications of the fact that true believers are joined with the Lord Jesus Christ.

#21. Baptism Proclaims an Indissoluble Union Between Christ and the Believer

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 27 Sep 2014 03:00:00 +0000

Romans 8:38–39 — For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We are continuing to explore some of the aspects of the union between the believer and the Lord Jesus Christ, since that union is proclaimed in baptism and is therefore a fruitful topic for our reflections on this means of grace.

One of the great characteristics of the union that is forged by the Holy Spirit between Jesus and those He died to save is that it is indissoluble. Nothing can ever break it. In other words, it is an eternal, everlasting union in which we are His and He is ours. How can we be certain that this is true? It is really quite simple to demonstrate.

Since the believer's salvation is dependent upon this union with Christ, if it were to be broken, the believer would lose his or her salvation. Some assert that this is possible, but it cannot be the case. This would mean that there was someone stronger than God who was capable of breaking the bond, But we know there is no-one stronger than God. If there were, God would not be God as He reveals Himself in Scripture. In our text, Paul expresses his total conviction that there is no power in existence that can ever separate a believer from the Lord.

If a believer could be separated from Christ, it would indicate that God is fickle, apparently determining to save someone at one moment and then rejecting them the next. However, we know that God never changes (Hebrews 13:8, James 1:17), and that He had chosen whom He would save before He even created this world (Ephesians 1:4). If He were subject to change, all His promises in Scripture would be worthless, and whatever union we might enjoy with Jesus today could be thrown off tomorrow for no reason. The Bible would be unreliable, since God would be so different in reality than His self-revelation in Scripture. It is very clear from the history of the church, and the children of God know from experience, that God doesn't change and that His Word is utterly dependable.

If a believer was somehow separated from Christ, this would also mean that what Jesus did on the cross could guarantee the salvation of no-one. If the cross is not enough to accomplish salvation absolutely and completely, where would we turn to be saved? Where would be His triumph over sin, death and Satan that the Scriptures so clearly proclaim?

If the believer's union with Jesus can be severed, then God the Father and Jesus Christ become liars. Jesus says in John 6:39-40 that the Father's will is that none of those He gave to the Son should be lost, and that all who believe on Jesus will have eternal life, Jesus raising them up on the last day. This is sheer falsehood, though, if our union with Christ is not everlasting. But we know that Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6) and that there is no lie in God.

There are many other reasons we could give for the eternal character of the believer's union with Christ, but we will mention just one more. The breaking of this bond would show that Jesus' prayers are ineffectual. In John 17:24, Jesus expresses to the Father His desire that those the Father has given to Him should be with Him where He is, and should see His glory - which can only mean that they would be with Him in heaven. However, this prayer has been ignored by God if even one person who believes savingly on Christ fails to arrive in heaven, meaning that there had been a dissolution of his or her union with Jesus Christ.

Believer, rejoice in the eternal union that you have with Jesus! Meditate upon it often. See it pictured in the cleansing work of the Spirit that is proclaimed in baptism. Unbeliever, you are still outside of Christ but He will receive you now if you believe on Him alone as the only hope and ground of your salvation!

What from Christ the soul can sever,
Bound by everlasting bands?
Once in Him, in Him forever,
Thus th’eternal cov’nant stands.
None shall pluck thee, none shall pluck thee
From the Savior’s mighty hands!

John Kent

#20. Baptism Proclaims a Spiritual Union Between Christ and the Believer

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 03:00:00 +0000

Romans 8:9–10 — However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

Ephesians 3:16–17 — that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

We have seen that baptism proclaims the union between Christ and the believer, and that this union is Legal, Federal and vital in nature. This time we will dwell on the fact that it is also a spiritual union, by which we mean that it is brought about and sustained through the agency of the Holy Spirit.

It is the Holy Spirit's work to join someone to Christ, as we have seen, and in that joining, Christ Himself takes up residence in the heart of the new believer through His Spirit. So critical is this truth that Paul declares in our first text above that someone is not a Christian - does not belong to Christ - unless they have the Spirit dwelling in them. The Spirit is the one Who breathes new life into the believer's spirit, bringing about a distinction from the body which remains dead because of sin.

In our second text, Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is the One Who continues this work in believers, giving power to strengthen them inwardly so that Christ may dwell in them by faith. In other words, the Spirit initiates but then maintains this work and this influence in their lives.

So we need to reflect on this in connection with our baptism and when we witness the baptism of others. We see the washing of water and understand that this speaks of the cleansing activity of the Spirit as He applies the work of Christ to an individual. But we can go further in our reflection and think about the indwelling of God's Spirit that begins at that time, as we are joined to Christ, and we can also consider how that indwelling continues and should grow in all believers, taking them deeper into Christ in terms of their understanding, love and likeness to Christ.

In closing, we must ask the reader whether they "have the Spirit of Christ," as Paul puts it above, without Whom they are still dead in trespasses and sins.

#19. Baptism Proclaims a Vital Union Between Christ and the Believer

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 13 Sep 2014 03:00:00 +0000

Galatians 2:20 — “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Colossians 3:3–4 — For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

We have seen that the union between Christ and believers, brought about by the Holy Spirit at conversion and signified in baptism, is a legal union and a federal union. It is much more than this, though. If the nature of this conjoining was only legal and federal, no change of life could be anticipated in the believer. It would end with the imputation of righteousness to the believer who had none, and the imputation of his or her sins to Christ (Who had none) so they could be paid for. The believer would be positionally different in God's sight, but would have no principle of life and power within that could result in a different life this side of glory. The children of God would look different to Him, as He would view them "in Christ" but they would look no different than anyone else in this world.

We know from Scripture and from experience, though, that when someone comes to Christ they are transformed by Him. They are translated from death to life, from darkness to light, from being hard-hearted and stiff-necked toward God to those with melted and contrite hearts and a desire humbly to follow and obey the Savior. This cannot easily be hidden from anyone, and neither should it be!

How does this happen? We understand that in the union of the believer with Christ, He comes by His Spirit to take up residence within their hearts as a powerful principle of life, creating desires within them that they never had before - desires for holiness and righteousness - for Christ-likeness. That is what Paul is talking about in our texts above. This is a "vital union" in which the Spirit begins to form the likeness of Jesus in each true child of God. They now live as new creatures by faith in Christ - the old life has passed away and the new has come (1 Corinthians 5:17). He gives them a growing distaste for sin and greater power to put it to death. He imparts increasing love for Christ and for everything truly wholesome and good.

This union should result in growing Christ-likeness as long as the believer is here on earth. It can never be perfected here, though. It is only completed when the child of God leaves this world and enters into glory. It is not surprising, then, that as this process continues in the Christian, there comes a greater intensity of longing to depart this world and to be with Jesus where He is - to see His glory and to know the perfection of this vital union with Him.

We should be reminded of this in connection with our baptism and that of others, as we see in emblem the Holy Spirit cleansing the sin of a believer and joining him or her to Jesus in this vital, living way!

#18. Baptism Proclaims a Federal Union Between Christ and the Believer

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 06 Sep 2014 03:00:00 +0000

1 Corinthians 15:22 — For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

We are reflecting on the fact that baptism proclaims many truths to us in its function as a sign, and we are presently dwelling on one of the most remarkable of these - that the believer is joined to the Lord Jesus Christ.
This union is multifaceted, and to hear the full message proclaimed in baptism, we need to consider the various aspects of the believer's union with Christ. We have already seen that the union that Christians have with Jesus is a legal union. This time we want to see also that it is a federal union.
We understand (and have already commented on the fact) that Adam was effectively put on probation in the Garden of Eden, and that he acted in our place under a covenant established by God, so that whatever Adam did under that arrangement, God would regard all the descendants of Adam as having done also. Had Adam resisted the temptation of Satan, he would have lived eternally and we would all have inherited eternal life on the basis of his actions. However, Adam rebelled against God, ate the forbidden fruit and suffered the consequences (death) in his body and soul. Because he acted on our behalf under that covenant, from conception we share with Adam in the guilt of his sin. We are born spiritually dead and liable to eternal condemnation unless something (that is beyond our ability) is done to rescue us.
Now we turn to Christ, or the "Last Adam," as Paul refers to him in 1 Corinthians 15:45. Like the first Adam, Jesus acts as a federal Head of His people. Everything He did while on earth, and much of what He does in heaven, is in the place of and on behalf of His people. He earned righteousness in His perfect life of obedience for His people. He died to sin in their place on the cross. He was buried, rose to newness of life, ascended into heaven and sat at the right hand of God to reign. All these things believers are counted as doing and having done because they are joined to Christ as their federal Head. They are no longer "in Adam" but by the work of the Holy Spirit they are now "in Christ" - joined to Him.
This is what Paul talks about in our text above. Everyone joined to Adam receives the penalty God pronounced ahead of time if he would eat the forbidden fruit - they die both physically and spiritually, suffering an eternal condemnation for what Adam did (though each of us adds our own sins and wickedness to the deposit we receive from Adam). However, says Paul, in the same way everyone who is joined to Christ will be made alive - freed from the consequences of Adam's and their own sin and made heirs of eternal life because of the complete work that Jesus did.
Two things in closing. First, we need to ask ourselves whether we are still "in Adam" today, or whether we have renounced our relationship in the flesh with him and have reached out in faith to be joined eternally to Jesus Christ. He is the only One Who can save us from our richly-deserved destruction!
Second, think on your own baptism in this light, or when you witness the baptism of others. The cleansing work of the Spirit that is pictured there has the result of joining the believer to Christ to receive all the merits of His redemptive work. Here is something that is well worth reflecting on!

#17. Baptism Proclaims a Legal Union Between Christ and the Believer, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 03:00:00 +0000

1 Peter 2:24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

Last time we thought of the believer's legal union with Christ in terms of the crediting (imputation) of Christ's perfect life to the believer, so that the believer is counted as having lived that life "in Christ". In Christ also, the believer died to sin, was buried, rose to new life and is seated at the right hand of God. However, there is another aspect to this legal union that we want to note in this devotion - that our sins were credited to Christ and fully punished in Him on the cross.

If anyone is to be saved, two things must happen. As we have seen, they must possess a positive righteousness, through having the life of Christ counted as their life. However, this does not take away the guilt of their sins committed first in Adam and subsequently from their conception onwards. So in our union with Christ, not only is His life credited to us, but our sins were credited to Him and He died on the cross to take the full punishment they deserved. He took our place in hell and suffered its torments for us. Through being joined with Christ, the believer has no guilt of sin to drag them down to hell, and also has the perfect life of obedience to God that is necessary for eternal life!

Note again in our text that there is a practical outcome from this union - an ability for the believer to die to sin (since Christ died to our sins on the cross) and to live to righteousness (since Christ lived a perfect life of obedience in our place when here on earth). Without this union, there could be no transformed life.

So our legal union with Christ involves an intimate and glorious exchange which underpins the cleansing of sin we receive as the Holy Spirit joins us with the Lord Jesus Christ. All this is pictured in baptism, and we should certainly delight to reflect on such deep, rich and majestic truths, whether by looking back on our own baptism or witnessing that of someone else!

#16. Baptism Proclaims a Legal Union Between Christ and the Believer, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 03:00:00 +0000

Romans 6:1–7 — What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.

Last time we began to open up the subject that water baptism (being an outward and visible representation of the baptism with the Holy Spirit) proclaims the union between Christ and the believer. At conversion, the believer receives the Spirit of God in his or her heart and at the same moment is really joined to Christ, just as the branch of a tree is joined to its trunk and receives life and support from it. The union that is established has several characteristics and it will be helpful to us to explore these in this and the next few devotions so we have a clearer picture of what God does to the believer and what is therefore proclaimed in baptism.

The first characteristic of this union with Christ is one we touched on briefly last time - it is a legal, or judicial union. That is what we are told in several places in Scripture, one of which is our text above. Put simply, it says that everything Jesus did for our salvation is counted by God (legally) as being our own activity because Jesus did it in our place. He lived a life of perfect obedience to the commands of God, so once we are joined to Him, we are counted as having lived that life in Him. He died to sin, so we are counted as having died to sin in Him. He was buried, so our old man, the implacable enemy of God that we were by nature, is counted as having been buried with Him. He rose victorious from the dead, so we are counted as having risen to new life in Him. He ascended to the right hand of the Majesty in heaven and we are counted even now as being seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:6). Whenever you see the words, "in Him," or "in Christ Jesus" in the Bible, it is most likely talking about a consequence or outcome of our union with Him.

Note that this is a legal, or judicial union. So, for example, although we did not actually (and never could) live a perfect life, God credits Jesus' perfect life to us as though we had lived it ourselves, because Jesus did it in our place. We are born into this world credited with having committed the first Adam's sin because He committed it in our place, as our representative, and we are born in union with him. When we are born again and joined to Jesus Christ (The Last Adam), all the benefits of His saving work are credited to us through our union with Him.

These truths lie at the very heart of the Gospel, showing how it is that God can be just and yet declare guilty sinners to be justified (not guilty) in His sight. It is all on account of Christ's work, done for us and in our place if we have put our trust in Him for salvation!

Note from our text, though, that this truth is intensely practical also. Because the believer's body of sin was crucified with Christ, it has been done away with and the child of God is no longer a slave to sin. The believer is accordingly commanded to reckon himself or herself truly dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. When we are tempted to sin, we must remind ourselves that our body of sin is crucified with Christ. Whereas once we had no choice but to sin, we no longer have to yield to temptation because of what we have become through our union with Christ! In the same way, we may work through the other blessings that are ours through our legal union with Christ, count them as being true of ourselves and strive to live in the light of them.

Next time we will want to see that in this union with Christ, not only are we credited with having lived His perfect life, but He is credited with the guilt of our sin and takes it away on the cross.

So think about your baptism in these terms and strive to live in the light of what has become true of you if you have been joined to Christ in the way that baptism proclaims!

#15. Baptism Proclaims that the Cleansing Performed by the Holy Spirit Unites Us With Christ in His Death, Burial and Resurrection

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 16 Aug 2014 03:00:00 +0000

Galatians 3:27 — For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

We are tracing out the implications of the cleansing from sin that is effected in believers as the Holy Spirit applies the work of Christ to them - something that is outwardly represented and signified in the act of baptism. These are all things that baptism proclaims to the candidate and the congregation each time it is performed.

One of the major blessings that arises from that cleansing is the joining of the believer with the Lord Jesus Christ, a process in which the believer is "clothed" with Christ, as our text indicates. This joining with Him extends to joining with Him in His life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension. As a result, certain things that are true of Christ become true of the believer also (Jesus lived a perfect life on earth, died to sin, was buried and rose to new life, then ascended to heaven), and certain things that were true of the believer (such as the guilt of their sin) are made over to Jesus and dealt with on the cross.

We are going to want to delve more deeply into this whole topic of the believer's union with Christ, so we can understand more clearly what it is, why it should be a cause of great praise and gratitude from each Christian, and why baptism should bring it to mind for the believer.

For now, though, let's think about this one aspect in order to whet our appetites: if you have been cleansed from sin through the blood of Christ, and have been "clothed" with Him, when God looks at you, He no longer sees the filthy robes of your unrighteousness, but rather the pure and spotless robes of the righteousness of Christ. This is because you are counted as having kept the law when Jesus kept it in your place. In fact, it is true to say that almost everything Christ did on earth, He did for and on behalf of His people so that they might be saved to the uttermost in Him!

So when we are witnesses to baptism, or think back upon our own, we should include in our reflections that being baptized spiritually into Christ we have clothed ourselves with Him, and we should rejoice!

#14. Baptism Proclaims the Believer's Renewing in the Image of Christ by the Indwelling Spirit

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 22:27:00 +0000

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 — Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

We are following a chain of spiritual consequences that begins when someone is converted, and seeing how these are outwardly represented to us in baptism. We saw that sin makes us filthy but God has provided the only way by which we may be cleansed. We went on to see that this work of cleansing is affected by the Holy Spirit, that it is of necessity a spiritual cleansing and is accompanied by the added blessing that the Spirit Himself takes up residence in the heart of the believer. This time, we want to consider that by virtue of the indwelling of God's Spirit, the believer will be made more and more holy. To put it another way, he or she will be changed more and more into the likeness of Christ.

We already noted that baptism is a mark of God's ownership. As such, it indicates a setting apart (sanctification) to God and from sin - a work performed by the Holy Spirit. God regards the believer as holy because the perfect life of Christ is credited to his or her account. However, the indwelling Spirit also works over time in each believer, influencing their hearts through the various means of grace to form the likeness of Christ in them. They are progressively being renewed, putting off the practices of the old life, in which they were rebels to God and slaves to sin, and putting on the new self. Before the Holy Spirit came to live in their hearts, they were not able to do this, but now they are commanded to do so:

Colossians 3:8–11 — But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— 11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.

The "Holy Spirit" is called by that name in part because it is His task to create holiness (Christ-likeness) in God's children. So, when we see someone undergoing baptism, we are to understand that what is represented is that a life newly possessed by the Spirit of God and indwelt by Him will be progressively recreated to bear more and more of the likeness of Jesus Christ. There is no such person as a believer in Christ who is indwelt by the Spirit but is not being fashioned in the likeness of Christ. Those of us who have been baptized might well ask ourselves, therefore, whether we have begun, and are making progress in this process, which our baptism proclaimed as the inevitable experience of every true child of God.

#13. Baptism Proclaims the Indwelling of the Spirit, and not Just Cleansing by Him.

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 03:00:00 +0000

Titus 3:5–7 — He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Last time we saw that baptism proclaims a cleansing that is internal and spiritual, a washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.

We don't want to lose sight, though, that baptism pictures for us that God not only makes us clean through the blood of Christ - He also comes to dwell in us by His Spirit. We see this in the water (representing the Spirit) that is applied when we are baptized.

How thankful we should be that God doesn't clean up internally from sin and send us off in much the same condition we were in before. Then there could only be a grim inevitability that we would (like a pig that is washed) return to our wallowing about in the filth of sin. Instead, Paul tells us in our text, and confirms in passages such as Romans 5:5, the Spirit of God is poured out upon us richly, given to us, comes to dwell in our hearts.

What a difference it makes to have the Spirit of Christ as a resident within us! He works to change our inclinations, to enhance our desire for holiness and sharpen the sensitivity of our consciences. We still stumble and fall, but thanks to the Spirit we are enabled more and more to be careful, to avoid sins which ensnared us before, to be more wise concerning the wiles of Satan.

This wonderful anointing, enlivening and empowering is something that all true believers experience, and we should reflect on the grace of God Who, knowing us through and through, imparts the Spirit to be our live-in Counselor and Comforter! When we think about our baptism, this is one of the topics that should feature in our reflections and should stir us up in love and gratitude to God!

#12. Baptism Proclaims that the Cleansing We Need is Spiritual

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 03:00:00 +0000

Titus 3:5–7 — He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

We have seen that sin makes us filthy in God's sight - that it is our hearts that are affected, that only God can cleanse us through the work of Christ and that this work is applied to us by the Holy Spirit.

What is it, though, that the Holy Spirit does to cleanse us? What is the nature of the cleansing that He does? Is it enough to be clean on the outside? Can we apply water to our bodies and be saved as a result? That could never be the case, considering the corruption lies in our souls. Is it, then, that He applies the work of Christ to us to wipe the slate clean concerning our former sins, and we have to live a good enough life from that point forward to earn our place in heaven? Once again, this couldn't work. We do sinful things because we have a sinful heart. If our sins are cleansed but our heart remains unchanged, it would be like working to clean up a beach where there is a raw sewage outlet, but doing nothing to stop the continuing flow of the filth. We would very, very quickly be in the same, desperate condition once again.

In each person who is saved, the Holy Spirit engages in an intricate and spiritual form of open heart surgery. The problem is spiritual and therefore the solution must be of the same kind. In this operation, the Spirit of God accomplishes the following:

He grants the new birth because we are by nature dead in sin (Paul calls this "regeneration" in the text above)
He gives the gift of saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as a result of which we are justified, as Paul says. That means two things are declared to be true of us:

first, that all our sins (past, present and future) are credited to Christ and He bears them away, taking from God the punishment we deserved in His body on the cross; and
second, His perfect life of obedience to God is credited to us so that in God's sight we are counted as having kept God's law throughout our lives.

In this condition, we are new creatures, positionally spotless in Christ and heirs of heaven. This is the renewal that Paul mentions above. Note that Paul is emphatic that all this is done to us according to God's mercy and grace, and not as a result of anything we do or could possibly do.

Note, lastly, that this work, according to Paul, is clearly done by the Holy Spirit, poured out on us richly through Christ, and that it is regarded as a spiritual washing. This is what is represented physically in water baptism. It is the spiritual washing that saves us, though, and not the physical sign.

So think in these terms, and deeply, about your baptism and the inner washing of regeneration and renewal that it represents (if you possess it). This must be a very edifying and encouraging reflection for us all!

If you are not saved, though, you need to understand that there are no terms that can be used to understate the pollution in your heart and the magnitude of your guilt before God. Reach out to Jesus for cleansing! Turn from your sins, trust in Him, and then be baptized to show outwardly what God has done in your heart through Christ!

#11. Baptism Proclaims Cleansing and New Life by the Agency of the Holy Spirit

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 19 Jul 2014 03:00:00 +0000

John 3:5–6 — Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Water is essential to life, as we discover quite dramatically when we visit a desert region or experience a time of severe drought or go to a place where the water is not fit to drink. As the Divine Agent of spiritual life, then, it is not surprising to find that the Holy Spirit is often pictured for us in terms of water. He is "poured out" on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:33). He is pictured as a falling shower or as refreshing rain, bringing spiritual blessing (Hosea 6:3).

In addition, water is very much a part of our physical birth - so much so that Jesus in our passage can say we are "born of water" as we begin to live in this world. In the same way, the Holy Spirit plays an essential part in our New Birth when we become Christians. He it is Who applies the work of Christ to a soul that is dead in sin, bringing that soul to life and granting saving faith in Jesus.

Finally, as we saw in #9 of this series, baptism is a sign of cleansing. The water that we use represents the Holy Spirit as He applies the work of Christ to a soul that is filthy and corrupt on account of sin, to bring about a complete cleansing.

Birth, Life, Cleansing. All of these are laid out before our gaze when someone is baptized. All are the result of the work of the Holy Spirit. All of these things, pictured outwardly in baptism, are truly experienced and possessed by believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is something wholesome and rich for you to dwell upon, Christian! Think of your baptism and reflect on what was accomplished in you by the power of God. Planned by the Father, executed by Jesus, the Son, and applied to you personally by the gracious Holy Spirit, this is life from the dead, this is true cleansing from the guilt and power of sin.

As we close, though, let's return in our minds to the image of a desert that has seen no rain for years. Everything is dry, dead and barren. Without water, there is not the slightest hope of life springing up. If you are not a Christian, this is an accurate image of your soul as you make your way through this world. And because of your unforgiven, uncleansed sins, the future is even worse than the lifeless spiritual wilderness you are in today. Jesus came so that you might know showers of blessing and new life bursting up within your soul. Reach out to Him now, then, turning from your sin, and ask Him to save you and to grant you new birth and eternal life!

#10. Baptism Proclaims God's Only Way of Cleansing from Sin

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 22:18:00 +0000

Acts 2:36–38 — “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.” 37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We saw last time that baptism provides us with a picture of cleansing, and points to the need for us to be made clean from the pollution and corruption of sin if we would ever see heaven.

Our passage comes from Peter's remarkable sermon on the Day of Pentecost. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, he enables the people to see the enormity of their sin. They had taken the long-awaited Messiah, the Savior God had first promised back in the Garden of Eden (and with increasing clarity throughout the Old Testament), and they had put Him to death by nailing Him to a cross of wood. Their eyes are opened, and they are pierced to the heart. In that moment, perhaps, they understand that sin of this magnitude must bear eternal consequences.

There is clearly no quick fix, no band-aid that can be applied so that life can go on as though they had never done this most wicked of deeds. In that realization, they cry out "what shall we do?" When we are confronted with the guilt of our sin, it is natural for us to look to ourselves for a solution. We must do something to put things right - but what shall we do? Peter's answer must have come as a surprise to them. They did not have to undertake some great feat to atone for their sin. They did not have to offer thousands of animal sacrifices. Instead, they are commanded to repent (turn away from sin and turn to God) and (if they did repent) to be baptized, giving the outward sign that their sins, including the sin of crucifying Jesus, had been forgiven.

The startling truth, then, is that repentance and faith in Christ is the only way to be forgiven for our offences against God. The "smallest" of our sins rightly deserves eternal punishment, and needs Jesus to die on the cross so that we may be forgiven. He had to bear the punishment in our place, for there was no-one else good enough to pay the price for a countless number of those God had chosen. You can be sure that if there had been another way to cleanse sinners, the Father would not have sent Jesus to such a cruel and painful death!

Baptism, then, speaks of a cleansing from sin, even sin of the most heinous kind, that is available to those who will repent and cast themselves on Jesus for salvation. This cleansing is available nowhere else. It is only in the blood of Jesus that our sins can be washed away.

Have your sins been washed away? There is only One Who can do that for you!

#9. Baptism is a Sign Proclaiming the Need for Cleansing from Sin

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 05 Jul 2014 02:50:00 +0000

Acts 22:16 — ‘Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’

1 Peter 3:21 — Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

No matter what mode of baptism is used, the obvious visual picture presented is that of cleansing. Water is applied to the candidate and we are clearly to understand from passages like those above that the picture thus created is one of cleansing from sin. So by performing an outward cleansing from dirt by means of water, baptism does not save us but points to what is needed for us to be saved - an inner cleansing from sin.

It may be stating the obvious, but no-one spends time washing something that is already clean. Rather, the things that we wash are soiled or stained and we wish to make them clean. So the sign of baptism points clearly to a corruption and defilement of the heart and to a cleansing that is applied. The Scriptures consistently tell us that our sins make us all filthy before God - unacceptable in His sight and liable to His wrath:

Isaiah 64:6 — For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Psalm 51:4–5 — Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. .

This uncleanness resides deep in all our hearts and cannot be cleaned away by our efforts. Many years ago, there was a printed poster in doctors' waiting rooms that sought to persuade people not to smoke. It showed someone with a scrubbing brush and soap, removing the yellow nicotine stains from their hands that were caused by smoking cigarettes. The text below the picture was large and clear: "You Can't Scrub Your Lungs Clean." Yet it would be an infinitely simpler thing to clean our lungs from the effects of tobacco than for us by our own devices to clean our hearts from the effects of sin.

Sin is vile, foul and repulsive in God's eyes. It is a stench in His nostrils. It is utter rottenness and corruption - an offense to His very being and character. He cannot bear even to look upon it - it provokes Him to act in justice against the sinner, and but for His patience and grace, we would all perish instantly and justly for our sins. If we are to see heaven, we must be made clean from sin, but this is something only God can do. How? Through the sacrifice of Christ:

Psalm 51:6–7 — Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. 7 Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Isaiah 1:18 — “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.

Isaiah 43:25 — “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.

2 Corinthians 5:21 — He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Jesus, God the Son, came to this world in our likeness. He lived a perfect life in our place (keeping all of God's Holy commandments, and establishing a righteousness that He could give us) and then He died on the cross in our place (receiving the punishment that our sins deserved). If we trust Him, His goodness and His spotless life are credited to us, and our sins are taken away by His sacrifice on the cross.

So baptism teaches us that we are vile, filthy sinners, but that there is a way (secured at incalculable cost to God) for our sins to be washed away - and that way is through the life and bloody death of Jesus Christ. What a rich theme to meditate upon concerning baptism! Surely this should encourage us to pause and glory in these truths!

The question for us today, though, is whether we have received in reality the thing that baptism proclaims to us as a sign - the complete cleansing of our sins through faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ.

#8. Baptism is a Sign

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 28 Jun 2014 03:00:00 +0000

Titus 3:5-7 - He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

If baptism is a seal, then it is also a sign. As such, it is rich in symbolism, and just as we saw that the Lord's Supper preaches a sermon to all who have ears to hear, it is the same in the case of baptism. We don't want to miss the important elements of this message, so we will spell many of them out briefly here and then delve into them in more detail in future meditations. Among other things, baptism shows us:

That sin is a serious problem, making us filthy in God's sight.
That man needs cleansing from sin in order to be fit for God.
That God has provided the only way that sin can be cleansed - our efforts cannot do it.
That cleansing from sin is made possible by Jesus' life and death.
That this cleansing is affected by the Holy Spirit.
That the nature of this cleansing is spiritual, of the heart and the conscience.
That this cleansing brings as an added benefit the indwelling of the Spirit.
That having the indwelling of the Spirit, we are being transformed into His image.
That this cleansing unites us with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection (and we will want to dwell on this point to try to unpack as much of its meaning as we can).
That being united with Christ, we also receive His righteousness and become the heirs of His kingdom.
That being united with Christ, we have, in fact, died with Him - to ourselves, to our old way of living - have been raised as new creatures in Him, and will live godly lives.
That we are called upon in Christ to die to our old way of life and to rise to a new life in Him.

We will almost certainly uncover additional points that we will want to explore, but even this list is enough to show us how much baptism proclaims to us if we have ears to hear, and it already provides a useful starting point for our reflection. There is sure to be even greater benefit from a deeper and more detailed consideration!

#7. Baptism is a Seal Confirming the Validity of the Things Promised in it.

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 21 Jun 2014 03:00:00 +0000

Acts 22:16 — ‘Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’

1 Corinthians 12:13 — For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Colossians 2:12 — having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

We are reflecting on the fact that baptism is a seal and we have already seen that it marks out those who are God's possession, separated from the world in order to belong to Him.

We want to think more deeply this time about the way baptism is an outward seal that confirms the validity of the spiritual promises that it signifies. We will look at these promises in more depth when we turn to consider how baptism functions as a sign. In short, though, as we mentioned before and as the Scripture texts above indicate, these promises concern the complete cleansing from sin, the reception and indwelling of the Holy Spirit and a close union and identification with the Lord Jesus Christ. These are great and precious promises, and we want to see again that there is great value for all, believers and unbelievers, baptized and unbaptized, in reflecting on these things.

The believers' soul, being awakened to a deep awareness of unworthiness and sin, might well be tempted to doubt that he or she could ever be the possessor of such great blessings. Indeed, if we could only look to ourselves for any merit that might attract such gifts from God, we must come away from that view in despair and dismay. That is why this temptation may find such a firm foothold in our souls. "I am not worthy" we say to ourselves - and we are absolutely correct! The truth is that Jesus is worthy and these blessings were won for us on the basis of His merits and awarded to us entirely due to the abundant graciousness of our God.

So, are we left to flounder in growing helplessness when this temptation comes upon us? Not at all. We can look to our baptism. We can reflect on all that is symbolized and promised in it and we can find comfort and grace to believe that we are washed from our sins, that we have the Spirit within us and that we are joined irrevocably to the Lord Jesus Christ. In reflecting on our baptism, these blessings are sealed and confirmed to our souls by the Spirit of God.

If we are not believers, baptism that we may have undergone, or that we witness in church still confirms the validity of the promises of God's graciousness to all who will come to Christ, and it calls us to submit to His rule and experience the truth of the promises directly for ourselves - we will be washed, we will have the sanctifying work of the Spirit within, we will be brought into an indissoluble and close union with Jesus Himself.

Once again, in reflecting on baptism we are struck by the condescending grace of God in making such promises and then in providing a means by which they are further sealed and confirmed to our weak and unbelieving souls!

#6. Baptism is a Seal of Ownership

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 14 Jun 2014 03:00:00 +0000

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 — Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

We want to delve a little deeper into the idea that baptism is an outward seal that the recipient has been set apart from this world, and set apart to the Lord.

We live in a day and age that trumpets freedom as an ultimate prize to be obtained at all costs and held onto with every fiber that we possess. People want to be free. They believe, perhaps, in government of the people, by the people and for the people or some such philosophy. They do not believe that they should, or that they do, belong to anyone. They are independent, masters of their destiny, captains of their fate. Their hearts resonate, perhaps, with the sentiment expressed in the lines of the poem, Invictus (by William Ernest Henley), that was so important to Nelson Mandela during his long years of imprisonment on Robin Island:

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

This may seem like a strange way to begin a reflection on the subject of baptism, but it really isn't. Baptism as a seal of ownership serves to remind us how wrong the view of the world (that sometimes seeps into the church) actually is. Baptism marks out the recipient as God's property. Baptism confirms what Paul says to the Corinthians in our text above - that believers in the Lord Jesus do not belong to themselves but rather have been purchased in order to belong to God.

The stark reality is that we are all born into this world belonging to Satan and slaves of sin. While the all too common notions of "freedom" may apply in a secular society, they find no support when we turn to examine the spiritual realm. Our souls were never free - thanks to Adam they were in bondage to sin from our conception.

God gives us another picture in the Bible to help us understand this - that of adoption. We are born into this world with Satan as our father, children of wrath (see John 8:44, Ephesians 2:3). When we put our faith in Christ alone to save us, we have a change of family, being adopted out of Satan's family and into the family of God, with God Himself as our Father and Jesus as our elder brother by adoption (Romans 8:29, Ephesians 1:5).

Baptism, then, outwardly confirms those things that are promised to true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ; he or she is owned by God and has Him as his or her Father. It seals the promise that a believer is redeemed - set free from sin and Satan to be a bond-slave of God, which is true liberty of the soul. This is the highest privilege imaginable!

The question for us to answer, whether we have been baptized or not, is whether we have believed savingly in Christ, so that we are truly in possession of the things promised and sealed in baptism.

#5. Baptism is a Seal

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 07 Jun 2014 03:00:00 +0000

Psalm 87:4–6 — “I shall mention Rahab and Babylon among those who know Me; Behold, Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia: ‘This one was born there.’ ” 5 But of Zion it shall be said, “This one and that one were born in her”; And the Most High Himself will establish her. 6 The LORD will count when He registers the peoples, “This one was born there.”

Malachi 3:16–17 — Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. 17 “They will be Mine,” says the LORD of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” 18 So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.

We saw in our previous meditation that baptism is a seal. We want to examine that idea a little more closely this time. As a seal, baptism functions in two ways:

A seal is a mark of ownership. We often mark valuable possessions in a way that identifies it as our possession. For example, we might etch the frame of a bicycle or put a tag on a pet or a farm animal so that it is clearly marked as belonging to us. These things are, in effect, seals. They identify that object or animal as ours and serve to resolve any possible case of disputed ownership.

In the same way, baptism is an outward mark indicating that the one baptized belongs to the Lord. It indicates that they have been separated from the world (i.e. those who have not received the mark) and set apart to the Lord for His service. It is a mark, as we have seen, that the Lord would have applied to all His children, and this ought to make it very special to us. The Psalm above contains a sense of the enormous privilege of being born into the New Covenant people of God, of receiving a mark that says we belong to the King. The passage from Malachi also conveys an idea that is present in baptism from this point of view - it is a mark which distinguishes between those who serve God and those who do not. This is certainly something to reflect on with gratitude and humility!

Secondly, a seal validates a promise. It was common practice (and is still done in the certain cases) for important legal documents to be signed by those entering into agreement and then sealed by impressing a mold into hot wax. The seal confirms the validity of what is contained in the text and carries with it the authority of the one whose seal it is.

Likewise, baptism confirms (seals) outwardly and visibly to the one baptized the validity and reliability of all the spiritual promises that it signifies (such as those concerning the washing away of sin, union with Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit - all of which are blessings reserved for the children of God). We will examine these promises in greater detail as this series continues, but again, they provide us with wonderful and profitable material for reflection, and our baptism should serve to bring them to mind and confirm them to us.

Owned of God and confirmed as possessing His great and precious promises. How thankful we should be as we reflect on the things of which baptism is a seal!

#4. Your baptism serves a similar purpose, but is superior to circumcision.

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 31 May 2014 03:00:00 +0000

Colossians 2:11–12 — and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

When we were considering the Lord's Supper, we saw that it is directly related to the Passover meal of the Old Covenant, but is a better memorial.

In a similar way, we want to see that there is also a link between circumcision under the Old Covenant and baptism under the New, but is also a superior sign. We will unpack each of the following items in more detail later in regard to baptism, but note the following as we compare baptism and circumcision:

1) Both are seals of ownership. Circumcision marked the children of God under the Old Covenant but baptism does that under the new. In each case, the sign is applied to an individual at the time they are born into the respective Covenant. In both cases, and in truth, the recipients of the sign are God's special possession.

2) Both are external signs that point to an internal truth related to the heart. Circumcision served to remind God's Old Covenant people that they had something in their hearts (sin) that needed to be cut away if they were to be made acceptable to the Lord. Although the people were told to circumcise their own hearts, obeying the Law of God from the heart, this was not something they were ever able to do. It was not because there was anything wrong with the Law, Paul tells us in Romans 8:3-4 . Rather, the Law had the effect of exposing and provoking the sin in their hearts. The Law was good, but it is a mark of the sinfulness of sin that it takes something as good as the Law of God and uses it to provoke more sin and put people to death. Circumcision therefore pointed to something that had to be done to the hearts of the people, but which they were unable to do for themselves. It had the effect of pointing them forward to the One Who would come, Jesus Christ, Who would be able to circumcise the hearts of all His people through His life, death and resurrection. Some (though it was only a remnant) of the people of Israel saw Christ pointed out to them in all the signs and shadows of the Old Testament, including circumcision, trusted in the Messiah to come, and were saved.

Baptism is a sign of the fact that in Christ Jesus, God has provided the means by which the heart may be circumcised; cleansed from sin and made new. He has done for their hearts what sinners could never do for themselves. This makes baptism a better sign, as it deals with something that has been accomplished already, rather than flagging up a need that God had yet to meet through Christ's shed blood.

3) Circumcision and baptism, then, are signs. Both point to a need of the heart, one pointing forward to when that would be met in Christ and the other pointing back to the fact that the need was indeed fully met in Him. We will explore this more later but note in passing that the one sign was bloody, but following the shedding of Christ's blood, baptism is a bloodless sign. In the same way, Passover was bloody but the Lord's Supper is bloodless. Baptism, speaking of a completed work through the once for all shedding of Christ's blood, is superior to the sign that sheds blood in anticipation of His perfect sacrifice.

There are clearly parallels, then, between baptism and circumcision, but baptism is a better sign, just as the Lord's Supper is superior to the Passover meal.

If you have trusted Jesus Christ for salvation, what is pictured in baptism is for you a reality: you truly are the Lord's, your heart has been cleansed from sin through the shed blood of Christ, all through the amazing and infinite love of God! For all those who haven't believed, the sign of baptism points to the need of your heart, and calls you to place your whole hope of heaven on Jesus, for your adoption into the family of God and for the complete cleansing from sin that only He can provide.

#3. The Early Church Set us an Example of Submission to the Command to be Baptized

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 24 May 2014 01:00:00 +0000

Acts 2:40–41 — And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.

Acts 8:12 — But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.

Acts 10:47–48 — “Surely no one can refuse the water for these [Cornelius and his household] to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?” 48 And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.

We have seen that baptism was commanded for believers in the New Testament, and that it was something that was expected to happen with little or no delay upon conversion. So far, though, we have only seen the example of a single individual; Saul. He was commanded to be baptized and he obeyed almost immediately. What did the early church understand concerning the need to be baptized as a believer? What example did they set for us? Was this something just for the super-keen Christian to do, or was it for all believers? The passages above answer the question unequivocally. In fact, there are no instances to be found in the New Testament of someone coming to faith in Christ who was not also baptized at more or less the same time. It was true of Lydia and her household, and of the Philippian Jailer and his. We will go on to see that this is because baptism is an outward sign of what happens invisibly and internally when someone is saved.

The important thing for us to grasp here, though, is this: baptism comes as a command from Jesus to all who put their trust in Him for salvation. That means it is very, very important. There is no reason to delay once we have come to know Christ, and there are no exceptions to this command, as the example of the New Testament church clearly shows - all those who are believers in Christ (men and women, boys and girls) must be baptized.

Since all this is true, we deduce that there are real benefits for the believer that derive from his or her baptism. Some are immediate for the believer who is baptized, other benefits come with reflection on the event and all that it represents as happening to those who are born again. Future meditations will consider both sets of benefits and will encourage us to call our own baptism to mind as a means of blessing and strengthening in our walk with Christ.

#2. There is No Reason For a Believer to Delay Baptism

noreply@blogger.com (Greg Hodson) — Sat, 17 May 2014 01:00:00 +0000

Acts 22:12–16 — “A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, 13 came to me, and standing near said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very time I looked up at him. 14 “And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth. 15 ‘For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. 16 ‘Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’

In our first meditation, we dwelt on the fact that baptism is not optional for the believer - it comes as a command from the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't need to pray about whether it is right for us (as a believer) or not - we just need to obey Him. We even challenged believers who have not been baptized by asking them what they were waiting for.

This time, we want to see that this challenge has Biblical warrant of the highest order. Our passage contains an extract from the testimony of the Apostle Paul concerning his encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, as a result of which he became a believer. For three days he remained in Damascus, blinded following his meeting with Jesus, eating and drinking nothing. We can't imagine what was going on during this period inside the heart and mind of this man who had loathed the Name of Christ and had sought to exterminate all who followed Him. His world was turned upside down in a moment. How wretched he must have felt to have been so wrong and to have acted as he did. How humbled from his former Pharisaical pride. How amazed that Jesus should deal so graciously with him.

The day arrived when Ananias, commanded by the Lord, was directed to Saul and laid hands upon him. His sight was restored and he was commissioned as the Apostle of Christ to the Gentiles. But something was still lacking following Saul's new birth. He still needed to obey what is essentially the first command of the Savior to His newborn children - Saul had to be baptized. And see the urgency of the matter as Ananias ministers to Saul. It was only three days since his encounter with Jesus on the road. It was only minutes since Paul had regained his sight and learned of the task to which the Lord was calling him. He had hardly had a great deal of time to put off the matter, yet that is the accusation that comes to him from Ananias. There is a hint here that Saul was undecided and was delaying his obedience unduly. "What are you waiting for?" says Ananias, or "Why do you delay?". And we read from the account in Acts 9:18 that Paul got up and was baptized immediately.

What can we learn from this account? Several things are clear:

If we know with certainty that the Lord commands us to do something, we must obey. It is not clear in what sense Christ has become my Lord if I do not do what He commands me to do.
If the Lord clearly commands us to do something, we should see to it that our obedience is not partial or easily postponed. We shouldn't begin to ask why we should have to do the thing commanded - the command is full justification for immediate compliance on our part. Again, in what sense is Christ my Lord if I know His will but find reasons to delay my obedience, to question the command, or only to obey in part?
Our passage provides further confirmation from the life of a prominent Apostle of Christ that baptism is not optional for true believers. "Get up and be baptized" came as an imperative from Christ through Ananias to Saul. Saul recognized that, and was baptized straight away.
If baptism is indeed a command from the Lord, and Saul was chided for delaying his obedience after only three days as a believer, we can have no good reason to procrastinate in this matter. - our obedience should not be delayed but we should be baptized at the earliest opportunity.

As those who were baptized as believers reflect on their own baptism, they should be able to draw lessons from it as an act of obedience to Christ. How prompt was their obedience? Did they (perhaps like Saul) procrastinate, or were they enabled to obey swiftly and unquestioningly? Whatever our case may be, though, let's resolve from this meditation and by the grace of God not to make the same mistake in this or another area of our Christian walk, but to obey our Lord cheerfully and immediately.