WHY? Are We Baptized?

I heard a “Message” yesterday, that really reached out to today’s ~social~ Christians… The simple question was submitted before the people; “Why, were you baptized as a Christian, a *Follower of Christ*, THE Son of God, THE WORD, BREAD, & WATER OF Life… ~~IF~~ you are not going to follow the instructions, that THE Father had printed in HIS Written WORD The Bible, ~Accepting~ the *Guidance* ~~OF~~ THE Holy Spirit to lead you ~~IN~~ God‘s Will AND Way”???? AND I had to reflect deeply on just how important our walk IS, after we have made a ~~Public~~ statement through *Baptism* being buried with Christ symbolically, submerged under the water in the death of our sins, and raised up in a *Newness* of life, a life IN Christ….. Hearing this message gave me a whole new insight into the *Reason* for Baptism….
This Pastor went on to say, in exhortation of the brethren and sisters, that *IF*, we come to the alter and are ~~Baptized~~, declaring our faith, belief, our acceptance of THE Gospel message, IN THE Son of God, Jesus Christ, claiming the ~~Blood~~ & the ~Water~ that flowed from His body in the death of the flesh and washing away of our sins, we walk out of the Baptismal Pool, keeping right in step with the same way that we went into IT, then our stink rises up to the very heavens, and we are not hid in, under, no where around the blood of Christ, we ~ARE~ not cleansed, and in our claim to be we are leading many others astray… We still walk in the sins of this old world, full of rotting fleshly ways…..
How, can we *KNOW* that a person who claims, Christ, claims to have been cleansed by His blood, and made a ~Public~ Statement of this fact through Baptism, IS really sincere? Here are some examples that were presented as ~~Visual~~ mirrors to the world of the sincerity of that person…
Not that we come out full of the knowledge of ~HOW~ to please God in our walk, our following of HIS Son, BUT, the first thing that will show IS, A Strong desire to search the scriptures to ~~Learn~~ what the LORD Expects of HIS Children..
How many have you seen come out of the pool, walk into the Church, step up as leaders, claiming that Sunday School IS for little children and, “*I* Am an adult and *I* know right from wrong” …*I* WILL Lead, BUT *I* Will not follow!.. IS That why you were Baptized, to show how intelligent, & Mature YOU Are? Then ask yourself, “What IS Wrong with the people that attend this congregation, they just don’t seem to be enthusiastic about *MY* teachings?” People just don’t attend services like ~~THEY~~ should… BUT, *I* am certainly not gonna go out and invite them because they know where they should be!…..
Then, a ~Sincere~ follower of Christ, will not attend services, with their lungs, bosoms, thighs, hanging out for the congregation to stare upon… Why, do the ~~ladies~~ think this is ~Pretty~? For men to look at them with ~~LUST~~? Christianity?
A Sincere follower of Christ will not run out and have their skin tattooed all over… Plain and simple, from butterflies that are cute to crosses that supposedly POINT TO Christ, according to the Written Word IT IS Displeasing TO God…. **IF** a person IS a Sincere follower of Christ, his walk will be a ~~Complete~~ Tribute to Christ, and there is no need for pictures of the cross painted on his body… This only draws attention to the ~~Rebellious~~ person that intends to continue their walk in the world, but wants the world to ~~Think~~ that they are GOOD Folk…. (Isaiah 3: 1-26) gives the account of the Israelites, God’s children who lost their ~~Sweet smelling savor~ and IT Turned to Stink…Read IT to find out HOW!
(Ezra 9:6).. Lamented to God; “O, my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to Thee, my God: for ~our~ Iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass IS grown up unto the heavens”…. Read the whole chapter… The whole Books of Jeremiah, & Isaiah, deal with the backslidings and turning away of God’s people from HIM, not the heathen nation, but the discipline was because the children of God were disobedient, with the nations & following their ways…. HOW IS IT Different Today? God’s people, HIS sheep, HIS children STILL have a Command, A Calling, A Statute, OF: “Thou shalt ~~LOVE~~ THE LORD, thy God, AND HIM ~~ONLY~~ Shalt thou serve…. Thou shalt have **NO** other gods before HIM!!!1 What part of ~~NO~~ do we not understand?
We have a condition in which we must stand, a position which we must maintain, we ~are not~ justified to run free in the ways of the world and maintain our salvation in Christ, NO! He will not hold us *IF* we want to go… IF we walk with Him and IN Him, He WILL Keep us, ~~BUT~~ *IF* we step out of HIS Will, and HIS Way, HE Will turn us over to the one we seek to follow…JUST as THE LORD Did in the days of old to HIS children, so we today MUST obediently submit TO HIS Will & WAY…STILL….
(Jeremiah 4:14)…O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, ~~That thou mayest be saved.. HOW Long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
(Exodus 20:3).. “Thou shalt have ~~NO~~ other gods before ME”… Wonder why so many things go wrong in the congregations?
(Judges 10:13).. “Yet ye have forsaken ME, & ~Served~ *Other* gods: wherefore I Will ~Deliver~ you no more! (Luke 4:8)… Jesus said: “Thou shalt worship the LORD thy God and HIM only shalt thou serve”… (IF The blood of Jesus compensated for disobedience and we no longer have to serve God and HIM Only, would He not have said, “No worries, do as you please, I got you covered”?) BUT He Didn’t!!! Instead He Said: “God *IS* A Spirit, and those who worship HIM, ~~MUST~~ Worship HIM *IN* Spirit and *IN* ~Truth…
Do we know how to worship God: IN Spirit & IN Truth? IS IT IN Spirit when we run out and purchase trees, and lights, and decorate the Sanctuary with all sorts of things of the world and celebrate the ~Birth~ of Jesus, by lifting each other up in praise, and giving of gifts? IS IT IN Truth when we have a man in a red suit that depicts a myth, come in and deliver the gifts… much laughter, joy, fun is had BUT IS IT IN Spirit and IN Truth? According to: AS IT IS Written?
When we run out and buy merchandise that depicts a pagan celebration and bring it into the Church grounds and tell the little children that they are hunting Jesus, IS IT IN Spirit & IN Truth? DO we even have within our hearts, an ~Attitude of Gratitude~ to our heavenly Father for the Sacrifices and Provisions That HE Made for our salvation? OR Do we take for granted HIS LOVE and skip happily along in the world of Satan, feeling that God will deliver us, but we owe nothing of obedient loyalty or honesty of thanks to HIM?
(I Thessalonians 5:18)..IN ~Everything~ give *Thanks*: For this IS the ~Will~ of God *IN* Jesus Christ, concerning you…. Again … Why were you ~Baptized? A few other things that we MUST do IS: (v.17).. ~Pray without ceasing~ (v.21-22)… ~Prove~ *ALL* things, hold fast that which IS good and ~abstain~ from *ALL* appearance of evil….
I have heard many: “thanks to Obama”, “thanks to the brave troops”, BUT not one “Thanks be to the LORD God Almighty, an enemy of the human race has been taken away to a place where he can no longer bring harm:… Wonder WHY? Again, “Why were we baptized?” What appearance of Christianity are we parading before the world? Can sin ~SAVE~ a sinner? By examples of our sinful walk of friendship with the world, can we lead others to THE ONLY Way of Salvation through Jesus Christ? *IF* we are ~Baptized~ as a testimony of our ~Faith~, our ~walk~ in Christ, and we remain a true follower of the world, then we are nothing more than a harlot, and adulterer, and we defile the sacred trust of Pure worship in Spirit & Truth…
(James 4:4)… “ye adulterers & adulteresses, know ye ~not~ that the friendship of the world IS ~Enmity~ with God? Whosoever will be A ~Friend~ of the world, ~IS~ an enemy of God…. IS that where we want to be found standing, this IS the same command that God gave HIS children in the days of old, nothing has changed of ~~Obedience~~, we are Still, expected to and we should Want TO follow the LORD in HIS Will and Way, and *IF* we don’t want to, then our stink is greater than before we got up and publicly proclaimed to be saved in Christ by being carried under the water in Baptism, symbolizing the death of our old self, the putting away our old sin in the world, and the newness of our walk in Christ.. How many of us need to be baptized again, and again, and again? Maybe re-washed & scrubbed with a bucket of ~Lye~ soap….?
(John 4: 24) (John 5: 14) Jesus said unto the man, “Behold, thou art made whole: ~Sin~ NO More, lest a ~~Worse~~ thing come unto thee, again to the woman caught in adultery, (John 8:11) … “Go and sin ~~NO~~ More”…. and
Paul exhorting the brethren in (Hebrews 10: 18- 29)…there remain eth no more sacrifice for sin… it wasn’t to the lost heathen peoples that he was speaking… Peter Wrote: (I Peter 1:13-14)… “Gird up the loins of your ~mind~, be sober, & hope to the end… for the *grace* that IS brought unto you AT the Revelation of Jesus Christ; AS **Obedient** children, ~~NOT~~ fashioning yourselves according to the former ~~Lusts IN your ~Ignorance~~… (He was not speaking to the lost of the world here, but warning the ~~Followers of Christ~~… TO Continue in the ~~Hope *FOR* the ~~Grace~~… when we get overly confident in Grace we are in danger of ~~Losing~~ IT… and many preachers lull the congregations into a false sense of security that ~~Once saved, always saved,~~…we can’t loose IT….. BUT AS long as we breathe the breath of this fleshly life we are in danger of falling out of ~~GRACE~~, out of God’s ~~Favor~~ BY WHAT? Not because someone took us out, for Jesus said, “My sheep hear, MY voice and ~~Follow~~ Me, =*no man*= shall pluck them out of My hand”… (John 10:27-28)…BUT BY.. *OUR OWN stepping out into the world of Disobedience*… True no man can take us out, but we, ourselves, can look with lustful eyes and take that leap out of ignorance out into a lost and dying world, IF AS IT IS Written, BY Paul, Peter, John, Matthew, Mark, & Luke, WE don’t keep ourselves in the Righteous Path, as Jesus warned in (Matthew 7:13-27) Whosoever **Heareth & Doeth** these things & ~Built his house upon the ROCK*…. It doesn’t read that The Rock holds us IF we do not listen and disobey, does IT? OR (Luke 13: 24 - 30).. There IS A Gate that we must enter and a path that we must take….. BUT we are given that ~~Choice~~…
Thirdly, HOW, can we bring a person into the Church Services, TO share with them the, “Gospel of God’s Kingdom” & “THE Gospel of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, THE *ENSIGN* OF God‘s Kingdom”, **IF** our stink in the world IS Stronger than their Stink and they don’t claim to be saved, sanctified, and heaven bound? Something to really chew over, look at the fat on your plate, IS IT Rotten before man AND God?
Preachers tend to preach all the messages to those who are of the world, but The Recorded Word, of God’s punishment to mankind was OF HIS, ~Disobedient~ children… Those who claimed to be HIS by birth of Abraham, and we today are adopted in, (Galatians 4:1-9 & Ephesians 1: 1-20), but the blood of Christ will not cover our sins that we willfully commit, and our ignorance IS no excuse (Acts 17: 30 & I Peter 1:14), when The Father, HAS Given us ~~ALL~~ that we need to remain in and maintain a faithful walk in HIS Son, Jesus Christ… Jesus promised that ~~NO~~ man can take us out of His Hand, BUT He doesn’t hold us IF, we as individuals, want to get too big for our britches and step out in our ~~OWN~~ way…. THAT IS Why the walls of ~HELL~ keep widening…(Isaiah 5:14). After reading this, and thinking on the matter, ask the question again, Why was I baptized? What have I accomplished? What must I do NOW?
What state of mind must we find in a sincere follower of Christ? One that despises and retaliates at instruction in God‘s Word, OR one that humbly seeks the Guidance of the Holy Spirit in the Written Word of God, to learn an *Obedient* sincere walk with, and in Christ Jesus?