PREPARING TO
BE BAPTISED
North Springfield Baptist Church1. A BRAND NEW START!
Humanity's problem - sin
Why is the world in so much of a mess? The Bible tells us that our world and our lives are all spoilt by sin. ‘‘Sin’’ is all the evil things we all do and say and think which are wrong, our selfishness and pride and greed, and the in-born bias towards wrong which means we all commit these ‘‘sins’’. None of us is perfect. We all fall short of God's perfect standards. This sin separates us from God now and forever, because He is perfectly good and we are not. There is nothing we can do by ourselves to remove the barrier of sin between us and God. Only God Himself can save us.
God’s solution - Jesus Christ
God is perfect and just and must punish sin and evil. But God still loves the men and women He created. So God sent Jesus. ‘‘For God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not die but have eternal life.’’ (John 3:16) Jesus Christ is God’s Son, completely God, who became a completely ordinary man. He lived a sinless life, was crucified and died. But three days later God brought Jesus back from the dead and now He is alive forever, ruling the universe.
The Bible tells us, ‘‘For sin pays its wage - death; but God’s free gift is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.’’ (Romans 6:23) When we die and are separated from God forever, we are only paying the fair penalty for our sin. But Jesus was without sin (1 Peter 2:22). He did not have to pay any penalty for himself. When Jesus died, he did so in OUR place, taking OUR punishment upon Himself.
Isaiah 53:6 explains it like this: ‘‘All of us were like sheep that were lost, each of us going his own way. But the LORD made the punishment fall on Him, the punishment all of us deserved.’’
By dying in our place, Jesus has made it possible for God to forgive our sin. He has removed the barrier of sin between us and God. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead shows us that Jesus has defeated evil and death, and that God’s righteous anger against sin and sinful people has been satisfied by Jesus’s sacrifice. Through Jesus, God offers us the free gift of eternal life which we could never earn or deserve, a brand new start in life!
Our response God’s gift of eternal life only becomes ours when we ourselves accept it. Our response has four parts.
A Admitting our sin and deciding to turn our back on it and live as God requires us to. This is what the Bible calls repentance. (Acts 17:30-31)
B Believing Christ died for ME, in MY place, and trusting that God will accept me because of Jesus. (Acts 17:30-31)
C Considering how much our lives must change when Jesus is our Lord.
D Doing as God demands, accepting Jesus and openly confessing Him as Saviour and Lord by what we say and the way we live. (Romans 10:9-11) One way of doing this is by believer's baptism.
When a person becomes a Christian many things happen. Their sins are forgiven (1 John 1:8-9). They begin a new life (2 Cor.5:17). They become children in God’s family (John 1:12-13). They know God, not as Judge but as Father (Romans 8:15). God the Holy Spirit comes into their lives to stay, to be their Helper.
ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED
Can a Christian ever go so far away from God that they lose their salvation? Can a Christian be saved and lost again? Jesus promised,
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 1 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; 2 no-one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no-one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 3 I and the Father are one.” (John 10 :27-30)
Jesus is promising us that the eternal destiny of a true Christian is completely secure, for at least three reasons.
(1)Our new relationship with God
Christianity is not just a philosophy or a set of beliefs or a way of living. It is a relationship with God our creator, who by Christ’s death in our place has changed us from God’s enemies into His friends. More than that, we are adopted into God’s family as His children, sons and daughters, so we can know God as “Abba, Father” (John 1:12-13, Romans 8:14-17). So God views Christians in a new way, no longer as rebels but as beloved children. We are no longer “lost sheep” - instead we belong to Christ’s flock. This new relationship is not based on our good works but on the merits of Jesus Christ alone. Nothing we can do will cause God to take that new status as His children away from us again. Our loving heavenly Father would never turn away or reject or disinherit one of His own children (John 6:35-40).
(2)We are born again to a new life
A Christian is someone who has been born again, and given a brand new life to live. Christians are “in Christ” - they share in all the blessings of Christ’s death for sin and Christ’s resurrection life (Romans 6:1-4). They have passed from death to life (John 5:24, Ephesians 2:1-10). They are no longer in darkness - they have come into the light. The Holy Spirit lives inside them giving this quality of new life, and the Holy Spirit would not allow the Christian to do anything which would reject or destroy that new life.
(3)God can and will keep us safe
The eternal security of the believer rests ultimately in God’s hands, not ours. Just as we can do nothing to earn God’s free gift of forgiveness and new life, so we can do nothing to deserve to keep that gift. Christ’s death has dealt with ALL our sins, those before AND those after we accept His gift of new life. We do not have to work hard to “keep our place” in God’s family - that place is guaranteed by God Himself. He is greater than everything. He CAN and WILL keep us safe and He will never reject us (Rom 8:28-39).
“But what about my friend ....?”
Most of us know people who “once were Christians but now are not”. What can we say about such “backsliding” Christians.
1 Many Christians have periods in their lives when they go their own way and turn their back on God. But many then “find God again”, sometimes years later. God had never abandoned them, even when they were ignoring Him. They remain God’s children, “in Christ”. Born again, their eternal life never dies.
2 Some who “backslide” never “regain their faith”. The Parable of the Sower leads us to believe that such people were never Christians in the first place, although they claimed to be. They had never really trusted in Christ alone for salvation, or been born again, or become God’s children. We must never presume to judge whether another person is a true Christian, born again and God’s child, or not. Appearances can be deceptive. Only God knows for sure who are or are not His redeemed ones. Each of us is challenged to live out the Christian life to the full, to persevere and so to prove to be what we claim to be. But we must always remember that eternal life is a gift we will NEVER earn or deserve, and so rely on Christ ALONE for eternal life.
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?
Jesus referred to a sin which could never be forgiven, that of “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 12:31-32; Mk. 3:29). The context refers to people who were not Christ’s disciples attributing His miracles and deliverance ministry to the devil, instead of recognising them as the work of the Holy Spirit. It is important to see that this “unforgivable” sin is an ongoing denial of the Spirit’s primary work of testifying to Jesus. As long as a person continually rejects the Spirit’s work, they will never turn to Christ as Saviour, and so they never will be forgiven. This is NOT a sin which a Christian can ever commit. Indeed, if a person is at all worried that they HAVE committed blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, that concern is clear evidence that they HAVE NOT.
1 John 5:16-17 talks of “a sin which leads to death”. Here again careful study suggests that the person concerned is NOT a Christian who commits some unforgivable sin, but an unbeliever who persistently rejects God’s way of salvation in Christ.
What about the Warning Passages?
Some parts of the Bible warn Christians very strongly to persevere, suggesting that those who do not may “lose their salvation”.They include parts of Hebrews and 1 John. These are difficult to interpret, but at least two things are important:
1 Warnings of what MAY happen do not imply that such things already have happened to the readers, or that they do happen to any. The language of warnings, where extreme consequences are suggested to deter the reader, need not imply that the average reader is in imminent danger of facing those extreme consequences.
2 Nevertheless the warning passages do suggest the theoretical possibility that a Christian might rebel so far from God as to commit “apostasy”, losing their salvation. This might be a purely hypothetical situation (i.e. one which never happens in practice). Or else it may be that a Christian could deliberately and wilfully destroy their own salvation. In either case, the passages, the rest of the Bible, and the understanding of the churches through the centuries make clear that apostasy is an extreme situation. Simple neglect of Christian things would not be enough. Specific deliberate rejection of God, denial of Christ and renunciation of faith would be needed. The “ordinary” backslider may risk apostasy but few if any fall that far. It is hard to believe that God the loving Father would ever allow one of His children, someone who is united to Christ and “in Christ”, to wander so far from Him that he became God’s enemy again. How could one who has the Holy Spirit living inside him fall so far that the Holy Spirit has to leave again? We need to weigh these (few) parts of the Bible which suggest the POSSIBILITY that a Christian may be “saved, then lost” against (many more) other parts which clearly teach “once saved, always saved”.
Feelings Don’t Change Facts
Many Christians go through times of discouragement and even doubt when they might say “But I don’t FEEL as though God loves me.” It is vital that we recognise that what SEEMS to be true is not always the same as what IS true. We cannot trust our feelings in spiritual matters - they are too closely linked to our old sinful human nature. Instead we trust in God Himself, and His promises in His Word. We must learn to live by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:7). There are a number of things which can get in the way of our relationship with God and so cause us to doubt our own salvation.
1 Physical problems can have spiritual effects. Tiredness, hunger, illness and stress can alter our view of the world. Sleep, food, and sometimes a visit to the doctor can put our body right.
2 Emotional upsets can shake our faith. Grief, anxiety, fear, disappointment, and pressures from work, family, important decisions and even of church life, can all affect us spiritually. Suffering and tragedy in the lives of those close to us can also bring us to doubt the power and love of God. Our view on life is not always the same as God’s. We need to see our spiritual situation from the eternal perspective of God and His promises, and not let ourselves be weighed down by circumstances.
3 Sometimes it seems as though God is blessing everybody but you, or He is working through everybody else but never through you. This does not mean that God doesn’t love you any more! He doesn’t love us depending on how much we do for Him. We could never earn or deserve His steadfast love. We simply accept His gift with gratitude!
4 Sometimes our faith is shaken when, even as established Christians, we fall into sin. We are overcome with guilt, and feel that God could never forgive us if we have rejected His love so badly. It may be our pride that is most hurt - we have failed to live up to the standards we demand of ourselves. But however much we may be surprised at our own sinfulness, God isn’t. Jesus died for those sins too! We are already forgiven. As Christians we do not forfeit our eternal life when we sin (however deliberately or seriously) or else none of us would ever stay saved for very long! We can always come back to God in confession (1 John 1:8-9) perhaps To another Christian (James 5:16). As Michel Quoist says, “It’s not the falling that hurts, but the staying on the floor!”
2. GROWING AS A CHRISTIAN
Live a new life
A person becomes a Christian when they accept God’s offer of the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Their sins are forgiven, the Holy Spirit comes into their life to be their Helper, and so a whole new life begins. Jesus said that such a person is ‘‘born again’’. ( Read John 3:3-9, and see also John 1:12-13 ) The Bible makes it clear that becoming a Christian and accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Master will demand changes in our lives. We have a responsibility to live out the new life God has given us, and be different. We also have a responsibility to grow in our Christian life. When babies are born they soon grow up into children and then into mature adults. In the same way, Christians should grow, knowing God our Father better and becoming more like His Son, Jesus Christ. A Christian is a disciple of Jesus Christ. The word ‘‘disciple’’ means a learner. We learn from Jesus about God and about how to live as God’s children. So to grow as Christians we must obey Jesus’s teaching. But Jesus is not only our example. He also gives us the power to change, through the working of the Holy Spirit. ( Read John 15:1-10 )
Here is a prayer we can pray often:
Lord Jesus Christ, may I see You more clearly, Love You more dearly, and follow You more nearly, day by day, AMEN
Reading the Bible
John 1:1-18 describes Jesus as God’s Living Word, the ultimate way in which God reveals Himself to the world. We learn about Jesus from God’s written Word, the Bible. Read 2 Timothy 3:14-17 to see what Paul says the Bible can be useful for in a Christian’s life. We should read the Bible every day, expecting God to speak to us through His Word. Get some Bible reading notes (if you haven’t already done so) to help you to understand what you read.
Why not start learning verses from the Bible by heart. Read Psalm 119:9-16. Psalm 119 verse 105 says, ‘‘Your word is a lamp to guide me and a light for my path’’
Prayer - talking to your Father
One of the greatest blessings we enjoy as God’s children is that we can talk to Him in prayer as our Heavenly Father, and be absolutely certain that He hears and answers our prayers. It is good to make special times each day when we can be alone to pray, and to begin and end the day with prayer. We can also talk to God at any time, in any situation, because Jesus has promised to be with us always wherever we are. (Read Matthew 28:20) We do not need to use special language to talk to God (like ‘‘Thee’’ and ‘‘Thou’’) although we should beware of becoming over-familiar with the Holy One Who is our Creator, Saviour, Lord and Master. For this reason some people bow their heads or kneel to pray. Prayer at best is conversation with God, when we speak to Him and He reveals His will to us.
Prayer is much more than simply saying prayers, but some ‘‘set’’ prayers can be helpful sometimes, such as the Lord’s prayer, ‘‘The Grace’’, and the prayer of Saint Francis, ‘‘Make me a channel of Your peace’’. Here is one helpful pattern for our times of prayer.
Remember ACTS
ADORATION - praise and worship for Who God is: maybe sing a hymn or chorus !
CONFESSION - admitting our sin (words,thoughts and actions) and saying sorry.
THANKSGIVING - for things, for people, for Jesus: ‘‘Count your blessings’’.
SUPPLICATION - asking for our needs, and the needs of family, friends, nations.
Good verses about prayer to learn are Philippians 4:6-7.Do not forget that true conversation is a two-way process. So also is prayer. Make time as you pray for God your Father to speak back to you, to reveal His will and to answer your questions, doubts and fears. Do not be afraid of silence in prayer, as you learn to listen to God.
3. SERVING CHRIST
Holiness