Making Baptism A Stumbling-Block To Salvation
“Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” Galatians 5:4
Back then, man’s religions insisted on salvation conditional on works, using the works of the Old Testament system of which all were familiar. Since then, the works and ordinances of the New Testament are more familiar, so man’s religions insist on a salvation conditional on these. Thus, the application is like this, “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by baptism, good works, etc., ye are fallen from grace.”
To make baptism, or good works, or both, as the conditional factors whereby one is saved, kept saved, or will be saved, is to divert one’s faith for salvation from what Christ did to save us, unto what man does to save himself. Thus, even though one claims to believe in Christ as Saviour, their belief in Christ is of no effect for the salvation of their soul, because their trust for salvation is in their baptism and their good works. They will even confess that their faith in Christ will not save them without their baptism and their good works. Thus, their faith in Christ is of no effect for salvation, and they have fallen from grace, having put their trust in baptism and their works as the means of obtaining eternal life.
Thus, an evil use has been made of baptism, due to the false place it has been given in the belief systems of man’s religions. The efficacy, which belongs only to the blood of Christ, has been attributed to water baptism. The regenerating work of the Holy Spirit has been transferred to water baptism. Thus, the figure of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection has been put in the place of the substance.
The ordinance of baptism is only valuable so long as it conveys Christ. But if it, in the smallest degree, comes between the heart and the actual work of redemption of the Saviour for one’s salvation, is ceases to be an ordinance of Christ, becoming a diversion from faith in Christ, and thus an instrument of the Devil to make one’s faith in Christ for salvation of no effect.
In the teaching, where ordinances are being added to Christ and the work of Christ, the sinner no longer believes he is saved by faith in Christ, but he believes Christ is obligated to save him because of his faith in the ordinances. Thus, it is no longer salvation by grace through faith, but salvation merited by works, thus, “ye are fallen from grace.”
The devil persuades men they are honoring Christ when they elevate His ordinances to the means of acquiring salvation. Whereas, he is merely leading them to set Christ aside and deify the ordinances themselves. Be not deceived!
SHARING
Unanswered Prayer
By Dr. Curtis Hutson
You say that it seems the Lord will not hear your prayers. The thing you ought to do is to analyze your prayer life and see if there is something that may be hindering God from hearing your prayers. Here are seven things that might do so.
1. Immature, impulsive praying.
“Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” – James 4:3
This doesn’t mean that God does not want to give us things for our pleasure and enjoyment. It simply means if our prayer life is nothing more than asking for whimsical things that we want right at that moment without any regard to whether it is right for us or whether God would be pleased with our having it, then God will not answer our prayers. If there is no kind of relationship, no real desire to please the Lord, and if there is just the desire to have what we want, and that’s the only time we pray, those kinds of prayers will never be answered.
2. Irregular, inconsistent public worship.
“He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.” – Proverbs 28:9
This verse suggests that if the manner of your life is not to attend the services where you will hear the Word of God preached, then the Lord is not too interested in what you have to say.
3. Intolerance or indifference when there is an offense.
“And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” – Mark 11:25
Anyone who is nursing a grudge against another has closed the door of prayer in his life. If we do not learn to forgive just as God forgave us–from the heart, no strings attached–God will not hear. If there is someone in your life who has offended you, you must forgive him.
Complete forgiveness is the exclusive privilege of the believer. We have been forgiven an unbelievable debt by God Himself. When our brothers sin against us, we have the power to forgive, because the One who forgave us everything lives inside of us.
We must also seek to right things if we have offended another.
“Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” – Matthew 5:23-24
If we offend others and think nothing of it and never try to make it right, then we cannot expect the Lord to hear our prayers.
4. Inconsideration toward your spouse.
“Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.” – 1 Peter 3:7
Improper treatment of your spouse will keep God from hearing your prayers. For the man, his role is to love his wife, giving honor to her and treating her with love and affection.
5. Inflated self-appraisal.
“Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.” – Job 35:13
If we come to God with pride and a high-and-mighty attitude like the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not as others (Luke 18:11), God shuts the door and say, “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”
6. Idolatry in all of its forms.
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” – Matthew 6:33
Anything we put before God becomes an idol. If we want Him to hear our prayers, we must put Him first. As long as such a thing is in our life, God will not hear us.
7. An impenitent heart, harboring iniquity.
“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” – Psalm 66:18
Any unconfessed sin will keep God from hearing prayer.
SHARINGSeizing The Moment And Securing The Future
Deuteronomy 6:5 “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” This is the first and greatest commandment — meaning, it is essential to properly structuring our lives, and it will be the principle requirement when we are judged.
Deuteronomy 6:6 “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:”God’s Word is to formulate our heart condition. It is to be our confidence, hope, our light and understanding, our treasure, our reason, and our judgment. Being sinners by nature, with a will at enmity with God, requires repentance, conversion, and regeneration essential to becoming reconciled with God.
Deuteronomy 6:7 “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” When believed, God’s will and way become central to all our thinking and projections about life, life’s purpose, and life’s reason. We become fully persuaded that walking with God is what redeems our life from vanity and eternal loss.
Deuteronomy 6:8 “And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.” Trusting in God results in conducting our lives God’s way, knowing God’s way is righteous, rather than just some impractical high ideal, thus, “the lamp to our feet, and the light to our path” = wonderful words of life.
Deuteronomy 6:9 “And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”A believer not only believes God’s Word to be true, but is also fully persuaded it is the standard that must never be compromised in one’s home and family life. Not only is God’s salvation deemed to be all important, but Christ’s Lordship is also considered indispensable. Thus, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” There is no way to reap God’s promises for our home and family, by sowing the seeds of compromise.
Deuteronomy 6:13a “Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him.” Rather than fear what others may do or say, we must fear the results of not securing our lives in the grace and power of God. Showing favor to man, rather than standing faithful with God, may bring short term relief, but it always results in long term loss and regret. Let us not surrender what could have been unto a false hope that never will be. Be wise, “understanding what the will of the Lord is.”
SHARINGThe Eternal Security Of The Believer…
…is determined by what the salvation of the Lord is.
Eternal life is God’s gift to the believer: “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” John 10:28. To say one who has eternal life could lose it, is contradictory, because if you do not have it forever, it is not eternal life.
The eternal security of the believer is determined by God’s will, not man’s: “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:39-40
What a believer’s salvation is, is determined by the power that saves and keeps one saved: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:3-5. “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” 2 Peter 1:3
If we are not saved eternally, we are not saved completely, and if our salvation is not yet completed, we are not yet saved at all. A believer’s salvation is eternally secure because that is what Jesus purchased for us on Calvary’s cross: “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:10,14
It is never dangerous to believe the Bible, but it is self incriminating not to: “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” 1 John 5:10-13
Having eternal life is to have eternal security!
SHARINGIf You Were God
That day long ago, if you were God,
And that was your Son on that stable sod,
Wrapped for death with its sin-cursed sting,
Would you have made the angels sing?
Would you have sent a lovely star
To guide the wise men from afar
While weaklings did what haters bid?
Our loving heavenly Father did.
On that Calvary road, if you were God,
And that was your Son ‘neath the scourging rod
Bearing pain and bitter loss
Would you have nailed Him to the Cross?
Would you have let Him suffer so
That sinners might salvation know
While this He did their sins to rid?
Our loving heavenly Father did.
–Author Unknown
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