What must I do to be saved?

A few weeks ago, Rachel was approached by a man who wanted a unique piece of artwork from her. As many of you know, Rachel is an artist, specializing in pet portraits. This work he wanted done was a pet portrait. However, he had an old painting which someone had done of one pet and he wanted Rachel to alter the painting to make it look more like a second pet.

It did not take Rachel long to think about the project and she very soon decided against it. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she tried to convince the man not to have anyone alter the original painting. From one perspective, Rachel said that there are differences among artists in how they apply paint and the types of the paints used. But, from another perspective, she felt like the the integrity of artists as a whole was at stake. Art work is a representation of an artist himself or herself. She did not at all feel comfortable painting over someone else’s work.

God tells us that He made man in His image and after His likeness (Genesis 1:26-27; 5:1). Based on the fact that all mankind is made in the image of God, when someone chooses to murder another person, who has been made in the image of God, then the murderer sacrifices his right to life (Gen. 9:5-6). In the letter of James, he writes that because man and woman is made in the image of God, we should be careful how we speak abusively to and about other people (James 3:9).

Not only should we be careful that we do not “deface” other people physically or verbally, but there is also the possibility of “defacing” holy things. Two Hebrew words for this idea are “defile” and “profane.” In Leviticus 15:31, Moses wrote that Israel needed to keep itself from “uncleanness” lest they “defile” (deface) God’s tabernacle. The land of Canaan was “defiled” (defaced) through idolatry and immorality (Lev. 18:25) and God warned Israel not to do the same thing (Lev. 18:28).

If Israel sacrificed to false gods, they would “profane” (deface) the name of Jehovah God (Lev. 18:21). If they lied when they made an oath, they would “profane” God’s name (Lev. 19:12). Israel was to worship God according to His specifications so they would not profane God’s holy name (Lev. 22:2).

Holy things need to be kept holy and not defaced, defiled, or profaned.

Paul Holland

The mountains are a part of God’s creation and they have played a wonderful part in His dealings with man (Ararat, Moriah, Sinai). The race had its beginning in the Garden of Eden, but after the fall, its record was written against a background of mountains. The mountains stand as sentinels, and call forth our looking up.

1. THEIR CALL IS A CALL TO HEIGHTS:
   1. We cannot answer this call short of being made higher. If we aren’t higher now than we were when first called, then we have failed.
   2. Some heights to which we are called:
      1. High Thinking:
         1. Proverbs 23:7 – We need the best literature to stimulate our thinking.
         2. Philippians 4:8-9
         3. 2 Corinthians 10:5
      2. High feeling:
         1. Matthew 14:14
         2. John 11:33-36
         3. Matthew 9:35-38
      3. High will – Great motives will help us to attain this height. We should act from convictions.
         1. Acts 5:29 – men will call on us to do many things contrary to the will of God in business, pleasure and religion.
         2. Acts 21:7-14 – nothing could keep Paul from doing his duty.
2. THEIR CALL IS A CALL FROM THE WAYS OF THE WORLD:
   1. It has been said that no where else do we get more completely away from the world and its influences than on a mountain.
   2. To please the Lord, there must be and continue to be a definite change in our characters, but unless we get away from the world and its influence the change is not likely to take place.
      1. Romans 12:2
      2. Colossians 3:2
3. SOME BLESSINGS WHICH FOLLOW THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAINS:
   1. A righteous life and a clear conscience. It is not enough to just state what we believe, but the time is now to lay more emphasis on how men should live.
   2. A greater vision – just like how little the average man sees in relationship to the kingdom and his own potential (John 4:35). Illustration: In relation to our own potential… Two caterpillars are walking along and one looks up and sees a beautiful butterfly and says: “Boy, I sure wouldn’t be caught that high.”
   3. The closer we are to God, the easier it is to overcome temptations, and safer we will be from sin.
      1. 1 Corinthians 10:13.
   4. Happiness.
   5. Peace – The peace that comes to the soul as a result of consciousness of the presence and the approval of God is worth more than all the world can give put together.
      1. Romans 5:1
      2. Isaiah 26:3

the late Wayne Holland

from a sermon preached at:

Hayesville, NC (5/2/1982)

Roxboro, NC (2/11/1990)

Roxboro, NC (7/14/1992)

In several mystical writings of the 12^th-13^th centuries, and later in Hollywood movies, the cup Jesus used in the last supper, came to be called “The Holy Grail.”  Sir Lancelot and the Knights of the Round Table searched for it, believing it had healing powers.  Indiana Jones ran around the world trying to find it, and a chapel in Valencia, Spain, believe they “possibly” have it.

“Grail” is of old French origin, “Graal”, meaning a cup or dish. True, a cup was used by Jesus during the Passover meal: “In the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood”’ (Lu. 22:20). Its power was found in its contents, “the fruit of the vine” (Lu. 22:18), not mystical powers, but in great spiritual implications.

As Christians we have found the “Holy Grail;” it is the spiritual cup which we drink of every Lord’s Day. It is the weekly “cup of blessing” in which there is “a sharing in the blood of Christ” (1 Co. 10:16). We do so as a weekly remembrance of the blood shed for us on the Cross. The healing power of this cup is that it brings our broken lives back to the cross each Sunday, to be reminded of the forgiveness found at the foot of the cross, in the blood stained soil of Golgotha.

-Dennis Doughty

The book of James reigns supreme in practicality as far as any NT book is concerned. I’ve heard it referred to as: “The Proverbs of the New Testament.” In particular we are shown what faith should look like as it interacts with life.

This list is not completely comprehensive, but it is both humbling and challenging. Let’s look into this mirror of the soul (James 1:23) and then get down on our knees in prayer so we’ll have the strength to make any changes we need to make. Remember, many of those changes may not save you, but they will certainly make your journey sweeter.

• Faith receives trials with joy (1:2).
• Faith believes in prayer (1:5-6).
• Faith keeps things in perspective, whether in poverty or riches (1:9-11).
• Faith remains steadfast (1:1).
• Faith understands temptation (1:14-15).
• Faith appreciates the generosity of God (1:18).
• Faith is quick to hear and slow to react and rebel (1:19-21).
• Faith is a doer of the word (1:22).
• Faith bridles the tongue (1:26).
• Faith attends those in need and keeps himself pure (1:27).
• Faith is not partial to the rich (2:1-7).
• Faith loves his neighbor (2:8).
• Faith keeps all of God’s law (2:10-11).
• Faith is merciful (2:13).
• Faith has works (2:14) or it is dead (2:26).
• Faith bridles the tongue (3:1-5).
• Faith blesses our Lord and Father (3:9-10).
• Faith does not curse his fellow man (3:9-10).
• Faith works in meekness (3:13).
• Faith is pure, peaceable and reasonable (3:17).
• Faith is not quarrelsome (4:1).
• Faith is not selfish (4:3).
• Faith is not proud (4:6).
• Faith has a pure heart (4:7).
• Faith does not speak evil (4:11).
• Faith does not plan without God (4:13-17).
• Faith does not keep back by fraud (5:4).
• Faith is not self-indulgent (5:5).
• Faith is patient and waits on the Lord (5:7).
• Faith has an established heart (5:8).
• Faith does not grumble (5:9).
• Faith is steadfast; it endures (5:11).
• Faith is true to its word (5:12).
• Faith turns to God in times of trouble (5:13).
• Faith sings in times of joy (5:13).
• Faith trusts in prayer (5:14-15).
• Faith confesses sin and prays for one another (5:16).
• Faith seeks to bring back the wandering brother (5:19-20).

Daren Schroeder

Exodus 9:8–12

King Solomon wrote: “Though you pound a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, Yet his foolishness will not depart from him” (Prov. 27:22). It did not matter how many plagues (so far) God brought on Pharaoh, he was determined to remain the fool.

BOILS! – 9:8-11:

What was it going to take? Well, perhaps Pharaoh would relent if God afflicted his body. The word translated “boils” (shechin) occurs a dozen times in the Old Testament and is used for a variety of infectious skin ailments. It might be leprosy or small pox or skin anthrax.

Like the other plagues, the boils were a genuine miracle. They were miraculous in their inception, in their intensity, in their conclusion, and in their discrimination!

THE Magicians:

As with the prior plagues, God is “executing judgment against the gods of Egypt” (Exo. 12:12; Num. 33:4). The Egyptians prided themselves on their medicine and their arts of healing. There were at least four gods or goddess associated with healing in Egypt: Amon Re, Imhotep, Sekhmet, and Thoth.

We also tend to “worship” our medical advances and think that if we walk into a doctor’s office or the hospital, we are going to walk out healed. In Exodus 15:26, God told Israel, “I, the Lord, am your healer.” It is in that context that Jesus Christ presents Himself as the “Great Physician.” He is Jehovah God in the flesh and Matthew tells us that Jesus took all our sickness and all our diseases upon Himself (Matt. 8:17).

God also humiliated the magicians of Pharaoh. They had replicated God’s first two plagues; they failed in the third plague and were MIA in the fourth and fifth plagues. Now, in the sixth plague, God strikes them with the boils as well as all the Egyptians! Throwing dust into the air was a ritual these magicians had done as a sign of blessing; now God turns it into a sign of His justice! The kiln from which Moses and Aaron took the soot might have been the kilns from which the Israelites had taken the bricks they fired back in chapter 1! Additionally, with the magicians being unclean due to the sores, they could not practice their deceitful magic!

It is ironic that Moses and Aaron “stood” before Pharaoh (9:10) but these magicians could not “stand” before Moses (9:11). That’s what happens when you fight against God!

Pharaoh’s heart was hardened – 9:12:

This is the first time that God had “hardened” Pharaoh’s heart (9:12). Pharaoh had hardened it himself earlier (7:22; 8:15; 9:7). Now God works and directs and penetrates Pharaoh’s heart to such an extent – without violating Pharaoh’s free will (see 9:2) – Pharaoh will eventually do what God wants him to do. But Pharaoh has to be pushed to the extreme before he does it.

HOW WE SHOULD VIEW ILLNESSES:

What should Pharaoh have done? What do we do when we are struck with physical illnesses or physical set backs? These should: 1) help us realize that this life is not what life is all about; 2) God is the healer; 3) God has promised that we will have another body when we get to heaven that is not susceptible to disease and death. That should give us hope and help us have patience.

In the life to come, “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Rev. 21:4).

When we have physical problems, let’s make sure we put our ultimate confidence in the sovereignty and power of God. He is our Healer.

Paul Holland

When Jesus established His church He commanded those who wanted to be saved to be baptized (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16). In 62 A.D., about 30 years after the church was established, Paul said there was just one baptism (Ephesians 4:5). There are two facts about baptism which must be honored in order for one’s baptism to be the baptism Jesus authorized.

Those two facts are: (1) It must be done in the correct way – by immersion in water (Colossians 2:12; Romans 6:3-4). (2) It must be done for the correct reason – for the remission or forgiveness of one’s sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16). If either or both of those truths is not done, then one has not been baptized, even though he or she may believe baptism has occurred. In reality, there is no such thing as “rebaptism.” If one has not been baptized correctly, and then is baptized correctly, one has not been “rebaptized” but only baptized. If one has been baptized correctly, then there is no reason to be baptized again.

One must understand what Bible baptism is. Understanding what correct Bible baptism is, can be seen in three different ways. First by definition. When defining baptism, one should not go to a modern dictionary. A dictionary defines words as they are used in that society. Thus, the English dictionary will define baptism as “a religious ceremony where one is sprinkled, poured or immersed in water.” The New Testament was written in Greek, therefore one must go to a Greek dictionary. Baptizo, which is the Greek word for baptism, is defined in Greek dictionaries as, “to dip, to plunge, or to immerse” (Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon).

Second, one can understand what Bible baptism is by the way it is described. The Bible describes it as a burial (Romans 6:3-4; Colossians 2:12). Something is not buried by sprinkling or pouring a little dirt over it. It is buried when the object is totally covered. The same is true with biblical baptism – one must be totally covered in water.

Third, one can understand what Bible baptism is by reading how baptism is done. When the man from Ethiopia wanted to be baptized both he and Philip who was baptizing him, went into the water (Acts 8:38). If baptism was sprinkling or pouring, neither of them would have had to get into the water.

Acts 19 Example

In Acts 19:1-5 there were about twelve men in Ephesus who had been baptized of John’s baptism who had to be baptized again. People were supposed to be baptized of John’s baptism before Christ came. John prepared the way for Christ (Matthew 3:1-6). After Christ came and instituted His baptism, John’s baptism was not authorized. The people in Ephesus had been baptized in John’s baptism after it had been replaced by Christ’s baptism. John’s baptism was to look forward to Christ’s coming. The people in Acts 19 were baptized and looking for Jesus, who had already come. Therefore, their purpose was incorrect, and they had to be baptized with Christ’s baptism. Again, this was not a “rebaptism” because they had never been baptized correctly the first time.

Conclusion

“Rebaptism” is not a biblical concept. Baptism is either correct or incorrect. If one has been baptized correctly, then he or she does not need to do it again. If one has been “baptized” incorrectly, either because the form or the purpose was not correct, then he or she needs to be baptized correctly. When that is done, that person has not been “rebaptized” but baptized correctly.

Wayne Burger

A principle that is important to the teaching process is stated clearly by John Milton Gregory in his book, The Seven Laws of Teaching. Gregory says: “Since attention follows interest, it is folly to attempt to gain attention without first stimulating interest.”

Remembering my high school days in study hall, I must agree with Gregory. I can recall ‘reading’ page after page in a book and being unable to remember a single idea from the book because my mind was on a basketball game to be played that night. The book didn’t occupy my attention because I, at the time, wasn’t interested in IT.

This gets to the heart of the problem of brethren who don’t study the word of God publicly or privately. They simply aren’t interested. They are more interested in reading “Good Housekeeping,” “Newsweek:’ “Reader’s Digest,” or “True Story” than in reading the Bible. They are more interested in seeing what’s on TV than seeing what God has said. They are more interested in spending time with a hobby than in spending time with God.

The apostle Paul commended the Bereans for their nobility in studying the Scriptures daily (Acts 17:11). He told the Ephesians that they could understand the scriptures if they would read. He then exhorted them to be not foolish but understand God’s will (Eph. 3:4; 5:17).

It’s not likely, though, that we’ll stimulate brethren to study God’s word until we interest them in going to heaven. It may be that brethren in this country have it so good on earth that they don’t think any more about going to heaven than I did about the book I was supposedly reading in study hall. That being true, it’s no wonder the Bible doesn’t occupy their attention. Brethren, we’ve simply got to wake to the fact that – 70 years and it’s all over here. Then what? Until we set our hope on Christ and our affection on things above (1 John 3:3; Col. 3:1-4), the BOOK describing those things cannot possibly hold our attention.

– by L. A. Stauffer

The First Sin

When God made man, he put him in the garden of Eden and told him to work it and keep it.  He commanded him, “You may eat of any tree in the garden except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  The day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”  It is important to note that the you in this passage is singular, given to Adam alone.

Then God said, “It is not good for man to be alone.  I will make him a helper fit for him.”  So God put Adam to sleep and made from his side a woman.  When he awoke, Adam was excited and said, “Bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh; she shall be called woman [Hebrew isha] because she was taken out of man [ish].”  And Adam named her Eve.

One day the Snake, identified in Revelation 12:9 as Satan or the Devil, said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You [plural] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”  The woman replied, “We may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, but God said, ‘You [plural] shall not eat from the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden nor shall you touch it, so that you [plural] will not die.”  Adam must have told Eve about this, for the command has changed from singular to plural, and rightly so, for Eve was taken out of Adam.  But for Eve’s benefit, Adam had added to the command, “nor shall you touch it.”  He had in effect “built a fence around the command.”  If she didn’t touch it, she couldn’t eat it.  Now people may personally “build a fence” around something to avoid temptation.  Perhaps there are certain kinds of movies that a person refuses to see lest they are tempted.  The problem occurs when people build fences for others.  When Eve touched the fruit and nothing happened, she was emboldened to go ahead and eat the fruit.  The same thing can happen to people today.  When they break the “fence” command, they are emboldened to break God’s command.

The Snake then told Eve a lie, “You [plural] will not surely die. God knows that when you [plural] eat of it, your [plural] eyes will be opened and you [plural] will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  Jesus says in John 8:44 that the devil is a liar and the father of lies.  I sometimes wonder what it means to know good and evil in this context.  They already knew it was good to keep and till the garden and that it was evil to eat the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden.  It seems that “knowing good and evil” has to do with deciding for themselves what is good and what is evil.  When God made people,  He saw that it was very good (Gen. 1:31).  But when they sinned, they decided that it was not good to be naked the way God had made them.  Now God ratified their decision to wear clothes, making better ones for them (Gen. 3:21).  But the point is that they decided for themselves what was good and what was evil.  Unfortunately, we often do the same thing instead of recognizing what God says is good and evil.

John says in I John 2:16 that there are three kinds of sin in this world: the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride in what we have in life.  It is worth noting that Eve was tempted in all three of these ways.  She saw that the tree was good for food (desire of the flesh), that it was pleasing to the eyes (desire of the eyes), and that it would make one wise (pride of life).  Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness in the same three ways.  He was asked to turn stones to bread (desire of the flesh), worship Satan for all the world he could see (desire of the eyes), and jump off the temple to prove he was God’s Son (pride of life).  But while Eve gave into the temptation and sinned, Jesus overcame the temptation by quoting scripture in each instance.  Sometimes I hear that one should pray when tempted.  It is never wrong to pray, but praying keeps the focus on the temptation.  Jesus’ example replaces the temptation with the word of God.

After Eve ate the fruit, she gave some to her husband who was with her and he also ate.  I have sometimes heard people blame Adam for letting Eve be tempted and go ahead and eat since the text says that he was “with her.”   Some go so far as to say that Adam heard the lie and faced the same temptation.  But God blamed Adam because he listened to his wife (Gen. 3:17), not to the Snake.  While the word “with” can be used to mean with Eve at the temptation, it can also be used to mean with her in the garden.  Jacob told Laban that he was “with” him (same word in Hebrew) for twenty years while he took care of his flocks in the field.

After Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit, their eyes were “opened” and they knew that they were naked.  To solve this problem, they made loincloths for themselves from fig leaves.  This brings us to the first problem with sin: sin brings shame. They were ashamed of the way God had made them.  When they heard God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, they hid themselves among the trees.

God called to Adam, “Where are you [singular]?”  Adam replied, “When I heard the sound of You walking in the garden, I was afraid since I was naked, so I hid myself.”  This is the second problem with sin: sin brings fear, fear of being seen by God.  God asked Adam, “Who told you [singular] that you [singular] were naked?  Have you [singular] eaten of the tree from which I commanded you [singular] not to eat?”  Note that God confronted Adam because it was to Adam alone that God had given the command.  This is why Paul can write that sin came into the world because of one man and that one man brought in the reign of death (Rom. 5:12, 17).  We sometimes like to place the blame on Eve, but God put the blame on Adam.

When Adam was blamed, he began to make excuses and put the blame on Eve and indirectly on God: “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit from the tree and I ate.”  So God asked the woman, “What is this that you [singular] have done?”  The woman also began to blame someone else: “The snake deceived me and I ate.”  This is why Paul says that it was the woman who was deceived (I Tim. 2:14).

So God cursed the snake to crawl on its belly.  He also gave a hint of Christ’s death and victory over Satan.  He told the snake that the woman’s Offspring would bruise his head, but the snake would bruise the Offspring’s heel.  This is a veiled reference to the nail in Christ’s heel on the cross.

Then God placed a curse on the woman.  She would suffer more pain in childbirth and her relationship to the man would change.  God told her, “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”  It is possible to misread this as saying that the woman would desire her husband, but the meaning is that she would desire to control him.  It is parallel to what God told Cain, “Sin’s desire is for you, but you must rule over it” (Gen. 4:7).  Sin desired to control Cain because of his anger and he failed to rule over it and ended up killing his brother.

Finally God placed a curse on the man.  He cursed the earth to bring forth thorns and thistles, and consequently man would suffer pain in working the land by the sweat of his brow.  Man would also die, returning to dust,  just as God said he would.  Oh, it wasn’t on that very day, but on that day he was now “a dead man walking.”  His coming death was sure.  This is the third result of sin: sin brings consequences.  Even when there is forgiveness, there are still consequences to pay.

I have sometimes heard that when Adam sinned he was spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1) and separated from God (Is. 59:2).  While in some sense this is true, it seems to underestimate God’s mercy and forgiveness.  God still seeks Adam in the garden and confronts both Adam and Eve.  God’s forgiveness is shown in the garments of skin he made for them.  Eve said that God helped her to give birth (Gen. 4:1). It was even a blessing when he ejected them from the garden.  The tree of life was there and if they ate of it, they would live forever in sin.  But God in His mercy had a better plan for them.  That plan involved the death and resurrection of Jesus to take away sin.  And God has that same plan for all of us; Jesus died and rose for us all, for, like Adam, we have all broken God’s commandments and need forgiveness from sin, that forgiveness that is found in Jesus.

–Bruce Terry

The book of Acts is the sequel to the Gospel accounts (esp. the Gospel of Luke, Luke being the writer of both books). The Gospels in general give witness to the life, work, death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord, in anticipation of Christ’s coming kingdom (see Mt. 16:18-19; Mk. 9:1).

In the book of Acts the apostles take up the mission of Christ, as they are led by the Holy Spirit which had been promised to them by the Lord (see Jn. 14:26-27; 16:13; Acts 1:4-8). In Peter’s first sermon, in Acts 2, he is guided to use the OT Scriptures to prove to the Jews that Jesus was indeed who He claimed to be, the promised Messiah, who would sit on David’s throne and would be resurrected from the dead.

A large number of the Jews assembled on that day were convinced of Peter’s inspired message that the Jesus whom they crucified was indeed “both Lord and Christ” (v. 36). The word is not specifically mentioned here, but they certainly “believed” the words of Peter concerning Christ. Not only were they “cut to the heart” (v. 37), but they responded by asking, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (v. 37). It should be noted that they already believed at this point, but Peter proceeds to tell them that there was something they needed to do beyond believing in Jesus. They needed to repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins (v. 38).

The point of this lesson is to have an accurate understanding of belief in the book of Acts. Let’s notice some of the occurrences of this concept especially within the first eight chapters of the book.

ACTS 2

Continuing his sermon in Acts 2, Peter says in verse 40-41, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation,” and then Luke states: “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” What does it mean that they received his word? Of course, it means they believed his message about Jesus and took it to heart. Doing so, they responded by being baptized. Additionally, in verse 44 the text says, “And all who believed were together and had all things in common.” Note that though they are only said to have “believed” here, we also know that they repented of their sin and they were baptized. Frequently a form of the word believe is used to represent one’s complete response to the Lord.

ACTS 4

Skipping to 4:4 the text says, “But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand” (also see 4:32). Would it be right to now assume that though Peter, as he was guided by the Holy Spirit, told these Jews that they were only to believe (though in chapter 2 he told them they needed to repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins) that faith only is sufficient? Does Peter need to detail the whole conversion account with each and every conversion? Or, can we be expected to trust that the Holy Spirit guided Peter to teach the same Gospel to all people everywhere?

Perhaps often overlooked is the difficulty of the Jews in the first century in overcoming unbelief. If they were convinced of Jesus’ identity, it wasn’t problematic to convince them to do what He said to do, to be baptized (see Mk. 16:15-16; Mt. 28:18-19).

ACTS 5

In Acts 5 we find that the apostles were performing many miraculous signs, which created belief in their word (and belief in Christ). Verse 14 then says, “And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.” From what we know of other passages, who do the Scriptures say the Lord added to the church? Those who were baptized (see Acts 2:38-41, 47; Gal. 3:27; Rom. 6:3-4; 1 Cor. 12:13).

ACTS 6

In Acts 6:7 Luke uses a different term regarding the conversion of many Jews and priests. He says there “the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” Note here that nothing is said of them believing. Obviously they did, but here, instead of stating they believed, the text says they “became obedient to the faith.” This clearly shows that there was something beyond believing in Jesus that was involved. They had to do something. They had to obey the faith. What did they do? Though not specifically stated here, we can know that they repented of their sins and were baptized. Otherwise we have a terrible inconsistency in teaching on the most important question known to mankind.

Let’s conclude by noting two examples from Acts 8. First we have the account of Philip preaching the good news about Christ and His kingdom. Verse 12 says of the Samaritans, “when they believed… they were baptized.” Connect this concept also with verse 14 which tells of the apostles finding out that “Samaria had received the word of God.” How did they receive the word of God? By believing and being baptized.

ACTS 8

Also in chapter 8 is the account of Philip teaching the Ethiopian “the good news about Jesus” (v. 35). The Ethiopian, fully believing the message about Christ, says, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” (v. 36). Convinced of his belief, Philip had the chariot stopped and the believer was baptized.

We could continue on with Saul in chapter 9 and go onward from there, but what we have noted surely indicates that while belief in Jesus as the Messiah of the OT is critical, other actions are required to receive the forgiveness of sins. This conclusion is in perfect harmony with the “Great Commission” where Jesus says, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mk. 16:15-16).

Daren Schroeder

We are studying the prayer life of Jesus in this series. I am largely doing it chronologically, but not strictly. In Luke 5, Jesus has called His first disciples, Peter and Andrew. After calling them to be “fishers of men” (5:10), Jesus heals a man of leprosy. Then we read in 5:15-16 – “But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.”

The original language reads this way: “Jesus was withdrawing and was praying.” What it connotes, as it is translated in the NASV, Jesus “often” slipped away and prayed. In other words, there were times when Jesus needed to just get away, be by Himself, and spend time praying. And He did that frequently.

You and I are complex organisms. At any given moment, male and female alike, we have thoughts and fears, hormones, and responsibilities, memories of sins we’ve committed that we can’t quite turn loose, attacks Satan has leveled at us, how much sleep we got last night, our past – even how we look right now – all of this and more is going through our minds and the minds of each other, on a constant basis.

When you know your spouse or someone else close to you is feeling the burdens of their life, it is better not to ask, “What is wrong with you?” It’s better to take some time away, as Jesus does here, and pray.

Pray that you and your spouse or friends can find the peace of mind and peace of heart that Christ gives.

Paul Holland