Baptized In The Name of Christ

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King James Bible StudyAnd when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34

Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Chapters: Acts 1-2
Message: Baptized In The Name of Christ

Hello My Friend,

When you read through the New Testament it is amazing to discover that much, well, all of it actually, has been written in the Old Testament. Why is this possible or necessary? Because God’s Word is the same, today, yesterday, and forever. Everything, including our redemption through Christ alone, is written in the Old Testament. In fact, I even have a page on the site that gives the plan of salvation from Scripture only written in the Old Testament for that reason. Nothing we know today is anything new, the Jews, in fact, all of mankind, has known from the very beginning, even before the Bible was written, that to God, His most precious creation is man, and although sin brought death to man, Christ brought hope of redemption and everlasting life to all who believe, no matter their time, [Genesis 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.]

Jesus called all who are carnal and wicked the children and seed of Satan, [John 8:44], Eve’s offspring, meaning Christ, bruised the head of Satan when He not only died on the cross, but arose three days later. All who believe in and accept Christ are one with Him, that means they are joint heirs with Him. The Book of Acts contains twenty-eight chapters, the author is Luke, and it was written to all believers, addressed specifically to Theophilus, meaning lover of God. The timeline for these events took place approximately between 34AD and 65AD. The purpose of the book was to explain the work Christ continued to do through His Apostles and disciples after His ascension in the form of the Holy Spirit. What we are to learn from the book is that true evidence of the Holy Spirit is directed by the power of God in all believers. Jesus remained on earth for forty days after His resurrection, before His ascension He spoke to the Apostles.

[Acts 1:1-5  The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,  2  Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:  3  To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:  4  And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.  5  For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.]

[after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:] Do you understand what this means? Everything the Holy Spirit teaches us comes from Christ. Remember, Christ chooses us well before we choose Him because He first sees our faith in the Father. This is further proof of the Godhead. [commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem,] Jesus did not want them to leave Jerusalem until the promise He made about sending the Comforter came to pass. And it did not take long, in fact, it was fifty days later on the Day of Pentecost, and it was an incredible sight.

[Acts 2:1-6  And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.  2  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.  3  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.  4  And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.  5  And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.  6  Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.]

[And when the day of Pentecost was fully come,] The Day of Pentecost, also known as the Day of Firstfruits [Leviticus 23:15-17], took place fifty days after the Passover. Thousands of people were gathered in Jerusalem from all over the world, many of them were true devout Jews. [And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire,] Now, this does not happen to us when we get saved, but Jesus does breathe His Spirit into our soul the second we receive Him as our Saviour. That enables us to have instant access to God at all times, in fact, He dwells in us, and any time we call His name He listens. This is why it is important that we do not take His name in vain, [Exodus 20:7  Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.]

[because that every man heard them speak in his own language.] Now, this is what it means to speak in tongues! We speak in our own languages, but others can hear what we are saying in their own, not the mombo jumbo stuff we hear today. However, this created an uproar because it did sound like mumbo jumbo to them.

[Acts 2:12-16  And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?  13  Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.  14  But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:  15  For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.  16  But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;]

[But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;] This is the Scripture Peter was referencing from Joel, [Joel 2:28-32  And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:  29  And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.  30  And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.  31  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.  32  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.]

[that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered:] Do you see how the people who believed before Christ’s passion believed in the very same thing that we do. The only difference is that they looked for the promise to come, while we look to the promise that came, [Hebrews 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.]

Peter did not stop there, he continued telling them about Jesus and how David prophesied about Jesus being at the right hand of the Father, fulfilling the very verse we started out with in Genesis 3:15. Now, that was all it took for them to believe, and wanted to know how they could receive the Holy Spirit too.

[Acts 2:33-38,41  Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.  34  For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,  35  Until I make thy foes thy footstool.  36  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.  37  Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?  38  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 41  Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.]

[Until I make thy foes thy footstool.] When God told David that He was going to send His Son through his lineage David immediately knew that He would be much more than a son. In fact, several of the Psalms written by David reference Jesus in them, including this passage that Peter is referencing, [Psalms 110:1-4  A Psalm of David. The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.  2  The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.  3  Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.  4  The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.]

[Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.] This was actually written all the way back to Abraham, Melchizedek was the high priest and king of Salem that blessed Abraham when he helped rescue the people that were captured in Sodom before it was destroyed. Melchizedek came before Aaron, he is represented of Christ as both our High Priest and King. We who are saved, whether male or female become part of the priesthood, Christ being God’s minister to us, and our Mediator, [I Peter 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:]

[Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ] Repent; Turn your heart away from thinking your own righteousness can save you, and believe that Christ died to save you. This is a spiritual baptism, meaning we are baptized with the Holy Spirit through our repentance and faith in Christ. Yes, the first thing we are to do after we get saved is get water baptized, but that is not require. Water baptism, even when John performed them was done as a public profession of their repentance. When we get baptized in front of the congregation of believers we are telling them that we are solely trusting Christ as our salvation. Another thing, the Scripture never says they were baptized in water, it says they were baptized having received the Word, in other words, they believed the Gospel, and got baptized with the Holy Spirit, [I Corinthians 12:13  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.]

Today’s Prayer: Jesus, I find it amazing that all I need to do to have eternal life is believe in Your Gospel. I do not have to believe and follow a bunch of rules or believe and even be baptized in some water to be saved. I am saved by grace through my faith alone in Your sinless death, burial, and resurrection. And my faith in You does more that save my soul from hell, it also gives me a gift that never fades or gets destroyed, and that is the Holy Spirit. You literally baptized my soul with Your Spirit by breathing Your life to it. Thank You, Jesus for all that You have done for me, and continue to do as I allow Your Spirit to guide and teach me. I know I still mess up every day, at least, I know that by Your grace and my faithfulness I am a work in progress. I pray this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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