Our Example for Baptism

As you heard in our sermonette that Mr. Hudson gave, repentance and even being willing to acknowledge our sins is an important part of Christian development. The more you think about that, I was thinking of one of the verses that's in Isaiah 58, and it points out in that section about fasting properly, that if you turn away from pointing the finger, that's one of the descriptions of stuff that's wrong that we want to get away from. If we turn away from pointing the finger at somebody else, because as we know, every time we point the finger at someone else, we're pointing several fingers back at ourselves, and we have to be able to do that if we're going to fully understand the topic of repentance. But as Peter proclaimed to people on the first day of Pentecost, at least first day in the New Testament era, after the death and resurrection of Jesus, when he was asked, what do people need to do? He said, well, they need to repent. They had been pricked in the heart, and they asked Peter what to do. He said, you need to repent, you need to be baptized, and you need a gift. You need to repent, you need to be baptized, and you need to receive a gift of the Holy Spirit. See, that's actually a formula. It's a formula that you can see the sequencing of many different times in the Bible. And as we've already covered repentance, I want to cover some information about baptism today. And I know many of us have been baptized, some of us more recently, several of you at least, some of us 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago. And yet, the significance of our baptism can never be minimized or overlooked.

Now, we find the perfect example here in Matthew chapter 3.

Matthew chapter 3, you see John the Baptist. You know, he called him that because he baptized people. John the Baptizer, he was a cousin of Jesus. He was in many ways to lay the way for Jesus. He was to proclaim repentance of sin, and he was to point to the one you really need. He said, it's not me, it's him. It's Jesus Christ that you really need. But initially, you need to be repentant. And so, John was baptizing people, and whenever we read about John's baptism, it was a baptism under repentance. And whenever the Pharisees came to him and they would talk to him and they'd want to be baptized, he would say, well, you know, wait a second. You need to at least show by your attitude that you're repentant. And actually, you need to bring forth some fruit that shows that you're repentant. Many of us think back and perhaps think of different things. It may have been job-related, may have been other different problems related, that we needed to change, that we needed to overcome, that we needed to show that, well, our baptism and our commitment before God is genuine. But here in Matthew 3, it says in verse 13 that Jesus came to Galilee to John at the Jordan, and so he was obviously over on the far east of what we would know of as Israel today because the Jordan River is on the eastern border. And so Jesus came to John at Jordan to be baptized by him. And of course, John's immediate reaction in verse 14, Matthew 3, 14, John would have prevented him.

He said, you know, there's something's wrong with this picture.

He says, I need to be baptized by you, and here you have come to me to be baptized.

And so Jesus answered and said, well, let it be done, or let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness. And so here was going to be the perfect example.

You know, everybody needs to be repentant. Everybody needs to repent. Everybody needs to be baptized. Everyone. Not just some. Even in this case, the man who never sinned, our Savior and Redeemer, the Son of God, who clearly didn't need to be repentant because he didn't do anything that would require that. He never sinned, and yet he told John, I'm setting an example. I am fulfilling all righteousness. I am showing the pattern for all of my brothers and sisters, people that he knows will be a part of God's divine family, that he is readily the captain of our salvation. He says they can follow me. They can follow my example. And so it goes on to say, John finally decided, well, I better do it. That's what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to baptize him. And so when Jesus had been baptized, when he had been immersed, he doesn't show anything about being sprinkled, doesn't show anything about being poured. Those are different words that people use, and sometimes they think that means baptism. And even as we'll show, even if someone is properly immersed, even that can be done wrongly.

It needs to be done correctly. It needs to be done out of respect for God. But here in this case, when Jesus was baptized, as he came up out of the water, suddenly the heavens were opened. He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and a lighting on him and a voice from heaven. He said, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Now, obviously, that was a special occasion. That wasn't what was going to happen any other time.

But what we see is that Jesus' example was for all human beings to be baptized. So as we approach the Passover, we assess our growth, our progress toward eternal life.

How important was your baptism? How significant was that? I'm going to say, you know, it should be very significant. It should be very important. And actually, I want to point out in the sermon today that baptism is the very beginning of our spiritual transformation.

That's what that... it's such a pivotal time. Now, again, I'm going to say I can think back, and it's been some time ago that I was baptized properly. I think I've mentioned to you before, I was dunked a couple of times before that, when I was 12. One time at church camp and another time about two or three weeks later when we came back from church camp. And I'm sure it was somewhat of an emotional high at church camp when you're 12 years old and you think you should be baptized, even though it wasn't done fully properly. I think it was probably an immersion. You know, we didn't say anything about any Holy Spirit. We didn't say anything about anything on of hands. We didn't even know anything about repentance. But I know, and that's why I refer to that simply as being dumped. And I know a couple of weeks later when we got back home, you know, we had another dunking. I guess in order to try to re-verify that we actually had done something because they didn't see any change. And me, of course, I didn't understand what baptism was about. I did, I, you know, I knew that, you know, that appears to be something you ought to do. But it wasn't really a life-changing beginning of a spiritual transformation. Sometime later, like I said about 50 years ago, I was properly baptized, and I will always remember that. I also know at that time I didn't know very much. I didn't know as much as I know today. I don't know much, but I know a little more than I did. I knew I needed to be baptized. That's what I knew. I knew that I needed to be forgiven. I knew, you know, that the laws of God existed because of Him, that I had to conform to God. And I certainly wanted to be forgiven of my sins that would simply condemn me to death, and then be a recipient of the Holy Spirit. To follow through on the instructions from the Bible, through the laying on of hands, by the authorized personnel of the ministry of Jesus Christ. We wanted, I wanted that, and I thank God for that because that was the beginning of the spiritual transformation in my life. And certainly all of you should be able to think back, however long that was, to the commitment, to the conviction, to the desire that we had to grow in God's nature. I think I understood that's what I was doing. That's what I, I need that. I don't have it, but I need it. And that's only going to come from God. And that's not, you know, talking only about knowledge, which we all need a certain level of knowledge to be able to be baptized. But, you know, we can continue to grow in knowledge and learn more and more. And we may not focus really on the spiritual development that God is really requiring. In 1 Corinthians it talks about knowledge just puffing up. Knowledge is wonderful. It's great. None of us are against learning. Certainly, spiritual information, learning about the Bible, learning about the things of God. That's, that's wonderful to do, but that isn't spiritual development, per se. That involves our heart. That involves our, the transformation of our heart and our mind, and often our mouth, because that's where we tend to get ourselves in trouble.

And so, I'd like for us to think about our baptism today. I mentioned knowledge.

You might think, I know all of you are pretty biblically aware, where do you find the Passover written about in the Bible? No one needs to speak up first.

You know, I was shown this morning something I don't remember seeing before, but it was clearly something that's there. You know, the, at least the description of what would happen at the Passover and the Exodus is actually described in Genesis 14.

Before you ever get to Exodus 12, which is, you know, that would have been, you know, if I was asked that question, I would go to Exodus 12, because it's very clear, but that's where, you know, it's described in detail. But see, there's more and more information in the Bible than we would have ever imagined. Certainly more than I could ever remember.

And yet, that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm not talking about biblical information. I'm talking about spiritual transformation. The first thing I want to point out is that as we're properly baptized, and I say that properly baptized, you know, coming to that point with a understanding of our sense, understanding of being repentant, a recognition even of our nature.

I believe, you know, that we certainly would have some awareness, as I think back, I had some awareness, but not as much as I would continue to grow in. Some awareness of human nature. You know, you can read Jeremiah 17 and know the heart is deceitful. You can read Mark 7 and know the things that proceed out of the heart are corrupt. And so, you know, if we recognize certain things about our nature, it's not that we're repenting of certain directly just specified sins that we could easily identify, you know, but we're repenting of attitudes, of outlooks that are in hostility toward God. But the first point I make is simply that is we're properly baptized. That begins a spiritual transformation. It begins a conversion. Let's go to Romans chapter 6.

Romans chapter 6. Now, if baptism begins, our transformation, when does it end? Well, it's still ongoing. We're all in process. We're all yet to fully complete the process of spiritual development.

But here in Romans chapter 6, you see Paul, you know, talking about this incredible, pivotal point in our lives when we were baptized. And he says in chapter 6, verse 1, he says, what should we say? Should we continue in sin just so that grace can abound?

You know, is there anything we need to do once we're baptized, once we're forgiven, once we are given God's gift? Well, obviously, he says there is. But we continue, then, a struggle against sin.

And yet, he says, should we continue in sin just so that we, the grace that we have come to receive from God, you know, we know that that will, it involves forgiveness, it involves our change. He answers that question, should we continue in sin just so that grace can abound? He says, absolutely not. In verse 2, he says, we can't continue in sin. We've got to be fighting that. We've got to be changing that. How can we who died to sin go on living in sin?

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? See, here he's describing not a pouring, not a sprinkling, but an immersion in a watery grave where we are fully covered. And if we are not brought up out of the water, then we are dead. That's the symbolism of baptism, water baptism and immersion. And so he says, don't you know that we've been baptized in his death or in a similar manner as his death? Therefore, we have been buried in verse 4 with him by baptism into death. That was what our baptism was. That was a death of our old self, the death of our old man. We've been buried with him by baptism into death so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father so that we might also walk in a newness of life. See, whenever I say baptism is a pivotal point, that's what I'm talking about.

You know, we were saying, you know, that we needed to be forgiven. We needed God. We needed his help. And he says, I'm willing to give it. I'm willing to give you the help that you need if you seek that from me. And he goes ahead to say in verse 5, if we've been united with him in death like his, then we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection. See, Jesus was resurrected three days, three nights after he had been put into the tomb. That was a period of time that he had specified even earlier in Jonah's day. And he said, that's the sign that I'm going to give after I was put into the grave. I was three days and three nights later going to rise from the dead. I was going to be resurrected to eternal life. And so it says in verse 6, we know that our old self, our old man, was crucified with Christ, with him, so that the body of sin might be destroyed and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. See, verse 6 actually just says where we were before we were baptized. We were enslaved to sin. And we, he goes, it elaborates on this more in the latter part of Romans 6. We're not going to go there, but you know, it very clearly says we were enslaved to sin and he released us. See, that was a part of what Jesus said he was coming to do. He's coming to release those who are held captive. He's coming to proclaim liberty and freedom. Now, is that free to disregard the law? No, that's freedom to be away from sin. For whoever, in verse 7, died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will live with him. And we know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died once, once for all of us. The life he lives, he lives to God. To hear he points out, Paul describes how incredible, how remarkable, how uplifting. Now we're all awake. How uplifting is what Jesus did when he died for all, when he was willing to die.

And he says so, then in verse 11, you also must consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ. Okay, he's putting us in a new category. We had been enslaved to sin. And now, after we're baptized, after we're initially forgiven, after we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, well, then we're in a different category. He later says in the latter part of Romans that, well, you become enslaved to righteousness. We become a servant of righteousness. We become a servant of Jesus Christ. And so, you know, that's why I say that baptism, and again, proper baptism is baptism that is a pivotal point in our life.

And maybe it is the most important. I guess you could say, you know, there are several covenants that we might make in life. We might make a covenant of marriage, a man and a woman married and united by God in marriage. You know, that's a covenant. That's agreement. Let's see, a more important covenant of higher significance is a covenant that we made with God.

When we were repentant of our sins, we were asking for forgiveness, we were asking for the gift of the Holy Spirit, and that began that transformation that, you know, God is able to bring about in our lives. I think all of us should be able, you know, to think back on our baptism. And again, we should understand more today than we did then. We clearly should have more awareness today than we would have in the past. That doesn't negate, you know, what we really were doing in giving our life to God. The second point I want to make is one that you see written about here in the book of Acts. And of course, the book of Acts is, you know, a history of the New Testament church, the initial years, the beginning, and then, you know, the years following. And here in the book of Acts, chapter 2, you know, we know and go through this commonly with Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost and telling people that they just killed Jesus Christ. He was telling, for the most part, the Jewish people who realized, yeah, we were the instigators. We were involved.

And he says in verse 36, therefore, let the entire house of Israel know that certainly that God has made him, both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus, who you crucified. See, they were being shown, you know, that, well, you're the ones who were wrong. And down in verse 37, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart. And they said to Peter, men and brethren, what should we do?

You know, they were, they were in a sense being prepared by repentance to receive what Peter would say, and he would say, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ with remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift that God wants to give you, the gift that God will empower you with to be the children of God, to have a spiritual mind.

See, many times we might read 1 Corinthians 2, and it talks about the natural mind of man.

And that is an incredible blessing in itself, blessing in itself. It's far different than any other species on earth, far different than any other kind. And yet it points out that, well, you know, that's really not even good enough. That's good, but all we know are the things of men.

And in order to know the things of God, we have to be a recipient of the Holy Spirit. We have to be blessed with the igniting of that Holy Spirit with our spirit in man that will enable us to be a new creation. And that's an incredible blessing to, again, think back on, and, you know, be able to continue our progress. Because, you know, we have often decades, maybe many decades, to continue to grow. But here in Acts 2, you see the response to what Peter would say. Verse 40, he testified from many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, save yourself from this corrupt generation. You know, I don't know that we focus on that verse very much. It's probably a little bit different in the New King James. But it says he pleaded, with the people who were there, they were coming to him and seemingly realizing their sins.

And yet it says, this almost says to me what we were doing on last Sunday afternoon, pleading with people, understand the value of this invitation. Understand how incredible it is that God is willing to forgive your sins. He testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, save yourself from this corrupt generation. See, you know, that we're going nowhere here. That's clearly where they were, as where all of us were, you know, prior to our baptism. But it goes on to say, those who welcomed, who received his message, were baptized. See, they started, they followed through on what it was that had been offered.

And that day, about 3,000 people were added. God added those people by not only forgiving them, but by granting them the gift of the Holy Spirit. And it says, they went ahead in describing the new converts at that point. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and of prayer.

See, that's what they started a process at baptism. They started a development. They started, you know, no longer being enslaved to sin, being slaves of righteousness, and yet they still needed to be taught. You know, there was more information that they needed. They may not have had everything right then, but there was certainly more that they were going to learn. They would devote themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship with one another. That's why we want to come together every Sabbath. That's why we want to share with one another. The truth and Word of God, and eating together and praying together. This is what, you know, it says that the church was doing. I'd like for us to jump over to, you see other examples, and I'm not going to even try to go to very many of them. I will go to chapter 8 because, you know, you see two examples in the book of Acts. One of them is in chapter 19, which we won't take time to read. It's an example where Paul came to Ephesus, I believe. I'd better look at it.

Yeah, he was in Corinth. He went to Ephesus in chapter 19, verse 1 and 2. And he came upon people who had been baptized, and he asked them, do you have the Holy Spirit? This is Acts 19, verses 1 and 2. I guess we'd better go to it since I already mentioned it. Must be inspired. We're going to go to chapter 19. While Paulus was in Corinth, Paul passed through. The region came to Ephesus. He found some disciples that said, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers? And they said, well, no.

We've not even heard if there is a Holy Spirit. Obviously, you know, they had some information. They were learning a little bit about God, about Jesus, about John the Baptist, apparently.

And so he said to them, well, into what were you baptized? And they answered, well, we were baptized by John the Baptist, or we were baptized in John's baptism. Paul said, well, John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him. That is, to believe in Jesus Christ. And so on hearing this, they were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. And as Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them.

And in this case, they spoke in tongues and prophesied. And altogether, there were 12 of them. There were 12 people who needed to be rebaptized. If they thought that their baptism by John the Baptist was all it needed to do, well, that isn't the case. That's what Paul said. He said, well, you've begun understanding the process, but there's more to it than that. And so receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit through, in this case, the authorized personnel from God, in this case Paul, that was how they were going to receive, through the laying on of hands, the gift from God of the Holy Spirit. If we back up to chapter 8, which is where I started to go, you see a similar account, and yet even maybe a more poignant account, because this is one of Philip going to Samaria and starting to teach people here in Acts chapter 8 verse 4, you know, the brethren were scattered from place to place, and yet they proclaimed the word of God. And Philip went down to the city of Samaria, proclaimed the Messiah to them, and the crowds would one accord listen eagerly to what he had to say, hearing, and seeing the signs that he did, because unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed, many others who were paralyzed or lame were healed, so there was great joy in the city. Now clearly God was doing some miracles to help people recognize the authenticity of who Philip was. You know, they didn't know Philip from someone else, but they could clearly see that God's power was with him. And it even describes a guy named Simon. We know him as Simon Magus. He was a magician there in Samaria. A certain man named Simon had previously practiced magic in the city of Samaria, and he amazed the people, claiming that he was something great. You know, here's a problem. It's going to be exaggerated by his lack of repentance. This is something you receive throughout the rest of this chapter, almost, or at least the next section down to about verse 25. It says, all of them, verse 10, from the least of the greatest listened to him eagerly, saying, this man is the power of God that is called great. They listened eagerly to him because for a long time they had been amazed by his magic. See, Simon was deceiving the crowds. Philip was genuine. Philip was a servant from God. But Simon was deceiving the crowds. He was a sorcerer, and yet he claimed to be great, and he claimed to represent God. And yet it says, verse 12, but when they believed Philip, who was proclaiming the gospel, the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, there are some specifics that we want to always keep in mind. The message of the gospel is about the kingdom of God, and it's about Jesus Christ, the King of the kingdom. We relate to that kingdom. As Gary said in our program on Sunday, this past Sunday, you can see the kingdoms of men all over the place, all over the map, and do different political parties in different countries vying for authority or for power. And yet, ultimately, the only power that's really going to solve problems is the kingdom of God. The coming of Jesus Christ to the earth and the establishment of that kingdom, that's where our hope is. And if we were going to be describing ourselves, he said, he described himself as a theocrat because he believes in the kingdom of God. He believes in not only the coming of Jesus, but the authority that Jesus will use as he comes.

But it says, Philip proclaimed the gospel, and many of the people, they were baptized, both men and women. They were not baptizing children. They were baptizing those who could make a decision, a sound decision. And even in verse 13, Simon himself believed. And after being baptized, he stayed constantly with Philip when he saw the signs and miracles that took place.

You know, here's Simon's. He's smelling a potential moneymaker. That's what he was doing. In verse 14, when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John. And so here, Philip had gone and proclaimed the message. He had actually even seen that people had come to repentance. He had baptized them. But he was not authorized to extend to them the Holy Spirit. So obviously, Peter and John were representatives of Jesus Christ. The two went down in verse 15 and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet, the Spirit had not come upon any of them. They had only been baptized in the name of Jesus. Again, different aspects of what surely all of us knew to some degree whenever we were baptized. And says in verse 17, Peter and John laid their hands on them. They received the Holy Spirit. And clearly, that section, verse 14 to 17, is one that points out the need to not only properly be baptized by immersion, but to have that followed up with laying on of hands by authorized personnel, to be able to be a recipient of the Holy Spirit. And yet, of course, we go on in verse 18 when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of hands of the apostles, he offered them money. So obviously, his heart was not right. His intent was glaringly wrong. He was not only deceiving himself, but he was deceiving many other people that he wanted to have them follow him. And he said to the disciples, verse 19, give me this power so that anyone who I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.

And of course, Peter had to tell him, you know, your attitude stinks. You are not right before God. He says, may your silver perish with you because you are thinking that you can obtain the gift of God with money. And you can buy this gift. He says, you can't do that. There are a lot of different things perhaps that are a part of this section.

He says, you have no part in sharing this for your heart is not right before God. And so Peter, you know, he was having to point out something that maybe was pretty obvious to John and maybe others. And yet, you know, he told him, you need to repent of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven. For I see you're in the gall of bitterness and the chains of iniquity.

He says, you are completely wrong. You have nothing to do with the Church of God. You have nothing to do with the authority that God puts in his Church. And so, you know, you find a lot of, I think, information here in that section that allows us to realize the extent of the importance of what God began to do in our lives when we were baptized and as we then continue to strive to obey God.

Now, even though we've seen that, well, we were taken from being enslaved to sin, to be enslaved to righteousness, did the old man just die and go away and we never had another problem? Obviously not. You know, we continue to struggle against sin. We continue. But see, if our heart is involved in struggling against sin, well, then we're not anywhere near what you see described here by Simon Magus.

You know, his outlook on it, you know, it even says, the intent of your heart. It wasn't just his actions. You know, that would have been clear enough. His actions was trying to bribe them to give him the Holy Spirit or give him the power. But Peter said, even the intent of your heart is wrong. See, we can think about what was the intent of our heart. You know, I was, as I was baptized, I was clean and I was pure and I was completely forgiven for a very short time and truly sin later that day, the next day, you know, in thought or in heart.

But my desire was to clearly be yielded to God, clearly be committed to the devotion, the commitment, the way of life, the desire to learn, the desire to grow, to be taught, to be yielded. And as, of course, Jesus' perfect example is, it's not my will, but your will be done. See, I'm sure in most cases we're probably told some of those same things. And yet, you know, we can think about how important it is that God began that transfer.

And the last thing I'll mention is just in here in the book of Luke, you see a couple of different statements, Luke chapter 9. Luke was recording what Jesus said about those who would follow Him, those who would be as disciples.

Luke 9 verse 57, there are several people coming to Him, and He tells them, you need to follow Me. And, of course, they made several excuses why they couldn't do that, why that's not the highest priority in our lives. And Jesus follows that in Luke 9.62.

He said, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. So He's making quite a point that, you know, we want to be, as we're baptized, we want to be committed, we want to be devoted, we want to be, and He emphasizes this moreover here in chapter 14, where He talks about the cost, the cost of being a disciple of Jesus.

Verse 25, large crowds were traveling with Him, and He turned and He said to them, whoever comes to Me and does not love less in comparison, does not hate His father and mother, or His wife and children, or brothers and sisters, yes, and even His own life, He cannot be My disciple. He says, I have to be the very first one in your life. Not your parents, not your children, not your wife or husband, not others that may be of importance, even your own life.

I have got to be more important than your own life. Whoever does not, in verse 27, carry his own cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple. We're going to have burdens to bear, but with a commitment to God and with a desire to please God, to worship God, to draw close to God, to commune with God, that's what we do in prayer. That's what we do as we pray, as we study, as we meet together in a church service. We have a desire to please God, and certainly, you know, as we examine ourselves, you know, we can think back about the pivotal change that God made in our life in baptism.

I was putting the old man aside, rising into a new way of life, and then following through on the commitments that we make. Now, things often change.

Things often change in our lives. You know, we have different health issues. I do different health issues than I had when I was 20 or 25 or 30 or 35 or 40 or 45, because I've had tremendously blessed life. I've had a great deal of good health. I've had a few setbacks, and yet, you know, things often change. You don't know what that's going to be. You don't know what you're going to be allowed to go through, but see, that shouldn't change our commitment. That commitment still needs to be sound. It still needs to be putting Jesus Christ first before everything else.

And, of course, we can have great confidence that God is working in our lives.

See, I see in your life, in your eyes, in your actions, in your words, you know, the love of God growing. See, that's what we all want. That's what we all need.

We might describe that in even more elaborate terms, but that's pretty much what needs to happen.

And yet, if we look here in 1 John, and we'll close with this information here in 1 John, 1 John was written by John later in the first century, later in his life. I think he was writing these small letters as he was an aged apostle and most of the rest of them had died, and he was still left. And he would ultimately then be given a revelation from Jesus Christ that he would write down and would be the last book of our New Testament. See, John had to write about some of the things they were facing. He says people were moving away from the law. Can't do that. You know, that's got to be a primary thing that you understand. You need to grow in the love of God. That's clearly what he writes about in each of these little letters. But he says here in 1 John, chapter 1, verse 7, if we walk in the light as he himself, as Jesus, is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his Son cleanses us from our sins. See, that's an ongoing walk with God. Now, clearly, this is not describing sinlessness. It's not describing what we may say is perfection.

He's really describing maturity, growing up as a Christian.

He says in verse 8, if we say we have no sin, then we're deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. So we've got to recognize that our sins, even though we work on them, even though we struggle with them, we're not pure as yet. But he says if we confess our sins, and this is what we have to do, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's what he tells us. We can have confidence in that because, you know, as he writes throughout this whole book, and I want to go over to chapter 5 here as we conclude, you know, John is encouraging the church members who were struggling against sin. They were facing other opposition politically. They were facing other deceptions as far as certain philosophies that were infiltrating the church.

He knew what people were facing there in his time and, of course, the same things were facing these things today. But he says here in chapter 5, verse 13, I write these things to you who believe in the name and the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. He says that's where baptism leads.

Baptism as a pivotal transition point in our life leads to eternal life.

Verse 14, this is the boldness we have in him. If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. He says that we need to have faith in God in our prayers. If we're asking God for help, if we're beseeching him in a heartfelt manner, then he is not going to turn away. He's going to help us.

And, of course, he says in verse 18, we know that those who were born of God did not sin. We're not wanting to practice sin. That's what this is referring to.

But the ones who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them. We know, in verse 19, that we are God's children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one.

This is, again, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of God by simply saying that God's purpose is to establish his kingdom and grow his family. And we understand that the ruler of this world is going to rule until he's deposed. He says we know we're the children of God, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one, and we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true, and that we are in him who is true in his son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God, and he is eternal life. He's the source of eternal life.

And so, some incredible promises and encouragement that God gives to us. But he started all of that by showing us that we needed to be baptized. We needed to repent, but we needed to be immersed. We needed to put to death the old man, and we needed to allow the new man to grow, the new woman to grow in the divine nature.

And so, as we think about the upcoming holy days as we analyze, assess ourselves, we want to be encouraged. There's reason to be encouraged. Sometimes we can be discouraged, and yet there's reason to be encouraged, at least from these final verses we're reading. If we simply acknowledge our sins, God is ready and willing to cover us, cleanse us with the blood of Jesus Christ. But he wants us to be involved. He wants us to be engaged. He wants us to be committed in our prayers, and he'll make up the difference. And as we have him providing that strength, then we really have nothing to fear.