Baptism Training - Part Two
What Do followers Of Christ Believe?
• GOD'S GIFTS
God’s greatest gift to us is the gift of Jesus Christ. Through Christ and His sacrifice for us on the cross, we have forgiveness, grace, mercy, and a new nature. If God never gave you anything else, this would be more than enough. If you are at a place where you believe that, then there is a response, but we will dive into
that in the final section. To help you better understand what this means for you, let’s talk briefly about each one of these things.
• Forgiveness
Forgiveness comes to us through repentance of our sin.
Repentance doesn’t just mean that we say sorry and move on, but that we confess our sin to God, turn away from that sin and back towards Him. Forgiveness also comes to us through the shedding of blood. In the Old Testament, this was done by the people offering their animals as sacrifices.Hebrews 9:22 says that “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.â€
Ultimately, God chose to send Jesus to be the final and ultimate sacrifice to cover every sin of every person that believes in His name forever. Jesus said inMatthew 26:28 that his blood would be “poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins†and when God forgives our sins, He wipes our slate clean. Psalm 103: 12 says that God removes our sin and casts it as far away as the East is from the West.
• Grace
This is receiving what we don’t deserve. Grace, through faith in Jesus, is what brings salvation. Without Christ there is no grace and without grace there is no salvation.
Romans 3:24 says that we are justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Grace cannot be earned, but
is a gift from God so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). If grace was earned by works, it would no longer be grace (Romans 11:6).
• Mercy
Mercy is not getting what we do deserve. It is defined as compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.
Titus 3:5 says God “saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.â€
We didn’t do anything to earn salvation. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Our actions and lives prior to knowing Christ made us deserving of punishment. But God who is rich in mercy “has given us new birth (a second chance at life) into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.â€
We see God’s mercy often throughout our everyday life. Anytime we do something wrong, and don’t suffer the consequences that we could have suffered, it is because God showed mercy.
Have you ever prayed, after really messing up, something to the effect of “God, if you get me out of this, I’ll never do it again?†Sometimes He says yes, trusting that we’ve learned our lesson without having to suffer major consequences. Sometimes He answers no though and allows those consequences to take place. Just like any good parent, He knows when to show mercy and when to let us learn the hard way.
• A New Nature
This is something we don’t hear much, but is crucial to being able to resist temptation and knowing who we are in Christ. The reason this is so important is that it blows up the lie that there is sin in our lives that we can’t escape. This is a lie that the devil uses in an attempt to defeat our ability to fight temptation when it
comes our way.
2 Peter 1:3-4 says:
God’s “divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them we might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.â€
Partakers of the divine nature! God knew that we could not live the life that He calls us to live with our sinful nature still intact.
2 Peter 2:22 refers to a proverb that says “a pig, after being washed, returns to wallow in the mud.†You can wash a pig, but at the end of the day it’s still a pig and it’s going to do the things pigs do. So often people go to church, wash off the mud (sin) that they wallowed around in all week, so that they can feel clean and good, and then walk out the doors and go right back to wallow in the same mud again. The reason is because their nature hasn’t changed. When we decide to follow Jesus and put our faith in Him, we are trading in our sinful nature for a piece of God’s divine nature. The nature that we need, if we are going to be unwaivered in our faith.
In 2 Peter 1:5-11 Peter goes on to give a list of characteristics and qualities that we are to use to grow our faith and to keep us from being ineffective.
•Our Response
So now that we know who God is, who we were before we met Christ, and what God has made available to us – how are we to respond? To answer this question let’s start with John 3:16, which is probably the most well-known verse in all of scripture.
“For God so loved that world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.â€
You’ve probably heard this verse before. You might have it memorized. You might even know verse 17 that says:
“for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.â€
These words were spoken by Jesus himself. Did you know that His statement didn’t end with verse 17? The end quote is actually at the end of verse 21. In verses 18-21, Jesus defines what He meant when he says “whoever believes.†Here is His full statement with some key words highlighted:
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light (Jesus) has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.â€
Jesus is saying that God will judge whether or not we “believe†based on how we live. God’s grace is a free gift for anyone willing to accept it, through faith in Jesus Christ, and our faith is made evident by our obedience to God and not just by saying we believe or going to church. James 2:14-26 gives some practical examples and shows us that at the end of the day “for as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.†Jesus said in Luke 6:46 “why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you?†And again in Matthew 7:21 Jesus says “not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven.â€
Pause here and watch this short, practical illustration:
• GOD'S GIFTS
God’s greatest gift to us is the gift of Jesus Christ. Through Christ and His sacrifice for us on the cross, we have forgiveness, grace, mercy, and a new nature. If God never gave you anything else, this would be more than enough. If you are at a place where you believe that, then there is a response, but we will dive into
that in the final section. To help you better understand what this means for you, let’s talk briefly about each one of these things.
• Forgiveness
Forgiveness comes to us through repentance of our sin.
Repentance doesn’t just mean that we say sorry and move on, but that we confess our sin to God, turn away from that sin and back towards Him. Forgiveness also comes to us through the shedding of blood. In the Old Testament, this was done by the people offering their animals as sacrifices.Hebrews 9:22 says that “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.â€
Ultimately, God chose to send Jesus to be the final and ultimate sacrifice to cover every sin of every person that believes in His name forever. Jesus said inMatthew 26:28 that his blood would be “poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins†and when God forgives our sins, He wipes our slate clean. Psalm 103: 12 says that God removes our sin and casts it as far away as the East is from the West.
• Grace
This is receiving what we don’t deserve. Grace, through faith in Jesus, is what brings salvation. Without Christ there is no grace and without grace there is no salvation.
Romans 3:24 says that we are justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Grace cannot be earned, but
is a gift from God so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). If grace was earned by works, it would no longer be grace (Romans 11:6).
• Mercy
Mercy is not getting what we do deserve. It is defined as compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.
Titus 3:5 says God “saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.â€
We didn’t do anything to earn salvation. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Our actions and lives prior to knowing Christ made us deserving of punishment. But God who is rich in mercy “has given us new birth (a second chance at life) into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.â€
We see God’s mercy often throughout our everyday life. Anytime we do something wrong, and don’t suffer the consequences that we could have suffered, it is because God showed mercy.
Have you ever prayed, after really messing up, something to the effect of “God, if you get me out of this, I’ll never do it again?†Sometimes He says yes, trusting that we’ve learned our lesson without having to suffer major consequences. Sometimes He answers no though and allows those consequences to take place. Just like any good parent, He knows when to show mercy and when to let us learn the hard way.
• A New Nature
This is something we don’t hear much, but is crucial to being able to resist temptation and knowing who we are in Christ. The reason this is so important is that it blows up the lie that there is sin in our lives that we can’t escape. This is a lie that the devil uses in an attempt to defeat our ability to fight temptation when it
comes our way.
2 Peter 1:3-4 says:
God’s “divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them we might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.â€
Partakers of the divine nature! God knew that we could not live the life that He calls us to live with our sinful nature still intact.
2 Peter 2:22 refers to a proverb that says “a pig, after being washed, returns to wallow in the mud.†You can wash a pig, but at the end of the day it’s still a pig and it’s going to do the things pigs do. So often people go to church, wash off the mud (sin) that they wallowed around in all week, so that they can feel clean and good, and then walk out the doors and go right back to wallow in the same mud again. The reason is because their nature hasn’t changed. When we decide to follow Jesus and put our faith in Him, we are trading in our sinful nature for a piece of God’s divine nature. The nature that we need, if we are going to be unwaivered in our faith.
In 2 Peter 1:5-11 Peter goes on to give a list of characteristics and qualities that we are to use to grow our faith and to keep us from being ineffective.
•Our Response
So now that we know who God is, who we were before we met Christ, and what God has made available to us – how are we to respond? To answer this question let’s start with John 3:16, which is probably the most well-known verse in all of scripture.
“For God so loved that world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.â€
You’ve probably heard this verse before. You might have it memorized. You might even know verse 17 that says:
“for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.â€
These words were spoken by Jesus himself. Did you know that His statement didn’t end with verse 17? The end quote is actually at the end of verse 21. In verses 18-21, Jesus defines what He meant when he says “whoever believes.†Here is His full statement with some key words highlighted:
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light (Jesus) has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.â€
Jesus is saying that God will judge whether or not we “believe†based on how we live. God’s grace is a free gift for anyone willing to accept it, through faith in Jesus Christ, and our faith is made evident by our obedience to God and not just by saying we believe or going to church. James 2:14-26 gives some practical examples and shows us that at the end of the day “for as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.†Jesus said in Luke 6:46 “why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you?†And again in Matthew 7:21 Jesus says “not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven.â€
Pause here and watch this short, practical illustration:
• So what is God’s will and how are you supposed to live?
In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus leaves His final instructions for us as believers to go into the world and make disciples. This means that we are to share the good news of what God has done in our lives with the people around us, who don’t know Him. This doesn’t require becoming a missionary or working at a church. It simply requires sharing with the people around you.
No matter your age, where you live, or where you work, there are people all around that need to hear about how great God is. You have to know that God has you right where He wants you to be to share that message.
To answer how we should live day-to-day, we go to Jesus’ answer when asked what the greatest commandment is. In Matthew 22:36-40, He says:
“You must love the Lord your God with all our heart, all your soul, and all your mind. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.â€
That means that each day we need to ask ourselves two questions:
1. Did I show God that I love him?
2. Did I love others?
Congratulations, you’re almost finished with your baptism training!
In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus leaves His final instructions for us as believers to go into the world and make disciples. This means that we are to share the good news of what God has done in our lives with the people around us, who don’t know Him. This doesn’t require becoming a missionary or working at a church. It simply requires sharing with the people around you.
No matter your age, where you live, or where you work, there are people all around that need to hear about how great God is. You have to know that God has you right where He wants you to be to share that message.
To answer how we should live day-to-day, we go to Jesus’ answer when asked what the greatest commandment is. In Matthew 22:36-40, He says:
“You must love the Lord your God with all our heart, all your soul, and all your mind. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.â€
That means that each day we need to ask ourselves two questions:
1. Did I show God that I love him?
2. Did I love others?
Congratulations, you’re almost finished with your baptism training!