What Does the Bible Say About Why Am I A Member of the Church of Christ #5?

In this episode, we continue to discuss why am I a member of the Church of Christ by looking at more passages that mention baptism as well as repentance and confession. Glenn noted what Mark said in chapter 16 and pointed out that to understand what he said is as simple as reading the passage. Luke recorded what Jesus said about repentance and Fred noted that. Eric read what Philip said when an angel sent him to talk with the Ethiopian eunuch who was reading what Isaiah wrote in chapter 53. Philip began, as Acts 8 says, at the same scripture and preached Jesus to him. Eric points out the specific actions the eunuch was told to do. Arnie takes us to the record of what Ananias told Paul he must do after he spent 3 days blind in Damascus and reminds us of what the record says baptism does. Glenn takes us to Acts 19 where we have an instance where 12 men who had been baptized by John were instructed by Paul as to why they needed to be rebaptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Fred looks at what Peter said when he compared Noah and his family being saved by water and how that relates to baptism. We continue on to notice that Paul told the Galatians how one gets in Christ. Paul explains how baptism and circumcision are related, and Eric looks at what Paul wrote about that. We discuss how baptism is a reenactment of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus as Paul explains it in Romans chapter 6. Glenn discusses our need to be faithful until we die as Jesus said in Revelation chapter 2. He notes that John gave us the guidance on how we can accomplish this in First John chapter 1. We close this episode out by pointing out that these Bible verses that we have been discussing are God's words and His commandments that He has provided us in written form for us to follow. And by obeying His words, we will be saved and added to His Church by Him. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.

Transcript

Fred Gosnell: 0:00

This is a presentation of the Woodland church of Christ meeting at 3370 Broad Street in Sumter South Carolina. We meet for worship at ten thirty am and five thirty pm. We meet for bible study at nine thirty am on Sunday and seven pm on Wednesday. If you have questions or comments on this lesson, you may email them to Arnie Granke at agranke440718@twc.com or to Glenn Landrum at scbamaboy2003@yahoo.com or to Eric McClam at ericmcclam50@outlook.com or to Fred Gosnell at fgosnell@ftc- i.net

Arnie: 0:56

Good afternoon. This is Arnie Granke and Fred and Glenn and Eric are with me here. We're from to the church of Christ at Woodland in Sumter, South Carolina, and this is what does the Bible say? And we're looking at a number of things that are of interest to you. If you're interested in learning the gospel, we've got some things that we want to show you and tell you about in in this little next half hour. And we hope that if you happen to be in the Sumter area, whether you're at Shaw Air Force Base, maybe on a PCS or a TDY there, we would certainly encourage you to drop by. We're just up the street, about two miles from from Shaw Air Force Base. And of course, if you live in that the area of Sumter, South Carolina, we certainly would welcome you as as well. I think we talked about Mark chapter 16 as a kind of a thought that we'd like to start

Glenn: 2:09

Well, I think that's the next place we'll go. What we've with. Glenn. talked about so far last last week was we're talking about the marks that matter in identifying the Lord's church, or the church that belongs to Jesus. And when we say marks that matter, we're talking about, how do we identify the church, the church that Jesus built? We talked about first that that a person would have to hear the gospel, and the gospel is that Jesus came to this earth. Yeah, he had been been with God, and was God prior to coming. He came to the earth, gave His life, died for us, was buried and was raised to live again. And many people were witnesses of that. So when someone hears the gospel, they they hear what they need to, need to do, and those are the things we're looking at. The first thing we we mentioned was, was believe, and that's where we still are, is over talking about believing. So a person would have to hear and then they would believe. We covered a few scriptures before about believing, and the next one is Mark 16, 15, and 16, And he said to them, that's Jesus, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. Mark had recorded that when someone heard the gospel, believed and was baptized, he or she would be saved. Some try to say that this passage does not mean that baptism is required for salvation, but it is as simple as it reads. It says there are two things equally important in this passage. One is believing and the other is being baptized.

Fred Gosnell: 4:08

Well, and you know Luke, Jesus was was speaking in Luke. Luke records it in Luke 13, verse three, and he says, there to these people. He says, I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. So Luke, Luke recorded what Jesus said. Makes it crystal, crystal clear that one must repent of their sins, turn away from them, change their behavior, in order to be saved. Of course, they have to hear, as Glenn pointed out, they have to believe based upon their belief. They have to be immersed or be baptized. But then repentance is necessary as well. Of course, saved is the opposite of perishing, so he said. You need to repent, or you'll, you will likewise parish. As a matter of fact, he said the same thing there, there in Luke 13, verse five. So he emphasized that So an individual can't decide. Well, you know, I believe and I think I'll be baptized, but then I think I'll continue to do what I want to do. Well, that's not, that's that's not going to be acceptable to the Lord. Repentance is necessary. You have to change, change your behavior, change your thinking. I'm not going to think that I can do whatever I want to do anymore. I'm going to repent of those sins. I'm going to turn and obey the Lord.

Eric: 5:38

You know, when it comes to how to become a Christian. You know, in the next passage we about to read it, the formula is right there, when we have to hear, believe, repent, confess and be baptized. If you go to Acts, chapter eight, verses 26 to 38 it says, Now, an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, Arise and go towards the south along the road which goes from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is desert. So he arose and went, and behold a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge all her treasury and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah, the prophet. The Spirit said to Philip, go near and overtake this chariot. So Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. And said, Do you understand what you are reading? And he said, How can I unless someone guide me? And he asked Philip to come and sit with him. The place in the Scriptures where he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before his shear, was silent, so he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation, His justice was taken away, and who will declare his generation? For his life is taken from the earth. So the eunuch answered Philip and said, I ask you, of whom does this prophet say this of himself, or some other man? And then Philip said, Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at the Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, See, here is water. What hinders me to be baptized. Then Philip said, If you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So he commanded the chariot to stand still, both Philip and the eunuch went down in the water, and he baptized him. We have included more of this passage that is absolutely necessary, so that you get the whole picture of what happened in this account, Philip was one of was one was who full of the Holy Spirit. And he was called by an angel of the Lord to go south from Jerusalem to meet the Ethiopian eunuch. He was an important person in the service of the Queen of Candace of Ethiopia. He had been to Jerusalem to worship. Therefore he must have been a proselyte Jew. He was reading from Isaiah 53 which is the prophecy of Jesus. He did not understand. So he asked Philip when Philip had joined him in the chariot. It tells that Philip preached to him Jesus. Therefore we know that Philip taught the unit the gospel, and it is evident that Philip taught him what he needed to do to be saved, because when they came to some water, the eunuch asks what would prevent him from being baptized. Philip told him, If you believe with all your heart, you may. Notice the confession the eunuch made. This is the confession we all should make after believing the Gospel of Christ. At this point, Philip went down to the water, into the water with the eunuch and baptized him. Note, here it only implies that the eunuch heard, although it was obvious that he did. It didn't, it doesn't mention repentance. But from the example of acts 2, 38 when Peter and the apostles baptized the 3000 plus, the word they used mentioned that was the bapti, but baptism was for remission of sin. This was the example we find in God's word. Therefore we can assume that Philip used these same words.

Arnie: 9:48

So we've seen three passages that mentioned baptism being something people in the first century were told to do in order to be nsaved. Those passages we just looked at are Mark 16, 16, Acts 2, 38, and Acts 8, 38, as well. So let's, let's go to Acts chapter 22, and and verse 16. There a disciple by the name of Ananias was speaking to Paul. He asked Paul, who was then known as Saul of Tarsus. He said, Now why are you waiting Arise and be baptized; By the way, the word baptized doesn't mean sprinkled or poured or anything of that, of that sort. It's immersed. So arise and be immersed and wash away your sins calling on the name of the Lord. Paul or Saul had been on the road to Damascus. He was persecuting Jews, when Jesus appeared to him, uh, blinded him and told him to go to Damascus and meet Ananias, where he would be told what he needed to do. The men Paul, the men Paul was with took him to Damascus. Paul met up with Ananias. He told the story of meeting Jesus, and Ananias told him that God had chosen him, chosen Paul, to preach the truth to all men, that would indicate it wasn't just Jews but but Jews and Gentiles as well. So this passage cited is, is the statement that Ananias then said to Paul, so take some close attention to it. It tells when sins would be washed away. When Paul was baptized. Peter in Acts, chapter two, verse 38 had said that baptism was for the remission of sins, or for the forgiveness of of sins, and here Ananias confirms that. So we've got a number of passages of Scripture that tell us that that that's a necessity. We can't just kind of make up whatever we'd like to as, as being what we need to do in order to be saved. And we want to be careful about who we ask about that as as well. The best piece of advice is follow what the Bible says.

Glenn: 12:47

So what indeed we're showing you in the Bible, what, what it says. Two things we talked about concerning these things, these, these marks that that matter, these, are things that one would do in order to get into the church. You remember, we talked about Jesus adding those to to the church who were being saved. So this is, this is one of those things, He's adding those to the church, those that are being saved. And one of these things is baptism part of what needs to be done. We have another example. We've now seen four scriptures that mention a baptism. Well, Acts 19, one through seven is another one. And this, this is an important passage, because it talks about some, some people in in Ephesus who had not been baptized, as we've been talking about in the name of Jesus Christ, they had been baptized under John the Baptist's baptism. So listen to it, Acts 19, one through seven. And it happened while Apollos was at Corinth that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus and finding some disciples. And he said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? So they said to him, We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit. And he said to them, into what were you baptized? And so they said, into John's baptism. Then Paul said, John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should be believe on Him who would come after him that is on Jesus Christ. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Now the men who were about 12 in all. So these 12 men, when Paul told them the truth about baptism, that they needed to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ in order to be saved, they did exactly that. They didn't wait. They, they did exactly that.

Fred Gosnell: 15:17

Well, Peter made a statement in in First Peter, chapter three, verse 21 and he begins there. In verse 21 he says, There is also an anti type which would now saves us baptism, not the removal of filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So in this passage, the previous passage we didn't read, Peter was discussing Noah and his family and how they were saved. But he says, specifically, he says, baptism doth also now save us. And then, if you look at the previous verses, of course, you'll see that Peter through the Holy Spirit again, he makes a comparison of Noah and his family being saved by water to the ones submitting to Christ being baptized and being saved. Of course, Noah and his family were saved by the water that floated the ark that he prepared, that God had commanded him to to do so. So now, in like matter, the water now will save us. Baptism, that we were baptized into that water, we will be saved. Of course, there are other passages that tell us what it is that saves us. In this passage says the water, and a lot of people will argue against that, but that's not what Peter says. Peter says, baptism doth also now save us.

Eric: 16:48

You know, in Galatians chapter three, verses 26 and 27 it says, For you are sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for as many of you were baptized into Christ. Have put on Christ. This is very interesting. In order to get in Christ, one must be baptized to get into Christ. Is getting into his body, the church. Also in Colossians chapter two start with verse nine, going to third, to verse 13. It says, For in him dwell all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in Him who is the head of all principalities and power. In Him, you will also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by circumcision of Christ, Buried with him in baptism, in which he also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead, and you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him having forgiveness, forgiving you all trespass. This is a very interesting passage which contains information about baptism. The first important part is the first phrase that says that Christ is fully God, yet he was in bodily form. Next, he is talking about circumcision, not physical circumcision. This is circumcision without the hands. It is a circumcision of putting off the old body of sins of the flesh, also referring to circumcision of the heart. How did that come about? Through baptism. By being baptized, their old man has died dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of the flesh. From baptism, they are made alive after dying with Christ, and their sins were forgiven.

Arnie: 19:00

That that's really interesting, Eric, what you what you just read about there. Let me take us to Romans, chapter six and and verse we'll begin in verse three. And Paul writes to the Romans. He says, Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ. Jesus were baptized into his death. Therefore we're buried with Him through baptism into death. That just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even, so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we've been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, we should no longer be slaves to sin. What a passage. What a great passage. Uh, Paul in in this passage compares baptism to the reenactment of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He also gives us the result. First, it's he, we're united with Christ. Second, his old man was, was put away in in obeying the gospel and and being united with Christ. And then third, he became a new man, a new a new creature, as the King James Version says.

Glenn: 20:47

Now, the things that we've just mentioned and the passages that we've just read are the things that that a person would do to get into the body of Christ. We read that in Galatians 3, 26 and 27 that a person would do those things and they would be added to the Lord's church, the Body of Christ. At that point, they would also be saved. Their name would be written in the Lamb's book of life. But our life as Christians only begins at that point. Revelation 2, 10 tells us, Do not fear any of these things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested and you will have tribulation 10 days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life. How does one live faithfully unto death? Well, that's that's a good question to ask. How can I live completely faith, faithful until I die or until Jesus comes again? Well, there is a prescription for that, and that's in first John one five through 10. And that sums it up very well. We cannot do it on our own. We must continue to have the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse us from sin. Many denominations teach it once we have accepted Christ into into our lives by declaring that we believe in Him, our sins are for ever, for cleansed automatically through the New Testament. Christians are warned about sin and its effects. If Christians did not have to worry about sin, there would be no need to warn them about sin and its effects. In Galatians, five, 16, through 26, and Paul lists the fruits of the flesh. And I'm sure most of you have all read that the fruits of the flesh that which are sin. He also mentions the fruits of the Spirit, which is the good and righteous actions that people take. He says to those who will participate in the fruits of the flesh will not inherit the kingdom of God. And he is speaking to Christians. He's not talking to to to people who are not Christians. He is speaking to Christians, and he's saying, Those who, who who sin, will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Well, this first John one, five through 10. It says, This is the message which we have heard from him. And declare to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth, but if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. Now pay attention to this very closely. God is the light. John one five, we could read that which is saying that God is all good. There's no There's no evil in God at all. There is no darkness. There's no sin in him at all. In order for us to walk with Him and have fellowship with Him, we must practice the truth, which is to say that we need to follow those teachings that Christ gave us, that we would find in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. When we do walk in this way, Christ's blood continues to cleanse us from our sin. We must admit that we have sin in order for him to forgive us. But if we do this, we walk as He walked, and when we fall, we admit it, we ask for forgiveness, that's when Christ's blood will continue to cleanse us and to wash us clean. Anyone who says that they do not sin is a liar, and that's whether it's an alien sinner or it's a Christian. If one says that they do not sin, they lie. We all do it, and we all need Christ's blood to cleanse us, but it is not automatic, because we said, I believe.

Fred Gosnell: 25:27

So, we can be just like those in Jerusalem on Pentecost who heard and believed what Peter preached and were baptized for they repented and were baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. Of course, they received the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is salvation, eternal life with the Lord. So at the time those 3000 souls were baptized, they were added to the church. Of course, at the end of the chapter, it tells us how that occurs in Acts 2, 46, and 47 it says So, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, breaking bread from house to house. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, Praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. So when we obey the Lord, when we obey His requirements, what we must do in order to be saved, then He's the one that adds us to the church. You can't join the Church of Christ. You have to obey the Lord. And based on that, the verse tells us that the Lord added to the church those who were being saved. So we could do the same thing today. We had the same instructions. They were written down by the ones who get who got those instructions by the Lord through the Holy Spirit. So by doing those things that we are told to do in the New Testament, we must hear the Gospel first. We must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We must repent, change our mind about our sin, confess the Lord as being Lord and Savior, and then being baptized in the name of the Lord by his authority. Any baptism won't do as the passages that Glenn read those Ephesians that had been baptized by John, they had to be baptized in the name of the Lord in order to be saved. So then we can be saved and be added to Christ's Church. After that, we need to walk faithfully and be covered and then we covered how that that we do that.

Arnie: 27:42

People join denominations in several different ways, but what we have shown from the Bible is the way God's word says for us to enter His church. Remember, do not add to what what God's Word says, and don't take away from it either. Follow exactly what it says and and then we'll be doing His will simply follow it. People often say something like, Well, God couldn't have really meant it that way. What God means is what he's recorded for us in the Bible. Because the Bible is his, is his word. Let's go to Second Peter, chapter one and and two or three verses here, beginning in verse 19. There we'll, we'll go down to verse 20, 21, where Peter writes, he says, So we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. For prophecy never came by the will of men, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. This is a great passage about God's word. It tells us that His word had been confirmed, and we know that it's true. Next it tells us that Scripture is not for private interpretation. We can't just make, kind of make up our own version of it, as so many people do, because the word came from holy men of God who spoke as they were directed by the Holy Spirit. What they said was not their own. It was, it was coming from, from the Holy Spirit. So though whose word is, is the Bible, it's God's word, it's God's own, own word, and it's not the word of men. Many people say that it was only men who wrote the Bible. that's simply not true. Men, holy men were the instruments by which the word of of God was written. But it is actually and absolutely, literally the Word of God. I'm a member of the Church of Christ and and Fred and and Glenn and and Eric as well, and and many people that we know are members of of the Lord's church, because it teaches what the the what the Bible teaches and and how to enter the church is exactly the same as how to be saved.

Glenn: 30:53

I would like to add one thing to to all this. Many people and many but denominations will will teach that, that all we have to do is believe. And in a sense, I would say that's true, because if you believe, you are going to do what God says to do. Now what we have covered is what God says to do in order to be saved. So if we believe, just as Jesus said in John 14, 15, If you love Me, keep My commandments, and that's what well, we have read. We have read the things that God says for us to do in order to enter his church or to be saved.

Arnie: 31:39

So, we thank you for for listening to us. We hope that you'll be with us again next Lord's day, afternoon, same time, two o'clock, and we'll look forward to examining some of these things a little more in a little bit more detail at that time. Have a very good week, and God be with you.