On
Point
Someone asked, where do the quotes come
from? The answer is from the
people who uttered them. But, how
did you find them? Oh, that. Most are from Rev Bryan Dabney, a few
from other places, but overall mostly from Bryan. He always has a few great ones to share. So, on to the On Point quotes –
For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD:
therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.
Jeremiah
10:21
Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God
as a little child, he shall not enter therein.
St.
Mark 10:15
I believe there never was a time when warnings against worldliness were
so much needed by the church of Christ as they are at the present day. Every
age is said to have its own peculiar epidemic disease: the epidemic disease to
which souls of Christians are liable just now is the love of the world. It is a
pestilence that walks in darkness, and a sickness that destroys at noonday . .
. I would fain raise a warning voice, and try to arouse the slumbering
consciences of all who make a profession of religion. I would fain cry aloud,
Remember Lot’s wife.
Rev.
JC Ryle
19th century Anglican bishop and
author
(Holiness, p. 214)
Beware of antichrist; for unhappily a love of walls has seized you;
unhappily the church of God which you venerate exists in houses and buildings;
unhappily under these you find the name peace. Is it doubtful that in these
antichrist will have his seat? Safer to me are the mountains and the woods.
Hilary,
Bishop of Poitiers
4th century French theologian
This present window of opportunity, during which a truly peaceful and
interdependent world order might be built, will not be open for too long - We
are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major
crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order.
David
Rockefeller
20th and 21st century American globalist
The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so
intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one
without the other . . .
Alexis
de Tocqueville
19th century French author and
observer
The argument that this sweeping search [by the NSA] must be kept secret
from the terrorists is laughable. Terrorists already assume this sort of thing
is being done. Only law-abiding American citizens were blissfully ignorant of
what their government was doing.
Richard
Clarke
20th and 21st century
American counter-terrorism expert
(Why You Should Worry about the NSA,
6-27-13).
Propers
The Propers for today are found
on Page 197-198, with the Collect first:
The
Sixth Sunday after Trinity.
The
Collect.
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O
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GOD, who hast prepared
for those who love thee such good things as pass man’s understanding; Pour into
our hearts such love toward thee, that we, loving thee above all things, may
obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.
Emma Langstaff read the Epistle,
which came from the Paul’s letter to the Romans, beginning at the First Verse
of the Sixth Chapter. Paul tells us that as we were baptized unto Jesus in
life, so we are baptized unto his death.
We share His death on the Cross for our sins and by His death, our sin
is dead; then as He was raised up, so are we. It is intended the death we die unto sin is to be permanent
and that we go forth and sin no more.
Yet, as long as we live here on earth, we sin. Yet, as long as we live in Christ, we live. Thus, we reckon ourselves “to be dead
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
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K
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NOW ye not, that so many of us as
were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are
buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from
the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of
life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we
shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old
man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that
henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now
if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: knowing
that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more
dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he
liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Hap Arnold read today’s Holy Gospel which started in
the Fifth Chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, beginning at the Twentieth
Verse. Jesus tells his disciples, “Except your righteousness exceed that of the
scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of
heaven.” Very worrisome indeed! Scribes and Pharisees spent their
entire lives acting the epitome of righteousness. There is no way mere mortals could exceed their
righteousness, or so it would seem.
Jesus goes on to tell us that not only would we not go to heaven if we
commit murder, but we are in danger of the same judgment of we are angry
without just cause. If that were
not worrisome enough, we are in danger of hell-fire if we call one another a
fool! Let not the night fall on
discord with your family and friends, your neighbors in the Christian sense of
The Word. The text following asks
us to do our best to follow Jesus and in return, his sacrifice will serve to
set aside the just judgment and we shall be accounted as righteous before God.
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J
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ESUS said unto his disciples, Except your
righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye
shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Ye have heard that it was
said by them of old time, Thou shalt do no murder; and whosoever murdereth
shall be in danger of the judgment: but I say unto you, that whosoever is angry
with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and
whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council:
but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire. Therefore
if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother
hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way;
first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree
with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any
time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the
officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no
means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Sermon –
Reverend Deacon Jack Arnold - Time and Action
Today’s sermon discussed the Collect, Epistle and
Gospel. It is partially contained
in the forewords above.
Consider the words from the Collect, … who hast prepared for those who love
thee such good things as pass man’s understanding; Pour into our hearts such
love toward thee, that we, loving thee above all things, may obtain thy
promises, which exceed all that we can desire …
We acknowledge that God will give those who love Him
more good than they can imagine, let alone ask for. But, first you have to love Him. So what should we ask for? The Holy Ghost to enter in to our hearts that we might truly
love Him. If we do, more good will
come to use than we can even imagine or hope for. The Holy Ghost is a key
element of love, without Him we cannot even love Him. If we cannot love others,
how can we love Him who we have not seen?
We are imperfect creatures, created with free will by
a Perfect Being. To get into
heaven’s gate, we need be accounted as perfect before the Judge. That requires a bit of an accounting
irregularity, to get imperfection accounted as perfection.
So what does the Collect counsel, ask for the Holy
Ghost to enter into our hearts that we might get more than we can desire! Jesus! Jesus is that accounting irregularity. By His Sacrifice, made one time, for
all mankind, for all time, we are accounted as perfect by His Faith and
action. Thus, through His Faith
and His Action, we attain life everlasting. Starting today, you don’t have to wait until you die to
benefit from your immortality. In
fact, God would prefer you to start acting like you will live forever right
now. Thus, decisions you make,
actions you take will be with the long term view of eternity!
As imperfect creatures, immortal or not, we make
mistakes. One to avoid is being
“mad” at ones fellow creatures, particularly family and friends. We pick the most illogical reasons to
be mad, the word chosen rather than angry. Looked at logically, as God does, we need to solve the
issue, kiss and make up, and do it before the sun sets on our anger. Never part in anger. One of you may not come back. We must
not let the anger and other irrational emotions such as fear get the best of
us, but rather think calmly and figure out the best way to handle whatever
situation we are in without losing control of our emotions. It can be a rather
hard thing at times, but it must be done nevertheless.
When Jesus gave His Life for us, He did it knowing we
would fail to follow in perfection, but fully aware some would follow to the
best of their ability. That is all
He asks, do your best. That is not
the same as saying you are doing your best.
There are none so deaf as those
who will not hear.
Heaven is at the end of an
uphill trail. The easy downhill
trail does not lead to the summit.
The time is now, not tomorrow. The time has come, indeed. How will you ACT?
It is by our actions we are known.
Be of God - Live of God - Act of God
Bishop Ogles’
Sermon
We are oft fortunate to get
copies of Bishop Jerry’s sermon notes.
Today is one of those Sundays.
Today’s sermon starts off with the collect, and like always, it will
give you a lot to consider in your heart.
Sermon Notes
Sixth Sunday
after Trinity
Saint Andrew’s
Anglican Orthodox Church
7 July 2013, Anno
Domini
The
Sixth Sunday after Trinity.
The
Collect.
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O
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GOD, who hast prepared
for those who love thee such good things as pass man’s understanding; Pour into
our hearts such love toward thee, that we, loving thee above all things, may
obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen.
13 For
the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to
his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For
if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made
of none effect:
15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is,
there is no transgression. 16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be
by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that
only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham;
who is the father of us all, 17 (As it is written, I have made thee a
father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth
the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of
many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead,
when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's
womb: 20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was
strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21 And being fully persuaded that,
what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 22 And therefore it was
imputed to him for righteousness. 23 Now it was not written for his sake
alone, that it was imputed to him; 24 But for us also, to whom it shall be
imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our
justification. (Romans 4:13-25)
I hope to enlighten our hearts today on that great faith that has been the seal
and signature of true Christian believers from Abraham to the present
day. God has not changed His ‘modus operandi’ from the beginning until
our time, and that plan and work of God will remain inviolate even until the
last trump is sounded. The modern church professes a faith that reflects modern
social values, giving the modern-day mores of society greater weight than the
clear Word of God especially as it relates to sins that suddenly become
“acceptable.”
The Prayer of Collect for this day stresses a very distinct and singular
element of our faith – LOVE! Love of God has a fundamental dependence upon
FAITH. If we do not know or believe that someone, or something, exists, love
for that person or thing cannot exist. Of course we could further narrow the
field to a’ person’ since we cannot truly love a ‘thing’ though we may be very
fond of it. Our degree of love for God is directly proportional to our degree
of faith. The greater the faith, the more intense the love!
Since the fall of our Primal Parents in the Garden at Eden, God’s provision for
our salvation has ALWAYS been by the way of faith qualified by Love. Even
before the fall, God’s provision was the same. He gave our first parents a
choice – faith or law. They chose law and, being imperfect, could not satisfy
righteousness thereby. So the first death occurred when God found it necessary
to slay an innocent animal (probably a lamb) to cover their nakedness in the
Garden. That covering was a precursor of the covering exemplified in the Lamb
of God sacrificed from before the foundation of the world for our sins. And
all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in
the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
(Rev 13:8)
In the process of time, God chose Abraham to be the father of many nations who
would believe by faith – not the Jewish nation alone, but true Israel that
would bear the fruits of faith instead of reliance upon their own righteousness
under the law. The old nation-state of Israel was not that spiritual Israel
embodied by the faith of Abraham and his spiritual progeny. From the passing of
Abraham to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, there had been two streams of
Israel: the one that vainly sought to achieve righteousness through the
dictates of the law and good works, and those who looked forward to Christ to
satisfy their salvation through the law of Grace and not works. 13 For
the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to
his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
Abraham and Sarah were
well up in years when Sarah conceived by way of the miraculous intercession of
God. God had PROMISED a son and when all things are impossible for man to
satisfy a promise of God, God will intervene to bring about the fulfillment.
Abraham was near 100 years old and Sarah was 90 when Isaac was born. Isaac,
therefore, was the son of promise through which the blessings of God, in mercy
and grace, would be extended to all who believed the greater Promise of the
coming Savior. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith
is made void, and the promise made of none effect: Because the law worketh
wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of
faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all
the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of
the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I
have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even
God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though
they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father
of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
It was not the blood
that flowed through the veins of Abraham that promised his salvation, but the
faith he possessed in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to redeem him and all
who believed in that promise of God fulfilled in Christ. 19 And
being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was
about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: 20
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in
faith, giving glory to Go. It has forever been the case. God does
not choose a people for His own contingent upon their bloodlines, but their
faith-lines. Therefore, out of every nation, tongue and tribe we see the true
seal of faith – the true descendants of Abraham by faith. This is the true
Israel decided by faith and not bloodlines. The Christian faith of Abraham was
a tremendous faith because it presumed the coming event to which we look back
upon by faith and empirical evidence. Any person, or persons, who renounce the
Son will have no part with God. Abraham, my friends, was a Christian whose
faith exceeds that of the common mold today. Many churches today flatly
refute this truth in their teaching. Your
father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.
(John 8:56) The true doctrine of salvation was held by Abraham and all true
seed of promise from then until now. Moses too was a member of our Christian
faith: This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the
angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received
the lively oracles to give unto us: To whom our fathers would not obey,
but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt.
(Acts 7:38-39)
Remember that Isaac was the son of Promise of immediate grant of God, but that
same Isaac was a fore-shadow of the true Seed of Promise realized in the only
Begotten Son of God. When Abraham was asked to sacrifice his only son whom he
loved, God withheld the dagger on the altar and promised to provide “…Himself
a Lamb for the sacrifice.” Isaac was a type and figure of the greater
sacrifice to come. My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a
burnt offering: so they went both of them together. (Gen 22:8 - KJV)
It is interesting to note how the corrupt NIV blurs the distinction of
the Lamb as God Himself: "God himself will provide the lamb for
the burnt offering, my son." (Gen 22:8) Will God provide
Himself to be a lamb for the offering, or just some old ordinary lamb? The
hostility toward Christ as the Son of God is everywhere evidenced in these
newer versions based on inferior manuscript evidence.
So who is Israel? Is the Israel of God determined by blood and DNA? Or is it by
the DNA of faith? The True Seed is Christ. Abraham himself was a foreshadow of
the same. All who are born again are born into the promises of Christ: Now
to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as
of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. (Gal 3:16)
Let us allow Paul, in the Book of Romans to clarify the full promise of
God: Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they
are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the
seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the
children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
(Romans 9:6-8) This flies in the face of worldly religion, and men – even
clergy – are constantly laboring to make the Word of God conform to their
worldview instead of amending their own worldview to conform to the Word of
God.
If you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are
indeed the children of Abraham and the children of true Israel today. For
by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift
of God: (Eph 2:8)
Jesus
Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. (Heb 13:8) Jesus
was not only the same one day ago, but all yesterdays and an eternity of
yesterdays. He was the same in whom Father Abraham placed his faith, and the
same Lord in whom we trust today and forever after. Just as our Lord suffered
and died for our sins, and arose the third day, so shall all who believe in His
promise of salvation be raised likewise from the grave and ascend with Him. Do
you have that faith in the Seed of Abraham – the Lord Jesus Christ?
Bishop
Dennis Campbell’s Sermon
Bishop Dennis is a brilliant
speaker. He is able to take
biblical precepts and make them perfectly understandable, even to me. Oft he provides the text of his sermons
and I take the utmost pleasure in passing them on:
Christians
Communicate
Sixth Sunday after Trinity
July 7 2013
The
sermons in Trinity have been about what Christians do, and today’s is entitled,
“Christians Communicate.” When I say, “communicate” I don’t mean talking or
social media. I am referring to coming to the Lord’s Table in that
worship which we call, “The Lord’s Supper,” or, “Holy Communion.” One of
greatest privileges in this world is that of being a communicant in the Lord’s
Church, and of kneeling together at the communion rail. Let us, therefore, take
a few moments this morning to consider just what it means to say, “Christians
Communicate.”
When
Christian communicate, that is, when we kneel together to receive the bread and
wine of Holy Communion, the first and most obvious thing we are doing is
remembering Jesus Christ. He Himself told us to do this in remembrance of
Him. More specifically, we do this in remembrance of His death. The bread
commemorates His body broken for us in His crucifixion. The wine
commemorates His blood, poured out from His body on the cross. “This is
my body, which is broken for you,” He said. “This cup is the new
testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” When the minister breaks
the bread, it symbolizes the breaking of Christ’s body. It symbolises the
scourge and the nails and the spear and the cross. When the minister pours the
wine it symbolises the blood of Christ pouring out of His wounds. Christ
died. This is what we remember at the communion rail.
The
second thing we do at the communion rail is proclaim the Gospel. We tell
the story of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. We proclaim the message
that the Son of God came to earth to give Himself as the ransom for our
sins. We proclaim that the cross was His victory, not His defeat.
We testify that His body was broken for our sins. We proclaim that His
blood was shed for sinners. The Bible says when we eat the bread and
drink the cup we proclaim the Lord’s death. We set forth, in a most dramatic
way, a portrait, and, in a sense, a re-enactment of His crucifixion. We
portray in our actions what the Bible proclaims in well beloved words; “He was
wounded for our transgressions.” “With His stripes we are healed.” “God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
The
third thing we do at the communion rail is fellowship with one another. I
once heard a man say that at the communion rail he tried to put everyone and
everything out of his mind, except Christ. I have heard many sermons
saying that is what we are supposed to do at the Lord’s Table. “It’s just
Jesus and me,” they say. They are wrong. Nothing could be more
obvious than that we come to the rail together. We come together and we
partake together because Christ has brought us together. We were
scattered sheep, lost, and going our own ways. But Christ has brought us
back to His fold, and now we are one flock. We are one body. We are
one spiritual family. We are the Temple of the Holy Spirit; the Temple,
not the Temples. We are partakers of the same Christ, the same
forgiveness, the same grace, the same Father. These things make us
one. That is why we come to the Table as one.
I’m
going to tell you something most people don’t know. The Biblical passages
that record and deal with the Lord’s Supper all use the plural number when
addressing those who come to Communion. Luke 22:19 says Jesus gave the
bread to “them.” When He said, “do this in remembrance of me,” “do” is
plural, for, like Latin, Greek has singular and plural forms for verbs as well
as nouns. The words “take” and “eat” in Matthew 26:26 are plural, as is
“drink” in Matthew 26:27. There is a very important point to be understood
here; just as God never intended a person to be a Christian in solitude, He
also never intended a person to come to the Holy Communion in solitude.
We come together, as part of Christ’s Church. There is no other
way. And so, we come together, we kneel together, and we partake
together. We fellowship in Christ at His Table.
The
fourth thing we do here is proclaim our own faith in Christ. When the
minister passes the bread he says to you all, “Take and eat this in remembrance
that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith.” There
is great symbolism here. As we take the bread and wine into our bodies,
we also take Christ into our souls by faith. We are saying, by our
actions of eating and drinking that we believe in Christ. We believe the
Bible. We believe the Gospel. We believe that He died for our
sins. And we trust in the sacrifice He made on the cross to make us right
with God on earth now, and in Heaven forever. We are saying we believe
that the forgiveness of sins, and all other benefits of His death and passion
are ours.
The
fifth thing we do at the communion rail is feed our souls on Christ.
Actually it is not so much that we feed on Him as that we are fed by Him. Being
fed is much more a ministry done for us by Him than an act accomplished by
us. Let me make it clear that the bread and wine are not transformed into
the real body and blood of Christ in any way. They are and remain only
bread and wine. So we are not being fed Christ’s literal body in any
way. We are being fed in our souls, by the remembrance of His death, and
the promise that those who believe in Him are forgiven and restored to
fellowship with God. We are fed spiritual food, which is the assurance of
God’s “favour and goodness towards us; and that we are very members
incorporate in the mystical body of [His] Son, which is the blessed company of
all faithful people; and are also heirs through the hope of [His] everlasting
kingdom, by the merits of [Christ’s] most precious death and passion.”
That is meat for the soul; feed on it.
Today we
have come to the Table. We have come to receive Holy Communion. In
a few moments we will kneel at the rail and receive the bread and wine.
We will “take and eat.” We will “drink ye all” of the cup. As we
come, let us remember His death and sacrifice for our sins. Let us
proclaim in the breaking of bread and pouring of wine that Christ’s body was
broken, and His blood was shed, and He suffered, and bled, and died for
us. Let our eating and drinking proclaim our faith that through His death
we are made right with God forever. And let the grace of God assure our hearts
that we are forgiven and accepted by Him through Christ.
+Dennis
Campbell
Bishop,
Anglican Orthodox Church Diocese of Virginia
Rector, Holy
Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
Powhatan,
Virginia
Rev Bryan Dabney
of Saint John’s Sunday Sermon
We are fortunate to
have Bryan’s Sunday Sermon. If you
want people to come to The Truth, you have to speak the truth, expouse the
truth and live the truth. This is really a good piece and I
commend it to your careful reading.
Fifth Sunday after Trinity
In our epistle lesson, St. Paul penned the following: Know ye not, that
so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into death?
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk
in newness of life. (Romans 6:3-4). The apostle described the nature of
Christian baptism as a form of death and a rising again to life. We die to this
world as water comes upon us, and afterwards we rise to a new life in Christ
Jesus as it falls away. As apostle noted, Now if we be dead with Christ, we
believe that we shall also live with him (v.8).
We refer to baptism as a sacrament because— as it has been taught for
generations— it is “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual
grace.” If we were baptized as infants, then at our confirmation— where we were
made full members of the church— we agreed to keep the promises which had been
made for us by our parents and godparents at our baptism (BCP, p. 296). If we were
baptized as adults, we made an affirmation of faith prior to receiving the
sacrament by renouncing the world, the flesh and the devil (BCP, p. 277). In
either state if we truly believed and accepted our Lord as the only way, truth
and life, we then received the mark and seal of Christ upon us and the gift of
the Holy Ghost.
That said, it would behoove every person who has been baptized to live
as new creatures in Christ. We should walk in newness of life precisely because
we have been redeemed (v.4). If we have been born again of the Holy Ghost, we
will have him as our Comforter and our guide. The Greek word used to describe this
work of God’s Spirit is Parakletos which means “one called alongside to help,”
and help he does. Throughout the course of our lives, the Holy Ghost indwells
us and leads us. He is ever present to advise and to admonish us. He convicts
us of our sins and he intercedes for us with the Father as Christ intercedes
for us in the Father’s presence. That should be a constant source of relief—
comfort— as we daily struggle with the powers and principalities and spiritual
wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:10).
Returning to our epistle lesson, St. Paul tells us that, our old man is
crucified with Christ (v.6). I was once “counseled” by a misguided soul to let
my old self out once and awhile so that he can breathe. But that is not what
the Bible says. Our old natures are not supposed to be in state of suspended
animation. They are supposed to be dead! If we are born again of the Spirit of
God then we are dead to the things of this world. We have renounced the world,
the flesh and the devil. We will have no fellowship with the unfruitful works
of darkness but rather to reprove them (Ephesians 5:11).
Dead is dead, and that which has died is not coming back. We must
mortify our members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience
(Colossians 3:5-6). St. Paul’s use of the word mortify was meant to emphasize
our complete subjection of the body to godly discipline. Every one who has been
born again of the Holy Ghost will endeavor to keep his or her body, mind and
spirit in line with the expressed precepts of God. Such persons will desire the
things which God desires. They will yearn to be where our Lord is now in the
presence of the Father. Through their practice of daily prayer and praise to
God, they will not only lift up his name, they will desire to know what plan
the Father has for their lives. Only through a baptism of the Holy Ghost does
the believer receive the assurance of salvation. He makes plain to us that we
have received that saving grace in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. For it is that saving grace which opens the way for those who have been
born-again to be received into the body of Christ.
St. Paul observed in his epistle to the Romans, There is none
righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that
seeketh after God (3:10-11). And he also noted in his epistle to the Ephesians,
For by grace ye are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is a
gift of God: not of works, lest any many should boast. For we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them (2:8-10).
We cannot obtain God’s saving grace by our own methods and behaviors.
We cannot demand of God that he give us salvation through our own deservings.
We cannot compel the God of heaven and earth to give us anything. We can only
receive what he will offer us, but on his terms. God desires that all would
turn unto Christ in repentance. Sadly, only a few will do so because they are
so tied to the rudiments of this world system. They remain prideful and do not
see their pressing need to be cleansed of those sins of which they are so fond.
But no one will be permitted to stand before our Lord vested in their own
unrighteous, unredeemed flesh and demand that he grant them his saving grace.
That sort of reasoning was just what the self-righteous of the Jews were doing
as described in our Lord’s parable of the Pharisee and the publican (St. Luke
18:9-14). In order to be accepted of God, we must be made clean, and for that
to happen we must first recognize that we are filthy and in need of the
cleansing blood of our Saviour. By our Lord’s commandment, we were baptized
signifying to all our acceptance of his sacrifice as the thing by which we are
made clean through his shed blood.
Now there are two principal points regarding the sacrament of baptism
that we need to examine. Some believe that this sacrament is absolutely
essential for salvation, while other Christians believe that although baptism
is important it not a vehicle for salvation. That last point is the proper
Bible understanding of Holy Baptism. For while it is something which every
Christian ought to undergo in obedience to our Lord and Master, it is not in
and of itself the method for obtaining salvation. Those seeking to be baptized
using the trinitarian formula are affirming before men that they have been saved
by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus (Ephesians 2:8). And while it is true
that not every person who has undergone water baptism is, or ever becomes, a
born-again Christian; nevertheless, those who are of the regenerate will seek
to be baptized if such has not already been done for them.
Still, the need for us who are not in extremis to receive this
sacrament is important. During St. Paul’s missionary trip to Athens, he was
briefly imprisoned with Silas at Philippi. There he was asked by the jailer,
Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the
word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same
hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his,
straightway (Acts 16:30-33). Notice that the jailer was baptized after making
his confession of faith. His household was baptized as well, women and young
children. We cannot discount the need for baptism but we ought not accept it as
a means of salvation— a work whereby the one soliciting it receives solely by
its action upon him.
When we are baptized with the one baptism for remission of sins— which
is a baptism of the Holy Ghost— we are then dead to our previous life of sin
and we are made alive unto God. We are then fit for the Master’s service. So
let us go forth today in the power of the Holy Ghost and rejoicing in the truth
of our salvation in that name which is above every other even Jesus Christ our
Lord.
Let us pray,
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OLy and gracious God, cleanse us of all
unrighteousness and sin, that we, being washed by the blood our thy dear Son,
might be made fit to enter thy coming kingdom; and this we ask in the name of
our Saviour, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Have a blessed week, Bryan+
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