In this passage God’s primary focus was the Nation of Israel or the people of Judah, who were his chosen ones.  They were a nation over which God wanted to rule as king.  Their feeling was that God would never turn against them because they were his chosen people.  They had cried out that God would always be with them because the temple of the Lord was in their main city, Jerusalem.  Even the other prophets in the land and the priest of God in the city, were telling people that Jeremiah was wrong and God could never forsake his people.  There were lots of times when Jeremiah became overwhelmed with questions and doubt about the whole situation.

In the middle of all those emotions, doubts and fears from Jeremiah, God laid out some vital principles about his relationship with different people groups for all time.  These principles are just as desperately needed in the twenty-first century as they were during the sixth century become the coming of Christ into the world.

One of those questions about the nature of God is whether he can change his mind.  What about when God has made a promise to his people that he would be with them and bless them and they would be his people and he would be their God?  God explains that when he makes a promise to a nation or people, how he carries out that promise will depend on the behavior of the people.  Even if he promised to tear them down and destroy them, if they repent and turn back to him with their whole heart, he will relent and turn around t0 bless them, because of the change in them and that they are now doing what is right.  Israel had been headed in the wrong direction for some time by the time of Jeremiah and many thought that nothing could change.  Destruction was coming on them no matter what the did now.

It seems to me that I don’t ever forget the warnings of challenging times that are coming.  The evil in the world often seems overwhelming and growing at a rate of speed beyond explanation.  When God sent Jonah to Nineveh to preach to them and tell them to repent they were in such bad shape that he had Jonah to tell them in forty days he would destroy the city.  Yet they repented at the preaching of Jonah and God changed his mind and spared them.  As bad off as Judah was at that point, so bad that God had said to Jeremiah not pray for them or ask God to give them more time or opportunities, yet if they would repent and turn their actions around He was ready to forgive even now and give them a fresh start.

At the same time, God told Jeremiah that if God promised to bless and prosper a nation and they stopped living for him and headed in their own direction or into the worship of idols he would change his mind and not bless them at all.

It is arrogance on the part of any nation to think that God will continue to bless them no matter how they live or what they worship.  God’s promise is that as idolatry moves up His blessings for a nation will go down.  There is no question that the United States of America has been richly blessed by God through the years.  The future of such blessings will certainly depend greatly on how the citizens live and who and what they choose to worship.  When we make ourself into our God, we have no reason to expect blessings from anyone beyond us.

When did repentance take place?  When he came to himself and made the decision I’m going home.  The repentance resulted in him going home and God completely forgiving.

Some sins that a person commits can be corrected when they repent.  If I accidentally back into my neighbors car and mash in the side of it, repentance will cause me to go to him and tell him my regret.  But it will also lead to my getting his car fixed for him.  What kind of repentance would it be if I told him I was sorry for the bad fender and I would be praying that God would put it all back into place?  In such situations the right thing is to repair and undo the damage done to the best of my ability.  This principle is illustrated in the little Book of Philemon, when the runaway slave, Onesimus stole money from his master Philemon as he left.  In Rome he was arrested for his crime and thrown into prison.  There he met the apostle Paul who taught him about Jesus and about salvation.  He gave his life to Christ.  Notice that Paul then sent him back home to Philemon to make things right.  He pleaded with Philemon to accept him, no longer as a slave but as a brother and even said to Philemon if he owes you something, put it on my account.  But he sent him back to restore some relationship.

But what can you do when you want to repent of a sin that can’t be repaired or restored?  Some things can’t be undone once they have happened.  On the Day of Pentecost when Peter preached to the multitude he pointed to the fact they had crucified and slain Jesus Christ.  They couldn’t do a thing about that now.  The dirty deed was done.  But when they asked what to do, Peter said they needed to “Repent and everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”  You can change your mind about any sin and turn to God even though you can’t always undo the sin.  I’ve heard people say that if a person has divorced a partner and remarried someone else the only way they can repent is to get another divorce now and go back to the one they were originally married to.  The Bible never teaches this idea.  Think of how ridiculous it is to think that you solve the sin of divorce by getting another divorce.  Or that you solve the problem of breaking up a family by breaking up another family.  Repentance in such a situation involves changing our minds about the sin and determining to live differently from now on.  Instead of breaking up another marriage, determine to be faithful and true to the one you are now married to and be the kind of partner to them that leads them to God and doing right.

If I have sinned against a friend in such a way that I’ve hurt him badly and I come to myself and go to him to ask for his forgiveness determined to live differently from now on, is my ability to repent destroyed if he refuses to forgive me?  Sometimes nothing you do will ever restore or undo the deed that was done.  But in every case you can repent.  The forgiveness of our sins isn’t based on how other people react to our repentance.  Thank God that is the case.

The problem with the word “Repent” is that people have given it all different kinds of meanings, many of which have no relationship to how it is used in the Bible.  The word literally means “To change one’s mind.”  It is typically used in the Bible to refer to the change that takes place when one turns away from some sin or from sin in general in their life to God and doing His will.

There are two occasions in the Bible where a good description is given of repentance.  The first is in Luke 3:7-14 when John the Baptist started his ministry and people were coming to him in the desert to hear what he had to say.  When the crowds became large, John turned to them and said, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Therefore, bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves we have Abraham for our father; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.”  They began to ask him, “What shall we do?”  He said, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.”  Some tax collectors came to be baptized of him and asked what they needed to do.  He said, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.”  Soldiers came asking what they should do and John said, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”  Notice that John described these things as “Bearing fruits of repentance.”  It went much further than one simply saying that they were sorry for some wrong that had been done.  Repentance involves a  change in actions from the normal way of doing things to one of integrity, faith and service to God.  The idea that one can repent of a sin and simply go on living in that sin won’t fit at all the teachings of Scripture.

The other Scripture that helps a great deal in understanding what is involved in repentance is 2 Corinthians 7:5-10.  Paul was describing the depression that had been haunting him and how he was being overwhelmed with sorrow.  But God who comforts the depressed sent Titus to him with good news about the church in Corinth.  Even though they had done Paul wrong they had seen the error of their ways and were now repenting of their sin.  Paul said, “For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it – for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while.  I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.  For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”  So repentance is brought about by sorrow as we learn of wrongs we have done in life.  If all we do is feel sorrow it isn’t repentance.  It is when the sorrow leads us to change, to turn from the sin, to God.  A sorrow of the world is simply becoming depressed and discouraged over being found out.

A good example of the difference is seen in the actions of Peter and Judas on realizing they had wronged Jesus.  Peter felt the guilt of denying the Lord and went out and wept bitterly.  But he turned to God to change and be one ready to confess his faith in Jesus from that day forward.  Judas realized his guilt in betraying Jesus and returned the money he had received and went out and hanged himself.  Peter repented of the sins.  Judas was sorry for the sin but didn’t turn to God.  When the Bible says that Judas “Repented” it uses a word that means to have regret or remorse instead of the word typically used for repentance.

Our guilt can either be a source of giving up or a source of real change in us to follow God.  Which is it for you?  (In our next article we will talk about the sins I can’t undo)

The word “pornography” comes from the same Greek word, “Pornea” from which we get the word “Fornication” or “Sexual immorality.”  It is the same word from which we get the word “Prostitution.”  I’ve heard all the arguments that looking at porn doesn’t really hurt anyone or anything.  It is just between the person looking and his own mind.  But the truth is that what one sees and thinks about affects their thinking about relationships and even their views of the opposite sex.  Multitudes of marriages are destroyed by pornography.

It is impossible for a person to think about sex with their wife or husband in a pure and wholesome way while filling their minds with the perverted ideas of porn.  Sexual relations in marriage are completely holy and good.  In Hebrews 13:4 it says, “Marriage is honorable in all and the marriage bed is undefiled.  But the sexually immoral and the adulterers God will judge.”  In I Corinthians 6 Paul pleads with us to “Flee sexual immorality.”  He said that other sins one commits are outside the body, but the one who has sex with a prostitute sins against their own bodies.  He pointed out that our bodies are the temple of the Lord and that we aren’t our own but we belong to the Lord.  Chapter 7 follows that discussion by saying that in order to avoid sexual immorality every man ought to have his own wife and every woman her own husband.  He said a wife’s body doesn’t belong to her but belongs to her husband and the husband’s body doesn’t belong to him but to his wife.  He challenged each to not defraud their partner but to freely give themselves to each other.

In a healthy marriage the sexual relationship is healthy and the respect of one for the other is great.  When one gets involved with pornography it leads to thinking about their mate as property and the sexual relationship as simply a matter of personal pleasure.  In a godly marriage every person thinks of the other and aren’t selfishly focused only on themselves.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus was warning against adultery when he said, “Whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery in his heart.”  Both to demonstrate the seriousness of the problem and the need to stop it before it goes too far in your life Jesus said, “If your right eye offends you pluck it out and throw it away for it is better to go through life with one eye than to have both eyes and be cast into hell.  If your right hand offends you cut it off and throw it away, for it is better to go through life with one hand than to have both hands and be cast into hell.”

The problem of looking with lust is so serious that to solve it or let it go will determine whether one goes to hell or not.  It is something that when we first see it developing in our lives we should cut it off immediately.  Usually a person doesn’t jump right into the hard core porn. It is usually something that builds in a persons life so that it takes more and more for one to satisfy the lust of their hearts.  Instead of waiting until it has become the biggest thing in my life I need to stop it while it is still small in my life.  Truthfully, anything that pictures the sexual relationship between a man and woman as using the other person instead of treating another with respect and love it is pornography and destructive of right thinking.

Think about it for a moment.  Why would anyone get involved in any way of life that they are constantly afraid of being caught?  Why would I do anything that I have to hope the good people in my life will never find out about it?  Why would I do something that I would be ashamed for my mother and dad to know that I was doing?  Why would I do anything that I wouldn’t want my children to know that I did it?

Paul wrote to his young friend Titus, “Unto the pure all things are pure.  But to the wicked and defiled nothing is pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled.”  The challenge to all of us is to live every day so that there is no fear of anyone finding out something about us that we would be ashamed for the world to know about.

This mention of Melchizedek is the first time we have heard anything mentioned about him since being introduced to him in Genesis 14:18-21.  Abraham was returning from his battle with the kings who had captured Sodom and taken Lot and family captive.  He had rescued Lot and his family.  He had the spoils of his victory over the kings.  ”And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.  He blessed him and said, Blessed by Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your head.  He gave him a tenth of all.”

This event with Melchizedek blessing Abraham and receiving a tithe of all the spoils took place some 500 years before the giving of the law and the establishment of the Aaronic priesthood.  It was 500 years after the giving of the law and establishment of Aaron’s descendants as priest that David prophesied “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”  Jesus couldn’t have been a priest under the Old Testament order of things since he was not a Levite but was of the family of Judah.  

Notice some of the things the writer of Hebrews said about the advantages of having a high priest after the Melchizedek order.  Unlike the descendants of Aaron, there is no need to offer a sacrifice, first for your own sins and then for the sins of the people, since Jesus had so sin to begin with.  Unlike the priest of the old order, you don’t become attached to a priest only to return one year and learn that he has died.  Jesus’ priesthood continues forever because he always lives.  Unlike the old priesthood in which the high priest often became more of a political figure involved in the affairs of state than the spiritual figure to help people draw closer to God, Jesus is the priest who forever seeks to save the people and help them grow closer to him all the time.  Unlike the old order, in which the priest demanded the circumcision of any who would benefit from his work, Jesus is concerned about the change of heart in the individual and his offer is for all people of all backgrounds and nationalities.  In the words of Hebrews 4:14-16 “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.  For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.  Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

But who is Melchizedek?  He was king of Salem, likely Jerusalem and is referred to as the king of peace and king of righteousness.  He was a priest of the Most High God.  This was during that period of time when the fathers or heads of families served as priest for their families.  The introduction of him as a priest of the Most High God seems odd in that he is the only one referred to in such a way during that era of time.   There is no record of where he came from or what happened to him after this meeting with Abraham.  It is because we have nothing said about his background or who his parents were that the writer of Hebrews says “He was without father or mother or descent.” Usually in the Old Testament when someone is mentioned there is an immediate explanation that this is the son of some person and that man was the son of this other person.  Instead of that normal way of introducing a person, Melchizedek just arrives on the scene as an established king and priest of God.  By serving as both priest and king he prefigured the way Jesus would serve as both priest and king in our time.

We know that he was a great man because he both received tithes from Abraham, God’s chosen one and he pronounced blessings on Abraham.  The writer of Hebrews said both of these demonstrated his superiority over Aaron and his line of priest.  Because Levi is a descendant of Abraham and Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek it demonstrates that Levi who receives tithes paid tithes to Melchizedek as a descendant.  The other point made on this matter is that it is the lesser one who is blessed by the greater one.  Melchizedek is the one who pronounced the blessing on Abraham so he has to be the greater one.

In Hebrews 7:26-28 the writer of Hebrews draws this conclusion to his discussion about Jesus being high priest after the order of Melchizedek.  ”For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted about the heavens; who does not need daily like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.  For the Law appoints men as high priest who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a son, made perfect forever.”

This whole thing becomes all the more amazing to us when you realize that not only is Jesus our high priest, but we as his children serve as priest under him on this earth.  ”You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own special people.”  (I Peter 2:9)  The greater the high priest the greater the priest who serve under him to do his work.  Our goal is to have the heart, the actions and the love of the high priest for people around us every day.

The Bible describes four ways a person may sin against God to become lost.  Sin is a transgression of the law (I John 3:4) which means that God tells us not to do some things and when we go ahead and do them anyway we sin.  ”All unrighteousness is sin.” (I John 5:17)  When God tells us to do something and we don’t do it that is a sin as well.  We sin when we violate our own conscience.  ”He who doubts is condemned if he eats for whatever is not of faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23)  The point Paul was making was that when a person feels a thing is wrong, even though it isn’t wrong in and of itself it is wrong for the one who believes it is.  Finally, one sins when they know there are things they ought to be doing but refuse to do them.  In James 4:17 it says, “To him who knows to do good and does not do it to him it is sin.”

When we think of sin as only some huge moral discrepancy  we may decide that we really aren’t guilty.  When I look at sin from the way the Bible describes it, it doesn’t take long to realize why the Bible would say we are all guilty.  To be saved from sin doesn’t mean that we are saved from ever committing sin again.  That isn’t true of anyone.  As a matter of fact the apostle John said of anyone that claimed as a Christ follower that they didn’t sin that they were liars and were making God a liar (I John 1:8-10).  It doesn’t mean that we are saved from the guilt of sin.  We are always held accountable for our actions.  We are judged for the deeds done in the body (I Corinthians 5:10).  We aren’t saved from the consequences for our sins.  In Galatians 6:7-8 Paul pleaded with us not to be deceived because God is not mocked.  ”Whatever a man sows, he will also reap.  He who sows to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption.  He who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”  Every sin has consequences.  If one lies to their wife or husband, asking for forgiveness doesn’t mean we won’t face the consequences for the lie.  Sin leaves a scar.  The wound can heal but the scar remains.

What then does salvation have to do with sin.  When we are saved from sin it means that we are saved from the punishment that sin should bring.  Jesus in dying on the cross as an innocent one, paid the price due our sin by accepting the punishment they deserved.  He became our substitute or atonement so we can be forgiven.

No one can appreciate the value of salvation without first understanding what it is to be lost.  When a person is saved from sin they get into Christ and his church and into a relationship with him as Lord and savior.  The old stains of sin are washed away in the blood of Jesus Christ.  The point made in Acts 2:47  is that those who are saved were added to the church.  When we are saved we enter into the blood steam of Jesus as part of his body, the church (Ephesians 1:22-23).

The result of being saved and living in a personal relationship with Jesus should mean that we live in confidence of our salvation and our relationship all along.  John said that one of the main reasons for writing the Book of I John was so that those who believe in Christ may know that they are saved and have eternal life (I John 5:13).  John said, “Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments” (I John 2:3-4).

Too many people who have been saved and are living faithful lives for God worry about their salvation and their hope in the future.  Because we often think of hope as “Wishful thinking” we miss the point of living in hope.  The word “Hope” is a mixture of desire and expectation.  It is confidence based on our faith in the Lord.  While the Bible teaches the possibility of one who has been saved becoming lost because they turn away from God and His will, it doesn’t teach that one is likely to fall from God or that one falls every time they stumble or mess up.  Instead Peter said, after telling us to add to faith, virtue, to virtue knowledge, to know self control, to self control patience, to patience godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love, he said “If you do these things you will never fall.”  (2 Peter 1:9-11).  Many of the newer translations have it that they will never even stumble.

Paul expressed the heart that ought to be true of every Christian.  ”If our earthly house of this tent is dissolved, we have a building with God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.  For in this we groan earnestly desiring our house which is in heaven.” (2 Corinthians 5:1-2)  The blood of Jesus keeps us clean as long as we remain in a relationship with Christ as Lord and Savior all along (I John 1:7).

God’s desire is for all to be saved (2 Peter 3:9).  He also desires those who are saved to live like they are saved and to rejoice in their salvation.  If one doesn’t feel saved, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t because even the most godly may have doubts at times.  John said, “If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.”  We loose a blessing from God when we live in doubt all the time but it doesn’t affect our real relationship with God.  But why live below our privilege.

Every person in the Godhead has vital functions in all of God’s works.  In Genesis 1:1 it starts with “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form and empty.”  The word translated “God” is plural yet the word translated “Created” is singular.  All the godhead was involved in creation.  The Spirit of God hovered over the waters.  Without Jesus, the word that became flesh nothing that was created would have been created.  The Father spoke and things came into being.  When the Father spoke of the plan to make man, he said, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness.”  God made them male and female in the image of God.

When Jesus walked physically on the earth he was in constant subjection to the Father, declaring “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me.”  ”I didn’t come to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.”  When he planned to go away and return to the Father he promised to send the Holy Spirit who would not glorify himself but would glorify Christ.  John explained to us that the Holy Spirit wasn’t given yet because Christ had not yet been glorified.

One of the key phrases in the Bible as a whole is “To the glory of God, the Father.”  In Galatians 3:21 Paul said, “Unto him be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus,  throughout all ages, world without end.”  God is to be gloried, through Christ for all time.  In Ephesians 1:6 as Paul described the greatness of God’s grace in making us accepted in the beloved he said it was, “To the praise of the glory of His grace.”  In Verse 12 he was discussing our hope in Christ and what awaits in heaven, when he said, “To the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.”  In verse 14 he mentions the giving of the Holy Spirit to a believer as a pledge of the glory to be revealed, “To the praise of His glory.”  He tied the wonder of grace, the blessing of hope and the joy of being filled with the Holy Spirit, all to the glory of God.

Think about the emphasis in the Bible to the kingdom of God.  Daniel foretold the coming of the kingdom in the days of the Roman empire in Daniel 2 and 7.  Zechariah prophesied that the Messiah would reign as king and priest upon his throne.  John the Baptist came preaching, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.”  Jesus and his disciples took up the same message.  When Jesus sent the 72 out on the limited commission they were to say “The kingdom of God has come near you.”  He told the disciples that many of them would not die before seeing the kingdom come with power.  The whole picture of Jesus ascending back to the Father in Acts 2 and Revelation 4 is describing the coronation of Jesus as king of kings and Lord of Lord.  Today we are translated out of the power of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love (Colossians 1:13).  We are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken when we follow God’s word (Hebrews 12:23-31).  But the point I want us to see most in this study is the ultimate plan for the kingdom.   In I Corinthians 15 Paul gives the longest discussion of the resurrection from the dead of any place in the Bible.  He noted that to deny the resurrection was to cut the heart out of the gospel all together and destroy the basis of our faith.  Beginning in verse 20 he said now Christ has risen from the dead and become the first fruits of those asleep.  As in Adam all die, even so in Christ will all be made alive.  Each in his own order, Christ the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at his coming. THEN COMES THE END, WHEN HE HANDS OVER THE KINGDOM TO THE GOD AND FATHER OF ALL, WHEN HE HAS ABOLISHED ALL RULE AND ALL AUTHORITY AND POWER.  FOR HE MUST REIGN UNTIL HE HAS PUT ALL HIS ENEMIES UNDER HIS FEET.  THE LAST ENEMY TO BE ABOLISHED IS DEATH.”

When Jesus comes again it won’t be to set up a kingdom or reign from Jerusalem over his people.  When he comes it will signal the end of all things, including death and the kingdom will at that time be turned back over to the Father.

Think of some vital truths with regard to the Father in heaven.  He loved all people enough to pay the highest price possible in order for us to be forgiven of our sins (John 3:15-16).  His grace bringing salvation has been made available to all people (Titus 2:11-16; Ephesians 2:1-10)  God doesn’t want anyone to be lost (2 Peter 3:9).  While earthly fathers may betray us and disappoint us throughout life, He is the Father who won’t ever leave or forsake us.  He is the giver of every good and perfect gift that comes down from above (James 1:21).  God’s prized inheritance is us.  The Bible talks freely about our inheritance in Christ that it is incorruptible, unfading, and imperishable.

But there is another side of the matter that may give even more insight into the nature and heart of God.  In Ephesians 1:15-21 Paul tells of what he prays on behalf of the church.  He prays for them to be enlightened by receiving a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.  He longs for that enlightenment so they can know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.

All three of these things are vital in our life for God.  We need to know of the hope we have in Christ and of the amazing power of God available in us all the time.  But it is the middle one I want to think most about.  He said that we needed the enlightenment so we can know the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.  Notice it isn’t about our inheritance, but His and it isn’t For the saints but In the saints.  The point is that God looks at us as the followers of Christ and sees us as His wonderful inheritance when this world comes to a close.

God will fill all in all.  What a wonderful God we serve.  He isn’t one who is so needy of acceptance from people that he will accept anything we offer.  When a religious group doesn’t get things right about God they miss the most basic of all truths.  It doesn’t matter what they may teach about family or good living, if they are wrong about God.

When some religious groups come up for discussion someone will say, “Well they sure produce some wonderful materials on family living.”  That is true.  But what they teach about God violates everything the Bible teaches.  While I don’t doubt the integrity of those who believe the teachings, I question how many are really aware of what is taught.  Even when their elders come to our doors we usually get off in some insignificant studies rather than looking at their beliefs about God.

Some times, for whatever reason, words in the Bible don’t really get translated into the new language but are simply taken from the original Hebrew or Greek texts and spelled out in English, giving us a new word on which we can put whatever meaning we desire.  The Greek word used in the New Testament for “Baptism” could be translated by such words as “Immersion, submersion, to place under, to submerge.”  It was a common word in the language among the Jews of Jesus time on earth.  It was used of such things as a woman dying a piece of cloth and submerging the cloth so that the dye get all over the cloth.

There is a similar word used a few times in the Bible that has a much wider application.  It is translated by some as “Baptisms” or “Washing” that could easily be applied to any form of washing.  It would equally apply to washing that was done through pouring water over a cloth or to one that had be sprinkled down with water to prepare them for the dye.  That word is at times applied to one that has been baptized.  For example in Titus 3:5-7 it says, “It is not by works of righteousness that we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of new birth and the renewal of the Holy Spirit.” In Ephesians 5:25-27 He said, “Husbands love your wives as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her by the washing of the water by the word, that he might present her to himself in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle of any such thing.”  In Hebrews 10:22 the writer says that we have our evil conscience cleaned by the washing of pure water.  But in none of these cases did he use the word typically translated “Baptism”.

What is the “One baptism” referred to here by Paul?  It seems likely to me that it was intended to make the point that baptism is something that you do one time and it never needs to be done again.  In many of the ceremonies of  the Jews used in their worship and service baptisms were done every time one approached God.  But the baptism  that Jesus commanded the apostles to do wasn’t a ceremony to repeat often.  It needed only one time to be done to last a life time if it was done correctly the first time.

There is one instance in the Bible of people needed to be baptized again to make everything right with the Lord.  It is recorded in Acts 19:1-9 when Paul went down to Ephesus.  Acts 18 closed with the story of Aquila and Priscilla staying in Ephesus and while there worshiping with the church, they met a man named Apollos who had been taught about Jesus and was mighty in the Scriptures.  He began preaching for the church there and many were following the teaching he was giving.  One thing was wrong that had to be corrected.  He knew only about John’s baptism and so he was baptizing people in that manner.  Aquila and Priscilla took the time and interest in him to take him aside and  teach him more correctly the teachings of the Lord and Apollos accepted the teachings and went on from there preaching and teaching God’s word more correctly.

In Acts 19 it opens with Paul arriving in the city where he found a group of disciples and asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit since they believed.  They told him they didn’t even know there was a Holy Spirit.  He responded, “Unto what then were you baptized?”  They said, “Unto John’s baptism.”  He commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord which they did and then he laid his hands on the to give them the Holy Spirit and they began to praise God speaking in different languages from their native tongue.

There are some obvious and powerful points to be seen from this passage of Scripture.  First, it is obvious that baptism is important in God’s sight for it to matter how one does it.  Second, it has to be done in the way God teaches to be effective.  There were numerous ways in which John’s baptism was exactly the same as the baptism of Jesus.  They were both done by immersion in water.  They were both “For the forgiveness of sins.” And they were both effective at the proper time.  But there are some major differences between John’s baptism and that of Christ.

In Matthew’s account of the great commission he quoted Jesus as saying to the disciples before he ascended back to God, “As you go make disciples among all ethnic groups, baptizing them into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”  This phrase is only used this one time in connection with baptism.  In the Book of Acts the common phrase is that they were baptized, “In the name of Jesus Christ” or some other such phrase.  There certainly isn’t any contradiction between the two in that he isn’t telling us what to say when someone is baptized but what to do.  We are to baptize people based on the name or authority of Jesus.

Third, notice how Paul realized they weren’t baptized correctly.  ”Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?”  When they answered, “We’ve not even heard if there is a Holy Spirit” he knew something was wrong with their baptism.  Since our baptism is a birth of the water and the Spirit (John 3:5) it could have gone back to this point.  Since the Day of Pentecost being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit had gone hand in hand so this would seem to be the major reason he would know something was wrong with their baptism if they hadn’t even heard of the Holy Spirit, much less received him.  It might also be noted that I Corinthians 12:13 says that “In one Spirit we are all baptized into one body and are all made to drink of that one Spiritual drink which is Christ.”

Since this is the only time anyone is recorded as being baptized again in the Bible, it should send us the signal that this isn’t something that happens all along.  Too many worry about technicalities of baptism instead of the changed life it should produce.

In Romans 6:1-5 Paul goes from a study of grace overflowing to the question, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?”  His answer was, “Certainly not!” But notice his reasoning on why that shouldn’t be the case with us.  ”Don’t you know that as many of us as are baptized into Christ are baptized into his death.  Therefore we are buried with him in baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”  Baptism puts us into Christ, into his death and into our own death to sin to be raised up to live a new kind of life.  If one is baptized and their life didn’t ever change something is dreadfully wrong.

When a person is first baptized they are infants in Christ, starting a life that is to grow and develop all the time.  It will always be true if you grow as you should that you can look back and think “I didn’t really know as much then as I do now.”  Because of such growth people raise the question, “Did I really know enough to be baptized to begin with?”  That brings up the question, “How much does one need to know to be baptized correctly?”  When you read the Book of Acts and see that every example of people being baptized it was after hearing one sermon and being moved to give their life to God.  One has to know they are lost and in need of salvation from God.  They have to know that Jesus is our savior and Lord because he paid the price of sin for us.  They have to have made the turn from sin and Satan to God to live for him.  The rest comes afterward as we continue growing.

It is foolish when baptism is made so important that we don’t think of anything else.  It is also foolish to ignore something that God has placed between one’s belief in Christ and their salvation in places like Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16; Galatians 3:26-27; I Peter 3:21.  Anything that is important to the Lord, ought to be important to me.

We use the word “Faith” in multiple ways.  Often it refers only to one’s personal beliefs.  In Acts 8 when Philip went to Samaria to preach Christ to them, they were already people of faith.  They believed that Simon the Sorcerer was a great power from God.  But Simon listening to Philip preach and seeing the miracles he did, came to faith in the Lord himself.  Obviously he could see a real difference in what he was doing to fool the people and what Philip was doing as he preached Jesus, his name and his kingdom.

Saul of Tarsus had a strong faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  He believed the whole teachings of the Old Covenant and was full of zeal in standing against anything that he thought would hurt the Jewish cause.  It seems that it had never dawned on him that the message of Jesus might be right and not in conflict with the Old Testament.  Jesus said, he didn’t come to destroy the law or the prophets.  He came to fulfill it or to make it full.

When Paul was converted to Christ he said in the Book of Galatians that he was now preaching the faith he had once tried to destroy.  That faith he preached and said that it is “One faith” is the system of faith by which we come to believe in Jesus Christ and to submit to his will as the rule of our lives.  God’s desire is that we all become mature in the faith and ready to share the message as a witness to others.

It was the Lord’s half brother Jude that challenged the church of his day and us as well to “Contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all time, delivered to the saints.”  This is very different from Paul’s teaching about our personal beliefs.  In Romans 14 where he deals with matters of conscience on which we disagree he said, “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.  One person has faith that he may eat all things, but the one who is weak eat only vegetables.”  When it has to do with the faith that is the basis for our belief in God and obeying his will for our lives, we are to contend earnestly for that faith.  But if it is just a personal belief or opinion we are to accept the ones who differ with us and not to try to force them to agree with us on everything.  He also points out that we shouldn’t allow the one who is weak in faith to set the standards by which the church lives.  Sometimes in our efforts to accept the weak, we have allowed their weakness to become the way the whole church operates in order to not offend anyone and the result is the entire church becomes weak in the faith.  No one has the right to bind anything on the church that God hasn’t bound and no one has the right to loose anything that God has bound.

The writer of the Book of Hebrews laid out the basis of the faith in the very beginning of his book.  ”God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.  He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.  When he had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.”  Notice his distinction between how God used to speak to people by the prophets in all kinds of ways, but now it is different.  Now He speaks to us through His son, the heir of all things.  When we go back to follow the Old Testament in our way of life for the Lord, we are putting our faith in a system that God used to get us to Christ but never intended for us to follow it after Christ has come.

Focus for a moment on some of the things said in the New Testament about the Old.  We are dead to the Law by the body of Christ that we might be married to another, to Him who was raised from the dead that we might bring forth fruit to God (Romans 7:4).  If one says that this isn’t referring to the Ten Commandments but to the ceremonial law, then they need to keep reading in these verses.  Paul in verses 7-8 describes the law that led him to death as the one that said, “You shall not covet.”  Thus the law referred to that we are dead to is the Old Testament law in its entirety.

Jesus said, that the smallest letter or most insignificant markings of the law would in no way pass UNTIL ALL IS FULFILLED.  Then he said, “I didn’t come to destroy the law or the prophets but to FULFILL.  It won’t pass until it is fulfilled and Jesus came to fulfill it. No wonder his cry from the cross that “It is finished” had so much power.

In Galatians 3:19-24 Paul describes the old law as being like the tutor who was responsible for getting a child to school and into a class.  He said the “The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, but after Christ has come we are no longer under the tutor.”

In Ephesians 2:14-21 he compared the law to the middle wall of partition that stood between the people and God.  God tore down the wall between us and him and between us and each other when Jesus died on the Christ and became our source of peace.

Jesus not only delivered the message of God to mankind, telling us to go into the world and preach the gospel to all people, He was the message of God.  It is common in the Book of Acts for it to be said of the evangelist that they “Preached Christ unto them.” But we are also challenged by Paul to “Preach the word,” when people liked it and when they didn’t.  Preaching the word of God and preaching Jesus is the same thing.  It is the one faith we are to proclaim to the world and believe deeply in ourselves.

It isn’t that there aren’t other faiths around us that people hold on to with diligence.  The point being made is that there is only one faith that will lead one to full salvation in Christ Jesus and to heaven when this life is over.  In Galatians 1:8-9 Paul said, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching you a gospel contrary to what you have received, let him be accursed.”

It’s popular to believe we can choose our own way to serve God and He will joyfully accept whatever we give him.  But such a notion indicates a gross failure to understand the teachings of Scripture or the God who gave it to us.  Our need is to learn what God tells us in His word, how it applies in our lives then to live as we have been taught.

But unity of the Spirit has to be built on a solid foundation.  If we all united on the wrong ideas and wrong worship and service, it wouldn’t make it any less wrong.  Paul laid down seven foundations on which that unity must be based.  ”There is one body and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith and one baptism, one God and father of all who is above all, in all and through all.”  We’ve looked at the one body, one Spirit and one hope.  Today let’s focus on the “One Lord.”

The word translated “Lord” means master, ruler or the one in charge.  It was used as a term of respect at times, almost like “Sir” or “Mr.”.  But it was usually used of a ruler, such as the king.  Since Jesus came to set up His kingdom among men it is natural that he would be called, “Lord” and “King.”  Even at his birth the angel of the Lord told the shepherds in the field that he was bringing them good news of great joy which would be to all people.  ”Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ, the Lord.”  In Micah 5:2 when the prophet foretold the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem he said that from Bethlehem would go forth the one who would be ruler of his people.

For a person to be in the kingdom of Christ demands that they submit to Jesus Christ as the king of their life, the Lord and Master over them.  It seems to me that we often try to turn the tables on the Lord and want to be the Masters ourselves and have Jesus as our servant doing everything we ask him to do.  Prayer is too often seen as a customer service line where the worker has been instructed that the “Customer is always right.”  But, if Jesus is Lord, our place is to serve him.  Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 23 that they were not to call another person, rabbi, teacher, master or Lord.  He is the Lord and their isn’t another.

Peter said in his sermon on Pentecost, recorded in Acts 2:36, “This same Jesus you have crucified has been made both Lord and Christ.”  In Romans 10:9-10 Paul said, “If we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God has raised him from the dead we shall be saved.  For with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Think of some of the implications of Jesus being the one Lord.  It means he is the single source of authority.  In Matthew 28:18 he said, “All authority is given to me in heaven and on earth.”  It is an affirmation of this point that Paul makes in Colossians 1:18, “He is the head of the body, the church who is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in all things he might have the preeminence.” We may have all kinds of discussions about people having authority in the church, but the real authority all belongs to Jesus Christ.  While Peter will describe elders as being under-shepherds in I Peter 5:1-5 to the chief Shepherd, Jesus, there is never a time when anyone, elder, preacher, bishop or pastor who is ever referred to as “Under-lords.”  As a matter of fact Peter even says that elder aren’t to “Lord it over God’s heritage.”

When elders work in the area assigned to them by God it is always in areas of opinion, liberty and freedom.  They aren’t in the law making business.  Their decisions aren’t passed down to the congregation as laws for them to follow.  Instead they are challenged to live in a way that is an example to the believers.  The only authority any man can have in the church is that of a godly life that people willingly follow.  Sometimes we act as if an eldership can determine what the correct interpretation is of some Scripture and give the declaration of how it is to be followed in a congregation.  But the Bible teaches that all believers are priest of God with their own right to study and learn God’s will and determine what they understand the Scriptures to say.  One may interpret Scripture wrongly, but everyone is to be an interpreter of Scripture.  Peter said some who were unlearned and unstable twisted Scripture to their own destruction.  We should prayerfully study asking God to help us see what it really means instead of trying to put our own stamp on a Scripture and thinking one opinion on the matter is as good as another.  Ultimately we will be judged by what Scripture really says and means, no matter what our understanding may be.

Another implication of the Lordship of Jesus is if he is our Lord, our place is to submit to him and do what he says.  Jesus asked, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do what I say?”  (Luke 6:46)  In the sermon on the mount recorded in Matthew chapters 5-7 he said, “Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of God but he that does the will of my father in heaven.  For many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in your name, in your name cast out demons and in your name done many wonderful works?  Then I will profess to them, “I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:21-23)  The commands and teachings of Jesus aren’t a potluck at which I can go down the line and choose which foods I will eat.  The whole of God’s word is truth and if he is Lord we will submit to all of his teachings.

If Jesus is the one lord, then we will not allow anyone else to take on the place of lordship.  In the book of 3rd John we are introduced to a man named Diotrephes who loved to have first place in that church.  When John sent some people there, he threw them out.  John’s message to his friend Gaius was to not follow such an evil person but follow Demetrius who was a good man.

The right response upon learning that Jesus is Lord is that given by 3,000 people on Pentecost when they heard Peter say Jesus had been made both Lord and Christ.  They were cut to the heart and cried out to the apostles, “What shall we do?”  When we learn what the Lord wants from us, our place is to do it not to try to find a loophole that allows us to escape.

If Jesus reigns as Lord and king in your life, there is no room on the throne for you to get on with him.  But there is plenty of room for servants who submit to His lead.