10.
FAITH
Faith is that active principle that moves us to action. As Paul defines it, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen.” We hope for the time to come when we will realize our inheritance in the redeemed earth as of Isa. 11. But what gives us this hope? We have read the scriptures that tell us the Lord my God will come and all the saints with thee. But there must be something to confirm that story to us. We have read the story and the challenge comes to us. If others have had a testimony, I can get one too. So I start on my journey. Job said, ‘‘I know that my Redeemer lives and in the Latter Day He shall stand upon the earth.’’ But I find that Job was a perfect man. lIe was so good that the Devil challenged the Lord and said, if you will turn him into my hands, he will curse God. You see Job had made a hedge around about him by prayer and love and a perfect obedience and the Devil could not reach him. Why? The promises of God are true and God will hear our prayers and answer them when we are humble and true. That shuts out the power of evil and give us the help at that moment and guarantees victory through our faith, our belief in anything. And its built up when we can see the fruit or result. We plant the corn and by our experience in past with other seed we wait for the blade, then the ear,
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then the full corn shall appear. We read the story of Peter and John at the beautiful gate of the temple. We say what God hath done He can do. So it is in all the principles of the Gospel. We hear the principles of baptism by John the Baptist. “I indeed baptize (that is I have authority) you with water, but He that cometh after me is mightier than I. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with Fire. So you see there is reward attached to every single principle of the Gospel. Our faith is rewarded by evidence of God’s power, blessing. and glory. Our repentance is rewarded by blessings of both soul and body.
Baptism is rewarded by giving to every soul a witness of God. Jesus said, ‘11e will take the things of the Father and show them unto you. lie will bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you, and it will show you things to come.’’ That’s the fruit of an authorized baptism. We have faith in time ordinance. Faith in the man who performs it. If he is not called by prophecy and the Laying on of hands of the presbytery, he’ll not receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. And in the laying on of hands of the man of God, His blessings will follow, and will continue even unto the end of the world. His words are. “I am with you alway even unto the end of time world.”
The baptism that Jesus preached was baptism of water and of the Spirit. It takes both to make a complete birth because we are of a dual nature. The outer man is buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through of the operation of God who hath raised Christ from the dead. Do you have faith in that? That faith will grow and you will also include in your store of faith a sure belief in all the remaining principles that Jesus taught.
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It is just as necessary for the inner man to be baptized
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as the outer man. So our Lord prepared a baptism of the Spirit by the Laying on of Hands of holy men. Where is your faith? Do you go with me on that? My subject is faith. Without faith you could not please him. He taught these principles and if we disregard them we re fuse His grace and could not be saved. By obeying these things we come near to Him and no man can come to God except those who believe. have faith and lie will go with us all the way. May His peace come-to you and abide that the happiness will remain and the Son of Righteousness arise in our hearts and bring to us a glorious sunset to our earthly career and we will be prepared for the glories of the redeemed earth.
Amen
REPENTANCE
If you had no faith you would not repent of anything. The Apostle Peter said, Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And He shall send Jesus Christ who before was preached unto you whom the Heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things, etc. This definitely refers to the Latter Day and would apply to us.
I wonder if we are converted? Sometimes I think we are about half way. Repentance is shown by what we do and say. So if we say the right things and do the right things we might be in a fair condition, only God knows the hearts of men. When that rich young man of Matthew 19 came to Jesus and asked Him what he must do, Jesus could see his soul and body, He could read his character and told him to keep the commandments and after Jesus had enumerated some of them, he had kept all so far. But when the great Teacher and Commander told him the second
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part of the story, he turned away sorrowful. Now what are you going to do after I have told you half the story? Will you brace up and say, I’ve kept the first half tell me the rest and I’ll believe and adopt it? Be converted to it. I’ll travel all the way to Calvary. I’ll walk the road that Jesus walked for me. I’ll serve Him to the end for He is my dearest friend. I’ll travel all the way to Calvary. That’s all any one could ask.
Now for the test. When Jesus told that young man to sell what he had and give to the poor there was a principle involved that meant a sacrifice, a great sacrifice. When the Psalmist David as in Ps. 50, Gather my Saints together unto me those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. They had already complied with that law and were ready to share their temporal things until there were no poor among them. I ‘m not surprised that David saw the conditions in Zion. Many in ease, with plenty and others having a hard time to meet their living expenses, such as rent, groceries and taxes, and He said as of Ps. 15, Lord who shall abide in Thy Tabernacle and who shall dwell in thy holy hill of Zion? The Lord answered that prayer and the answer was: He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor, and in whose eyes a vile person is condemned.
He that putteth not out his money to usury nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things will not be moved. That all looks to me as if you leave those things out of your life or your story, you will not go to the reunion with me.
Let us then be up and doing with a heart for any fate. Still achieving, still pursuing, learn to labor and to wait.
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Hear the call by revelation, come and sit around the board. Heed His precious invitation. ‘Tis the living word of God. Come ye then to this high station. The celestial law of God, where your brother sits beside you and you help him bear his load. Its this holy bond and union with each other and our Lord, we can reach the Holy City, New Jerusalem of our God.
BAPTISM
There was a council in Heaven, they were considering the Fall of Man. Lucifer offered to come if he could have the glory. ‘Tis true a great price must be involved and a sacrifice made. Jesus came to His Father and said, send Me. I’ll go and redeem them and all the glory is Thine. He was chosen, ordained, sent to save the world. The plan was given to Him and He helped devise it, and became author of eternal salvation and it was so devised to meet all their wants and needs. And in this plan it was seen that it was necessary to meet a death of a two-fold nature with a birth of a two-fold nature. Therefore He said, Ye must be born again. Verily, verily, I say unto you except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. So its settled forever that every one must be baptized into the Kingdom of God which is the church.
Now this baptism is for the remission of sins. Not the sin of Adam and Eve but of our own sins. Peter on the Day of Pentecost, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. John the Baptist preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, That is, he preached baptism on condition of their repentance for the remission of sins. Baptism must be administered by one in authority. Read
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Matt. 3:1-5; 11-12. I indeed baptize you with water but there cometh one after me, mightier than I, He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. As another text for truth on authority to baptize, read Acts 19 :1-3. There are more, but if there were no more this would be entirely sufficient.
So Baptism must be administered by one who is called of God as was Aaron. Like John, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. That’s why ,Jesus said as of John 15 :16, I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit that your fruit should remain. That means that when they administered the ordinances such as Baptism or the Laying on of hands, God would recognize their work.
Baptism is to be administered by immersion. Read Rom. 6 :4-5 and Col. 12; John 3. In all these texts baptism is by immersion and this is Gods eternal law and is fixed forever and no provision for a change and no substitute. It’s like the message the prophet Elijah gave to the Cyrian leper, Go and dip yourself in Jordan seven times and you will be healed. He went away in a rage and said are not the rivers of Pfarfer and Abanna as good as the waters of Jordan and why not wash in the streams of my own country? The servant of Nalinian came to him and said, If he had bid thee do some great thing you would have done it. But he told you to wash and he clean.
Nahman repented and dipped himself in Jordan seven times and was healed. It was obedience to the command of God that cleansed the leper. So is obedience to the command of God, “Ye must be born again.” And as God provided His messengers to administer the holy rite then these signs will follow them that believe. Just as the leprosy was taken from Nahman so are your sins taken
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away and you are made clean as a new born babe and the Holy Spirit comes to you because you are made clean and it can come in.
Now if Nahman’s servant had dipped him in Jordan, he would not have been healed. God told Nahman to dip himself in Jordan, and he would be healed. The command of God is authority. So you see. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. It takes revelation from God. A message from Heaven. To set a man over the congregation, who could bring them into the fold. Read Num. 27:15. The Baptism of the Spirit comes through the ordinance of Laying on of Hands. Read Acts 8 :16-17; Acts 9 :17; 19 :6.
Jesus said except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
The Spirit needs to be baptized as well as the body. The body is baptized in the element water which is material. The Spirit is baptized by the Spirit. Both together seals our adoption into the Kingdom. Hence Paul said in Eph. 1, after we have believed we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest (evidence) of our inheritance.
We are baptized by one Spirit into the one body par aking Christ’s flesh and blood as in Col. 3:12. Buried with Him in baptism wherein ye are also risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised Christ from the dead. It’s just as necessary for the inner man or our spirits to be fed as it is to eat food to sustain the outer man. The Lord knows that. So He provided the baptism of the 11 Spirit and decreed that when we were baptized and were clean He would give that Holy Spirit to abide with us forever. No one can change the order of God. Through transgression we can lose it, and become a castaway. By faith and love and good
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works we may keep it and bless ourselves and every one around us. The Israelites in the days of Jeremiah forsook the Lord, the God of Israel, and hewed out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. God’s cistern is not broken and it holds the living water, of which Jesus referred to when He talked to the woman at the well and said, “If you would drink of the water that I’d give you, you will never thirst again.” So come to the waters of salvation and partake of its sweetness and His blessing and glory will follow you all the days of your life.
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