THE BAPTISM

 I have spoken of the commandment of been baptized after being born again in the past, but I need to speak about again. Born again means to have changed our direction in life. Instead of serving the god of this world, which Satan or Lucifer, and he is also called. We all know that he is the deceiver, and he is also called the liar, and the father of lies.

One day after the Yehoshua had a discussion with the Pharisees who were trying to kill Him, at one point He said to them:

“You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood on the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.”- Yochanan/John 8:44 HS

Now you know why we need to repent of our sins and be born of Elohim (God), we have listened to the devil, instead of listening to Yehovah and obeying His voice.

Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him, there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Yochanan 3:4-6

Yochanan is speaking of Yehoshua. When we abide in Him, we do not sin.

He continues to say,

Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of Elohim was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. -Yochanan 3:7-8

We must truly understand that if we think we have no sin, we are living in deception. We have been deceived by the devil. The devil has blinded our eyes.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him (Yehovah) a liar, and His word is not in us. -Yochanan 1:8-10

It was necessary that I speak briefly about sin, in order for you to understand that if you never repented of sin, you cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven. You may think right now that you have never sinned. If you are a man, have you ever looked to a woman with lust? If you are a woman have you looked to another man, with lust? Man or woman, have you ever lied? Have you loved Yehovah and Yehoshua with all your heart? Have you stolen even just a pencil? I think you realize you are a sinner and need to repent.

Yehoshua clearly told us that we must be born again.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of Elohim.”- Yochanan 3:3

Simply speaking to be born again is to repent of our sins, and believe in Yehoshua.

And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. -Yochanan 8:23-24

We must believe that He is the Ben of Elohim, or we will die in our sins. Today I cannot speak on the birth of Yehoshua, but you can read Luqas/Luke 1:26-56, and the whole four gospels, and see for yourself.

We must repent of our sins, and believe and receive Yehoshua.

But as many as Received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of Elohim, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of Elohim. -Yochanan 1:12-13

When we do these simple things, the Spirit of Yehovah comes into our lives, and we are born of Elohim, from that moment on our names are written in the Lamb Book of Life.

For if our names are not written in that book, we will not be part of the Kingdom of Yehovah. At judgment day the books will be open.

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before Elohim, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”-Chazon/Revelation 20:11-12; 15

Yehoshua said that we must be saved and baptized. After His resurrection before He went back to Heaven He told the disciples the following:

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved.; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”

- Marqos/Mark 16:16

We must believe, but we must also be baptized to complete our salvation. Unless of course a person believes and repents just before he dies, and cannot possibly be immersed in the water!

Yes, baptism is immersion, not sprinkle. Sprinkling the head is a man invention disobeying the direct command of Yehoshua.

Yehoshua was immersed. He went to Yochanan the Immerser and asked him to be baptized. He did this because He was the Lamb of Elohim (Yochanan 1:29), and He would be sacrificed for our sins. He had to fulfill all righteousness. Read about this event in Mattithyahu 3:13-17. The apostle Shaul/Paul was also baptized when Yehoshua sent the prophet Ananias to him.

See Ma’aseh/Acts 9:15-18. Read also the book of Romiyim/Romans chapter six.

I pray that you will read all these verses in order for you to get a better understanding.

When we get baptized is as though we are buried with with Yehoshua, who died for our sins.

As we go down into the water, spiritually, we leave all our past sins there. Those sins are gone forever and never to be remembered again. The Blood of Yehoshua is enough to remove the most vile sin from our lives.

And as we rise from the water we proclaim the resurrection of Yehoshua and our own resurrection.

As Yehoshua rose on the third day, (See Mattithyahu/Matthew 28; Marqos/Mark 16; Luqas/Luke 24 and Yochanan 20). As He rose, so we will also rise.

Therefore to be just sprinkled on the head is not to be baptized, for it is not fulfilling the will of Yehoshua and does not tell the true story.

Let us obey, even if we do not fully understand the complete picture of it, but obey Him in humility. At judgment day we will be blessed and thankful that we did obey Him.

Let us begin well this new Biblical year that began just a few weeks ago.

Please read the following words. “This month shall be your beginning of months; It shall be the first month of the year to you. -Shemot/Exodus 12:2

This is the month of the Pesach/ Passover. The month Israel came out of Mitsrayim/Egypt.

I have spoken about this before, but you can also buy my book, Strings of Pearls on Amazon and read about it.

Let me remind you that Rosh Hashanah in the seventh month was invented by Israel while in Babylon. Yehovah never gave us two new years!

Shalom to you my Brethren.