Purpose of Baptism

Baptism Series #6

Fred R. Coulter—July 1, 1999

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Track 1 or Download

Let's talk about baptism. Come to the book of Romans, the second chapter. Here's the beginning of baptism. There's a meaning for baptism, which is profound. That's why infant baptism has no validity before God, because you have to know what you are doing. If you are two-weeks old and you're brought in before a Catholic priest, and crying and screaming and yelling and not even know the language, don't even know how to speak, you don't even know who your mother and father is, and this gink with a turned-around-collar backwards, and with his cold hands, grabs the baby and gets a little water and mumbles and you're so-called baptized. That has nothing to do with God whatsoever!

To be baptized, God has to do something in your life first! You can all tell me a story. I told you a little bit about mine, how God led me to repentance. Something special and profound has to happen. You don't think it's so special, you don't think it's so profound because God is doing it in such a way that He's gently leading you to repentance.

Romans 2:4: "Or do you despise the riches of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the graciousness of God leads you to repentance?" So God is the One Who's leading you to repentance. There has to come repentance first, before baptism!

Let's go to John, the sixth chapter. There's something that's very important that we have to do which affects everything that we do: You must believe God! Not just believe that there is a God, because the demons believe that and won't obey. There are a lot of people that believe that there is as a God, but they don't believe God! What's the difference between believing that there is a God and believing God? The difference is this: If you believe God, then you will do what He says! Think of it this way also: All of the words of God contain the promises of God and the promise of eternal life. That's why, after feeding the 5,000 in John 6, Jesus told them when they wanted to know what is the 'work of God':

John 6:28: "Therefore, they said to Him, 'What shall we do, in order that we ourselves may do the works of God?'…. [so we can be fed] …Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is the work of God: that you believe in Him Whom He has sent'" (John 6:28-29). You believe God the Father. You believe Jesus Christ. You believe on "…Whom He has sent." That is believe in Christ, but then you have to believe the Father, because Jesus said, 'If you believe in Me, believe in the Father.'

Belief is so important and profound because belief is what you operate on—isn't it? Yes! Everything that you do, you do because you believe—whether it's a physical thing or whether it's a spiritual thing. To mail a letter, you believe that if you put it in a post office box it'll go to where you addressed it—correct? You believe that if you have the money in the bank and you write a check on it that you can pay your bills. You believe that there's electricity in the lines so you turn on the electrical switch—that is unless the electricity's off. You believe the Word of God because it is Truth! If you believe the Word of God then you're going to do the will of God. And that's what God begins to put into someone when He begins to call them and lead them to repentance, to see that each individual—and He does this individually in calling them—that his or her life is empty and sinless, and it's futile to try and get out of it yourself, because you can't. That's why Christ is a Savior.

Now, come over here to John 6:44: "No one can come to Me unless the Father, Who sent Me, draws him…" When you come to the point that you desire baptism, God is working in your life. God is drawing you to lead you to repentance because He loves you, because 'He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.'

"…and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'…" (vs 44-45). Who's doing the teaching? When you read the Bible, when you understand the Bible, when it does something to your mind—with the words of God which are 'Spirit and Truth.' It is God's Spirit which is acting in your life and in your mind to do it. What happens is you're all being taught of the Father. That's why, brethren, it is so important that whoever is going teach or preach the words of God because there is nothing greater or better that can be taught or preached—is there, really? NO!

• if the words of God are Truth, which they are
• if the laws of God are Truth, which they are
• if God sends His Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of Truth, which it is

then God the Father is the One Who's doing the teaching—is He not?—in this one profound book! That's why Satan likes to come along, just like with Adam and Eve and say to you, 'Well, God didn't mean that here.' He's got ya!
I recently talked to a woman who's an ex-Seventh Day Adventist, who's going down the road to give up the Sabbath—by saying, 'Every day is my Sabbath.' And I told her, 'That's not what God says. We're to worship God every day, but every day is not the Sabbath, because you've got to work.' Well, Christ fulfilled the Sabbath for me. Have you heard that? Yea! One of Satan's ways, 'a little leaven leavens the whole lump.' Yes! That's why God has to do it individually.

Let's come back to Romans 2:12: "For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law…" Because they're sinning even though they have no knowledge of the law sin still affects them—right? The law of gravity is always in action.

God's law is very tolerant. You jump out of a plane at 12,000 feet with no parachute it's quite a while until you land on the ground. But when the law then is enforced—when you hit the ground—it's very INtolerant! So, sooner or later it's going to catch up with you, whether you know it or not.

"…shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned within the law shall be judged by the law, (because the hearers of the law are not just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified" (vs 12-13). That's one of the first things that God does. He leads to you understand that you need to keep the commandments of God. Then He leads you to understand that breaking them is sin—and you need to repent of your sins.

Let's go to Acts 2:38, and I'm sure through the years you know exactly what this says. Let's just read it into the record here, because this is something we need to understand concerning baptism.

• You should never be baptized to go to a place of safety. That's the wrong motive!
• You should never be baptized so you can marry someone. That's a wrong motive!
• You should never be baptized because your brother, father, mother, sister were. That may be the wrong motive.

You're baptized because you repent of your sins to Jesus Christ and God the Father!

When Peter gave this sermon—Acts 2:36, very important—not only was this talking to the Jews that were at Jerusalem, but this was written down for our benefit. We need to understand this: In baptism the sacrifice of Christ is applied to each person individually—each one, individually! That's why you're baptized individually.

Acts 2:36: "Therefore, let all the house of Israel know with full assurance that God has made this same Jesus, Whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." It takes a time to grow in the understanding of that, that your sins killed Christ. When you understand the greatness and the mercy of God's calling, to apply the sacrifice of Christ to you, and the whole meaning of baptism, it is going to open up your understanding and your relationship with God the Father so much greater, that it's going to be like a whole new life. That's why I have the sermon I did that I call The Second Calling, because many people didn't know that, though they were baptized.

Notice what else it's to do, v 37: "Now, after hearing this, they were cut to the heart; and they said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?'" This is the same question that the carnal Jews asked so that they could get their food, 'what shall we do?' And He said, 'believe on Him Whom He has sent.' That is, believe on Christ. And if you believe then here's what you're going to do:

Verse 38: "Then Peter said to them, 'Repent…" Repentance means stop, change, turn around, go the other way; see that your life, living apart from God is without God and leading to destruction. God, in His mercy, has called you, and you turn. Actually the Greek here is 'meta' and means

• turn around
• change
• go the other way
• go from your way to God's way
• go from your thoughts to God's thoughts
• go from your laws and rules to God's laws and rules
• go from your justification of your own actions to God's justification of your life

"…'Repent and be baptized… [this is by full water immersion] …each one of you… [you see this individually] …in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you yourselves shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit'" (v 38).

The gift of the Holy Spirit is going to change your life. If the gift of the Holy Spirit has not changed your life dramatically, then ask God to grant you more of His Holy Spirit, grant you more of His understanding so that your life can be changed. We are to become converted in this change.

That's what Peter said,: Acts 3:19: "Therefore, repent and be converted…" Be converted!

Conversion is a process. There's initial conversion when you're baptized, receive the Holy Spirit. Then it's a process of 'growing in grace and knowledge'; growing in God's Spirit. Hungering and thirsting after the Word of God and the Truth of God and Christ and hungering and thirsting after eternal life, which Christ alone can give; learning to love God.

I tell you, I've had to learn some lessons, because I would have to say that in our experience in the Church we did not learn about the love of God—did we? Oh we learned about

• authority
• hierarchy
• the Sabbath
• the Holy Days

—learned different things like this, but where was the love of God? The love of God was only outgoing concern! So, it gradually degenerated into fear, intimidation, and letter of the law!No conversion!

Let's come back to Romans, the sixth chapter here. Here's what baptism really means. First of all, God the Father draws you, leads you to repentance, then you recognize that you're a sinner and you begin to have a burning feeling in you somehow that you have got to have these sins forgiven. That you have got to have your life changed!

What you do when you come to baptism is this, Romans 6:1: "What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin, so that grace may abound? MAY IT NEVER BE! We who died to sin, how shall we live any longer therein?" (vs 1-2). That's why in Rom. 7 he goes through about all the difficulties of growing and changing and overcoming and getting sin out of your life, through the Spirit of God, because another thing will happen.

When you have the Spirit of God you will be able to perceive more sin in your life than you ever thought you had. Why? Is it because you're a worse person? How can you end up being worse after you've been baptized? So you can be better and spiritual? Well, the truth is, you're really not worse. You're really seeing sin for what sin is, which you could not do before you had the Spirit of God! You will experience that. We're not to live in sin any longer. What do you do? You repent of it! You grow and overcome. And all of us—all of us—are going to have some weakness that we're going to have to just struggle with all of our lives. That's just the nature of human beings, because we have the law of sin and death in us.

Verse 3—very important: "Or are you ignorant that we, as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into His death?" His death was the covenant sacrifice for the New Covenant. You're being baptized into His death means that you are also pledging your life to die in the death of Christ! That's why baptism is not for children, because you have to have a certain level of maturity and calling of God to understand that. You're baptized into His death!

"Therefore, we were buried with Him though the baptism into the death…" (v 4). Just as Christ was crucified; just as He was that sacrifice; just as He pledged His life to Abraham to do so.

Track 2 or Download

Baptism is a covenant death—that's what it is. If you've never understood that before, ask God to help you understand it and realize that every Passover with foot-washing you're renewing your baptism. Ask God to help you comprehend it and know it and understand it, and let it become a deep part of your life.

There's good news, v 4: "…so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, in the same way, we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been [planted] conjoined together in the likeness of His death…" (vs 4-5). Planted together (KJV) means co-joined or knit together in His death—that's what it means in baptism.

Notice, he carries this on a little bit further; here's the other promise: "…in the likeness of His death so also shall we be in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man was co-crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be destroyed…" (vs 5-6). This tells us that destroying the body of sin is a process—might be destroyed. Not done all at once, because:

• we have to grow in grace and knowledge
• we have to grow in character
• we have to grow in experience
• we have trials that will be there

—and, another thing with trials: trials always turn out never to be the ones that you think you're going to have. What happens if you think that you're going to get a trial in a certain area then you're going to kind of gear yourself up for it, so you will be ready—right? That one never happens.

"…that the body of sin might be destroyed, so that we might no longer be enslaved to sin" (v 6). Notice, it doesn't say that you are sinless. It says you shouldn't serve it. It doesn't mean you won't be tempted. Doesn't mean that you won't sin. But it means you won't serve sin—meaning you're not going to live a life in sin anymore,

He started off and said up here in v 1: "What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin, so that grace may abound?….how shall we live any longer therein? (vs 1-2).

Verse 7: "Because the one who has died to sin… [through the operation of baptism] …has been justified [freed] from sin…. [Freed (KJV) is not a good word here because 'freed' actually kind of gives you the connotation of having no sin. But this means 'justified from sin.'] …Now, if we died together with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him… [So again it's a matter of faith, a matter of belief.] …knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has any dominion over Him. For when He died, He died unto sin once for all; but in that He lives, He lives unto God. In the same way also, you should indeed reckon yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God through Christ Jesus our Lord" (vs 7-11).

When you're armed with this and the Spirit of God, then he says, v 12: "Therefore, do not let sin rule… [This means: don't let sin have dominion, rule, in your life.] …in your mortal body by obeying it in the lusts thereof. Likewise, do not yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin; rather, yield yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not rule over you because you are not under law, but under grace" (vs 12-14). Because law cannot forgive! Remember that. Law cannot forgive!Law defines sin! So, if you look to law to do away with your sins, you're looking to the wrong thing. You have to look to the sacrifice of Christ and His mercy and His love and His forgiveness, which is grace. And the only way you're going to overcome sin is by the grace of God. No other way.

If you have a problem and trial and you have a sin you're trying to overcome, you have something you have to clean up your life with and only Christ can do it, you go to God and you repent from the very depths of your being. You go to God and ask God to help you with His grace and fulfill His promise that you can't do it, that He can do it. Then you are under grace! But if you say, 'Oh, I broke the Sabbath this Sabbath therefore then, I'm going to keep the Sabbath perfect for the next ten—that's under law. Because all your good Sabbath-keeping for the next ten doesn't do any good in taking away the sin of breaking the Sabbath before, anymore than a murderer who murders someone and runs off and is not caught for 20 years, has lived an exemplary life and they arrest him and he says, 'Well, I've been a good boy for 20 years. Doesn't that forgive me for killing this man.' NO, it doesn't! That's why you need the mercy and grace of God.

Let's look at something else here. This is very important because the whole purpose of repentance is not to put you down, not to make you feel miserable,

• but to purify you through faith
• to cleanse your heart by belief
• to give you God's Spirit through forgiveness

Let's notice David's repentance, Palm 51:1: "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving kindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion, blot out my transgressions…. [Boy, his were whoppers at that point—weren't they? Yes!] …Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done evil in Your sight, that You might be justified when You speak and be in the right when You judge" (vs 1-4).

This is what God wants. That's why repentance. God doesn't call people to repent to intimidate them and put them down. God calls you to repentance so you can see your real self; so that you can see God! So that you can experience His forgiveness and receive his mercy and have your sins forgiven. And when He forgives them, He forgives them and removes them 'as far as east is from the west.' That's a real deal—isn't it? I mean, you think about that. Is God merciful? Absolutely! Should we take advantage of the mercy of God and sin? Never!

Verse 5: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." He understood the depths of human nature. Not that his mother conceived him because she committed adultery—has nothing to do with that. Has to do with the nature of human beings being sinful.

Here's the result, v 6: "Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts…" That is your heart and your mind and your being. Because if that is there, what is Truth? 'God's Word is Truth.' He wants it written on the inside of your heart and mind so that you live by it; you think with it; you act and do the things that you do because you believe the Truth and you believe Christ.

"…and in the hidden part You shall make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop [strong cleansing], and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God… [that's what God wants] … and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me" (vs 6-11).

David sinned so bad, he was worried about losing the Holy Spirit. There are some people today who have gone so far from God they better come to the point that they need to realize: 'how much further can I go and still have the Holy Spirit with me?' They need to repent and come back to God. Verse 12: "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and let Your free spirit uphold me."

Psalm 86 is one that is very encouraging. When you get discouraged and you get down and you think, 'Oh my, how will I ever overcome?' And sometimes the human nature battle gets so tough, because it is a battle, but we have the victory through Christ. Always remember this, beginning in verse one—notice how David prayed to God. Such deep heartfelt prayer:

Psalm 86:1: "Bow down Your ear, O LORD, answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul, for I am Holy; O You my God, save Your servant who trusts in You. Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I cry unto You all day long" (vs 1-3). He is pouring his heart before God. If you're having a hard time praying, or you're not finding the time to pray and you know you need to, and you have a guilty conscience and you don't want to have a guilty conscience, well go repent of that. Take the Psalms, start praying by reading the Psalms, apply them to yourself. Ask God to open your mind. Ask God to grant His Spirit, cleanse your heart—He'll do that! He'll restore you.

Verse 4: "Rejoice the soul of Your servant, for to You, O LORD, do I lift up my soul, for You, LORD, are good and ready to forgive, and rich in mercy to all those who call upon You" (vs 4-5). Remember that. If you ever think that you can't go to God and repent, that's when you better go repent as fast as you can!

I know many times, we make the mistake, we go along and we sin and we say, 'Oh well, I shouldn't have done that, I know better than that. Well, I don't want to go pray to God right now because I'm too embarrassed. I'll wait until I can do better.' Well, you can't do better, because until you repent and take it to God it's still there—right? That's what's so important about God. God knows we're weak. God knows we have the law of sin and death in us. That's why Christ is our Savior. He provided all these things to help us, to heal us, to raise us up spiritually.

Let's come back to the book of Romans, chapter 8, which are very important and touch on this concerning having the Spirit of God. Now, let's understand something here that's very important.

Romans 8:1: "Consequently, there is now no condemnation… [What religion does is condemn you and hold you in fear and intimidation. But if you repent to God, there is no condemnation.] …to those who are in Christ Jesus, who are not walking according to the flesh… [not out after carnal things, not walking the way of the world] …but according to the Spirit; because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus…" (vs 1-2). We just talked about that 'law of the Spirit of life':

• drawing close to God
• praying to God
• repenting
• walking in every Word of God
• loving God, loving your husband or wife
• loving your children
• loving your neighbor

—all those are all part of it. That's the 'law of the Spirit of life in Christ. Giving you the chance to grow in the mind of Christ. To overcome sin.

"…has delivered me from the law of sin and death…. [Because it hasn't been taken out of your system, so you're not free in the sense that you are without the 'law of sin and death'—that means you've been delivered from it through Christ.] …For what was impossible for the law to do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, having sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; in order that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who are not walking according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit: For those who walk according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh…" (vs 2-5).

That's all they talk about, physical things: to have, to get, to own, to see, to possess, to use. All of these are physical things of the world. And after a while you can begin to understand that. After a while that's why when you really begin to comprehend it you're not going to want to watch television like you use to. You're not going to want to pursue after the physical things like you use to. Oh you may even do better in it, but it's not going to obsess every thought of your waking life.

There are going to be a lot of people who are pursuing after the flesh in the stock market. The day is going to come, all gone! Look at the things concerning athletes that pursue after the goals of the flesh. What happens? One day they get too old to do it! And where are they? Their bones are broken, their knees have been broken how many times and their legs and they're worn out—then it's over with and now what do they have? Some of these football players you know, you watch them play football, well, they showed one episode of several men who were like tackles and centers and they can hardly walk. They were in pain from head to toe, day and night. What do they have? Maybe they won a Super Bowl, maybe they didn't. They're pursuing after the physical things. People can go out and buy cars, buy homes, buy clothes, buy toys. Be obsessed with all these physical things. And what do you have in the end? An upset mind, disturbed spirit, nothing satisfies! So, we don't pursue those things. We don't walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Verse 5: "For those who walk according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but those who walk according to the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit." That means you live by every Word of God. You think by God's Word. You are concerned with

• how you are living
• how you love God
• how you love your wife
• how you love your children
• how you love the brethren

—those then become the important things in your life.

Verse 6: "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God; neither indeed can it be. But those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (vs 6-8). And as soon as the opportunity comes to sin, they do!

That happened down in Pasadena. The very first Sabbath that they announced that 'why it's okay, brethren, to eat unclean meat.' Do you realize how many church members—I won't say 'brethren' because they probably weren't—but how many church members were back in the foyer, in the auditorium in Pasadena, planning to go the Red Lobster and eat all the unclean food they could that very afternoon of hearing this sermon!

"…for it is not subject to the Law of God; neither indeed can it be. But those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God is indeed dwelling…" (vs 7-9) That is the whole purpose of baptism. God's Spirit is with you while He's

• calling you
• opening up your mind
• leading you
• guiding you to repentance
• drawing you to Himself.

Then when you are baptized and receive the Spirit in you, that is the earnest of eternal life. That is the begettal from God the Father, that you will become His very own, personal, individual son or daughter. Just like with physical life every human being is different, special—unique. Everyone who's going to be born into the Kingdom of God will be special, unique and different—so much so, that God is going to give you a new name: name of Jerusalem name of the Father and His new name.

Now, that's something! I think that with the Spirit of God, we need to raise our eyes up as it were more to God and see more of God's plan and how fantastic and great it is. When that happens you'll love God so much more. When that happens

• you'll be anxious to repent
• you'll be willing to change
• you'll be wanting to be converted

Then you'll have no trouble praying, no trouble studying. Why? Because you're motivated with God's Spirit through faith and belief in His grace!That's what's needed in all of our lives.

Verse 9: "However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God is indeed dwelling within you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him…. [that's why all the scattering has gone on, to separate, to show] …But if Christ be within you, the body is indeed dead because of sin; however, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Now if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead is dwelling within you, He Who raised Christ from the dead will also quicken your mortal bodies because of His Spirit that dwells within you" (vs 9–11). That's what's so important. That's a promise. He's going to make alive your mortal bodies by His Spirit that is in you.

Did you know that you have a living, breathing, walking guarantee that you will have a spirit body? Did you know that? What is that? 1-Corinthians 15:47: "The first man is of the earth—made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the one made of dust, so also areall those who are made of dust… [that means carnal, physical] …and as is the heavenly one, so also are all those who are heavenly…. [as Christ is raised in His glorified form] (here's a guarantee): …And as we have borne the image of the one made of dust…" (vs 47-49).

What does that guarantee? That you'll have a spiritual body? Just look at yourself in the mirror! The fact that you have a body and the Spirit of Christ in you is a guarantee you're going to have a spiritual body.

"…we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one" (vs 49). That's quite a promise! That is a guarantee! God is not trying to keep you out of the Kingdom of God, brethren. God is not trying to keep you from being a spirit being. God is doing and providing everything to ensure that you will be! That's the way we need to view God.

Romans 8:11: "Now if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead is dwelling within you, He Who raised Christ from the dead will also quicken your mortal bodies because of His Spirit that dwells within you. So then, brethren, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh; because if you are living according to the flesh, you shall die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you shall live" (vs 11-13). That shows the whole process of overcoming.

Verse 14: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God." That's very interesting. It doesn't say 'as many as are pulled.' It doesn't say 'as many as are pushed.' You try this some time: you put a rope on the back fender of your car and you pull it real tight. Then you push on it and see of you can move the car. Never happen! You can put it in front and pull it, but God wants you willingly to choose to be led of the Spirit. And that's different.

Verse 15: "Now, you have not received a spirit of bondage again unto fear, but you have received the Spirit of sonship, whereby we call out, 'Abba, Father.'" That close, individual, personal relationship with God, that Christ has provided into the Holy of Holies in heaven above. That's what's so important that God wants restored.

And I am convinced that He is going to destroy any Church of God that has a hierarchy, that sets itself to put ministers in positions and people over the brethren to cut them off from God the Father and Jesus Christ because

• you are called of God
• have God's Spirit
• Christ is your Savior
• you have that relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ

The ministers are to minister and to teach. And if they teach and inspire and help and show the love of God, then the work of God, in each individual, will increase, because then they go to directly to God the Father and Jesus Christ. The more that you experience that and do that, the more you are going to be sure of your salvation and your conversion and that you have God's Spirit. The more that you're going to see how that we allowed all the fleshly things of a carnal, corporation and hierarchy and all of these things to take people away from God.

Verse 16: "The Spirit itself bears witness conjointly with our own spirit, testifying that we are the children of God. Now, if we are children, we are also heirs—truly, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer together with Him, so that we may also be glorified together with Him…. [Here's how to count all the suffering and difficulties in the world that you're going to come up with:] …For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us" (vs 16-18).

And if you remember that, there will never, never ever be anyone who can come and take you away from God! That's what's so important. You will always know that in spite of everything God loves you. In spite of all the difficulties you've gone through, Christ has provided the way.

Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter

Scripture References:

• Matthew 10:7-8
• 2 Peter 2:1-5
• Exodus 20:1-3
• Romans 2:4
• John 6:28-29; 44-45
• Romans 2:12-13
• Acts 2:36-38
• Acts 3:19
• Romans 6:1-6, 1-2, 7-1414
• Psalm 51:1-12
• Psalm 86:1-5
• Romans 8:1-11
• 1 Corinthians 15:47-49
• Romans 8:11-18

Also referenced:

• Sermon: The Second Calling
• Sermon Series: Genesis 15
• Book: The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 6-2-07
Reformatted: 9/18/11