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Do you know why he was baptizing these people? They were a
New Nation of Priests (New Israel), certified by a carnal Old
Testament Ordinance of Baptism.
Do you know why John Baptized the Lord? It may surprise you;
I’ve talked to a lot of people who don’t know. Watch
this closely.
Matthew 3:13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto
John, to be baptized of him. 14 But John forbad him, saying,
I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 15
And Jesus answering said unto him, suffer it to be so now: for
thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. then he suffered
him. 16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway
out of the water: and lo, the heavens were opened unto him,
and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting
upon him.
John 1:29 The next day John seeth the Lord Jesus coming, unto
him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the
sin of the world. 30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh
a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.
Here’s the verse:
31 And I knew him not: but that he should be manifest to Israel,
therefore I am come baptizing with water.
John baptized the Lord for a SIGN to Israel.
And this was to fulfill prophecy spoken of in the Old Testament.
You and I as Gentiles were not mentioned in here anywhere,
nor were you included at this particular time. (sorry)
Ok, after Jesus was baptized, what did He preach?
Same thing John The Baptist preached: Matthew, 4:17 From that
time Jesus began to preach, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand.
What was that message? Keep the law, be baptized, works, repentance,
Levitical laws, 10 commandments. Endure to the end and much
more.
Now let’s take a look at what The Lord taught the apostles.
Mission of the Twelve
Matthew 10:1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples,
he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out,
and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first,
Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James, the
son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Phillip, and Bartholomew;
Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alpheus,
and Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus; 4 Simon the Canaanite,
and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
Here’s the verse:
5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them saying,
Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the
Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel. 7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom
of heaven is at hand.
No Gentiles included, it was a COMMANDMENT from the LORD!
At this particular point in time, you and I, as Gentiles, were
not in the covenants of promise with the house of Israel. (Sorry,
it’s what the bible and the Lord taught us, "then.")
After the Lord died on the cross and ascended into heaven,
what did the apostles preach?
This is what Peter preached:
1. Acts 3:13-14 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob,
the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye
delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when
he was determined to let him go. 14 But ye denied the Holy One
and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
15 And hath killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised
from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.
NO MENTION THAT JESUS DIED FOR OUR SINS.
19 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.
When is that?
Zechariah 13:1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened
To the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem For
sin and uncleanness.
It’s at the second coming of The Lord, after the tribulation.
Now mind you, Peter had been with the Lord throughout His earthly
ministry, he had watched Him crucified and resurrected and ascend
into heaven. Let me ask you something, When was Peter expecting
His sins to be forgiven after all of that? I’ll tell you
when, just like the bible says, at the second coming of Christ.
Peter did NOT preach the message of grace folks. He didn’t
know it until Paul revealed it to him.
2. Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
I have said it before and it bears saying again, Remission
of sins is NOT forgiveness of sins. They are covered by the
blood of Christ until their atonement at the second coming.
Still no Gentiles mentioned.
3. Peter preached forgiveness through confession as in 1 John
1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(What if you forgot one?) You would go to hell. God cannot
let anyone enter into the Kingdom with sin. (Sorry.)
4. What happened when Peter finally went to a Gentile (Cornelius)
after the Lord showed him to do it in a dream?
Acts 10:28 And he said unto him, Ye know that is an unlawful
thing for a man which is a Jew to keep company, or come unto
one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should
not call any man common or unclean. (That’s exactly what
the Lord and the Law had taught Peter.)
Now let’s look and see WHY he went to Cornelius:
Acts 10:35 But in every nation he that feareth God and worketh
righteousness, is accepted with him.
Ok, now I want you to see something. Cornelius was a Gentile
who worked righteousness and feared God; he was among the FEW
Gentiles who was in covenant relation with Israel at that time.
Back in the Old Testament there were also some who realized
the only way through to God was to work righteousness, fear
God and bless the Nation Israel.
Now, I want you to look at the apostles’ reaction to
Peter after they found out he went there, this might surprise
you:
Acts 11:1 And the apostles and brethren that were in Judea
heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. 2.
And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the
circumcision contended with him, 3. Saying, Thou wentest into
men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them.
They were angry with him, folks; they didn’t want to
go to the Gentiles. The Gentiles spoken of here are not just
any Gentile; they had to fear God and work righteousness and
bless the Nation Israel (as I said before). Folks, Peter didn’t
preach universal salvation as we have today; it was to the Jew
first, then and only then to the Greek...
Peter and the rest of the apostles were looking forward to
the second coming when Jesus would set upon the throne of David.
Acts 2:30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had
sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according
to his flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne.
In addition to all this they were to endure to the end to be
saved, they all had to die martyrs' deaths:
Matthew 24:13 But he that shall endure to the end, the same
shall be saved.
Ok, enough for this week. Next week I will show you how important
it is to know these gospels, rightly divided: 2 Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth..
What to do to be saved; believe this:
Romans 10:9 That if thou will confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Amen.
michael
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