From Sinners to Saints: An Examination of Repentance and Baptism

Ever pondered about the real essence of repentance? Ever wondered how a dip in the water can wash away a mountain of sins? Join us in this enriching episode of Walk With Me as we explore these pivotal aspects of the journey towards salvation. We take a deep look into repentance, often misunderstood, as more than just an emotion. It's not just about feeling remorse for past wrongdoings but also making a conscious decision to steer clear of future sins. We discuss how biblical figures like John the Baptist, Jesus and the tale of Sodom and Gomorrah typify the significance of true repentance.

Switching gears, we discuss the profound meaning and importance of baptism in the Christian faith. It's not just an initiation, but a transformative experience. We talk about what it means to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, the joy it entails, and the metaphor of being buried in baptism and rising up as a new person. As we round off this episode, we engage on the essence of spreading the message of God's love, and the potency of Christ's sacrifice in granting forgiveness. Be sure to catch up with us in our next episode for more insightful discussions on these crucial subjects.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:22

Hello everybody, welcome to today's episode of walk with me. I am your host, jj, and having fun here, and I hope you are as well. This podcast is called walk with me. I am your host. Thank you so much for liking and sharing and commenting, and I'm enjoying all the feedback, whether you think is positive or negative or critical, or appreciate it. Love it all. If you have any questions or comments, go ahead and drop a line to walk with me Bible study at gmailcom. Walk with me Bible study at gmailcom. And we are so glad to have each and every one of you who listen to this podcast. You guys can be listening to any podcast in the world, but you've chosen this one. God has brought you here and I appreciate you, but most of all, glory to God for bringing you here.

Speaker 1: 1:12

We I Got a couple comments last week about the, the whole Birth of the church and a lot of questions, and I didn't answer a certain series of questions from every from the you guys who sent questions Only because I knew that we were going to cover it this week. So what is that question? The question is what exactly is Repentance and in how does that fit into the overall Method of salvation that was laid out by Peter on the day of Pentecost. Now I Get it. Repentance sounds like a very, a very harsh word, a very Self-deprecating term or a term that you hear a lot, that sounds really hard and, and you know, bad, or it sounds like it's something that's almost impossible to do. But the repentance part is imperative and it's got to be a Is. It is really the one of the three methods or one of the three Ingredients that go into being, say, and I use that term, say the quotation marks. And I, because I feel as if we like to say that once you get saved, you're kind of always saved and nothing else can change that, when the Bible sort of Tells us in you know, very distinct terms that there are ways you can become unsafe. So I say all that because you want to know what repentance is.

Speaker 1: 2:53

We're gonna talk about what repentance is first of all, make sure you like or share, let everybody know about this. I'm just a podcast and I see the listener goes listening ship just going Through the roof, appreciated our sponsors here, true bars, lyricists. He helped us upgrade our listening or mic equipment to Exquisite creations with our walk with me mugs and tumblers. The website is has been taken offline again, while she uploads new Material. But when we get that material back up the website, it be backed up, but doesn't stop me from talking about how wonderful her artwork is. So let's jump right into everything. We're talking about repentance in Relation to the entire plan of salvation. So what is repentance?

Speaker 1: 3:46

Repentance is basically to feel sorrow and being convicted over past things you've done. Generally, people like to react with being offended to this whole repentance or that whole conviction feeling. But this is not the right way. The offense, the feeling of offense, is basically your pride trying to get in the way of you actually repenting of the things that you realize and that you've done wrong. And you kind of get this when you hear people try to say, oh well, you can't judge me. This is your pride, trying to put you above the Bible, and I know that sounds really harsh, but it is true. I wouldn't tell you anything. That's not true.

Speaker 1: 4:33

As a matter of fact, repentance is also sort of turning away from future sins. So you can't. That's all a part of repentance. You can't just decide, hey, I'm sorry for what I did yesterday and then turn around and do the same thing tomorrow, or plan to do the same thing tomorrow or do the same thing next week. You have to be truly sorry. If I walked up to you and slapped you and I said I'm sorry, then you say OK. But then if I walked up to you the next day and slapped you again, your natural thinking is going to be well, I thought you said you were sorry, but you're not, because you did it again. So this repentance is both feeling bad for the things that you've done and turning away from doing it again in the future. Now, that's not to say you're not going to struggle with the temptation of it, but it's an idea of consciously turning away from the thing that you had done. As a matter of fact, john the Baptist preached repentance before Jesus's ministry ever got started and, just so that there was continuity of message, jesus also preached repentance.

Speaker 1: 5:45

And it's one of the things that was really sort of glaring at us in the Old Testament where God was talking about a repentant state was Sodom and Gomorrah. Now we all talk, we all hear about Sodom and Gomorrah, but it was so bad that all God wanted to, all Abraham and God had negotiated. If you could just find five people willing to turn away from this lifestyle. God was spared the entire two cities. These are two cities. Now Consider your city and the city that's right as close as to you. Most cities are now sort of like a twin city, sort of state, like, say, I don't know St Louis and oh my gosh, earth City. They're right next to each other, so they kind of like the twin city status. Or Chicago and Gary, indiana, or Whiting, indiana, they're this sort of in this greatest metropolis area. Consider it just like that New York City and Yonkers, right next to each other. Consider it like this and all you have to do is find five people in these greater, this greater metropolis area willing to turn away from their sin, and God would have spared both cities, the entirety of both cities. But God couldn't find five people.

Speaker 1: 7:09

Even we were talking about off, I think, a couple of days ago, talking about Jonah. Jonah was talking about Nineveh, and the people of Nineveh did not do what Sodom and Gomorrah did. As soon as Nineveh heard what Jonah said, they repented, from the King to the most lowliest servant in the kingdom. They all repented, they all did active repentance, and Jesus said that this fact condemned those of us who refused to repent in this generation. Matthew 20,. I'm sorry, 1241. And before I stop that, you know I got to give my disclaimer.

Speaker 1: 7:49

We give a scripture always read a verse or two above and a verse or two below, because context is key. Preferably you want to read the whole chapter. The men of Nineveh, and this is Matthew 12 and 41,. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah's. And behold, a greater of Jonah's is here. What is Jesus saying? Jesus saying that when, when Jonas came about the water and said 40 days and this kingdom will be overthrown because you guys suck, all of Nineveh said God, I'm sorry for sucking. I'm God, I'm sorry for being a bad human, being a bad person, but those people will rise up and condemn us because we've heard that right now Jesus is talking about when he was walking. But we've heard the words of Jesus directly from Jesus, not through a prophet, but directly from Jesus, and we refuse to repent. That puts them on a different pedestal than us.

Speaker 1: 8:57

John the Baptist he commanded everyone to do. They had to repent and repair their hearts for the kingdom of heaven. Matthew three and two. And saying repent he for the kingdom of heaven. Is that hand? Remember verse or two above, verse or two below? But I want you to read the entire chapter, matthew, chapter three, mark one and four.

Speaker 1: 9:16

John did baptize in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance, for the remission of sins. So there was a baptism and there was a repentance. But John didn't know anything about the Holy Ghost because that wasn't his ministry. That was his message that God had given him. But Jesus came right along after that and proclaimed him the exact same thing.

Speaker 1: 9:40

Luke 13 and three I tell you name, but except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. This is nothing to do y'all. I have to stop here, because this, this is where we get a lot of. This is gotta be. This is we would get a lot of anguish. I'll say among the Christian community. We get a lot of anguish because we go to such and such church, we go to so and so church, we go to my uncle's church, we go to my auntie's church, we go to this church from my co worker who seems really nice, and we and we forget that just because we go and we sit on these pews, if we haven't repented, we shall all likewise perish. Now this is not to say that we, if we do repent, we're going to live forever. This word perish is talking about a spiritual death and it's not talking about a physical death. We will all die. That's just how that is. We'll all die Now what counts is whether we live in heaven afterwards and eternal life and glory and loving God and worshiping have a good time, or whether we choose to suffer eternal death Now.

Speaker 1: 10:55

I've heard one preacher say it like this your soul does not fall into heaven I'm sorry, does not fall into hell and burn up like a piece of paper, because the Bible says they smoke from their torment of sins forever. I've heard that same preacher says and I can't remember who it was, but it's stuck with me because it makes sense the moment that the, the bright moment of pain that you experience right at death, is what you will experience throughout, the alternate, the all, throughout all eternity. That's why you have a spiritual death, because that spiritual death because of your soul cannot die. Your soul will go through a continuous, everlasting moment of death and, as contradictory as that sounds, as oxymoronic as that sounds, that would be what hell is. And then that is thrown into the lake of fire. So it gets worse.

Speaker 1: 11:58

The last words of Jesus before his ascension commanded also repentance. It's just what we call the Great Commission Luke 24, 47, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. I know some of you have still are still commenting on the entire Trinity thing, but this also goes back into that. He didn't say preach in their names. It's a priest in his name among all, in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. So this is why, when we came to the day of Pentecost, all of that repentance was brought forward, because this was absolutely key.

Speaker 1: 12:42

Acts two, thirty eight and Peter said unto them repent, in other words, turn away from your wicked sins, feel bad about it and turn away from it, ask to be forgiven of it and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost. Now, this is the only time, the only time a, the complete salvation formula, a formula, was actually laid out. Jesus gave bits and pieces of it, and in the letters to the church it was also given bits and pieces of it, but only in the book of Acts was it ever specifically stated over and over and over? There was the repentance, there was infilling of the Holy Ghost and there was baptism in Jesus' name. Sometimes it was not even in that order. Peter said repent, be baptized against the Holy Ghost. Some people had the Holy Ghost before they even realized that they were supposed to be baptized. Some people were baptized they had repentant, didn't know they were so supposed to be a Holy Ghost, and then they got baptized and then they got the Holy Ghost. So some of these may come at separate times, but all three are necessary. So what is it then? To be baptized? Because some of you guys asked that question.

Speaker 1: 14:06

Why is baptism so important? Now that the immersion, the word of God don't need to describe this one way of being baptized complete immersion, not sprinkling on the forehead and you know not, it just calls for immersion. The word baptism is derived from a Greek word, baptism, which means to dip, to plunge or to immerse. So in One of the definitions, to say is to make fully wet, ceremonial evolution, or especially the ordinance of Christian baptism. That's what they call that word baptism, baptism or baptism. So this can be pronounced either way.

Speaker 1: 14:57

Now, emotion is important, because only this mode preserves the significance of baptism in the burial, because what you're doing is, when you're baptizing someone, you're actually symbolizing a burial. This is the exact same reason why we see types and shadows of a baptism in the Old Testament. When the Jerusalem of Israel came out of Egypt, they went down the rule the Red Sea rather than around it. Yeah, you could say, oh well, that was so that God can kill all the Egyptians. But what was God really doing? Was he really killing Egyptians or was he washing the Egyptians off of the Israelites? I want you to think about that for a moment.

Speaker 1: 15:44

And when we got to that point, when we realized that baptism was important, is also symbolizing death, the symbolizing death to sin and ungodly life before our encounter with Jesus Christ. Now, spiritually speaking, now when a person repents, this is actually kind of being crucified, crucifying himself, and we're basically dying out. We're dying out to our old, fleshly nature. We're actually giving up the things that that appeal to us, that do not appeal to Christ. This does not mean, walkers, that you, your life has to be miserable, that I don't know where we get that idea that living for God is some somber, miserable, face upside down sort of experience that you can have no fun, you have to give up everything you love and everything. It's just sorry and mean and nasty. And oh I'm I'm earlier than now, so I don't get to smile.

Speaker 1: 16:57

I'm not not sure where we get that idea, but this idea is completely false. It is absolutely false and, in matter of fact, once, once you've completely repented of your sin, you will find out that your life is much better now than it was then. Even though you may have a few good memories of your life back then. You may even talk to other people, like I do. I talked to people about my life before I came to God and and just to explain to them that, even though you may think that life was fun, my life is better now. So you may still have these, you can still have these memories and you can still talk about the memories. Yeah, you remember when I was flying down the side of the mountain on my bike. That's fine, you can. You are still going to be able to have fun. You're still not going to be able to live a Christian and holy life and still be happy. You're not dying out to happiness, you're not dying out to joy. You're actually dying out the sin and being renewed into a greater joy, to a greater happiness A more thorough happiness is the best way I can put it.

Speaker 1: 18:09

But you know, we were talking earlier about what's going to happen, about what, and I kind of got off track here and trying to get back into the baptism part. But how is the person baptized? Somebody asked me how is a person baptized Really? What does the Bible say about it? So my question is is he sprinkled to you? Because there are different definitions of that, the Romans six and four. Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism or to death. Not sprinkled, we are buried. That is like Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father. Even so, we also should walk in newness of life that's what we were just talking about a moment ago when you, when you are buried in baptism, you've appeared up to the end, you are dead to that lifestyle anymore and you rise up like a newborn child, so to speak, in the spirit. And then it's hard to explain this to someone who's never gone through it, but it is literally like you waking up in a second, an entirely new, different day.

Speaker 1: 19:18

That is not to say Let me put an asterisk here. That is not to say that the things that you've done before your baptism, you may not have to answer. I am not saying that at all. Anyone who says that is not telling you the truth. Now, will God shield you from some of that stuff? Yes. Will God deliver you from some of that stuff? Yes, but will God absolve you of all of that stuff, of all of it? No. That's completely unreasonable. If you went out and you murdered somebody the night before you repented and you repent and died out to sin it was reborn in newness of life you still need to answer for that murder you committed two days ago. So just so you know, this does not, this does not, this does not absolve you of all of the things to do. The only thing is you're you're starting a new, a new tablet or new slate, a new clean slate from right. Now and now that you've got the Holy Ghost, it allows you to face that, those consequences in a better state of mind or in a better state of spirit.

Speaker 1: 20:32

Now there's a lot of scriptures that talk about being buried with Jesus and baptism. We're going to go through some of these and then we're going to talk about what it is to be buried in that name. How, what, what the name? What is the name? So, matthew 29, 28, 19,. Go ye there for T Salamnations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, son, the Holy Ghost. Quick, write these down Mark 16 and 16. He that is believed, that believers and his baptized, shall be saved. He that believe us not shall be damned. Why? Because you, if you don't believe, you're not going to get baptized, and if you don't believe, you're not going to get baptized correctly. We'll talk about that.

Speaker 1: 21:11

John three and five. Jesus said, very, very, I say unto you, except the man be born of the water and of the spirit. There it is again that we're born. He cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Acts two, 38,. And Peter said, as to their repent and be baptized, every one of you, the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. It goes on and on, acts eight and 16. For as yet he was falling upon none of them. Only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Well, there you go, acts eight and 38. And he commanded the chariot to stand still and he went down, both into the water, both Peter and the unit, and he baptized them. And when they will come up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord caught away. Philip and the unit saw him no more and he went on his way, rejoicing.

Speaker 1: 22:03

Baptism is important Acts 10 and 48. And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord when they prayed him I'm sorry, then they prayed him to Terry certain days. Acts 19 and 5. And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Acts 22 and 16. And now, why, terry, is that? Arise and be baptized, wash away thy sins. Calling on the name of the Lord. Romans 64. Now we've got out of a book of history and now we're into a book of letters to a church that are already been established. Romans 64. Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death, like as Christ was raised up from the dead of the glory by the Father. Even so, we should walk in the newness of life.

Speaker 1: 22:51

Relations 327 for many, for as many of you as been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. So this, so you know, if you think that baptism is not important, and by baptism we're talking about full immersion. If you think that's not important, I don't know what to tell you. The Bible specifically says this over and over and over. This word baptism, baptism, baptism, baptism is very important and a lot of times the Bible will say something like once or twice this thing here is listed at least eight times, nine times, over and over and over and over in the New Testament. Because this is important. It is important Now, now that we've understood what baptism is about, what I'm sorry, what baptism is, and what you have to do to be baptized.

Speaker 1: 23:45

Next week we're going to talk about how to be baptized and, yes, it is more than just sprinkling, it is something that has to be said. There is something, there is something that has to be attached to that baptism and we're going to talk about that. And I know a lot of some of you listening to that next week's episode is going to be pretty upset because it kind of kicks that other narrative that we talked about a couple of weeks ago. It kind of kicks it in the head. I get it. I get it, but we will talk about it because it goes forward to solidify this doctrine of one God.

Speaker 1: 24:24

Okay, all right, with that being said, I thank you all so much. We are out of time. We've covered a lot today, but we are out of time. We will carry this on next week. Be makes, just be sure to like, share. And you know what, if anything else tells somebody that you love him, tell somebody that God loves them, and tells them that God sent them, sent you, to tell them that he loves you, or he loves them and he loves you too. He loves all of us. This is why he died on the Christ, god on the cross, for us, for our sins to be remitted. All right, god bless you all. See you all next week. Take care.