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The Cornerstone
This is the Stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the Chief Conerstone." Acts 4:11
Pulbished to Support the Work of the West End Church of Christ, Richmond, Virginia
Volume 7 * Number 3* January 21, 2007
The Answer
(I Peter 3:21)
"The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not he putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:"
Baptism is "the answer of a good conscience toward God." An answer can be the reply to a question? i.e. "Do you believe in God?" "No." An answer can also mean that one has given the correct reply. i.e. "Do you believe in God?" Yes." The apostle Peter has in mind the latter.
The problem that needs the correct solution is… What will I do with my sins? The correct answer is baptism. "Baptism doth also now save us…" I comprehend the will of God and I baptism is the answer of my acknowledgement of God’s will. Baptism is a burial. (Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12) I am dead in sin, and I must crucify my old man with Christ. (Romans 6:6) I must be planted in the likeness of Christ’s death that the body of sin might be destroyed, baptism. (Romans 6:5-6) I must washes away my sins, baptism. (Acts 22:16) Therefore, baptism is the answer of my conscious uprightness toward God.
Infants certainly are not baptized in answer of their good conscience, therefore we must reject infant baptism. One who is unwilling to repent, yet is baptized, does not have a good conscience toward God. Their answer to sin has been without correct reply, therefore their baptism is not according to Scripture.
Peter’s teaching demands a proper understanding of baptism so as to give the answer of a good conscience toward God. It simply can not be otherwise.
Stacy Crim
The Need For Moral Revolution
(Kent Heaton)
When a man is told by the doctor that unless there are changes in his life death will soon follow, the advice is heeded and life is saved. A financial advisor informs his client that a change in investment will gain more securities and the client gladly takes the opportunity. The counsel of a lawyer may help us find a better situation than we had before. Information properly used through the direction of those who have a greater knowledge of circumstances helps us. We pay great amounts of money for many of these advisors so that our life will be a higher quality. We are willing to make changes for our health, wealth and legal standings and the happiness of our family. It is clear that with the proper kinds of changes, contentment can be gained.
A spokesman stands before a crowd of people outlining various plans of security, prosperity and happiness but little change is made by those who hear his words. He pleads that safety can be found in trusting in Jehovah God – "Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,’ so that we confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?’" (Hebrews 13:5-6).
Prosperity is not the riches of gold or silver but the treasure found in heaven - "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21). Happiness does not come from what we have on this earth but what we have in our relationship with the Father – "But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content" (1 Timothy 6:6-8).
The need for all of us is the willingness and courage to change our lives. Conversion means "moral revolution." These changes call for a revolution of the moral character filled with the "cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in" (Mark 4:19). We gladly receive the guidance given by doctors, lawyers and financial advisors but ignore the truths found in God’s word that will not only bless this life but the life to come. "For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come" (1 Timothy 4:8).
God is calling for men to change. He wants them to be transformed by the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2). "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come" (2 Corinthians 5:17). Change takes place when the old things are put away and the new things are embraced. Men and women of God are people of change. The apostle Paul admonishes in 2 Corinthians 6:17 – "Wherefore come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, says the Lord." To be separate is to be a changed person. The measure of your faith in God will measure the amount of change made in your life. Experience the moral revolution found in the riches of God’s wonderful grace.
Trenton, FL &Divorce Times Four
Bob Hines
Jesus is very clear about those who take marriage vows lightly as if they can be dismissed: "And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery." (Matthew 19:9,
NKJV)
It is entirely possible that four people could ultimately lose their souls because of what one person did when he put away his spouse. Count them with me . . .
The man who divorced his wife without scriptural cause . . .the one
whom he marries . . . the one whom he divorced . . . the one that she marries . . . four people lost . . .
Let all of us who are married keep our word (our vows) to each other
with all the strength that God has given. The Beacon
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