Man does not have the authority to change the will of
God on any subject. We have been given severe warnings in several places
in the Bible concerning any changes that we try to make to Godís word. As
we have already seen in Galatians 1:6-9, if we pervert the gospel by
changing it, we will be accursed.
Another such warning comes in the
closing verses of the Bible. Revelation 22:18-19 says, "For I testify unto
everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds
to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this
book; And if anyone takes away from the words of this book of this
prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, and from the
holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." These are
very stern warnings that should get our undivided attention. How much
stronger warnings could God give to those who try to make changes to His
will when they change immersion into sprinkling, or to change the
necessity of baptism for one to receive forgiveness of sins and be saved
to their saying that baptism is not necessary for salvation. God has said
plainly that it is necessary.
They also say that one is sins are
forgiven and that one is saved when he accepts Christ as his personal
savior. He can be baptized later if he wants to in order to join that
particular denomination; but as we have already seen this contradicts what
God has said and will cause many people to be lost eternally. If you
were baptized for some reason other than for forgiveness of sins in order
to be saved then you do not have salvation and you are still lost.
Who are you going to follow: God or man?
As our Lord warns us in
Matthew 15:14,
"And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into
a ditch." Don't allow someone, who has added to and taken away from
God's word, to lead you. Open your eyes and read God's word for yourself.
Those who have added to and taken away from God's word will be lost. If
you continue to follow them, then you too will be lost.
What You Need to Do
In
Acts 19:1-5 we have an example of twelve men,
that the Apostle Paul met at Ephesus. They had something wrong with their
baptism. In verses 3-5 we read, "And he said to
them, into what then were you baptized? So they said, into John's baptism.
Then Paul said, John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying
to the people, that they should believe on Him who would come after him,
that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the
name of the Lord Jesus." When these twelve men found out that there
was something wrong with their baptism, they made it right. They were then
baptized for the right purpose.
Please refer back to how you
answered the questions in
Lesson
8 concerning your prior conversion. If you thought you were saved and
your sins forgiven when you accepted Christ as your personal savior and
you were later baptized, then the purpose of your baptism was not for the
forgiveness of your sins so that you could be saved. But now you have
learned the truth about the purpose of baptism from the scriptures that
have been pointed out. Please don't rationalize away what you
actually did to be saved and now say that you were actually baptized for
the forgiveness of sins in order to be saved. Many people end up doing
this. Your soul's salvation depends on your being right with
God.
Is there something wrong with your baptism? You may say no,
but if there is, we cannot fool God. He knows for sure and you will suffer
the eternal consequences. It will be a sad day if you stand before the
Lord on the day of judgment and find out that there is something wrong
with your baptism. Baptism, that is done according to scripture, for the
right reason and purpose, is such an easy thing to do. It is not
difficult, at all, to make sure that it is done right.
Questions Lesson
21
Man Is Not To Change
What God Says
(click on the button
of the answer of your choice)
1) (Revelation 22:18-19) If we add to God's word
God will add to us the plagues written in God's
word. God will be well pleased. It will not
matter.
2)
If one has added to God's word by substituting sprinkling for baptism,
then God is well pleased. 3) (Revelation 22:18-19) If we take away from God's word We will still be saved. God will overlook it if we are sincere. Our name will be taken out of the Book of Life and we will
be
lost.
4)
We will be lost if we add to or take away from God's word. 5) (Matthew 15:14) If the blind lead the blind Both will fall into the ditch and be lost. God will have pity and save both of them. They are not
responsible.
6)
We are in no danger of being led astray. 7) (Acts 19:1-5) What did these twelve men do when they found that there
was
something wrong with their baptism? None of these needed to be baptized. They were not baptized. They were baptized again for the right
purpose.
8)
These twelve men refused to be baptized since they had already been
previously baptized.