Daily Bread 10-22-18

Luke 7:29,30

29 And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.

30 But the pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.

ref. - Mt 3:5 - Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan,

Lk 3:12 - Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do?

How convincing to stand on the edge of the wilderness and hear the power that John the Baptist had been given. It was convincing to whole communities and whole villages and whole countries! The power and the grace that God showed us through his message that he put in John! Even the tax collectors and the wealthy came to him and wanted to find this great salvation through repentance, remission of sins, and water baptism!! Today, many of us have listened and been in awe with the power of this gospel, but many have not. Many of us have reaped the great benefits and mercy that we have received in our salvations. All because we listened to a message about repentance and were told of salvation! We have believed in this gospel as it has been given to us by men of God, filled with the Holy Ghost, and called by God, to give us this information. Although the ones who thought that they were educated and "in the know" refused him, many were drawn to him and received all that was promised them. They did not walk in and say, "we know what we need, or look at us", no, they humbled themselves and cried out in repentance and were baptized with what John had been given to show them. They were also the ones who accepted Jesus when he appeared to them. Now, the power of the Pharisees and lawyers was strong in the ways of the carnal man but held no power whatsoever in the Spirit of God. This is the same way that we must understand today. There will be many that rise up and refuse the gospel that has been given us, and they will hold financial and carnal power against us. But when it comes to what God has given us, the Spiritual part, they hold absolutely no power to stop us or to even slow us down! We are on the right path if we have accepted the fact that we must repent, confess our sins, seek for salvation, and be baptized with the cleansing of water baptism, and then we are to seek for the Holy Spirit. This, the Holy Spirit, is what we have of Jesus Christ on earth today, and if we accept the rite of salvation and baptism, we must also accept the act of sanctification, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. today, we mustn't concern ourselves with the murmuring and the confusion of the "pharisees and lawyers", meaning those who think they know more than what God has given us in Jesus Christ. We must, rather, be sure that we have come to God in repentance and received forgiveness of sin like has been revealed to us. Be baptized in the water, sanctify(purify our lives) through the word of God and our obedience to it, and then we will receive the rest of our baptism which includes the Spirit of God entering our souls and giving us understanding and grace. The word of God tells us that we must be baptized of water and of spirit. John 3:5 - Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. This is the next step in our salvation, but we must accept and perform what is necessary to achieve the first part of our salvation. Don't pay attention to the naysayers and the "know it alls", they will be left out like the generation of vipers that they are part of. But rather, pay attention to this scripture in where thousands and thousands, even millions, of people have found the kingdom of God within themselves!!!(Lk 17:21). Have a great day!!!