There are many ways to praise God and many ways to worship Him. But I have been confronted with the idea of what “religion” is the true way to God. For many months I deceived myself by asserting that I just “knew in my heart” that I was following the true God. I was a Christian, but I did not really know God’s word as I should. I definitely did not know any church history, and so I would just trust my heart. Then, as I was praying, God told me to look into His word to see what He says about man’s heart. Now, I had been studying the history and the word for some time. But, my family had been debating the subject through letters back and forth, and I had been hearing the same thing, “I know in my heart.” When I looked up the information on man’s heart in God’s word, this is what I found. “He who trusts in his heart is a fool. Proverbs 28:26″ That verse is very straight forward. Don’t trust in your heart, know the facts and know what is truth.
My family seems to be caught up in a battle between truth and tradition. One falls to tradition just as it is truth and the other side falls only on truth as told through God’s word. I could go on and on as to what I think is the right path. But, I do not want to get caught up in that at this time. The only thing I care about is the truth of Salvation.
All of the family believes that Christ is the Savior of the World. That is truth. He came to the world to save the sinners. John 3:16 tells us specifically, “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son so whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” That is beautiful love.
All of my family believes that Jesus is the way to everlasting life. That is truth. Jesus explains this to Nicodemus very clearly. John 3:1-17 “1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.[a]”
4“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”
5Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’ 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[d] 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.[e]
16“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[f] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” So we must be born again through water and the spirit. This is truth. But, this is also where we come to disagreement. Now this is important because this is were Jesus gives specific instructions on how to obtain everlasting life. One side believes in the sprinkling of water in infant baptism and the other in complete submerging of oneself in water after being able to confess their belief in Jesus as their Savior. So, which is truth? Does truth just come from something that seems good and right, or from a fact stated definitely. If we are to look at facts stated in the Bible, we can see that in all the cases of being baptized, the one accepting the invitation first believed. We are even called to believe and be baptized by the apostles themselves. As a side note and actually an important one, the word used for baptism in the original writing of the New Testament meant to submerge. So Jesus’ own words state to be submerged. That is truth. And the apostles, who walked with Christ, said to believe and be submerged. That is truth. But then there is tradition. But when does tradition take over the true words of Jesus? Can we make less of His words because it is easier to sprinkle than to submerge? Or can we make light of the apostles words because baptising a child seems right or good? The truth is, true baptism comes from total submerging after belief in Jesus as the Savior for your sins.
Now, what is the truth regarding the Holy Spirit? All the family believes in the existence of the Holy Spirit. That is truth. But. one side of my family believes that only the apostles were blessed with the presence of the Holy Spirit. The other side believes that the believer is filled with the Holy Spirit when they confess their belief in Jesus Christ as the Savior of their sins. But, what is truth? Here Peter was speaking to the people. 37When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. Peter’s own words states that those who believed and were baptized would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. That is truth.
In conclusion, we can state as truth:
- Those who confess Jesus as their Savior will have everlasting life. Jesus said so.
- You must be born of water and the spirit. Jesus said so.
- The Holy Spirit will be a gift to you when you repent and are baptized in the name of Jesus. This is a gift to all, and to everyone children and those who are far off, according to Peter who walked with Jesus and was taught by Him.
- Baptism must be what it is, submerging. The word Jesus used means to submerge. Without submerging their is no baptism. There was no sprinkling in the Bible. Let’s not justify ourselves by saying it is easier to sprinkle. There are many churches still submerging easily.
- Truth is stated in the Bible, which is God’s word, because God’s word is proven. “As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him” - Psalm 18:30
We could go into the other areas of worship and praise and prayer, and we could find the truth. But, we must start with the foundation of salvation because otherwise, nothing else makes sense.
Lord, I pray today that you will open the hearts of all who read this to Your truths. You long for all to be headed for Heaven and You have made a specific path to it. Lord, I pray that everyone who reads this will want to walk on that path. And I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
If you want to learn more about how to know God, click the following link. www.ccmodesto.com/knowing_god
