Saturday, June 27, 2015

THE DEVIL'S DISTRACTIONS

The Lord Jesus Christ gave His disciples instructions to do three things after they were filled with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (Mt. 28:19-20; Acts 2:1-41): 

1)  First, Proclaim the Gospel so that others might be saved.  After all, it is the Gospel that has the power to save.  Romans 1:16 - "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." 

The Gospel is spelled out in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 - "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved . . . . For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures."

2)  THEN baptize all those who believe the Gospel, and do so "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Mt. 28:19).  By submitting themselves to be baptized, they are making a public confession that Jesus is now their Lord and Savior.  This is of the utmost importance according to Romans 10:9-10, which says, "That IF thou shalt confess with thy mouth the LORD Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

3)  THEN, like Jesus, teach the new believers all the Scriptures.  Luke wrote:  "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Lk. 24:27).  Paul wrote:  "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

Unfortunately, most born again believers fail to study the Word of God, and as a result, they remain spiritual babes.  In 1 Peter 2:2, the Apostle writes:  "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby."  New Christians are not to remain "babes"; they are to grow in knowledge and wisdom.  Those who fail to grow spiritually, will get distracted by the things of this world.  In the Parable of the Sower (Mt. 13:3-8, 18-23), one group fails to produce fruit because of fear (v. 5, 21), and another group remains fruitless because they are carnal, that is, focused upon things that satisfy the flesh (v. 7, 22). 

He who wins souls, loves his brother, and he pleases his Father! 

No comments:

Post a Comment