Truth Magazine

By Larry Ray Hafley

This time we are drawing a bead on a Pentecostal charge of inconsistency. The charismatics say we are inconsistent for selecting New Testament cases of conversion and holding them up as examples while throwing out the miraculous content. They say this is like those who believe everything in the Bible except the miracles. If we are going to use the conversion accounts to bind baptism, then we ought to do the same with respect to miracles. Acts 2, 8, 9, 10, and 16 are prominent passages which are used to set forth the gospel conditions of salvation. To be consistent we must accept the miraculous activity, too, or so the Pentecostals alledge.

First, we accept the miracles: I do not know of single Christian who denies the miracles of Acts or any other book in the Bible. However, if acceptance means occurrence today, who has heard the sound as of a rushing, mighty wind, but no one’s hair is blown out of place! Where are the cloven tongues like as of fire? Where are living apostles equal to Peter and John to lay hands on disciples that they might receive the Holy Spirit? Further, after Peter raised Dorcas from the dead, it was widely publicized and “many believed on the Lord” (Acts 9:40-42). Let us not stop with a few tongues; why not have some raising of the dead if we must have the miracles as well as the baptism, according to the Pentecostal charge.

Second, why do some Pentecostals deny the essentiality of water baptism but accept miracles? If we must have miraculous activity because miracles are recorded as a part of the conversion accounts, then they must accept the essentiality of baptism (Acts 2:38; 8:12; 8:35-39; 16:30-34; 10:47, 48). So, if we are inconsistent for accepting baptism but “denying” miracles, they are inconsistent for claiming miracles but denying the place of water baptism.

Third, we can show that water baptism is to continue until the Lord returns. Just as long as men need to be saved from their sins, just that long will baptism be necessary (Mk. 16:16). However, miracles were limited as to purpose. We can show when they were to cease (Mk. 16:17-20; 1 Cor. 13:8-13; Heb. 2:3, 4).

Truth Magazine XXII: 34, p. 546
August 31, 1978

By Carol R. Lumpkin

Have you been baptized as Jesus commanded? Jesus made baptism a must for all who would be His disciples. This was true in the first century, and remains true today. Jesus informed Nicodemus that baptism was a must in order to enter the kingdom of God. Nicodemus was a Jew, one of God’s chosen people; yet, he was not in God’s kingdom. Jesus said, “verily, verily, I say unto thee, except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:5). The only birth which combines the elements of water with the Spirit of God is baptism in water.

Nicodemus was surprised when Jesus required a birth in water and the Spirit to enter God’s kingdom. Even today, people are surprised that Jesus requires baptism for salvation. In order for a lost .person (a sinner) to realize a new life in Christ, he must be born again. “Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born anew” (Jn. 3:7).

Before Jesus left this earth for heaven, He said; “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). We observe this in action when Peter said, “Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto (for) the remission of sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us. . . ” (1 Pet. 3:21). The apostle Peter preached that baptism was necessary for one to be saved.

The apostles all preached the same gospel. This was unlike modern day preachers who differ in their preaching. One will teach that baptism is essential; while many others will say it is non-essential. Paul wrote on the necessity of baptism for those who would be saved; in fact he himself had to be baptized to be saved. “And now why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). Baptism was a necessity for Paul to have sins washed away, or forgiven. Let us not believe it is not also necessary today.

Paul describes baptism in his letter to the Romans. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3-4).

Jesus described baptism as a birth in water and in Spirit which brings the saved into a new life. Peter shows us that our salvation is a likeness unto Noah’s salvation. Noah was saved by water and so are we (1 Pet. 3:21). Paul shows baptism to be a burial in water and a resurrection there from to walk in newness of life.

There is no verse any plainer to be found in the New Testament than that in Mark 16:16. “He that believeth and. is baptized shall be saved.” This verse coincides with what Peter, Paul, and other inspired men said and wrote on the subject. Someone cries out, baptism is not a commandment; and therefore it is not necessary. Peter said: “And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (by His authority)” (Acts. 10:48).

Baptism is a must for every one who desires entrance into the kingdom of God. No person is permitted to enter the kingdom unless he first hears and obeys the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus declared that both “belief and baptism” saves (Mk. 16:16).

Truth Magazine XXII: 34, p. 553
August 31, 1978

By Dennis C. Abernathy

In Matt. 28:19, Jesus said, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” In Mark 16:15-16, He said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” The understanding of these verses is very simple. They are not hard to understand, but to some, the hardness comes in the doing of what Jesus said.

We sit back and expect the people to flock to our church buildings so we can preach to them and, therefore, convert them. This is good, if we can get people to come to the services, but Jesus told you and me (my dear brother and sister) to go! Actually, before people will come we must first go. But to go, takes effort and time-in short, some sacrifice on our part. Do we want to do it? Not many of us, I am afraid. This is sad.

So a preacher is considering a new work (perhaps the church is very small) and brethren (perhaps preachers who have been there before) will say that the people in that city just are not interested in the gospel. I for one, do not believe it! I do not say we should not warn of pitfalls, problems, etc. and that we should not listen to good sound, knowledgeable advice, but my friend “they’re there, if we will just teach them.”

Surely we need not think that everyone will accept the truth (even Jesus could not get all men to accept it) but some will-these are the ones we must find. We must go where the people are and teach them where we find them. They may be the very poor, the successful business man, the very wealthy, the young and the old, the black and the white. But one thing is sure, all have a soul; all have sinned (Rom. 3:23) and sin will cause one to be lost in hell (Rom. 6:23)!

We have a tendency to pick out the people we want to teach. But Jesus said “all the world” and “every creature.” Actually, the selection has been made for us, we must do the teaching, the planting and the watering. God will take care of the increase. Do not worry about the number of converts. God deserves the glory anyway and He is not unmindful of our efforts because we are laborers together with God (1 Cor. 3:6-9). Let each of us do the very best we can. God does not expect more than we are able and capable of doing, but He does expect all we are able and capable of doing! May we just make our feeble effort “to do what we can” to reach others with the gospel. Our labor will not be in vain (1 Cor. 15:58) and God will be pleased.

It is about like my mother used to tell me when I was a little boy and we would go to the cotton patch in the morning. I would say, “Where is the cotton?” Her reply would be, “It is out there (the field) you just have to get out there in it.” Well, when it comes to teaching the gospel-“they’re out there, let us just get out there with them and teach them.”

Truth Magazine XXII: 32, p. 521
August 17, 1978

By Mike Willis

That man is saved by grace cannot be denied. Were it not for God’s wonderful grace, all of us would be lost in hell. Give glory to God that He loved this sinful world enough to save us from our sins. We appreciate God’s wonderful grace more when we understand our lost condition.

Man is a sinner condemned by God. Every one of us has departed from the right way revealed in God’s holy word. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way” (Isa. 53:6). “There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10-12). “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). When each of us is honest with himself, he will confess that he has violated God’s law and stands condemned before the law as a sinner. The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). Hence, each of us stands doomed before God because of the sin which he has committed.

When man could do nothing to save himself, God acted, to save him. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16). God sent His Son to save us; that is the message of God’s grace. While we were yet God’s enemies, He sent Jesus as the propitiation for our sins. Some men would die for a good man but God commended His wonderful love toward us in that He sent His Son to die for us while we were yet alienated from Him and committing sins against His holy law. Indeed, the grace of God is most apparent when we remember that God sent Jesus to die on the cross to save the men who nailed Him to that cross.

Conditional Gifts

We understand that the grounds of our salvation is nothing but the blood of Jesus. Man is not saved by his own works of righteousness; he cannot earn his salvation. Man can only be saved by grace. Yet the giving of salvation does not preclude there being any conditions for receiving it. We see examples of God’s grace which was given conditionally in other spheres than salvation and understand them perfectly. For example, note the following:

1. Jericho. God told Joshua, “See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor” (Josh. 6:1). Despite the fact that the taking of Jericho was a gift from God, there were divine conditions which had to be met before Jericho could be destroyed. Hence, the record states that God demanded that Israel march around the city once each day for six days in silence in a fixed order. Furthermore, God demanded that on the seventh day the Israelites should march around the city seven times, blow the trumpets, and shout with a great shout. When the Israelites would do these things, the wall of the city would fall down flat.

Anyone can see that there was no merit in what the Israelites did to cause the walls to fall down. Indeed, no man would plan such a strategy as a military means of conquering a city. Rather, these were divine conditions imposed by God for the Israelites to fulfill before receiving God’s grace. There was no work righteousness in what the Israelites did; they merely met the conditions for receiving grace.

2. The men who were saved with Paul. When Paul was being taken prisoner to Rome, -the ship on which he sailed wrecked during a storm. Prior to the storm, God revealed, “And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee” (Acts 27:22-24). Notice that God gave the deliverance to the men on the ship. Nevertheless, the record goes on to tell how that the sailors abroad the ship tried to abandon ship leaving the prisoners to die. When Paul found out about the plan, he said, “Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved” (Acts 27:31). Consequently, here is another example of a gift of God which could only be obtained conditionally.

Hence, when we come to a discussion of salvation, we need to understand that God gives His wonderful gift of grace, salvation, conditionally. That does not imply that there is any merit in what man does so far as providing the grounds for his salvation; rather man must act to meet the conditions for receiving God’s wonderful gift.

Salvation Is A Conditional Gift

God has so designed His plan for the salvation of man that His grace is given conditionally. He could have devised His plan whereby man was saved unconditionally but chose not to do so. Man can receive the benefits of God’s grace only when he complies with the conditions imposed by God. Notice the conditional statements in the following verses to see that God’s gifts require that man act to receive them:

I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins (Jn. 8:24).

I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish (Lk. 13:3).

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (Jn. 3:3).

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin (1 Jn. 1:7).

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, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain (1 Cor. 15:1-2).

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 (Rom. 10:9).

Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him (Heb. 5:8-9).

Hence, these passages show that salvation is given to man only when man meets God’s conditions for receiving it. Of course, the other side of this is that damnation is also conditional. God no more arbitrarily gives to man damnation without man doing something to receive it than he gives man salvation without man doing something to receive it. The difference is that man earns damnation by what he does but can never do anything to earn salvation. Yet, both are given conditionally.

Hence, when we study the subject of salvation, we see two sides-God’s part and man’s part. Perhaps the presentation of this through the following disection of these verses will clarify this for you.

“God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,”	“that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16).
“God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world though him might be saved”	“He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (Jn. 3:17).
“The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world . . . I am the bread of life”	“he who comes to me shall not hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst (Jn. 6:33, 35).
“The bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh”	“if anyone eat of this bread, he will live forever” (Jn. 6:51).
“He came to his own, and his own receiveth him not”	“to as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (Jn. 1:11).
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation”	“he who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mk. 15: 16).

Even as there is a divine and human side to the salvation of the alien sinner, there is similarly a divine and human side to salvation of the unfaithful Christian. God does not unconditionally forgive the unfaithful child of God anymore than He unconditionally forgives the alien sinner. Even as we have given an extended study of the conditions which the alien sinner must meet in order to receive divine forgiveness, we need to give attention to the conditions which the unfaithful Christian must meet in order to receive divine forgiveness.

The alien sinner must believe in God and that Jesus is the Son of God (Heb. 11:6; Jn. 8:24), repent of his sins (Acts 2:38), confess faith in Jesus (Rom. 10:9, 10) and be buried with Christ in baptism (Mk. 16:15-16) in order to receive God’s gift of the forgiveness of his sins. The unfaithful Christian must repent and pray that the very thought of his heart might be forgiven him (Acts 8:22). Even as I know of no passage of Scripture which holds out hope to the man who does not comply with the conditions for receiving the forgiveness of his alien sins, I know of no passage of Holy Scripture which offers pardon to the child of God who has fallen into sin unless that child of God meets the divine conditions to receive that forgiveness. Hence, I have no grounds in the authority God’s word for promising a Christian that some of his sins will be automatically forgiven by God’s grace, as some seem bent on doing.

Conclusion

Yes, we are saved by grace. Yet that every passage teaches, “For by grace are ye saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8). Grace is used in this passage to describe everything which God has done for the salvation of man; faith is used in this passage to indicate everything which man must do to receive the gift of God’s grace. Christ’s blood is the grounds of our salvation but there are conditions which men must meet in order to receive the benefits of that blood. Ours is a conditional salvation!

Truth Magazine XXII: 33, pp. 531-533
August 24, 1978