We recently had the privilege of spending time with our children and grandchildren (including a great granddaughter) in Oregon–always a blessing!  On Mothers’ Day, after attending a really great church service and a dinner to celebrate the day, we went to George Rogers Park on the Willamette River, where I (with the assistance of our son Grant) had the joy of baptizing our granddaughter Lacey, and two of her good friends (Millie a senior and Kate, a sophomore) from North Clackamas Christian School. That was so very special! 

     I shared with the group as we gathered by the river, that being offspring of Adam, we all have two basic needs. First, we need forgiveness for what we have done (sinned). Isa. 53:6 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way...” And Ro. 3:23 reminds us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Second, we need deliverance  from what we are (sinners).  We sin because we are sinners. We each inherit the fallen, Adamic nature. 

     Jesus, by His death and resurrection met both of those needs–forgiveness for what we have done and deliverance from what we are. Isa. 53:6 goes on to add, “…But the LORD has cause the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” And in II Cor. 5:21, Paul writes: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”   Peter, in his first epistle writes: “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross…(I Pet. 2:24).  In reference to Christ’s sacrifice for us, he writes: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses...” (Eph. 1:7).  By His death in our place, Jesus paid in full the penalty for our sins so that when we trust Him as Savior, we are no longer under condemnation (Ro. 8:1), for He was condemned on our behalf. Through Christ and His shed blood, we have forgiveness for what we have done–sinned.

     But through the power of the resurrected Christ, who comes to live in us at the time of salvation, we also have available deliverance from what we are–sinners.  Rom. 5:10 says, “For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son (our sins were forgiven), much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life (the resurrected Christ who lives in us).”  Before Jesus left the earth to return to heaven, He told His disciples, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you…In that day, you shall know that I am in My Father; and you in Me, and I in you” (Jn. 14: 18,20). When we are born again, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us (I Cor. 6:19,20) and through the Spirit, the resurrected Christ (and the Father) live in us as well. We have the divine nature living in us (II Pet. 1:4). That is why Jesus told His disciples, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (the Holy Spirit) shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (Jn. 16:7). 

     With the divine nature indwelling us, we have the power available to say “no” to the desires of the flesh (the old, sinful, Adamic nature) and thus have deliverance from what we are–sinners by nature. As we “abide in Christ” (Jn. 15:4,5) “walk in the Spirit” (Gal.5:16) and “Let the word of Christ to richly dwell within..” (Col. 3:16), we have victory over the “old man” (our sinful nature).  That is way John could say in his first epistle, “My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin…” (I Jn. 2:1).  Because of our new identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, we are no longer slaves to sin, for “we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life…Our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin…Even so, consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Ro. 6: 4-11). 

     So, as Paul wrote in Ro. 5:10, “we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son” (forgiven for what we have done) and “much more, we shall be saved by His (resurrected) life (which He lives in us)” (delivered from what we are).  Before Jesus returned to heaven, He left us with two ordinances which symbolize how He met these two basic needs for forgiveness and deliverance.  During the Passover meal which He celebrated in the Upper Room, Jesus took the bread “and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (I Cor. 11:24,25).  Jesus instituted the ordinance of “The Lord’s Table (or Supper)” or “Communion.”  Because of Christ bearing our sins in His body and shedding His blood for our forgiveness, we have fellowship or “communion“ with Him, so we call our times of remembrance a “communion service,” with the emphasis on thanking God for His forgiveness of sin through the work of Christ at the cross. It is an ordinance that we practice on a regular basis.

     The second ordinance is water baptism, which symbolizes how we have been united with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection by being baptized into His body, the church, by the Holy Spirit at the time of salvation (I Cor. 12:12,13). Water baptism is our testimony to the world that we have been united with Christ, identified with Him and are under new “ownership.”  The word “baptism” (baptizo in the Greek) means “immersion.”  So, as we go into, under and up out of the water, we symbolize that union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. Our testimony to family, friends and to the world is that–in Christ–we have died to the old sinful nature, and that it is our desire to follow Jesus and “walk in newness of life” (Ro. 6:4). 

      Whereas we celebrate Communion on a regular basis, thanking God for forgiveness for what we have done, baptism is something we do once, in recognition of our being dead to sin and alive to Christ in our union with Him. Though we no longer have to sin, we still do and His blood continues to cleanse us (I Jn. 1:7-2:2). But our union with Christ (our position in Him) does not change. In fact, as Paul wrote, not only have we, who were “dead in sin” (Eph. 2:1) been, because of God’s mercy and grace, “made alive together with Christ,” but we  are even now (positionally) “seated with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-6). 

     Praise the Lord for our Communion with Christ because we have been forgiven for what we have done–and do–and for our Union with Christ, providing deliverance from what we (by nature) are. 

Forever His,

Pastor Dave