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varied than most. Nevertheless, a ll
people must eventuaJly come to the
same momentous point in their lives
tha t Roy did.
Are you willing to face this same
momentous decision? Are you will–
ing to change if God shows you
through His written Word - the
Bible - that you may not have
really knowo Him, nor have been
properly baptized, nor have had His
Holy Spirit living within you? Your
own personal vanity will, in many
cases, prevent you from admitting,
in this most important of all a reas,
that you have been wrong and in ig–
norance of God's way.
Your Bible says: "Now if any
man have not the Spirit ofChri st, he
is none of his" (Romans 8:9). l n
plain language, one has 10 have
Chrisl's Spirit, or he is not a Chris–
tian -
not converted!
A truly converted person is filled
with and Jed by the Holy Spi rit of
God (Romans 8:
14).
God lives His
very life within us through His Holy
Spirit. By this means, we are begot–
ten of Him as children and lhus par–
take of His very nature.
Through His Spiril, God gives us
His love. We read in Romans 5:5,
"The love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by 1he Holy Spi rit which
is given unto us." Thus we partake
of His nature - His character -
which is !ove. And God's character
is expressed in the spiritual prin–
cipies contained in the Ten Com–
mandments.
And how is this !ove of God ex–
pressed? Your Bible answers: "For
this is 1he
/ove of God,
tha t we
keep
his commandments:
and his com–
mandments a re not g ri evo us"
(I
John 5:3).
God's Spirit leads us to obey Him
as our Maker and Ruler.
The apos tle Peter was inspired to
wrile of the Holy Spiril, "whom
God hath given to lhem 1hat obey
him" (Acts 5:32).
True conversion involves repen–
tance and lhe surrendering of our
lives to obey God and His laws. You
22
repenl of sin. Bu1 what is the Bible
definition of sin? "Si n is the trans–
gression of the law"
(1
John 3:4).
That is the Bible definition of sin -
the breaking of God's law.
So to be truly converted, you
must repent of breaking God's law.
You must be so sorry tha t you are
willing to quit breaking it and turn
around and go the other way. You
must be willing, therefore, lo begin
obeying G od's law and lo begin lit–
erally living by a ll ten of the Ten
Commandments! ls th is a grea t
" burden" to perform?
What is so burdensome about
having no other gods before the true
God, about not taking God's name
in vain, about not breaking His day
of rest? Wha1 is so hard about hon–
oring your parents?
Why do people think they must
fight, kili, líe, cheat. steaJ, and curse
in order to be happy?
Don' t reason th at it is " too hard"
to obey. God's !ove shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Spirit en–
ables us to keep God's spiritua llaw.
But what a re the conditions for
receiving God 's Spirit? In Acts 2:38 ,
the inspired Peter tells how: "Re–
pent, and be baptized every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ for
the remission of sins, and ye shall
receive the gift of 1he Holy Spiril."
Christ's righteousness is put
within us through His Spirit. His
Spirit enables us to have the !ove
that fulfill s the law, and joy and
peace with God and our fellow man
- to the extenl that we yie ld obedi–
ent ly to Him and to the extent that
we are growing and overcorning our
human nature throughout this life,
preparatory to eterna! life in the
world tomorrow.
Baptism - Burial of Your
Old Self
In
the New Testament, the com–
mandments of God are magnified to
their fu ll spiritual inlent by Jesus
Christ - particularly in Matthew
5
in the sermon on the mount. New
Testament Christians are to keep
nol mere ly the letter of the law, but
also the very spiri t and iolent of
God's law in every phase of 1heir
Jives.
Jesus said , "Man shall not live by
bread a lone, but by every word of
G od" (Luke 4:4).
In repenting and being converted.
then, you must repent of
disobeying
God's law - disobeying His word
and His rule over your life. You
mus1 be willing to honestly see and
acknowledge that vou have been
wrong. You must then be willing to
surrender your will to obey your
G od and your Maker. You must be
willing to accept the shed blood of
Jesus Christ in full payment for
your sins. Jesus died for you to pay
for your sins because "the wages of
sin is death" (Romans 6:23).
Then. you are ready to be bap–
tized as an outward sigo of your
willingness to completely bury your
old self - to literally give your very
life to God as your Father and to
Jesus Christ as your personal Sav–
iour, High Pries t, and coming King.
Notice the descripti on of th e
meaning of baptism in Romans 6:3-
4: " Know ye not. that so many of us
as were baptized inlo Jesus Christ
were baptized into his death? The re–
fore we are buried with him by bap–
tism into death: that like as Christ
was raised up from the dead by the
glory of the Fa ther, even so we a lso
should wa lk in newness of life."
Baptism symbolizes the death and
burial of the old self - the old
human na ture which has been con–
trary to God and His laws. It sym–
bolizes our faith in. and acceptance
of. the death of Jesus Christ on our
behalf.
lt
symbolizes our acceptance
of and faith in !-lis resurrection -
which our coming up out of the
watery grave a lso pictures. "For if
we have been planted together in
the likeness of his death. we shall be
also in the Jikeness of his resurrec–
tion" (Romans 6:5).
Also, baptism is an outward ac–
knowledgment that our old self -
PLAIN TRUTH April 1973