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this is the 3rd episode on the school of baptism series.
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this is the 3rd episode on the school of baptism series.
Listen to BAPTISM The New Man in Christ by Samuel Akpologun MP3 song. BAPTISM The New Man in Christ song from Samuel Akpologun is available on Audio.com. The duration of song is 54:11. This high-quality MP3 track has 1539.533 kbps bitrate and was uploaded on 7 Jun 2024. Stream and download BAPTISM The New Man in Christ by Samuel Akpologun for free on Audio.com – your ultimate destination for MP3 music.
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Today's class is about baptism and the four different dimensions of it: baptism into Christ, baptism into the Church, baptism in the Spirit, and baptism in the Holy Ghost. The focus for today is baptism into Christ, which signifies a new life and a new person. When we are baptized into Christ, we die to our old self and are awakened into a new realm of consciousness. We become complete in Christ and have the privileges and rights of Christ. It is important to believe in the truth of the word of God and not be swayed by experiences or beliefs that contradict it. We are reminded that man is a spirit, soul, and body, and the word of God can distinguish between them. Praise the Lord. Amen. Well, today we will be continuing our class of baptism. Of course, this class is to tell us a bit more, a bit deeper, on the issues of baptism. Remember I said that there are seven different baptisms referred to in the Bible, in the Scriptures, but we are going to be concentrating more seriously on four. Before now I told you we were going to be concentrating on three, but I have, however, upon further research, found out that we actually ought to be concentrating on four. And so these four include the baptism into Christ, and then the second is the baptism in the Spirit, and then the other is, I'm sorry, the second is baptism into the Church, then the third is baptism in the Spirit, and then the fourth is baptism in the Holy Ghost, and then the other is baptism in fire. Praise the Lord Jesus Christ. So we are going to be going through the four dimensions of baptism, but today we are going to be concerned with baptism into Christ. We are going deeper into it, and as we look further into it, I want us to look, to be very attentive and understand what the Holy Ghost will be saying unto us. Praise the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in our last teaching we found out that the baptism into Christ is done by God the Spirit, that God the Holy Ghost, and then He actually baptizes us by immersing us in the Word of God, in the environment of the Holy Ghost, and when He does that, we die to flesh, we die to this world, we die to self, and then we are alive to Christ. We die to the old realm of existence, we die to the old self, the old man dies, and then we are awakened into a new realm of consciousness. A new man is created in us. We are brought into a new state of existence, and that state of existence is called Christ. Our dwelling place becomes Christ. Our address becomes Christ. We now live and move and have our being in Christ, and we now experience the realities of heaven because we are complete in Christ. And the fact that we are complete in Christ gives us the privileges and the rights of Christ. And that is why the Bible says we are complete in Him who is the head of all principalities and powers. And that is also what makes us to become heads of God and join heads with the Lord Jesus Christ. We have observed all of these things, but it is now important for us to look a little deeper to see another aspect of the implication of baptism. Hallelujah! The second aspect of the implication of baptism is that when you... I am going to build upon what I have already told you, that when you got baptized into Christ, you became a new person. You became a new person. And what does that mean? The Bible makes us to understand in the book of 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17 that if any man be in Christ... Remember that when you are baptized, you are now being baptized into Christ. Just like the Israelites were baptized into Moses. When you get baptized, you are baptized into Christ. And the Bible says, If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. So, the man in Christ, the man that is baptized into Christ is a new person. The man that is baptized into Christ is not the same person that was in existence before he received Christ as his Lord and Savior. The person that was in existence before he received Christ as his Lord and Savior died with Christ on the cross. The Bible tells us in the book of Colossians 2 and verse 12, They buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the operation of the faith of God who hath raised him from the dead. So, the old man was buried with Christ in baptism. But the new man is risen with Christ and now he has a new life. He is a new person. He is not the same person as the old person. Hallelujah! They are two different persons. Many of us used to say that when a man is born again, he has two natures. So, people believe that a Christian has the old nature and the new nature. They believe that the old man is still there. They believe that Mr. Flesh is not yet there. So, people say that they are walking towards the killing or towards the destruction of Mr. Flesh. And they are trying to put the flesh in order. They say that the flesh is still alive in them. Some people believe that the Christian has two persons fighting for dominance inside them. One is the natural person and the other is the child of God that is trying to manifest. But beloved brothers and sisters, the reason why you have such experience is because you believe so. You experience so because you believe so. This is the truth and it is important that you believe the truth. Let me explain why you must believe the truth. God has given humans the ability to create their experience. Whatever you believe, you will experience. Whatever you believe strongly with passion and with conviction, you will eventually experience. You can actually create your experience. Now, the fact that you are experiencing a thing does not mean that it is the truth. There is the truth which is the word of God and there is the word of Satan. The word of Satan, you can make it to become your experience by believing in it. The word of God also, you can make it to become your experience by believing in it. So, people believe the work of Satan and then they begin to experience it and then they now judge phenomena by their experience. And when they judge phenomena by their experience, they judge Satan to be true and judge God to be false. Why? Because they believe the work of Satan, they believe the tradition of men and their belief created that experience. But the truth is that if they had believed the word of God and had held on to the word of God, their belief would have brought the word of God into manifestation. However, that does not mean that they are not believing the word of God invalidates the word of God. The word of God is eternally true. But you may decide not to experience the truth. You may decide to live in a lie. You may decide to function in a lie until the end of time and you will not find out that you chased a rat. You see, but that is why God has given us the sure word of prophecy that we can continue to look on to until the day dawn and the day star be arising in our heart. That is why we have to stick to the word. You have to stand by the word no matter what you are facing. Stick to the word. When you stick to the word, you will find out that eventually you have stuck to the truth and then you will be justified at the long run. Praise the Lord Jesus Christ. At this moment, I want us to just pause and take a word of prayer and say, My Father, My God, I ask that you will strengthen me with mine to stay by the truth until the end of time. Can you pray in the spirit in the name of Jesus? Amen and Amen. At this moment, I want us to proceed down into the next dimension of praying. Now, we say that the new creation or that when you give your life to Christ, you are a new creation in Christ. Hallelujah. Now, who is this new creation in Christ? Which part of you is new? So, we are going to be looking into the real you. You see, many people think that they are just flesh and blood. And in fact, a particular religious organization believes that man is just flesh and blood. They look at that scripture in the book of Genesis where the Bible says, And God breathed into the man that he hath made, and he became a living soul. So, they believe that man is simply a living soul. He is nothing but flesh and blood. But the Bible doesn't teach so. What the Bible teaches is that man is a spirit. And this spirit hath a soul and dwells in a body. I repeat, man is a spirit. He hath a soul and lives in a body. Can you turn with me to the book of 1 Thessalonians 5? And I'm going to be looking at verse 2. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 23. It says, And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, this tells us that there are three dimensions or three aspects of a man. The man, there is the spirit, there is the soul, there is the body. Hallelujah! So, the Bible makes us to understand, therefore, that there are three dimensions to a man. Let's look at another scripture and that is the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 says, So that the word of God is swift and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder the soul and the spirit, and of the joints and the marrow, and is the designer of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. That tells us that the word of God can distinguish between the spirit and the soul and the flesh. The joints and the marrow make up the flesh. The spirit is distinct and the soul is distinct. Another scripture that shows us that man is a tripartite being can be seen in the book of Job. The book of Job, I think I will not want to spend too much time in this place, but I will not want to do that for the sake of those that are still having issues. Hallelujah! Job, and I am going to be reading chapter 10. It says, and I am going to be reading verse 11. Hallelujah! Job chapter 10 verse 11, it says, Thou hast clothed me with skin. Now, there is the me there that is being clothed with skin and flesh. It says, Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and Thou hast changed me with bones and sinew. So, this person is saying, God created me, but He covered me up with skin and flesh. Another scripture you want to look at is that of the book of Job chapter 4. Job chapter 4, and I am going to be reading verse 19. Job chapter 4 verse 19. It says, How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the mouth. Now, if you read from verse 18, you will see that it says, Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker? Behold, he put no troth in his servants, and in his angels he charges with folly. How much less in them that dwell in the houses of clay. Talking about men. It says, That man dwells in the house of clay. That is, his body is the house that is called clay. Hallelujah! That dwells in the house of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the mouth. So, it tells you that men are covered, or men dwell in a body made out of sand. But the question is, who is it that is dwelling in a body made out of sand? That person is the woman. Now, if you notice in the book of Genesis, the Bible says, in the book of Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26. Genesis chapter 1 verse 26. The Bible says, And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle of the sky, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So, the Bible says, So God created man in his own image, in his image, and in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. So, God created man in his image, in chapter 1 verse 26 to verse 27 of Genesis. But in chapter 2, we saw God forming, you know, the body of man. So, the spirit that God created, that is in the image of God, or the aspect of man, that is in the image and in the likeness of God, is the spirit of man. And that spirit of man is gender neutral. The Bible tells us in the book of Genesis chapter 5, Genesis chapter 5, and I'm going to be reading from verse 1. The Bible says, And this is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, you notice that he didn't say God formed man, he said God created man. And in the likeness of God made he him. That means when God created man, he made him to be like God. And if he's like God, and God is a spirit, then he had to be a spirit. Remember Jesus Christ tells us in the book of John chapter 4 and verse 24 that God is a spirit. So, if God is a spirit and he created man to be like him, then the man has to be a spirit. The Bible says, In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him. Verse 2 says, Man and female created he them, and bled them, and called their name Adam in the day that they were created. So, when God created the spirit of man, God did not call them Adam and Eve. They had the possibility of being male and female. They had the male and female potentiality, but they were called what? Adam. And that spirit called Adam was dwelling in God in the day he was created. After then, it was some moments after then that God formed the earth, I mean molded sand out of the earth, and breathed the man that he had created. The spirit man that he had created, he breathed it into the molded statues that he had formed. And that what resulted was called what? A living soul. Hallelujah. So, when God combined the spirit he had created with the man that he had formed, a living soul came forth. Praise the Lord. So, the man that the real man is a spirit that has a soul and lives in a body. Now, when we God save, when we receive Christ into our heart, the aspect of you that God was concerned about is the real you. And that real you is your spirit. The person that God saved is the spirit man. So, it is in your spirit that you got saved. It is your spirit that became regenerated. The aspect of you that got regenerated when you received Christ is your spirit. It is not your body, it is not your soul. That is why you may look the way you look. If you used to have tribal mask before you gave your life to Christ, you will not cease to have tribal mask when you receive Christ into your spirit. If you used to be short, you may not necessarily become tall when you receive Christ into your spirit. Why? Because the aspect of you that was regenerated is not your body. The aspect of you that was regenerated is your spirit. So, when the Bible says that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away and behold, all things are become new. It is not your body that became new. It is your spirit that became new. Hallelujah! I want you to just use a moment to say, Father, thank you because you have raised us. So, all things are passed away. And this is true in your spirit. Your old things are passed away. All things are become new. The old spirit man, your old spirit that was under the dominion of Satan has been crucified with Christ. It is a new person that is in you now. That new person is exactly like Christ. In 1 John 4 and verse 17, the Bible tells us that at He is, that is at Christ is, so are we in this world. So, if Christ has dominion over principalities and powers, your spirit man has dominion over principalities and powers. If Jesus has dominion over the works of darkness, then you have dominion over the works of darkness. Everything that is possible for Christ is possible for your new creation, re-created spirit. For at He is, so are you in this world. Can you shout Amen? Now, let's proceed a little further. The Bible makes us to also understand that the new creation is born of God. It is a child of God. Now, I'll need you to understand because this actually has beggared many understandings. Many people say, I've given my life to Christ, but I'm still tempted like I used to be tempted. I used to, I still have issues, character issues. So, people still have anger issues after they become born again. Some of us are disappointed when a person says he is born again, christened, and he still behaves in a way that doesn't seem right. Now, we begin to ask ourselves, and this one says that he is a christened. Now, let me tell you something. Your behavior may not immediately change, but your identity has changed. Now, what will determine your behavior is the state of your soul. Remember that when you got born again, your soul was not born again. Your soul was not regenerated. What was regenerated is your spirit. Now, the reason why a person will go to heaven is because his spirit has been regenerated. The reason why a person is seated with Christ in heaven is because his spirit has been regenerated. You see, now the soul of the person, however, needs to be worked upon. That is why Jesus Christ now says to us that we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling. The salvation that he is talking about here is not the salvation of our strength. That's what was done when we gave our life to Christ. What he says we should work out here now is the salvation of our souls. How do we do the salvation of our souls? The Bible makes us to understand in the book of Romans chapter 12 and verse 1 to verse 2. It says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the merit of God, that you offer your bodies as living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is a reasonable service. And then it says, Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Hallelujah. That you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So, the soul of a man is renewed, God expects it to be renewed by the renewal of your mind. The salvation of your soul is achieved by the renewal of your mind. The question is, what do you do with your body? The Bible says you should offer your body as living sacrifice. What do you do with your soul? You are to work out the salvation of your soul. How? By the renewal of your mind. What do you do with your spirit? You should believe Jesus Christ as your Lord and as your Savior. God regenerates or saves your spirit. Now, you are now given assignment to do two things. One, work on the salvation of your soul by the renewal of your mind. And two, offer your body as living sacrifice unto God. If you continue in this, working on the salvation of your soul, and then, you know, offering your body unto God as living sacrifice, when Jesus Christ comes on the day of rapture or at his second coming, the Lord will give you the salvation of your body. The salvation of our body or the regeneration of our body is what is called the hope of salvation. So, you can see there are three dimensions of salvation. The first dimension of salvation is the salvation of the spirit. It was done the day you gave your life to Christ. The second dimension of salvation is the salvation of your soul. You are to continue to work on it by the renewal of your mind. Now, the third dimension of salvation is the salvation of your body. That one is the hope of salvation. We are going to get that on the day that Jesus Christ shall come. And the Bible tells us about that in the book of 1 Corinthians 15, 55-57. It says, Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the last trumpet, for the trumpet shall sound, and we shall be changed. Now, I think I should stop there. So, that tells us that there will be a time when we shall have the salvation of our body. And the Bible calls it the hope of our salvation. But the one that we have already now is the salvation of our spirit. So, it is important that we are able to distinguish these three things. We call it rightly dividing the man. You see, you must be able to know when God is speaking, who is He speaking to. When the Bible is talking, who is He referring to. If you are able to effectively distinguish the three dimensions of man, you will be able to know what to do in those dimensions. Now, there are three things you need to do as a Christian. You should be able to rightly divide the Word of Truth. Number two, you should be able to rightly divide the man. And number three, you should be able to rightly apply the Word of Truth. How to rightly divide the Word of Truth is to know what aspect of the Word of God speaks to whom, to what, and to what circumstance. And then, how to rightly divide the man is to know which aspect is referring to the spirit, the soul, and to the body. And the application of the truth to the man is to properly apply the truth to the spirit, the soul, and to the body. For example, if the Word of God says something, it says that you are holy. When God says you are holy, He is talking about your spirit. He is not talking about your soul. He is not talking about your body. Hallelujah! God speaks to your spirit. So, you might have committed sin this morning. You might have been falling in and out of sin. You know, you might have been making mischief. And God is still saying you are holy. God is not lying. God is talking about your spirit. Your spirit, man, is made in righteousness and true holiness. Your spirit, man, cannot sin. Now, this is the explanation of what the Bible says in the book of 1 John. When it says that whoever is born of God sinneth not. And the Bible says, neither can he sin, for the seed of God is in him. Now, that scripture has beggared many understandings. So, people say, how will the Bible say that a child of God, that is a Christian, cannot sin? Or that the Christian sins not. You see, these people don't understand what the Word of God is saying. The Word of God was not talking to the soul of a Christian. Neither was it talking about the body of a Christian. It was talking about the spirit of a Christian. The spirit of a Christian is created in true holiness. He does not have the ability to sin. He cannot sin. The flesh may be sinning. The soul may be sinning. But his spirit cannot sin. Hallelujah. Now, that is why the Bible says, if you are led by your spirit, you will not succeed in the law of the flesh. If you allow your spirit to gain ascendancy over your life, you will never sin again. As long as your spirit is in charge of your soul and of your body, you will not sin. The reason why you are sinning is because you shut down the spirit. You refuse to live by the spirit. You walk in the flesh. When you walk in the flesh, you will manifest the work of the flesh. But when you walk in the spirit, that is when you allow your spirit man to gain ascendancy over your soul and your body, the Bible says you will not succeed in the law of the flesh. So, the simple way to live a holy life is not to try to live a holy life. It is not to try to be disciplined. The simple way to be disciplined or to live a holy life, a perfect life, is simply to walk in the spirit. Let your spirit lead your soul and your body. And for your spirit to lead your soul and your body, you have to feed your spirit so that it becomes strong. You have to exercise your spirit so that it becomes active. You feed your spirit on the word of God. You exercise your spirit in the place of prayer. So, when you feed your spirit on the word of God and you exercise your spirit by praying in the spirit, the Bible says that you are building up yourself upon your most holy spirit when you pray the Holy Ghost. Apart from that, when you pray with your spirit, you are building up yourself. When you charge up yourself like that and you feed on the word of God, you will live a sinless life effortlessly. You can see this is the reason why you need to know the dimensions of man so that you know where you can focus on. If you focus on, if you see the word of God and the word of God speaks a thing concerning you, know that it is speaking concerning your spirit. And you need to make that thing that God says concerning your spirit to become your reality. The way you make it your reality is to ensure that your soul is renewed, is filled with that truth. You do this by meditation and by confession. All of these things we are going to explain in detail in subsequent classes. But for now, just know that the spirit that a man is a spirit that has a soul and dwells in a body. And this new creation is born of God. He is saved by the grace of God. And because he has been saved by the grace of God, the devil cannot bring any aspiration against him. He is saved to the uttermost. Somebody shout hallelujah. At this moment, can you just thank God and say, Father, thank you for saving me to the uttermost. Thank you for giving me a spirit that cannot sin. A spirit that is beyond sin. Can you just walk me a little bit further? The Bible makes us to understand. I really want to tell you something a little further about the assurance of salvation. You see, when I talk about the fact that the Christian cannot sin, I think we should even look at that scripture that says that he that is born of God cannot sin. Come with me to the book of 1 John. Hallelujah. The book of 1 John. Chapter 3. And we are going to begin with I am going to read some scriptures now and I need you to take notice of them. I will start from chapter 3 verse 6. Then I will read verse 3. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me start from verse 3. It says, And every man that hath his hope in himself purifies himself, even as he is pure. Hallelujah. Then we go to verse 6. Verse 6. I want to read from another version but let me just take this distance so that we can all be on the same page. Let me take from the Kenyan version first. Hallelujah. It says, It says, Whosoever abided in him that is in Jesus, sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth, hath not sinned him, neither known him. Now I need you to quickly jump with me to verse 18. Verse 18 of 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 18. Hallelujah. Sorry. 1 John chapter 3 verse 9. I am sorry about that. It says, Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin. For his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. Look at it. This whole chapter 3 of 1 John seems to be confusing if you don't understand the 3 dimensions of man. You will see that in verse 3 it was saying that every man that has this hope in him, purifies himself even as he is pure. It doesn't seem to make sense. It says you purify yourself as you are pure. It doesn't seem to make sense if you don't understand the tripartite nature of man. If you look at that verse 5, I mean verse 6. It says, Whosoever abided in him, sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth, hath not sinned him, neither known him. So this thing begins to confuse the person. And then you look at the last one verse 9 that says, Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin. For his seed remained in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. If he had stopped at, he does not commit sin, he would have conveniently said that okay, he does not make a practice of sinning. That means he may sin today, he may repent tomorrow. But now he goes on to reinforce his thought by saying he cannot sin. That means he doesn't have the ability to sin, because he is born of God. Now that beggars understanding that the he that is born of God, not only does he not sin, he doesn't have the ability to sin. Now if you don't understand the tripartite nature of man, your experience will tell you that, but I sin, I sin. And even if I sin, it tells me that I should purify myself. If I cannot sin, what am I purifying myself for? Now this is what it is, he that is born of God, that cannot sin, is the spirit of man, the regenerated spirit. That your recreated spirit cannot sin. He is the one that contains the seed of God. He is the one that is born of God. Remember in John chapter 3 and verse 6, Jesus Christ says that that which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit is spirit. And God, Jesus already told us that God is a spirit. So if God is going to give birth, he is going to give birth to what? To spirit. The Bible tells us in the book of John chapter 1 verse 2 up to verse 13, it says that as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believed on his name, which are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. It says we are born of God. Then the question becomes, who is he that is born of God? It is the spirit. Remember the spirit, the God spirit. Now this spirit man does not have the ability to sin. He cannot sin. Even if you wanted him to sin, he does not have the ability to sin. The reason why man sins is because sin has been programmed, or the character of sin is programmed in the flesh and in the soul of a man. So if you recreate, if you allow the spirit of man to lead man, that is the recreated spirit of man, to lead the man, he will soon learn to walk in holiness perpetually. When the recreated spirit of man continues to lead him, very soon he will find it difficult to even want to fall into sin. That is why the Bible tells us that there are some people who have, by a reason of use, exercised their senses to be able to discern between good and evil. The Bible tells us, it says that strong meat, that is the book of Hebrews chapter 5, it says that strong meat belongs to the mature man, who by a reason of use have had their senses exercised to discern between good and evil. So over time, they have been allowing their spirit to lead their bodies, and by now they have been able to discern what is good and evil in the sight of God. That is what God wants us to do, to get to. The people that are not yet there, they are called babes in that book of Hebrews chapter 5. In fact, the Greek word there is nefios, that is people that don't yet know how to talk. They have a problem because their spirit has not yet gained ascendancy over their lives. Hallelujah! You've got to make your spirit gain ascendancy, and you do this by feeding voraciously on the Word of God. The Bible says, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. So, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. That way, your spirit man will have the potential energy. Then give yourself to prayer, praying in the Spirit. And when I say praying in the Spirit, I don't mean just speaking in tongues, because praying in the Spirit is praying by the directives and the direction of the Holy Ghost. So, when you pray in the Spirit, you can pray both in understanding and in tongues. So, praying in tongues has a specialized advantage, because it allows your spirit man to pray without the interruption of your soul. So, when you allow these things to begin to take place, you are exercising yourself unto godliness, praying in the Holy Ghost, praying with your spirit, praying with your understanding, and filling your heart with the Word of God. When you do so, your spirit man becomes strong, and he will be able to lead your soul and your body. And if he leads your soul and your body for a period, for a while, you become accustomed to holiness, then you will be said to be mature. Praise the Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. Say to yourself, I am born of God, and my spirit man is leading me. I am led by the Spirit. I am directed by the Holy Ghost. I pray in the Spirit. I pray with my spirit. I pray in understanding. I am strengthened with mine, by the Holy Ghost in my inner man. I am walking in the Spirit. I do not make provision for the flesh, to gratify the laws thereof. I do not walk in sin. I walk in perpetual holiness. Can you pray in tongues for a moment? Thank you Lord Jesus. Now, let me proceed a little further, before I round up, to the issue of what? The assurance of salvation. You see, when a man is saved, there have been two dimensions of understanding. There are those that believe that the Christian can walk in salvation. Those people say that a man can sin, and then there are various levels of that belief. I was talking about how the spirit of a man cannot sin. Some people begin to conclude that maybe I am tending towards a Calvinistic teaching, and I will tell you what is Calvinistic teaching. In fact, there is this dimension of Christian, we call them the holiness movement, or those that come out of the holiness movement. They believe that you can be a Christian, but Christ may come at the day of judgment, and you may not go to heaven. Many of such people do not even know the criteria by which a person will be judged, or asked to go to heaven. And so you hear such songs like, When you come to collect your people, remember me, O God. And so, as if God will forget some people here on earth, and then they will go to hellfire. It does not work that way. There are some that even believe that, well, you may live a very holy life, all the days of your life, but if you make a mistake, just a simple mistake, before the person dies, or before Jesus Christ comes, whatever Jesus Christ makes him do, if Jesus makes him tell lies, it does not matter that he has been a very holy person all the days of his life, he is going to hell. In fact, these teachings have been reinforced with people that claim to have died and gone to heaven and hell. I remember when I was quite young at that time, we had the story of somebody who lived a very perfect life all the days of her life, but one day she died, and she was going to heaven, but she was stopped by an angry-looking angel at the gate of heaven, and told her, no, you are not going to heaven, you are going to hell. And then he began to ask the angel, why am I not going to heaven, why must I go to hell? And the angel showed her the video of how that she was one day, one day like that, she borrowed a box of matches from her neighbor, and then when, before she returned it, rather than returning everything, she took one or two sticks of the match and kept in her own box of, in her own empty box of match, and returned the other. And the angel said, you stole, you stole, you stole matches, and those matches are the reason why you must go to hell. And then she began to wonder whether God actually is just setting legs for us. You see, that was the attitude of some people. It's a bit to the extreme, but that is what it is. That was the belief of many people. Now there is another extreme at the other side of the world. My friend, Father Corwin used to call them the Osaf people, that means one sin, always sin, or one sin, forever sin. That seems to be an extreme presentation of the doctrine of John Calvin. John Calvin is the founder of what we call the Calvinistic movement. Now these people believe that, they believe in what we call eternal salvation. That is to say, if you have given your life to Christ, it doesn't matter what you do, you are saved to the utmost. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is able to save to the utmost those who come unto him. And the Bible also says that Jesus Christ said that those that the Father has given unto me, God wants me to give them eternal life, and that I have received them on the last day. He said they will not lose anyone. So if Jesus Christ is not ready to lose anyone, if Jesus Christ is willing to give eternal salvation, the Bible calls the author of our salvation, and the author of our eternal salvation, then why do we say people will go to hell? So, well, I think that the best answer is to stick to the center of the rule. That is, avoid falling at the ditch on the one side, and on the ditch on the other side. Do not fall on the ditch of legalism, of the people that believe that if you make any small mistakes, you are going to hell. And do not also fall on the ditch of the people on the other side that I call the hyper-grace movement, who believe that it does not matter what you do, even if you lie, after you have given your life to Christ, go ahead and go to the community for negation and killing people. Do not worry, you are still going to heaven. They are taking the doctrine of eternal salvation too far. That also is a dangerous position. The truth is that there is such thing, why we do not have any such thing as, as one thing for everything, but we are searching as the assurance of salvation. What we mean by the assurance of salvation? By the assurance of salvation, I am trying to explain that the salvation that God gives to you is backed up by divine assurance and that, you know, everyone that hooks to this salvation by faith will never see death. In fact, we are going to see death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and death and
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