In Acts 11:11-18 the apostle Peter is arguing the case for the acceptance of the Gentiles into the Church. The Jews are not convinced that God has accepted the faith of the Gentile believers.
It’s plain that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was, without a doubt, the point of discernment for entrance into the covenant and for entrance into the Body of Christ.
The apostle Peter did not say, “LOOK!! These all made a decision for Christ and invited Jesus into their hearts. We had a service, and I preached, and I gave the invitation, and they came to the altar and accepted Jesus into their heart, so they are saved!!” No. The apostle Peter did not preach a covenantless gospel.
The apostle Peter says, "THE HOLY GHOST FELL ON THEM......!!" How did Peter know or perceive that the Holy Ghost ‘fell on them’?
Acts 10: 45, 46, “And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God……”
As Peter was rehearsing these events to the brethren, as Peter was explaining how he knew that God had accepted the faith of the Gentiles, he recalled, “And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost,” Acts 11:15,16.
The sign of God granting entrance to the Gentiles into the Body of Christ hinged on the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The apostle Peter continues, “Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?” Acts 11:17. The gift of God is the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit comes with the prayer language of tongues for all.
When those who had objected to the entrance of the Gentiles into the faith had heard THESE WORDS they said, "Then has God also to the Gentiles GRANTED repentance unto LIFE." Acts. 11:18.
These converted Gentiles WERE water baptized AFTER they were baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:47). Yet in reflecting, in discerning, and championing the truth of the conversion of the Gentiles, Peter did not once reflect on their water baptism. He did not say, “These of the household of Cornelius must be permitted entrance into the faith because we administered the rite of water baptism.”
Instead of accenting the water as evidence of faith, instead of accepting mere confession as evidence of faith, Peter accented the Spirit. “And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.”
Let’s remember these words of Acts 11:18, “When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted REPENTANCE unto LIFE.”
Are you one of the thousands of believers who have repented, but not repented UNTO life? In other words, your repentance did not lead to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is why your Christian experience remains lifeless.
Repentance UNTO life is not an option, it is the true path of conversion. We do not see God creating two camps of Christians, those who repented unto life, and those who merely repented.
COVENANT THROUGH BAPTISM?
The idea of coming into covenant with God through a baptism was not strange to the mind of the Jew. We read in the Jewish Encyclopedia:
We are in the Messianic times. God has already sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. The pattern that God set for the believer to come into covenant with Him is the pattern that Jesus Christ set for our faith. Jesus Christ gives the baptism of the Holy Spirit; a baptism not of water, but of the Spirit as we read in Acts 1:4,5 and Acts 11:15-18.
I Chron.16:15, “Be ye mindful always of His covenant.” The Old Testament saints were mindful of the covenant that God gave through Abraham and Moses. We are mindful of the covenant that God gave through Jesus Christ.
Heb, 8:6, “But now hath he (Jesus) obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a BETTER covenant, which was established upon BETTER promises.”
The ENTRANCE into the better covenant of Jesus Christ is through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Many can take in hand to speak about a ‘covenant’ and never enter in, and therefore are still separated from the promises of God.
APOSTLES REMOVE TRANSGRESSION:
Jesus said, “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?” Mt.15:3. The evangelists and preachers and teaching pastors have transgressed the commandment of God concerning repentance UNTO life. They have replaced conversion through the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the traditions of man and the believer is not brought into covenant with God.
This is why God is restoring teaching apostles to the Body of Christ. God is using them to remove the transgressions created by the traditions of man and bring the believer into covenant with God.
For those believers who have experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit evidenced with tongues, Second 8th Week Ministries is offering discipleship training so that you will know how to keep covenant with God. Just as the preachers and teaching pastors brought chaos to faith by neglecting to bring the believer into covenant with God, they also orphaned faith, leaving the without the doctrine of Christ, without the knowledge of how to serve God with perfect faith.
God is restoring teaching apostles to the Body of Christ so that each believer will not only know how to come into covenant with God, but also how to assume the yoke of the covenant, and abide in the doctrine of Christ.
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