Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): This is the Power Walk Ministries broadcast with author and speaker, Pastor Paul Cannings. Thank you for joining us today as Pastor Cannings continues with our series titled, What Does It Mean to be Born Again? Many wonder whether you need to be baptized in order to know that you're saved, or they grapple with many questions about Jesus' teachings regarding the Holy Spirit, his role in the church, and other issues. Pastor Cannings explains all of this in today's message, Repentance and Baptism. Let's go there now.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Jesus in verse five says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." This makes a lot of people believe that they have to get baptized in order to be saved. If water baptism leads you to God, there's a problem because all the people in the Old Testament never got baptized, including Abraham. The Bible says all the Old Testament people who walked by faith went to the bosom of Abraham, and the bosom of Abraham is in heaven. How could Abraham go to heaven and he never got baptized?

The second problem you have is the thief on the cross. Jesus Christ said, "I will see you in Paradise," that is, "I will see you in the kingdom of God." Jesus Christ never took the man down, brought him to a lake, baptized him, put him back on the cross, and then said, "Okay, now I'll see you." So if water baptism saves a person, you've got an Old Testament problem and you've got a New Testament problem. What was the point with this water? What is the context of this passage saying?

Before Jesus showed up, we had John the Baptist. Jesus showing up after John the Baptist had to do with John the Baptist baptizing people with water. So what we are seeing here is a transition from John the Baptist to Jesus Christ. If we're going from John the Baptist to Jesus Christ, guess what we're dealing with? Repentance and baptism.

In the Bible, when we see water, there are two things about it. It talks about repentance, and then it talks about the fact that the spirit of God is water because it's a cleansing thing. Why is that a big deal? Remember where they're living. They're living in a dry, hot climate. Guess what is huge in their dry, hot climate? Water. They don't have soda water, they don't have lemonade, they don't have any of these things. They have water and wine. That's a huge commodity in their day.

Water is refreshing, it's healing, it's restoring. That's what water is. So when Jesus Christ is talking about water to a Jewish person in a parched dry climate, he's talking about born again. It fits: water. Let's just take a quick look at this water when it comes to the context of John. In John chapter seven, follow me down to verse 37. It says this: "Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of water.'"

If anyone is thirsty, come to me, and when he comes to me, then we connect to the water. Nicodemus, you've got to be born again, and I'm your salvation. He says this in verse 39: "But by this he spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believe in him were to receive, for the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified." He hadn't died and rose from the dead in order for them to get the Spirit.

Look at John chapter 14, verse 16. It says: "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper, that he may be with you forever." That's why you can't lose your salvation, it's because the Holy Spirit is permanently placed inside of us. It is forever. That is the Spirit of truth. That's why you've got to stick with the truth in order for the Spirit to work. "Whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him, but you know him because he abides with you and will be in you."

He abides with you, meaning the Spirit of God is walking with you. This is how you could learn how to follow me. That's why the Bible is saying when he's talking about water, he's talking about also the Holy Spirit. He's talking about a cleansing. He's talking about the fact that this water will be poured into you: the Holy Spirit. Nicodemus, you can't see the Christ, you can't understand the scriptures, you can't come outside of your laws because, Nicodemus, fundamentally, you don't have the Spirit for you to see me.

When we go back to John chapter three and he's talking about this water, he's literally going to talk about actually what it is in chapter seven. So folks, when we come to this water, it's not baptism. The water has to do with the Spirit, it has to do with Christ, and it has to do with God. Look at verse eight of chapter three: "The wind blows where it wishes and you can hear the sound of it, and you do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So everyone who is born of the Spirit."

The Spirit, just like it is born again, is not something you can predict. You can't say where the wind is coming from, and you can't tell it when it's coming, and you can't tell it when it's going. It's all dependent on God. That's why born again is a begotten. That's why we're born again, it's a whole new nature, and the Spirit of God is the only way I could do Christ and Christ alone because we're talking about the initial connection that everybody has to get to come to Christ. Everybody.

This is where everything starts. It's here. He's using this story unlike any other story he could have told about Nicodemus to teach us where everything jump-starts. That's why he picks this one and lets it be a story that we can learn from as to how you can be born again and what that means about salvation. There's a lot of people that do church, but they're not saved.

God is not saying worship and Bible study is not important—it's huge, very important. Do not neglect the assembling of yourselves together. It is huge in his eyes. But it's the place, like in Nicodemus, where we start. It's not where we end. Nicodemus had this conversation with Christ; he started there. Bible study, worship, and all this stuff, it's a start, but it's not a finish.

It's kind of like if a child and a parent are having lots of great conversations, but there's no house to teach the child responsibility. It takes a structure to do that. The child has to have a trash can to take out trash. The trash has to be somewhere in a house. The child has to be able to make up their bed. That's in a house. The child has to learn how to take a shower. That's in a house. In order for the child to grow up and become a responsible human being, it takes the structure of the family to make that child learn the discipline that families expect in order for the child to grow up to be balanced.

We can come to Bible study and worship, which he's saying is huge, but if a person doesn't get involved in a structure that is the body of Christ and it's done purely, the person never grows. It's no different than a child who goes to a house and walks out the door. The parent is talking to them all day, but the child leaves their room messed up, doesn't matter to the parent. The child leaves the water running, doesn't matter to the parent. They turn lights on everywhere, doesn't matter to the parent. The child may become an adult, but they're irresponsible and they can't get along with nobody because the child never matured in that structure. A church that grows people must have structure.

In Hebrews chapter six, look at verse three. It says, "And this we will do, if God permits." It says in the case of those who had once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift, which is the Holy Spirit, he's going to say that later, and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God. They tasted it, and that's different than when a person gets saved. A person who is not saved, they can read the word of God and may understand it, but they can't taste it.

They've tasted the word of God and the powers of the age to come. They lived in the powerful work of the Spirit and then have fallen away, they just walked away. It is impossible to renew them to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put him to open shame. What does that mean? That's the verse that you've got to work through. The word repentance means that I was going this way and I decided I'm going to completely go this way.

Now I have to learn how this way works. When I'm committed, if I'm truly repentant, I'll keep doing what this way works. I'm going to learn and keep practicing to go this way. The Bible is saying when a person keeps practicing to go this way, that person is showing they're truly repentant. He's saying that person did that, that's why the Holy Spirit is in them, that's why they tasted the word of God.

He's saying you can't bring the person back because they know this way and they know that way. You can't tell them about Jesus, they know that way and they choose to turn it down. You can't tell them about living wickedly, they have done that way and they like doing it. That's why he says you've got to crucify Christ all over again. They have already accepted Christ. There's no new salvation for that structure.

That's why the person stays going back that way. The Bible says, I stop convicting you, since there's no conviction that you care about and there's no new gospel to offer you. That's why the person stays going back that way.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Pastor Cannings. Now to secure your copy of this message series or any of our previous broadcasts, please log on to powerwalkministries.org. That's powerwalkministries.org. While you're there, learn more about our ministry and prayerfully consider becoming a Power Walk partner today. Your prayers for Pastor Cannings, this broadcast, and your financial support help keep these broadcasts on the air.

Dr. Paul Cannings: We do need you to partner with us, folks. You could do that in several ways. Please pray for us. We travel, we train pastors and their wives, and do much in ministry. So pray for us. God keeps our health and strength and continues to bless this ministry by providing us his wisdom and knowledge and opportunities to serve him. So pray for us. We also can be involved in the ministry by participating on our website by buying books. It's a secure place, don't have to worry about anything being stolen from you. I pray that you would participate that way. Another way you could just become one of our partners, our supporters, and join with others who partner with us to see this ministry be what God wants it to be and desires it to be and has blessed it to be in the few years that God has allowed us to serve you. So I pray you would become our partner and be active in what God is doing in Power Walk Ministries.

Guest (Male): So would you make a contribution today? You can give online at powerwalkministries.org or mail a check at Power Walk Ministries, P.O. Box 920517, Houston, Texas 77092. We're grateful to God for those of you who have faithfully stood by us all these years. We'd love to hear from you. If you live in the Houston area or you're planning a visit, please join Reverend Cannings at Living Word Fellowship Church this Sunday. For church location and service times, visit lwfellowshipchurch.org. Now as we close, remember, if the Holy Spirit is convicting you, don't harden your heart, but rather return to God in repentance.