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DEWITT
TABERNACLE TEACHING SERIES COMMUNION
AND WATER BAPTISM “GOD’S
TYPES OF BEING DEAD TO SIN” By
C.W. Wood February
2004
In our Message Churches, we take communion ever so often, and we
should, but it can become just a routine we go through. Perhaps we do it
just because the rest of the people in our church do so. Many, I am
sure, do so because the Prophet said we should. It is possible to think
of it as a chore that we must do, and so we endure it, and get it over
with until the next time. But in this sermon, I want to show that taking
Communion is one of the most important types in the Bible. This is true
because it types our being “DEAD
INDEED UNTO SIN.” (Rom.
When the revelation of what Communion is about comes and we
realize that as we partake of its emblems, we are testifying that we
KNOW WE ARE FREE FROM SIN, then we are in a true spiritual sense doing
it, “In true remembrance of
Him.” (Lk.22:19) To truly remember Him and His sacrifice as we
take Communion causes the scripture in Mat.26:28 to come alive to
us. “For this is My Blood of
the New Testament, which is shed for many for the REMISSIONS OF SINS.”
When we
take of the emblems (The Bread and The Wine) we are suppose to be
testifying, by an outward act, that we understand I John 3:9, “Whosoever
is born of God DOTH NOT COMMIT SIN, for HIS SEED (God’s Seed) remaineth
in him and HE CANNOT SIN, because he is born of God.” We are
testifying that we believe
To take
Communion with the full revelation of its spiritual meaning is to
testify that we believe, and know, that we are in the group that the
scriptures in
To take
Communion with the full revelation of its meaning in our hearts is to
stand with the Apostle Paul and say, “There
is therefore NOW NO CONDEMNATION to them which are in Christ Jesus (Born
Again) who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Rom. 8:1) We should be testifying
to our REDEEMER that we truly believe we have been redeemed. That is to
say, “Saved from our sins.” We are testifying to the enemy that we
know he no longer has anything with which to condemn us, our sins are
gone!
We are not saying that we have no more sin in our flesh man. We,
as Paul, see a law in our members, warring against the law of our mind,
and bringing us into captivity to the law of sin which is in our
members! (Rom.
When we take Communion, we declare that we understand that “By
His own Blood He entered in once into the
Paul taught that it is possible to take Communion UNWORTHILY. One
way to be unworthy is to have unconfessed sin in our lives. Another way
to be unworthy, is to suppose that you are worthy in your flesh man. I
John 1:8, “If we say we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Verse
9 “If we confess our sins
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness.” We are all guilty of sin, and the only way
to be out from under its bondage is BY FAITH IN HIS PLAN. Therefore, to
go to the Communion Table supposing we have pleased Him in our flesh man
is to take it unworthily.
To go to the Table trusting in our ability to keep the Law well
enough, so as to become worthy to take Communion, is to be “Guilty
of the Body and the Blood of the Lord.” (I Cor. 11:27) How so?
Because we can never keep the whole Law, without breaking any part of
it, and to break one part is to be as guilty as if we had broken the
whole Law. (See James 2:10) And so, we come to take Communion
dropping our sins into the Blood of God one moment at a time as we have
need to do so. We come believing that His Blood has made us worthy as we
constantly repent.
Paul declared in I Cor. 11:29-30, “For
He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to
himself, not discerning the Lord’s Body. For this cause many are weak
and sickly among you, and many sleep (are dead).”
Failure to discern, or understand fully, why the Lord Jesus gave his
Body on the Cross, is to be “Guilty
of the Body and the Blood of the Lord.” In other words, it is
failure to believe that His Sacrifice has truly left us SINLESS in His
Eyes. To take communion while still under condemnation because of some
sin, or sins, that we have committed, is failure to believe God’s Word
in II Cor. 5:21, “For
He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that WE MIGHT BE MADE
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM.”
To take
Communion worthily is to believe with the Apostle Paul that we have been
“Crucified with Christ,
nevertheless we live, yet not we, but Christ liveth in us, and the life
that we now live in the flesh we live by the Faith of the Son of God,
who loved us and gave Himself for us.” (Gal. 2:20)
To take Communion is to testify that we are standing on the
revelation that we were IN CHRIST when He was crucified, and that we
died with Him, and being DEAD we are freed from sin. (Rom. 6-7) Perhaps
a parable will help us to see this powerful truth in the way that our
Lord wants us to see it.
A certain man had committed a terrible crime, and having been
arrested and placed in jail, he was awaiting trial. But, while his
attorney gained more time to prepare his case by having his trial
postponed, the man grew sick and died. Following the usual procedure, he
was taken to the funeral home, embalmed and laid out in a casket. Upon
hearing of the man’s death the prosecuting attorney gathered up his
evidence and law books and went to the funeral home. Standing before the
casket, he proceeded to read the laws the dead man had broken and quoted
the penalties he had come to enforce.
But, was not this prosecutor very much out of place in that he
was confronting a DEAD MAN with his crime? The man in the casket had
gone beyond the prosecutor’s jurisdiction. The law had, by reason of
his death, lost its hold on him. Now, Bride of Christ, in like manner
because we were IN CHRIST, and died with Him at Calvary, when the
Accuser of the brethren comes to read the laws to us that we have broken
(and we may well be guilty), we are to understand that we have passed
beyond the jurisdiction of this Accuser by reason of our death.
The
circumstances of our daily lives will many times show that we are indeed
guilty of certain sins, but our moment by moment repentance, as we have
need to repent, brings to pass Rom 8:33-34 for us. “Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God’s Elect? It is God that
justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the Right Hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us.”
And so, we
say again, on the authority of the Word, that Communion is all about
being DEAD and FREED from all sin. It is our symbolic act by which we
are saying to our Father, and to the Enemy, “I believe I am DEAD TO
SIN, I believe I AM FREED FROM SIN. It is something our God has already
done for us, and all He asks is that we believe it. The Devil knows its
true, and he trembles as he sees the Bride coming into this revelation.
We do not argue with Satan, stating that we have no sin; we
confess our sins, then testify that they have been dropped into that
great tub of bleach and destroyed. We love the Prophet’s story that
compared the sin-destroying Blood of Jesus with a drop of ink in a tub
full of Clorox Bleach. The ink is forever gone. The most intelligent
scientist cannot discover it again. The Devil and his whole host of
demons cannot bring again our sins, once by Faith we drop them into the
Blood of our Redeemer. Satan fears the Christian who has the revelation
of what Not that we are righteous in our flesh, not that the flesh has been perfected, but that we understand the Plan of God in that He allowed us to be born in sin, and unable to keep His Holy Law Standard perfectly, so that He could show forth His powerful Love through becoming our Redeemer. This was HIS PLAN, Dear Bride, and not something man had a part in. And since it was formed in the Mind of God and carried out by God, Himself, how do we suppose it can ever fail? How do we suppose the Devil can find a loop hole in God’s Plan, and how dare we allow him to place us under condemnation because of our failures! God’s declared Word is forever true! WATER BAPTISM
Along with
Communion, Water Baptism is another great type of all that we have said
above.
Water Baptism symbolizes our death to sin. When we are placed
under the water, we are to understand that this is showing forth, in
type, our death. By being placed under the water, we are symbolizing
being put in a grave, and we are to understand our Gracious God will not
charge sin against a man who is, “DEAD IN CHRIST.”
When the full revelation of what Water Baptism is about comes, we
will realize that from the moment we come up out of the water SIN WILL
NEVER BE CHARGED AGAINST US.
Of course,
we are to understand that again this is a thing of Faith. In ages past,
many good people have been baptized without this revelation having come.
It has been lost sight of in most modern churches. But, now we have come
down to the Bride’s time to leave in a Rapture and God has promised to
restore all that the different denominations have lost. This restoration
has to do with sending the Faith that was once “Delivered unto the
Saints.” The truth about Water Baptism in the Name of the Lord Jesus
Christ is a part of this restoration. To be buried in type, in a watery
grave, and coming up freed from all sin forever, is no small revelation!
It is God’s Love expressed in all its power and glory!
Before someone misunderstands, we are not teaching that the
water, of itself, does away with our sins. We do not baptize in water
for regeneration or conversion. To be put under the water does not save
us. We must have an experience with the Lord wherein our sin load is
lifted, then we are candidate for Water Baptism. Another great
truth needs to be taught concerning our baptism in water. After Justification
(sins forgiven) and after Sanctification (a life laid on the
altar) we are in line to receive the Holy Ghost.
In Acts 2:38, Peter gives the correct formula for
receiving the Holy Ghost. “Then
Peter said unto them, repent 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 the Holy Ghost.” The first step toward receiving the Holy
Ghost is to truly repent. Then when you know your sins are gone, you
must be baptized in that Name that is above every name, the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is then, at the time of your Water Baptism, when you have
complied with God’s formula, that the scripture says, “You
shall receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost.”
If we would teach the new converts this scriptural formula, then
the strain of seeking and searching for the Holy Ghost would be done
away, and when they come up out of the water, the Holy Ghost would fall
on them and fill them, even as God said. We receive the Holy Ghost by
faith, in the same way we receive anything else from God.
John the Baptist rebuked those who came for baptism before they
had repented and had a change of attitude toward sin. Water Baptism is
an outward sign that God has done and inward work in the heart.
Many have been delayed, or even missed receiving the Holy Ghost
Baptism, because they are waiting to become more acceptable to the Lord
in their flesh life. This is a grave error. If we should live a hundred
years in our flesh bodies, there would still be “No
good thing in it.” (Rom.
No Friends, we do not EARN God’s Gifts of Grace, for then they
would no more be Grace, but God would OWE us something, and if He owed
us something, Grace would be done away with! (
And while we are on this subject, I feel the Holy Ghost crying
out against another terribly wrong doctrine that has come into our
precious Message. God does not wait until we have believed His End-Time
Message and received the revelation that Brother William Branham was the
scriptural End-Time Prophet, BEFORE he will send the Holy Ghost. Just
the opposite is true. God sends His Spirit to REVEAL these powerful
truths. Just an intellectual knowledge of them is all we have without
the Holy Ghost to REVEAL them to us.
Some are teaching that we are not Born-Again until AFTER we
receive the End-Time Message. That is to say, we do not receive the Holy
Ghost until AFTER we receive the revelation of the Message. They say
that the Lord waits until we have it all figured out for ourselves, then
He will give us the Holy Ghost, which is the New Birth. Precious Bride,
this is not the scripture! May I just remind you of some scripture that
destroys this teaching?
John 16:13, “Howbeit,
when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all
truth….” Then how do you teachers say that God waits until we
believe all these things BEFORE He sends this Spirit of Truth, which is
the Holy Ghost, which is the New Birth? Again, John 14:6 says, “I
am the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE.” Yet, some say that we must
come into this truth BEFORE we have His Life, then He will send it. It
is most amazing how the enemy can cloud the minds of us all, and it
takes the Holy Ghost to straighten us out.
In I Tim. 2:4, the Bible says, “Who
will have all men to be SAVED (given the Holy Ghost) and
(THEN) to come
into the knowledge of the truth.” We do not see the truth and then
get saved, but we get saved and then see the truth! Thank God for a
merciful Lord who has not left us on our own until we can find out these
powerful truths, but He has given us the Holy Ghost in order to show
them to us.
This writer has been told that he did not have the New Birth
until after I came to the Message and believed it. They said I could not
receive the Holy Ghost (the Word) that is needed today, back in
Pentecost. I grant you that many who supposed they received it in
Pentecost did not. They only received an anointing on their outer man.
But, if we try to say that none received Him, the Word, back there we
miss the truth.
This writer received Him, the Word, while in Pentecost, then two
years later this same Holy Ghost led me to God’s End-Time Message. I
did not need a different kind of Holy Ghost to teach me the Message.
There is only one Holy Ghost, and He does all the teaching and
revealing. When you receive Him, no matter when it was, He will lead you
into all truth. We may not have all the truth at this time, but if we
have Him we are certain to arrive at that place. That is to say, we will
have all we need to go in the Rapture.
I would ask the teachers of this wrong doctrine to remember that
without the Holy Ghost, which is the New Birth, that we are “Dead
in trespasses and sins” until we have been quickened. (Eph. 2:1)
Our spiritual eyes are blind, even so blind that we cannot come to God
unless He draws us. (John 6:44) Yet you say, “When we see the Message
we are then Born-Again.” Then may I ask a question? What about the
people who believe the Message, but show no signs in their life of
having separated from the world and its programs? It should be evident
that their belief of the Message did not, of itself, change their
hearts. But you give this belief as proof of the New Birth.
My Friends, it is not belief of the Message that is proof of the
New Birth, but rather a Godly life. It is walking in obedience to all
the Word we know. It is to repent when we get wrong, and keep on keeping
on. It is to love and trust the Lord Jesus, no matter what He sees fit
to put us through. Many Message Believers are not yet doing this. May
God help up to receive the genuine Holy Ghost so that we may have, not
just an intellectual knowledge of the Message, but a revelation of it.
On the Day of Pentecost, when Peter was asked by the 3000,
“What shall we do to be saved?” He did not say, “Wait until we
teach you all the things Jesus taught, and if you receive it you shall
receive the Holy Ghost!” But he simply said, “Repent
and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ…….and you shall receive
the Gift of the Holy Ghost.” That is still the formula for today.
Amen! PLEASE
VISIT OUR WEB SITE (COURTESY OF BR. J.T. HISE):
www.dewitttabernacle.org
OUR
NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS: DEWITT-TABERNACLE@centurytel.net
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