The Devil’s Dirty Deed – Part 2

The devil wants God’s children to do what makes them comfortable even if it isn’t right. And for all those who do not know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, the devil will hide the narrow path from their sight. He does this well by using traditions and misinformation to convince people that what they believe must be true.

Podcast 13 Transcript

(This is a computer generated transcript of this podcast. This is NOT a typed transcript and it has not been edited. Expect grammatical and syntactical errors.)

Hello and good day. I am B. R. Maul. It’s good to have you with me today. Today we have much to cover, so I’m going to just jump right on in it. Beloved, this is the second part of talking about the devil’s dirty deed. I was a little ambiguous last week, not really bringing up what the devil’s dirty deed is.

I only put it on the title, but some of you probably already figured out that the devil’s dirty deed is the big lie. After all, the devil is the father of all lies. He has mastered lying. He cannot create anything on his own, so he must take what God has made and manipulate it, twist it into something different, and then he tries calling it his own.

Talking to fellow Christians. What sometimes happens when we are discussing something that we don’t agree upon? There’s this need of making things okay, by just saying, well, we’ll just agree that this is what I believe. Recently, I’ve spoken to several brothers in Christ separately, and I love them dearly, bless their hearts, but when we talk about what we believe, it’s not important what we believe other than believing in Jesus Christ as our savior.

That is the only thing that is truly important what we believe. Now, bear with me. What do I mean by that? What I mean is it’s the truth that matters. When we are reading God’s word, it is only the truth that matters, and more importantly, when we are talking to others about God and about God’s word, it is truth that matters.

I understand that often when a person says, well, this is what I believe, sometimes the person is trying to say, well, this is how I believe it, or This is what I believe it means. However we must be sure about that. And all too often from Christians, I hear that there are many ways to interpret God’s word.

That’s true. But there’s only one, one truth. So any other way people interpret it is not the truth cuz there is only one truth. So we get very sloppy if we go in that direction of saying, well, you know, there’s, there’s different ways you can interpret that. Some scripture, such as, I know some believe that wine is not true wine, that it is just grape juice.

That Jesus would not have drank any wine because they believe it is a sin to do so. So that would mean that he didn’t drink and there’s the school of thought that wine is wine. And I’m not gonna get into the difference there because that’s not a salvation issue. When we are talking about salvation issues, we must know what God’s word is saying.

And especially for anyone who is teaching and preaching God’s word. I’m a Bible teacher. What makes me a Bible teacher? Do I have a PhD behind my name? No, I do not. I’m not interested in getting a PhD behind my name. I’m a child of God. I have read God’s word. The Holy Spirit has faithfully led me for years in understanding God’s word.

It makes perfect sense. I’m not claiming I understand everything. No way. And there’s much I forget, so I need to look it back up again. But a believer, a born again believer need only to ask and the Lord will interpret. The Lord will show the believer what the words mean. Why do I bring this up? Well, for starters, I’m gonna continue on because for me, the biggest lie the devil has put in place over the centuries is baptizing babies over the course of today and for sure next week, and I’ll take as long as it takes, but I will cover and I will point out through scripture. Why that is incorrect. Baptizing babies. Baptism alone does not save baptizing alone, which means with water does nothing other than get a baby’s head wet. So bear with me and I challenge you, for those who disagree with me. Well stick around. And you are welcome of course. To contact me, go to my website, B R M A U L, that is brmaul.com. Click on contact and go ahead, disagree with me. I do ask you though, however to make sure you send scripture to back that up because I’m one who only goes by his God’s scripture and I’ll be happy to discuss this with you.

But the reason this is so important, beloved, is because we can’t go by just what we believe. We have to go by the truth. Think about this for just a moment, how important that is. Now, there are some who really believe that we can combined infant baptism with scriptural baptism and say that they work, and then that’s okay.

But the problem is, That’s creating another religion. Bruce, that’s horrible that you know you’re going way off course. Am I? Do you realize there are major religions based upon the true belief in their hearts? This is what they believe that Jesus. Is not the son of God. In fact, there are religions that are based on the what they believe that God doesn’t even have a son.

And for those religions that give credit to Jesus, but they will give him credit as being a prophet a, a really good profit or a really good moral spiritual man. That’s their belief. That’s what they believe. So when someone says, well, Bruce, this is what I believe, and I say this in the most blunt, but loving way, you can believe what you want, dear, dear brother and dear sister.

But that does nothing to change God’s word. And I say this because that is one of the fights that God has put on my heart, is against man’s traditions that have led people astray. And infant baptism is the biggest one that is leading people astray. Now in time I will talk more about whether or not we lose our salvation, if there is a way.

And I will use scriptures again, always. Well, I will never go outside of scripture. To me it means very little to even sometimes nothing, what even highly educated men and women over the centuries have said We can use that to help maybe understand passages, but I will never lay it down as a foundation. Never.

So for those who believe that Jesus. Is just a good prophet. I want you to think about that. For those of you who are believing in certain things of God’s word, and you’re gonna hang on tight to that because there’s no way that could be wrong, of course it can, because those major religions out there are massive Muslims being one of ’em.

The Muslims holding onto the fact that they give credit to Jesus as just being a prophet. Think of the hundreds of million that are living their lives and that’s all they believe he is. And they will swear like those who believe that you can throw water on a baby and say that you are saved, they too will say, well, this is what I believe, but we have to know the truth and we always compare the Bible with the Bible.

So hang on with me as we do that over the course of the next couple of weeks. I’m gonna start with infant baptism by covering what baptism is not, and maybe that will help better understand what’s going on with baptism. First of all, baptism is not an extension of circumcision in any way. At the seminary, I did have one professor who was adamant about trying to convince me otherwise, but his argument was full of a lot of assumptions, and if we are going to build on assumptions, they will never last. Only if that assumption, of course, coincides exactly with the truth. But circumcision in Old Testament times, that was used for identifying God’s people well, but they only circumcised.

The male babies, well, first of all, of course, physically, that’s the only way it can be done, right? But we’re also talking about ancient times where societies were identified first and foremost by the men, by males. Men weren’t identified with the females, but children were sons and daughters of whoever the father was.

The wife was the wife of whoever the husband was, and husbands and fathers. They were identified by their fathers. So circumcising was a tool used to identify God’s people. There was nothing special about the Jews. What makes them special is that God chose them and to this day, they’re still His people, not in the sense of the only ones who go to heaven because they’re, unfortunately, we know biblically now that there will be Jews going to Hell, the ones who decide not to believe in Jesus Christ, who are not born again, which I will get into in just a matter of a minute or two.

But God chose the Jews to show us, to show the world, to show history what he can do, will do, and who he is. And he chose the Jews. And that’s, that’s it. Denominations that connect baptism to circumcision as a way to identify people, God’s people, that’s just wrong. And let’s just even take a look at the obvious, cuz first of all, baptism did not start until Jesus came on the scene.

There’s no baptism in the Old Testament on the scene when it comes to Jesus being there. He was walking the earth, so even he was circumcised. And Jews on the eighth day would circumcise their baby boys was still going on. So if that’s the case, why did they continue to do that? When John the Baptist started baptizing, it would be easy to make it quite clear, John the Baptist alone right away could have made it clear this is taking over circumcision, or at the very least, Jesus to point it out to us, but even more obvious is, this circumcision is physical . And what I mean by physical is yes, we can look at a male and see throughout his whole life if he was circumcised or not. Baptism. We can’t do that. We can’t look at anybody and go, yep, you were born again. And I’ll be reading in John three and that’s in there.

Jesus even makes it clear. You can’t look at somebody and say, oh yeah, yep, that person’s born again. So how could that in any common sense, baptism replace circumcision? It doesn’t make sense. That’s one of those where trying to just fill in gaps to carry it forward so it sounds good because people want to baptize babies.

And why is that? Why do you think people like to baptize babies? I think it’s because what parent doesn’t want to be able to secure their child’s soul into heaven? Man, give me that ability. I, I would love it. I would see to it that, that my girls are all secure. They’re good to go. Whatever that would take, I would do it.

Baptizing infants looks good. It’s convincing. Very formal looking people find great comfort in it. But what does baptizing babies then do for the kingdom of God? And that’s nothing. We are fulfilling the lust of the flesh. We are fulfilling the comfort of being able to have control over our children’s salvation.

And that is just so far from the truth. And even those leaders that I talked to, uh, to this day, and they’ll say stuff like, well, no, they still have to eventually come to know Christ on their own, but that’s just a way to mark them as a child of God. So God needs us to mark somebody so he knows who’s their child, and that also doesn’t make any sense at all.

We choose to do it only because it is comfortable and because it’s comfortable we’re gonna continue to do it unless we stand up and say, this isn’t what God wants. This is only what man is doing. We’re done. And I applaud my brothers and sisters who come to that realization and move on. I am being one of ’em.

I’ve also been told, well, no, it’s nothing to do with their salvation, but it’s our way of bringing them into the family, the church family, again, very misleading. The fact that baptism is not circumcision. It’s not an extension of circumcision. All right, and baptism is not the same as faith or belief? Not at all.

Let me say that again. Baptism is not the same as faith or belief. Baptism alone, and we will see this in scripture. Does nothing believing in Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God alone saves. Keep that in mind because next week we will be addressing that as well, but a person can believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and they are born again.

Even if they do not get baptized, are we ordered to be baptized? We are given the command to be baptized, yes, but we’re also told that belief in and of itself is what it takes. So a person can be baptized alone, it means nothing. They cannot go to heaven on just baptism. I’ve talked to leadership who they are convinced that you can baptize somebody who does not believe in Jesus Christ, but then if anything that might help them. Help them what? I have no idea, because we as people have no control. So let’s look into this. I am going to read from John three. It is where Jesus talks to Nicodemus, and it is one of the biggest areas , in the New Testament where Jesus explains what being born again is. And he makes it perfectly clear in John three that you have to be born again to go to heaven, to enter the kingdom of heaven.

And he mentions nothing about baptism. Okay? So keep that in mind. Starting the book of John chapter three. I’ll be reading verses one through nine and then verses 14 through 18. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, rabbi, we know that you are a teacher.

Come from God. For no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Pause right there. Keep in mind, this is a Pharisee. Nicodemus knew the Bible inside and out. He would’ve had the Pentateuch memorized the first five books in the Old Testament. And with the teachings and the learnings that they had, the Pharisees should have been able to identify Jesus Christ quite simply by going by the scriptures.

And he isn’t even still identifying him cuz he says, we know you are a teacher, come from God. He still has not identified him at this point as God incarnate. And that’s important to know. Now I like how Jesus. Goes right to the throat of the subject. He knows why Nicodemus is there. So instead of this small talk, I go, well, that’s good to hear.

I’m glad people are, Nope. Jesus gets right into it. Jesus answered and said to him, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So born again as being a believer. A believer is a saint, a follower of Jesus. For someone who is not born again, they can’t even see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born? Jesus answered most assuredly. When Jesus says, most assuredly, we need to make sure we’re paying attention. I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Now I’ll pause right there again. So now he starts to identify, Hmm, what is this born again? Unless one is born of water and the spirit, this is the only time in this chapter three when he is with Nicodemus, that water is even mentioned. He didn’t even mention anything about washing, nothing about baptism whatsoever.

And if you look up the Greek word for water, it basically says literally and figuratively, it’s water as in rain. Okay. The stuff that you can drink. So we know it is water. However, water in the scriptures is often utilized to identify the word of God. Two passages that come to mind. So I wrote them down in John four 13 through 14.

Jesus says to the woman at the, well, remember he was going to Samaria. So the Samaritan woman, Jesus is talking and says, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again referring to the water at the well. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst, but the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.

This water that Jesus is speaking of cannot be literal water. Another place is in John 7 37 and 38. On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said out of his heart, will flow rivers of living water.

But this, he spoke concerning the Spirit capital S the Holy Spirit, whom those believing in him would receive for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. So there’s that water again. So we’re talking God’s word. We know that Jesus, in the beginning was the word. So the capital W word is Jesus.

Okay? And water many a times refers to just that. The word of God. Why is that? Well, because water is essential to living, almost every living thing needs water. Some level or another needs water. People definitely need water, so water is very vital to life. But here, once again, he says, unless one is born of water and the Spirit capital S the Holy Spirit.

He cannot enter the kingdom of God that’s being born again. Now I’ve also have heard it explain that water represents the physical birth, the natural birth, because everybody is born once we are all born naturally. And that would make sense.

The very fact that water is often referred to as the word of God makes more sense because we in various places, we also know that that is important to salvation. Romans 10, verse 17. So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And we cannot please God without faith. We have to have faith to please the Lord. And faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

It is from hearing the word of God, whether it’s reading the scriptures, some telling about the scriptures being told about the gospel, however it is that way, but it’s hearing the gospel. It’s hearing God’s word that we come to faith that one believes. So once again, this water here is not baptism. And another reason we know that is because born of water and the spirit, the spirit is God, the Father is spirit.

In fact, let me just continue reading and that’ll help sum up verse six. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. And of course, we’re all born of a flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit capital S is spirit small s. So that’s being born again. So being born of water happens before someone is born again.

Once to be born again. You have to be born once, so the first time is the physical way. Now whether it’s talking natural, You must be born your, your flesh and blood, or is through the word of God. Both of those, either or comes first before somebody is born of the Spirit once we are born of the Spirit how believing in Jesus, then we are born again a second time and like I have said before, for those who are born once, which means not born again.

They die twice. They die physically like we all will, but they also die spiritually. For those who are born twice, everyone born naturally and then being born again. They only die once, and that’s the physical death. But their spirit, they have everlasting life. They do not die spiritually. Continuing on.

Do not marvel that I said to you. You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes. Pause there for a second because here is where Jesus is saying you can’t look at somebody and say they’re saved. You can’t look at a card and say they were baptized, they’re saved cause they were baptized on such and such date.

There’s no way of identifying, because here’s what he says. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit also known as born again. Denominations that love to focus on baptism, love it so much because when we focus on baptism, that’s something we can physically do.

So if we make a big ordeal about the baptism part of it, being baptized, which once again, Jesus has not even mentioned here with Nicodemus, not at all. So we know even from right here, we could stop with no other proof. And Jesus has made it clear cuz twice he said, most assuredly I say to you. Must be born again.

But see, we can’t see that. Just like the wind, we can’t identify where it’s coming from or where it goes, so we can’t take credit for that. But the physical part about being baptized, being submerged in water, that’s something that we can take some credit for, which we shouldn’t. Because it has nothing to do with it, but for those denominations, those churches who are leading the fact that infant baptism does save, think of the power that is given to people.

And of course they covered up with, well, it’s because Jesus died on the cross. And then of course because of that, now we have the power, the power goes and it goes into the water. My goodness. I mean, there’s no scripture that backs that up at all. Nothing. I mean, that’s just, it’s ludicrous, but it sounds good.

And so it’s easy for us to buy into. So moving on, we’re gonna go down after Jesus says. So everyone who is born of the Spirit, so is everyone who is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said to him, how can these things be? And that’s, verse nine. We’re gonna go down to verse 14. And it reads, this is Jesus speaking, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

That is symbolic in the Old Testament, it’s foreseeing how people will be saved through Jesus. If you recall, the, uh, Israel lights were complaining and mumbling and, and all that, this and that. So God sent snakes among them, and if they were bit, they would die quite quickly. Moses, of course, pleads with God, help us.

God says, okay, make this image of a serpent, put it on a pole, and anybody who looks upon this serpent, If they are bitten, then they will not die. Now, isn’t that interesting? Because that right there foreshadows us looking to the cross. So when Jesus says, as Moses lifted up to serpent in the wilderness, as Moses lifted up this big pole with the image of the serpent that was crafted on it. Even so the son of man must be lifted up. So we have to look to the cross. So look to Jesus Christ and believe in him. Let’s count how many times we hear the word believe from 14 to 18, and as Moses lifted up to serpent in the wilderness even so must the son a man be lifted up that whoever believes.

That’s one in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

He who believes that’s three in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already. That’s four because he has not believed five in the name of the only begotten son of God. Five times in as many verses the word believe. And I’ve been taught, and it makes perfect sense that any time in God’s word, a word is repeated in a short amount of time. That’s important. That is essential. Very important. Beloved, did Jesus in those words mention anything about being baptized? Answer no. He has just made it perfectly clear through his discussion with Nicodemus nearly 2000 years ago that it is belief in him, in him. That is it beloved. There is nothing else we have to get away from believing in infant baptism.

We as people have no ability to save anyone else through any kind of ritual, no matter how fantastic it seems. No matter how majestic a priest or a pastor is garbed up, no matter how great the cathedral or the steeple or whatever it is that we’re in is, it makes no difference at all .

In Romans 10 verse nine and 10 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And there’s a period after that. Nothing about being baptized. Verse 10. For with the heart, one believes. Unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Twice the word believe is used in two verses, so very important. I encourage you, if you are attending a church, if you are part of a denomination that puts stock in infant baptism. That you visit God’s word yourself and read. Go to John three, chapter three. The first half of that is all the conversation with Nicodemus.

It’s very clear, but we have people that continue to carry on a tradition that man started. And who do you think caused man to start it? Our enemy. It is the devil’s dirty deed. You know, when I was in the seminary, I had talked with the professors, of course, about why didn’t Jesus baptized babies. Why didn’t he teach us?

Or by teaching his apostles, this is the surest way. Make sure that you baptize as soon as a baby is born. So they’re marked and they’re mine. That would be the easiest way we wouldn’t have to believe. We could just be baptized as babies and be saved. Really? Wouldn’t that be easier? Of course it would be. But then isn’t that still just making somebody be a child of God? Beloved, that negates agape love.

That completely takes away from God saying, I am going to give you something, and you get to choose if you want to give it to me, and that is your love. And you love me by believing that my only son died for you on that cross. And if you believe that and you confess it with your mouth, then I adopt you as a son or daughter.

But if we just baptize babies and we say, that’s it. Yep, you’re good. You’re saved. That’s your salvation. That’s not giving that person the choice. I mean, look at how many people do not want to go to heaven. That might sound ridiculous, but you know what? How true is it? I know plenty of people, and I see it in society almost everywhere, that they want nothing to do with Jesus.

That they want nothing to do with God. They don’t want to give up their life. They want their life to themselves. They’re not giving it to the Lord. But what gull do we have as people to say, yeah, well, we’re gonna still just baptize you as a baby and you don’t have a choice? Well, I’ll talk more about it coming up either next week or the week after.

I guess I should probably address that. At the same time we’re talking baptism, because for those who believe in infant baptism, they can only back that up by saying, oh, but then you can lose your salvation. And with that, I’ll leave that part of the conversation with just this, well then what good is it to be saved?

What good is it that the Holy Spirit seals me? And then no one, nothing can take me away if that’s all I gotta do is mess up somehow or change my my mind and go, I decide I don’t want to. Really? Beloved, do you buy into that, that God would hang his son on the cross? So we could just so easily decide, uh, I guess I don’t want to, or that we could lose our salvation because we commit some sin, that for some reason that one qualifies, that there are sins out there that actually could qualify us from losing our salvation?

Jesus just said, Hey, like the wind, you can’t look at somebody and say they’re born again or not. We can’t, look at somebody who’s in jail for molesting a child, for doing the horrendous acts that I, I don’t even want to think about and to say, well, yeah, good thing they’re going hell, we can’t claim that.

Just like we can’t claim that the little old lady that comes to our church and she’s just so kind and polite and she’s been going there since she was, you know, at kindergarten and Sunday school there, and she’s been doing this and that. She’s just a wonderful helping person that we can, we can claim that she’s in heaven.

We cannot claim that! Now, judge, not let ye bee judged in Matthew seven. I’ll talk about that another time, but that is not what it’s talking about. That’s just saying we are not to judge people the way we don’t wanna be judged. But that’s not saying we can’t judge people by their fruit, but we can’t judge their eternity.

We can’t. It gets pretty hairy at times. I see it as quite crystal clear, but that’s only because I spend so much time asking the Lord God, our Father, to help me as I read his word daily, to grow in that, to get that understanding. And believe me, the Holy Spirit does not let me participate. I have tried in congregations with infant baptism and such, and I have learned the hard way that with this knowledge, I, I cannot do that.

It is wrong. Well, with that said, there’s still much to cover for next week. I plan on talking about a man who believed and was baptized but was not born again. Kind of a scary thought, isn’t it? But the answer to that of, well, how can that be is and what I just read in Romans nine and 10. I’ll let you go back and reread that if you are so inclined and interested of how someone could say that they believed, be baptized, and yet not born again, and this is scripture.

This is in God’s word. Brothers and sisters continue reading God’s word that he has given us so we can grow. Continue to pray and speak to our Heavenly Father through the name of our Savior and our Lord Jesus Christ. And I pray that you have yourself a church, a Bible, believing and teaching church straight from God’s word, and that you also have a group of brothers and sisters that you can get with on a weekly basis. Lift each other up in prayer and be with one another.

If you are not a born again believer, I encourage you to take this moment right now if the Holy Spirit is talking to you. If you’re unsure, but you’ve been thinking for the longest time. Well, I just don’t know. Maybe I’m not sure what’s going on. And right now though, you’re just thinking I don’t know. Just come to the Lord. The way you are, we do not clean ourselves up to go to the Lord to be born again. Not at all. Jesus loves you and he wants you to come before him, just the way you are broken, feeling hopeless and just look, look at the cross. Just as Moses lifted up that cross and the Israelites had to look unto the serpent so they would not die of the poisonous bite. You too look to the cross and so sin does not poison you and take your life away. There’s no magic prayer. There’s no magic way of just saying it, but just ask ’em. It can be as simple as, Lord Jesus, I don’t even know how much of this is true. I don’t know what, what to believe. I’m confused, but I do know that I am lost. And that you died for me on the cross. Show me because I wanna be a child of God. A prayer like that works. Why? Because it’s from your heart. And then open up his word and I encourage you to start with the Gospel of John. Well, with that said, beloved, look forward to seeing you next week and until next time.

God bless.

Songs

“Heroes Inspire Hope” and “Mountainscape” by Humans Win

“Atmospheric Female Voices – Dark, Moody, and Ambient Mystery” by Media Music Group

“London Winter” by Daniel Willett

Sound Effects from Storyblocks.com