Why do people remain babes in Christ?

COMMENT:

You say,

“Repentance and water baptism is part of the salvation requirements in the Kingdom gospel for Israel. They [Israel] are commanded to repent for their unbelief and crucifying their Messiah. Water baptism is required to fulfil the priestly calling they have according to Exo.19:5–6, which they will fulfill in the Millennial Kingdom.”

So, you call obedience to repentance and water baptism, works? How sad. You haven’t obeyed Jesus and Peter.

MY RESPONSE:

According to Paul’s writings we are to obey the living Word within us. You see, when we read the Word and fill ourselves with it, then it starts to renew our mind. It starts to influence our thoughts and actions. Giving ourselves over to obey that which the Word works out of us is what we obey unto righteousness.

See what Paul writes in connection with this,

Rom 6:16-17 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

So, for clarity, we obey that form of doctrine that is inside us. As we do, we walk by the Spirit and mortify the deeds of the flesh. We obey the living Word by allowing IT to work itself out of us. This is liberty and freedom in grace. There is no sadness in this, only JOY and GRATITUDE to our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

COMMENT:

You need to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus. Why would you not? Also, you should not be following your feelings, you know where it leads. Proverbs 14:12.

MY RESPONSE:

The Word in you is not feelings. The Word is truth. Feelings, emotions, and premonitions are all fickle and unreliable. The Word is stable, and unchanging.

When I was a youngster and in the Pentecostal circles, I got water baptized. But today that is a meaningless act since I know now that it does not apply to grace.

Dear reader, you need to learn to rightly divide the Word of truth, 2Tim.2:15. You are quoting scriptures from the Gospels and from the Jewish epistles. These are not written for us today. They are not addressed to us at all. The epistles of Paul are our doctrine for today. 

If you ignore right division, you end up with a mix of doctrine that is blended to create a confusing and contradicting mess which has stunted the spiritual growth of the majority of churchgoers today in what Paul calls, babes in Christ.

1Cor.3:1-3  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.  2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.  3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?