July 24, 2026
Friday, July 24
Tragically, the people of God didn’t cling to the lessons of their deliverance in Exodus 12. The Old Testament records long stretches of years when Israel didn’t celebrate the Passover at all, because they were too distracted by their idols. And even when they did, an animal can’t take away your sins. A ritual can’t change who you are. God knew that. Passover was pointing toward something much, much bigger. When Jesus came into the world, His fellow Jews were racially proud, thinking their Jewish blood made them God’s people. They were self-righteous, thinking their knowledge of God’s Law made them better than all other people on earth. And they were vengeful toward the Gentiles, longing for a new Red Sea moment, when God would sweep away all their enemies again.
Jesus shocked everyone. On the one hand, His miracles proved He was God in human flesh. But He said things that didn’t square with their deeply held beliefs about God. He told His fellow Jews not to brag about being children of Abraham, because if God wanted, He could make children of Abraham spring out of the rocks (Matthew 3:9). He told them to love their enemies and pray for those who hated them, instead of seeking a bloodthirsty warlord to lead them to revolution (Matthew 5:44). He even said obedience to the Law wasn’t enough. He told the religious leaders they were hypocrites. He told Nicodemus, well-regarded as a teacher of the Law, that he had to be born again to enter the Kingdom of God. In other words, you can’t do it, no matter how hard you try. It has to be given to you.
At the start of the week, I said that Jesus only gave us two instructions about how to do church. One is baptism. In the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) He told us to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When we baptize someone, it’s our way of telling them--and their way of testifying before all of us--that they aren’t the same person anymore. Jesus has given them a new life. They have been born again. That’s why we believe baptism should be done by immersion, because it symbolizes that idea of death and rebirth. And that’s why we do it publicly. We want as many people as possible to know what Christ has done for you, so that some can see that the door to salvation is open to them, too, and so that others can rejoice with you, remembering their own new birth.
If you’ve never been baptized by immersion as a believer in Jesus, please reach out to me. I would love to help you obey the Lord in this way. Sunday, August 9, we’re having a night of prayer, praise, and baptism at FBC. Come be a part of it!
“Lord Jesus, when I was dead in my trespasses, you made me alive together with you. I can never thank you enough for this new and eternal life. But I pray that you would use me to share that life with others. In your name, amen.”
Senior Pastor
First Baptist Conroe
More from Pastor Jeff at his website: jeffbergerwriting.com
