Scripture Readings: Part 1 - Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16, 1 Peter 3:20-21 / Part 2 - Romans 6:3-4, Colossians 2:12 Part 1 - What Can Baptism Do for a Person? Part 2 - What Is the Real Meaning of Baptism? ---------- Part 1 - What Can Baptism Do for a Person? “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be comdemned.?- Mark 16:16 1. Shall Be Saved. The Objective of Salvation is The World. Now let us be clear as to the meaning of the word “salvation?in the Bible. What is the objective of salvation? According to the Bible, salvation is related to the world, not to hell. The opposite of eternal life is perdition, while the opposite of salvation is the world. We are to be saved out of the world. As long as we belong to the world, we are in the state of perdition. People of the world today need not do anything to cause them to perish. No one is required to kill in order to perish; nor by not killing will any be spared from perdition. The whole world is perishing, but God is pulling out some from among the perishing. So far as the whole world is concerned, it is already damned. God is netting some fish out of a sea of fish. All those that are caught in the net are saved while those that remain in the sea are yet lost. Therefore, in answering the question of whether one is saved or lost, the issue does not rest on one’s personal conduct; it is instead settled by the person’s whereabouts. If he is in the boat, he is saved; if he is still in the sea, he is lost. It makes no difference if one is good or bad, as long as he is in the world, he is lost. If he has not come out, has not left that place which is under judgement, he is a comdemned sinner. Salvation is a Matter of Position. “For as through the one man’s disobedience (Adam’s) the many were made sinners?(Romans 5:19). It is not necessary for a person to sin in order to be qualified as a sinner. Because of one man’s sin, all have been constituted sinners. As long as the person is in Adam, that is, in the world, he stands opposite to God. His position is wrong, for it is a lost position. Let us notice the four cardinal facts concerning the world as shown in the Bible: (1) The world is condemned or judged before God, (2) the world lies in the evil one, (3) the world crucified the Lord Jesus, and (4) the world is an enemy to God. The Jewish people once cried out, “His blood be on us, and our children?(Matthew 27:25). The world I am in is wrong in that it has killed the Lord Jesus and is already judged by God. I need to be released from such a relationship; I need to be delivered from that position. Baptism Follows Believing. There is not the slightest doubt that whosoever believes in the Lord Jesus has eternal life. We have preached this glad news for many years. But let us remember: believing without being baptized is not yet salvation. Indeed, you have believed; indeed, you have eternal life; but you are not yet reckoned as a saved person in the eyes of the world. As long as you are not baptized, you will not be recognized as saved. Why? Because no one knows your difference from the rest of the world. No Baptism, No Testimony. “But he that disbelieveth shall be comdemned.?Disbelief alone is enough for comdemnation. As long as one belongs to the world brotherhood, his disbelief seals his comdemnation. In contrast, he who believes must be baptized, for as long as he is not baptized, he has not come out of the world in outward testimony. Baptism is a public announcement that declares, “I have come out of the world.?Never take the word “salvation?purely in the personal sense. According to the Bible, it is more a matter of coming out of the world than of escaping hell. 2. Unto the Remission of Sins. “And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins?(Acts 2:38). In what way can baptism lead to the forgiveness of sins? Is it not strange that the apostle does not lay stress on “believing?in his message? We know that, according to the whole Bible, the most important point touching the gospel is belief. How then is it that Peter overlooks such a cardinal feature? Yet strangely enough, he speaks on baptism instead of on faith, and the Holy Spirit causes a pricking of the hearts of those who listen to him. Why is it that Peter speaks only of baptism? It is because all of his hearers were participants in the killing of the Lord Jesus. Fifty days ago they had cried out: “Away with this man!?(Luke 23:18) They had been in the crowd shouting their rejection. Now, though, some of them desired to be separated from the crowd. How? By being baptized. Through baptism they would come out of the world and sever their relationship with that brotherhood. This single act of baptism causes them to come out of the world. This is the greatest teaching of Pentecost. 3. Wash Away Sins. Ananias says to Paul, “Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name?(Acts 22:16). The Roman Catholic Church errs here in changing this verse to a personal experience before God. They fail to see that this Scripture deals with the question of the world. Consequently they baptize dying people in order to wash away their sins. Before formerly a person of the world, Paul, now that he has both believed and seen the Lord Jesus, should arise and be baptized. Thus baptized, his sins are washed away, for he has severed his relationship with the world. If one becomes a Christian secretly without being baptized, the world will still consider him one of its own. Not until he is baptized does he compel the world to see his salvation. The world will still reckon a person one of its own if he does not give an outward expression of his inward faith. Consequently, baptism is the best way of separation. 4. Saved Through Waters. God’s words maintain a unity of thought. It is said in 1 Peter 3:20-21, ?.. in the days of Noah... wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.?This gives a slightly different angle to salvation. Whatever cannot pass through water is not saved but is drowned. At the time of Noah all were baptized, but only eight souls came safely out of the water. Except for the eight, all were washed down and failed to come up. In other words, to them the water became the water of death. But to us, this water is the water of salvation - we emerged from it. Baptism is immersion on the one side and emergence on the other side. It is to have one’s relationship with the world cleanly dissolved. Henceforth the believer is on the other side of the world. Hereafter he abides in the ark. Many things he cannot do, not only for the sake of his having believed in the Lord Jesus but also because of his having been baptized. He has crossed over a bridge to the other side. This makes baptism most meaningful. Baptism Means You Are Finished. Miss Margaret Barber has put the essence of baptism in this poetic form: “Then the grave, with dear ones weeping, knowing that all life has fled.?These dear ones know that you are finished, that you have come to the end of your road. Such baptism is most effective. To have eternal life is the story of your spirit before God; but to be saved is your testimony to the world by declaring you no longer have part in it. Part 2 - What Is the Real Meaning of Baptism? Now that the Christian is baptized, he needs to look back and assess the real meaning of baptism. “Or are ye ignorant that all we who are baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death??(Romans 6:3). “Having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead?(Colossians 2:12). This is a looking backward, not forward. Part 1 is before baptism while here it tells of after baptism. After baptism, we are notified by God that in our baptism we were actually baptized into the Lord’s death and were buried with Him, and also we were raised with Him in resurrection. The water serves as a tomb. What is buried must be dead, but what emerges must be alive in resurrection. 1. So Great a Gospel. Perhaps one time when you sensed the heaviness of your sins, you heard of the death of the Lord Jesus. Such news was truly the gospel to you. Or, perhaps at a time when you were conscious of how wicked you are and, tried your best to free yourself from the dominion of sin and yet couldn’t - perhaps at that time you learned that you were already dead. That indeed was the gospel to you. Praise be to God, for such is the gospel of Jesus Christ. As the death of the Lord is a great gospel, so our death in Christ is also a great gospel. It is a joyous thing to know of the Lord’s death; it is equally joyous to know of one’s own death in the Lord. Therefore, beloved, when you step into the water of baptism or when you look back to your baptism after the lapse of many years, you need to remember that you are one already dead. You ask people to bury you because you are one already dead. New believers should be instructed that at the time of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus they too were crucified. It is on this basis that they request to be buried in water. But just as the Lord Jesus was raised from among the dead, they too shall be raised through the working of the same power of resurrection within them. In coming out of the water, they become resurrected ones; they are no longer their former selves. 2. We Are In Christ Once there was a heading in a newspaper which read: “One Person, Three Lives.?The story was this: after a pregnant woman had been murdered, the medical authorities discovered that there were twins in her womb. Hence, the peculiar headline! This is actually the meaning of the scriptural phrase, “in Christ.?Outwardly the murderer killed only the mother, but since twins were in the mother’s womb, they too died when the mother died. Likewise, this happens to those who are in Christ. When Christ died, we too died. “But of him (God) are ye in Christ Jesus?(1 Corinthians 1:30). It is of God that we are in Christ, and the fact is we are in Christ. Since one died, we all died. The twins could die, together with the mother, because they were in the mother’s womb. Spiritual truth is even more real than physical fact. God has joined us to Christ, hence His death is our death. We have already died in Christ. Let us believe this fact. In being immersed in and emerging from the water, we declare that we are on the other side of the tomb. This is resurrection. Though in ourselves we may not feel any difference, yet this glorious experience is in Christ. We sincerely hope that all new believers will be brought into this exercise. In realizing they are dead, they allows themselves to be buried in water. By seeing they are resurrected, they come out of the water to serve God. |
