Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
9/7/97 am
The Place Of Baptism In Our Salvation
Reading — John 3.1-5
I have people come and ask me, What must I do to be saved? This is not a new question:
- Those on Pentecost asked the Apostles, Men and brethren what must we do?
- The jailer in Philippi asked Paul and Silas, Sirs, what must I do to be saved.
- Nicodemus must have come to Jesus with a similar question on his heart.
Well, what kind of answer do we give people when they inquire of us? Just what is necessary, what is essential for our salvation?
- First, we must have faith.
The Hebrew’s writer says, without FAITH it is impossible to please God. We must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Audience, we must believe in the propositional truths of the Bible... That God intervened in this world to provide a way for our salvation through His Son Jesus.
- We must be willing to repent, to turn our back on this world and it’s culture and turn to God in Godly sorrow because of our sins. Jesus said, I tell you nay, except you repent you will also likewise perish. Peter maintains that God is longsuffering, patient with us not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
- Then we find that we must confess Jesus as the Son of God. This confession must be verbal, public, and continual. Jesus said, If you will confess me before men, I will confess you before my Father in heaven, however, if you deny me before men, I will deny you before the Father.
Tonight we will attempt to point out that New Testament baptism, immersion in water is also necessary for our salvation. Baptism is one of the most misunderstood, most controversial, issues in all of Christendom... It always has been... For instance:
- The Jews of John’s day didn’t totally understand his baptism.
- Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again of water and of spirit... Nicodemus didn’t understand.
- In Acts 19 we have a misunderstanding in the difference between the baptism of John the Baptist and New Testament baptism in the name of Jesus.
- Not long after the close of the New Testament, we find clinical or sick baptism and infant baptism becoming popular. These people understood, and rightly so, that baptism was necessary for salvation. They didn’t want their loved ones dying without being baptized, so when they became terminally ill, they made arrangements for baptism.
- The King James translators acknowledged the fact that they did not translate the Greek word baptizo to immerse, because of its controversial nature, because of the ongoing controversy between washing, sprinkling and immersion.
- Sometimes prominent preachers of today steer away from the subject for this very same reason.
But you see, it is possible to settle controversial religious issues. Just let the Bible speak... Not your church doctrine, not Church of Christ doctrine, not your favorite preacher, certainly not this preacher. We must listen only to the inerrant word of God to settle religious issues. We must stop trying to rewrite the Bible to suit our own personal preferences and convictions.
Now, with these thoughts in mind, let’s study the subject of Baptism -- THE PLACE OF BAPTISM IN OUR SALVATION.
I want us to do this tonight by first noting how God has used water in both the Old & New Testament.
Noah and his family were saved by water.
Turn with me to First Peter 3.18-21 and let’s read some Scripture together. We usually think of the salvation of Noah as being from water... Not by water. We usually think of the ark as being the, medium, the agent of their salvation. You see, we’ve supposed something to be true for so long that we have accepted it as truth, thus trying to rewrite the Bible. Read with me from verse 18, For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, (Our King James and NASV says SAVED BY WATER). The Bible says that the water of the flood was that which delivered Noah and his family from sin and corruption, and gave them a new life in a new world.
The Children of Israel were delivered from Egyptian bondage by water.
Turn back a few pages in your Bible to 1 Corinthians 10.1-,2 and we’ll find that this delivery came as a result of water baptism. Are you there?... First Corinthians 10, beginning with the verse numbered 1, For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Here God placed water between bondage and deliverance. Now, I have two questions for you...
- How many people, in the day of Noah, were saved that were not saved by water?
- How many Israelites were saved that did not cross under the cloud and in the sea?
Naaman was cleansed by water.
We find this narrative in Second Kings chapter 5. Naaman was advised to go to Israel to find a cure for his leprosy. Elisha the prophet told him to go wash in the river Jordan seven times. Naaman was told to go dip himself in the Jordan seven times. It is interesting to note that in the Septuagint... That Greek translation of the Old Testament scripture, started before Jesus came, That the word translated dip in verse 14 is baptizo. You see, God placed water between this man’s leprosy and his cleansing.
One more, this from the New Testament, a blind man was healed by water.
John chapter nine records Jesus spitting on the ground, anointing a blind man’s eyes with this spittle, and then telling him to go wash in the Pool of Siloam. The significant thing is that when he washed in the water he was healed. Of course Jesus could have healed him by just speaking the word, as he did blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10. Or by just touching the eyes as He did two blind men in Matthew chapter nine. But this time He chose water. Jesus placed water between blindness and sight... Between his illness and his healing.
For the fourth part of our lesson, I want to notice essentially the same thing, where God has placed water baptism.
Yes, God could have saved us some other way, if He had chosen to do so. But he didn’t... He chose water baptism to be an important, a significant part of our salvation. Let’s notice where God has placed baptism in our salvation. He has placed baptism between being In Christ and being Out of Christ.
There are at least 34 new Testament references to being IN CHRIST. In fact, we are told that all spiritual blessing are where?... IN CHRIST. Listen to these scriptures with me:
- Ephesians 1.7 says, In Christ, we have redemption and forgiveness of sins through His blood.
- Romans 8.1, There is now therefore, no condemnation to those who are in Christ.
- 2 Corinthians 5.17 says, If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
- 1 John 5.11, God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
- 2 Timothy 2.10 tells us, salvation is in Christ Jesus.
Do you want to be IN CHRIST?... I do because:
- This is where all spiritual blessing are to be found.
- There is redemption.
- There is forgiveness of all our sins.
- There is no condemnation.
- We are new creatures.
- Eternal life is in Him.
- Our salvation is in Jesus.
Who would not want to be in Christ?
Now listen to me closely, there are two verses which tell us how to get INTO CHRIST. Turn with me to Romans 6.3... Romans 6, verse 3... Are you there?... Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
Audience, when does the Bible say we obtain the blessing made possible for us by the death of God’s Son on the cross?... In water baptism.... As many as have been baptized into Christ, have been baptized into His death. All the blessings which accrue to humanity through the death of Jesus are brought to bear upon an individual when he is baptized. Baptism is the time when the sinner is merged into the benefits of the cross. Why should we be baptized? Because it is the means God chose by which we have access to the crucifixion of Jesus. You see, our salvation is made possible by the death of God’s Son. However, baptism is the way God chose to appropriate what He has done on our behalf.
The second scripture is Galatians 3.26-27... Turn there with me.... Galatians 3.26-27. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ, have been clothed with Christ. Dear friends, how do we put on Christ?... How do we get into Christ? In the act of New Testament baptism.
- Verse 26 tells us how we are saved... By faith.
- Verse 27 tell us when we are saved... In the act of New Testament Baptism.
The preposition INTO presupposes that one is outside. No one can come into this building unless he is outside of it... RIGHT? No one can be baptized INTO Christ or INTO the benefits of His death, unless he is outside of Christ before that baptism. It should be clear to us all, that: The point at which one enters Christ; the point at which we become beneficiaries of His death on the cross is at what?... New Testament BAPTISM! You see, God has placed water baptism between being IN CHRIST and out of Christ. I want to be IN CHRIST... Don’t you?... Of Course.
Secondly, God has placed baptism between sin and forgiveness.
In Acts 2.38, Peter told his Pentecostian audience, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus. (WHY? For what?) For the remission of sins. Some today would try to tell us that baptism here is because of the forgiveness of sins instead of FOR the forgiveness. Well, which is it?... Are we baptized FOR or BECAUSE OF the remission of sins?
It’s interesting to note that in Matthew 26.28, we have the same grammatical expression as in Acts 2.38. Jesus in Matthew 26 is instituting the Lord’s Supper. Listen closely to what He says, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Question!... Was the blood of Jesus shed because sins had already been forgiven? Or was His blood shed for.... So that our sins COULD BE REMITTED? Now you don’t have to answer that, because the Bible answers it for us.
- The Hebrew’s writer says, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. So, the blood had to be shed FIRST!
- Colossians 1.14 and Ephesians 1.7 tell us that, our redemption is through His blood, even the forgiveness of our sins.
Folk, the blood of Jesus was not shed because sins had already been remitted... Past tense. That would mean our sins were forgiven before Jesus ever died... So His coming would have been useless... Senseless.
A second passage which teaches baptism stands between sin and forgiveness is Acts 22.16. Ananias tells Saul, Arise and be baptized and wash your sins away. Saul had seen the Lord on the Damascus Road:
- He believed,
- He confessed Jesus.
- He has spent three days in remorseful repentance and prayer, but he still has his sins. Arise, and be baptized and wash away our sins.
If his sins had been forgiven, back on the road, at his instance of faith, then there would have been no need for this command... Right? Acts 22.16 emphatically demonstrates that God has placed baptism between guilt and forgiveness.
God places baptism between our being saved and being lost.
In Mark 16.16 Jesus says, He that believes and is baptized shall be saved. Baptism is placed before salvation in this passage. The Greek is even more emphatic, He who has believed and who has been baptized will be saved.
Folk, you can diagram this sentence any way you like... In the English or in the Greek and it always says the same thing... He that believes AND is baptized shall be saved. The conjunction AND connects faith and baptism inseparably together as a requirement for our salvation. The conjunction says both FAITH and BAPTISM are necessary for our salvation. You see, if we can remove baptism as a requirement for salvation, the sentence would read, he that believes shall be saved. Then we have the same right to remove faith, so then it would read, he that is baptized shall be saved. Are you ready to agree with the fact that an individual can be saved without faith? If so, let’s go out on highway 71, stop every car, and forcibly drag the occupants into the baptistry, immerse them and they are saved...
- Is that right?
- Will that work?
Of course not.
Church, there are six verses in our New Testament which directly link water baptism to salvation and everyone of them places baptism before salvation, before forgiveness. Listen to all six quickly:
- Mark 1.4, John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
- Mark 16.16, Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.
- Luke 3.3, He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
- Acts 2.38, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.
- Acts 22.16, Arise and be baptized and wash your sins away.
- 1 Peter 3.21, The like figure whereunto even baptism does also now save us.
Is there any doubt that God has placed baptism between being lost and being saved?
God Has placed baptism between being IN THE BODY and being OUT OF THE BODY.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12.13, For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. If we are baptized into the body, then it stands to reason that we are not in that body before baptism.. Right?... But we are in that body after baptism. So what is the body? Ephesians 1.22 & 23; Ephesians 5.523; Colossians 1.18 & 24 plainly tells us that the body is the church... of which Christ is both the Head and the Savior. No one is in: The body, The church, The Kingdom of God, The family of God, until he is baptized into that Body. Jesus told Nicodemus, in our reading, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. In Acts 2.41-47, Luke says, those accepting the message were baptized and the Lord added to their number, to the church, those being saved. So then, baptism stands between an individual being IN or OUT of the body of Christ, the Kingdom of God, the Church, the body of the saved, God’s house, His family.
Then finally, we see that God has placed baptism between unbelief and full acceptance of the message of Christ. Baptism is a part of genuine faith, truly believing in Christ. In Acts 16.31, the Philippian jailer was told to believe on the Lord and he would be saved. So after he heard the Word, believed it, demonstrated his repentance by washing their stripes, the wounds of Paul and Silas, he was baptized. That’s verse 34.
Acts 2.41 reads like this, Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. For those in Acts two, Baptism was a part of acceptance of the Gospel Message... It was a part of their faith. Has baptism been a part of your faith and mine?
- If we accept the message...
- If we genuinely accept Jesus, then we will be baptized. That is if we do it as they did in Acts 2.
A third scripture on this is found in Acts 18.8... Let me read it for you, Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized. God has placed baptism between unbelief and full acceptance of Jesus as the Christ.
I want to close the lesson tonight, by reading 1 Peter 3.18-21, For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water. The like figure where unto even baptism does also now save us-- not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience towards God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
No, No, there is nothing in the water that saves, that takes away our sins. Salvation is not in the water, but is in obedience to God. Baptism is the answer of a good conscience toward God. Baptism is doing what God ask us to do without questioning why.
- You must be born again of water and spirit.
- He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.
- Repent and be baptized and you shall receive the forgiveness of your sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
- Arise, be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
- We are the children of God by faith, for as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
- The like figure whereunto baptism does also now save us.
INDEED, Indeed! We must be born again of the water and the spirit! Don’t say NO to God. Become His child by faith and New Testament baptism, immersion in water for the forgiveness of your sins.
