Friend…
Are You a Christian today?
Have you obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ?
One must make a faith response to the grace
Bestowed by God through Jesus Christ our Savior.
One must express their faith in Christ, repent
Of their sins, confess their faith and put Christ on
In water baptism.
i.e. (John 8:24; Luke 13:3; Romans 10:9-10; Mark 16:16).
At this point Jesus adds you to His church
i.e. ( Matthew 16:18; Acts 2:41; 47).
One must remain faithful to the cause of Christ
i.e. (Luke 9:62).
Do you really love Jesus?
Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments”
(John 14:15).
One of His commandments is water baptism…
I am here to share with you today that Baptism is
Essential for the salvation of your soul!
This article I am sharing with you today
Was written by a great man of God
He was a Bible Scholar he was my teacher,
Mentor and friend.
I don’t want to get to the judgment and have you say
Friend you never told me how to be saved…
How to get to Heaven…
I don’t want your blood on my hands…
i.e. (Ezekiel 33:1-9).
Get Right With God…
- Hayden Childs
Baptism…
God told Noah to build an ark. The apostle Peter wrote that
eight souls or persons were saved in that ark by water (1 Peter 3:20).
Then Peter wrote, "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also
save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer
of a good conscience toward God) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ"
(1 Peter 3:21).
Not Saved by Water from Water
Noah and his wife, their three sons and their wives were the eight
people who were saved in the ark by water. They were not saved
by water from water! They were saved from water by the ark
(Hebrews 11:7). But, they were saved by water from something!
From what were they saved by water? They were saved by water
from a wicked, sinful world of people!
Of that sinful world, Moses wrote, "And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in all the earth, and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5).
The waters of the flood destroyed that world of exceedingly wicked people.
The waters of the flood came between that wicked world and the cleansed
world following that flood! Therefore, Noah and his family were saved
from that wicked world by water!
In What Sense Are We Saved by Water?
We are saved by water in the same sense that the blind man of
John 9 received his sight by water. Jesus told that blind man to wash
his eyes in the water of the pool of Siloam. When he did so, he
received his sight. Of course, the Lord Jesus gave him his sight.
The water of the pool did not give him his sight, but Christ gave
him his sight when he did what Christ told him to do. His doing what
Christ told him to do involved water.
Even so, water does not wash away the sins of one when he is
baptized in water. Christ takes away his sins when he does what
Christ tells him to do by being baptized in water. His doing what
Christ tells him to do involve water. That is the only sense in which
water saves sinners.
The Blood of Christ Saves
The blood of Jesus Christ saves, but it saves in Christ. "In whom
(Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of his grace" (Ephesians 1:7).
The reason baptism saves is because in being baptized one gets
into Christ where the blood of Christ saves! Since water is involved
in one's being baptized into Christ, then water is involved in one's
reaching the blood of Christ.
To reach the blood of Christ in baptism obviously just means that
one reaches the forgiveness of God Almighty which he gives because
Christ shed his blood or gave his life for our sins. Jesus made
forgiveness of sins available for everyone when he died on
Calvary's cross. Those who are baptized into Christ receive what
Christ made available when he died.
A Great Baptist Scholar's Translation
The great Baptist scholar, Dr. Charles B. Williams, translated
1 Peter 3:21 as follows. "Baptism which corresponds to this figure
now saves you too…I do not mean the mere removal of physical stains,
but the craving for a clear conscience toward God."
(The New Testament, A Translation in the Language of the People,
by Charles B. Williams.)
Dr. Gerrit Verkuyl of Princeton translated in his Berkley Version
of the New Testament 1 Peter so that it says that baptism saves
and that it is "the earnest of seeking a conscience that is clear in
God's presence." Could one who knows that being baptized isessential to being saved by the blood of Christ have a good
conscience until he is baptized?
One who knows that Jesus said, "He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved" could not have a clear conscience before God until
after he is baptized. Therefore, when he is baptized, he is seeking for,
or craving, a clear conscience before God.
What Is "The Like Figure"?
After saying Noah and his family were saved by water, Peter said,
"The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us…"
"Like figure" of this text is from the Greek word antitupou.
This word is put in English or anglicized as anti-type.
There are many types in the Old Testament. When a lamb was
sacrificed for sins, it was a type of Christ, the Lamb of God (John 1:29)
who was sacrificed for our sins (Hebrews 10:1-10). A literal lamb
offered in sacrifice under the Old Covenant was a type.
Jesus being offered in sacrifice for our sins was the anti-type of
that Old Testament type.
Peter said our being saved by baptism is the anti-type of eight souls
being saved in the ark by water. This all obviously means that just
as the water of the great flood came between the old world of
wickedness and the new and cleansed world following that flood,
even so the water of baptism comes between the world of sin and
the new world of righteousness in Christ Jesus.
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things
are passed away; behold all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The person in Christ got into Christ by being baptized into Christ
(Galatians 3:27; Romans 6:3-4). So, the water of baptism comes
between the old world of sin and the new world in Christ Jesus.
- Basil Overton
Via Gospel Gazette
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