Lesson - 13
Must We Be Baptized
For The Forgiveness Of Our Sins?

In the second chapter of Acts,
Peter was preaching to the Jews.

Acts 2:36-39
36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

Here people were told to repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins. Only when we submit to baptism as the Lord has commanded (that is for the remission of sins), do we show our faith in the Lord. Only then will He save us.

Where it mentions "your children and those that are afar off", it is not talking about people in a far land, but people afar off down your line of geneology.

Man today has a sin problem. It is our sins that separate us from God. We are told three requirements that must be met for remission of our sins.

(1) Our Part We must repent, or physically and mentally turn away from all of our sinful ways.

(2) The Minister's Part The Minister must baptize us in the name of Jesus by immersion in water (born of water).

(3) God's Part God will baptize us with His Spirit by immersion in the Holy Ghost (born of the Spirit).

When you have met all three requirements for baptism, you have complied with the requirements for being born again as set forth by Jesus in John 3:5.

John 3:5
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Have you been baptized
for the remission of your sins?

Again, the choice is yours; either believe what God has said and be saved, or believe what men say and you will continue to be lost. We only have two choices, and the choice that we make will have eternal consequences. But please make the right choice.

In the book of Acts we have the account
of the conversion of the Apostle Paul.

In Acts chapter 9, Paul is traveling on the road up to Damascus to persecute Christians. The Lord appears o Paul on the road and strikes him blind.

Acts 9:5-6
5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

The Lord did not tell Paul what he must do, but that someone in the city would tell him what he must do.

Acts 9:9
"And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank."

Paul was worried sick and very upset. He had just found out that all the years in his zeal, while persecuting the Lord's church, he had actually been persecuting the Lord. Paul was devastated and broken-hearted in finding out that he had been wrong all these years.

Let's see what Paul was required to do. In Acts chapter 22, a man named Ananias, who was sent by the Lord, came to Paul and miraculously restored Paul's eyesight. Notice what Paul was told by Ananias to do.

Acts 22:16
"And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord."

Paul was not saved three days earlier while on the road to Damascus, as some people would like for us to believe. Paul up to this point was still lost, because he still had all his sins that needed to be washed away. Paul still had a sin problem. Obedience to the Lord's command to be baptized was necessary to wash away Paul's sins. At the point of baptism every sin that we have ever committed will be taken away, if it is done for that purpose. Have you been baptized for the purpose of having your sins washed away? If you have not, then you still have a sin problem. You are still lost.

Paul was not told "to pray the sinners prayer and ask Jesus to come into his heart in order to be saved." This is foreign to the scripture. You cannot find anywhere in the Bible where anyone was ever told to do this. Since God in the Bible has never told anyone "To pray and ask Jesus to come into your heart in order to be saved", who else but men could have come up with such an idea? Forgiveness occurs in the mind of God and not on the basis of man's feeling in his heart. Only when we have done what God has said that we must do, will God forgive our sins. We cannot devise our own plan as to how our sins are to be forgiven.

Salvation is a gift from God.

Do not misunderstand. Even though salvation is a free gift from God, he has laid down certain conditions upon which he will give it.

1. One condition to receive his gift is faith:
   Hebrews 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."
   
   
2. Another condition of his free gift is repentance:
   Luke 13:3 "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."
   
   
3. Another condition is baptism:
   Mark 16:16 "He who believes and is baptized will be saved."
   
   
4. Still another condition is living a faithful Christian life:
   Revelation 2:10 "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."
   
   

The conditions include doing all "the will of the Father," Matthew 7:21. These are God's conditions. Believing in God with all our heart, repenting of all our sins, confessing Christ and being baptized are all equally important to our salvation. If any of these are lacking, then we will not be saved. You can't have one without the others.

There is nothing that we can do to merit salvation. Whether it be believing in Jesus or being baptized, we can never "earn our salvation". Our salvation is free, but it is not cheap. It cost Jesus his very own life. The only way we can show our faith in Christ is if we are willing to accept and obey what He says. But it is in baptism that God has chosen to impart his wonderful grace of salvation to us as a willing believer.

Saved at baptism

According to the Bible, it is at the point of baptism, that we pass from an unsaved state into a saved state. In other words, at the time of baptism, we go from being unsaved to being saved.

I Peter 3:21
"The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now 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."

Men say that baptism does not save us

The Bible says that "baptism does now also save us," but men say that "baptism does not save us." This is very similar to the situation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God told them not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:17
"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

But Satan told Eve, Ye shall not surely die.

Genesis 3:4
"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die."

Satan only added the one word "not" to what God had said and completely changed the meaning. That is what men are doing to God's commands today.

Which will you accept,
the word of men or the Word of God?

Acts 5:29
"Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men."

On the Day of Judgment, the Bible will still say that "baptism does also now save us." Again the choice is yours, but it is very serious. We dare not make the wrong choice.