| Lesson #13 - Must We Be Baptized To Be Saved? |
| Written by Ron Boatwright | |||
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The will of the Father also includes our being baptized for the forgiveness of our sins, so we can be saved and go to heaven. In Mark 16:16 Jesus says, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned." Who shall be saved? "He who believes and is baptized." This is such a simple command to obey in the way the Lord says to do it. Notice the divine order: Believe + Baptism = Saved. Jesus placed both belief and baptism before salvation. But men, at the prompting of Satan, are trying to tell us many other different things that are contrary to what Jesus says. Men have taken what the Lord said, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved," and have changed it in every way possible to suit themselves. The following is what Jesus says and also the many ways in which man has tried to change what the Lord has said.
Who are you following? Are you following 1) Jesus, 2) the Universalist, 3) the Atheist, 4) those promoting infant baptism, or 5) those promoting faith only? We can go to heaven only by following what Jesus says and not what man says. The following chart shows what the Lord has said and also the many ways that men have tried to change it. They have changed it every way possible to suit themselves.
Most of the denominational world laughs at God's word when it says that baptism is for the remission of one's sins so he can be saved and go to Heaven. They are contradicting what the Lord says. Our Lord says in Mark 16:16, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." But there are those who want to try to justify their disobedience by ignoring what Jesus said in the first half of the verse and only look at the latter half. They do this in an attempt to try to manufacture a loophole in what the Lord has said. They are not willing to accept that Jesus says we must believe and be baptized to be saved. After the Lord has suffered and died for us they are still rejecting what the Lord has commanded us to do. Jesus could not make it any clearer what one has to do to be saved. The latter half of the verse says, "but he who does not believe will be condemned." They say in the second part Jesus does not say people are condemned because they are not baptized, but only because they didn't believe. People who say this are grasping at straws in trying to avoid what the Lord requires for one to be saved. But why would anyone who does not believe want to be baptized? They wouldn't. It is impossible for any disbeliever to be scripturally baptized for the remission of their sins (Acts 2:38) so they can be saved (Mark 16:16). In Mark 16:16 we only have two choices: either we obey it and be saved or we do not obey and be eternally lost. When one refuses to believe and obey the first part of what Jesus says in Mark 16:16 then the second part of the verse applies to him, "he who does not believe will be condemned." When one does not obey the Lord's command to be baptized in order to be saved, this shows he does not believe the Lord. A lack of belief is enough to condemn a person and damn his soul. A person who does not believe the Lord does not have to be told he/she will be condemned without baptism because they are already condemned because of a lack of faith in what the Lord says. A person who does not believe Jesus will certainly not be baptized. One who does not believe could go through the motions and get dunked under the water, but he would not be scripturally baptized. He would only get wet. Since one who does not believe could not be scripturally baptized, it would have been useless for the Lord to have mentioned baptism in the latter half of the verse. People may argue against the Lord's requirement of being baptized in order to be saved, but they will not be able to argue with the Lord when they stand before Him on the Day of Judgment. It will be too late when they begin crying for just one drop of water to cool their tongue (Luke 16:24). The sad thing is there are also many people who try to use "the thief on the cross" as their justification for not obeying the clear and plain command of Jesus to be baptized in order to be saved. On the Day of Judgment it will not be the case of "what about the thief on the cross". The thief on the cross was before the death of Christ and before the New Testament took effect. The Old Testament was still in effect then. We read in Hebrews 9:16-17, "For where there is a testament there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives". The New Testament took effect after the death of Christ. We are now under the New Testament. Anyone refusing to obey Jesus on His terms in the New Testament has no legitimate claim on the salvation Jesus offers. One will certainly be held accountable for his disobedience by the eternal loss of his soul. Either we obey what Jesus says or we will be cast into Hell. If we end up in Hell, we will only have ourselves to blame. People need to stop spending their time in trying to figure out a way to get around doing what the Lord said, but rather they need be willing to submit to the final authority of our Lord. When we stand before the Lord on the Day of Judgment to be judged by Him, there are going to be many who have chosen not to do what the Lord has said. Rather they have chosen to do what man has said to do. Romans 10:3 tells us people are "Seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God." The choice is ours. Either we have tried to establish our own righteousness or we have submitted to the righteousness of God. Unless we are forgiven the way that Jesus Christ has specified in the Bible then we will die in our sins and be forever lost and forever separated from God in eternal punishment. We make the decision; but we will reap the eternal consequences. Are you ready for those consequences? The Lord says in John 12:48, "The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day." We are not going to be judged by what man says or by what we think, but by what our Lord says. This is going to be the standard for our judgment. For the majority of people, the judgment will be a horrible day, and a day of many terrible surprises. Obedience to our Lord will save any lost person, no matter how evil his past has been, but obedience to a mere human doctrine will not save anyone, no matter how good they have been. It will only cause them to be lost. Speaking of Christ, Hebrews 5:9 says, "And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him." Yes, we must obey our Lord, if we expect Him to save us. Baptism is not a work of merit that man does. We do nothing for God when we are baptized, except obey Him; but God does something for us. Baptism is God’s chosen way of imparting His saving grace. Baptism is the submission to the command of God that saves. As we read in Acts 10:48, "And He commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord." God offers salvation to all men, but He conditions that offer with obeying the requirements which He has set out in His word. The Lord has commanded us to be baptized. The Lord has no nonessential commands. In Hebrews 5:9 we saw that no man can be saved by the grace of God without being obedient to the will of God. Believing and being baptized to be saved, as Mark 16:16 says, does not nullify the grace of God, but it activates it. The fact that baptism is essential to our salvation in no way reflects upon the wonderful grace offered to all; but rather it honors Christ who commanded it. Baptism is a very serious matter. According to the Bible, baptism is for the purpose of our salvation. In the Garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God said in Genesis 2:17, "For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." But later in Genesis 3:4 Satan told Eve, "You will not surely die." Satan just added the one word "not" and perverted what God had said. This is what men are doing today. Jesus said in Mark 16:16, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved." Men today erroneously teach "He that believes and is not baptized shall be saved." By adding the word "not" men today are perverting the word of God just as Satan did. Notice the Lord clearly states that baptism precedes being saved, and all of the theological quibbling in the world will not change that order. Even Satan knows that God has chosen to save people at the point of baptism, not before. Satan does not want anyone to be baptized for the purpose of being saved. Satan tells people all you need to do to be saved is to "accept Jesus as your personal Saviour" and say "the sinner's prayer". This is nowhere found in the Bible. The lie of Satan says baptism is not necessary for the forgiveness of sins and to be saved. Satan then tells people after you are saved and your sins are forgiven then you can be baptized but not for the forgiveness of your sins and to be saved because you are already saved and your sins are forgiven. This lie of Satan will cause many people to be lost. But Jesus promised salvation only to those who believe and are baptized (Mark 16:16). We cannot afford to be wrong on this vital point. Our eternal destiny depends on our being right with God. If you have not been baptized for the forgiveness of your sins so you can be saved, there needs to be a deep concern and urgency about your obedience. Questions for Lesson #13
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