Friday, April 19, 2019

The Hope

All scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
The Bible says in Romans 8:22-25,  "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." It is interesting to me  that the Bible does not say we are saved by baptism. Does that mean that I don't think that baptism saves us. Not by a long shot! Our Lord Jesus said in Mark 16:16"He  that believeth and is baptized shall be saved..." And I  strongly believe in the Acts 2:38 message along with Acts 4:12, both of which tell us how the early church was baptized and how we are to be baptized. However there is no scripture that says that we are saved by being baptized in Jesus name. The name of Jesus is indeed the only hope we have and we can and do derive baptism in Jesus name from the Bible.

I don't believe in baptismal regeneration. Apostle Peter said in 1st Peter 3:18-22, "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. 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: Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him." While Peter did say that the eight that were on that boat were saved by water, when he said "baptism doth also now save us," he wasn't talking about baptismal regeneration. He was talking about the Lord Jesus suffering for sins and how, after He was put to death in the flesh, and made alive by the Spirit, He preached to the spirits that were imprisoned.

Much gobbledygook has been made of these passages but it  is evident that baptism in Jesus name with faith in God through the resurrection of the Lord does indeed save us. Being baptized in Jesus name without faith in the Lord's resurrection cannot save anyone. One goes down a dry unchanged sinner and comes up  a wet one, still unchanged. By the same token faith in Christ's resurrection without baptism in Jesus name won't save us either. My friend maybe you have been told that if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you are saved.  It takes both to be saved according to the Lord. Remember what the Lord Jesus said in Mark 16:16, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." He ought to know as He is the one who will get us out of here. If you have repented of your sins but have never been baptized in Jesus name, find someone who will baptize you in the only name that can truly save you. (See Acts 4:12) Then live for the Lord Jesus, only then will you have the hope the Bible speaks about.


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