Thursday, September 3, 2009

The Stumbling Block of the Baptistry.

It never ceases to amaze me how much of a stumbling block the cross is to those who need to be saved by it. It is incredibly disheartening to hear how many people are not interested in the least in Jesus and what He has done for them in His love for them to protect them from the wrath of God's justice. Isaiah 53:4-6 (4) Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Yet, there is something even more disheartening; when people who seem to obviously love Him reject the plain teachings of scripture when it says how we are to come to Him. Of those who love Jesus, many will come if it involves a sinner's prayer, or sprinkling, or a works based salvation. But mention to the MAJORITY that salvation comes in the water AFTER having believed, repented, and confessing Him and you'll get run out of Dodge City quicker than a convict facing Matt Dillon. Libraries have been written on these issues but I'll just focus here in my mini rant upon one thing that makes good sense to me.

One of these sites that courageously puts forward the need for sinful man to be saved tells then that, like a parachute, Jesus does not just need to be believed, He needs to be put on. They then quote the scripture that I agree with and love as much as them.

Romans 13:12-14 (12) The night is almost gone, and the day is near Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

Is this true, that we need to put on Jesus? ABSOLUTELY! How is this done? They say it is done by diving into repentant belief like a person dives out of a plane with a parachute. They must have a changed heart and mind that shows that they have truly repented. I agree, no problem so far. Yet, baptism is NOWHERE mentioned in their "putting on Jesus." How can this be that the "sinner's prayer" has been substituted for baptism in His name when baptism is clearly commanded?

How does one "put on Jesus Christ?" Follow the logic. Before one "puts on Jesus" they are naked and unclothed in their unrighteous state. Even our righteousness is described in Isaiah 64:6 as "filthy rags." Yet we cannot walk into God's presence at the marriage feast of the Lamb naked or in the filthy rags of our "righteousness" as shown in the parable of the marriage feast in Matthew 22:12-14 We must be wearing the wedding clothes provided at the door that we exchange our nakedness or filthy rags for. We must have "put on Jesus." In Galatians 3:27 we are shown when this happens. Galatians 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. We are baptized by God's Holy Spirit INTO Jesus and have been CLOTHED by Him in the process. No baptism equals naked and unclothed, thus, unsaved.

How did we get to this point? It is because millions have been mislead into thinking that to believe that baptism is necessary for salvation is tantamount to believing in a works based salvation in which one is attempting to earn their way into Heaven. This is far from the truth. When Israel walked through the waters of the Red Sea to be saved from Egypt, a type (symbol) for baptism mentioned in 1 Corinthians 10:1-2, were they saving themselves? Were they earning their salvation? No! When one falls off a cruise ship and are about to drown and someone throws them a life saver, are they said to have saved themselves when they grab it and allow themselves to be pulled to safety? The person who threw them the lifeline gets the credit. When we come to be baptized we are coming to be saved by the work and goodness of another, not to save ourselves. Titus 3:5 He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

If you have prayed a prayer to be saved from this world you have done something to be saved. If that were how it was done, would that mean that you were relying upon yourself for salvation? The truth is that we come to Jesus and have Him save us at baptism. We do not baptize ourselves but, instead, we actively come to then passively receive. We do not remit our own sins, we have them remitted by Jesus. How can that be a works based salvation?