Be Baptized
Be Baptized
Remember those people on Pentecost? Remember, they had heard the sermon, and they believed that Jesus really was the Son of God. Then they said to Peter and the Apostles “What shall we do?” Do you remember what Peter told them? He said, “Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins.” (Acts 2:38) Not only were they told to repent, but they were told to be baptized.
The word “for” in Acts 2:38 is the Greek word “Eis” and it means “In order to.” Peter was saying, “Be baptized in order to have your sins washed away.” He said, you have climbed almost all the steps, but, you haven’t reached the top step yet. So, here is what you need to do. After you have repented, you must also be baptized.
Do you want your sins to be washed away? Then you must be baptized, immersed, and buried underwater.
There is another man in the Bible that we should learn about, his name was Nicodemus. He came to Jesus at night and he wanted Jesus to know that he believed that He was indeed God. But Jesus told this man something very important. Jesus told him that he was not currently in a position to be saved. “Jesus answered and said to him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? 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.” (John 3:3-5)
Nicodemus then had a question. “Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” (John 3:4) Paul shows us how a person is born again when he is old. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death:” (Romans 6:1-4)
In order for something to be buried, it is to be dead. So, what has died? Well, Paul will tell us. “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death:” (Romans 6:4) So, we are dead and buried.
But then he continues, “that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4) The “newness of life” that Paul is referring to is the rebirth. It is being born again. Something died, and now something else has been born.
But what died? “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” (Romans 6:5-6) What died? The old man of sin. When did it die? It died at baptism as the old man goes under the water. The old man of sin is immersed in water, the old man dies, and a new person comes up out of the water and is born. That is the new birth! That is how a person is born again!
| Baptism parallels the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. |
Just as Jesus was living, then He died, then he was raised again, Romans 6 tells us, that the old man of sin man is living, then he dies and is buried at baptism, and as he comes out of that watery grave, he is born again. His sins are washed away in baptism, and he now lives a new life devoted to Jesus. A man named Ananias had told the sinner Saul, “And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” (Acts 22:16)
After doing this, he is in fellowship again with God. The sins that had separated him from God are now washed away, and he now has done what God says to do to be back in fellowship with Him.
The young man reached out and took the hundred-dollar-bill from the man on stage. He heard the word, believed it, repented of staying seated, confessed to everyone that he believed, and then reached out and took the prize. The people on the Day of Pentecost did the same thing. They heard, believed, repented, confessed, and reached out and took the prize by being baptized and having their sins washed away. About 3,000 people did it! And now with their sins washed away, they were returned to the presence of God, no longer lost and separated from God’s family. They had achieved the ultimate prize of a promised eternal life in Heaven if they would remain faithful unto death.
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