[Biblemat] S) THE BIBLE PUTS BAPTISM BETWEEN THE SINNER AND HIS SALVATION!

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  Here is a study from my
files.  Use to the glory of God.

THE BIBLE PUTS BAPTISM BETWEEN THE SINNER AND HIS
SALVATION!

     I am not responsible for the place baptism occupies in God's plan of 
salvation.  Nor was I consulted in the matter.
Had the Lord taken the matter up with me, I suppose I would
have very strongly advised against it, because it has proved
to be such a stumbling block to so many of weak faith.  And,
too, I have never had any faith in baptism for salvation.  But I
do have sublime faith in the One who said, "He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved" (Mk. 16:16).  It is because of
Him that I set it forth.

     Baptism seems to be a supreme test of faith for so many
people, maybe that is why the Lord set it in the plan of salvat-
ion.  The idea of the ark during the days of Noah probably did-
n't stack up as such a brilliant idea to those folk before it be-
gan to rain (Gen. chapters 6-8).  And raising a brazen serpent
in the wilderness wouldn't have been featured in my medical
journals as a remedy for snake-bite (Num. 21).  As far as re-
search has determined, not many physicians advocated that
lepers could be cleansed by dipping seven times in the Jordan River, either 
(2 Kgs. 5).

     God was not jesting when He declared, "My thoughts are
not your thoughts, neither are My ways your ways, saith the
Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher 
than your ways, and My thoughts than your
thoughts" (Isa. 55:8,9).  No, I would not have put baptism in
the saving plan; I don't think any man would or did!  This is
evidence of God's work and purpose.

     But this is the means by which God tests the faith of all
who would serve Him.  And if any man will not humbly obey
the Lord in baptism, as in all other commands, then his faith
is not what it ought to be.  When folk "gladly receive His Word," they will 
be baptized (Acts 2:41).  And when folk will not submit to this command (Acts 
10:48), they thereby "reject
the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized"
(Lk. 7:30).

     And those who submit to baptism, as God has decreed, do
not show forth faith in baptism, but faith in God.  As the Bible
says, "Having been buried with Him in baptism, wherein ye
were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, Who raised Him 
fromt he dead" (Col. 2:12).  Therefore,
baptism shows faith in God, that as He raised up Jesus Christ
from the grave, He will also raise us up from the watery grave
of baptism that we may walk "in newness of life" (Rom. 6:3,4).

     Thus, we msut accept this truth, that God has placed bapt-
ism squarely between the alien sinner and every spiritual blessing.  For, 
since all spiritual blessings are "in Christ" (Eph. 1:3), and since we are 
"baptized into Christ" (Rom. 6:3),
then it must follow that we cannot reach a single spiritual blessing until we 
have been baptized into Christ.  Man did not
arrange it that way, but it is the work of the Lord.  Man has no right to 
attempt any alterations, however.  It is for man to
accept it and be saved from sin, or reject the counsel of God
which can save him (Rom. 1:16).

     Let us notice the words of Christ in Mk. 16:16, "He that be-
lieveth and is baptized shall be saved."  Here the Lord plainly
placed baptism between the sinner and salvation.  Notice that
baptism is looking toward, or reaching toward, salvation.  The 
words, "shall be", denote future state, not already accomplish-
ed results.  Sinners are baptized with hope in the promise 
that their sins shall be forgiven and they shall be saved from
them.

     Saul was given to understand that he was not a saved man when Ananias 
came to him, for he was told, "And now why tarriest thou?  Arise, and be 
baptized and wash away thy
sins, calling on the name of the Lord" (Acts 22:16).  Had his
sins already been forgiven, then this statement from a repre-
sentative of the Lord would have made no sense.  But Saul of
Tarsus was still under the guilt of sin, and was to be pardon-
ed only when he had put Christ on in baptism  (I have heard
preachers, who were very critical of baptism, say such things
as: "Saul of Tarsus was saved between the stirrup and the
ground when he fell in the presence of the Lord on the road
to Damascus."  First of all, it is not indicated that he was on
a horse when the Lord met him.  Secondly, the Lord told him
to go into Damascus and it would be told him what he must
do.  Whenever Ananias came to him in Damascus, he was told
to arise and wash away his sins.  Another preacher that is 
critical of baptism, said, "One can be dipped in water until he
knows every minnow by name in the stream, but it will not have anything to do 
with his salvation."  Such statements as
these show a great lack of faith in and belief of the teaching
of the Word of God. JWS).

     In writing to the saints in Galatia, Paul said, "For ye are all
children of God by faith in Chrsit Jesus.  For as many of you
as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:
26,27).  One has not put on Christ until he has been baptized
into Him.  Here again we find the promised blessing beyond
baptism for the alien.  To fight against the truth is not to make war against 
me, (for teaching that baptism is a require-
ment for one's salvation, JWS) but against God who designed
the plan!  It is only by baptism that one can get INTO Jesus
Christ.  There are other things one may do in going toward
Christ, but there is but one step that translates one from out-
side of Christ to inside of Christ.  That step is baptism in water for the 
remission of one's sins.

     An alien sinner reaches the remission of sins only through
baptism.  Baptism stands between him and this blessing.  "And Peter said unto 
them, Repent ye, and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto, or for, the remis-
sion of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy 
Spirit" (Acts 2:38).  To argue that remission of sins can be
had before or without baptism is go contrary to all the teach-
ing of inspired men on the subject.  Long-haired ecclesiasts
may argue the matter from now until the dawn of eternity, but
Acts 2:38 will face them even then.  It is not to be interpreted,
but obeyed.  Sectarian delegates may get it removed from 
their church books, but it still remains in the Word of God!

     A great hue and cry is raised about how the blood of Christ cleanses us. 
 But a lot of folk need to seriously consid-
er that the only blood that can save is that which was shed in
the death of Christ.  Paul wrote: "Or are ye ignorant that all we who were 
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into 
His death?" (Rom. 6:3).  There is no other means by which we
can reach the blood of Jesus, save through His death or in
His body.  His blood was shed in His death, and was then put
into His spiritual body, the church, as its purchase price: "Feed the church 
of the Lord which He purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20:28).  The apostle 
Paul teaches us that we 
are baptized into Christ's death, but he also wrote: "For by
one Spirit are we all baptized into one body" (1 Cor. 12:13).
Surely we should not minimize the blood of Christ as the 
cleansing power to wash away sins, but the blood is reached
when we are baptized into His death and thus come into His
body, the church.

     A new life is offered only after one has been baptized.  "We were buried 
therefore with Him through baptism unto 
death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through
the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of
life.  For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of
His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection;
knowing this, that the body of sin might be crucified with Him,
that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in 
bondage to sin" (Rom. 6:4-6).  There must be
the death, burial and resurrection before this new life is poss-
ible, and that necessitates the act of baptism.  We are baptiz-
ed into Christ, adn only then can we become new creatures:
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all things become new" (2
Cor. 5:17).  But every statement on the subject places baptism between the 
alien sinner and the proffered spiritual
blessing.  This is a logical and expected arrangement when
one realizes that "all spiritual blessings, are in Christ" (Eph. 1:3), and 
that we are baptized "into Christ" (Gal. 3;27; Rom.
6:3).

     Those who protest against baptism often use the argu-
ment that we are saved without works, and since baptism is
a work, it could not therefore effect our salvation.  They are
wrong on two counts.  First, we ARE saved by works of obed-
ience to God (Jas. 2:14-24; 1 Pet. 1;22; Heb. 5:8,9; etc.).  Sec-
ondly, baptism is not a work one does to be saved, it is a bur-
ial of a dead man who is passive and is being acted upon.  But in all things, 
it must be remembered that we reach and obtaing every spiritual blessing "in 
Jesus Christ," into Whom
we are baptized.   ----- Dillard Thurman in Gospel Minutes of
Dec. 26, 1958, Reprinted in Gospel Minutes, Vol. 57, No. 16,
April 18, 2008.
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