• Believing Unto Life
John 3:16 - 18,
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 5:24,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Scriptures, like the ones above, tell us that we must believe in the Lord Jesus to be saved. And we must believe, for "he who does not believe is condemned already" (
John 3:18). But it doesn't stop there. The scriptures also tell us that there is more to God's plan of salvation than just that.
Jesus also says:
1) "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe
in the gospel",
Mark 1:15.
2) "He who believes and is baptized will be saved", Mark:16:6.
3) "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow
rivers of living water. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those
believing in Him would receive",
John 7:38&39.
So repentance, baptism, and receiving the Holy Spirit are all three tied-in together with believing and must be applied to our life to be saved. We must go through the steps of salvation that God has ordained and laid out for us to follow. And being passed from death unto life.
Jesus said, "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life".
And to those who say you believe but say you don't have to be baptized to be saved, do you not hear what the word says? For it is written,
"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".
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1 Peter 3:18 - 22.
• Prepare The Way of The Lord
Matthew 3:1 - 6,
1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’
4 Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him 6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
Matthew 3:11,
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
The message of John the Baptist was repentance, baptism, and receiving the Holy Spirit. This is the heart and the fire of the evangelistic message, which is founded upon Jesus Christ. But Jesus had't been crucified yet when John the Baptist preached His message. Everything in the gospels about salvation, all the teachings and works of John the Baptist, and Jesus Himself, were in preparation for the New Testament plan of salvation that was to come.
The teachings and the healing and miracles that Jesus did was the kingdom of God being introduced to man ahead of time, before the dispensation of grace went into effect, the waves of it flowing in. The New Testament plan of salvation, which was by the blood and death of Jesus Christ on the cross, went into effect on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was first poured out, and the church was born.
In
Matthew 3;3, John the Baptist said, "Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight". And in verses 5 & 6, it says, "Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins."
John the Baptist said to prepare the way of the Lord and to make His paths straight. He was telling the people to prepare themselves to receive the Lord, and he did this by having them repent and be baptized. Then in verse 11, he said that he baptizes with water unto repentance, but that one mightier than he will come after him, speaking of Jesus, who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.
The ministry of John the baptist was to lead people to repent and be baptized to prepare them to receive the Holy Spirit. This is what he meant by, "Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight."
But the Holy Spirit wasn't given yet. In
John 7;39, it says that the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
This preparation was only tempoary until the New Testament salvation was in effect. No one would receive the Holy Spirit until the day of Pentecost, after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, and He had ascended up into heaven, and poured out His Spirit.
And in
Acts 19;1 - 6, it says,
And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples 2 he said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" So they said to him, "We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." 3 And he said to them, "Into what then were you baptized?" So they said, "Into John's baptism." 4 Then Paul said, "John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.
Years later, after the ministry of John the Baptist, and the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit had been poured out, and the New Testament salvation under the dispensation of grace had began, the apostle Paul ran into a group of believers who turned out to be some disciples of John the Baptist, before he was imprisoned and executed.
Paul asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit since they believed. They said they never heard there was a Holy Spirit. So Paul asked them how they were baptized, and they said into John's baptism. So Paul explained that John did baptize with the baptism of repentance, but told the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. And when they heard this, they believed, and were baptized in the name of Jesus. And when Paul laid hands on them, they received the Holy Spirit, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.
We prepare ourselves to receive the Holy Spirit by repenting and being baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins. In the Bible, a believer was baptized as soon as possible after repenting, sometimes even standing in the water while repenting, ready to be baptized on the spot. But if not, they sometimes received the Holy Spirit before they were baptized. So it's not always in the order given in
Acts 2;38. We can receive the Holy Spirit anytime after we've repented from the heart. But we still have to be baptized because it's still a part of God's plan of salvation.
(Continued in part 3)
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