Salvation (part 2)
 

Before we move on to Peter’s answer…and in keeping with the purpose of this letter…we should first do a fast forward to present day. Remember, this is the first message of the New Testament church…the maiden voyage of the gospel ship…the launching of the arrow. 2,000 years later, it behooves you, friend, to ask why Peter didn’t tell this multitude to make their way to the front, and accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior. Why didn’t he just tell them to believe on the Lord and be saved…or to make a decision for Christ…or to confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in their heart that God has raised Him from the dead? Why didn’t he rebuke them for trying to be saved by works? “You’re saved by grace! It’s a free gift! There’s nothing you can or should do…simply accept it by faith! How dare you ask what shall we do! Are you trying to earn your salvation?
These were not Peter’s response to the crowd. His answer…and the first of millions of altar calls…was both simple, yet all inclusive. Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 3,000 people responded, and the New Testament church now numbered 3,120 souls.
Once the dispensation of grace had begun at Pentecost, the mode of salvation changed. Now, keeping the Mosaic law wouldn’t do. You must be born again. Many today teach that this new experience in Acts is no longer available. My friend, they are liars. Many others teach that you can be saved without this experience. They too are liars. In our day and age, bible salvation has become so twisted, distorted, and wrested from context, that it’s nearly impossible to sort out. This long-promised gift of Holy Ghost baptism is …unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Did Peter start the church off with the wrong message? Well, it’s easy enough to confirm. We need only compare it with the dictates of the great commission:
A. The gospel message was to begin in Jerusalem.
B. The gospel message must include repentance, and remission of sins.
C. The hearers must believe the message with all their hearts.
D. Those who hear and believe, must repent and be baptized.
E. The message must include being born again of the Spirit.
Looks right on target to me. Peter’s message is in Jerusalem. It includes repentance, and remission of sins. The hearer’s hearts were pricked. They repented, were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and were filled with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. That first message…and its result, is confirmed throughout the book of Acts. This is the where, the when, and the how salvation in the New Testament church started. Responding to Peter’s message…just as those first hearers did…is the penultimate act of obeying the gospel of grace. Several examples come to mind.
A full two years before anyone knew that Jesus would die on a cross, we find Him saying: If any man would be my disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. So, exactly how do we do that? When He hoisted that burden on His bloodied shoulder, where did He go, that we might follow Him? He went to His death. He went to His burial. And He went on to resurrection. Peter’s message starts with repent. From a Greek military command meaning “about face”, repentance is a turning away from…in effect, a dying out to, the direction our life was heading. It is here that we lose our life, in order that we might find it. We turn to face a sunrise-caressed new horizon, crawling from the dark dinge of an old one. This is where we die to self. Now then, by repenting, have I earned my salvation? Or have I simply obeyed the gospel of grace. I tell you, nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Have I violated believing on the Lord to be saved? I should not have repented, lest I believed. Repentance is the only biblical way you’ll find, to follow Jesus Christ in His death.
Following our death at repentance, we must now be buried. Biblically, this takes place at water baptism. How often I’ve heard that water baptism is not essential to salvation. It’s an after-salvation rite, that you probably should get around to some day. It’s an outward sign of an inward faith. Funny how Peter didn’t feel that way about it. His answer to what shall we do? included water baptism. Jesus seemed to feel the same way about it. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved… Apparently, Philip felt likewise. We aren’t told what he preached to the Samaritans; but as they say, the proof is in the pudding. But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Same with the Ethiopian eunuch. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water; and the eunuch said, see, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Today’s Christianity would have us reverse this order to “he that believeth and is saved, should get baptized.” But that’s not what Jesus said. That’s not what the first Christians did. So who would you rather pattern your salvation after…and stake your eternity on? The modern message, or the original one? Paul was told by Ananias: And now, why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. Lydia and her entire household were baptized. The jailer at Philippi and his household were baptized. Cornelius and everyone he knew were baptized. The twelve disciples of John at Ephesus were baptized. Remarkably, in none of these wonderful case histories was baptism an after-salvation rite. Is there something magical in the water? No more than there was a death-repellant in the blood of the Passover lamb. The death angel saw no virtue in the lamb blood. What he saw was which Israelites were obedient to God. The virtue is not in the water, but in obeying the gospel of grace.