The Importance of Water Baptism

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. You can follow us on line at roberthaymes.com . Today’s program is called The Importance Of Water Baptism. Let’s turn to Hos 6:1-3,  Come, and let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight. Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth. Verse 2, After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight. We are crucified with Christ, and we are raised with Him.

Gal 2:20  I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Gal 5:24  And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 

How was Paul crucified with Christ? How do we crucify our flesh? Let’s turn to Rom 6:1-19, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. In the King James Version it says, that the body of sin might be destroyed.  For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. In John 8:34, Jesus said, Whosoever practices sin is the slave of sin. Rom 6:10-19, For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. In the King James it says, yield your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. In verse 19, Paul said, I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Your flesh is weak, but your God is mighty. Jesus has destroyed the works of the Devil and the power of sin through His crucifixion and resurrection. Now, as you are in Christ, yield to Him and receive all that He has given you that you may stand; that you may overcome. It’s up to you: you must choose who you will yield to, whether of sin unto death, or of righteousness unto holiness, without which no man will see the Lord. 

On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples, and Peter preached a message. And in Acts 2:32-39, he said, This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said to them, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized, notice: every one of you, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. The word remission means freedom, pardon, deliverance, forgiveness, and liberty. By submitting to water baptism we are delivered from the power of sin.

1 Cor 12:13, For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. Acts 10:48, And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days.  That was when Peter was at Cornelius' house, and while he was preaching the Holy Spirit fell upon all those that were gathered together, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit before they were baptized. So, you don’t have to be baptized in water to receive the Holy Spirit, but Peter commanded them, right after that, to be baptized in the name of the Lord.  Act 2:42  And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. If you will not be baptized, then you are not continuing in the Apostles’ doctrine. Act 22:16  And now why are you waiting? Arise! Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. Gal 3:27  For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Rom 13:14  But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

This is not a symbolic, religious, optional exercise. This is life or death. We are commanded to be baptized in water for the remission of our sins when we have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. We are literally baptized into Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection through water baptism by immersion when we do so in faith and obedience. We are crucified with Him and we are buried with Him into His death and we are raised with Him into eternal life. We are made in the image of God. We have a spirit and a soul and a body. God’s salvation is for our complete person: our spirit, our soul, and our body. When we receive Christ and confess Him Lord and believe that He rose from the dead, His Spirit is sent into our hearts crying “Abba, Father”. When you are born of the Spirit your spirit is saved. If you were to die at that point, you would go to be with Him in Heaven. If you live, then you need to follow on to know the Lord, and He will go about saving your soul. The first step in following Jesus is water baptism. If you refuse to be baptized, you are in rebellion and sin and your soul will not be saved, and if you don’t repent and yield to the Lord in obedience to be baptized, you won’t make it. Mar 16:16  He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.  Many people say, “Are you saying that I have to be baptized in order to be saved? I thought we were saved when we received Jesus.” As I am saying, your spirit is saved when you receive Jesus: He comes to dwell in your heart by faith. Your spirit is made sound, but your soul needs to be saved. Alright, so  if your soul is not saved you won’t make it. Your soul has to be changed; it has to be conformed to the image of Jesus, and He does so over the duration of your life. If you are not baptized, your sin nature; your old man will continue to rule your life. You must be crucified and raised with Christ to become a new creature, and then you must receive the Holy Spirit to walk in obedience and be led by the Spirit. They that are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. The only reason that you would not get baptized, or you would refuse to be baptized is because you refuse to die. You want to continue living your life according to your own will; you refuse to obey your Lord. It’s rebellion, and rebellion is sin. Unless you repent and submit to water baptism you won’t make it. If you have repented of your sins and believed on Jesus; you are born again; born from above, and you have not been baptized for a legitimate reason, and you die, that is a rare and different situation. You will go to be with the Lord, of course.

Eph 4:4-6, There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. That’s how important water baptism is: One Lord, one faith, one baptism. Col 2:9-15, For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;

and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,

having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. Verse 12, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. Through this faith and obedience you are crucified with Him and raised with Him and seated with Him in the Heavenly places at the right hand of the Father, far above all principality, power, and dominion. If you refuse water baptism you are in unbelief and rebellion and sin and you cannot overcome and have the victory in your life which Christ has given you.

So, to review:  Your spirit is saved when you receive Jesus and confess Him as your Lord, and He comes to dwell in your heart. Your soul begins to be saved when you take that first step in following Jesus, putting to death your old sinful nature through water baptism. The Lord then will continue to lead you to overcome your flesh and sin and the powers of darkness that have had you bound. You need to be baptized then in the Holy Spirit that you may receive power to overcome. As you continue to deny yourself, deny your flesh, deny your own will and yield to the Spirit, He will teach you the Word of God and lead you in doing it; He will reveal Jesus to you more and more and His servant, His slave you will be. You will be His and He will save your soul. Your body, then, will be saved, if you remain faithful to Jesus unto death, at the first resurrection, when He returns in the clouds, and all the dead in Christ shall be raised with glorified, incorruptible bodies, and those who are alive also will be so changed, and we shall be carried by the angels to meet the Lord in the air. And thus shall we ever be with the Lord. Hallelujah!