Water baptism is a testimonial of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Water baptism has never been, nor will it ever be a means of securing the remission of sins.
The Greek word “baptizo” has been transliterated in our English Bibles. The translators simply replaced the “o” with an “e”. This is called a transliteration not a translation, because in true translation work the meaning of the work is carried over from one language into another. Therefore the precise meaning of the word is not conveyed. If you consult the finest Greek lexicons or exhaustive concordances, you will always find that the word “baptizo” means “to dip” or “to immerse.” The Greek language has another word for “sprinkle.” Careful examination will show that the word “rhantizo” (sprinkle) is never used in connection with the ordinance of baptism.
Usually when people hear the word “baptism,” they immediately think of water baptism. This has caused untold confusion concerning the doctrine of water baptism. To demonstrate that baptism doesn’t always refer to water baptism, we will list ten different baptisms taught in the Bible. Most are not related to water at all.
1) the baptism of John the Baptist (Matthew 3:11)
2) the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11)
3) the baptism of fire (HELL) (Matthew 3:11)
4) the baptism of Jesus Christ (Matthew 3:13-17)
5) the baptism of death (Matthew 20:22)
6) the baptism of pots and pans (Mark 7:4)
7) the baptism of Moses (I Corinthians 10:2)
8) the baptism of believers (Acts 8:36-37)
9) the baptism of the Old Testament (Hebrews 9:10)
10) the baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts2:38; I Corinthians 6:11)
We know that water baptism is not a condition of salvation. Salvation is God’s gift (Romans 6:23) and is received by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). The Bible teaches that when a person believes the gospel message (death, burial and resurrection) of Jesus Christ, that person is saved (when he believes or trusts that message). Romans 1:16 says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” We learn from I Corinthians 1:17 that water baptism is not a part of the gospel message that saves. “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.” Here the gospel and water baptism are contrasted. Notice verse 14 where Paul the Apostle says, “I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius.” Think with me! If water baptism were a part of the gospel and necessary to salvation, Paul the Apostle would be saying, “I thank God none of you are saved.” This is obviously unthinkable. So therefore, we learn without question that water baptism is not part of the saving message (gospel); it is not a condition of salvation.
The two baptisms that relate to heaven or hell
The two baptisms that determine destination are the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of fire. Jesus said, “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 3:18).” Jesus Christ baptizes all believers the moment that they believe with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ will baptize all unbelievers with fire when they are immersed in the everlasting lake of fire, the eternal hell. A believer will never experience the baptism of fire. An unbeliever will never experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have all been made to drink into one Spirit (I Corinthians 12:13).” The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the operation of God whereby we are placed into the body of Christ. Every child of God has it. It occurs upon belief.
The baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins also occurs at the moment of belief (Acts 2:38; I Corinthians 6:11). It deals with the forgiveness aspect of our salvation whereas the baptism of the Holy Spirit deals with our placement into the body of Christ. “But ye are washed…in the name of the Lord Jesus (I Corinthians 6:11).” See also Acts 10:43, “To Him give all the prophets witness that through His name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive the remission of sins.” In this passage in Acts 10, the people were saved and received the Holy Spirit before ever being water baptized. Water baptism clearly came after salvation. Peter says, “Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized which have received the Holy Spirit as well as we (Acts 10:47)?”
Water baptism comes after salvation (Acts 10:47). If you are saved and have not been water baptized since salvation, you should now testify to your faith in Jesus Christ by being water baptized. For the believer water baptism is an: 1) act of obedience to the Lord’s command to be baptized, 2) a picture of the cleansing that occurred through the blood of Christ, and 3) a testimony of your faith in Jesus Christ.
Take advantage of the next opportunity to be baptized if you have not been baptized. You will be saved, whether you are water baptized or not, if you have trusted Christ as your Saviour. But there is a blessing in being obedient as a Christian.
* Written by Dr. Hank Lindstrom
The moment you put your trust in Jesus Christ, God who can read your mind knows, saves YOU and gives you the Gift of God, eternal Life.
You do not need anyone to pray over you, or pray for you, because this is between you and God in heaven. Because of your new trust in the shed blood of Jesus Christ you are now a child of God. Before you trusted in Jesus, God was your creator but now and forevermore he will be your father.
You are saved in a moment of time, because you are trusting in the true Savior now, not working your way to heaven day by day which is not even possible.
Once saved you can never be lost, for any reason. This is because you were born spiritually the moment you put your trust in Him. Just like your physical birth which brought you into this human world, your spiritual birth gave you a new spiritual life that is permanent. You were born-again, made righteous and holy in Gods eyes. In fact you have the righteousness of God himself, your are sinless and perfect in God’s eyes now and that’s why you can enter into a perfect heaven.
My favorite saying is:
God will not save anyone who is trying to be saved, He will only save those who are trusting to be saved.
You MUST put ALL your trust in Jesus to be saved, trust in the blood that He shed on the cross, trust that He is God in the flesh, trust that He made the complete payment for your sins, not just part; He paid for ALL of your sins (past, present, and future)! Trust that He rose again from the dead after 3 days and 3 nights, and in return for this trust, He gives YOU Eternal Life. All false Christians put part of their trust in Jesus and part of their trust the Church and part of their trust in themselves. If you put 99.99% trust in Jesus and 00.01% in something else, you will go to hell. It must be 100% trust in Jesus and what He did and 0% in you or your church! This information in critical… (grace always cancels works!) You are going to hell if it’s by your works or you are going to heaven by Gods grace. It’s as simple as that.
So I guess the question comes down to who are you trusting. Are you trusting yourself to get to heaven by being a good person and giving lots of money to your church or are you trusting Jesus, the lamb of God, that was slain for the sins of the world to get you to heaven? You receive the Gift of God (Eternal Life) as soon as you stop trusting in yourself, your church, your synagogue, your mosque, your money, or any other works and put your trust in Him and Him ALONE, Jesus Christ, Yeshua, The King of Kings, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the Alpha and Omega, the Mighty God.
False religions are everywhere and they will find you, the one true God and His plan of salvation must be found.
If all this makes sense to you and you would like to trust Jesus as your personal Savior right now then tell the Mighty God in Heaven of your decision to trust Jesus Christ as your only hope of heaven. Tell Him that you are no longer putting your trust in your actions, or your church, or your church membership, or in your money, or in your Rabbi, or in your synagogue or your Mosque but that you are putting all of your trust in Him and the shed blood of the cross to pay your sin debt. Thank Him for doing it for you! Thank Him for giving you the Gift of Eternal Life that He paid for with His life. There is no greater deed than that of laying down your life for another.
Will you trust Jesus as your Savior right now, the one who shed His precious blood on the cross of Calvary to pay for all your sins?
Sinners Prayer
Lord, I admit that I’m a sinner & I don’t understand a whole lot about the bible, but I do believe that Jesus Christ died & paid for my sins in full, by His death & shed blood on the cross. I trust right now the He died for me, was buried & rose again from the dead and will live forever more. I trust Jesus Christ right now to save me, to be my savior, to forgive my sins & to give me the GIFT OF GOD Eternal Life.
Amen
By reading this sinners prayer aloud, you are putting your trust in God and His plan of salvation. You are not saved by saying this prayer, you are saved the moment your mind made the switch from trusting in yourself to putting your COMPLETE TRUST IN JESUS CHRIST. That moment may have been five paragraphs up on this page or that moment may have been on another one of our pages. You will not feel any different, but you will be changed and changed for the better forever. Once you have trusted Jesus as your savior and received his gift of eternal life, this gift can NEVER be lost. You can NEVER go to hell for ANY reason. Your past, present and future sins were paid in full the moment you put your trust in Him. You are blameless and Holy in God’s eyes now and FOREVER. If you have eternal life today what kind of life will you have in five years? ETERNAL! What kind of life will you have in ten years? ETERNAL!! What kind of life will you have in 50 years? ETERNAL!!! God does not give probationary life or temporary life, His gift is ETERNAL LIFE! Thanks be to GOD!
Why be good, now that I am assured of going to heaven? Because God’s law of sowing and reaping still applies to you and me. You will reap what you sow. You will reap more than you sow and you will reap later than you sow. If you drink alcohol like a fish, you will reap a diseased liver. If you smoke like a chimney everyday, you will reap lung cancer. If you rob, murder, and steal you will reap a life in prison. You will reap what you sow. I guarantee it! Now that you are saved, when you do good things you WILL be rewarded here on earth and in Heaven. And when you do bad things you WILL lose rewards that God had planned on giving you here on earth and in Heaven. But you will NEVER lose your guarantee of going to heaven. That can never be lost for any reason!! You have God’s word that your salvation can never be lost for any reason. You did not earn salvation and you do not work to keep salvation! Eternal Life, salvation, being born again, becoming a child of God, was, is, and always will be the GIFT OF GOD.
Remember: If your not saved forever… you are not saved!
Why is this true you might ask? Because if a person is not sure that they are saved TODAY / RIGHT NOW it means that they are still trying to be the savior! They can’t be sure they are going to heaven because they don’t know what sin’s they may commit next week, next month or next year. We who have trusted in Jesus alone, can have comfort knowing that all our sins have been paid in full on the Cross of Calvary (past, present, and future sins). Jesus has already died for my sins so I don’t need to pay for any sin I have or will commit in the future because Jesus already paid the price in full with His blood. So called Christians who say that you can lose your salvation because of suicide or murder or falling away from the church don’t have a clue what the Bible says and clearly have not trusted Jesus ALONE!
Biblical Salvation is forsaking any other means of salvation but Christ and casting ourselves fully upon Him for eternal life.
The Gift of God, Eternal Life can never be lost once possessed for any reason. John 6:39 ” And this is the Father’s will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should LOSE NOTHING, but should raise it up again at the last day.” You have God’s promise that once you put your trust in Jesus you can never be lost for ANY reason whatsoever.
“For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” Romans 11:29 Again, God is telling you that this Gift of God that you have just received is without repentance. He can never take His gift back for any reason, no matter how bad you get, or how bad your sins are it is not possible. God would have to cease to exist for that to happen because He cannot lie.
*** If you have put your trust in Jesus today, please send us a quick email and let us know. The email’s we receive from those led to the Lord by our website is what keeps us going thru the difficult times. ***