BAPTISM DOES NOT SAVE
Luke 3: There was a time in the life of Billy Graham when he was very disturbed over his belief in Christianity due to the constant torrent of criticism he was receiving from a very dear friend, Charles Templeton. Satan is always working and Billy was certainly a threat to his efforts. Charles himself had a change of belief and after a long period of preaching alongside Billy refused to believe any further in Jesus and what He represented. He became an agnostic. Billy knew he had to come to grips with his faith, so one night he fell to his knees in prayer and confessed to God that he couldn’t answer some of the theological and psychological questions that Templeton and others were raising. He finally told the Lord he would accept the Bible as the inspired Word of God and he would not allow the words of others to influence his faith. When he got up he said he felt the power of God permeate his body and we all know the rest. His main point of all his preaching was and still is coming to Jesus in faith. The one thing I admired Billy was the Bible was always in his hand; he knew the power of the living word of God.
Why did I shift this letter from my usual format? Because I firmly believe that we are to keep a very simplistic approach to salvation. In this chapter we find John the Baptist fulfilling his destiny; baptizing and preparing the way for Jesus. What we need to realize is that John is baptizing the repentance of sins, that is, for people to admit their sin and try to change their ways. What we must also realize is that this type of baptism will not save anyone from the eternal separation of God. John told the crowd that his baptism was one of repentance and also told them that Jesus was coming and He would baptize with them with the Holy Spirit. A look at verse 4 reveals John’s commitment to God: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”
Today there are many who would have you believe that you must be baptized or have some other type of ritual applied to your life to be saved. This is a blatant misleading of the people because the Bible is very simple in its message of salvation. There is one requirement of the Lord and that is to believe, in faith, that Jesus is the eternal Son of the eternal God. God and His death on the cross was the FINAL and ONLY payment for sin. Confess your sins to Him and you will receive (baptism) the Holy Spirit and you will be saved. It’s as simple as that. Billy Graham and all the great preachers believe that, why not you? John 3: 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Oh what a loving God we have.
If you just take the time to read His Word and let Him speak to you directly; if you do I’ll probably see you in Heaven; if you don’t I pray every day that you will do just that.
No comments:
Post a Comment