Jesus Christ shed his blood upon the cross for the salvation of sinners. And John says," If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."..1 John 1:9
And Jesus says: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."..Mark 16:16.
This is a very plain statement, which gives the promise of salvation to the believer and informs us of the doom of those who will not believe. The very moment that the condition of the Word of God are met by yielding all to the will of God, it is the privilege of the sinner to believe for the pardon of all sins that he has ever committed. He will not forgive a part of them and leave the others against us, but will blot them out and remember them no more again t us forever.
This need not be put off until some future time, because, "Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."..2Cor 6:2 When faith lays hold upon the promises of God, the condition having been met, God speaks the pardoning word and the soul is free from the bondage of sin; translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. And whomsoever the Lord makes free is free indeed.
It is then the duty of the one who thus been delivered from sin to be baptized. John the Baptist taught that people should repent of their sins before being baptized, and would not baptized the Pharisees because they did not show forth by their life and works the fruits of repentance.
Jesus taught that the people must be baptized; after his death and resurrection, and before his ascencion we read of him giving his last command to the apostles: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observed all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."..Matthew 28:19-20.
It was not long after this until Peter, preaching by the power of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, set forth the Word of God with such power that the people were convicted of their sinful condition and cried out: "Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said to unto them, Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remissions of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
Some get the idea from this that water washes away the sins, but such is not the case. They are baptized because they have been cleansed from their sins, which have been remitted through the blood of Jesus, by believing on him. It is only a ceremonial or figurative washing; an outward manifestation of an inward work already wrought in the heart through the blood.
The ceremonial performance concerning the cleansing of the leper as recorded in Leviticus 14:1-8 is a beautiful type or representation of salvation and baptism. The two birds typify Christ and the Holy Spirit. The leper was sprinkled with blood by the priest and pronounced clean, but was afterwards commanded to "wash himself in water," as a fulfilment of the law because he had been cleaned.
In like manner baptism in water is required after a person has been cleansed from his sins by the blood of Jesus, which is an outward signification to the people of the inward cleansing, and represents a washing or cleansing only in a figurative sense. "Not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,"...1 Pet 3:21.To make this point more clear we refer to a later incident in the ministry of Peter in Acts 10:47-48, where he said: "Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord."
Here were persons who not only had their sins forgiven, but had received the Holy Ghost, and after all this were commanded to be baptized in water. Some were baptized immediately after they were converted, and others after they were not only converted, but had received the Holy Ghost through the sanctifying power and grace of God. It would do no good to baptize one before his sins were forgiven He would only go down a dry sinner and come up a wet one.
Simply sprinkling or pouring water upon a person is not baptism, but it is to go down into the water and be immersed, which represents a burial, as the Word says-"Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead."..Colossian 2:12.
The washing away of sins is by the power of God through the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we read in Revelation 1:5, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.
Taken from : http://www.whatistruth.info/thoughts/33.html
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