A CHURCH OF ONLY SAVED BELIEVERS
ACTS 2:37-47
Introduction:
This is not only Baptist doctrine, but it is Bible doctrine as well.
I. Baptist churches have always insisted on three things before someone is baptized and enrolled as a member of the local church:
A. That the professing Christian has assurance of his salvation, John 5:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” 1 John 5:13, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
B. That he confess his faith and submission to Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour and Lord of his life publicly, Matthew 3:6, “And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.” Romans 10:9-10, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10- For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
C. That the professed believer demonstrate in his life, before baptism, a complete change.
1. A transformation effected by the Holy Spirit, the new spiritual birth, Matthew 3:3-10, “For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 4- And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. 5- Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, 6- And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. 7- But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8- Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: 9- And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 10- And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Titus 3:5, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;” 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
2. This transformation will manifest itself through:
a) The abandonment of vices, Ephesians 4:17, 32, “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
b) A new love for God and His church, 1 John 3:14, “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.”
c) By the positive conduct of “good works,” Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9- Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10- For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
II. Old Testament Types Prove This Doctrine.
A. Baptism, while important for the obedience of the believer after his conversion, is useless for the unbeliever because it has no power to save. The great slogan during the middle ages was “The blood first before baptism,” and “The Holy Spirit before water.”
B. A figure of this truth is seen in the Exodus of God’s people from Egypt. The Israelites were freed from death by the blood of the lamb, Exodus 12:6-7, “And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. 7- And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.”
1. This is a figure of our salvation from eternal death by the blood of Jesus Christ, Ephesians 1:7, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;” 1 John 1:7, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
2. The Israelites were guided by the cloud and pillar of fire even before they arrived at the Red Sea, Exodus 13:21-22, “And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: 22- He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.”
a) Their passage through the Red Sea on dry ground became a figure of baptism, 1 Corinthians 10:1-2, “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2- And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
b) The cloud and pillar of fire are figures of the presence and direction of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, Romans 8:14-17, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15-For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.16- The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17-And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”
Conclusion:
These figures teach us that the believer, before his baptism, shall be saved by the blood of Jesus Christ and led by the Holy Spirit! In fact, it is the Holy Spirit that leads the believer to want to be baptized Scripturally.