When we were saved we did not have to go back into our sin. It was a new beginning, not just an experience we had and got over. The effect of salvation lasts forever, a lifetime. Whether we’ve been saved a short time or a long time, we remember when Jesus saved us. It’s lasted. The Christian life is not without its ups and downs, but it has been an abundant road. John 10:10 says The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. We have to understand this. After accepting Jesus Christ as Savior we follow him. The first step to that is baptism.
Baptism is not a work of salvation. That comes through our faith in Jesus Christ. So it’s not washing sins away. Physically we get wet, but Jesus doesn’t need water to save. His blood is what saves us. We supply the faith to believe in him. Baptism is our responsible answer to a good conscience, our saved soul and a cleansed heart. It is a gilding of ourselves. Jesus was baptized to fulfill the commandments. Now we get baptized by yielding to him. It’s a matter of choosing and obedience.
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
This is worth a study. Jesus gave himself for the life of the sinner by giving his life so we could be saved. We were as good as dead because of our separation from God. When Jesus died it was to buy everlasting life for us. We couldn’t do it for ourselves. The dead cannot do anything. A dead animal in the road won’t come back to life. Through Jesus’ death he brought us from death to life. He raised our soul from spiritual death. Baptism is a testimony that we’re shaken from our old life and risen from the dead. We don’t have to live in sin. We now have a choice. The life God gives is abundant. It’s something we had never experienced. Guilt is gone. Sin is forgiven, washed away. Every day as we trust in him he gives us the best days and moments we’ll ever have. After salvation we want to come to church and sing different types of music. I hated to go to church before I got saved. I left honky tonk music for the choir. It’s a new desire. And even a bad day now is better than my old life before Jesus. When we come to the end of this life we won’t be in fear. Rather we’ll step into the eternal life. When we take our last breath down here, the next one will be with Jesus in a perfect eternity. Trust in Jesus. Don’t break the connection you have in him. Never quit trusting him. That trust will carry you into eternity.
For an abundant life we’re called to yield ourselves to God. It’s contradictory to do what we used to. Those who go back into sin are never happy. They are not where they ought to be. Why go back? There is nothing back there for us. Everything we need is in Jesus Christ. He knows our nature; we have to yield to him every day. We will yield to one of two masters. Don’t let the master be Satan. Don’t go back into that bondage. That’s doing what the devil wants, not what God wants. Our freedom is in Jesus. The more we yield to him, the freer we are. Lay hold of the gift of God and stay yielded to Jesus Christ. There is no one better. Jesus is heaven’s best. Hold on!
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 