Is Water Baptism Required for Salvation?

Welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a 30-minute walk through the Scriptures, teaching in-depth Bible truths that change people's lives. Now, here's your host, Les Feldick. Okay, it's good to see everybody again, and we'd like to welcome our television audience. And again, I had a letter yesterday, and she said, my husband and I watch you from our recliners sitting right in your back row. Well, that's a nice way to put it. They're not back there, but they are wherever they're watching it. And we like to hear comments like that, and how we appreciate your letters. I haven't commented on them today, but your letters just make our day, and they don't have to be long. But I guess the thing that thrills us the most is when, I think one couple made the comment in a letter last week, you have turned our Bible into something that was collecting dust, and now we've become fanatic studyers. But anyhow, it's just a change from the Bible which was just something up there on the shelf, and was never used, and now they're wearing it out. Well that's what makes our day, that we're getting people to realize that this is the greatest Book ever written, and you can't plumb the depths of it. About the time you think you've learned a little something, here comes another whole load, and it's just inexhaustible. So we do appreciate the fact that so many of you are getting into the Book, and studying on your own. Now I guess I always have to remind our audience, because every day we still get phone calls. Are these available on tape? Yes, they're available on video, audio, as well as the printed page, and so if you're interested in any of those, you just give us a call, and the girls will get the information out to you, or drop us a line, or whatever you prefer to do. So much for that, and we're going to get right back to where we left off in Colossians chapter 2. I didn't finish my thoughts in the two verses, 10 and 13, dealing with circumcision and our being dead in sins, but now we are circumcised spiritually, and we've been made alive spiritually. So if you'll come back with me to Colossians chapter 2 verse 11, and you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, that's where we were genetically. We were not in the family of Abraham, we were Gentiles. But He, God, has quickened or made us alive together with Him, which of course ties us to His death, burial, and resurrection, and the moment we believe that Gospel, God forgave us all our trespasses. Well I'll come to that a little later. But now back up to verse 11, in Him, that is in Christ who is the fullness of the Godhead, in whom you also are circumcised. Now we are circumcised, but not in the flesh, but spiritually. So you are circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh. Remember I told you in the closing moments of the last half hour, that circumcision depicts a cutting off of that which was superfluous. And so for the believer now, we have had something cut off, which is no longer necessary, and it is the Old Adam. The putting off of the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of, or really I think it's clearer to say, by Christ. Because He is the One who has taken away Old Adam. Now I put this much on the board, and I don't know how I can best approach this, but you remember when we were back in Genesis I did it with circles, but I'm not going to bother with them this afternoon. But you see when Adam was created, he was a complete entity of body, soul and spirit. The soul was that personality of the mind, will and the emotion, but it was in tune with His Creator. The spirit was the communicating part with His Creator, and the body of course enjoyed all the ramifications of this beautiful relationship with God Himself. But the moment Adam ate of that tree in disobedience to God, this personality became a sin nature. All it could think was that which was contrary to that which is holy and spiritual in God. And His spirit of course immediately died. The spirit of Adam died, and the body now began to die. It went for 939 years, but nevertheless it died. So there's what happened the minute Adam sinned. So now we come along as Gentiles on that side of the cross, and now Paul teaches that the moment we believe that when Christ died for our sins, was buried, rose from the dead in power and victory over the adversary, all we have to do is believe it with all our heart, recognizing that this is our state, that we're sinners, we're enemies of God, and the moment we believe it, God reckons old Adam as crucified with Christ. Our old Adam. Now that's where the spiritual circumcision comes in. God reckons old Adam as dead, and in his place the power of God has now given us a new nature, which is spiritual, it's the very nature of God Himself, and this then comprises that circumcision by Jesus the Christ, where He cuts off that old Adamic sin nature and replaces it with a new nature, and at the same time He regenerates our spirit, and that's the best word, He regenerates it. Do you remember way back, those of you who were with us when we taped those early programs in Genesis, I gave the illustration of a car battery, a storage battery. If you can picture it, you leave your lights on all night, and you get out there the next morning and it's dead, useless, has absolutely no power whatsoever. And I gave the illustration, you could go out with a pan and some soapy water, and boy you could clean up that battery until it glistened. You get in the car, and what happens? Nothing. See, and that's what most of Christendom is trying to do today, they're trying to just simply clean up the outside with the effort of the flesh, and they're still dead. I read the other day, and I'm not going to say that I agree with it, but someone was of the opinion that probably 60% of American church members are lost. Well I'm not going to say he's wrong, and I'm not going to say he's right, but I know what a lot of them are doing. They're just simply trying to clean up the outside, and there's nothing wrong with being good. My goodness, the world needs it. But that's not going to prepare you for eternity. So the only way we can get that car battery to where it's worth what it's supposed to be, is to regenerate it. And where do you have to get the power to regenerate it? An outside source. And that's exactly what has happened here. God now with His outside power has regenerated our dead spirit, He has now crucified old Adam, He's cut him off, and He has given us a new nature, and these two entities now of course have their effect on the body, and how we behave as believers. Now that's what these two verses are showing, that on one hand we are Gentiles in the flesh, on the other hand we were spiritually dead until the power of the Gospel, which was precipitated the moment we believed. And for those of you who doubt me why we have a list of verses that long, we send out constantly to people on how to be saved, and there's not one word in there about doing anything but believe for salvation. All the verses, I can quote one real quick, Romans 1.16 Romans 1.16 And the world is constantly trying to say, just like they did in Paul's day, but that's not enough, you've got to do this, or you've got to do that, or you've got to do something else. Paul's Gospel says, Christ did it all, it's done, it's complete, and we dare not try to add to it, because Galatians says if you're going to add to it, you cancel it. Now that's awful, that's frightening, but that's what we do. Now then back to Colossians chapter 2, and maybe these verses will now make a little more sense. Colossians 2.2 Verse 11 again, in whom? In Christ, by virtue of our believing the Gospel. And we've been placed in Christ by the Holy Spirit, which I'm going to see now in verse 12. Colossians 2.12 And we've been circumcised with that circumcision that is spiritual, the cutting off of our old Adam, that which defeats us every time we turn around. But he's been taken away so far as his influence. And then you come down to verse 13 again, we were dead in our sins, absolutely we were under the control of the old nature, our spirit was completely out of fellowship with God, and so that's what Paul says we were in the world. We were dead in sin and the uncircumcision of the flesh by virtue of being Gentiles, but God has quickened, He has regenerated our spirit, He has crucified old Adam, and He has given us a new nature, a new divine nature, and has at the same time forgiven us all our sin. Before I go back and look at another word, Colossians chapter 3, and again Paul repeats this twice in two chapters to drive it home. And oh most of Christendom has a hard time swallowing this, I know they do. But here it is again, Colossians chapter 3, verse 13. Colossians 3 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do you. Now look at that verse very carefully. Is there any demand in that verse that you forgive your enemy before you can be saved? No, that's already done by the grace of God, you're forgiven. But now since you and I are forgiven, what should we be ready to do? Forgive whoever we have ought against, whether it's in the church, or whether it's in our neighborhood, or whatever. But there is nothing stipulated in Paul's Gospel that first we have to forgive everybody before we can be forgiven. See I had the question come the other day, and they had heard it, and they had missed it. The Lord's Prayer isn't appropriate for us today. The Lord's Prayer was under Law, it was to Israel, and it says, "...forgive us our trespasses when as we forgive those who trespass against us." Now that's Law, and absolutely a Jew could not be forgiven until he went and forgave his neighbor. But that doesn't hold true today. We're forgiven by the grace of God, and if we're forgiven, then why in the world can't we forgive our neighbor? That's the teaching. So twice in two chapters, he says we have been forgiven of all our trespasses, and all our sins. Now let's see, I was going to go back to another one, and come back with me first I think to Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1-2, and you see, writing to these Ephesian believers, Ephesians 2 and 2 verse 1-2 "...you he hath quickened or made alive..." So it's the same concept. As soon as we believed the Gospel, God imparted to us that new divine nature, He gave us the regeneration of the Spirit, and it's divine eternal life that we are now partakers of. We were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedient, among whom we all had our manner of living in times past in the desires of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature, doing what comes naturally, we were like everybody else. But, verse 4, flip side, but God, see, not me, not I, but God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead, he hath quickened us together with Christ, hath raised us up together, made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, see our position now as believers. And then these tremendous verses, verse 4, by grace are you saved through faith, plus how much? Nothing, there's nothing else listed here, it's by grace through faith, plus nothing. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. How much work do you do for a gift? None, but all people are having all this stuff laid on them. Oh I can't even remember what the last one was. It's so ridiculous, that if he didn't do such and such, he's going to hell, and the poor guy was uptight, almost in tears. Where's that in your Bible? Well he didn't know, but that's what somebody had told him. Listen, there is nothing in here that says you've got to do such and such, except believe that Christ has already done it. It's finished, and we can't add to it. Well back to Colossians chapter 2, and now let's look at verse 12. I'm going to repeat something I said on my program years ago, and I'll repeat it again, and I'll repeat it years to come if the Lord cares. There is probably no other one thing in all of Christendom that will cause enmity, and will just make the hair stand up on the back of people's necks like baptism. Oh I've learned it first hand over and over. You disagree with somebody on baptism, and you may have had the best friend in the world, but he is no more. It just simply puts a division between people, and there's more arguing and more controversy over baptism, and who should be baptized, and how they should be baptized, and it almost gets disconcerting. It's not in the Book. It is not to be something that should be divisive and all that. So now let's look at the verse. Colossians chapter 2, and let's read it again. "...buried with him in baptism, wherein you also are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead." Now I don't know which way to start. Should I start with the Holy Spirit, or should I start over here? Let's start with the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians chapter 12. We'll start at verse 12. And I guess you all know this is still Paul writing to the believers at Corinth, who had a lot of problems. Oh they had problems. We covered all that when we taught the Corinthian letters. Verse 12. "...for as the body," this body that we live in, "...for as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are still one body, so also is Christ." So also is the Body of Christ. Now remember I have put this over and over. The Body, which is the Church, is strictly a Pauline term. Nobody, nobody, the Lord didn't, Peter didn't, the other disciples didn't, the Old Testament doesn't, Revelation doesn't. Nobody speaks of the Body of Christ but Paul. Check me out, search the Scriptures, you'll never find the term, the Body of Christ, except Romans through Philemon. If you want to go on in through Hebrews, I feel Paul wrote it, although he wrote it as it says to the Hebrews. But never, never does anybody use the term, the Body of Christ, except Paul. Alright, so here is another instance that he's using this as an example, our physical body, which is composed of everything from the little toe that usually no one ever sees, to our facial features which everyone sees. Now that's the Body of Christ. We're all functioning in a different area of the body, and yet we are all intrinsically important to the function of the Body. But remember the Body stops here, the rest is what? Head, and who's the head of the Body? Christ is. He is the nerve center of the Body, which is the Church. Now that again is all part and parcel of Paul's language, that Christ by virtue of His finished work of the Cross, by virtue of His justifying us by faith and faith alone, He in turn places us into this living spiritual organism that Paul calls the Body of Christ. Now how do we get into the Body of Christ? You can't buy your way, you can't work your way, so you have to do something else. And what is it? Nothing, except believe. Now verse 13, verse 13, "...for by one Spirit are we all, not just the elite, not just the clergy, not just the good people, but every believer, whatever his station in life, whatever his behavior as a believer, he may be rather carnal like the Corinthians were, but every believer, all baptized into one Body, whether Jew or Gentile, all baptized into one Body, all baptized into one Spirit, we be bond or free, we have been all made to drink or partake into that one Spirit." But look at verse 13, the very first two words, prepositions, "...for by one Spirit." See, not by a denomination, not by a preacher, not by some cult leader, there is only one valid baptizer in the church age, and that is the Holy Spirit. And this is the Holy Spirit baptism that Paul teaches. Now let me show you Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians 1, and it's got to be down there at verse 13. Ephesians 1, verse 13, in whom you also trusted, or placed your faith, after you heard the word of truth, which is the Word of God, the Gospel of your salvation. Now what did you do with it? You believed. After you believed, you were sealed in this case with that Holy Spirit of promise. I'm not doing any violence to Scripture to say that at that very same moment you were baptized by the Holy Spirit of promise, and thereby God branded us as His own. And so the only valid baptism today, spiritually speaking, is when the Holy Spirit baptizes us into the Body of Christ. Now the reason I have to emphasize that is because of Ephesians going a little further. Go over to chapter 4, verse 4. Now this is hard for people to swallow, but it's so plain and simple in the book, just as simple as it can be. Ephesians 4, verse 4. There is one Body, not 1,500, there are 1,500 Christian denominations in California alone, but there isn't. There is one Body, one Spirit, even as you were called in one hope. Now look at verse 5. One Lord, one faith, and one what? The Holy Spirit. It's the only one that counts. Now I don't forbid water baptism, all I tell people is that it has nothing to do with your eternal destiny, because the only baptism that counts for eternity is, have you been placed into the Body of Christ by the baptizing power of the Holy Spirit? If you haven't had that, you're doomed. I don't care how many times you're baptized in water, it's the Holy Spirit baptism that settles it for eternity. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick. Through the Bible is a partner supported ministry. If this program has been a help to your study of the scriptures, and you'd like to see others enjoy the teaching, your support would be greatly appreciated. Write to us at Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, OK 74552, or call 1-800-369-7856. Remember, all programs are available in printed form, audio cassette, and videotape. Be sure to tune in next time to Through the Bible with Les Feldick.