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There are times to sit tight and watch and there are times to pitch in and give a hand to help fellow Christians. There are times like this to raise the banner, sound the alarm and get in the fight. Let me discuss, in this article, who are the saved? Most scripture quotes are from the NASB.
We must be aware that there are times when issues need to be dealt with kindly, quietly and carefully. There are other times that issues need to be announced and shouted from the roofs. Paul was not shy nor did he treat false doctrine kindly. He rebuked those who were perverting the truth. Ephesians 5:11 is an appropriate verse for those who pervert the gospel truth, we need to expose them. Romans 16:17 says we need to mark them and avoid them. Ideally, they need to be stopped in their tracks. We are in warfare, Eph. 6:12, of the spirit. Accusations go back and forth and each condemns the other but in the end only those who do the will of the Father will stand with Him. I want to be in the group standing with Him no matter how small that group is, how about you?
I regret that I cannot cover all of the doctrine I would like to but I will attempt to explain myself. If you come from a Christian or denominational background, there are things I probably don't have to explain. I probably don't have to explain hearing the word of God to come to a knowledge of Christ, Romans 10:17. We probably don't have much disagreement about belief in Jesus, that He can save our souls, Act 4:12. We probably agree about repentance. We must turn from our sin and head toward the right path, Matthew 4:17, Luke 13:3 & 5 and II Peter 3:9. We may need to discuss what it means to confess Jesus Christ. That is, when the Bible says confess it does not always mean confess our sins to each other. We need to confess that Jesus is the Son of God (Acts 8:37), as the Ethiopian eunuch did. The one, single issue in these last days is the topic of the salvation of man. Of course salvation includes all of the above-mentioned things along with living a righteous and holy life. We may disagree about the error of once in grace always in grace, Hebrews 6:4-6. The main issue is over salvation and how we get it.
Jesus was baptized by John and this, according to some, should be our example. Jesus lived and died under the old law and was baptized with John's baptism of repentance under the old law. We will discuss this a little more, later. Actually the apostles laid down the example for us to follow in this New Testament time and much has been written about the subject. The truth of the salvation message is hard to miss unless, as I have heard quoted, you have "professional help." It takes professional help for a prospective convert to Christ to miss the importance of New Testament baptism into Christ. Just as importantly it doesn't take professional help for a soul to find the way to Jesus Christ. Philip the evangelist taught the eunuch from the Old Testament scriptures and he believed and was baptized. Now we have even more testimony in the New Testament scriptures. We don't have to be professionals to bring someone to the truth of the gospel with a faith in Christ, and then baptize them into Christ for the forgiveness of sin and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Since where we spend eternity is not something that we should take lightly, we must consider all of the evidence. No one else can make our decision for us. Contrary to Calvinistic belief, we are not predestined to heaven or hell, I Timothy 2:3-4 & Titus 2:11. We need to make a conscience decision to go to heaven. We are responsible to know, understand and obey God and His word. The Israelites in the Exodus did not obey God and were lost. They were given direct orders and still disobeyed. We have been given orders also and many have confused and de-emphasized the orders. Jesus said (recorded in the gospels) "Go and baptize." He even plainly said in Mark 16:16 those who "believed and are baptized will be saved." Belief is an important key to salvation but don't take away baptism here asserted as one of the keys to salvation. In Acts 2:38 Luke wrote, "And Peter said to them, repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Forgiveness of sin is the most important issue ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the garden paradise. We need the forgiveness of sin by God to be saved. We need to be saved to be in fellowship with Jesus Christ. We need to be in fellowship with Jesus Christ to get to heaven to see God, Romans 8:1-4.
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