Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:3-4)
The Moment Of Redemption
When a child is born, the medical staff will log the exact time of birth, including the day and time. This will show when the child is born and often can make a difference between one year and the next or one month to the next. A child born on February 29 will be a leap-year child, but the time must be recorded to determine if the child is born on the 28th or the 29th. Whether a time is recorded or not, there is a moment in time when everyone leaves the womb to enter the world. That is the time of birth.
In the spiritual world, a time of birth translates a person from being a slave of sin to being a slave of righteousness. When the heart becomes accountable to God, and sin begins to dominate the spirit, the person is a sinner lost with no hope. There is a time when the heart becomes accountable to God for righteousness. They will be judged when the influence of sin enters the heart, corrupting it and seeking to bring it to the subjection of the devil’s wiles. Over time, a person will come to know the love of God offered through Jesus Christ and the redemption of His grace. The heart will respond to the gospel call of the word of God to be obedient to the will of the Father.
There are many things needed to change the heart of a sinner. Knowing God’s love is where the heart learns of sin’s consequences. Hearing the word of God impresses on the soul God is real and willing to forgive. Recognizing the love of the Father, a man begins to process the gift of God in accepting the incredible gift of grace and mercy. When the heart is moved by the message of Jesus Christ, the need to know what to do becomes paramount.
On the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, a large crowd heard the preaching of twelve men, showing how Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah. Through the evil hands of the Jewish leaders, Jesus had been killed. The message of hope was shown that Jesus was buried but then risen by the power of God to be King of Kings. Jesus was Lord and Christ. Hearing this, the crowd cried, “What must we do to be saved?” Peter responded that they needed to repent. Three thousand souls repented that day in obedience to the word of God.
Peter not only told the crowd to repent, but he also told them what Jesus had instructed them to preach to the whole world. Jesus instructed His apostles to teach that all those who believed and were baptized would be saved. Peter told the crowd to repent and be baptized, just like Jesus commanded. Three thousand people were born again that day when they were baptized in water for the remission of their sins. All through the book of Acts, people like the citizens of Samaria, a man from Ethiopia, Saul of Tarsus, Cornelius, Lydia, a jailor from Philippi, and multitudes of souls obeyed the word of God. In every case of conversion, there was a moment when the people left the slavery of sin and became the servants of the Most High God.
What is constant in all the conversion stories is when the moment of birth takes place. Believing the word of God is vital, but that was not the moment of birth. Accepting God’s grace and mercy shows the heart’s willingness to move on to God’s love, but that was not the moment of birth. Repentance is mandatory; as Jesus said, without it, one would perish. Many things precede the moment when a person is born again, but the moment of birth into the kingdom of God takes place in the waters of baptism. Not before. Jesus did not become Lord and Christ until God raised Him from the dead. In like manner, a person is not a blood-bought child of God until the moment of birth – water baptism.
To deny the importance and necessity of water baptism is to suggest a child can be born without birth. Spiritual birth takes place when the command to be baptized is completed. Like the physical birth, a day and time can be determined when a person becomes a child of God. As they rise from the waters of baptism, that singular moment transforms them from being lost to the joy of salvation. That is the moment God’s grace is fulfilled in the person’s life. Until sins are washed away, there is no birth. Sins can only be washed away in water. Paul instructed the brethren in Rome that salvation came in the spiritual resurrection. No burial means no resurrection. The new birth takes place when a person obeys all that God commands.
The Heaton File 