He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:16)

He Who Believes

Jesus spoke plainly. There was never a time when Jesus was at a loss for words. His teaching was so direct that the audience was struck by His authoritative tone, clarity, and no-nonsense approach to the Jewish leaders who ridiculed Him. It did not take long for the people to see that Jesus did not care for the opinions of men if they did not follow the will of the Father. The Pharisees and scribes continually attacked His teaching, and He rebuffed them every time. Lawyers tested Him and failed. The Pharisees tried to trap Jesus with political questions, but they were put to shame. Reading the gospels clearly defines the language of Jesus as simple yet profound; direct, yet with love; and never leaving any room for what Jesus taught from His Father.

Before ascending to the Father, Jesus spent forty days with the eleven, preparing them for what would be the spreading of the kingdom of God throughout the world. Jesus would not be with them as they began preaching the gospel of salvation, but the promise of the Holy Spirit would guide their hearts and minds to open the door of salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ to the Jew first and also to the Greek. The underlying message of the gospel was what a man had to do to be saved. Jesus did not come to answer the political or economic question of the day. His message was defined by telling men what they needed to do to be saved. Nothing was of more paramount importance than directing lost souls to Christ.

As Jesus prepared to leave the eleven, He gave them specific instructions that served as the overriding theme of the gospel. Jesus told the eleven to preach the gospel in every part of the world they could go and to send others across the globe to open the door of grace to a lost and dying world. The first thing Jesus wanted them to do was to go out and preach the gospel. As a result of the preaching of the gospel, honest hearts will cry out wanting to find salvation. They will ask what they need to do to be saved. What comes next has eternal consequences.

Jesus said that everyone who believes that He is the Christ, the Son of God, and is baptized, will be saved. Belief is necessary for salvation, through and by the grace and mercy of God. When someone believes in the message of the gospel, they will desire to be immersed in water (baptism). That is a natural response to the gospel of Jesus Christ. When Phillip taught the man from Ethiopia the gospel of Jesus, the Ethiopian asked why he could not be baptized. It is impossible to preach Jesus without teaching water immersion. If someone does not preach baptism, they are not preaching Jesus. The Holy Spirit declared that truth with Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch. What Phillip was doing was what Jesus told the eleven apostles to do.

Everyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. That is gospel truth. There can be no deviation from that sentence. It can be ignored, but to the eternal peril of those who reject baptism as necessary for salvation. Teaching that baptism is not necessary contradicts Jesus’ teaching. Everyone who hears the gospel of Jesus Christ and is not baptized will not be saved. They will be lost, condemned, and suffer the second death. The scriptures are clear: refusing to be baptized for the remission of sins condemns a soul to perdition. There is no other answer to the question of salvation. Through the grace and mercy of God, sinners can have their sins washed away in the blood of Jesus.

Jesus did not say that a man must accept Christ in his heart to be saved. That is never found in scripture but in the book of lies told by the wisdom of men. Too many souls believe they are in a covenant with Christ because they have been saved by faith alone; not realizing they stand condemned before Jesus, who said a person must believe and be baptized to be saved. A man who does not believe will be condemned. Jesus said that plainly. It is printed on paper to emphasize its importance. Two thousand years have not changed what Jesus said.

Everyone has a choice to either believe and accept what Jesus said a man must do to be saved, or to take the doctrines of men that will condemn them to the outer darkness. When baptism becomes an outward sign only without repentance, there is no salvation. Sins are washed away in the waters of baptism and in those waters alone. No baptism – no salvation. Salvation is made possible by the grace of God through His love and His divine mercy. What must I do to be saved? Believe and be baptized for the remission of sins.