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Scripture Reading: Mark 16:16; Rom. 10:9-10
In the mind of many people, Mark 16:16 reads, "He who believes and is saved shall be baptized." They think that as long as they believe in the Lord, they will be saved, and that after they are saved, they should be baptized. But my Bible does not say this. It says, "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved." This means that it is not enough for a person to believe; he must also be baptized before he can be saved. What does this mean? You have to realize that there are many meanings to the word salvation. One meaning refers to the blessing in the kingdom. Another meaning refers to our departure from the world when the Lord comes back. Still another meaning refers to our present overcoming, and a fourth refers to our going to heaven. Romans 10 and Mark 16 mean none of the above. They do not refer to the blessing in the millennium. Neither do they refer to the redemption of our body at the coming of the Lord, nor to the salvation of our soul-life in the future. They refer to something else, something special. Every believer can experience the various aspects of salvation mentioned above. I cannot speak on all these today. When I heard that someone would be baptized today, I thought about the matter of salvation. I wonder how many people understand the salvation that is spoken of in Romans 10 and Mark 16. Therefore, we will spend some time to consider this matter today.
There is a common thought that one is baptized when he has believed and been saved. But the Bible clearly says that he who believes and is baptized is saved. Baptism comes first, and then salvation. You may ask what this salvation refers to. Please recall how a person receives eternal life. He receives life through believing. He receives eternal life through accepting the Lord Jesus into his heart as his life. The gospel of John clearly speaks of this. Although you may have believed, how do I know that you have believed? Although you say that you have received eternal life, how do I know? Suppose a man has believed, but he never comes to the meeting, never breaks bread with us, and has not been baptized. He continues to be a Christian in secret and lives like the worldly people, without letting anyone know that he is a Christian. I would say that he has life, but that he is not saved. Truly, he is saved before God. But he is not saved before us and before the world. Therefore, you have to remember that one aspect of salvation has to do with our separation from the world. A man can be a Christian in secret and go to heaven when he dies. Although he may not know what will happen when the Lord comes to judge the believers, he knows that he will have eternal salvation. But during the fifty or sixty years of his life on earth, he is not saved. In the eyes of the Lord, he is saved. However, in the eyes of man, he is not saved because even though he has believed, he has not been baptized. Therefore, he is still not saved to others. Our salvation before the Lord merely gives us His life. But we must live out this life so that others can see His life; then we are saved in their eyes. After doing this, other believers will recognize us as brothers, and the Gentiles will call us Christians. The world will realize that we no longer belong to it, and the brothers will say that we belong with them. Then we will have a change. We will be freed from the old realm and enter a new realm, and others will sense that we are really separated from them. This is what is meant by salvation through believing and being baptized. I will take this opportunity today to say a few words while some of you are being baptized. As long as a person believes in the Lord, he has life. But he must be baptized before he can be saved. There are many Moslems who are Christians in secret. No one bothers them if they only believe in the Lord. But the minute they are baptized, they may even be poisoned to death, because the minute they are baptized, they are saved and separated from the others, and others see a difference in them. They have proven in an outward way that they are Christians and demonstrated the faith that is in their hearts. Therefore, they can no longer be tolerated. To believe is to have life within, while to be baptized is to be saved without. When a person is baptized, he demonstrates in an outward way that he belongs to Christ, and others realize that there is a difference in him. This is why baptism is not a small thing.
Romans 10 says the same thing: "With the mouth there is confession unto salvation" (v. 10). Does this mean that as long as one confesses with his mouth he can go to heaven? Must one confess with his mouth before he can go to heaven? No, there are many dumb ones who can go to heaven. Confession with the mouth merely shows those in the world that you are different from them, and that you have been delivered out from their midst. Therefore brothers, let us pay attention to this aspect of salvation. Numerous Christians have life within, but this life cannot be seen outwardly at all. Although they are saved before the Lord, before their friends, brothers, family, and colleagues, they are not saved. I can illustrate this with an example. The last time I took a boat on a journey, I talked with many passengers on the boat who asked me what my line of business was. It was difficult for me to explain to them. What could I say? I could not say that I was a preacher, because I do not recognize this as a profession or as a special class of people. I could not say that I was a Christian, because a Christian is not a profession or business; saying this would not be answering what they had asked. Later, I thought about the fact that I wrote many articles, and I told them that I was a writer. But the minute I said this, I became as one who was not saved among them, because I did not show others my difference. I became the same as they were. One could be a reporter, another a cashier or bookkeeper, while I was a writer. In this way, all of us became the same. In their eyes, I was not a person being delivered from among them. I could have been different from them by following my statement with the words: "I am a Christian." This would have marked a clear boundary between them and me, and would have shown them that they were sinners, while I was saved. They and I were totally different. Truly, we may be saved, but others may not know that we are saved; they may think that we are the same as them. This is the meaning of the verse, "With the mouth there is confession unto salvation."
The question today is not whether you have believed, but whether or not you have been baptized. We are not asking if you have received the Lord, but if others have seen this change in you. Believing involves a breakthrough in your spiritual life and passing from death unto life inwardly. Being baptized involves a breakthrough in the physical realm and passing from death unto life outwardly. Believing is to pass from death unto life before God, while being baptized is to pass from death unto life before men. Believing is to inwardly receive the eternal life, while being baptized is to outwardly announce to others that from now on, you have opened up yourself to showing others that you are a Christian, that you are hidden no more. Prior to this, you were a hidden Nicodemus, but now you are telling others openly that you are saved and different from them.
A baptized person is like a person who has entered the grave. The ultimate destination of our most loved ones is the grave. Marriage lasts until the grave. The grave is one's final destiny. When a man dies, his corpse can still be seen, but after he enters the grave, he is gone forever and never seen again. Baptism means to be seen no more. It is not a "See you tomorrow," but a "See you never again." The water is a symbol of the grave. When we enter the grave symbolized by the water, we are separated from the world; the world will acknowledge that we are delivered out of it, and that we no longer belong to it. This is why Acts indicates that saved persons are added to the church, because the local church is the outward gathering of all the saved ones. "The whole church" in Acts 15:22 means the gathering of all those who are called by the Lord.
Let me ask you once more. What are you doing when you are baptized today? You are telling others that from now on, your coming and going will not be the same as before; your view toward the world has changed. Although you have taken the same way as others for many years, that relationship is over today. From now on, you stand in a different place; you have been delivered out of them, and are no longer among them. To believe is an inward deliverance, while to be baptized is an outward deliverance. To believe is a deliverance in the spirit, while to be baptized is a deliverance in the body. To believe is to be delivered from the world morally, while to be baptized is to be delivered from the world in one's conduct. This is the salvation spoken of in Mark 16 and Romans 10.
You must also remember that you are not the only one who is saved in this world. There are many others who are also saved. Most of the ones who are sitting here today are saved. There are many saved people, and you are only one of them. In the past, you were in the world; you helped the world, tried to improve the world, and exercised your strength to serve in the world community. Now you have been delivered from it, and you belong to another community. As before, you have many companions. They are the believers, and they are now joined to you. Therefore, you can no longer be an individual Christian and no longer act independently. Because you are joined to them, everything that you do represents your brothers and sisters. After we are baptized, we become one Body. Wherever you are, the church is there. If there is a place where someone should not go, yet he goes there, he damages the oneness. If we are restricted in every way by the oneness, we will be preserved in our footsteps and avoid many problems. Therefore, we should remember that whenever we do anything, we should take the brothers with us. One Western brother once related a story. A sister went to listen to a modernistic theologian's blasphemous preaching. When she came back from the meeting, she told an elderly brother that even though the teaching was wrong, his English was good. The elderly brother said, "If you went, I was there also." She said that it was impossible for him to have been there. He said, "Indeed, I did not want to go, but you carried me along with you." This is very true. We all are related to one another as members of the Body. When one member goes somewhere, the other members go along with him. When you are baptized today, you are declaring to others that from now on you are separated from the world and are choosing to live with the Christians. Whatever you do now, all the other brothers are included in your actions. Therefore brothers, please do not carry me to places where I do not want to go, and please do not do what I do not want to do. This may be a difficult thing to practice at times. But we must always wait to see if our brothers agree to our actions.
I hope that all the brothers and sisters would know that being saved is not just going to heaven, but being different from the world and being separated from among them. May the Lord bless His word, and may we have a clear vision of it. May we know that the border of our garments should be fringed with blue. Every one of us should be heavenly and belong to the Lord; all of our actions and walk should express this blueness. Brothers and sisters, baptism is just the beginning of this journey; there is much ahead of us! May we be encouraged to go on.
