The importance of water baptism #bibleverse #christianbelief #biblestudy #bibleteaching #baptism

‘Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.’ (Mark 16.16). The Scripture is clear; we are saved by faith. On the day of Pentecost, when Peter preached Christ crucified and risen from the dead, there was such conviction that the crowd asked him, ‘What shall we do?’ He answered, ‘Repent and be baptised’ (Acts 2.37-8). To do this certainly requires faith. Repentance is not only being sorry for sin (fear of punishment when we are found out can bring this), but true repentance means being sorry enough to leave our sin. This can only happen when we are convicted by the Holy Spirit of what sin is and how our sin grieves God. We then come to faith in Christ believing that by His death our sin is cancelled. This is confirmed by the episode in Philippi where at midnight, as a result of Paul and Silas praying and praising God, an earthquake burst open their prison. The effect on the jailer of this miraculous sign was to bring him under conviction of his own sin by the power of the Holy Spirit until he asked, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ (Acts 16.30). Paul answered, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus.’ And immediately he was baptised (verses 31-33), strong Biblical evidence as to why baptism in water must follow as part of our salvation.