What Must I Do To Be Saved?

Worthynews.com ^ | July 11th, 1875 | D. L. Moody

[P-Marlowe]

Jesus Christ is calling you ...

What Must I Do To Be Saved?

Dwight Lyman Moody's Last Sermon in London. Preached in Camberwell Hall, Sunday Evening, July 11th, 1875.

Suppose you do not want to hear a sermon (on this last night) so much as you want to know how to be saved. I want, if I can, to answer that question, "What must I do to be saved?" There is no question that can come before us in this world that is so important; and I think that there is not a man in this audience to-night who does not feel interested in it.

I heard a man, when he was going out the other night, saying: "I do not believe in sudden conversion. I do not believe what the preacher said to-night, that a man could come in here a sinner, and go out a Christian." Now, I want to say that I do not believe in any other conversion. I do not believe that there ever has been a conversion in the world that was not instantaneous, and I want you to mark this: not but what many cannot tell the day nor the hour when they were converted. I will admit that: they may not know the time; but that does not change the great fact that there was a time when they passed from death unto life; that there was a time when they were born [ABCOG: begotten] into the kingdom of God. There must have been a minute when their name was written in the Book of Life. There must have been a time when they were ere lost, and a time when they were saved; but we may not be conscious when the change takes place. I believe the conversion of some is like the rising of the sun, and of others like the flashing of a meteor. But both are instantaneous, really, in the sight of God. There must be a time when life begins to rise; when the dead soul begins to live.

Now, this evening I want to take up some of the Bible illustrations. In the first place, there is the ark. There was a minute when Noah was outside of the ark, and another minute when he was inside. And, bear in mind, it was the ark that saved Noah: it was not his righteousness; it was not his feelings; it was not his tears; it was not his prayers. It was the ark that saved him. If he had tried to make an ark of his feelings, or of his prayers, or of his life, he would have been swept away: he would have been drowned with the rest. But, you see, it was the ark that saved him.

When I was in Manchester, I went into the gallery one Sunday night to have a talk with a few inquirers; and while I was talking, a business man came in, and took his seat on the outskirts of the audience. I think, at first, he had come merely to criticize, and that he was a little skeptical. At last I saw he was in tears. I turned to him, and said, " My friend, what is your difficulty?" "Well," he said, "Mr. Moody, the fact is, I cannot tell." I said, "Do you believe you are a sinner?" He said, "Yes; I know that." I said, "Christ is able to save you"; and I used one illustration after another, but he did not see it. At last I thought of the ark, and I said: "Was it Noah's feelings that saved him? Was it Noah's righteousness that saved him, or was it the ark?" "I see it, now," said he; "I see it." He got up and shook hands with me, and said: "Good-night: I must go. I have to go away by the train to-night; but I was determined to be saved before I went. I see it now."

A few days after, he came and touched me on the shoulder, and said, "Do you know me? " I said, "I know your face, but do not remember where I have seen you." He said, "Do you not remember the illustration of the ark? I said, " Yes." "It has been all light ever since," said he. "I understand it now. Christ is the Ark; He saves me; and I must get inside Him." When I went down to Manchester again, and talked to the young friends there, I found he was the brightest light among them.

Let me take another illustration. There was the blood in Goshen. God says, "When I see the blood I will pass over you." Now He does not say, "When I see Moses' feelings, or the feelings of the people, I will pass over you"; or, "When I see you praying and weeping, I will pass over you"; but, "When I see the blood I will pass over you." It was the blood that saved them, not their righteousness. And a little child by that blood in Goshen was just as safe as Moses or Aaron or Joshua or Caleb. It was the blood that saved them. Look! there is the Jew taking the hyssop. He dips it in the blood, and strikes it on the doorpost. One minute it is not there: the next it is there. The moment the blood is there they are saved. God says, "When I see the blood I will pass over you." Some people say, "If I were only as good as that minister I should feel so safe" or, "If I were only as good as that mother in Israel who has been praying fifty years for the poor and unfortunate, should I not feel very safe? " My friends, if you are behind the blood, you are as safe as any man or woman who has been praying for fifty years. It is not their righteousness and good works that are going to save them. They never saved any one. God says, "When I see the blood I will pass over you." [ABCOG: Moody understands "pass over" to mean "bypass". It can also mean "hover over to protect"] And when I am sheltered behind the blood, then I am saved; and if I am not sheltered behind the blood, I am not saved. That was instantaneous, was not it? God says, "When I see the blood, it shall be a token, and I will not enter." Death came down and passed over Egypt; and where the blood was on the doorpost he passed by; but where the blood could not be found, in he went and took the victim away. The great palaces could not keep out death; wealth and position could not keep out death. He went and took the Crown Prince of Egypt; he took the richest and the poorest, the highest and the lowest. Death makes no distinction, except a man is behind the blood.

My friends, be wise to-night, and get behind the blood. The blood has been shed. The blood is on the mercy-seat; and while it is there you can be saved. God is imputing to His Son your trespasses and sins. He says, "I will look at the blood on the mercy-seat." Press in, my friends; make haste and get in tonight; for the Master of the house will rise up by-and-by and shut to the door, and then there will be no hope.

Take another case. When Israel went over Jordan, God told Joshua to have six cities of refuge; three on each side of Jordan. They were to be built on a hill, where they could be seen at a great distance, and the gates were to be kept open day and night. All obstacles were to be kept out of the way, the highway was to be kept in repair, the bridges and everything in good condition, so that nothing should hinder a poor man flying to the city of refuge. If a man killed another in those days, it was considered a great disgrace if the nearest relative did not take vengeance. "An eye for an eye, and a booth for a tooth." If a man killed another, the next kinsman was bound to put him to death. But if he could escape to a city of refuge he was tried, and if it was found he had not intentionally killed the man, he might live.

Now for my illustration. Suppose I have killed a man. I am out away in the woods working, and my axe slips out of my hand, and kills the man working with me. I know that his kinsman, his brother, is not far away. The news will soon reach him that I have killed his brother. What shall I do? I start for the city of refuge, over there away on the hill, ten miles off. I run - and we are told that in those days there used to be signposts with the word " Refuge," written in great red letters, so that a man might read as he ran; he need not stop. I have been told that there was a finger pointing towards the city, and a man who could not read might see the hand. A man does not have to learn to read before he can be saved. I see that hand; it is pointing to the city of refuge. The gate is wide open, but it is ten miles away. I leap over the highway. I do not look behind, to the right hand or to the left. I do not listen to this man or to that man, but, like John Bunyan, I put my fingers in my ears. The avenger has drawn his sword, and is on my track. I leap over into the highway; and, pretty soon, I can hear him behind me, Away I go, over that bridge, across that stream, up that mountain, along that valley, - but I can hear him coming nearer and nearer. There is the watchman; I can see him on the wall of the city. He gives notice to the inhabitants that a refugee is coming. I see the citizens on the wall of the city watching, and when I get near I hear them calling, "Run, run! Escape, escape! He is very near you! Run! escape!" I press on; leap through the gate of the city; and at last I am safe. One minute I am outside, and the next I am inside. One minute I am exposed to that sword; it may come down upon me at any minute: the next minute I am safe. Do I feel any difference? I feel I am behind the walls: that is the difference. It is a fact. There I am. The avenger can come up to the gates of the city, but he cannot come in. He cannot lay his sword upon me. The law of the land shields me now. I am under the protection of that city; I have saved my life; but I had no time for lingering.

A great many of you are trying to get into the city of refuge, and there are enemies trying to stop you, But do not listen to them. Your friends tell you to escape. Make haste! Delay not for a single moment!

In our country, before the war, when we had slavery, the slaves used to keep their eye on the north star. If a slave escaped to the Northern States, his old master could come and take him back into slavery. But there was another flag on American soil, and if they could only get under that flag they were for ever free. It is called the Union Jack. If they could only get as far north as Canada they were free; therefore they kept looking towards the north star. But they knew if they only got into the Northern States, there might be some one ready to take them back. So it is with every poor sinner who wants to come to Christ. Many men do all they can to hinder him; others will cheer him on. Let us help every man towards the north star. A man has escaped: perhaps he swims across the Mississippi river, or crosses the Ohio river in a little canoe. The master hears of it, and he takes his hounds and sets them on his track, and begins to hunt him down. The slave hears the hounds; and he knows that his master is coming to take him back to slavery. The line is a mile or two away. He escapes as fast as he can. He runs with all his might for the frontier, over hedges and ditches and rivers; away he goes for Canada. By-and-by he comes in sight of Canada. He can see that flag floating in front of him; and he knows that if he can only cross the line before his master and the hounds overtake him, he will be free for ever.

How the poor black man runs! leaping and bounding along; and at last, with one bound, he goes over the line. He is free! One minute he is a slave; the next minute he is a free man, under the flag of Queen Victoria, the British flag! (cheers [ABCOG: by British crowd]) - don't cheer, my friends, but come to Christ - and your laws say that no man under that flag shall be a slave. One minute he is a slave; the next minute he is a free man. One minute it is possible for his old master to drag him back; the next minute he shouts, "Free!"

If Christ tells us that we are free, we are free. My friends, Christ is calling to-night. Get out of the devil's territory as quick as you can. No slave in the Southern States had so hard a master as yours, nor so mean a master as Satan. Take my advice tonight, and escape for the liberty of your soul.

I can imagine some of you saying "I do not see how a man is really going to be converted all at once." Let me give you another illustration. Look down there. There are two soldiers. Now, if you bring those soldiers up to this platform, and ask them how they became soldiers, they will tell you this - that one moment they were citizens, and the next minute soldiers. What was it that made them soldiers? It was when they took the Queen's shilling. The moment they received that shilling they ceased to be citizens, and they became soldiers. Before they received that shilling they could go where they pleased; the next minute they came under the government and under the regulations of the army, and they must go where Queen Victoria sends them. They did not have to wait for the uniform. The minute they received the shilling they became soldiers. What made them soldiers? Receiving the shilling. What makes a man a Christian? Receiving Christ. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not: but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God."

Now, the gift of God is eternal life. Who will have the gift to-night? When I was down in Manchester I asked that question, and a man shouted in the meeting, "I will! " Who will have it now? Is not there some man here in London, as there was in Manchester, who will say that he will have the gift? Is it not a wonder to have to plead with so many to take the gift? "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life." Who will have the gift now? (Many responses of "I will"; "I will.")

I can imagine one man down there who says "How about repentance? How about getting into the ark or the city of refuge before repentance?" My friend, let me ask you what is repentance? It is right-about-face! I think these soldiers understand that expression. Some one has said that every one is born with his back to God, and that conversion turns him right round. If you want to be converted, and want to repent, I will tell you what you should do. Just get out of Satan's service, and get into the Lord's. Leave your old friends, and unite yourself with God's people.

In a few days, if nothing happens, I expect to go to Liverpool. If, when I am in the train, my friend Mr. Shipton says, "Moody, you are going in the wrong train, - that train is going to Edinburgh" - I should say, "Mr. Shipton, you have made a great mistake; somebody told me the train was going to Liverpool. You are wrong, Mr. Shipton; I am sure you are wrong." Then Mr. Shipton would say, "Moody, I have lived here forty years, and I know all about the trains. He must have been very ignorant or very vicious who told you that train goes to Liverpool." Mr. Shipton at last convinces me, and I get out of that train and get into the one going to Liverpool.

Repentance is getting out of one train and getting into the other. You are in the wrong train; you are in the broad path that takes you down to the pit of hell. Get out of it to-night. Right-about-face! Who will turn his feet towards God? "Turn ye, for why will ye die?" In the Old Testament the word is "turn." In the New Testament the word is "repent." "Turn ye, for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" God does not want any man in this audience to perish, but He wants all to be saved. You can be saved now if you will.

There is another illustration I wish I had time to dwell upon and that is about looking. There is that serpent in the wilderness. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man also be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Look here! Just give me your attention for a few minutes. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." How long does it take a man to believe? Or, if you will, how long does it take a man to look? Some people say they believe in educating people to be Christians. How long do you educate children to look? You hear the mother say, "Look," and the little child looks. It does not take a child three months to learn to look. Look and live! You need not go to college to learn how to look. There is not a child here but knows how to look. Christ says, "Look unto me; for I am [ABCOG: the way to] God, and there is none else."

There is the brazen serpent on the pole. God says to the children of Israel, who are dying of the bite of the fiery serpents - "Look, and live!"

Now, there is nothing in looking at a piece of brass which can cure the bite of a serpent. It is God who cures it, and the looking is the condition. It is obedience; and that is what God will have.

One moment the poor sufferer is dying; the next there comes a thrill of life through his veins, and he lives: he is well. My friends, look to Christ, and not to yourselves. That is what is the matter with a great many sinners; instead of looking to Christ, they are looking at the bite.

It is not looking to the wound; it is looking to the remedy. Christ is the remedy of sin. What you want is to look from the wound to the remedy - to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. Who will look tonight, and live? Turn your eye to Calvary; believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.

[fortheDeclaration]

Faith is not a work is the sense of Rom.4:3-4, which makes God a debtor.

Faith is a work in the sense of Lk 17:10 that of a servant.

We all will be judged by our works (done in faith by yielding to the Holy Spirit Rom.6:16) at the Judgement seat of Christ (Rom.14:10,2Cor.5:10)

Now, the Calvinists know that their progressive sanctification must entail some type of response/responsibility by the Christian (yield or don't yield) which means that the Calvinist must admit in terms of his Christian walk he is a synergist or God is responsible for his sinning when he does.

Now as for faith being used in two different ways, that is not uncommon in the Bible, since the word 'perfect' is also used in a number of ways depending on the all important context

[thePilgrim]

***I never said there was different baptisms. Please show me where I said that. There is one baptism, and that is the water baptism of someone who believes the Word of God, repents of their sins, confesses Christ as the Son of God, and is baptized for the remission of their sins.***

Look, if there is only one baptism and one gospel, then why are you obsessed with the distinction between Old Covenant & New Covenant and why would it matter to the thief on the cross who never got a chance at that water baptism?

Christian.

[fortheDeclaration]

If Calvinism is truly reduced to distorting faith to be a work, rather than faith being the fount from which all our good works flow, then it has truly given up even the pretense of being Biblical. Somehow, I doubt that's what John Calvin intended.

Amen.

Yet, 'faith' is a work in a sense of what we told to do (Rom.6:16) as servants (Lk 17:10)not making God a debtor, but we are ourselves are in debt.(Rom.1:14)

Calvinists want to make God the only one 'doing' anything but the fact is, if that is the case, then their Christian walk (doing something) is all of God with no responsiblty on them to make any decisions (Rom.6:16, 1Thess.5:19, Eph.4:30), which would mean that it is God willing that they sin when they do sin.

[jkl1122]

Because people try to bring up things that happened before the New Covenant took effect and make them applicable today, which they are not. The water baptism that applies to the New Testament church, which is the church of today, was not in effect until Christ died on the cross and rose on the 3rd day. The thief on the cross argument against baptism in the church today is a baseless argument.

[thePilgrim]

***For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine and heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. And they shall turn away from the truth and shall be turned unto fables (2Tim.4:3-4)***

You have it backwards, my Arminian friend:
http://www.apuritansmind.com/Arminianism/AugustusToplady%20Arminianism.htm

If the joint verdict of Arminius himself, and of his English proselyte Hoord, will not turn the scale, let us add the testimony of a professed Jesuit, by way of making up full weight. When archbishop Laud's papers were examined, a letter was found among them, thus endorsed with that prelate's own hand: "March, 1628. A Jesuit's Letter, sent to the Rector at Bruxels, about the ensuing Parliament." The design of this letter was to give the Superior of the Jesuits, then resident at Brussels, an account of the posture of civil and ecclesiastical affairs in England; an extract from it I shall here subjoin: "Father Rector, let not the damp of astonishment seize upon your ardent and zealous soul, in apprehending the sodaine and unexpected calling of a Parliament. We have now many strings to our bow. We have planted that soveraigne drugge Arminianisme, which we hope will purge the Protestants from their heresie; and it flourisheth and beares fruit in due season. For the better prevention of the Puritanes, the Arminians have already locked up the Duke's (of Buckingham) eares; and we have those of our owne religion, which stand continually at the Duke's chamber, to see who goes in and out: we cannot be too circumspect and carefull in this regard. I am, at this time, transported with joy, to see how happily all instruments and means, as well great as lesser, co-operate unto our purposes. But, to return unto the maine fabricke:--OUR FOUNDATION IS ARMINIANISME. The Arminians and projectors, as it appeares in the premises, affect mutation. This we second and enforce by probable arguments."

Christian.

[fortheDeclaration]

This little analogy seems to have gotten the better of you.

The money is in an account.

You have to go the bank to get the money.

No money is going to be sent to until you claim it.

The money is a gift not something you earned.

But to get the gift you have to go the bank and claim the money in your name.

Now, the money is in the bank.

It is still money even if you do not claim it.

[HarleyD]

I don't wish to sound "mean spirited". However, I have had a number of people in my life tell me you must be baptized to be saved. That is, quite frankly, hogwash. (no pun intended) That is not to minimize the importance of baptism but only to emphasize the total regeneration process.

The Bible list baptism before salvation in several of the verses because it was an important sacrament of the church and is a method to declare youself as a believer. But as I've illustrated with Cornelius, it is the filling of the Holy Spirit which saves you and this come before baptism. You are filled with the Holy Spirit the moment God regenerates you.

[fortheDeclaration]

I have it backwards?

What the heck does bringing up Laud have to do with events going on today?

[thePilgrim]

***Because people try to bring up things that happened before the New Covenant took effect and make them applicable today, which they are not. The water baptism that applies to the New Testament church, which is the church of today, was not in effect until Christ died on the cross and rose on the 3rd day. The thief on the cross argument against baptism in the church today is a baseless argument.***

So, how then did the thief have his sin washed away if there is only one baptism for the remission of sin?

And, if there is a difference between the New and Old Covenant, that difference aparently has no bearing on anything. You are the one who told me that there is only one gospel and one baptism.

Christian.

[jkl1122]

In Acts 2:38, Peter tells those at Pentecost that you will be given the gift of the Holy Spirit after you repent and are baptized. Cornelius received the Holy Spirit as a sign to the Jewish Christians that Gentiles could be saved as well. There are only two instances where the Holy Spirit manifests itself as it did with Cornelius, the other being when the apostles spoke at Pentecost. However, in all other conversion accounts in Acts, including Cornelius, baptism is mentioned.

I have a question I would like for you to answer. Can you be saved before you have your sins removed?

[Buggman]

If, and I really do mean IF, we accept what you say as Biblically accurate, then please explain to me why there are so many people called Arminians who think it better to focus on the "human POV," instead of the Divine?

First, because as we have amply demonstrated from the Scriptures, God does not always (or even most of the time) focus on His eternal perspective. Therefore, to do so to the exclusion of the human perspective is not giving heed to the whole counsel of God.

Second, because we live in our time-bound perspective, and the Bible is meant to be a practical guide to life as much as or more than a "lofty" theological/philosophical text. It may be right for Hindus to focus on the "reality" of the Brahman (God) to the exclusion of the Maya ("illusion") of real life, but not for Christians. He has work for us to do in the real, temporal world.

Third, because focusing exclusively on the eternal viewpoint tends to lead to a fatalistic, "it is written," attitude in which we attempt to abdicate the responsibility that God has plainly laid on us for our own actions according to the Scripture. We were not elected to be the Frozen Chosen.

Fourth, because overemphasis of the eternal POV, unless tempered by the understanding that God's predestination is always predicated on His foreknowlege rather than the other way around, inevitably leads to the logical conclusion that God is the Author of sin--a clear slander of His character.

Balance, my friend, is key to studying the Scriptures. To take any one facet of God's counsel and declare it to be the whole of the jewel of His wisdom is nothing but human foolishness.

[thePilgrim]

***No money is going to be sent to until you claim it.***

I don't need the money sent to me. It is already in the bank in my account. That IS what you told me.

And, if that is true, then it is already my money whether I go to the bank or not.

If it is not in my account, then what you are really telling me is that when Jesus hung on the cross he didn't hang on the cross for any one person in particular. He merely obtained a large sum of money. Wow, isn't that cold and impersonal.

Plus, it makes God out to be some kind of Publishers Clearinghouse sweepstakes coordinator where everyone wins and must come down and "claim" (your word) their prize. Talk about making the shed Grace of God tawdry and impersonal.

Christian.

[jkl1122]

I already answered these questions several times. Either you are ignoring my answers, or you are just trying to mess with me. I will say this one last time. Please pay attention this time. The thief on the cross was not under the same covenant that you and I are under, so how he was saved has no bearing on today. Simple enough for you? The one Gospel and one baptism are under the New covenant, so they dont apply to the old covenant, since that was done away with at the cross. Get it?

[RnMomof7]

(Matt. 28:18-20,Mark 16:15-16,John 3:1-6,Acts 2:36-41,Acts 22:12-16,Romans 6:3-7,Galatians 3:26-27,Colossians 2:9-12,1 Peter 3:18-22)

Print them out for those without a Bible .....

What was the purpose of Johns Baptism ?

[fortheDeclaration]

We therefore affirm according to Scripture that the Unregenerate, Spiritually-Dead Fallen Man NEVER performs any God-Pleasing Works whatsoever in his Fallen State (including the Good Works of Belief, Repentance, and True Faith); and ONLY AFTER a Man is sovereignly-Regenerated unto Spiritual Life by the Monergistic Action of the Holy Spirit alone, does he EVER perform any God-Pleasing Works whatsoever (including the Good Works of Belief, Repentance, and True Faith).

Wait, so after a man is saved, we move from a monergism to a synergism?

Man is now performing God pleasing works?

As for your definition of total depravity, God is totally able to deal with the spiritually dead person and shed light into the soul so that the person can make a decision for or against Him.

Calvinists love 'circular reasoning' setting up Total Depravity because of unconditional election and then make it the basis for unconditional election.

If, however, we start with conditional election, then God is able to handle spiritual death, giving the spiritually dead person a will to respond to God's grace.(Jn.12:32)

[thePilgrim]

***What the heck does bringing up Laud have to do with events going on today?***

From the pen of the Jesuit himself we know that Arminianism was sown into the Reformation specifically for the purpose of causing people to leave the Reformed doctrines and head back to Rome, whose foundation is Arminianism.

Just exactly as this verse proclaims:

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

So, yes, if the verse applies, it applies to Arminians and not the other way around. When people return back to their true Protestant Reformed roots, they are coming home. Either we Reformers are right and you are out of touch with the truth or Rome is right and your spiritual progenitors await. In effect, Arminianism is an illegitimate child.

Christian.

[fortheDeclaration]

***No money is going to be sent to until you claim it.*** I don't need the money sent to me. It is already in the bank in my account. That IS what you told me. And, if that is true, then it is already my money whether I go to the bank or not. If it is not in my account, then what you are really telling me is that when Jesus hung on the cross he didn't hang on the cross for any one person in particular. He merely obtained a large sum of money. Wow, isn't that cold and impersonal.

Now, are you really this obtuse?

The money is not in your account, it is in an account with your name on it (lets say a swiss account).

The money yours but it is not a benefit to you until you claim it.

Plus, it makes God out to be some kind of Publishers Clearinghouse sweepstakes coordinator where everyone wins and must come down and "claim" (your word) their prize. Talk about making the shed Grace of God tawdry and impersonal.

No, God has made all men savable if they will accept the free offer of salvation, since the debt has been fully paid.

The reason they do not salvation is not because it is not available to them, but because they do not accept the free gift.

Christ tasted death for every man (Heb.2:9)

[fortheDeclaration]

I see the Reformed churches running back to Rome.

What outbreak of Calvinistic revival are you talking about?

[jkl1122]

John's baptism was of repentance, for the remission of sins. However, his baptism only was in effect until Christ died and His new covenant was established. This can be seen by the fact that Paul told those in Ephesus that had been baptized with John's baptism that they needed to be baptized in the name of Christ.

Matthew 28:18-20 -
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit,
20 "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always,
[even] to the end of the age." Amen.

Mark 16:15-16 -
15 And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

John 3:1-6 -
1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God;
for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."
3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God."
4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb
and be born?"
5 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Acts 2:36-41 -
36 "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified,
both Lord and Christ."
37 Now when they heard [this,] they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles,
"Men [and] brethren, what shall we do?"
38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for
the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our
God will call."
40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation."
41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added [to them.]

Acts 22:12-16 -
12 "Then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt [there,]
13 "came to me; and he stood and said to me, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight.' And at that same hour I looked up at him.
14 "Then he said, 'The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One,
and hear the voice of His mouth.
15 'For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard.
16 'And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.'

Romans 6:3-7 -
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 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.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be [in the likeness]
of [His] resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with [Him,] that the body of sin might be done away with,
that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.

Galatians 3:26-27 -
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Colossians 2:9-12 -
9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins
of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with [Him] through faith in the working of God,
who raised Him from the dead.


1 Peter 3:18-22 -
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,
20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah,
while [the] ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
21 There is also an antitype which now saves us -- baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh,
but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having
been made subject to Him.

[GLENNS]

Try this:

Because of the father of humanity, Adam, we his children have inherited a defective nature such that we have no abilities on our own such that we can communicate with God or perform any unaided pleasing actions. Because of this, the Father sent the Son, incarnated with the man Jesus Christ, to not only provide the sacrifice necessary for the forgiveness of sins but also attain the merits necessary through his perfect obedience unto eternal life for those who possess a saving faith. Through the power of God, Jesus Christ was raised from the dead through the work of the Holy Spirit. It is only through a "resurrection of the dead" through the work of the Holy Spirit that man can be given a new spirit alive to God, shedding in part, in this life, his old Adamic nature, and being raised daily through the Holy Spirit into the person of the new Adam, Jesus Christ. This union of the Spirit of Christ with a soul can never be cut because Christ cannot deny Himself. As the parable of the sower shows, there are some who have a faith that is not planted in soil prepared by the Holy Spirit and it is a faith that is not lasting because it has not been planted and joined with the Spirit of Christ.

Does that help?