The first thing God wants you to do, now that you are saved, is to confess Him before men. Matthew 10:32-33 says, “Whosoever therefore, shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father, which is in Heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father, which is in Heaven”. That is why you now need to be baptized. 

Baptism has nothing to do with your salvation. As we have already shown, you are just as saved now as you will ever be. However, baptism is the way of saying to the world, “I am buried with Christ – I no longer live – I have risen from the dead – I am a new person in Christ”. Jesus died for our sins. He was buried. He rose again from the dead on the third day. 

This is the gospel -– the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. As we are buried in the waters of baptism, and raised again from the waters –- we are saying to the world – “I have experienced in my heart what the gospel truly means”. 

More than that, God has commanded us to be baptized. “… teach all nations (people), baptizing them…” says Matthew 28:19. If we refuse to be baptized, we are saying ‘no’ to God’s commandment. In the book of Acts in the New Testament, you will find that every convert was baptized immediately after they were saved. Be sure to get started out right. Follow your Lord in water baptism right away. 

Many Christians miss the blessing because they fail on this first commandment. It is important to do things God’s way.  Someone will say, “I was baptized before I was saved. Isn’t that good enough?”. We are afraid not. You see, baptism is never mentioned as being applied to one before their salvation. In God’s Holy Word, baptism is administered AFTER the individual accepted Christ. 

After all, baptism is a picture of what has already happened in our heart. Therefore, it is impossible to be baptized scripturally until you have first been saved. One must not get the cart before the horse, so to speak. Being baptized before you are saved is just going down into the water a dry sinner and coming up a wet sinner. 

Someone else may say, “Well, I have been sprinkled”. It is also very important to ‘Do’ things God’s way. Sprinkling is NOT found in the Bible. Jesus, our most Blessed Saviour, was immersed – Not sprinkled. 

It is impossible to show forth a picture of the burial and resurrection of Christ without going underneath the water just as Christ went underneath the earth. Romans 6:3-5 says, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore, we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection”. 

In Colossians 2:12 we read that we are “Buried with Him in baptism…”. When someone is buried, you don’t sprinkle a little dirt over him, nor do you pour a pitcher full of dirt on him. NO! But rather, they are covered with dirt. Bible baptism must be by immersion. Be sure that you go all the way with God. He went all the way for YOU!!!