God’s Dividing Line
"No, you can’t get it out of the Bible. It is in the Bible to stay."
Whether we like it or not baptism is in the Bible to stay.
It appears not only once but many times, therefore, it is a subject with which we must deal.
Still some may say – "I agree it is in the Bible, but why do you place so much emphasis; it is only water."
After studying God’s word carefully I am firmly convinced that water baptism is God’s dividing line between the sinner and his salvation. In fact, in may surprise you to learn that water has always been a dividing line for God.
The plan of this lesson will be to review some well-known Old Testament events and notice how that water was God’s dividing line. Then we will consider the Scriptures, which show that water baptism is God’s dividing line in the plan of salvation.
Naaman (II Kings 5:1-15)
A. Review story.
B. With leprosy desiring to be cleansed. Should not every sinner feel the same urgency?
C. He was instructed what to do, but he objected to the requirements.
1. It did not seem reasonable to him.
a. Thinking only of the water (Vs. 12)
b. I Cor. 1:27
2. People today.
D. He was healed when he obeyed the command.
1. Now, was it the water or the power of God that cleansed him? Water can’t heal; it has nothing to do with it.
a. Notice that he said, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel (vs. 15)."
b. He did not say, "Now I know there is no water…"
2. Notice he was not healed until he completed his obedience in the water. He obeyed!
a. I Pet. 1:22
b. The water was God’s dividing line!
The Nation of Israel (Ex. 14:5-31)
E. Israel desired freedom from the Egyptians.
1. They were moving in the right direction;
a. Away from Egypt.
b. Toward freedom and the Promise land.
2. But until they crossed the Red Sea, they were not free of the Egyptian threat (until the Egyptians were washed away they were still under bondage).
F. The command was that they "go forward" (vs. 15) through the sea.
1. The Red Sea was God’s dividing line between Egypt and freedom.
2. But what the source of their salvation (vs. 13).
G. I Cor. 10:1-2 is an inspired use of this event as an example of baptism.
1. The water was a wall on either side of them and the cloud over them.
2. Thus, they were covered; immersed; baptized.
H. The Red Sea was God’s dividing line between captivity and freedom.
Noah (Gen. 6-8)
I. This story is familiar, but certain facts need to be emphasized. He was saved and it was by:
1. It was by grace (Gen. 6:8).
2. It was by faith (Heb. 11:7).
3. It was by water (I Pet. 3:20).
J. "I thought it was the ark that saved them from the flood."
1. The problem is we are only thinking of the danger and the deadliness of the flood, but there was something worse to be saved from than drowning – the evil of that world!
2. God’s plan for Noah was not merely to save him from drowning in the flood, but to save him from drowning in the sin and the corruption all around him.
3. Noah and his family were living in sin!
4. They were saved in the ark from the flood, but saved from the sins of the world by water.
K. Still we must all understand that it was God, that saved and it was grace through faith.
1. Yet who will question that the water of the flood was God’s dividing line?
2. The force of this example is determined by the statement of I Pet. 3:20-21.
Baptism is God’s diving line in the New Testament plan of salvation.
L. Notice how this is demonstrated in the examples of conversion in the gospel age.
1. Pentecost _ Acts 2:38 (What was the dividing line? – Vs. 41).
2. Saul of Tarsus – Acts 22:16 (What was the dividing line?)
3. Specific mention is made of baptism in each case of conversion in Acts. Put me to the test.
4. No one saved until baptized, God’s dividing line.
5. Every time baptism and salvation (or any equivalent term is mentioned together, baptism is always placed first.
M. Listen to these New Testament passages regarding baptism. They also indicate it is God’s dividing line.
1. Jn. 3:5
2. Mk. 16:16
a. Would you have trouble understanding what I meant if I said, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be…Promoted to a new job; given a new automobile; month’s vacation; 1,000 dollars; shall be saved.
b. What is the dividing line in each case?
3. Rom. 6:3-5
a. Vs. 17 – leprosy, captivity, world of sin.
b. Vs. 18 – healed, freed, saved.
c. So how modern denominationalism changes order and buries a "live" person. "He is raised to what?"
d. Notice also burial. Sprinkling just won’t work. Stand at a graveside and see!
4. Gal. 3:27
5. I Pet. 3:21 (Connie and Rick)
6. Mt. 26:28 > Lk. 24:47 > Acts 2:38
7. Rev. 1:5 > Rom. 6:3-4 (Death = Blood) > Acts 22:16
Have you crossed God’s dividing line?
Are you sick with sin, like leprosy, is it eating away at your life? Then be immersed and have that disease washed away.
Are you under the bondage of sin? You may be heading in the right direction, but have you crossed God’s dividing line?
Do you wish to escape the sin of this world?
Jim Pharr
Lenoir, NC