“If you love me, you will obey what I command."

“If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14:15).

“Если любите Меня, соблюдите Мои заповеди”. (Иоанна 14:15).

• The Great Commission

¹⁶Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This passage establishes water baptism as a commandment from Jesus himself, and it is the principal reason why water baptism remains important for us today.

• Since Jesus left a final command for us to be baptized (as disciples) and to baptize others (to make them disciples), there is nothing stopping us doing the right thing and obeying His wishes for us on this matter. Baptism demonstrates our love for Jesus, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”(John 14:15).

Personal Note: This question (is water baptism necessary?) is the number one question I get often after the question of (is it necessary to tithe?).

WATER BAPTISM IS A GOD–ORDAINED, OUTWARD SYMBOLIC EXPRESSION OF OUR LOVE TO GOD.

We do not save ourselves; God saves you through the work of Christ. It is God’s will for everyone that we express our love and trust of God by being Water Baptized. It is a command of God and a public declaration of the work our Lord has already accomplished within us.

Now I want to be clear. Water baptism is not what saves us. Jesus Christ’s work on the cross and resurrection is what saves us. And we receive this salvation through repentance and faith in His work.

• Anyone who tells you that you need to be water baptized in order to be saved does not know the scriptures.

1. PUBLIC DECLARATION

Romans 6:1–5

In the early church, baptism was immediate. As soon as someone repented of their sin and put their faith in Christ, they were baptized.

Acts 8:12 “But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.”

Acts 9:17-18 “Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized.

• The early Christians did not take water baptism lightly. It was a symbolic public confession that “you are one of us”.

Acts 16:14-15 “One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. ¹⁵When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

Acts 16:30-33 “³⁰He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” ³¹They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. “³²Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. ³³At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.”

Acts 18:8 “Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.”

Being a Christian in the 1^st century practically a death sentence. That’s why it was called persecution, I prefer the Russian translation – преследование, гонение.

• I am hoping to go to the same place where the 1^stcentury Christians who were persecuted, and lost their lives for what they believed, but I am doubting the necessity of water baptism, and complain when the service was long.

1. DEATH – BURIAL – RESSURECTION [WITH CHRIST] –

Colossians 2:12

Baptism is a symbol your new life as a Christian. We bury your ‘old life,’ and we rise to walk in a ‘new life’…  It’s meant to show the world that that you love, trust, and have put your hope in Christ.  It is a statement to everyone who sees it that I have trusted Christ for my salvation and I’m committed to living for Him.

• Water baptism is a way to visually preach the gospel. Standing in the water symbolizes Jesus dying on the cross, immersing in the water symbolizes Jesus being buried in the tomb and being raised from the water symbolizes Jesus rising from the dead. We bury the ‘old life,’and we rise to walk in a ‘new life’.

Conclusion: Galatians 2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer alive, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”.