December 7
“He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned,” Mark 16:16.
When Jesus comes to judge the living and the dead, according to what will we be judged? Will we be judged according to the Law of Moses, or according to all the good works that we have done? If we would be judged according to how well we have fulfilled the Ten Commandments, our failure to fulfill what the Ten Commandments require would rise up to condemn us! If we would be judged according to the good works that we have done, our conscience would rise up to condemn us and tell us that we have never done enough to earn a place in heaven.
According to what, then, will we be judged when Jesus comes again? We will be judged according to whether we believed or did not believe! Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and your only Savior? When the jailer at Philippi fell on his knees before the apostle Paul and Silas and cried out, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” they answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household,” Acts 16:30-31.
Then the apostles conducted a class on the basics of Christianity. “They spoke the Word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house . . . and immediately he and all his family were baptized,” Acts 16:32-33. They all believed and were baptized and were saved. Saving faith trusts that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and our Savior, who fulfilled the Commandments in our place, who took all our sins upon Himself and carried them to Calvary, where He shed His holy precious blood to wash them all away. The apostle John wrote in his Gospel, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes a way the sin of the world!” John 1:29. Later, John recorded in the Gospel, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” John 3:16. In his First Epistle, John recorded, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin,” 1 John 1:7. The apostle Peter wrote in his First Epistle, “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,” 1 Peter 1:18-19.
The blessed assurance of being saved by believing in Jesus is offered to us in the written and spoken Word of the Gospel and it is offered to us also in Holy Baptism. On the day of Pentecost the apostle Peter told the multitude, “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. For the promise is to you and to your children,” Acts 2:38-39. In his First Epistle, the apostle Peter wrote how Noah and his family, a total of eight souls, were saved through water. The flood waters gently carried the ark with Noah and his family to safety on the mountains of Ararat. Then Peter writes, “There is also an antitype which now saves us – baptism,” 1 Peter 3:21.
Jesus said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved!” Unbelief damns! “He who does not believe will be condemned!”
“He that believes and is baptized
Shall see the Lord’s salvation;
Baptized into the death of Christ,
He is a new creation.
Thro’ Christ’s redemption he shall stand
Among the glorious heav’nly band
Of every tribe and nation.
With one accord, O God, we pray,
Grant us Thy Holy Spirit;
Look Thou on our infirmity
Thro’ Jesus’ blood and merit.
Grant us to grow in grace each day,
That by this Sacrament we may
Eternal life inherit.” Amen.