"Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan river, preaching that PEOPLE SHOULD BE BAPTIZED to show they had turned to God to receive forgiveness for their sins."
Have you been baptized? Why did the Lord Jesus Christ allow John to baptize Him in the Jordan river? Do you understand what it means to die to the flesh and rise up from the watery grave a new spiritual person? Does being baptized cleanse and wash us of all of our previous sins? Who should be baptized? What is the prerequisite to your being baptized? If you have turned to God and been saved by His grace, and received forgiveness of your sins, then why be baptized? The truth for today tells us that being baptized shows God and others that we have turned to God and we have received forgiveness for our sins. PEOPLE SHOULD BE BAPTIZED!
John received a message from God when he was living in the desert wilderness. John listened and began to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah, who predicted what one must do to fulfill the Word. John's message was that all men needed to repent. They needed to turn around from a path of sin and walk in God's path. The needed forgiveness of sin and they should be washed clean and become a new creature. Baptism was the outward sign of an inward cleansing and change. To those believers in God and His Word, this was a way to prepare for the way of the Lord. John was crying out in the wilderness to tell everyone that PEOPLE SHOULD BE BAPTIZED!
The message is clear. If you believe in God and you have asked Him to forgive you of your sins and you have accepted the free gift of Salvation, then your being baptized will show the world and God that you are a new creature, born again, and raised from the dead. As a new spiritual being you will turn away from the world and walk a straight path to the Lord Jesus Christ. This baptism of repentance shows that you have been washed clean of all previous sins, died to the old person, and you are new spiritual person that has turned to God for your Salvation. If Jesus is the one to be like and emulate then PEOPLE SHOULD BE BAPTIZED!
