ToC-3-To Anxious Inquirers: What Shall We do?

To Anxious Inquirers: What Shall We do?
(Acts 2:37)
MANY preachers and tracts ask us to have simple faith, meaning only believe, and they speak of the moment you believe and of the instant you receive life. At the same time they suggest that you can be saved, where you sit, by resolving to accept Christ. But these are not Scriptural words nor New Testament ideas.
Moreover, to tell inquirers to only believe bewilders their mind as they already believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of the world, and they accept as true what is taught in the Bible. Their conviction as to the truth of the Gospel will likely have been unwavering for years while they continued to live for this world. They have no doubt as to the claims of Jesus being genuine, but that belief in itself has not brought any assurance of their salvation, and no person can tell them of anything else that they should believe.
The trouble of inquirers arises not because of what they should believe but because they only believe. Their strong feeling which comes from their believing, and which cries out 'what shall we do?' leads them in a correct way, but instructors often take them astray from the path of duty, instead of bringing them to the guidance of the Lord and his Apostles as given in Mark 16:16; Luke 24:47; John 3:5 : Acts 2:38. The anxious room, in our country, provides many examples of the blind leading the blind.
If we try to avoid having a prejudice against the four passages we above refer to and others with the same teaching, it is difficult to understand how we can interpret John 3:16 so that it contradicts the unavoidable teaching of so many passages, and the pervading doctrine of the New Testament that we obtain and can keep possession of eternal salvation by obedience to Christ in addition to believing Hebrews 5:9 etc. The word of God nowhere says that belief in Christ is a momentary act and bold assertion by man does not make it true. Paul says he had kept the faith and that the just shall live by faith, and he speaks of them that believe to the saving of the soul, and of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Paul was baptized and washed away his sins, yet he says he was justified by faith (Acts 22:16, Romans 5:1). His believing carried him on through confession and baptism to Jesus Christ and forgiveness. He believed to the saving of his soul and entered into everlasting life.
Believing on Christ implies the acceptance of His words. He said, 'he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life;' here heareth means more than to listen. Again he saith, 'whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed.' Now Jesus says, 'he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.' These are the words of Christ; are we prepared to believe in Him? When Paul spoke the word of the Lord to the Philippian jailor, he believed, and was baptized the same hour of the night. Many who profess the name of Christ refuse to accept his teaching that baptism is a condition of pardon and of entrance into the Kingdom of God.
'Believe in Christ' is used in many passages with a comprehensive special sense, and sometimes covers repentance, turning to the Lord, and living for Him. James says that faith by itself is dead. Noah built an ark by faith, but not by 'faith alone.' To fear God means more than to reverence Him in your mind; it includes living for God. And to believe in Christ means more than having a conviction in the mind; it includes a change of heart and will, and a submission of our life. The scriptures show that not only a decision but a full conversion is necessary, and so the inspired word calls for repentance, confession of Jesus as your Lord, and baptism into Christ in order to an assurance of pardon and adoption.
The present-day preachers often speak eloquently of what God, through His Son, has done in the work of redemption, making a full atonement, and thus they open the minds and influence the hearts of their hearers toward the Savior, but, as a rule, they fail to lead their audience to a knowledge of scriptural conversion, as it is exemplified in the Acts and explained in the Gospels and Epistles. It is safe to bring all theories and popular sayings to the test of the word of God. Let us pray that our theories may not blind us to the truth or may not take away our reasonableness and commonsense.
They who preach 'only believe' contradict their own teaching when they insist on a decision. Certainly God commandeth all men everywhere to repent, but His word is consistent and therefore never says 'only believe.' Faith alone is only mentioned to be condemned (James 2). Decision or repentance while an outcome of faith is in addition to and not a part of belief. The devils believe, although they have not repented. They only believe. The chief rulers believed although they did not add to their faith repentance and to their repentance confession (John 12:42).
In contrast to these, Abraham by obedience perfected his faith and made it acceptable to God (James 2:22). His faith was not only in his mind but lived in his heart and was clothed in action (Genesis 22:16-18). Faith moved him to obedience. His was a work of faith, not of law or of merit. It was through faith and by grace he received the friendship of God. May our faith carry us on past 'only believe' to where by obedience our faith is made acceptable to God, and by His grace it is reckoned as righteousness. We should walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham (Romans 4:12).
The woman, with the issue of blood, came into contact with the Savior, not by the belief in her heart alone, but by an act resolved on through her faith - a work of faith. The thief on the cross not only believed but openly confessed Christ and demonstrated his faith as far as his circumstances permitted or Christ required of him. Even before the death and resurrection of Christ and his enthronement in heaven, and before the gospel dispensation and the world-wide commission, when the faith of Christ's immediate followers failed them, the thief seemed to look into the future with unwavering trust in Jesus and his faith raised him above his unfavorable circumstances and brought him to the physical act of confession. May you, like the thief, have Christ's own word that you are saved. His word to you and to every creature since Pentecost is 'he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.'
Any person who loves the Lord will desire not only that in believing his mind should be given to Christ, and that in repentance his will and the affections of his heart should be yielded up, but also that he should come to Christ in person and by one act give him body, soul and spirit in one. This God requires in baptism. In primitive times confession of Jesus as Lord was associated with baptism. With a mind and heart regenerated by the Gospel and having now died to the world, they who believe do in baptism give their whole being to Him who died for their sins (Romans 6:1-8). They are baptized into Christ and thus put on Christ (Galatians 3:27).
These requirements cannot be inconsistent with full atonement by the blood of Jesus, or with salvation by grace, as each and all are clearly taught. Only superficial and unsound reasoning presumes to make them contradictory. Faith by itself, although it be mental, is as much an act of man as is the obedience of faith. Neither have merit. Combined they simply bring us to Him who can save us. There is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. May we all be faithful unto death and at our Lord's return receive the crown of life.
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IT is now admitted that Baptism in the early church was by immersion of the whole body in water, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Wherever immersion has been abandoned the spiritual meaning and dramatic effect of Baptism have been tremendously impaired, if not altogether lost. In the 'one Baptism' (immersion of penitent believers) we see dramatized the great central fact of the Christian religion - the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Christ. The symbolism is such as to make real the spiritual union with this Death and Resurrection which Baptism effects.