"Second—Repentance."
To those who, on the day of Pentecost, believed on the Apostles' words, and had awakened within their hearts faith in the Lord Jesus, Peter gave the law of the Gospel: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts ii: 38, 39). This law was universal in its application. It was "to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."
When John the Baptist came in the wilderness of Judea, as the messenger before the Lord, preaching "the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God," he proclaimed, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. iii: 2). Of those who presented themselves for baptism he required conformity to the doctrine which preceded it. If they had not repented, the ordinance of baptism was refused to them. When many of the Pharisees and Sadducees came, he called them a "generation of vipers," and demanded that they "bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance" (Matt. iii: 7, 8). God "commandeth all men everywhere to repent"—to turn from evil and walk in righteousness, for therein only is salvation. The Lord says, "Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke xiii: 3).
BAPTISM.
"Third—Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins." To the repentant believer this is the "baptism of repentance for the remission of sins" taught by John the Baptist (Mark i: 4). On the day of Pentecost, Peter pointed the way to salvation, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins" (Acts ii: 38). When the jailer sought to be saved, Paul and Silas "spake unto him the word of the Lord," and he "was baptized, he and all his, straightway" (Acts xvi: 30-33).
So important is this ordinance for admission into the Church of God, that the Lord Jesus insisted on receiving it at the hands of John the Baptist, who was authorized to administer it. John had preached that there should come after him One who should baptize "with the Holy Ghost and with fire," and when Jesus presented Himself on Jordan's banks, the Prophet recognized that mightier One. He felt his own weakness in the presence of the Son of God, and said, "I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?" But Jesus knew the law of God. He knew that it was necessary for even the Son of Man to enter at the door, and obey the ordinance which His Father had appointed. Therefore He answered John, "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness" (Matt. iii: 15). Then the Savior of the world went down into the river Jordan, and was baptized of John. When He came out of the water, there was given that glorious manifestation of the approval by His Father of the act of submission to the divine law, "and lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. iii: 16, 17).
If it was necessary for the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world, to receive the ordinance of baptism at the hands of one having authority to administer it, that He might "fulfil all righteousness," wherein can sinful man hope to enter by any other way? And when that act of obedience to law on the part of the Divine Master was signalized by the glorious descent upon Him of the Holy Ghost, and brought forth from the Eternal Father the solemn declaration that He was well pleased with the Son who had just passed through the baptism of water, who among men dare say that the ordinance is vain, and useless, and non-essential; that it is not of paramount importance to those who would do the will of the Father?
The Lord also declared that the baptism of John was "the counsel of God"—this ordinance that was "the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." Said Jesus: "All the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John; but the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him" (Luke vii: 29, 30). As the Lord went forth in His ministry, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, there came to Him Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. To him Jesus said: "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John iii: 3). Nicodemus did not fully comprehend this saying, and made further inquiry, receiving a reply in language that none need misunderstand: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John iii: 5). Therefore, when the Master commissioned His disciples and sent them out, after they had been "endowed with power from on high," the command which they received and obeyed was: "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matt, xxviii: 19, 20).
In this labor of the ministry, to which they had been called and ordained of the Lord, He fulfilled His promise, and was with them: "And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following" (Mark xvi: 20). The Apostles taught: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins" (Acts ii: 38); "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection" (Romans vi: 3-5); "Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead" (Col. ii: 12). Here, then, is the Gospel doctrine: Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, performed by one having authority; the birth, the burial, the planting in the watery element, without which ordinance the Lord has said that no man can enter the kingdom of heaven.