Articles
Answer to a Guilty Conscious
“There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1Peter 3:21.)
I once heard Oliver Murray explain this verse, saying, “If you have a guilty conscience, here is the answer.” I always remembered that. Baptism is the answer to a conscience that cries out with guilt, shame and the burden of certain destruction.
The guilty man cries out, “O, wretched man that I am” (Rom. 7:24). In intent and purpose, that old man is put to death in repentance. That man who has been crucified is brought to be buried. He is raised a new man in Christ. Sins washed away. The burden of guilt, shame, and destruction rolled away. Now he cries, “Thank God for the victory in Jesus Christ.”
I have never had a person convinced and convicted of their guilt, shamed and facing destruction, who has argued about the need for an answer to their guilty conscience. It as though they are ready to jump into the baptistery by themselves. Wash me! Cleanse! Take away this burden! Now! I cannot wait!
As we progress in our spiritual walk, though, do we forget the determination that was anchored in repentance? Do we forget that day the burden of our conscience found an answer? Do we forget how we felt that moment when we were cleansed of sin and all its consequences? Do we remember what it was like mentally and emotionally when we realized Satan’s death grip had been loosed and now we have freedom in Christ?
We hear it so often: hear, believe, repent, confess, and be baptized. While that is a summation of God’s plan of salvation, has that invitation to be baptized become mundane to us? Have we forgotten that baptism is the answer to our guilty conscience and that baptism will save us? It is God through baptism that saves us.
