8) It is a confession of faith in desiring a covenant with God, an appeal to God for a good conscience. Sinful men have only an evil conscience. The point here is the sinner is sick of his evil, he's sick of his sin. He is sick of his accusing conscience. He wants to be delivered from the burden of sin. He wants to be delivered from the guilt of sin, from the crushing intimidating fearful anticipation of judgment. He wants to have a good conscience. He wants to experience what Hebrews 9:14 says, "The blood of Christ will cleanse your conscience." Hebrews 10:22 basically says the same thing. It says, "Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience."
What is he saying? He is saying in verse 21, there is an immersion into Christ that saves you. It isn't an external ritual of washing. What puts you into Christ is not a water baptism. What puts you into Christ is a pledge to God, an appeal to God for a clean conscience. In other words, it's a pleading to be forgiven for what? For your sins. It is repentance, that's what it is.
What saves you? Not water baptism, but immersion into the ark of safety, who is Christ, in whom you go through the death and burial and resurrection and the judgment of God falls but it falls on the ark and not on you.
What saves you? Not some external ritual or external rite, but a heart longing to be delivered from the crushing burden of sin that plagues your evil conscience and wants to covenant with God to live an obedient life. And it leads you through the judgment out the other side through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That celebrates, that completes the salvation triumph.
What is he saying? He is saying in verse 21, there is an immersion into Christ that saves you. It isn't an external ritual of washing. What puts you into Christ is not a water baptism. What puts you into Christ is a pledge to God, an appeal to God for a clean conscience. In other words, it's a pleading to be forgiven for what? For your sins. It is repentance, that's what it is.
What saves you? Not water baptism, but immersion into the ark of safety, who is Christ, in whom you go through the death and burial and resurrection and the judgment of God falls but it falls on the ark and not on you.
What saves you? Not some external ritual or external rite, but a heart longing to be delivered from the crushing burden of sin that plagues your evil conscience and wants to covenant with God to live an obedient life. And it leads you through the judgment out the other side through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That celebrates, that completes the salvation triumph.