"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?"

Baptism is more than just a sign on the outside. It is getting to the heart of the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and sharing in it by God's grace (Romans 6:1-15). What a great blessing it is to be able to do what Jesus did at the start of His ministry to please God (Luke 3:21-22) and to know that our lives can be joined with His through faith in God's power to raise Him from the dead so that we can share fully in His glory! (Colossians 2:12; 3:1-4).

Baptism is about much more than getting wet or crossing off another thing on our list of things to do to show obedience. You see, what saves us is that Jesus died, was buried, and rose from the dead (1 Cor. 15:1-5). God has given us the amazing grace (Rom. 6:1, 14-15) of being able to share in Jesus' saving work through faith and experience it in baptism (Gal. 3:26-27). We stop living the way we used to and bury it in the past. It doesn't hold us anymore. This death is the most important one. Our new life is now joined with Christ's, and His future is now our own (cf. Col. 3:1-4). God made us so that we can praise Him and spend eternity with Him. That means that the Gospel is not just something that is preached; it is something that we experience by God's grace.