“In it [the ark] only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also- not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 20-21).

The devil loves to accuse you and me. “How do you know that you are going to heaven?” “How do you know that you are saved?” “Could God really love the likes of you?” “Look at what you’ve done in life, there’s no way God could forgive that!”

If the devil isn’t lying to us and deceiving us in order to think sin is a good thing, he’s accusing us for all the sins we’ve committed. Either he’ll tempt you to sin because he knows sin leads you away from God or he’ll accuse you to make you think that God couldn’t possibly forgive you and drive you into despair. The devil does both things because he is a “roaring lion” a “dragon” a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” looking to devour you and me and get us to turn away from God.

In Noah’s day almost the whole world had turned away from God. So, in order to keep His promise alive God had to come in judgment and wipe the world clean. Yet, in mercy and grace God rescued one family through whom God would fulfill that promise to send a Savior to this world. God used water to rescue Noah and his family from God’s judgment and the wickedness of the world.

God has rescued you in a similar way. In your baptism God washed you clean of your sins by connecting you to Jesus’ death and resurrection! In your baptism God worked faith in your heart and made you His own child! In your baptism God made you His disciple, clothed you with Jesus’ perfect life, and wrote your name in the book of life! In other words, in your baptism God saved you!

How do you know you’re going to heaven? How do you know you are saved? How do you know you won’t fall under God’s judgment? You were baptized. God says that He saved you in your baptism and God will never go back on His word. And no one – not even the devil- can take your baptism away from you!

Thankful for my baptism, just like you,

pastor