[Sidenote: Rev. 22: 14.] "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" "But he said, Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it." "If ye love me, keep my commandments. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Salvation is won by the works of a lifetime. REPENT OR PERISH. [Sidenote: True repentance.] [Sidenote: Luke 18: 13.] [Sidenote: Ezek. 18: 30.] [Sidenote: Luke 13: 5.] [Sidenote: Matt. 3: 7, 8.] Belief in God is followed by an utterance which lies deep in the troubled heart of man: "God be merciful to me, a sinner!" The answer of the Almighty to the godly sorrow of His penitent children is: "Repent, and turn yourself from all your transgressions." "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Genuine repentance is such a sorrow for past sin as produces a reformation of life, and bears fruit in good works. It leads him that steals to steal no more; him that gets drunk {149} to break from that habit; him that blasphemes to desist from that evil and learn to do well. All need to repent. Even the best men fall far short of their ideal. Repentance is therefore one of the conditions of salvation. It must precede the forgiveness of sins; and those who do not repent are not eligible for baptism. IS BAPTISM ESSENTIAL TO SALVATION? [Sidenote: The counsel of God.] One of the most remarkable fallacies of modern times is the wide-spread doctrine that we can be saved without complying with the ordinances and other requirements which our Savior instituted for the salvation of men. [Sidenote: Luke 7: 29, 30.] John the Baptist, a servant of the Most High, taught and administered baptism; the Lord said that those who received this baptism justified God, but that there were others who "rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him." Now, men cannot be saved by rejecting the counsel of God against themselves. Then, as it is the counsel of God for men to be baptized, they cannot be saved without baptism, which is therefore essential to salvation. [Sidenote: The command of God.] [Sidenote: Acts 11: 14.] [Sidenote: Acts 10: 48.] The Lord sent His angel to Cornelius, and told him to send for Peter, who would tell him words whereby he and all his house should be saved. Cornelius did so, and when the Apostle came, "he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord." If Cornelius had rejected baptism as non-essential, could he have been saved? No; for the angel informed him that Peter would tell him how to be saved, and the Apostle "commanded them to be baptized." The _righteous_ man had to be baptized. [Sidenote: Baptism essential.] [Sidenote: Gal. 3: 26, 27.]