Trinity Baptist Church

The Spirit of God

Baptized with the Holy Spirit

Matthew 3:11-12

 

I am convinced we don't know very much about the Holy Spirit.  We know the Holy Spirit is real because the Bible says so.  We know that he is at work in the world today.  We know that he indwells every believer.  We know that he alone can give us the power that we need.  We would like to know how to receive his power for daily living.

 

But in spite of what we know, there is a lot we don’t know or understand.  To address that need, we are taking some time to learn more about the Spirit of God.  So far we’ve listened to what Jesus had to say about the Holy Spirit in a conversation with Nicodemus and we’ve seen the work of the Spirit through the temptation experience of Christ following His baptism. 

 

Beginning today I want to explore some of the words that are exclusively linked to the work of the Holy Spirit.  There are five in particular we will deal with.  Four of them identify commands we are given as God’s people in relation to the work of the Holy Spirit.  Two are positive and two are negative. 

 

On the positive side we are told to be filled with the Spirit and walk in the Spirit.  One the negative side, we are warned of grieving the Spirit and quenching the Spirit.  So over the next four weeks we’ll explore those one by one. 

 

 

 

But before we get to the commands, there is a ministry of the Holy Spirit that every child of God has already experienced and yet probably doesn’t understand.  So I want to explore with you today the Holy Spirit baptism.

 

Now right off the bat, I want to say to you the baptism OF the Holy Spirit is nowhere mentioned in scripture.  You can search all you want to in any reputable translation and you will not find that phrase. 

 

In scripture it is always called the baptism WITH the Holy Spirit or the baptism BY the Holy Spirit, but never the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  You may think that’s not a big deal, but I see it to be an extremely important distinction and as we move through this message today I trust you will see why. 

 

We're going to look at seven passages in the word of God that deal specifically with the phrase, "baptism with the Holy Spirit".  Now the reason I want to take the time to do that is because there is such widespread misunderstanding and application of this subject. 

 

There is this erroneous teaching which says, in essence, that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an experience subsequent to salvation.  Now if that is correct, then when you are saved you do not get everything that you need and somewhere down the line if you seek for it and pray for it and live the right way and plead with God enough, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. And once you are baptized and receive the Holy Spirit, you will speak in tongues.

 

 

Now all of that is in addition to and separate from the salvation experience.  It is a second blessing, to use their terminology. 

 

This teaching has been around primarily since our Pentecostal friends began teaching it in the early 1900's.  In modern times it is widely held due to some very gifted teachers and preachers who, on television, teach this point of view.  

 

Now I will be the first to admit that I know some Baptists who apparently didn’t get everything they needed when they got saved!  After all, if their life is testimony to all that God can do and did do when they got saved, we are in a mess! 

 

And I will also say I, for one, want everything God has to give me.  So in fairness, I say we should just examine the Biblical record and see what it has to say about the subject.  After all, it is our guidebook and rule for life. 

 

But I also want to add we are not to be guided by our emotions or our family history or what we’ve always believed or been taught.  If we will be accurate in our beliefs, we must be guided by what scripture says.

 

So let’s begin with

 

 

There are seven references to the baptism by or with the Holy Spirit in the New Testament and they divide into three categories.  The first five are prophetical in nature.  There is one which is historical in nature.  And the final one is doctrinal in nature. 

We’ll walk through them very quickly.  The first of the five prophetical references is found in 

 

Matthew 3

 

John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ is baptizing in the Jordan River.  Gathered in the audience are believers and unbelievers.  Among the crowd there are Scribes and Pharisees as well as those who are true believers in Jesus Christ. 

 

Notice what happens in verse 11-12

 

Obviously He’s talking about Jesus.  And notice what he says about Jesus. “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

 

So John the Baptist makes a distinction between two kinds of baptism.  One is a physical, water baptism administered by John and the other is a spiritual baptism administered by Jesus. 

 

Then he explains that the spiritual baptism can be administered in two ways.  One is with the Holy Spirit and the other is with fire.  Now don’t miss what he’s saying.  Verse 12 makes it very clear that everyone is going to be baptized by Jesus. 

 

Some will receive the Holy Spirit baptism and some will receive the fire baptism.  Regardless of what you think of Jesus, He is going to baptize you.  You may not submit to the baptism of repentance.  You may not fall on your knees and worship the Lord.  You may not repent of your sin.  You may not submit to that baptism, but if you don't submit to the baptism of repentance, Jesus is going to baptize you with fire.

 

And the fire that he was talking about was the fire of the judgment of Almighty God.

 

Wouldn’t you like to have been a member of John the Baptist’s church?  He has a way of just cutting to the chase and getting all the fluff out of the way.  No ear-tickling, no pretty words and prepared speeches.  No political correctness.  Just to be clear, one way or the other, you will be baptized by Jesus.  And by the way, they cut his head off for preaching like that.

 

So that’s the first reference. The second prophetical reference is found in  

 

Mark 1:8

 

It is almost a parallel verse to the one we just read.  Again, John is speaking and he says, "I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit."  And again we are told that Jesus will baptize by means of the Holy Spirit.

 

The third prophetical reference is in Luke 3:16

 

Here we have Luke’s version of the sermon by John the Baptist and it is amazingly consistent.  Again we read that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit. 

 

The fourth reference is in

 

John 1:33

 

It says the very same thing that we've already seen.  He's talking about Jesus and he says he's the one who is going to baptize with, or by the Holy Spirit of God.

 

Now the fifth and last prophetical reference is in Acts chapter 1 and here the speaker is not John, but

Jesus and He's prophesying concerning the baptism with the Holy Spirit just before His ascension. 

 

Notice verses 4-5

 

Jesus is telling them that this baptism by means of the Holy Spirit that they will receive is very, very near.  It's going to take place very soon and they are to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the baptism with the Holy Spirit of God. 

 

So what happened?  Well, move over a chapter to Acts 2 and you can find out. 

 

Acts 2:1

 

Now that’s surprising isn’t it?  I didn’t read anything about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, did you?  Jesus just said, “Wait, because in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” so I would expect when I read chapter 2 that’s what I would find. But guess what?  You don't find it.  It doesn't say they were all baptized with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

 

You say, "Preacher, you mean it didn't happen?"  Oh yes.  It happened alright and the reason we know it happened is because the Bible tells us how it happened. 

 

Look in Acts chapter 11 and there we learn that it did happen.  God confirms that it happened.  In chapter 11, Simon Peter is explaining to the Jewish disciples in Jerusalem what took place in the house of Cornelius, who was the first Gentile convert. 

It was the first time that the Jews realized that Jesus was not only for the Jews but for the Gentiles as well.  Through a vision, God told Peter he was going to extend the gospel to the Gentiles and then he used Peter to reach a Gentile man named Cornelius.

 

And in Acts 11, Peter is explaining to the Jewish brethren what had happened. 

 

Verse 15

 

Understand what he is saying.  When he references the “beginning” he’s talking about the day of Pentecost and what we read in Acts 2.  And he says the same thing that happened then happened again with the Gentiles. 

 

Then notice what he says in verse 16

 

Now this reference is historical.  Peter is the speaker.  He's looking back to the day of Pentecost and he's saying what took place in the house of Cornelius was the very same thing that took place among the Jewish believers on the day of Pentecost and what happened with both groups was the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 

 

So the historical occasion of the baptism took place on the day of the Pentecost as far as Jewish believers were concerned.  And it took place in the house of Cornelius as far as the Gentiles were concerned.

 

Now, there's one more reference and it is doctrinal in nature. 

 

1 Corinthians 12:13

 

By the way, it's interesting to note that in all seven of these scriptures, the same preposition is used to describe the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the believer. 

 

Every time, without exception that reference is to being baptized “by means of” or "with" the Holy Spirit.  Not once is it referred to as the baptism “of” the Holy Spirit.

 

This is the only verse in the letters of the New Testament that specifically talk about the baptism by the Holy Spirit and doctrinally speaking, he points out three things regarding this baptism.

 

They are what I want to refer to as

 

 

 

“For by one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body”

 

That means everybody, all of us who are children of God, have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Every child of God is the recipient of this baptism. 

See how clear the Bible makes things when you just accept it for what it says?  The baptism with the Spirit has happened to every believer.

 

Listen to me, what took place at Pentecost historically takes place in your life personally when you receive Jesus as your Savior.

 

By Spirit baptism, you are brought into a personal relationship with Christ.  That's what gives you a relationship with Christ.  If you had not had the baptism with the Spirit then you could have no relationship with Christ.  It would be impossible apart from Holy Spirit baptism.

Second, the baptism with the Spirit took place in the past. 

 

Paul uses the past tense to make this statement.  Not only does it include every believer, but it is something that took place in their past.  It’s not just pointing to the past, but to some specific time in the past.    

 

And what he’s talking about is their time of salvation. 

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is something that happens at salvation and he's telling us that all believers have been baptized by the Holy Spirit and that baptism took place at the moment of your salvation.

 

In Galatians 3:27 the scripture says, "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ."  He's not talking about water baptism.  He's talking about the figurative baptism with the Spirit.

 

In Romans 6:3 we read "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized", past tense, "into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?" What he's saying is historically, that took place when Jesus died on the cross.  Personally, that baptism took place when you received Jesus as your Savior.  Testimonially, you're giving evidence of that when you follow the Lord in the waters of believer's baptism. 

 

You are baptized into Jesus Christ to symbolize that the Spirit of God has already baptized you into his body and you have identified with his death, burial and resurrection.  And what happened historically happens to you personally and you give testimony in the waters of baptism.

 Don't minimize the baptism by water.  I would say anything Jesus walked seventy miles to do is not unimportant.  You need to follow the Lord in believer's baptism because that is the evidence of Spirit baptism.

 

And third, the baptism of the Spirit places all believers in the body of Jesus Christ. 

 

"For by one Spirit were you all baptized into one body."  This is the experience that places a believer into the body of Christ, which is His church. 

 

Now it may shock some of you Baptists to realize there are going to be some folks from other denominations in heaven.  But if they've been born again through faith in Jesus Christ, guess what?  They are in the same body that we're in.  It's not talking about the local group of believers here; he's talking about all believers, all born-again people, of all denominations, all of us, were baptized in the same body.  We don't have some monopoly on heaven. 

 

Somebody said to me one time, "You're one of those Baptists who believe only Baptists are going to heaven."  I said, "Ho no!  I'm narrower than that:  I don't think a lot of them are going to make it."  You don't go to heaven because you're a Baptist; you go to heaven because you're a part of Christ's body. 

 

Christ has three bodies.  Christ had a material body when He was here on earth.  He was fully human, fully divine.  Christ has a memorial body in that every time we take communion, we remember Jesus Christ in a special memorial. 

 

We’ve seen the record and the results.  Let me finish up with a quick thought about

 

 

Baptism by the Spirit is a once and for all experience that occurs at the moment of salvation by which I am placed into the eternal body of Christ.  We are not told to seek it or pray for it.  We aren’t told to evaluate each other by it.  It is not dependent on us being super spiritual or arriving at a certain place of spiritual maturity. 

 

In fact, I find it interesting that the only doctrinal statement in Scripture regarding it is made to the most carnal church in the New Testament.  And yet, Paul said they had all been baptized with the Holy Spirit. 

 

Because of the experience of salvation you received what I like to call a salvation package.  For instance, the Bible talks about being sealed with the Holy Spirit.  The moment you are saved you are sealed with the Holy Spirit.  You can't ever be lost because you are sealed by the Holy Spirit of God.  You couldn't get unsaved if you wanted to. 

 

Somebody says that they can just live any old way they want to.  That's not what that means.  If you're born again, truly saved, you don't want to live just any old way.  If you want to live just any old way, that's pretty good evidence that you have never been born again.  A lot of these people running around here talking about they are saved but living like the devil, they're not saved.  You'll never get me to believe it in a hundred years.

 

You are sealed by the Spirit.  You are given the anointing of the Spirit.  You are given the down payment, the earnest, of the Holy Spirit.  You are born of the Spirit.  It's a part of the salvation package and the baptism is a part of the salvation package.  It's just like a guy who enlists in the army.  He becomes a soldier and they issue him all of his gear.  He gets his boots, uniform, helmet, rifle, binoculars.  He gets the whole package.

 

It's also like a football player.  They join the team and then go to the field house and check out all of their equipment.  They get their helmet, pads, jersey, and cleats.  They get the whole package.  When you get born again and are saved you are born of the Spirit, you're sealed by the Spirit, you're given the earnest of the Spirit, you're anointed by the Spirit and you're baptized by the Holy Spirit.

 

There are a lot of good, sincere believers who have confused the baptism and the filling of the Holy Spirit.  Next week we’re going to learn about the filling of the Holy Spirit and you’ll be able to see that while the baptism has to do with your salvation, your position in the body of Christ, the filling has to do with service.  Let me contrast the two and that will set the stage for next week.

 

As I said, nowhere in Scripture are we commanded to seek the baptism.  But in Ephesians 5 verse 18 we are commanded to be filled with the Spirit.  The baptism places you into the body of Christ.  The filling equips you to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.  The baptism is never repeated.  You don't get baptized by the Spirit today and then baptized by the Spirit tomorrow or the next day.  

 

It is a once and, for all transaction. But the filling of the Holy Spirit may be and needs to be repeated. 

 

The Scofield Reference Bible put it as well as I have ever seen it put.  It explains it this way, “One baptism, many fillings”. 

 

I never walk into this pulpit unless I pray that the Holy Spirit will fill me and empower me to preach the Word of God.  You should never walk into your Bible class to teach a lesson without praying that God's Holy Spirit will fill you and equip you to teach the Word of God. 

 

We should never go out visiting without praying that God's Holy Spirit will fill us so that we can be witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not a matter of you getting the baptism.  If you are saved you already have the baptism.  It is not a matter of you getting His body.  It is a matter of Him getting your body.

 

Have you been born again?  You may be a church member but you're not really sure you have received the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.  Could I lead you in a simple prayer and if this prayer expresses the desire of your heart will you pray it after me?

 

Dear Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner.  Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for me.  Forgive me of all my sin.  Come into my heart Lord Jesus and save me right now.  I give my life to you and I will live for you. Thank you for saving me, In Jesus name, Amen.