The Spirit and Baptism (3)

We're talking about the Holy Spirit and Spirit baptism or baptism in the Spirit is the way we're referring to it. I think that is the most biblical way to refer to this. It's not the baptism of the Spirit, it's baptism in the Spirit. And we'll see that again tonight. Let me remind you since it's been a couple weeks since we've been in our study. Let me remind you of what we're talking about. We began by talking about some of the confusion about baptism in the Spirit. Some of it was terminology confusion and so forth. It was interesting. We were just talking with someone yesterday about this very thing. They brought it up about some writers they were reading that were talking about the baptism of the Spirit as an experience that they received and moved to a different level of spirituality. And so just another indication of the confusion about what this is all about. We looked at some of the major passages on the baptism in the Spirit. And then last time we began talking about the six factors in the baptism of the Spirit. What we're doing there is we're in a sense comparing baptism in the Spirit to water baptism or baptism in water. Comparing the two not that they're the same but that there are some of the same dynamics that happen. And so we talked about the fact that there is a baptizer just like there is a baptizer with water baptism. There is a baptizer in spirit baptism. Someone who actually does the baptizing and we saw that the Bible makes that clear that that is Christ. The baptizer is Christ. John the Baptist said I baptize you in water. There's one coming after me who's the thongs of whose sandals I'm not even worthy to untie and he will baptize you in water. And then in Acts chapter one and verse five Jesus before we went back to heaven told the disciples for John baptized in water but in a few days you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. So it's clear that Jesus is the baptizer and then we saw last time also the element. The element is the spirit. The element in the baptism is the spirit the element into which we are baptized with water baptized with water baptism. We are baptized into water we are placed in water and in spirit baptism Jesus baptizes us places us in the spirit. The same terminology John will baptize you in water you will be baptized in the spirit. So the spirit is like the water the element into which we are placed. And we talked about the fact that there's a verse in Isaiah that has very similar terminology as a 29 10 for the Lord have poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep and have closed your eyes the prophets and your rulers the sears have he covered. And this idea of pouring out upon you that's the idea of being baptized in the spirit in the sense that we are immersed and the Holy Spirit is literally poured out. So that's what makes possible the filling of the spirit let me just take a moment to tie those together when when we get saved we are baptized in the spirit which means we're placed in the realm of the spirit. We are placed in a new realm we are in a new life now and since we are in pictured in your mind since we are placed in the spirit it says though the spirit is all around us just like water would be if we were baptized in water. And so that makes possible the filling of the spirit and we we saw I believe we dealt with this last time that that's the way first Corinthians 12 13 should be understood when when Paul says for we are all baptized in one spirit or by one spirit so as to form one body whether Jews or Gentiles slave or free and we were all given the one spirit to drink. The idea of being baptized in the spirit completely surrounded immersed and we're in a new realm we're immersed in the spirit and thus makes that makes possible drinking of that spirit and being filled with the spirit is the sense there that's why because those two are so closely tied it is the baptism in the spirit which really makes possible the filling of the spirit that's why in Acts chapter 2 the emphasis is on filling of the spirit not the baptism in the spirit even though that's when it first occurred in Acts 2 the emphasis in that chapter is on they being filled with the spirit so that they could speak in languages they'd never studied but those two are closely connected it is being placed in the realm of the spirit placed in the body of Christ that then makes possible for us to be filled with the spirit. As we drink of the spirit in the terms that Paul uses here so the element that were baptized into is the spirit now the third factor in the baptism of the spirit is the baptized okay if there's a baptizer and there's an element into which someone's baptized then who who is it that's being baptized who is the baptized who who are the ones being placed into the spirit and that is obviously the believer the believer in Christ is the one being baptized in the spirit. There's no one mentioned in the Old Testament as being baptized in the spirit in fact that's not even mentioned in the Old Testament that is clearly a church truth no one in the gospels is mentioned as being baptized in the spirit John the Baptist just says Christ will do that and Jesus says before he leaves to go back to heaven it's still future hadn't started yet so it didn't start till Acts chapter 2 so it is only those who have trusted Christ as Savior in this church age since the church began on the day of Pentecost that are baptized in the spirit but it is all believers because remember again 1 Corinthians 12 13 says for we were all baptized in the spirit baptized by one spirit into to one body so we were all he doesn't exclude anyone any believer any member of the church at Corinth no one's excluded all believers are baptized into the body of Christ in the spirit at the moment of salvation so that's who is being baptized now let me stop for a moment see if you have any questions we're kind of getting into our study now night after review so any any questions before we proceed okay the baptizer is Christ the element into which one is baptized is is the spirit and the one being baptized is the believer in Christ in this church age now the condition for being baptized in the spirit is faith in Christ that's the only condition in order to be baptized in the spirit all you have to do is trust in Christ as your Savior and you're immediately baptized in the spirit when you get saved you are baptized in the spirit there is no other condition mentioned in the Bible never is it mentioned that people sought this that they prayed for it that they earnestly you know sought God's face to be baptized in the spirit there's no terminology like that at all in the Bible every believer is baptized in the spirit and thus placed into the body of Christ so that has to mean that it happens at the moment of salvation if it's true of every believer then that can only be true at the moment you trust Christ as your Savior it's not it's not some kind of second blessing it's not something you pray through to get it happens at the moment you trust Christ same thing as the indwelling same thing same thing and time as the ceiling of the spirit at the moment you trust Christ the Holy Spirit comes to indwell you he is God's moment of faith in Christ he is God's mark of ownership and security and authority so he is the seal your seal at that time and you're also baptized in the spirit you're placed into a new realm with the Holy Spirit in you and surrounding you and all around you with you forever and you're placed in the body of Christ all that happens at the moment of salvation okay so the only condition in the Bible for being baptized in the spirit is trust Christ as your Savior when you do that you're baptized in the spirit it's not something you pray for seek meet certain conditions to get after salvation it happens at the moment of salvation all right any comment question there okay number five the mode the mode of this baptism is obviously immersion again the same with with water baptism the word baptism means to dip or plunge under that's what the word means so it's clear just very meaning of the word that just like water baptism must be by immersion then spirit baptism is also by immersion and that suggests a very precious truth that is mentioned in the scriptures if we are literally immersed in the spirit baptized in the spirit that means we are we are surrounded by the very life and power and presence of the spirit with the result that the scripture speak of us as being in the spirit okay just like if if I were to baptize you and put you in water immerse you in water you would be in the water you'd be totally surrounded by the water you'd be in water well the Bible talks about us as being in the spirit and that's what it means it means that we've been baptized into that element thus the Holy Spirit is not only indwelling us he surrounds us he's all around us he is with us forever as Jesus said Romans chapter 8 verse 9 is the verse it's on the screen for you you however Paul speaking to believers in Rome you however are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the spirit and some translation just say you're not in the flesh anymore you are in the spirit if indeed the spirit of God lives in you and if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ they do not belong to Christ so both the indwelling and the baptism in the spirit to where you are totally immersed in the spirit that happens at salvation because if you don't have the spirit you don't belong to Christ you're not you're not a believer so we are placed into an entirely new realm of life we are in the spirit and in that new realm surrounded by his very life and power. Okay the results of this there are at least three results of the baptism in the spirit one is that the baptism in the spirit places us into the body of Christ that's one result we saw that and I want you to look at the verse again we'll put it on the screen this time for your first Corinthians 12 13 for we were all baptized by remember the preposition really is in and that's in most of your translations in a footnote you were we were all baptized in one spirit so as to form one body whether Jews or Gentiles slavery and we were all given the one spirit to drink so that that act of trusting Christ as savior when you trust Jesus as your savior that act of baptism in the spirit also places you into the body of Christ that's what first Corinthians 12 is all about that body word picture of being in the spirit of Christ. So the second result is that you are identified with closely united with the death and resurrection of Christ we saw this before also in a couple of verses let me just remind you of them on the screen Roman six Paul has said in verse one if if grace does much more bound then can we continue and sin and he answers it in verse two by no means God forbid the King James says but we are those who have died to sin how can we live and it any longer or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus remember we saw that terminology is about the same as first Corinthians 12 it's talking about spirit baptism being placed into the body of Christ all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death in other words we were united with him and his death and then he goes on to say we were there for buried with him through this baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father we too may live a new life so we are closely identified with united with Christ's death burial and resurrection through this baptism that he's talking about and even though we use these verses by way of application to refer to water baptism the symbolism is certainly there that that verse pretty much has to be talking about spirit baptism because it says it is through that baptism united with Christ so if it's not spirit baptism then basically what that passage is teaching is that water baptism saves you because it unites you with Christ it causes you to be crucified buried and raised with him so I believe for that reason he's talking about spirit baptism there baptism in the spirit same thing in the Galatians 327 we saw that verse also for all of you who were baptized into Christ Jesus have clothed yourselves with Christ the result is you're living in that new realm now you're now clothed with Christ you put on new man and you're in the name of Christ and then the third result of the baptism in the spirit is that it establishes the true unity of the church again Ephesians 4 talks about these the unity that we have in Christ make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace there's one body one spirit just as you were called the one hope when you were called one Lord one faith one baptism and that means that's all of these are these ones are things that every believer has in common okay the only baptism that every believer has in common is spirit baptism not water baptism there are a lot of people get saved that never get water baptized so the one thing that does tie us together is spirit baptism one baptism one God and father of all who is overall and through all men all so it is that spirit baptism that helps form the unity of the body of Christ unity of the church all right those are the six factors and I think kind of thinking through those in terms of how it's it the picture at least is like water baptism that kind of helps me to understand it better there is a baptizer that's Christ who baptizes the person being baptized the believer into the Holy Spirit on condition of faith in Christ by immersion your baptize and placed in the realm of the spirit with the result that you're also in the spirit that you're also in the body of Christ you are united with Christ and is Beth deathberry on resurrection and you are part of his church the one church that unity that kind of summarizes what the Bible teaches on the baptism in the spirit okay we're going to we're going to tie some loose ends together the rest of tonight and the next week with how this relates to our experience but any questions about those basic features of the baptism in the spirit yes Steve? so being in the spirit is one thing that has to do with our position praying in the spirit is is some activity with the recognition of the presence of the Spirit, the recognition that we are in the Spirit. So praying in the Spirit would mean that I am praying with the recognition that the Spirit of God indwells me, he surrounds me, and thus he is my helper in prayer, and that is praying in the Spirit. It's not some ecstatic utterance, and that kind of thing is, I know you wouldn't be intimating that anyway, but it's just simply the recognition that the Holy Spirit is here, he's helping me pray, and so that gives me a special urgency and passion about prayer that's praying in the Spirit. I think that's the idea. Being in the Spirit is a state, praying in the Spirit is an activity that recognizes that state and applies it. Okay, Walt? I guess it could be seen that way. I'm thinking of, I'm not sure which passage exactly you think about, I'm thinking of one that sounds a lot like that in Romans 11. Okay, in Ephesians 4. Okay, yeah, who is overall and through all in all. Okay, it could be seen in relationship to time, as I see those prepositions and I probably need to go look at it a little more closely, but he's overall, that's his sovereignty, his position, he's in control, he's sovereign, Lord overall. Through all, to me, indicates his providence that he is working through everything that happens in the universe, and in all means his omnipresent, he is always present. I would see the through as referring more to his providence. Now obviously his providence, the fact that he controls every circumstance and works through everything that happens, that is done in time. Yes, his providence is the outworking of his sovereign plan in time. So it is related to time for sure. Yeah. Okay. So how easily I can get lost just in that passage and I'm somewhere else. Okay, anything else? Question, comment. Okay. All right, let's take a few minutes then to look at the spirit baptism and Christian experience because this is such a confusing issue, as I mentioned earlier, I was just talking with someone yesterday who was doing some reading and was reading about the experiences of great Christian leaders who had this experience in their lives that they felt like raised them to a new level of spirituality and many of them referred to that as baptism of the or being baptized with the spirit. And again, I think that's a misnomer. I think what they're really referring to is the filling of the spirit, the control of the spirit, where we finally come under his authority. I think that really is what they experienced, but they use the wrong term for it. It's not baptism. It's more the filling of the spirit. But let's take a little bit of a look tonight, just to kind of sort this out in our thinking spirit baptism and Christian experience. First of all, the relationship between the two. I want to comment on for just a moment. You often hear as I have just indicated, and if you do much reading of biographies and in the realm of teachings about the Holy Spirit and so forth, you will hear this a lot. You often hear that spirit baptism is a mark of spirituality or that it raises you to a new level of spirituality. You reach a high level of commitment and this happens or this happens and it elevates you to a new level of spirituality. That's what those two are often tied together. But spirit baptism is not a mark of spiritual maturity. It is not a mark of spirituality. It is not an indication of yieldedness. If as we have seen, it happens at the moment of salvation, then it has nothing to do with how mature you are. You haven't even started to grow yet. You just got saved. So it has nothing to do with how mature you are or how spiritual you are. It's not something that happens years later in your Christian experience that catapults you to a new level of spirituality or comes as a result of you getting to a new level of spirituality. It happens to you at the moment of salvation. Remember, spirit baptism means that if the moment you got saved, Christ placed you into a new realm. The realm of the spirit, you're no longer that old person. You're in a new realm. You're baptized in the spirit. You're placed into the body of Christ. So it has nothing to do with your spiritual maturity or how yielded you are or anything how committed you are or anything like that. When you trust Christ as your Savior at that moment, Christ baptizes you in the spirit, placing you into a whole new realm of living where you now have a new power to live for him. And that's because the Holy Spirit is there. And it also places you into his body, the body of Christ. It has to do with your position in Christ, not with your experience later as a believer. So it's not a degree of spirituality. It's not how close you are to Christ or how much you walk with Christ that determines the baptism in the spirit. That happens at the moment of salvation. Now certainly there is a lot to do with our Christian experience and we'll talk about that in just a moment. But the relationship between the two, there really is no relationship between your personal experience as a believer and spirit baptism. Spirit baptism happens at the moment you're saved. The same as the Holy Spirit indwelling you does. The same as the Holy Spirit sealing you does. Neither one of those has to do with your Christian experience and neither does baptism in the spirit. They happen at the moment you're saved. Okay, any any question about that relationship between the two? John? Sling in the spirit. It's a term used in charismatic settings where a person typically they fall over and and that is supposed to be some kind of sign of being completely overtaken by the Holy Spirit. Now most Pentecostals or Charismatics would call that the experience of the baptism of the spirit. But particularly the being slain in the spirit usually is when a person is in their experience so overcome totally that they fall to the ground. Okay, and you see that happens sometimes in Pentecostal churches and Charismatic churches. Now there's no question that people fall to the ground. My question is why? I don't think it has to do with obviously then have to do with baptism in the spirit that has nothing to do with our Christian experience. It happens to the moment of salvation. I don't really think that has anything to do with the filling of the spirit either. There are lots of other reasons why that may happen. But and we'll talk actually talk a little bit more about that next week when we talk about the relationship between spirit baptism and speaking in tongues and that's where it really gets interesting. But we're gonna we're gonna wait on that till next week because that's a that's a subdee goletone. Okay, that's a great great question. Anything else there about relationship between the two experience your personal experience as in growth and baptism in the spirit any question about the relationship there or lack of relationship I should say. Okay, the best proof of what I've just said that there really is no relationship between your level of Christian experience and baptism in the spirit. The best proof of that is from First Corinthians. Okay, now think think through this with me for a moment. The Corinthian church, when you look at everything Paul deals with in that letter, the Corinthian church was the most carnal, worldly, problem-filled church in the New Testament. It was a mess. It really was. You think about everything Paul addresses in the book of First Corinthians. Divisions in the church. There's a case of incest in the church where a man is sleeping with his stepmother in chapter 5 and and the church is actually proud of the grace they've shown to this man in this situation. And Paul says you need to kick him out of the church. You need to practice church discipline for something that serious and that simple but they were tolerating it not only tolerating it they were boasting about their grace in that situation. Well, grace doesn't excuse sin certainly as Paul said in First Corinthians 5, even pagan Gentiles know that's wrong. I mean they know better than that and you don't just cover that up with what you call grace that's cheap grace. So they had that going on. They had immorality in the church in chapter 6. They had lawsuits between believers in chapter 6. They had all kinds of difficulty with people who were questioning whether or not it was right to be married or to stay single. Really misunderstanding about sexual activity so forth outside of marriage. There was disorder at the Lord's table in chapter 10 and 11. So much so that Paul said because of all the sin that's taking place surrounding your communion services some of you are being chastened by the Lord as far as death. I mean these churches are mess. This church has all kinds of problems. There's an abuse of gifts. He deals with that chapters 12 through 14. Terrible abuse of spiritual gifts in the church and Paul tries to straighten that out. So this church has got all kinds of problems but it is to this church with all of those carnal worldly people that Paul says we are all baptized in one spirit and placed in the body of Christ. He doesn't say just you folks who aren't guilty of all of these things. You believers who've gotten so far away from the Lord that your lives are amassed. No. He says we are all baptized into one body. So the best proof that baptism in the spirit is not tied to a certain level of Christian experience is the book of 1 Corinthians and the church in Corinth. In fact I'll go so far as to say this the presence of spiritual gifts in a church including the gift of tongues had had no did not signify at all their spirituality because Paul said to the same church look at it in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 7 he's he's thanking God for them as he opens up this letter he says in verse 3 I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus for in him you've been enriched in every way with all kinds of speech all knowledge God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you verse 7 therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed this is a church that had all the spiritual gifts in it exercise and yet it was a mass the Corinthians in the church at least had had evidence of the full range of spiritual gifts so even even speaking in tongues in 1 Corinthians they were abusing that gift according to chapter 12 and 14 but still all of the gifts were there so even having all the spiritual gifts is not an evidence that you're a spiritual person you see God gives at least some spiritual gift to every believer and again that's a whole different topic we're not going to try to get into all of that tonight but I believe that every believer has a spiritual gift that you can you can get far away from the Lord and be walking in disobedience and your life be a mess morally and be disobedient to God but you still have that spiritual gift that ability to serve it's still there you may not be using it but it's still there so the Corinthians church is the best illustration the best proof of the fact that spirit baptism is not a result of some great level of spiritual maturity because he says to this messed up church with all these sin problems in it we've all been baptized in the spirit and placed into the body of Christ that happens at salvation okay okay comments or questions there all right one other thing I want to deal with tonight and it is the reality of our experience having said everything I've said you may be thinking that John doesn't even believe that you should try to reach a level of growth in Christ and spiritual maturity I'm certainly not denying the reality of our experience in Christ and and even experiences of deep moving of the spirit of God in our hearts and lives I'm just saying that's not baptism in the spirit you see whatever you may experience by way of growth and the power of God in your life that that has nothing to do with the baptism in the spirit it has to do with other ministries of the spirit yes but not baptism in the spirit God may touch your heart in a very special way God may may move your heart so deeply that tears are brought to your eyes and you are you are moved very deeply by something you experience as you read his word I had an experience like that this morning in in studying for Sunday morning's message I was studying in in John 18 and 19 about Jesus before pilot and I don't want to preach my Sunday morning message tonight but it was it was so moving to me the exchange between Burabus and Jesus and Burabus is brought up having only heard what the crowd would have been yelling see he's only about 1500 meters down in in another part of the palace from where pilot is speaking to the crowd he could hear the yells of the crowd but he could not hear the voice of one individual like pilot so this conversation is going on between pilot and the crowd pilot is saying um who do you want me to release to you Burabus or Jesus he can't hear that one person speaking no doubt he could hear the crowd though yelling Burabus what do you want me to do with Jesus then pilot says crucify him but he hasn't done anything wrong pilot says I find him innocent crucify him they said even louder and then he says well I wash my hands of this and the crowd yells out let his blood be on us in our children now all Burabus heard was Burabus crucify him crucify him let his blood be on us in our children and as he's brought up to pilot he's thinking he's going to his execution and then all of a sudden he's released set free why because there's someone else over here who's taking his place and dying instead of him and when I thought about what that must have done to Burabus I don't know what happened to Burabus but I thought about myself because that's what happened to me that's what happened to you now I am preaching my Sunday morning message now I got to stop because y'all just gonna forget Sunday morning but when I thought about the fact that that's me that's me being brought up in chains and and and deserving execution and I look and somebody's taking my place and I'm gonna be set free that's me that's you it's all of us and that moved my heart so much I said in my office this morning looking at that passage and wept God does move in our hearts and his word does draw out our experience and I'm not denying that at all God may speak to us in special ways and and you may have a profound experience with God a life-changing experience you know later in your Christian life where you finally come to the recognition I haven't been living for the Lord and I need to just give everything to him and there may be a very profound experience in prayer or in worship or in in reading the word and that is a movement of the Holy Spirit in your life there's no question about it but it's not the baptism in the spirit baptism in the spirit happens at salvation what you're experiencing is the illumination of the spirit he's opening your heart and mind to the truth of God's word and and his teaching ministry in your heart and his rebuking ministry and convicting ministry in your heart and then his filling his taking control of you that that all those ministries of the experience of the spirit you may be experiencing but not that's not baptism in the spirit and you see that experience is what a lot of people call baptism in the spirit and it's just using the wrong term okay I'm not denying the experience and the experience can happen of really being overwhelmed with God's mercy and grace and your own simpleness and coming to a life-changing experience as a believer that happens but it's not baptism in the spirit it's something else okay Steve I can't close I can't close to being slain I didn't fall out much here I think you're reminding me of a few of you talking about that and doing it. I love it. If I recall, if I recall, if it was all people coming to me you actually thought of a problem like spirit, it's all in the spirit. Yeah. For sure it did not and that that is a whole other realm of ministry of the Holy Spirit that we'll talk about later in our study when we talk about we'll do a whole study on the spirit in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament in particular the Holy Spirit would rush on people, come on people in an immediate control and infusion of power that sometimes had some bizarre consequences and you're talking about one with Saul but it had absolutely like you said Steve had absolutely no bearing on his character. You know it didn't raise him to a new level of spirituality for sure. It was to accomplish something God wanted him to do in the moment and he needed to continue to yield himself to the Lord to experience that maturity and growth which he did not do. Yeah good point good point okay anything else there? So my point is this you do not need to seek the baptism of the spirit as most people refer to it we're calling it baptism in the spirit. You don't need to seek for that you don't need to pray for that you don't need to hope that you get to a certain level where you're experiencing it the baptism in the spirit has already happened with you if you've trusted Christ it happened to the moment of salvation. Now we all do need to draw closer to Christ and be moved in our spirit to be more like him and that is a very real and hopefully repeated experience in our Christian life but it's not the baptism in the spirit okay. All right let's close in prayer. Father thank you for the reality of what happens to us when we trust Christ that we are baptized in the spirit and placed into the body. Thank you for that reality. Lord help us to recognize that we do have the Holy Spirit with us at all times. We are immersed in him we are in the realm of the spirit. We have him with us at all times around us in us to enable us to live as you would have us to and Lord we just we know we're not counting on him when we failed you when we miserably failure. We're not recognizing that we have the power to live as you want us to so I pray that we would be grateful for his presence and being immersed in him and that we would then seek to be aware of that and live in the reality of that every day of our lives in Jesus name we ask this amen.