One
Baptism
Paul refers to a SEVENFOLD unity in the
body of Christ in Ephesians chapter four:
Ephesians 4:3 Endeavouring to keep the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
In other words, there is a UNITY
involved...the Spirit has made a BOND...the bond of peace. And we are
told to KEEP that unity, not try to make it, because it is already made.
But then he goes on to say:
Ephesians 4:4 There is one body, and one
Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
The one body is THE church, THE body of
Christ, a joint body of believers being formed in this age, made up of
ALL believers who trust Jesus Christ as their Saviour, believing that
he died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day.
The ONE Spirit is the HOLY Spirit, and
Paul told the Ephesians that after they believed they were SEALED with
that Holy Spirit of promise, unto the day of redemption.
The ONE hope of your calling IS that day
of redemption. It is eternal life. It is the redemption of our body,
being caught up to be with the Lord in a glorious body made like unto
the glorious body of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then we come to verse five:
Ephesians 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one
baptism,
The ONE
Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ, the ONE faith is the faith OF
Christ...but then, the last thing there: ONE baptism. And THAT is where
most of religion gets hung up.
Paul
says that there is ONE Lord, ONE faith and ONE baptism. Which ONE is
it? There are several, a total of SEVEN baptisms that are referred to
in the so-called New Testament. So let's take a few minutes and look at
each one of them.
The
first baptism you come to in the bible is the baptism of John. And it
is referred to as "the baptism of repentance." Notice:
Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God;
Mark 1:2
As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before
thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
Mark 1:3 The voice of one crying in the
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Mark 1:4 John did baptize in the
wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of
sins.
Notice
in Luke:
Luke 3:3
And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of
repentance for the remission of sins;
So John's baptism was the "baptism of
repentance for the remission of sins." Now when you come to the book of
Acts, Peter is preaching basically the same thing:
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them,
Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost.
Notice
there is new information there in what Peter says. He preaches exactly
what John the Baptist preached but then he adds, "and you shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost."
But the
baptism of repentance was a WATER baptism. Notice:
Mark 1:5 And there went out unto him all
the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him
in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
So then, we see that John's baptism was a
WATER baptism and that it was for ALL ISRAEL. In Acts chapter two,
Peter preached that baptism. The only people on the scene are
Israelites. Then in Acts chapter eight, Philip goes down to Samaria and
preaches to the Samaritans. The Samaritans are Israelites...and THEY
are baptized:
Acts
8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the
kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both
men and women.
So
everything we have seen so far is WATER baptism. And now we come to the
SECOND baptism we find in the bible, and it also is a WATER baptism.
But the reason that THIS is a SEPARATE baptism is because it is a ONE
OF A KIND baptism and NOBODY could follow it, or practice it, because
THIS baptism was for ONE PERSON and one person only...and that was
Jesus Christ.
In the
gospel of John, the Pharasees sent Priests and Levites to John, notice:
John 1:24 And they which were sent were of
the Pharisees.
John
1:25 And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if
thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?
John 1:26 John answered them, saying, I
baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not;
Now notice in:
John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus
coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away
the sin of the world.
So John
the Baptist points out Jesus Christ as the LAMB OF GOD. Now what is a
LAMB associated with? The LAMB is associated with the LORD'S PASSOVER.
Notice in:
Exodus
12:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt
saying,
Exodus
12:2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be
the first month of the year to you.
Exodus 12:3 Speak ye unto all the
congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they
shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their
fathers, a lamb for an house:
So the
Israelites were to take a LAMB and then on the 14th day of the month:
Exodus 12:6 And ye shall keep it up until
the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
They were to KILL IT at evening on the
14th day of the first month. The PASSOVER LAMB is a type of Jesus
Christ. And for 1500 years, Israrel had the Passover. Now notice that
the PASSOVER is called the LORD'S PASSOVER:
Exodus 12:11 And thus shall ye eat it;
with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your
hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD's passover.
And in John chapter one, John the Baptist
points out Jesus Christ as the LAMB OF GOD:
John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus
coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away
the sin of the world.
John
1:30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is
preferred before me: for he was before me.
John 1:31 And I knew him not: but that he
should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with
water.
So the
LAMB OF GOD was to be made MANIFEST to Israel, John said, THEREFORE am
I come baptizing with water. So the baptism of Jesus Christ was for a
MANIFESTATION TO ISRAEL.
Now
people say "I believe in following the Lord in water baptism." But
there is NO WAY that you could. YOU are not the Lamb of God and you
have NOTHING to manifest to Israel. HE DID. So the Lord's water baptism
was a ONE OF A KIND baptism that nobody could follow.
John 1:32 And John bare record, saying, I
saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon
him.
That
certainly didn't happen when you got water baptized did it?
John 1:33 And I knew him not: but he that
sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou
shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he
which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
John 1:34 And I saw, and bare record that
this is the Son of God.
Now
there we see a reference to the THIRD baptism in the New Testament. The
baptism WITH the Holy Ghost. Who does it say will baptize WITH the Holy
Ghost? It is the ONE upon whom John saw the SPIRIT descending. In other
words Jesus Christ will baptize somebody WITH the Holy Ghost. Now come
to the book of Acts. The context is AFTER the death, burial and
resurrection of Jesus Christ and they are on the Mount of Olives:
Acts 1:4 And, being assembled together
with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem,
but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard
of me.
Acts 1:5
For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the
Holy Ghost not many days hence.
So there
we see TWO baptisms, one is WITH water and the other is WITH the Holy
Ghost. John is the one who baptized WITH water, and Jesus Christ is the
one who baptized 12 Apostles on the day of Pentecost WITH the Holy
Ghost. Notice what Peter says:
Acts
2:32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Acts 2:33 Therefore being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of
the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
So Jesus Christ had done EXACTLY what he
had said that he would do. He SHED FORTH the Holy Ghost and baptized 12
men, 12 Apostles. He SHED FORTH that baptism. Notice that nowhere in
the bible does it say that this is "the baptism OF the Holy Ghost."
There is no such term in the bible. This was the baptism WITH the Holy
Ghost and the baptizer was Jesus Christ, himself.
Now in Matthew chapter three we find not
one, not two, but THREE baptisms in one verse. ONE is with water and
the other two are something else. Listen to the words of John the
Baptist:
Matthew
3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore
every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast
into the fire.
Matthew
3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that
cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to
bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
So we see John's WATER baptism, and we see
the baptism BY Jesus Christ WITH the Holy Ghost. Now we see BOTH of
those baptisms in Peter's sermon in Acts chapter two:
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them,
Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost.
So there
is WATER and there is the HOLY GHOST. But there IS NO FIRE there. On
the Day of Pentecost, Jesus Christ baptized those men WITH the Holy
Ghost, just like he said he would do...but there is NO fire baptism in
the passage. If Pentecostalists and Charismatics really KNEW what the
fire baptism is...they wouldn't want any part of it. Notice:
Matthew 3:12 Whose fan is in his hand, and
he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the
garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
See what the fire baptism is? It is
UNQUENCHABLE FIRE. It is the FIRE that Paul writes about:
2 Thessalonians 1:7 And to you who are
troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from
heaven with his mighty angels,
2
Thessalonians 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know
not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Thessalonians 1:9 Who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from
the glory of his power;
Anybody
in their right mind would NOT WANT that fire! But in the passage, in
Matthew 3: 11 there are THREE baptisms mentioned, and only ONE of them
is with WATER.
Now the
point here is the word BAPTISM. People seem to always want to associate
the word baptism with WATER. Some people, every time they see the word
baptism in the bible they just automaticaly insert WATER into the
passage. but that's not the case is it?
Here is another baptism and it is a DRY
baptism:
1
Corinthians 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be
ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed
through the sea;
1
Corinthians 10:2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in
the sea;
So Paul
says that they were ALL baptized unto Moses. Did they get wet? No...the
Israelites walked right through the Red Sea on dry land, notice:
Exodus 14:21 And Moses stretched out his
hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong
east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters
were divided.
Exodus
14:29 But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of
the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and
on their left.
So it's
just not wise to try to insert water into the passage every time you
see the word BAPTISM. Actually, baptism is a word which the translators
of the bible never translated. Instead they TRANSLITERATED it. In other
words they took the Greek word and gave it an English spelling and
pronunciation and we say 'BAPTISM."
But the word NEVER meant WATER. The true
meaning of the word is IDENTIFICATION. In the passage we just read the
Israelites walked through the Red Sea on dry land, but they were all
BAPTIZED...that is to say...they were all IDENTIFED with Moses, in the
cloud and in the sea.
Now
let's look at ANOTHER baptism...and you can clearly see that NO WATER
is involved:
Luke
12:49 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be
already kindled?
Luke
12:50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened
till it be accomplished!
Now the
Lord said THAT long after he had been baptized by John in the river
Jordan. He was already baptized with water, but he says "I have a
baptism to be baptized with." What baptism was that? it was the baptism
of DEATH.
Mark
10:35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying,
Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall
desire.
Mark
10:36 And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you?
Mark 10:37 They said unto him, Grant unto
us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left
hand, in thy glory.
Mark
10:38 But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink
of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am
baptized with?
He is
talking about his DEATH, and he calls it a BAPTISM. But do you know
what? There was not a single drop of water at the cross. So this
baptism was NOT with water, it was a BAPTISM into death. But baptism is
an identification...and THAT is very important where you and I are
concerned. And we will talk about that a little later.
So far we have looked at SIX baptisms that
we find in the New Testament. There is the Baptism of John, a water
baptism. There is the baptism BY John of Jesus Christ. IT was a water
baptism, but a one of a kind baptism. It was to MANIFEST the Messiah to
Israel.
Then we
saw the Israelites...baptized UNTO Moses. That was a DRY baptism. The
Israelites didn't get wet...it was the Egyptians who got wet, and who
were drowned in the Red Sea.
On the
Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two we saw 12 Jewish men, the 12
Apostles, baptized WITH the Holy Ghost. That was a baptism performed by
the Lord Jesus Christ.
We read
about a future FIRE baptism. it is the fire of vengeance. It is FLAMING
FIRE and it is still future, and is reserved for those who obey NOT the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody has been baptized with that
FIRE BAPTISM....yet.
Then we
saw the baptism of DEATH, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Now
the disciples in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John didn't know, and they
didn't understand that Christ was going to die. They didn't beleive it,
and Peter even rebuked the Lord and said, "Not so Lord, this shall not
be unto thee."
But
Christ died on the cross, they didn't know why, he was buried and three
days and three nights later he rose from the dead. The 12 Apostles
began to carry on the ministry the Lord had given them, but in Acts
Chapter Nine, the Lord appeared to Saul of Tarsus, and SENT HIM to be
the Apostle of the Gentiles...and it was Paul who wrote:
Romans 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us
as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
And THAT is the baptism that counts. That
is the REAL baptism. And that is the ONE BAPTISM of Ephesians:
Ephesians 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one
baptism,
So
although there are many baptisms in the bible....today there is only
ONE. And unless you have THAT baptism....the only thing you have to
look forward to is the FLAMING FIRE, and everlasting destruction.
The one baptism of Ephesians Four is NOT
water, it is NOT fire and it is NOT the baptism WITH the Holy Ghost of
Acts chapter two. It is the BAPTISM INTO CHRIST.
Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as have
been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Water will NOT baptize you INTO CHRIST.
Water might very well get you approved by religion and might get you
accepted into some religious organization but WATER will not baptize
you INTO CHRIST. Only the Holy Spirit can do that:
1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit are
we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether
we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
So the Holy Spirit BAPTIZES you into the
death of Christ. Look again at:
Romans
6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ
were baptized into his death?
You are
IDENTIFED with Christ in his BAPTISM in HIS DEATH. God sees HIS death
as YOUR death. Hence Paul says:
Galatians
2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
The MOMENT you hear the gospel, believe
it, and TRUST Jesus Christ, believing that he died for your sins and
was raised for your justification....at that MOMENT you are baptized by
the Spirit and SEALED unto the day of redemption.
Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted,
after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in
whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit
of promise,
Ephesians
1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of
the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
So when you TRUST Jesus Christ as your
Lord and Saviour you are IDENTIFED in Christ. IDENTIFED in his death,
and burial and resurrection. God sees you as being crucified with
Christ, buried with Christ, raised with Christ, ascended with Christ
and now SEATED with Christ far above all heavens and the right hand of
God the Father. Notice:
Ephesians
2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Ephesians
2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Now...the
one baptism is NOT the "baptism OF the Holy Ghost," as they say, "with
the evidence of speaking in tongues." There is NO SUCH TERM in the
bible as the "baptism OF the Holy Ghost."
In Acts chapter Two, Jesus Christ was the
baptizer, and HE baptized 12 men WITH the Holy Ghost. Not OF but WITH.
John baptized WITH water and the Lord Jesus Christ baptized WITH the
Holy Ghost.
That is
NOT what is happening today. Today Jesus Christ is not baptiszing ANY
BODY. The BAPTIZER today is the HOLY SPIRIT....not Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit are
we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether
we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
So the Holy Spirit BAPTIZES and the Holy
Spirit SEALS. There is only ONE baptism today and it is DONE BY the
Holy Spirit. There is NO SUCH thing as "the baptism OF the Holy Ghost."
Today there is one Lord, Jesus Christ,
there is one faith, the faith OF Christ, and there is one baptism, the
baptism BY the Spriit into the BODY of Christ. All beleivers ALREADY
have it, by faith. It is already a done deal and there is nothing else
to seek for or pray for or try to do.
Water baptism might please men but it
doesn't please God today. So called "annointings" and second or third
baptisms please men today but they don't please God.
Ephesians 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one
baptism,
There is
one Lord, one faith and ONE baptism.
Ephesians 4:6 One
God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you
all.
Ephesians
4:7 But unto every one of us is given grace
according to the measure of the gift of Christ.