Does He Baptize?

Welcome to Worship in the Word with Pastor Robert Morris. We're in a series called The God I Never Knew, where we've been learning so much about who the Holy Spirit is, what His chief desire is, and what He promises to do in our lives. And in today's message, Pastor Robert is going to share about three baptisms the Bible describes. Well, let's join him now.

This weekend, you're going to love this message. The question is, does He baptize? Because many people have heard of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Many refer to it incorrectly as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And I'll explain to you it is the baptism in the Holy Spirit or the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

So we'll talk about that. Does He, does the Holy Spirit baptize? And I brought the board up because I think it will help us understand. So I'll go through the three points quickly, and then we're going to spend time on the third point.

So here's point number one. The Holy Spirit baptizes us in Jesus. The Holy Spirit, when we get saved, baptizes us into the body of Christ. Let me read you that scripture.

1 Corinthians 12, 13. For by one Spirit, by the Spirit, by one Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit, we were all baptized into one body. And we know there it's referring to the body of Christ. Verse 12 actually says Christ, the body of Christ. So when we, when you get saved, the Holy Spirit baptizes, baptizo, to immerse fully, is what it means, into the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit baptizes you in the body.

So we can answer the first, the question, the title of the message right now. Does He baptize? Yes. He baptizes us into the body of Christ. But the controversy has been, do we need to be baptized in Him?

And that's what I want to show you, right? So here's the second baptism. The disciple baptizes us in water. Once we get saved, we come for water baptism. Matthew 28, 19. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Again, you see the Trinity in that one verse. So after we get saved, we get baptized in water. Water baptism is a sign, but it's more than a sign. Some have relegated only to a sign. Some have relegated it to more of a salvation experience as well.

I'm not here to argue those points of view. I'm simply saying that it does symbolize what we've done when we gave our life to Jesus. But it's also more than a sign. It's a cutting of the flesh.

It's a bearing of the old person. It's literally like when the Israelites went through the Red Sea. The Bible tells us they were baptized. When they went through the Red Sea, they left the enemy, remember, in the sea.

They left the old life of slavery behind. It was a new life for them. So that's water baptism. Now, in Ephesians 4, before I show you this next point, in Ephesians 4, it says there's one baptism. And for people who have argued against the baptism in the Holy Spirit, they have used that verse. They've said, well, you know, Ephesians says there's only one baptism.

Okay. It also says there's one Lord. There's one Lord alone. But we know there are three who are one. Three in one, Trinity. There's the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Three in one. I'm telling you there are three baptisms and they all agree. And I'll actually show you a verse where it says there are three in heaven, but they all agree as one. And there are three on earth, referring to three baptisms, and they all agree as one. But what I want to make a point about is that even people who say there's only one baptism, listen, even people who say that believe in two. They believe that when we get saved, we're baptized into Jesus. And they believe in water baptism. I'm telling you there are three.

So here's the third one. Jesus baptizes us in the Holy Spirit. Jesus baptizes us in the Holy Spirit. Matthew 3, verse 11. This is John the Baptist speaking.

Matthew's quoting John the Baptist here. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he, capital H, that's Jesus, who's coming after me is my dearest and I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. And we read on the day of Pentecost how fire came. So he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Jesus baptizes us in the Holy Spirit.

Now, there are a couple of things I want to address about this. First of all, John the Baptist wasn't speaking to the 12 disciples. The 12 disciples had not been called. This is Matthew 3. They were called in Matthew 4. I could take you through each gospel and show you that after John said this, after John's baptism is when Jesus called the 12 disciples, because Jesus himself came and was baptized. So many people say, well, the baptism of the Holy Spirit was only for the 12 apostles or for the 120 in the upper room.

Okay. He wasn't speaking. John was not speaking to the 12 or the 120. He was saying, there is someone coming after me. He is the Messiah. And this is one of the ministries of the Messiah. The Messiah is going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

And it's for everyone. He wasn't just speaking to the 12 or 120 because the 12 weren't even there. He's speaking.

He's saying, he's telling everyone when the Messiah comes, this is what he does. Now, here's what you need to understand. Many people have said that these two are the same thing.

Okay. They are not the same thing theologically. But you know that I have a pet peeve. My pet peeve is that many people and many pastors, it's not that they don't know theology, it's that they don't know grammar. You can't say these are the same because they have different subjects. Grammatically they can. In this one, the Holy Spirit is doing the baptizing.

In this one, Jesus is doing the baptizing. Please hear me. Yes, theologically you can't say they're the same. Grammatically you can't say they're the same. It's impossible. Okay.

It can't be the same. All right. And so, by the way, that's why I said there's a difference between of and in. This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is the baptism that the Holy Spirit performs. So a lot of you who've come from a Pentecostal or Charismatic background, you need to get your grammar straight. You refer to it as the baptism of the Spirit. And that's where other people get mixed up.

Because the baptism of or that the Holy Spirit performs is 1 Corinthians 12, 13. Oh, I didn't mean to do that. There. See? Look at that. I can erase on the board. This is the greatest story.

I take it home and play with it at night. All right. So anyway, but this is the baptism in and another word could be with. It's preposition and they're interchangeable.

And again, I'm not here to give you an English lesson. But the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the baptism the Holy Spirit performs when you get saved. But the baptism in the Holy Spirit is the baptism Jesus gives you after you get saved.

He wants to baptize you in the Spirit. Now, I've shown you this verse in Matthew. I show it to you in Matthew 3-11. I'm going to show you the baptism in the Holy Spirit in Mark, Luke, and John also.

Mark chapter 1. I indeed baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Again, he, Jesus, is the subject during the one that's the baptizing. Luke 3 16. John answered, saying to all, I indeed baptized you with water, but one mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I'm not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. And John 1, verse 33. I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. OK, so all through the rest of this time, we're going to talk about three words, right? We're going to talk about salvation, water, and spirit. Sometimes you see the Holy Spirit, sometimes you don't.

OK, they're just messing with me. All right, so. So we're going to talk about salvation, water, and spirit.

So I just want to say something. Is Jesus our example? Yes, he's our example, right? OK, so did Jesus have these three baptisms? Was Jesus saved? Was he water baptized?

And was he spirit baptized? Well, first let's talk about salvation. OK, when we're saved, the Bible says we're born again. We're born again. And when we're born again, now this may be hard to comprehend, but listen carefully to me, we're born as children of God.

I'm going to say a little more. We're born as perfect children of God. Listen, not perfect in our performance, but perfect in our position. Because of what Christ did. Christ lived the perfect life.

We'll never live the perfect life, but we are in Christ because the Holy Spirit baptizes in Christ. You're not in Christ, Colossians 3 says. OK, so we're born again. OK, so was Jesus ever born again?

Well, no, he wasn't. It's because he was born right the first time. When he was born, he was born a perfect son of God.

You see what I'm saying? So he was, though, born a child of God. So we are all born a child of God. Then was Jesus water baptized?

Yes. John the Baptist baptized Jesus. We know he's baptized. Well, was he spirit baptized? Now listen to me. I've had people say to me, well, you know, you talk about the baptism in the Holy Spirit and Jesus is our example, and Jesus was never baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Here's what I say. What Bible are you reading? Because when he was water baptized, what happened right after he was water baptized? The Holy Spirit, like a dove, descended on Jesus. But the Holy Spirit descended on him.

OK, I've got a really great question for you. If Jesus needed the person of the Holy Spirit when he was on this earth, how much more do you think you need the person of the Holy Spirit? Because Jesus did. Jesus had these three baptisms. The Holy Spirit came on, it was like a dove, but the Holy Spirit descended. The subject sentence is the Holy Spirit. OK, so I'm saying this is a pattern in Scripture. We get saved, we get water baptized, spirit baptized.

By the way, that's these three right here. We get baptized in Jesus, we get saved, we get water baptized, then Jesus baptized in the Spirit. I'm saying it's a pattern. Let me show you a few verses and show you the pattern. You'll see the pattern.

It's as clear as day. Acts 2, verse 38, then Peter said to them, repent. OK, how do you get saved? You have to repent.

You have to turn from your old life. And let every one of you be baptized, there's water baptism, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Repent, be baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter 8, Philip, who's a deacon, goes to Samaria, and he preaches, verse 12, but when they believed, Philip believed, as he preached things concerning the kingdom of God. OK, so they got saved, because they believed.

You get saved by repenting and believing, all right? When they believed, they concerned things of the children of God, both men and women were baptized, water baptized. OK, now, you would think that the Bible would stop there and would basically say, and they had all they needed. Because they got saved and water baptized.

That's all you need. But watch what the Bible says. Verse 14, now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who when they had come down, gave them the right hand of Christian fellowship, because they had all they needed.

Is that what your Bible says? No, it says, who when they had come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit. And then it explains it, for as yet he had fallen. Or he had not immersed, they had not been baptized yet in the Holy Spirit.

He'd fallen upon none of them. They'd only been baptized, water baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

Clear. They got saved, they got water baptized, they got baptized in the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter 19, verse 1, and it happened while Apollos was at Corinth that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples, he said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

Alright, now look at me for a moment. Paul, the greatest apostle to ever live, traveling through Ephesus, comes to Ephesus, he finds some disciples. So he says to them, well did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

Okay. Well if you received the Holy Spirit when you believed, why would the greatest apostle who ever lived ask that question? You would think that Paul would know correct theology. He wrote a third of the New Testament.

That's a third more than any theologian living today wrote. He, listen, he asked straight out, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Did anyone tell you about the Holy Spirit? Did anyone pray for you to receive the Holy Spirit?

What an amazing question. You need to be able to deal with this. And I think these people might have gone to the same church that I went to growing up because they're answering us, well we haven't even heard there was the Holy Spirit. That's the way I was growing up. I hadn't even heard.

And anything I have heard was bad. That's the way many people have been. So now watch what he's going to do. He's going to check out their salvation now. So he said to them, verse 3, into what then were you baptized? They said John's baptism. So Paul explains, John baptized with a baptism of repentance saying people they should believe.

We've noticed both those words, repent and believe. That's salvation. To believe on him who would come after him.

That is on Christ Jesus. So when they heard this, they were baptized or water baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, in Christ Jesus. So they're baptized Jesus. So now this is Paul.

Apparently that's all they need. Verse 6, and when Paul had laid hands on them the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Now you need to know something because again people say well this Holy Spirit coming to people only happened in Acts 2. No, it happened in Acts 8, Acts 10 which we didn't have time to read when the Gentiles got saved and Acts 19. Just in the book of Acts four times.

Not just Acts 2. You also need to know this, that Acts 8 about Philip and Samaria was five years after Pentecost. Five years later people got saved and water baptized and they said well you need one more thing, you need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Acts 10, again which we didn't have time to read, is about the Gentiles receiving and that was ten years after Pentecost. Ten years later the disciples are still believing once people get saved they need to be water baptized and they need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And Acts 19, you ready for this? 25 years after Pentecost. 25 years later the greatest apostle who ever lived found some believers, some disciples and said did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

Isn't that amazing? My wife and I were talking about this and she said that was the scripture that convicted her. Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

Alright. I'll show you just a couple more scriptures. 1 John chapter 5 verse 7. It says, for there are three that bear witness in heaven. The Father, the Word, Revelation 19 tells us Jesus is the Word and the Holy Spirit and these three are one. The Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. Now, everyone believed that verse.

Isn't that a very simple theological verse? That's the Trinity, right? There are three that bear witness in heaven. The Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. What do they bear witness to? They bear witness to the supernatural life.

It isn't just you're born, you have your matter and energy and then you die. There is a spiritual life here. The Father, the Word, and the Spirit. There are three in heaven. Now, I'm going to show you a verse and I want you to see if you see the three baptisms and let me just say that sometimes salvation can be referred to as repent and believe.

Sometimes it can be referred to as the blood because without the shedding of blood there's no remission of sins and we're saved by the blood of the Lamb, right? So, watch the next verse and see if you see the three baptisms. And there are three that bear witness on this earth. The Spirit, the water, and the blood. And these three agree as one.

You see it? There are three that bear witness in heaven. The Father, the Word, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. There are three that bear witness on this earth. The Spirit, the water, and the blood. That's how we get saved by the blood of the Lamb. What do they bear witness to? They bear witness to the supernatural.

Okay, let me boil it down for you. When you get saved, you become a new person. When you get water baptized, the old person is cut off. Left in the water, buried in baptism. And when you get Spirit baptized, you get power to walk in the new. It's a complete work that God wants to give you.

When you get saved, and by the way, all you need to go to heaven is to get saved. But if you want to live victoriously on this earth, you need to be water baptized and Spirit baptized. Some of you need to get water baptized because you got baptized as a child and you actually got saved later on.

Can I say that one more time? There are many of you here that need to be water baptized because you walked an aisle as a child, but now you've truly given your life to Jesus. You need to be water baptized after salvation. And there are many of you here.

Many. You're not a bad person. You just never heard anyone explain to you that this is not goofy and that it is doctrinally accurate and correct and it is biblically sound. You need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Think about it this way.

Is this one of the reasons that so many believers are defeated because they only have two out of three baptisms that they need? They don't have the power. They want to live the life, but they would even describe their life as powerless. I'm powerless.

Okay. Here's closing illustration. This is the tabernacle of Moses. This is called the outer court, this area here. This is called the inner court or the holy of holies. It's called the holy place.

It had two sections. Holy place and most holy place. This is where God dwelt.

God literally dwelt between the wings of the cherubim. In the holy place, the most holy place I mean, the holy of holies. So your goal is to get into the presence of God.

You know what your goal is today? It's to get into the presence of God, to walk with God. But when you came into the tabernacle of Moses, by the way there's only one way in.

There's only one way. But when you came in, now listen to me, there were three things that you had to do before you could enter the presence of God. I'm telling you that there are three things, there are three baptisms you need. When you came into the tabernacle, that Moses was caught up in heaven and saw this vision and God said, what you see in heaven draw on earth. So this is an example, this is something for us to understand spiritual truth about. Listen, there were three things that you had to do before you could enter the presence of God. Isn't this a coincidence?

It's amazing. So when you entered, the first thing you encountered was an altar where they shed the blood of a lamb. Simple. What does that represent? Salvation. Jesus is the lamb.

He shed his blood for us. It represents salvation. Secondly, when you entered, there was a laver where you washed with water.

This is an amazing coincidence, isn't it? What would it represent? Obviously, water baptism.

But you'll have people tell you, that's all you need. But there was a third step. There's not a theologian in the world that can deny this. Before you could enter the presence of God, there was a flask where they anointed you with oil. What's it represent? Spirit baptism. Oil. They anointed you. They poured the oil over you.

Now, here's the problem. Some people come to church and we say, Jesus died for your sins. I'll accept Jesus as my Savior. After you've gotten saved, you need to be water baptized. I'll be water baptized if there's a heater on the pool. I'll be water baptized.

Yes, I will do that. I'll wait until June, but I will be water baptized. But then we say, Jesus wants to baptize you in the Holy Spirit. Here's what many people do.

I've heard that's kind of weird. Here's the problem. Some of you know your Bible. What happened if you went in here incorrectly? You died. You died.

A whole bunch of Christians walk around and they literally feel dead. No life. No power. No power. And can I lovingly say to you, you don't get to set the rules of how you enter God's presence?

He does. So you come in, you get saved, you get water baptized, and then when you get baptized in the Holy Spirit, you can enter right into the presence of God. We want you to take a moment to think about what Pastor Robert shared today and listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. If you want to connect with us or check out some of Pastor Robert's other messages, visit pastorrobert.com. And if you haven't already, go follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter so we can be a part of your community. We're so glad you joined us for this incredible message, and we pray that you were encouraged by it. Next time, Pastor Robert is concluding this series with a message about the scriptural basis for having a prayer language. You won't want to miss it.