Baptized In The Spirit I have myself heard one and the same person use seriously every one of the following expressions: 1. "Oh, I have received the Spirit baptism, and that is the main thing." 2. "Whatever may be said of the mode of water baptism, it is certain the Spirit baptism was by pouring." 3. "0 Lord, baptize us in the Holy Ghost and in fire." 4. "The Spirit baptism is but another name for regeneration or conversion, as proved from the Scriptures, Ephesians 4:5: 'One Lord, one faith, one baptism.' And from I 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.'" I say that I have heard one person use all four of
these expressions. Now listen to an analysis of them. Judging from the
conditions and circumstances when these expressions were used, fairly analyzed,
they mean as follows: First
expression analyzed: There are now in the world two baptisms, by authority of
Jesus Christ: Spirit baptism, the greater; water baptism, the less. If you
receive the first it exempts you from any special obligation as to the second. I
say that is what that first expression means when analyzed. "Oh, we have
received the Spirit baptism, which is the main thing." Analyze that expression
and it means that if you have received the greater, the other is a matter of so
small importance that there is no special obligation with reference to
it. Second expression analyzed: As the
Spirit baptism, the greater, was by pouring, therefore the water baptism could
not be an immersion. That is unquestionably a fair analysis of the second
expression. Third Expression analyzed: The
Spirit baptism comes in answer to prayer. Christians should pray for it. Spirit
baptism and fire mean the same thing. The expression you remember was this: "0
Lord, baptize us in the Holy Ghost and in fire." That is a prayer. I say that
when that expression is analyzed it means first, that the Spirit baptism comes
in answer to prayer, and second, that Christians should pray for it; and third,
that the baptism of the Holy Ghost and baptism in fire mean the same
thing. Fourth expression analyzed: As
the Spirit baptism means regeneration or conversion, therefore all Christians
have already received it, since one cannot be a Christian without regeneration
or conversion, and as there is only one baptism, by the Scripture quoted, it
cannot be received again by the same person. Hence, Christians may not pray for
the baptism of the Spirit. Moreover, as there is only one baptism, and that is
Spirit baptism, therefore water baptism is no baptism, and is not obligatory.
That is a fair analysis of the fourth expression. The last expression flatly
contradicts the first and the third, and the second abuses etymology, rhetoric,
and logic and yet the one who said these four things devoutly and religiously
held to them all. I would not deem these four expressions worthy of
serious notice in a sermon if they were only the past expressions of one man;
but as they are the stereotyped and present expressions of a multitude, as they
are proverbs and catchwords of today, more potent with many than any argument or
any Scripture in swaying human conduct, it may not be amiss to consider them
somewhat in this sermon. I repeat that these four expressions, which I have
analyzed, and which are contradictory, and which abuse etymology, rhetoric, and
logic, and which are palpably contrary to many Scriptures, these four
expressions are stereotyped and are the present utterances of a multitude. They
are proverbs and catchwords of power with many in swaying human conduct, and
they do four hurtful things. By way of introduction I want to propound to your
consciences certain questions. First
question: The New Testament speaks of a baptism in water and of a baptism in
the Spirit. In which connection is the word baptism used in a literal sense and
in which one is it used in a figurative sense? I put it upon your consciences to
answer that question. Is the baptism in the Spirit the literal baptism, and the
baptism in the water the figurative, or vice versa?
Second question: Is there any command in the New Testament imposing on
you the obligation to be baptized in water? Third
question Is Spirit baptism or water baptism designated and required in the
following Scriptures?
"They ... were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan,
confessing their sins"(Mark 1:5). Is that water baptism or Spirit
baptism? "After these things came
Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea; and there he tarried with them,
and baptized. And John also was baptizing in Enon near to Salim, because there
was much water there: and they came and were baptized" (John
3:22,23) Is that Spirit baptism or water baptism?
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost" (Matthew 28:19). Does that require water baptism or Spirit
baptism? "And all the people that
heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of
John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against
themselves, being not baptized of him" (Luke
7:29,30). "Repent, and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ ... Then they that gladly
received his word were baptized" (Acts
2:38,41). "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" (Acts 8:12).
"See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be
baptized? ... "And they went down both into the water, both Philip and
the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water,
the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip" (Acts 8:36,
38,39). "Can any man forbid water, that these should
not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?"
(Acts 10:47). "We went out of the city by a river side,
... and spake unto the women which resorted thither. And ...
Lydia attended unto the things spoken of Paul. And when she was
baptized," etc. (Acts 16:13-15).
"And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in
his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their
stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway"(Acts
16:32,33).
"And many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were
baptized"(Acts 18:8).
"And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized"(Acts
22:16). My question is, do these
Scriptures which I have just read, designate and require water baptism or Spirit
baptism? Which one? Is the baptism in these Scriptures a literal one or a
figurative? Do these Scriptures obligate you to water
baptism? Fourth question: I ask you to listen
to it. In trying to understand your duty concerning water baptism ought you to
study what is said in the New Testament about water baptism or about Spirit
baptism? I want to repeat and emphasize that question. In trying to understand
your duty about water baptism ought you to study what is said in the New
Testament about water baptism, or ought you to study what is said about Spirit
baptism? Fifth question: Is there a command in
the New Testament which imposes the obligation of Spirit baptism on you? If so,
where? Will you quote it? Sixth
question: Granting such a command, does it exempt you from the necessity of
obedience to plain and positive commands to submit to water
baptism? Seventh question: Because something is
said in the New Testament about the Spirit baptism, using the word in a
figurative sense, ought you to shun, avoid, neglect, or depreciate a positive
and unequivocal command expressed in a literal sense of the
word? Now, following these expressions
which I have quoted, and these questions which have been propounded, I will take
the text, "I indeed baptize you in water; ... but he that
cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he
shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost." (Matthew
3:11) This text is a contrast
throughout. There is a contrast between two baptizers, John and Jesus. Jesus is
mightier than John, in the purity of His character, by so much as an immaculate
one is superior to a sinful one; in the power which He holds, in so much as
omnipotence transcends temporary, limited, and derived power; in the dignity of
His character and of His office, by so much as all authority in Heaven and on
earth surpasses a brief earthly commission; and in His ministry by so much as
that one was to decrease and cease and the other to increase and endure
"alway, even unto the end of the world."
There stood the two baptizers; and of the one it is
said that he was as great as any man ever born of a woman; and hence it is not
instituting a comparison between an insignificant man on the one hand and a
greater man on the other, but it is instituting a comparison between the
greatest man and a Being infinitely greater than the greatest man. Hence, it
unequivocally teaches the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, as to His
immaculate nature, as to His omnipotent power, as to His investment with all
authority, and as to the perpetuity of His kingdom.
The second point of contrast is in the baptism.
"I indeed baptize you in water." "He will baptize you in the
Holy Ghost." Here are two elements which stand over against each other
as the two baptizers stood over against each other. One element is water; the
other element is the Holy Ghost. There is not only a contrast between the baptizers
and the baptism, the element, but there is a contrast in the subjects. John
baptized in water only penitent believers, men who had repented of their sins,
men who had accepted the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus baptizes in the Holy Ghost
some Christians, and in fire all sinners. There is also a contrast in the design of the two
baptisms. John baptized in water penitent believers who in that ordinance,
visibly and before men, confessed their allegiance to Jesus Christ, and showed
forth His burial and resurrection. The design of the baptism of the Holy Ghost
was to confer power on Christians, whether they had been baptized in water or
not, as you will see directly. Thus, between the baptizers and the elements in which
they baptized and the subjects they baptized, and the design of the baptism,
they stood over against each other in contrast, and the essential feature of the
contrast was power. Power! John said to these Pharisees and Sadducees who came
to this baptism. "I cannot baptize you. You do not repent. You do not bring
forth fruits meet for repentance. I announce to you that the ax is laid at the
root of the trees, and every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn
down and cast into the fire. But I cannot take that ax and cut down the trees, I
can not make that discrimination. I cannot separate between the righteous and
the unrighteous: but there cometh one after me mightier than I. He can and He
will." And I ask you to notice in the next place that neither of these
baptisms supersede or displace the other. You could not plead an exemption from
the water baptism because you had received the other. Each one stood upon its
own merits. Now I want to show you in the
next place what the baptism of the Holy Ghost is not. I want to discuss it
negatively. In the first place, it is not
conversion for the following reasons: In conversion the Spirit of God is the agent or
administrator; but in the baptism of the Spirit the Spirit of God is the
element, and Jesus is the agent or administrator. Jesus will baptize you in the
Holy Ghost; as the water was the element in which John baptized penitent
believers, so the Spirit was the element in which Jesus baptized those who
received the baptism of the Spirit. But in conversion the Holy Ghost is the
direct agent, the direct administrator. He originates, He acts, He confers, and
this is the first point of distinction In the second place, the subjects of the Spirit
baptism and the subjects of regeneration are totally different. The subject of
regeneration is a sinner, a lost sinner. The subject of the Spirit baptism is a
Christian, one who is already regenerated and converted. There is not a man
living who can show one instance where a sinner received the baptism of the Holy
Ghost. Let me elaborate that before I leave it. Take the second chapter of the
Acts, where it is said that the Christian people being assembled together in one
place, on these Christian people came the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Jesus had
said unto his disciples: "Tarry ye in Jerusalem until I send to you the
promise of the Father, which ye have heard of me." And at the close of
that sermon Peter makes faith in Jesus Christ the condition of receiving that
Spirit baptism; as Paul does, when he says to those disciples whom he met at
Ephesus, Have you received the baptism of the Holy Ghost since you believed, or
did you receive it when you believed? Take the next instance. In the eighth chapter of the
Acts of the Apostles, Philip preached in Samaria, and it is said that
"When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of
God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized" in water, but as
yet the Holy Ghost had fallen on none of them. The apostles came down and prayed
that they might receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and these penitent
believers, these baptized Christians, received it.
Take the case in the tenth chapter of the Acts of the
Apostles, when Cornelius and his household received the baptism of the Holy
Ghost. The disciples to whom the matter was rehearsed, argued from it that they
must have previously repented unto life and had their faith purified by Christ,
as you will find from the eleventh and fifteenth chapters of the Acts. Suppose I
was to see that a certain thing comes only to a certain character, and I see
that that certain thing is possessed by a certain man. I then argue from this
effect that the previous conditions must have existed in this case. So they
said, when it was reported to them that Cornelius the Gentile had received the
baptism of the Holy Ghost. Then hath God granted unto the Gentiles repentance
unto life, purifying their hearts by faith. Concerning the Samaritans it is
taught expressly that they received that baptism after they
believed. The Spirit
baptism is not conversion, for this reason, which every child can remember: No
man living, certainly not at least in any book I have ever read or in any speech
I have ever heard, affirms that there ever was in the history of the world, a
baptism in the Holy Ghost until the first Pentecost after Christ ascended into
Heaven. In the history of the world that is the first time that there ever was a
baptism in the Spirit. If so, was nobody ever converted until that time? Was not
Abel a Christian? Was not Enoch? Was not Noah? Was not Elijah, who went up to
Heaven in a chariot of fire? Were not the apostles, who had themselves been
baptized in water and who had been sent out as baptizers? Do you mean to say
that the world was four thousand years old before any soul was ever converted?
And yet, whoever teaches that the baptism in the Spirit is regeneration or
conversion, denies that any soul was saved, even during Christ's lifetime, or
John the Baptist's, or in the time of the prophets, or from the days of the
garden of Eden until the first Pentecost, after the ascension, which is not only
monstrous in itself, but which palpably contradicts the whole of the
Bible. In the next place, Jesus said at
Caesarea Philippi, "On this rock will I build my church,"
referring to Himself and the faith which Peter had expressed in Him. Now,
will you affirm that He built His church upon a foundation that existed prior to
salvation, prior to conversion? The design of regeneration and of the Spirit
baptism are widely different. The object of regeneration is to make a sinner a
Christian. The object of the Spirit baptism is to make a Christian more
efficient; to confer power on him. Now, the next point negatively, the Spirit baptism is
not sanctification. To say that it is sanctification you have to affirm that no
man ever received sanctification until after that day; that Enoch was not
sanctified, nor Elijah, nor Abraham, contrary to the express declarations of the
Lord Jesus Christ and of the apostles. In the next place, in sanctification the
Holy Spirit is the direct administrator or agent, and in the Spirit baptism the
Spirit is the element and Christ is the direct agent. The design of
sanctification and of the Spirit baptism is widely different. It is the object
of sanctification to make the subject of it a better man. It looks to his
personal purification. The object of the Spirit baptism is to confer power upon
the Christian, in order that he may make other people better. It was not the
design of the Spirit baptism to purify the man who received it, but it was the
design of the baptism of the Spirit to confer power on him.
Third argument. In the first letter to the Corinthians, from the twelfth
to the fourteenth chapters inclusive, we learn that many who had received the
baptism of the Spirit were far from being sanctified. They were selfish, they
were proud, they were magnifying these extra-ordinary powers which had been
conferred upon them, and they were depreciating the graces of love and faith and
hope which in their highest development constitute
sanctification. It is a pity that every Christian has not studied the
twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth chapters of the first letter to the
Corinthians. There in that church were men who possessed the gift of tongues,
who could work miracles, who could interpret tongues, who could heal the sick;
and yet they were exceedingly imperfect Christians who needed the sanctifying
Spirit of God to make them purer and better, and to turn their thoughts away
from mere power to grace in the heart. My next argument is that sanctification is the
heritage of every Christian, and that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was not
conferred upon every Christian, even in apostolic times, but only upon so many
as God called to receive it; and in the second place, it had never been received
by any one prior to Pentecost; and in the third place, it stopped altogether
with that apostolic day. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease, whether
there be prophecies, they shall fail: but faith, hope, and charity, these abide
forever. Now, having discussed the subject negatively, it is practically
discussed affirmatively. What is the baptism of the Spirit? Let us go back and
read the first announcement in the prophecy of Joel, and while I read it you ask
yourselves this: Is it conversion? Is it sanctification?
"And it shall come to pass afterwards, that I
will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and
also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my
Spirit." (Joel 2:28-29) Now, here is Joel's reference to it. What then was
it? The baptism in the Holy Ghost was this; laying aside all images it was this:
The conferring upon such Christians in apostolic times as God might select,
every variety of extra-ordinary miraculous power necessary to accredit them to
men as His messengers, and to empower them to overcome all obstacles in the way
of the propagation of the gospel. That is what it was. First, among the
miraculous powers conferred was that of inspiration; otherwise, how would we get
a canon of the New Testament? Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the
Holy Spirit. Only a man here and there in the long ages of the past was
inspired. Now it is said in the last days,
after Jesus Christ ascends into Heaven, and is enthroned and invested with all
power in Heaven and on earth, that He will inspire multitudes of men; instead of
partial and occasional inspiration, it shall now be abundant enough to be called
a baptism. He will endow multitudes of men with power to work miracles, and to
heal the sick, and to speak in different languages. That is what it means. And
with that view of the subject, it being a demonstration of the divinity of Jesus
Christ, it being given for that special and temporal purpose, a purpose which
had its limitation in time as well as in subject, is it not painful, absolutely
painful, for men to take such a glorious doctrine as that, given for such a
purpose, to take it and wrest it out of its connection, and confound it with
water baptism and conversion and sanctification? I do not know when, maybe it
will be ten years before I shall have occasion to refer to this subject again,
but I do want you Christian people to be instructed in the teaching of the word
of God. Now, I have only one other point
before I make my last application. The baptism in the Spirit was a figurative
baptism. I mean the word baptism is used in a figurative and not in a literal
sense. If I refer to the Duke of Clarence, who was dipped in a hogshead of
liquor until he was drowned, that is a literal baptism in wine or in ale. But if
I say a man who has been drinking for six weeks, until he is saturated with
ardent spirits, soaked in them, filled with them; if I say that man is baptized
in wine, or baptized in whisky, that is a figurative use of the word. I do not
mean that he has been literally immersed in whisky, but I mean that he is
absolutely and altogether under its influence. If I immerse one in a creek or baptistery, that is a
literal baptism; but if I see a friend of mine in distress, in deep anxiety,
groaning, sighing, weeping, full of pain, no ease, no peace, no hope, I say he
is baptized in suffering. That is figurative. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ
said, "I have a baptism to be baptized in, and how am I straitened till it
be accomplished?" I have sufferings to pass through so deep and
overwhelming that you may compare the sufferings to an immersion in suffering.
That is a figurative use of the word. If one dips another in a tank of oil, that
is a literal baptism, a literal use of the word. But if it be one whose notes of
hand are all over the community, whose property is all mortgaged, who has no
realty that is not already encumbered, I say that man is baptized in debt; that
is a figurative use of the word. He is overwhelmed in debt.
Now, when John the Baptist says, "I baptize you
in water, "that is a literal baptism, "but Jesus will baptize you
in the Holy Ghost,"that is a figurative use of the word. The Holy Ghost
is not a liquid element, but you may use the word figuratively; when they are in
the house, and the sound that indicates His presence fills that house, and they
themselves are filled with the Spirit, permeated throughout by the indwelling
Spirit of God, figuratively, you say that is a baptism in the Holy Ghost. That
figurative use of the word is one of the commonest known to the Greek classics.
I could cite you a hundred instances of it. So that the baptism in water, that
is the literal; the other, that is the figurative. And because the literal is a
burial, a sinking out of sight, so an overwhelming influence may figuratively be
said to be a baptism in that influence. Before we go away from here today I want to impress
this upon you. You will hear, as I have heard ever since I was a child, such
expressions as this: "Oh, I have received the Spirit baptism, which is the main
thing." You may always question that statement and demand Scriptural proof. You
may always question the conclusion designed to be drawn from the statement,
which is, "I have received the Spirit baptism; therefore the other is
unimportant." You may also sometimes hear men
pray, "Baptize us in the Holy Ghost." Be sure you understand what that means
before you ever offer that prayer. Ask yourself this question: Why should I pray
for it? Why should I wish to speak with tongues? Why should I wish to be
invested with miraculous power? Why should I wish to have the power to heal the
sick by word? Why should I? Those things were for a sign. They were to accredit
the gospel. They were to close up and finish the book of Revelation. Now, do you
want to write a new book of the Bible? If you do, it means that you think what
is here is not sufficient and it means that you take precisely the position of
the spiritualists when they say: "We want a fresh gospel." Now, if you would not
know what to do with this when you get it, if there is no reason why you should
have it, if merely that you ask for it reflects upon the record which is here,
then why should you ask for it? God help you to study His book, to study it
profoundly, to allow no floating proverb to set aside the plain "Thus saith the
Lord." Oh, that men who bow to the name of Jesus Christ, would bow to the truth
of Jesus Christ, and let Him be the Word as well as Saviour; let His word settle
every question of Christianity; and that book, and that book only, be regarded
as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Here is what you need, brethren and sisters. You need
more love, more faith, more hope, more of the grace and less of the miraculous
endowments of the past. You need submission to the Lord Jesus Christ as your
King. You need to say: Jesus, whatever you tell me to do I will do it. I will
not stand here and cavil at thy words; I will not try to shun them. I will not
take one passage of God's word and try to sponge out another with it. Oh, for
the spirit of obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ! Now, here is the last thing I have to say. It has been said that you make too much of baptism, you Baptists. Let me make this statement for you today: You are the only people called Christians on the face of the earth that require salvation before baptism. There are no others on the earth today who take that position. Instead of making baptism essential to salvation you are the only ones who demand in every case that its subjects must be saved before they are baptized. That is what you make of it. You bring the people to Christ first; salvation first, then baptism. Arm yourselves therefore with God's truth to fight lying proverbs. Decapitate them with the sword of the Spirit. Explode one small charge of inspired dynamite under these sunken rocks and you will upheave them, making a safe passage to all unwary ships seeking the harbor of truth. (SERMONS AND LIFE SKETCH, 1893 Edition, pages 315-326).
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Grace Bible Baptist Church
26080 Wax Road
Denham Springs, LA 70726