Three Baptisms

 Three Baptisms

Subject – Baptism in the Holy Spirit, Baptism with Fire, and Baptism in Water

Rick Welborne

Matthew 3:11-17 (NKJV)
¹¹  I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
¹²  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
¹³  Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.
¹⁴  And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"
¹⁵  But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he allowed Him.
¹⁶  When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.
¹⁷  And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 

--Life Church has a history of celebrating the wonderful things God has done and the awesome things He is doing. Today we are celebrating the wonderful blessing that people have been saved.

--We are celebrating with these folks `by being obedient to the commands of Jesus and the disciples to repent and then be baptized in water.

--If Jesus felt it was important for Him to be baptized in water, then, obviously we should do the same. It is true that water baptism alone will not save you but it is an act of obedience to the Word.

--Today we are going to look at three baptisms…Baptism of Holy Spirit, baptism of fire, and baptism in water. Hopefully, if you have not been baptized in water yet, this will inspire you.

--In our text in Matthew 3 we see all three baptisms represented so let’s together look at them.

1. Baptism in Holy Spirit.

Matthew 3:11 (NKJV)
¹¹  I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

--Listen to this simple illustration. Our baptismal candidates have water in them (made up mostly of water) but in a few moments they will be completely submerged or covered with water…inside and out.

--When you received the Lord Jesus Christ the Spirit of God came to live inside of you. This is salvation.

John 20:22 (NKJV)

²²  And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

--He gave them a taste (salvation) of Holy Spirit’s power and then, He told them to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Promise of the Father which was the outpouring of Holy Spirit. They needed more than salvation.

Acts 1:8 (NKJV)
⁸  But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." 

--One hundred and twenty out of 500 did what He said and the Holy Spirit fell on them and they were filled with Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. Power to preach, witness, worship, and to walk out their new lives.

2. Baptism in Fire

Matthew 3:11 (NKJV) ¹¹ …He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

--Almost every commentary has a different few of what this means and there is a measure of truth from all of them. Some say it is fire at His second coming, some say it is persecution, but what say you, Pastor Rick?

--I believe the disciples were so much like us…they were filled with sin, filled with self, filled with doubt, filled with fear, filled with guilt, filled with shame. They needed to be cleansed.

--Jesus said He would baptize them (us) with Holy Spirit and with fire. Why? To clean us, to purify us, and to set us free from our old life that would hold us back. We still need a baptism of fire.

Malachi 3:1-3 (NLT2)
¹  “Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
²  “But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes.
³  He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the LORD. 

3. Baptism in Water

--Okay, Pastor, we understand why we need to be baptized in Holy Spirit and in fire but why be baptized in water? Simple answer: The kind of heart that can be baptized with Holy Spirit and with fire is an obedient heart.

--On the Day of Pentecost when 3000 people were saved what did Peter tell them about water baptism?

Acts 2:37-38 (NLT2)
³⁷  Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
³⁸  Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins, turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ to show that you have received forgiveness for your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

--If Jesus would say about His own baptism in water that it was to “fulfill all righteousness” how much more for us. He was identifying Himself with sinful mankind. 

--We must identify with Him in His death and burial. As we are submerged under the water we are saying to the world, I have died with Christ and when we come out of the water we identify with His resurrection. Verses:

Romans 6:3-5 (NLT2)
³  Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death?
⁴  For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
⁵  Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was.