I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. I'm going to try and point out to you three baptisms, or really four in these next few verses. And I think it will be enlightened to you as we go along through our message tonight. Now here is the first baptism in this passage, baptize baptism in water unto repentance. This is for Jews only. 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. That's the second. And with fire, that's the third. And if you want to see a further explanation of that, notice the next verse. who stands in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his feet into the garner, but he will burn up the trap with unquenchable fire. Now you can link that up with the word fire at the end of the preceding verse. Now again, verse thirteen. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan, unto John, to be baptized of him. Now there you have another baptism, that the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ in Jordan. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee. And comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it become of us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered there. So you have the baptism in water, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of fire, and then Christ's baptism in joy. Now turn to Luke chapter twelve. Luke chapter twelve. His first Luke twelve and let's get rid of it but I have a baptism to be baptized with and how am I straightened till it be accomplished now Christ is looking forward to the cross here and that's another baptism first Corinthians chapter ten First Corinthians chapter ten and verse one and two. 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, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. There's another one back in the Old Testament. Now let us look at the thirteenth verse of the next chapter, chapter twelve. It shall be our final reading. Verse thirteen of chapter twelve. 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. Now if you will... Reckon them up, you'll find seven distinct baptisms in your Bible. There has been a lot of talk recently about the subject of baptism. I believe this may help some who may be a little bewildered. The Bible says we are to rightly divide the word of truth, and it's because of a lack of this practice many become confused. and bewildered about certain things found in your Bible. A lot of people are living back in the Old Testament. They're living under law, and not under this wonderful age of grace. And therefore they become bewildered, thinking that what is found in the Old Testament is applicable to us today, and we're obligated to carry out those things. Well, if you're one who must see about his or her diet, you better go back to the Old Testament in Exodus, also in Leviticus, and see the diet or the menu that God gave to the people of Israel. They were an earthly people, and God was very much concerned about their physical health, and so he gave them a diet to go on. But we're not under that law today. The New Testament says every creature of God is good and nothing to be reviewed if it be received with thanksgiving. And so the church is a heavenly people, and although we may profit from the Old Testament, yet we are not under law, we are under grace. You know when you think of some of our young folks at school and college, They are called upon to study certain subjects, and they seem able to grasp them without any difficulty. And it's strange to me why they do not grasp some of the things that are in the Bible, that to me would be less difficult. And yet there is one scripture that I presume would explain that. because the natural man, the unconverted man, understandeth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned. A man may write a book on electronics, and now I couldn't write one. I know very little about electronics. If I suck my finger in an empty socket, I feel something about it. But nevertheless, as to writing something or lecturing on electronics, I couldn't do it. But, here's a man, and he knows something about electronics. He could pick up that book, and he could understand it, get a lot of help from it. Because he, too, has the mind of an electrician. But when you come to the fight, you've got to have a spiritual mind... our spiritual nature to understand spiritual things. A week ago this morning we were talking about Nicodemus, an old man. He couldn't understand the simple language of the Lord Jesus when Christ told him he had to be born again. Why, said Nicodemus, how can that be when a man is old? Can he go through the process of physical birth again? And the Lord says, Aren't thou a master, a leading scholar, a leading expositor in the Scriptures? And you know not these things? Why Nicodemus is so simple? As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life. And Christ... explaining the new birth in a very simple manner, and evidently it dawned upon that man of learning. And so there has to be, first of all, a knowledge of Christ. You must accept him, have the Spirit of within, and then you'll understand something of this book, because the Spirit of God is really the author of the Word of God. He is the one who moved upon men in the Old Testament. and they wrote the scriptures, and Christ spake by the Spirit, and also the New Testament writers were under his guidance and control. And so here we have our Bible penned by the Spirit of God using human instrumentality. Now we have four points I want you to keep in mind to understand these various baptism treatments. First of all, who is doing the baptizing? That's the point. Who is doing the baptizing? Second, who is being baptized? And third, who is, what is the element? Or what is he being baptized in? That's the third point. And what is the purpose of this baptism? you look at all these seven baptisms in the light of those four headings, I think it will straighten you up. First of all, going back to the one we read, relative to Moses' baptism or Israel's baptism unto Moses. We read that text in First Corinthians. 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, and were all baptized unto Moses in the club and in the sea. Now, God never intended that to be for us in this hour day. That was an extrave for Israel. Here is a whole nation being baptized unto their leader, Moses. And here you have these four points. Who's doing the baptizing on this occasion? God is. And who are being baptized? Save Israelites. Those who have been saved by the shelter of the blood, shed in Egypt, when the Lamb was slain with blood, placed upon the soothed side both in the upper lintel, they were redeemed by blood. And thus God brought them through the Red Sea, a huge grave. with waters standing at walls on either side, and the flood hovering over their head. And here's their nation in Israel going through on dry ground. Here's a whole nation of approximately two million people, and they're in a huge grave, and they're going from Egypt into the wilderness. God is the one that's performing this act of power. Saved Israelites, those who have been saved by the blood of the Lamb, are the ones being baptized. What is the element? What are they being baptized in? The Bible says in the Red Sea. What is the purpose of God baptizing them? The purpose is to show God's power in the deliverance of that nation out from Egypt and Pharaoh's bondage. into liberty in the wilderness. And the river, the Red Sea, was between Israel in the wilderness and the land of Egypt where they were previously in bondage. And so you have the four points in connection with it being baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. But I said it's a living grave. There's no sprinkling here. This is immersion. They could see water on either side and this cloud overshadowing them. There they were in this huge tomb, as it were, a whole nation of saved Israelites. Then the second one is John's baptism. We notice that in Matthew three and verse eleven. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. So here you have John baptized. Who is John baptizing on this occasion? He's baptizing Jews and Jews only. That's very clear if you read your New Testament. He's baptizing Jews. And here we find John baptizing them, Jews repentant Jews. You find that in verse eleven. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. You know the Jews, unless they really saw that John was predicting the appearing of the Messiah, unless they saw it with all their heart, they would not submit the baptism. And the only way John could be convinced that these men were sincere All right, he said, if you tell me that you're a repentant Israelite, that you was a nation of sin against God, and you're looking for your Messiah, your deliverer, submit to baptism. John, oh, they baptized you. Now you see the proof of that in verse seven. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, Who have warned you to flee from the wrath that comes? Bring forth therefore fruits, meet for repentance. And think not the same within ourselves or yourself. We have Abraham to our father. But I say unto you that God is able of these stones, the raise of children unto Abraham. There needed to be a moral condition, demanding, before John would baptize of you, a Jew which struck out to the synagogue and say, I am one of Abraham's children. Abraham's my father. John says, what's your attitude toward the Messiah? What's your attitude? And of course, the scribes and Pharisees were very proud. There was no humility above, and yet the nation had every ounce to be humbled. and repentant before God, the eternity of idolatry. John says, I am not going to baptize you Pharisees, you Sadducees. You're just a bunch of hypocrites. And you've got to bring forth some evidence, some proof, to show me you're really repentant. Then I'll baptize you and not kill you. And so here's John's baptism, and it's only for Jews, and we can show that in the Scripture very plain. If you were to turn over to other verses in the New Testament, you come to the end of Acts eighteen, and you find that John's baptism included just Jews. The opening of chapter nineteen, Paul found some of John's disciples. And he said, if you receive the Holy Spirit, and since you believe, we haven't so much of heard of the beginning of the Holy Spirit. Unto what then were you baptized? They said, unto John's baptism. Then Paul straightened them up. And when they saw that John's baptism was a different baptism to believers' baptism of this our day, the third day, then he baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so in reference to John's baptism, first of all, John is the one doing the baptizing. The ones being baptized are repentant Israelites. The element that he baptized again was a river Jordan. The purpose was to introduce them to the coming Messiah. And only one who would submit to baptism had a condition of heart that would lead him to baptism. to accept the coming Messiah. And even many of them, after being baptized, rejected Christ, showing the light that they had rejected, only indicative of the awful judgment that is their portion. They have suffered. They will suffer the nation because of all the light they received. And it blows their eyes with it. Thus, punishment will be severe. Now we come to the third baptism. And this baptism is the baptism of identification. It's the one concerning the Lord Jesus I referred to in verse thirteen. Then come with Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized. You have all four of those points in this one verse. Who is doing the baptizing here? John. And who is being baptized? Jesus. Where is he being baptized? in what element, the river Jordan? And what's the object, the purpose of this baptism? Not repentance. Now all these other people had to get evidence of true repentance before John was baptized then. Then why did Christ submit to baptism? Had he need a repentance? Had he done something wrong? Had he sinned? No. Then why? was he getting baptized? And this stumbled John. John says, Why, he baptized you. I had needly baptized thee. If you notice what Christ said to us in verse fifteen. And Jesus answering said unto him unto John, Suffer it to be so nigh, for thus it be cometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered. Repentance brought those other Jews to baptism. Righteousness brought Christ. And here as these Jews were identifying themselves by the act of baptism with the nation that had sinned, Christ says, I, the righteous one, I would identify myself with this sinful nation that has sinned against God. I'll heap them on those. And so Christ, the purpose of his baptism was, not as a pattern for us, but to show the act of identification, he identified himself with this sinful nation. He said he came up to his own. But his own received him not. And thus we see Christ identifying himself with Israel and their Messiah. And even then they rejected him. They refuse to accept them as such. Now we come to the fourth baptism. This is the one in Luke's Gospel, chapter twelve and verse fifth. Christ says, I have a baptism to be baptized with. And how am I strengthened until it be accomplished? Or how can I be relieved of this burden until I suffer on the cross? Now this is almost three years after his baptism by John and Jordan, so we know he's not referring to water baptism. Christ is facing the cross, and he says, I have a baptism to be baptized with. He's looking upon the cross as a baptism. He's looking upon the cross as being emerged in the judgment and wrath of God. And how am I to be relieved? How am I to be eased of this burden? Unless I suffer the cross. Christ had such a burden, such travail of soul, that in the Garden of Gethsemane, he swept us at where great drops of blood falling down to the ground. His eyes might weep. His lips might dry. but necessitated the very pores, all the pores in his body, to give expression of the sorrow, the suffering, the anguish that was his, as he thought the recourse. That baptism, that he would endure those waters through which he was passed, in order to save the likes of you and me, none of the ransomed ever knew how deep were the waters crossed, how God was that night that the Lord passed through. There he found the sheep, that was lost. And prophetically he says, All thy ways and thy bills have gone over me. And when Christ was on that cross, he was being baptized with the judgment and wrath of God. No sprinkling of judgment here. It's an immersion. sun and the moon resumed and shined. Darkness fell upon the sea. Birds hastened to their nests, and the wild beasts took forth from their days. And yet it was midday. Darkness enveloped the sea. God looked away from his son, and out of the darkness, Christ said, My God, my God, why hast thou with Satan need? Here is the baptism that Jesus Christ was going through for you and for me. This is very simple by comparison. To go through a little water. To show your love for Christ. Who went through so much to save you. He showed his identity with you and me. Poor sinner. where he submitted, first to his father's will, that Jordan, when he identified himself with Israel, a sinful nation, then on the cross, when he identified himself with every law sinner, this was also God's will, that he passed in this baptism in order to save whosoever will. That is Christ who passed through the reality. And we who are saved today, we go through the figure. You read that in Romans six. The light figure. We're unto baptism. Let's also now see what our in Peter. You have those words. The figure. The figure. And baptism saves us from a guilty conscience. I think a Christian deserves a guilty conscience. After he thinks what the Lord Jesus went through on Calvary. Dark, dark Calvary. When he took my place, he assumed responsibility for my sins. He became accountable to a holy, righteous God. On my behalf. After he's gone through all that, he immersed in God's righteous fury that my sins deserve. He turns around, and he asks me now, I took a public stand for you at Calvary as the crowd gathered and mocked and sneered at me. Yes, I took a public stand. I went through those awful ways of divine wrath. Will you go through the waters of baptism? Will you submit to identification with me as a poor sinner? You go through the figure, I went through the fact. And so we find Christ suffering. God was the baptizer on this occasion. When Jesus Christ was being immersed in God's wrath on the cross, as I've already quoted, he said, All thy will, thy will have rolled over me. God was immersing his Son, Christ said from a thousand hath thou sent fire into my bones. Thy hand was heavy upon me. Thou hast brought me into the dust of death. Here is God immersing his son in his righteous wrath against sin. God's doing the immersion. Who's being baptized? His son, Jesus Christ. What's the element? the wrath of God, and what's the purpose of your salvation and life? Twice must go through that baptism. He must suffer at the hands of God. He must be immersed in the divine wrath in order for you or me to be saved. And so there you have that baptism, the most solemn and sad yes, the most blessed of them all. Then you have another baptism referred to, and this is in First Corinthians, twelve and thirteen. This is the baptism of the Spirit. All who accept Christ as we've depicted him, on the cross for you, you accept them as your Savior. What happens? The Bible tells us what happens. The Spirit of God comes in the moment you are saved. While Peter preached in Acts ten, the Holy Spirit fell upon them that believe. And we're all by one Spirit. We're baptized into one body. Isn't that a wonderful thing? The baptism of the Holy Spirit. I want to say this. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not a refuge in faith. There is only one baptism, but there are many fillings. A person may be filled with the Spirit of God a number of times to his life as a Christian. But there was only one baptism when all the members of the body of Christ were by one Spirit baptized into one God. Take a million vandals of sugar. and the ship and put them in enough water. And they're all merged. They're merged. They're that kind. And so all members of the body of Christ, everyone saved from Pentecost until Jesus Christ, they are of Jesus Christ. Take a lot of little flakes of steel. Millions of them. Melt them. And you come out with a huge entity, a huge block of steel once. And isn't a wonderful thing? The moment you accept Christ as your Savior, the Spirit of God immerses you He puts you into the body of Christ, and I challenge the devil to take you out. You're there, and you're there to say, and Christ is your head, and we're in his body. Or you might throw a stone out into the middle of a pond, and you see the first wave, and the second wave, and the third wave, and say, twenty waves until the last wave, reaches the bank on the day of Pentecost the Spirit came down in the upper room and there were about a hundred and twenty people in the room. And it says the house was filled with the Holy Spirit. If the house was filled with the Holy Spirit, then they were in the house and they would emerge. in the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God, there began His wonderful work of the formation of the church, the bride of Christ. And each wave, each generation that comes and goes, the Spirit of God is included. All were really born again into that one box. I don't know what the weight of the youngest baby that's ever been born is. I was about to call a doctor one day this week just to find out. The smallest baby that was ever born and lived. And I would be surprised that a very small baby, possibly under a pound, has lived to become a strong, muscular man. Now, when you look at that little baby under a pound, shake their head, will it ever make it? Will it ever make it? But it begins to grow. It begins to grow, and it begins to grow. Twenty-five or thirty years later, here it is, a full-grown, matured, muscular man, to begin with, he could hardly move a little finger, flushes with that. On the day of Pentecost, the beige was born, When Jesus comes, he'll find a church complete. Everyone saves at Pentagon. A member of the body of Jesus Christ, who by one Spirit, we're all baptized into one body. Whether we be Jew or Greek, bond or free, male or female, we're all one in Christ. Who's the baptizer here? I think you'll find a text over in Acts two, twenty, thirty-three that reads like this, Christ having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has shed forth this which he now see and know. Christ is the one who began the church. He was the one who sent the Spirit to begin the formation. of the church, which was his body and his bride. How wonderful. Christ is the baptizer. And who are the ones being baptized? Who were sinners? Lost. Helpless, undone. They accept Jesus Christ. And when they do, what happens? What are they baptized in? What is the element? The Holy Spirit. the first to be one in Christ, to be his lover, his associate, his commandment, forever and forever. That's God's name. That's God's purpose. And in Ephesians chapter five, there you have those endearing terms of Christ and the truth. Christ loved the truth. and gave himself forth. Every day the Lord Jesus caring for his beloved people until that glad day when the last soul is saved to complete that church. The last block has been added to the building. The last member has been added to the body. Christ will not wait a second after the prize complete. He wants her in heaven so bad. When the last one is saved, then he will say, Arise, my love, my very one, and come away. And the church triumphant will leave this poor world to meet them in the air. And so shall he forever be with the Lord. That's the purpose of the baptism of the Spirit. Oneness in Christ, eternal, unbreakable union with him is accomplished by the Spirit. And that's very clear. in your fight. Now we come to the baptism tonight. Here's believers' baptism. You find that quite often in the Scriptures. They hearing, believe, were baptized. Hearing, believe, were baptized. After you accept Christ, you venture into all I've mentioned. Now, says the Lord, I want you to obey me in the waters of baptism. That's a belief. If you're an unbeliever and you were baptized, which may have a little soap, would have made it a good bath, you went down a dry cinder, you came up a wet one. You need to be born again, washed in the blood before you, and be baptized as glorified God. God's not taking something from your unconverted deities and salvaging it. I'm bringing over this side of your conversion, giving you credit for it. No, not a bit. Your life for God begins the moment you take Christ. Now he says, I want you to be baptized publicly. Then declare the word that you have identified yourself with me. This is your purpose. Who is the baptizer? In most cases, the soul winner. the Lord sent the disciples out, go ye to all the world and preach the gospel, baptizing them, the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But this is not always binding. It's nice when the soul winner can do it, but if he can't, others can do it, by all means. So, the one who does or performs this baptism is a soul winner or a reputed and commended brother in Christ, one in whom God's people have confidence. And he carries out this ordinance. Who is being baptized? A believer. Only a believer. One born again. What's he being baptized in? Water. Water. What's the purpose of this baptism? To glorify him. To show your love for him. and that you might maintain a clear common before God. So here's where the baptism tonight comes in. Kneeling a little while, baptize you, and it's a figure of your death, burial, and resurrection with our Lord Jesus Christ. You're raised up to walk in newness of life. Baptism doesn't add anything to your salvation. It rather declares warfully. Baptism doesn't make Christians. It marks Christians. You let a Jew get baptized today. And if a Jew were to get saved, this happened right in Winston-Salem when I was in North Carolina. A Jewish young man fell in love with a Gentile young lady. And they went to Salem Baptist Church. And of course, the young man made a profession, and he decided to get baptized. The very day that he was being baptized, his parents hired one of the local undertakers, and they put all his belongings in the hearse, and they had a funeral, and they took all that he had out in bed. As far as they were concerned, he was dead. That's been done more than once. In the last few years, they down in the church age, that's happened. Time and time again. That young man was caught up. He was there. They just owned them. Far as they were concerned, he said. Well, that's the way about the way the world looks upon real Christians. After I was saved, I gave up my hockey career and other athleticism. What do you do now? You all used to be so energetic and active. What do you do now? Well, I study my Bible. Study your Bible. Yes. Well, what else do you do? Well, I pray. What else? Well, I go to the meeting every time I get a chance. Is that all you do? Yes. No, I must be an awful grand liar. That's an unsaved person, though. I had no one saved. Why don't you die? You might as well be dead as in a life like you. Well, that's just about the way the world looks at a Christian, and after all, he's just about right. As far as this world's concerned, the Christian gets very little joy out of it, except living for God. That's the first thing. Making an honest living for his wife and family. Like the old shoemaker said, his main business in this life was to glorify God, and he just lended shoes to pay expenses. Well, that's about it. God has saved us. And Paul said, I've died unto the world, and the world has died unto us. In other words, we're separated. We're separated from the world. This is what baptism teaches. And I hope that encourages, and I hope, just as Jesus Christ died, I'll tell you, his death was a game of death. No one ever died like he died. No one ever will. Being saved is a thrill. Being saved is something that makes a person praise God every day as the darkness deepens. The troubled waters in this poor world are rising in tide and fury. And to know that one glad day, Jesus Christ is coming, that take this bride, his beloved bride, his eternal sweetheart, out of this world, that he forever with him is once and only saying the light of that. Amen. Even so much. I wonder if you're in love with Christ tonight. Who tells me you're a Christian? I'm not baptized. But Christ said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. You tell me you love me. I want you to show it. The young man tells the young lady that he loves her with all his heart. He likes to take him for a walk in front of a jeweler's door. Start looking at some engagement men. That's why I never told one I loved her. I'm not going to. I don't want to take me off the thought of a new resource. In other words, if I told a young lady I loved her, she said, well, I'll do something about it. Here's some evidence. Make it by me. Yes, you say you love the Lord Jesus. He says, prove it. Do something about it. Something about it. Oh, some people can make some great excuses. One lady said, well, brother, I want to be back tied, but I'm afraid I'll drown. Well, I said, of course, I'll stand right there and watch you. She said, she put down in a tank this side. Well, one didn't. Paul, I got it my hand, but he doesn't. He would soon get there. I don't think that would happen. The last one, I don't know whether I should mention or not. We mentioned the baptism of fire. Yes, there's a baptism of fire. Who's going to do the baptizing? God. Who's going to be baptized? The unconverted sin. Where is he going to be baptized? What's the element? The lake of fire. What war? Reformation. Rejecting Christ. For in fact, here are four points again. Who does the baptize? In all these prescriptions we've told you. This is the saddest and most solemn of all. God gave mercy. A poor sinner who rejected his son's salvation. In the lake that burns the fire of Vincent. Which is the second day. The lake of fire. us for this is God's righteous wrath upon him in Christ's return of what Jesus Christ endured on the cross for three dark hours the sinner will endure forever and forever and forever I urge you don't taste that tonight you come to Christ accept them as your Savior and his Savior right now celebrate. Our Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we ask thy blessing upon thy grace. May it please me to bless hearts and thank thee for those who are saved and have obeyed thee in this ordinance. We pray for those who haven't, that they belong to thee, Lord, that of their conscience may disturb them. We pray, Father, for those who are not distanced. For we pray that they might be saved. But thou dost love them. Thou hast proven. Thou hast given thy son to die for them. Here to dig it in. May repentant eyes, convicted hearts, look away to Calvary tonight. And see thy son immersed in the unrighteous wrath of the cross. in their stead, pay their death, to answer for their sins before thee. And may hearts open to embrace the Savior tonight. We ask it in our Lord Jesus' precious name. Amen. We'll sing a hymn on church, first do a hymn, and then we'll give you a signal to go and get baptized. Let us sing a verse of two of three-nine-one. Maybe someone has accepted Christ and you'd like to make public. There were three saved this morning. And so we'll be practicing infant baptism tonight. Not infants physically, but infants spiritually. Saved this morning, baptized tonight. That's infant baptism. We'll be glad of that. Let us sing three-hundred-and-nine-one We'll stand as we do if anyone wants to publicly confess Christ tonight. If you've ever received him and haven't done this, there's your opportunity. I'll be standing to sing three hundred and ninety-one. When we walk with the Lord, we'll sing the light of this world. When you stand on your way, what you will be my way. Two of these were saved this morning, and Earl was saved a month ago. Maybe only two weeks ago. I don't know when it was... Jackie was, but God keeps the books and he has the right date now. He knows now he's saved going to heaven. We'll be baptized tonight, and so will Dave. Captain, we're saved this morning. Now we're singing the next verse. Those are baptized, and I go through this door, and the first room on your right is for the ladies. The second room on your right is for the maid. All right, Mac.