The Three Baptisms | Matthew 3

Good morning.

Well, we're going to be back in Matthew

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3 and uh I'm not going to go on

the way I thought I was going to go on

last week. Last week we did an overview

of the entire chapter. If you haven't

heard that uh the message was entitled,

are you ready to meet the Lord? I

encourage you to go back and listen to

it. It was an overview of Matthew

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3. But this morning, I want to

And I want to get

something very specific in the passage.

And I titled this the three baptisms.

In this chapter, we see two baptizers.

And three baptisms are alluded to. A

baptism in water, a baptism in spirit,

and a baptism of fire.

And they're distinct.

I realized I need to go back and talk

about this because one is I want to look

at the Old Testament and its

foreshadowing of this and then also I

want to look at what happens after

Christ ascends into heaven and how it

carries out for us and its application

for us. There's a lot of application

here. Very very important application

here because the three baptisms

represent three very important things.

First of all, there's the baptism of

water for repentance.

This is what John the Baptist could do.

John the Baptist could baptize those

that came after him in water for

repentance. He said, "But one comes

after I, another baptizer

who can baptize with the spirit and with

fire." As a human minister, the most I

can do is try to lead you to Christ.

Try to prepare the way of the Lord for

you by calling you to repentance,

calling you to put your faith in Christ

and pointing you to him. He alone

can give you a new heart. Human beings

can't do that. Human ministers can't do

that. He alone can cleanse you from your

sins. He alone can seal you with the

Holy Spirit.

And then we're also told about the bapt

baptism of fire for judgment.

He baptizes with water. Man can baptize

in water. But Jesus when he comes, John

the baptiz will baptize with the Holy

Spirit and with fire.

That has a very rich history in the Old

Testament. One of the reasons I decided

to go back and hit this again is because

there's so much that we miss when we

don't look at the Old Test. background

to what it says. I'm I'm very excited

about it. And then we see the symbolism

carried out in the New Testament. What

is this baptism of fire? It always has

something to do with judgment. It always

has to do something with God's

disposition and wrath toward sin

every time. Now, there is a sense in

which it can apply to us as believers,

God's refining fire for us, but it's

seen most of all in God's wrath towards

s who don't repent, who aren't ready.

We're told in Hebrews chapter 10 that

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

our God is a consuming fire.

And this is not a warm fuzzy kind of

fire. This is

God is a holy God.

And our sins are going to be dealt with

by judgment. Either by God's judgment on

the cross in our place, or we're going

to stand under judgment. If you stand

with me now for the reading of God's

word, let us read Matthew chapter 3. I'm

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

going to read the whole chapter, but I'm

going to focus in on a couple verses,

but I want to give the context. So,

Matthew chapter 3, starting at verse

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

one. In those days, John the Baptist

came preaching in the wilderness of

Judea. Repent for the kingdom of heaven

is at hand. For this is he who was

spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he

said, "The voice of one crying in the

wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord.

Make his path straight. Now John wore a

garment of camel's hair and a leather

belt around his waist. And his food was

locust and wild honey. Then Jerusalem

and all Judea and all the region about

the Jordan were going after him. And

they were baptized by him in the river

Jordan confessing their sins.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees

and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he

said to them, "You bru vipers. who warn

you to flee from the wrath to come. Bear

fruit in keeping with repentance and do

not presume to say to yourselves, "We

have Abraham as our father." For I tell

you, God is able of these stones to

raise up children for Abraham. Even now,

the axe is laid to the root of the tree.

Every tree therefore that does not bear

good fruit is cut down and thrown into

the fire.

I baptize you with water for 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. His

winnowing fork is in his hand. And he

will clear the threshing floor and

gather his wheat into the barn that the

chaff he will burn with unquenchable

fire.

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the

Jordan to John. baptized by him. John

would have prevented him, saying, "I

need to be baptized by you, and do you

come to me?" But Jesus answered him,

"Let it be so now, for thus it is

fitting for us to fulfill all

righteousness." Then he consented. When

Jesus was baptized, immediately he went

up from the water, and behold, the

heavens were open to him, and he saw the

spirit of God descending like a dove and

coming to rest on him. Behold, a voice

from heaven said, "This is my beloved

son with whom I am well pleased." Let us

pray. Father God, we thank you that you

came in.

You took on humanity.

God the Son, you fulfilled all

righteousness.

With you, the Father was well pleased.

And yet on the cross, you bore the wrath

that every sinner deserves. On the

cross, you became object of God's hatred

for sin.

We thank you, Father, that you bore the

wrath that we can have your

grace and justification. Thank you, God,

for the forgiveness of sins. Thank you,

Lord, for renewed hearts by your Holy

Spirit. God, I pray that what we read in

this text today would lead us to live

grateful, careful lives, redeeming the

times, the days are evil.

Make your people have a hunger and a

yearning to walk in holiness, to walk

near to you, not grieving your spirit,

but rejoicing in the life that you've

laid out for us to live in carefulness

and with boldness. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen. You may be seated.

With the son, the father is well

pleased. He is the lamb without blemish.

He is the perfect one. He fulfilled all

righteousness. Our chapter ends with the

father's endorsement of the son, the

beloved son who was willing to go and to

die in our place.

We see here John the Baptist preparing

the way as we talked last week. Uh he's

like in in road construction building.

The the high places he brings low, the

low places he brings up to prepare a way

for the Lord. Uh that that when he comes

the people can come to meet the Lord.

He's he's preparing them by baptizing

them to repentance. The Old Testament in

our English Bibles ends with the book of

Malachi. In Malachi 3, we have a

prophecy of John the Baptist and Jesus.

And and again, we have a reference to

fire. Malachi 3 verse one it says behold

I send my messenger

and he will prepare the way before me

and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly

come to his temple the messenger of the

covenant in whom you delight behold he

is coming says the Lord of hosts but who

can endure the day of his coming and who

can stand when he appears for he is like

a refiner's fire and like fuller's so he

will sit as a refiner and purifier of

silver and he will purify the sons of

Levi and refine them like gold and

silver and they will bring offerings and

righteousness to the Lord. Then the

offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be

pleasing to the Lord as in the days of

old and as in former years. The name

Malachi means my messenger. Malik means

angel or messenger. So we have the

author of the book's name is Malachi my

messenger. And then we have I send my

messenger which name like the word

Malachi and he will prepare the way

before me and the Lord whom you seek

who's that Yahweh whom you seek will

suddenly come to his temple the

messenger of the covenant so there's

three messengers here the the messenger

who's writing the book the messenger

who's John the Baptist and the messenger

who is the Lord will suddenly appear and

that's what John the Baptist is doing

he's preparing the people because

Messiah is about to show up Messiah is

going to be Emmanuel God with us ween

that already in the book. He is the Lord

with us. He shows up and what is he

going to do when he gets here? Well,

Malachi's

illustration is that of a refiner of

silver and gold. John the Baptist

references to uh the burning of chaff,

which we talked about last week. But

here he says that he'll be like a

refiner of silver. What's he talking

about? Well, you take a metal, say it's

silver, and it has some other things

mixed in with it. Maybe somebody had

mixed a little bit cheaper metals in

with the silver to to to make it uh to

make it weigh more but be less silver

and more something else. A refiner will

take the silver or the gold will melt it

down into a liquid and then the slab

will come up to the top and the refiner

will take out those impurities. And if

he does it multiple times, seven times

that that seven representing a perfect

number, it gets more and more pure. And

there's a role in which fire has to play

in the believer's life. God wants to

purify his people. And so when comes up

in our lives, the Holy Spirit will

convince us of sin and it doesn't feel

good. Fire doesn't feel good. But what

happens is as sin is brought to the

surface and the Lord reproves us and we

repent of it and we confess it and we

leave it. God is refining us. So there's

a sense in which fire does have a role

to play in the life of the believer.

But there's another analogy that we see

in the text in Matthew 3. He speaks of a

tree that doesn't bear fruit. What will

happen to it? It'll be burned. It'll be

burned. And that's not merely for

purification. That's talking about

people that name the name. They go to

church, but they don't really know the

Lord. Every tree that doesn't bring

forth good fruit will be burned in the

fire.

Works are an indispensable evidence of

saving faith. We're not saved by works,

but a living faith and the living God

will produce living works. I was talking

with the brother about it the other day

doing a members meeting and talking

about this phrase that that uh it's

indispensable evidence of saving things.

It's like let's say you had a dead

corpse and you heat that dead corpse up

to 98.6 degrees. That's the temperature

of a healthy human being. 98.6 or

something about there. You could heat a

corpse up to 98.6. sick. But guess what?

It's still dead.

Now, a living body will produce heat,

but heating up a body doesn't make it

living, right? A living tree produces

sap.

A living body breathes. A living body

bleeds.

A living faith produces good works. It

produces good fruit. But going out and

trying to manufacture fruit does not

make you living. It comes from a living

tree. It doesn't make the tree living.

evidence of a living tree doesn't make a

living tree living. It's a fruit is a

byproduct of life.

Good works are a byproduct of saving

faith. We're not saved by by works.

We're saved by grace through faith. But

a living faith in the living God will

produce living works. And so John the

Baptist says that every tree that

doesn't bring forth fruit, everyone

who's faking it is not going to make it.

Because when he comes, going to baptize

in the spirit and in fire. Okay, let's

get back to our text here. Let's look at

these two baptizers. Verse 11, back to

Matthew chapter 3, our text. He says, I

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

baptize you with water for repentance.

I baptize you with water for repentance.

You know, we we believe in believers

baptism. We don't sprinkle infant. The

word baptism first of all means to

immerse to immerse. It used a ship that

sunk in the harbor. The Greek word a

ship sank in the harbor. It got baptized

in the harbor. It wasn't sprinkled. It

got immersed. It was immersed. They used

it of dying cloths. When you take a

cloth and you immerse it in the dye, you

baptize it in the die. Baptized though.

It's immersion. And and uh he says, "I

indeed baptize you with water.

What is he doing? He's calling people,

turn from your sins.

Confess your sins. Get ready to meet the

Lord. Messiah is about to show up.

Prepare your hearts to meet him. Prepare

your heart. If you're hard-hearted and

Messiah shows up, you'll yawn. But if

you prepare your heart, you're you're

ready for the Lord to show up. Get ready

to meet the Lord. John is saying, I'm

baptizing you for water. But when he

shows up, when the other baptizer shows

up, he's mightier than I. worthy to

untie his shoe.

He says, "He will baptize you with the

Holy Spirit and fire."

Now, Holy Spirit is is the work of God

giving us a new heart. It's the work of

regeneration. It's the work of being

born again. It's the work of becoming a

new creature in Christ Jesus. It's the

work where we go from faking it to

actually being born again. We become new

creatures. No man can do that for you.

Mom and dad can't do it for you. If they

could, they would. No preacher can do it

for you. If I could, I would. The best I

can do is lead you to the lamb. Is lead

to him and say, "Get your eyes on him.

Come to him. He will receive you. He

will forgive you. Cry out to him.

Confess your sins. Get ready to meet the

Lord. Get urgent about it. Ask him. Seek

him until you find him. That's what I

can do. That's what I'm here to do. Seek

the Lord. while there is time

and I can't save you. No human being can

save you.

In John one, we're told he came into his

own and his own received him not. But as

many as received him, to them he gave

the right to become the sons of God. Let

them quit quoting there who were born

not of the will of man, not of the will

of the flesh, but of the spirit of God.

Only God can regenerate. Only God can

take a stony heart and replace it with a

heart of flesh. The best I can do is

point you to the one who baptizes in the

spirit and the fire.

And so that's what John is doing. He

says he will come and he will baptize

with the holy spirit and with fire.

Again quoting verse 11. He will baptize

with holy spirit and fire his winnowing

forces in his hand and he will sear his

threshing floors wheat into the barn

with the chaff he will burn with

quenchable fire. Now I talked about this

at length last week. Chaff is the husk

that's separated from the grain of the

wheat by beating it. And then the

pitchfork throws it in the air and the

wind blows the chaff into one pile and

the wheat into the other pile so that

you can gather the wheat into your barn

and make bread with it. And the chaff is

good for nothing but to be burned. And

this analogy taken from from the Old

Testament, Psalm one, talking about how

the wicked will not stand in the

judgment.

Only stand in the judgment, but they'll

be burned with fire. That's what that's

what the baptism of fire is chiefly

about is judgment.

We see fire is about judgment. Even when

it's the the purifying refining fire of

a silver smith, the picture is God is

judging our sin and he's dealing with it

in our lives and it's not warm fuzzy.

Oh, we used to sing a beautiful song

uh refiner fire. Refiner's fire. My one

desire is to be holy.

a good song and it's a good prayer, but

pray it in sincerity and get ready

because the refiner's fire doesn't it's

not a warm fuzzy all the time.

The sin that we we're given an

opportunity first 11 talks about when we

come to the communion table that we're

to judge ourselves so that we won't be

judged. In other words, we have an

opportunity. If you hear it's best to

hear, you know, they say that experience

is a good teacher but intuition is not.

That's cool. But it's in the right. If

you hear something in God's word and

say, "Oh, I'm not doing that." And I

should be. It's best to judge yourself

and say, "I'm going to start doing

that." That's the painfree way to go.

Right? Or if the Lord says, "Stop doing

that, like, oh, I better stop doing

that." And you stop doing it. That's the

painfree way to go. But if you say, "No,

Lord, I love my sin too much. I'm gonna

let your refiner's fire deal with it."

Well, get ready, brother.

Because when the Lord deals with it

through refiner's fire, fire is not a

painful is not a painless process.

The best way to deal with it for us as

believers once you've been born of the

spirit, now you're a child of God. If

you don't want to get a spanking, then

obey him in the first place. Right?

The rebellious child gets the spanking.

The child that says yes sir, yes ma'am,

with cheerful obedience can avoid the

spanking. But when we refuse to let go,

yes, he's a refiner and the Holy Spirit

will refine us because there's going to

be blind spots. God will use

circumstances to use the conviction of

the Holy Spirit. But I think deeply what

is in view here isn't the refiner's

fire, although it is in Malachi 3, which

is irrelevant to this passage.

He is the fire of judgment that comes on

those that will not repent.

The the Pharisees and the John's

Baptist. And what does he say? He says,

"Well, welcome God. Be great to have you

part of the team." No, he says, "Who

warned you to flee from the what? The

wrath to come.

Messiah is coming and it's not all going

to be warm fuzzy. When Messiah comes,

John the Baptist says it's going to be

wrath. The tree that doesn't bring forth

fruit need for repentance is going to be

burned. So, you better bring forth fruit

that demonstrates sincere genuine

repentance." So the baptism of water is

that baptism whereby you are invited to

repent of your sins and place your faith

in Christ.

Baptism of the spirit is the work that

only Jesus can do. And the baptism of

fire represents the judgment

of God's wrath upon sin.

Now I I mentioned

I mentioned last week that uh

we see in the first chapters of Matthew

they they correlate with the Torah the

first five books of the Bible. Genesis

is a book of origins in Matthew 1. We

read about the origins of Jesus and we

read about the word in Greek appears

twice in the text. The word translated

genealogy is Genesis, Genesis. And the

word translated birth is the word

Genesis. And we talk about other things

about how it represents Genesis. And

that's in Matthew 2. A strong Exodus

theme is there. Out of Egypt, I have

called my son. The slaying of the

infants by Herod like the slaying of

infants by Pharaoh. And Joseph brings

them down into Egypt. And Joseph brings

Jesus down into Egypt. And uh there's a

lot of correlations.

a strong theme in other ways in Matthew

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2. And now here in Matthew

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3, we have a Levite, son of a

priest,

estranged from the temple wearing, By

the way, all Matthew, Mark, and Luke all

mention that he was wearing camel's

hair. It's pretty important. For some

reason, he's not wearing the the golden

crown of the priest. He's not wearing

the soft rayment of a priest. He's

estranged from the temple. You get

access to God. The temple was no longer

the place to do it. It was corrupt. You

had to go out in the wilderness where

God had a messenger. God had a prophet

and he's preparing the way for the Lord.

But he's doing things that you find in

the book of Leviticus. You see

confessions of sin. You see it in

Leviticus. You see baptisms. You see

washings. In Leviticus, you see um and

I'm going to show you. You see baptism

of fire and a baptism of spirit in

Leviticus as well. We're going to look

at it. But first, let me look at I want

to look at the last chapter of Exodus.

This is the Old Testament background

that the New Testament audience would

have been familiar with and oftenimes we

neglect

the very last chapter of Exodus. Okay,

this is the end of the book and and

before there were divisions of books,

this it would have just the one would

have flown right into the other. In

Exodus 4,

this the tabernacle I'm starting Towards

the end of the chapter, I'm not reading

everything, but God would instruct them

to build. The question was last week,

how can sinners approach a holy God? How

can sinners defile approach a clean and

holy God? Well, God set up a tabernacle

where his spirit dwelled, where people

could make sacrifices and approach God

and pray towards God. It was a place of

forgiveness, a place of healing, and it

was a place to make them a holy people

where they met with a holy God. And at

the end of Exodus, Moses has made

everything God commanded to

for a tabernacle, a temple of sorts, a

tent uh that that was made according to

a blueprint so that sinners could get

their sins removed. Okay.

So in verse 39 says, "And he set the

altar of burnt offering at the entrance

of the tabernacle for the meeting." So

the first thing you'd come to when you

get through the fence is there is a

there's an altar where sacrifices would

be made where the offer would lay their

hand on the head of the ram confessing

their sin like John is calling confess

their sin and they would slay their ram

before the Lord and then the priest

would take and offer it up on the altar.

It says uh and offered it on the burnt

offering and the grain offering as the

Lord had commanded Moses. He set the bas

attend a meeting in the altar and put

water in it for washing. Okay. So, after

the altar is this big glass basin that

would hold water. What's that water for?

Well, it was for the cleansing, for the

washing. Later on in the temple, it was

way bigger because it wasn't designed to

be moved. This room was designed to be

emptied even carried through the

wilderness. But God would make this big

brazen labor where they would, some

believe would be baptized. We're going

to see here that they merely wash the

hands and the feet, but later on uh in

the temple, the whole body could be

immersed. But at this time, they would

wash symbolically the hands and the

feet. Verse verse uh 30, he set the

basin between the tent of meeting and

the altar, and put water in it for

washing, which which Moses and Aaron and

his sons washed their hands and their

feet. When they went to the tent of

meeting, and when they approached the

altar, they washed as the Lord commanded

Moses. And he erected the court around

the tabernacle on the altar and

screaming at the gate of the court. So,

Moses finished the work. So, the

tabernacle is done. There's a place for

sacrifice for atonement for sin and

there's a place of washing to cleanse

them. What happened? This is the end.

This is this is the end of the book of

Exodus. Verse 34. And the cloud covered

the tent of meeting and the glory of the

Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses

was not able to enter the tent of

meeting because the cloud settled on it.

And the glory of the Lord filled the

temple throughout all their journeys.

Whenever the cloud was taken up from

over the tabernacle, the people of

Israel would set out. If the cloud was

not taken up, then they did not set out

till the day that it was taken up. For

the cloud of the Lord was on the

tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by

night, in the sight of the house of

Israel throughout all their journeys.

And that's the end of the book is is the

tabernacle has been established, the

sacrifices are made and what comes down

the cloud. What is the glory cloud? It

is the spirit of God.

They are immersed in the spirit of God.

There's a pillar of cloud by day, a

pillar of fire by night, but they're

literally walking in the spirit of God.

A phrase comes up in the New Testament

we'll look at. They're baptized in the

spirit and the glory clouds as they go

through the wilderness. This is this is

background. So we come to the book of

Leviticus

and Leviticus goes into more details

which immediately follows Exodus. It's

the very next chapters. We get to

chapter 8 and we're told that the

priests go through a cleansing process.

Okay. Verse Leviticus 8 verse 5. I'm

Leviticus 8:5

skipping all the different types of

sacrifices in the first chapters and I'm

getting down to my point of reence. make

my point clear. And Moses said to the

congregation, "This is the thing that

the Lord has commanded to be done." And

Moses brought Aaron and his sons and he

washed them with water. What's John the

Baptist doing? He's calling them to

confess their sins and he's baptizing

them. He's immersing them. It's

cleansing. It represents washing from

sin. The priests are getting ready to go

into the presence of God and they're

undergoing cleansing.

It's it's background.

Then later on in the next chapter,

Leviticus 9, get excited about this

point coming up. Leviticus 9. And Moses

said, "This is the thing that the Lord

has commanded you to do that the glory

of the Lord may appear to you." Then

Moses said to Aaron, "Draw near to the

altar and offer your sin offering and

your burnt offering, and make atonement

for yourselves and for the people, and

bring the offering of the people and

make atonement for them as the Lord has

commanded." He said that they listen. In

order for God's glory, his spirit to

appear, atonement is going to have to be

made. All right? So, John the Baptist

preparing the way for Jesus. Jesus, the

lamb of God, is going to make atonement

for our sins on the cross so that the

glory of the Lord will be will be

revealed. It's Leviticus chapter nine.

Skipping down a few verses, we read what

happens at the end of Leviticus 9. And

Aaron lifted up his hands toward the

people and blessed them. And he came

down from offering the sin offering and

the burnt offering and the peace

offering. And Moses and Aaron went into

the tent of meeting. And when they came

out, they blessed the people. And the

glory of the Lord appeared to all the

people. And fire came out from before

the Lord and consumed the burnt

offering. And the pieces of fat on the

altar. When all the people saw it, they

shouted and fell on their faces. So when

everything is set in order, what we see?

We see a baptism of spirit. The glory

cloud appears and we see a baptism of

fire on what? On the offering.

Now, why why why is the offering

consumed with fire? They've just laid

their hands on the head of the offering.

What does that represent? The sins of

the offerer is laid on the offering.

When it goes up in fire, it is immersed.

It is engulfed in flames and it ascends

into heaven. By the way, the word uh

burnt offering translated burnt offering

in Hebrew actually means offering of a

sense. It is why they call it a burnt

offering because it goes up in smoke.

But it misses something by calling it

burnt offering instead of ascending

offering. It misses the fact that Jesus

was offered up for our sins. Our sins

were laid on him. The wrath of God was

poured out on him and he ascended into

heaven. He ascends where he makes

intercession for us. But the fire comes

down from heaven and it consumes it

immerses the offering on the spot. And

this is the this is the consecration of

that first tabernacle.

A baptism of spirit, the glory cloud, a

baptism of fire. Fire comes down and

consumes the burnt offering.

It's a picture of Christ who when the

lamb of God, the beloved son of God bore

your sins on the cross. What What does

that laying your hand on the head

represent? The transference of your sins

to the lamb of God who bears the wrath

of God so that the wrath of God is no

longer on you. Jesus was willing to

become the object of wrath by bearing

our sins. He was not a sinner, but he

became sin. He never s not even once but

he became a sin offering for us. He bore

our sins and it went up in fire to

represent God's judgment is poured out

on the offering

so that you the offerer

are now accepted.

All right. Now this is how chapter

Leviticus chapter 9 ends. If you do away

Leviticus 9 · chapter mention

with chapter headings and you just you

know about a thousand years ago we put

chapter put chapters and verses. A

priest put chapters and verses. Thank

him. Well, maybe even thank him for his

work because um it's really convenient

to be able to say go to chapter such and

such and such and such. But but

sometimes we get hung up. We don't keep

reading at the end of a chapter. So what

do we see at the end of chapter nine? We

see the offering consumed and the glory

cloud. They're immersed in the glory,

the spirit of God, and the offering is

immersed in fire. It's baptized in fire.

Let's read the very next verse after

verse 24 of chapter 10.

Now, Naab and Abu, the sons of Aaron,

these guys are Levites.

Each took the sensor and put fire in it

and laid in it and offered unauorized

fire before the Lord have not commanded

them. And fire came out before the Lord

and conceived them and they died before

the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron,

"This is what the Lord has said among

those who come who are near me, I will

be sanctified and before all the people

I will be glorified." And Aaron held his

feet. Okay? And just a few verse before

fire consumes the offering, now fire

consumes the offerer. Why? Because they

did something the Lord did not command

them to do. Up to this point, you're

Leviticus, even even the end of of the

book of Exodus, it'll say they did all

that the Lord commanded Moses. All that

the Lord commanded Moses. It's a

repeating phrase. All that the Lord

commanded Moses. All that the Lord

commanded Moses. It said over and over

again, they did just as the Lord

commanded Moses. And now we get to a

verse that says they offered strange

fire which the Lord did not command

them.

They did they added something to the

gospel picture that God did not tell

them to do. And the result of adding to

the gospel and type shadow was they got

baptized in fire. Fire consumes them.

Fire immersed them. This is a big

warning to preachers and religious

leaders.

What God commands to be done must be

done.

What God forbids to be done must not be

done.

What God does not command to be done

must not be done.

We're not there. There there's certain

broad categories like we're told to

worship the L Lord in song. And there's

a variety of instruments you can use,

but but we're not to go getting overly

creative with our worship and adding a

bunch of holidays, little things that

God didn't command. I mean, you can

celebrate holidays if you do it under

the Lord, but I can't bind your with

them

because the Lord doesn't command it.

They got creative.

They added they alter. They said, "Oh,

you know what would be really cool? We

could add strange fire." What what's

strange? We don't know. What do they do?

They add something that sparkles when

they burnt it. Like, I got an idea.

Let's Let's add something that that like

kind of goes up in smoke or creates

different colors or creates like fog all

over the place. They got creative. They

got a fog machine and the Lord roasted

them.

He baptized them in fire right on the

spot.

Judgement.

So simultaneously you have a baptism of

spirit. The glory cloud comes down and

you have a baptism of fire on the

offering. Then for the disobedient

there's a baptiz of fire on the offerers

because they were doing something that

it was. See everything in that

tabernacle is a gospel picture.

Everything is a picture in some way of

Christ in the gospel. So if they did the

Lord told them not to do. They're

actually detracting from God's picture.

They're adding a distraction. God wants

our focus on the altar. He wants our

focus on the peace offering. And when

you start doing something Lord, the

offering, the the picture goes off of

Christ. The focus goes off of Christ. It

gets on man.

The preacher is supposed to lead you to

Jesus. It's supposed to lead you to

Christ. The offering, the tabernacle,

the priest were all to be pictures of

Christ. When Christ showed up, they're

like, "Oh, this is what was foreshadowed

by Moses." How do we know that? Because

Hebrews tells us all these things are

types and shadows of Jesus. And when

they got creative, they did something

that was right in their own eyes, but it

wasn't a picture of Jesus.

It was leading people away from Jesus.

We call this the regular principle of

worship. There's three of them. What God

commands to be done must be done. What

God forbids to be done must not be done.

And what God not command to be done must

not be done because who got created and

God baptized him in fire and it wasn't a

warm fuzzy it was a consuming fire our

God is a consuming fire now later on God

will ordain that no longer will they

worship in a tent that they worship in a

temple Solomon would build a temple

exactly a thousand years before Jesus

would show up 104 BC

uh exactly thousand years before Jesus

would come. They build a temple and uh

Solomon is instructed, he's given the

blueprint

and he builds the temple and the day

comes for them to dedicate the temple

and everybody shows up. It's the first

day of service, the grand opening of the

temple in 2 Chronicles 7, look what

happens.

As soon as Solomon finished his prayer,

fire came down from heaven and consumed

the burnt offering and the sacrifices.

Oh, that sounds familiar. That sounds

just like Leviticus 9. And the glory of

the Lord filled the temple. They were

baptized in the spirit. And the priests

could not enter the house of the Lord

because the glory of the Lord filled the

Lord's house. When all the people of

Israel saw the fire come down and the

glory of the Lord on the temple, they

bowed down with their faces to the

ground on the pavement and worshiped and

gave thanks to the Lord saying, "For he

is good for steadfast love endures

forever." We got a pattern here.

Dedication of the tabernacle, glory,

fire, dedication of the temple, glory

and fire. By the way, it's interesting

if you read back in First Chronicles,

the temple was built on the site of an

old threshing floor, which is kind of

interesting. The threshing floor, which

it's interesting that it was a threshing

floor, and there's a lot we could go

into, but my sermon would be two hours

instead of an hour and a half. So I I

won't uh I won't do that to you. But I

want you to see the pattern of baptism

of glory of the spirit, baptism of fire.

The fire consumes the offering,

but not the offerings.

The wrath of God was poured out on the

sun so that you could become an object

of mercy accepted in the world.

That's the power. Now we come to the New

Testament after John the Baptist after

Jesus becomes the sin offering on the

cross and Jesus is about to ascend like

the burnt offering would ascend into

heaven. He's about to send into heaven

and these are some of his last words in

Acts

16. It says so when they had come

together they asked him Lord will you at

this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

He said to them, "It is not for you to

know the times and seasons until the

father is fixed by his own authority,

but you will receive power when the Holy

Spirit has come upon you and you will be

witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and

Samaria and to the end of the earth."

All right? So, so when the b when the

Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be

empowered to take the gospel to the

nations because the glory of the Lord is

going to fill the earth.

Now the Lord's going to cover the earth

like the waters that cover the sea. And

so God says you're going to need power.

When the spirit comes upon you, you will

be empowered to take the gospel to all

nations. That's what he promises. And

then he ascends into heaven. We won't

read that, but in chapter one, he

ascends into heaven like the burnt

offering and ascended in smoke. So Jesus

ascends into heaven where he's at the

right hand of the father and makes

prayers for us, intercessions for us.

That's chapter one. Acts chapter two.

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they

were all together in one place. And

suddenly there came from heaven a sound

like a mighty rushing

and it filled it filled the entire house

where they were sitting. Oh, sounds like

and divided tongues as of fire appeared

to them and rested on each one of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy

Spirit and began to speak in other

tongues as the spirit gave the

utterance. Now there were dwelling in

Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every

nation under heaven. And at the sound

the motives came together and they were

bewildered because each one of them was

hearing them speak in his own language.

So on the day of Pentecost,

God gave certain symbols. One, there was

the wind that came like it came and

divided the Red Sea various places. the

winds walk,

the the wind of the spirit, the holy

spirit. Uh he he comes in with this

visible wind that comes in. They're

they're filled with the spirit. So

they're they're baptized in the glory

cloud. And it says divided tongues of

fire is on each one of their heads. Why

is that? Now I've heard there's all

kinds of people that claim they've been

filled with the spirit with with

speaking in tong, but I've never heard

one person tell me that they had a

little flame of

What's the point of the flame of fire?

And you don't read about it anywhere

else in the back. What's the point of

the flame of fire? I think what God is

saying here is this is my new temple.

The tabernacle was set apart and

dedicated with the the manifest presence

of God and the fire coming down and

consuming the altar. Then the temple was

was dedicated with the manifest presence

of God and fire consuming the altar. And

now here every individual

has a flame of fire over their head.

What does this represent? It represents

that no longer does God dwell in temples

made with men's hands.

Now you are the temple of God.

Believers with the spirit of God said in

1 Corinthians 3 says do you not know

that you are the temple of God? If the

spirit of God dwells in you if God's

spirit is in you are the temple of God.

How then should we live? Dear brothers

and sisters,

how should we occupy our time?

What application does this have for us?

God is saying, listen, it used to be

that the temple is some place you went

three times a year. Now, you are the

temple of God.

God's spirit has come to live in you.

You are you are the dwell you are a

dwelling place of God. Do you know how

great a glory and an honor that is?

You're to keep your your temple guarded

and pure and holy.

When God exposes sin in you, you're to

confess it and forsake it because you

are a holy people. Every time God writes

to a community, the Galatians, the

Corinthians, the Ephesians, Paul will

say to the saints that are at Colass, to

the saints that are at Corinth, to the

saints that are at Galatia, to the

saints at Philippi. What does saint

mean?

Holy. He's saying you are holy.

These are common everyday people. These

are slaves. These are businessmen. These

are moms and wives. These are children.

And yet they're called saints. Saint

isn't something you achieve in heaven.

Satan is something you are. It's the

spirit of God dwells in you. You are the

temple of God.

The symbol of the fire on every

individual was to say this is the new

temple of God. Now, the temple is still

standing in Jerusalem,

but the temple had become such a corrupt

place that John the Baptist, the son of

a priest, is out in the wilderness and

camels there because it's no longer what

it was meant to be. It's actually put

under the charge and care of

unbelievers, Sadducees. As I said last

week, they didn't believe in angels.

They didn't believe in the resurrection.

They they believe when you're dead,

you're dead. Soul asleep.

It was a place of infidels.

It had been made an unclean place. When

Jesus walked into the temple at the

beginning of his ministry, he turns over

tables. He drives out the money

changers. And then at the end of his

ministry, he comes in a second time.

Then he drives out the money changers

and those that were corrupt, saying,

"This is my father's house. It's

supposed to be a house of prayer for all

nations, but you've made it a tent of

thieves."

Now the church is baptized in the glory

and the fire is on their head because

from from God's people will come. You

know, I was thinking about it yesterday.

We're out of the abortion clinic. Praise

God. We saw saw a car come in the

parking lot. Sat there for some time. I

didn't actually notice it. I was

preaching away at the escorts and I have

no idea because they didn't talk to us.

I don't know why they left. I just know

that they pulled in for a while. They

sat there and then they left. We're out

there holding our signs. We're out there

praying. We're playing some worshiping

God and playing music, preaching to the

escorts, calling them to repentance. And

I was just thinking about u I was

thinking about some of these people. In

fact, I I believe I told him so. It's

like they have time to repent. You have

time to repent right now.

But if you don't, these words are going

to come back and you'll be reminded the

gospel was presented to you. Christ was

presented to you. God sent you witnesses

to tell you to put your faith in Jesus

Christ, but you would not.

What awaits is a baptism of fire for all

that reject him.

Fire came out from the the Lord and

consumed and fire comes out from the

from his messengers and it will be a

witness against all those who reject the

gospel. But again, you see this imagery

of baptism of fire, baptism of the

spirit, and in this case, speaking in

tongues. I it's not really on topic, but

I'll say one thing about speaking in

tong. People often miss that at the

power of

speaking in tong, speaking in other

languages, divided the nations.

And now it says that they heard the

gospel in their own language.

The significance of the sign is that all

the nations that were divided are being

gathered back together in Christ through

the message of the gospel. That's the

symbolism of speaking in other

languages. That they weren't just

speaking in an unknown tongue. They were

speaking in a known tongue. It's just

not something they knew, right? So

people came from Gaul and and they're

they're hearing the gospel in some

version of French.

People come from Pontis and Galatia and

they're hearing the gospel in their own

langage. That was a

Whereas the nations have been divided

and God has been working with house of

Israel, now all nations are welcome to

come to Christ and believe in the

Messiah and receive the forgiveness of

sins.

All right, go to another passage first

Corinthians. I want to get I want to get

more practical for us as believers. I

think we get the symbolism baptism and

and water is for repentance. Baptism of

spirit takes place in regeneration and

by being in God's presence and living in

God's presence. I'll talk more about

that in a minute. And baptis baptism of

fire is a picture of judgment. In

firstians 10, it speaks of the the

children of Israel in the wilderness in

the tabernacle out in the wilderness in

terms of baptism. So I want to show you

this isn't just me coming up with this.

Paul has this interpretation. First

Corinthians 10. For I do not want you to

be unaware, brothers, that our fathers

were all under the cloud,

and all passed through the sea, that is

the Red Sea, and all were baptized into

Moses in the cloud and in the sea. You

see, Paul is calling the living under

the shikina, the glory cloud. He's

calling it a baptism. He calls going

through the Red Sea a baptism in water

and being under the cloud of God is a

baptism in the glory cloud. And verse

And all ate the same spiritual food.

Jesus is the man of the bread of life.

John 6. And all drank the same spiritual

drink. Jesus is the water of life.

Johnapter 7. For they drank from the

spiritual rock that followed them. And

the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, most

of them God was not well pleased for

they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Paul makes this. Paul says that when

they were under that glory cloud, they

were immersed in the spirit of God. and

and they were baptized into Moses in the

same way that we have been baptized into

Christ. But he says, "Nevertheless, with

all them, God does not love you." What's

he saying? He's warning us as believers,

just because you've had an experience

with Christ, it's it's not a reason to

walk carelessly.

God wants his people to walk carefully.

I believe in perseverance, but I also

believe that God calls us to walk in

repentance and holiness.

God calls us to live a life of

carefulness before him because we are

the temples of God. Believers indwell by

the Holy Spirit, the creator of heavens

and earth. He dwells in us. We are to

live sensitive to him. We're to walk

carefully. And it's not just for

preachers and clergy and and people in

full-time ministry. Everyone who's a

believer in Jesus Christ is called to be

a saint,

to walk in a manner worthy of your

calling. He goes on, he says, "Now these

things took place as examples for us

that we might not desire evil as they

did. Do not be idolattors as some of

them were. As it is written, the people

sat down to eat and drank and rose up to

play. We must not indulge in sexual

immorality as some of them did and

23,000 fell in a single day." We must

not put Christ to the test as some of

them did and were destroyed by serpents,

nor grumble as some of them did and were

destroyed by the destroyers. Now these

things happened to them as an example

that they were written down for our

instruction on whom the end of the ages

has come. I this person some weeks ago

this this theme of we come out of Egypt

we come out of the world. Everybody gets

tested.

Everybody gets baptized. Everybody gets

tested as believers. And and Paul is

saying listen a lot of people were

baptized. They lived under the glory

cloud. But what happened to them? They

They they lived as they they just got

used to it.

There's a visual representation. They're

walking through the wilderness and at

night there's this pillar of fire. Can

you imagine walking through the desert

and there's this pillar of fire? It's

supernatural.

Can you imagine that? Every night

looking up and seeing it. And in the

daytime there's this cloud like a pillar

that rises above the camp. And when the

cloud moves they say time to pick up our

friends. Let's follow the cloud. When

the fire moves up the

time to move. As long as the pillar

would stay in one place, they would stay

in one place. When the pillar would

move, they would move. They would walk

in the spirit. They would follow the

cloud. They would follow the pillar of

fire, the pillar of fire by by night and

the pillar of cloud by day. Can you

imagine living under that cloud for 40

years and getting the point? It's like,

oh yeah, yawn.

Imagine living there and it's just

cloud. Hey, you guys want to do some

gambling?

You guys want to have an orgy? I did.

23,000 in one day. Hey, let's get drunk.

Let's play games in front of the

tabernacle and let's make a golden calf.

The glory clouds right there. What's

wrong with you people?

What's the matter with you? The glory

clown you. How can you How can you make

a golden calf? There's fire on the

mountain. How can you do that?

What would they say to us?

You've been born again.

You have a better covenant built on

better promises. The spirit of God has

given you a new heart. He's forgiven you

of all your iniquities and all of your

trespasses. He everyone knows me from

the least to the greatest. You're my

people. How can you go after strange

gods?

They would say, "How how can you fall

into such wicked entertainment? How can

you become so lukewarm?

What's Paul calling the Corinthians to

do to sin? Be careful. It's amazing how

desensitized human beings can be to sin

and to the spirit of God. It just

becomes like, oh yeah, I go to church.

We hear the word of God there. We sing

songs. We see God's people.

And I go about my daily life and I do

all kinds of things that the Lord

wouldn't approve of. But it's okay.

We're saved by grace. That's the

attitude that Paul is warning us about.

They were walking under the glory cloud

and yet they fell into sin. This phrase

walking in the spirit. I want to look at

one more passage. Galatians

and this is where I'm going to I'm going

to close it out. Two slides. One

passage. Galatians 5. But I say walk by

the spirit. Jesus walked in the spirit

and you will not gratify the desires of

the flesh. just stop there.

What is what is Paul saying? Walk in the

spirit.

What's he saying?

It's like we are in the pres.

I believe what Paul is saying here is

like okay the glory God is here. God is

here. So Paul is saying walk in the

realization and the knowledge that God

is with you. Walk in communion with him.

Give God thanks on a daily basis. Read

God's word on a daily basis. Walk

sensitive to his conviction and his Holy

Spirit on a daily basis. Walk with God.

Don't harden yourself to conviction.

Say, "No, Lord, just leave me alone. I

want to do this thing. It's so much

fun." And you drown out the voice of

God. No, that's not what we're doing. He

says, "Walk in the spirit. Walk in

communion with God, and you will not

gratify the desires of the flesh." For

the desires of the flesh are against the

spirit, and the desires of the spirit

are against the flesh. For these are

opposed to each other to keep you from

doing the things you want to do. In

other words, there's two wills in us.

The will of the flesh wants to sin. The

will of the spirit wants to glorify God.

He says, "But if you are led by the

spirit, you are not under the law." In

other words, evidence, sexual

immorality, impurity, sensuality,

idolatry.

idolatry, sorcery, industry, strife,

jealousy,

sense of anger, rivalry, deception,

division, envy, drunkenness, orgying,

and these things like these, I warn you,

as I warned you before, that those who

do such things will not inherit the

kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the spirit, love, joy,

peace, patience, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, gent

such things there is no law. Those who

belong to Christ Jesus, they crucified

the flesh with his passion and his

all right. So Paul says, walk in the

spirit. And he and he doesn't just

highlight, you know, don't lie and cheat

and steal and commit adultery.

things that are deeply inter our

personal relationships should be

affected by

if we're people that have the fruit of

love and joy and patience kindness.

These are delightful people to Jesus.

These are people that are easy to get

along with.

Goodness, faithfulness, gent.

This is the fruit of the spirit that

you'd be really nice if we just said

don't commit adultery and lie and cheat

anymore. It's like, okay, I got those

things. But the fruit of the spirit that

he emphasizes the most are the things

that make God's people so beautiful.

kindness,

faithfulness to goodness,

self control.

So in summary, three baptisms,

two baptizers, minister, and there's

Jesus, the other

three baptisms, bapting

in Christ for your salvation.

I don't want to

I'll be embarrassed. No, listen.

You can get baptized in front of the

congregation confessing your sins in

your face as well.

Baptism of spirit is for power to

empower us. First of all, there's

regeneration whereby we become children

of God. But secondarily,

a baptism of spirit power. We should the

power to live a holy life and the power

to be witnesses to Jesus.

And the baptism of fire for judgment and

purification.

That's the baptism that we don't want.

Don't pray for it.

You can you can pray, "God, help me to

walk in holiness." But uh when when

you're when you're going through a

baptism of fire, start confessing.

Start forsaking. Better to confess it

and forsake it. Get this thing over

with.

And finally, we're called to walk in the

spirit. We're called to be holy and to

walk sensitive to the voice of God. Not

just on Sundays.

247 365. We're called to walk

in the spirit under the clouds as

temples of God of the dwelling place of

God. Let us pray. Father, we thank you

God that you are gracious towards us

that you have shown us great love.

We thank you that the beloved son of God

became the sin bearer,

became the ascending offering, became

the guilt offering, became the

thanksgiving offering, the peace

offering whereby we have peace with God

and men.

Thank you Lord

for taking the wrath that we deserve

upon the cross. Lord, I pray for the

unbeliever

who's questioning. God, I pray that you

would bring them to the cross.

They would confess their sins.

They would repent and put their trust in

you. God, I pray for us who believe,

myself included. God, help us to walk

carefully as Paul said, to walk in

carefully redeeming the times the days

are. God, I pray that a great

your Holy Spirit to come upon this

congregation

that we would worship you in reverence

and godly fear

and with love and joy and gratitude

because you are worthy of those that

would worship you in spirit and truth. I

pray Lord also that the fruit of the

spirit, the love, the joy, the peace,

the kindness, the gentleness that's

mentioned here in Galatians 5 would

abound

in this church in your people.

It comes from you. It comes from the

root comes from the root.