Scripture References: 1 Corinthians 12:13
It seems there are very few people who understand what the baptism into Christ is, and how its accomplished in the life of a believer. The first thing you must understand is that Christ can be in the believer without the believer being in Christ. Paul makes it crystal clear that its by the one Spirit that all true believers are baptized into the one body of Christ, which is of course the one true church that he is head and builder of. Before the Spirit can baptize the believer into Christ where he becomes a new creature, you first must possess the Spirit within your heart. How to receive the Spirit is a truth that is clearly taught and revealed in the scriptures of Gods word, but this truth has not been obeyed but by a very few in our day and age. One will either believe or disbelieve what Gods word has to say about this matter, but its only the true sheep that will hear Christ’s voice and follow him as Jesus said they would. Jesus said these words as stated in John 10:1-5 that says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.” Now listen to what the same apostle John has to say to us as stated in Revelation 3:20 that says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Jesus said that his sheep will hear his voice, which is his word that is revealed in his teachings of the scriptures. Jesus clearly reveals how he is received in the heart of the believer, which is done by hearing his voice (which is his word) and when the believer opens his hearts door to his word, then Christ by his Spirit will take up his abode in the heart.
What is this word that the believer must hear and obey in order for Christ to truly come into their heart? It was what the apostle Peter said as stated in Acts 2:38 that says, “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Many people will argue with what Peter says here and will not obey these two simple commands of repentance and water baptism in his name, but Christ’s sheep will not question the authority of Peter and they will do exactly what is stated. The reason why the multitudes of people will not obey Peter’s command is simply because of what Peter said about being baptized in water in the name of Jesus Christ. Christianity teaches their millions of converts that one must be baptized in water using the formula stated in Matthew 28:19 that says, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Not one of the early disciples of Christ baptized the believers in water using the formula of what Matthew 28:19 states, but yet this is the common teaching found throughout Christianity today and in times past as well. A true sheep of Christ will know and understand that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is not a name, but the name of Jesus Christ is and is the only name given among men whereby they can be saved. They know that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is not the name given under heaven, because Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is not a name, but is rather a truth revealed telling us that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost refers to the one God that was manifest in the flesh and was named Jesus by the angel that appeared to Joseph, as stated in Matthew 1:21 saying, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” That angel did not tell Joseph to call his name “Father, Son, Holy Ghost” because that is not a name as anyone should know. A true sheep of Christ will know and understand the truth about what the verse of Matthew 28:19 is telling us. This verse is not reference to being baptized in water, but it refers to the baptism into Christ, which the Holy Spirit is author of. Let me show you what it means to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. First of all listen to what John the Baptist said in Matthew 3:11 that says, “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, and with fire.”
This verse tells us that Christ will baptize us with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. You have to understand that Christ is no longer a man walking among us, but rather he is the truth of Gods word. Was it not the Word that was made flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, as John 1:14 tells us saying, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John tells us that Christ will baptize us with the Holy Ghost, which simply reveals that it’s the revealed word of God (which is Christ) that will baptize the believer into Christ. But you must realize that the word that does the baptizing of the believer into Christ must be revealed by revelation of the Holy Ghost. So it’s the Word of God revealed by the Spirit that performs the baptism into Christ. Now let us look at Matthew 28:19 and see what Jesus said here is reference to this baptism into Christ and not our baptism in water as most people think and believe today. Notice in this verse Jesus commanded his disciples to go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Look closely at what Jesus said here that says “TEACH ALL NATIONS BAPTIZING THEM.” Jesus did not tell them to teach all nations “AND” baptize them, but rather the truth of the matter is that if you will allow the truth of Gods word to teach you, then you are at the same time allowing the word of God (Christ) to baptize you into Christ’s body, which is the church. But you must realize that the truths of Gods word that does the baptizing into Christ must be revealed to you by revelation of the Holy Ghost. This is what John the Baptist meant when he said that he (Christ) will baptize you with the Holy Ghost, as stated in Matthew 3:11. It is the truths that the disciples were teaching that does the baptizing into Christ, but the Spirit must be involved and reveal these great truths to you. So its both the Word and the Spirit that’s doing the actual baptizing of the believer into Christ where they eventually become a new creature in Christ Jesus. The Spirit baptizes the believer into Christ as he reveals the power of the many truths of Gods word to the believer. Listen again to what Paul said about this in I Corinthians 12:13 that says, “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..” It is the Spirit that baptizes us into Christ as he reveals the truths to us and if we obey the leading of the Spirit we will in time become the new creature in Christ that Paul tells us about in II Corinthians 5:17 that says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” There is a teaching in the land today that says the baptism of the Spirit is an emotional experience that will be evidenced by the speaking in tongues, but that is not what Gods word teaches on this subject. Many people has been led off into error by the many false prophets doctrines that Gods word warns us about that teaches “experiences” as proof of knowing God instead of teaching truth. Listen to what Jesus tells us in John 8:30-32 that says, “As he spake these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Notice that Jesus said that knowing the truth will make us free; he said nothing about experiences that will make us free. What these so called “experiences” has done is what Jesus said in Luke 11:52 that says, “Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.” We are told to grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ; not to grow by experiences, because experiences does not reveal truth that causes growth in Christ. It was the apostle Peter that tells us these words in I Peter 2:1-2 that says, “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.” We grow spiritually as we believe and obey Gods word till we eventually grow up to spiritual adulthood, which is in Christ where we in time become that new creature in Christ, as Paul tells us in II Corinthians 5:17.
I mentioned earlier in this article that Christ can be in you without you being in Christ, which means that you have not as yet been baptized into Christ where you become that new creature in him. This in Christ position is where the believer has been born again by becoming that new creation in Christ. And notice also that it was the apostle John that tells us who has been born of God and who has not yet been born of God in what he tells us in I John 3:8-10 that says, “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” Now please don’t get upset by John telling us that they who commit sin is of the devil until you hear the revealed truth of it. The people that John refers to here are the people that’s claiming to be born again and still live in and commit sin against God. Let me show you that there can be sin in your life as you confess to be a disciple of Christ, but if you do have sin still being committed in your life this in itself does not prove that you are not a disciple, but it does prove that you have not been born again. It was the church that was at Corinth that Paul rebuked for the sins they were committing, but these converts were no doubt believers that Christ indwelled, but their problem was that they were not in Christ that proves they were not born again. Paul tells us these words in II Corinthians 12: 20-21 saying, “For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults: And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.” Since they were yet committing sin in their life this does not prove they were not converted disciples, but it does prove that they were not as yet born again, because John tells us in I John 3:9 that those born of God do not and further more cannot commit sin. Paul ends up telling those converts to wake to righteousness and sin not, (I Corinthians 15:34) but if they failed to heed that warning, then God definitely would have cut them off.
Now if you are a person that confesses to be a disciple of Christ and yet has sin in your life and you are claiming to be born again, then you have been deceived, because whosoever is born of God does not and cannot commit sin, as I John 3:9 clearly tells us. Now are you willing to admit that you are not born again as you perhaps still commit sin, or will you like most deny what John says and go right on your deceived way and continue to believe you are born of God as you still manifest sin in your life? If you are willing to let Gods word be true, and admit that according to his word that you have not as yet been born again, then God can and will help you. But if you reject what Gods words says about it, then he will definitely reject you and turn you over to a reprobate mind to be destroyed. Any person that claims to be born of God and rejects what I John 3:9 says, then they in most cases has already been rejected of God and will continue to speak lies in their hypocrisy, as Paul tells us in I Timothy 4:1-2 that says, “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” Listen if you will to all the multiplied millions of confessing Christians in the world today still confessing to be born of God as they continue to live in a life of sin and rebellion against God. But I do believe that there are a very few people that confess to be born again Christians that do accept and believe what Gods word tells us about sin. The reason why multiplied millions of confessing Christians still claim to be born again even as they continue to live in sin is simply because they have been deceived away from the truth of Gods word concerning this subject. They have been deceived into believing the many false doctrines of the many false Prophets that Jesus warns us about in Matthew 24:11 that says, “ And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.” And even the apostle John warns us about them in what he tells us in I John 4:1-3 that says, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” To confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh means that what a person has to say will prove that Christ is in them and it will be the very sinless and eternal life of Jesus Christ that will be manifested in and through those that are truly born of God. Let the Paul also prove this in what he tells us in II Corinthians 4:10-11 that says, “ Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” If the life of Christ is truly the life of any person who claims to be born again, then that spirit is of God and they have truly been born of God and they do not and cannot commit sin, as I John 3:9 clearly tells us. But listen to all the millions of people claiming to be born of God and still live in and commit sin. According to Gods word they are not born of God, but rather are deceivers that are deceiving themselves as well as many others as Gods word tells about in II Timothy 3:13 that says, “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” “He that has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” Amen