Jesus is still the baptizer of the Holy Ghost! What a precious gift to be treasured.
Jesus the Baptizer of the
Holy Spirit
Matthew 3:8 "Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9
"and do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'
For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these
stones. 10 "And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees.
Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into
the fire. 11 "I indeed baptize you
with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I,
whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy
Spirit and fire.
Repentance of sin is necessary however we find a truth that John the
Baptist spoke “He (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit”.
This is why it is said Jesus is the baptizer of the Holy Spirit. This truth is
solid and strong and often under preached by the church as a whole.
Mark 1:7 And he preached, saying, "There comes One after me who
is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and
loose. 8 "I indeed baptized you
with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
Here is the second time God has it recorded, Jesus will baptize you
with the Holy Spirit.
Luke 3:15 Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in
their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, 16 John answered,
saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am
not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Here is the third time it is recorded in the Word of God that Jesus is
the baptizer of the Holy Spirit.
John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world! 30 "This is He of whom I said, 'After me
comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.' 31 "I did
not know Him; but that He should be revealed to
Israel , therefore I came baptizing
with water." 32 And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit
descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 "I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with
water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on
Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'
This is the fourth scripture we are pointing out that Jesus is the
baptizer of the Holy Spirit. It seems this is a very important truth according
to the Word of God. Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,
is also the baptizer of the Holy Spirit. God made it a point to speak to John
the Baptist! 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him,
this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'
Acts 1:4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not
to depart from Jerusalem ,
but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said,
"you have heard from Me; 5 "for
John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit
not many days from now."
Jesus Himself speaks of the importance of being baptized with the Holy
Spirit. Here is the 5th time we have demonstrated that Jesus is the
baptizer of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:32 "This Jesus God
has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 33 "Therefore being
exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the
promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
Jesus Himself poured out the Holy Spirit upon all of the 120 believers
gather together on the day of Pentecost. Here is the sixth time we find that
Jesus is the baptizer of the Holy Spirit. What did they see? The crowd said
they were drunk. What did they hear? They heard them speak with other
tongues.
Acts 11:15 "And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon
them, as upon us at the beginning. 16 "Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, 'John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be
baptized with the Holy Spirit.'
This is the seventh time we find that Jesus is the baptizer of the Holy
Spirit. This time however it was referring to the first Gentiles who received
the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 10:44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit
fell upon all those who heard the word. 45 And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many
as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on
the Gentiles also. 46 For they heard them speak with tongues
and magnify God. Then Peter answered,
The Jewish believers were convinced that the Gentiles had received the
baptism of the Holy Spirit because they heard them speak with other tongues,
just like they did on the day of Pentecost.
Luke 24:49 "Behold, I send
the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you
are endued with power from on high."
Here is the eighth time we have found in the word that Jesus is the
baptizer of the Holy Spirit. Jesus sent it, tarry until you are endued with
power from on high.
Acts 8:12 But when they believed
Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of
Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.
One of the greatest revivals is found here in Acts 8 when Philip the
Evangelist preached in Samaria .
They accepted the message of Jesus Christ and were baptized in water because of
their faith in Jesus. However up to that point none of them had been baptized
with the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:14 Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that
Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them that
they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For as yet He had fallen upon none of
them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they
laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
The apostles heard that Samaria
had indeed received the word! They sent Peter and John to pray for them to
receive the Holy Spirit. It is evidences of two things; you must have saving
faith in Jesus to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of the
Holy Spirit is for every believer.
Acts 19:1 And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth ,
that Paul , having passed through the
upper regions, came to Ephesus .
And finding some disciples 2 he said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you
believed?" So they said to him, "We have not so much as heard whether
there is a Holy Spirit." 3 And he said to them,
"Into what then were you baptized?" So they said, "Into John's
baptism." 4 Then Paul said,
"John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people
that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ
Jesus." 5 When they heard this, they
were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when
Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came
upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.
Here Paul ran into
believers; his first question to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you
believed? Paul expected that every
believer would be baptized with Holy Spirit.
Jesus laid a foundation in His earthly ministry in regard to receiving
the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Luke 11:1 Now it came to pass, as He
was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said
to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."
2 So He said to them, "When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom
come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 3 Give us day by day our
daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is
indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the
evil one." 5 And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a
friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three
loaves; 6 'for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have
nothing to set before him'; 7 "and he will answer from within and say,
'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I
cannot rise and give to you'? 8 "I
say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend,
yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
9 "So I say to you, ask,
and it will be given to you; seek,
and you will find; knock,
and it will be opened to you. 10 "For
everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it
will be opened. 11 "If a son asks for bread from any
father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he
give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 "Or if he asks for an egg, will
he offer him a scorpion? 13 "If you
then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more
will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"
Jesus was a man of prayer. As He was coming from a prayer meeting He
taught His disciples to pray. Starting with the punch line of verse 13,
“how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those
who ask Him!" If you have not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit it
is time to ask, seek, and knock. Jesus used the word persistence! Paying for
the Holy Spirit is imperative. Jesus said there is a asking, seeking and
knocking. The pursuit of God needs to be given preeminence. We must see the
baptism of the Holy Spirit as a need we can not do without, ask, seek and
knock! Surely we must see it is the benefit of coming into the
kingdom of
God .
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of
you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 "For the promise is to you and to
your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will
call."
Every believer should hold in high regard this precious gift Jesus has
given to His bride. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is for every believer!
2 Corinthians 4:6 For it is the
God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. 7 But we have
this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the
power may be of God and not of us.
We have this treasure in earthen vessel; the baptism of the Holy Spirit
is so precious. My five year old grandson was in a toy store with me. He
wanted Harold the Helicopter and I bought it for him. He carried Harold around
every where he went; however, a few weeks later I was sitting out on my front
porch and there was Harold, abandoned out on my front lawn. The value of the
treasure had depreciated. That is when God spoke to my heart this verse! The
treasure of the Holy Spirit is what God has put in the earthen vessels, never
let it be devalued. Hold the gift of the promise Holy Spirit in high regard.
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