1 Corinthians chapter 12. We are meeting here today, just me and
my wife and kids. And I thought we'd go ahead and
stream the message anyway, even though it's just us and the family.
We'd go ahead and stream the message. We are currently in restricted
lockdown around here, not totally restricted, but they asked no
more than 10 people. That's not why we're the only
ones here today. We're the only ones that showed
this morning. But we've been trying to continue
to gather and meet. As long as people aren't sick,
we've been gathering together and We'll continue to do so, trying
to be as respectful to the government wishes as possible, but not trying
to fall into all the craziness that's going on out there. Update
for those who know Sister Louetta, one of our founding members of
our church, had fallen last week. and had broke her hip and went
through surgery. And the surgery went well and
she is doing better. She is already back out to the
assisted living home and beginning therapy for that. She says it
feels a lot better and is doing pretty good, but she's just not
been feeling very good, kind of weak and everything. Just
continue to pray for Sister Louetta, that she might continue to heal
and lift up her family and all those that are working there.
And continue to remember everybody in our country and around the
world that's going through all this stuff that's happening out
there. Our hearts does go out for everyone that's affected
by this stuff. This morning, we're gonna continue in our study
on the baptism in the Holy Spirit or with the
Holy Spirit. We are looking at the ordinances
of the church actually in our overall study of the church. And I've mentioned, again, I've
mentioned that We're looking at the baptism with the Holy
Spirit, not because we believe that's the ordinance of the church,
but because there is some misunderstanding about what baptism with the Holy
Spirit or in the Holy Spirit actually means. And a lot of
people have misunderstood what water baptism is because they
look to this Holy Spirit baptism and say that that's the one baptism
that matters. And the verse that we're going
to be reading today is one of the reasons why. And we've already
looked at in our study on baptism of the Holy Spirit, we've already
seen some things. Just kind of to recap that once
again, because I know you guys here keep hearing it, but some
people tune in that don't tune in to some of the other broadcast
or listen to some of the other messages. And so just to kind
of quick recap, but what we have learned and been taught by scripture
is that baptism with the Holy Spirit, the first account that
we find of that in the New Testament, is in the Gospels, and we see
that all four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all record
John the Baptist speaking of this baptism with the Holy Spirit. We also see that Jesus talks
about it in Acts chapter one, and we see that In all instances,
all five witnesses that the Holy Spirit has given us in Scripture,
we see there is a correlation between John's baptism and then
the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the Holy Spirit, okay? We
see that correlation between those two things. And what we've
learned in Scripture is that there is one who is doing the
baptizing, there is one who is being baptized, And then there
is one that is being used as the agent or the instrument in
which the baptism is being taken place. So we see that in Matthew,
in Mark, in Luke, in John, and in Acts, we see that the baptism
is by Jesus Christ. He is the one who is doing the
baptizing. And we see that it is the local
church in gathered capacity as the institution that Jesus has
formed to be the vehicle or the place where worship and service
and the ministry of the gospel is to take place, that that organization,
that institution is what was baptized and that it is the Holy
Spirit with whom Jesus baptizes that particular institution. We look back in the Old Testament
and we've seen that what happened at Pentecost is a continuation
or is the same as what we've seen in each dedication of the
house of God. Whenever Moses built the tabernacle,
Solomon built the tabernacle whenever Zerubbabel built the
tabernacle or the temple. All three of those instances,
we've seen that at the beginning of that, God, His Holy Spirit
came down, His glory came down, filled the place. That's where
He dedicated that place as His dwelling place and the place
of service and worship and the administration of the ordinances
And we see that that same thing in form showed up at Pentecost. And that that outpouring of the
spirit was just once again, God turning from Israel, turning
from that old covenant and saying, this is now the new covenant
house of God, the local church, the gathered assembly where those
who have been converted believers Disciples that's been made have
been water baptized. And those who have been water
baptized has been included into the church. And that church now
functions as the body of Christ. And that body of Christ is what
was baptized at Pentecost. We see that in Acts. We've seen
that it was the same 120 people that was on the Mount with Jesus
when he gave the commission. The same 120 people that was
in the upper room. that was waiting, as Jesus had
told them to do, to wait for the promise of the Father, and
they waited, and what happened was the Holy Spirit came down,
and of course, we have everything that took place at the Pentecostal, the Pentecostal outpouring of
the Holy Spirit, and that was the baptizing of the church into
a ministry and as a dwelling place of God. We've seen in scripture
that the Bible teaches that the church is the house of God, that
the church is the dwelling place of God. Jesus said, and he promised
the institution of the local church, that he would be there
as long as his doctrine and his practices were being preached
and taught, that he promised that presence to be there. And
so there is a very special presence of God whenever the people of
God are in gathered capacity and worshiping and ministering
the gospel. So we've seen that pattern. We've
seen that the Bible has taught that Holy Spirit baptism isn't
the Holy Spirit doing any baptizing, but Jesus doing the baptizing
with the Holy Spirit and the particular peoples that was being
talked about was the New Testament church, okay? So that foundation
has already been laid for those who are watching. If you haven't
listened to that and you don't know what I'm talking about,
go back and watch our previous messages on that to catch up
to speed on that. Today, what we're gonna do is
I wanted to look specifically at 1 Corinthians chapter 12,
and then also gonna look at Romans chapter six, Galatians chapter
three, Colossians chapter two, and we're gonna deal with these
epistles and where baptism in the Holy Spirit is found in the
epistles and see because there's again we've mentioned that there's
two errors that is being taught in quote-unquote Christendom.
One is that the baptism with the Holy Spirit that was spoken
of by John the Baptist and by Jesus was speaking of a Pentecostal
phenomenon of And that phenomenon continues today, but is this
second work of grace, the second blessing of God, where there
is a static speech, utterances, okay? People speaking in tongues,
not biblical tongues, but gibberish tongues, where people are being
slain in the spirit, where people are being given miraculous gifts
and things like that. So they believe that's what baptism
of the Holy Spirit is and that that's the second work of grace.
And then there is the other group of people that believe that the
baptism of the Holy Spirit is a baptism that the Holy Spirit
does of the believer at conversion or at regeneration. I'll use
the word regeneration because people are familiar with that,
although everyone here and anybody that's listened to me for a very
long time knows that I do not believe regeneration. is the
biblical term for being born again. But at the point when
one is born again, they believe that's baptism with the Holy
Spirit, and that baptism baptizes you into Christ's body and puts
you into Christ's body, okay? And so that is erroneous. That
is not what the baptism of the Holy Spirit is. And so I wanna
deal with these verses this morning and show you Number one, according
to the pattern that was given to us, where the first occurrence
is found in the Gospels and in Acts, that it is not that continuing
thing, a quickening or this Pentecostal phenomenon, all right? And I'm
gonna also deal with it contextually and show you that even contextually,
we find that it is talking not about a spirit baptism, Okay,
that this baptism into one body or baptism that we see in Corinthians and
Romans, Galatians, Colossians, all do not speak of Holy Spirit
baptism, okay? Now, before I get into 1 Corinthians
12, I wanna reiterate the fact is this, the pattern that's laid
down in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and Acts is that Jesus
is the baptizer. The church is the one being baptized,
and the Holy Spirit is the one that Jesus is using to baptize
the church, okay? So that's found in all four Gospels
and in Acts. So that groundwork is laid, and
if we deviate from that groundwork, we find that we have something
other than Holy Spirit baptism. Now, I Googled this week what
is Holy Spirit baptism, and I came up with a ton of different answers.
But some of the prominent, and I will say prominent, it's not
so prominent in a lot of us that know that John Piper is erroneous
in his teaching, okay? I used to be enamored with John
Piper when I first came into the Doctrines of Grace, but as
I studied scripture, I find that he is way off base on a lot of
things, and I've quit listening or reading his stuff and everything
like that. One of the persons that came
up on that is John Piper, so I thought, well, I'm gonna read
to see what John Piper says about this thing. And he, just like
everybody else that I ran in this list, unless it was a Pentecostal
influence, all said the same thing, that there are two baptisms
of the Holy Spirit. There is the baptism of the Holy
Spirit that happened at Pentecost, and then there's this ongoing
baptism of the Holy Spirit where the Holy Spirit baptizes the
person into Christ Jesus, and it talks about our conversion
and or our quickening. And so I want to address that
because that seems to be the mindset, that at least was my
mindset way back when. But for years now, I have, upon
studying the scriptures, I found that I cannot find that if I
take the scriptures for what the scriptures say. I only find
that whenever I go to commentators and theologians and creeds and
confessions, I find it there. But whenever I just take the
Bible for what the Bible says, and like we've done over these
last few weeks, look at Mark, or Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
That's where it first was talked about. John the Baptist was the
first one to preach about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and
it was something that was gonna happen in the future. It was
something that he was saying is about to take place, and there's
going to be a particular person who's going to do it, and that's
Jesus. The Old Testament, if it's talking
about quickening, then the Old Testament saints have all been
quickened. But yet, he's saying this is something that's about
to take place, as if it hadn't happened yet. And so it was something
that wasn't going on right there, and John had all these converts.
All these people who had come and believed and were baptized,
every one of those, but he wasn't equating the Holy Spirit baptism
with what was going on there. He was saying it's gonna happen
soon. And there's one who is coming
who is going to do that. His name is Jesus. And so we
see that there is this Holy Spirit baptism that happens at Pentecost
and that that had a pattern. Just like John's water baptism,
as I said, in the past deals. John the Baptist and his water
baptism is equated with the Holy Spirit baptism in this, in that
it had a pattern. It has an administrator, it has
a person who is being baptized, and it has what that person is
baptized in. You have the administrator, who
is the local church, you have the, or in that case, John the
Baptist, and then you had the person, the one who believed
and repented, and then you had water. They were baptized in
water. Okay, so water was what they were immersed in by the
person who immersed them, who was John the Baptist. In our
case, in water baptism, it is the church who baptizes those
who are made disciples and believe on Jesus Christ, and then they
are water baptized, and then they are added to the church.
we see that that pattern is the same in the Holy Spirit baptism.
There is the one who does the baptizing, the one who is being
baptized, and with what they are being baptized, and that
is the Holy Spirit, okay? So if it doesn't meet that criteria,
then we can't say that that's the Holy Spirit baptism that's
being talked about, okay? If the Holy Spirit baptism in
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts are all saying the same
thing, Jesus is baptizing in the Holy Spirit, and it's the
local church that's being baptized, then if we find baptism of something
in the later epistles, those later epistles is not gonna contradict
what was written in the Gospels, okay? So let's look in 1 Corinthians
chapter 12, because this is one of the verses where a lot of
people go to that talks about this. And here's the reason why
I think people miss this, okay? The whole reason for this whole
study The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a minor subject underneath
the subject of the ordinance of the church, which was water
baptism, okay? But that is a subcategory under
our overall teaching, which is the New Testament church. What
does the word ecclesia mean? And see, this is why some people
get so off base on this, is because their understanding of ekklesia
is not a biblical one, it's a theological one. If you take the biblical
teaching of what ekklesia means, it is a local, gathered, visible
assembly that's all that's together. It's a congregation of people.
The Bibles before the King James, they used the term congregation,
and as a matter of fact, in 1 Corinthians 12, or excuse me, in 1 Corinthians,
and in other places where the term church is used, In the context
where people are talking about this universal body, the word
is congregation. And it's really surprising. If
you go back to the Tyndale Bible, and you look at the Tyndale Bible
and read it, it uses the word congregation. Go to all those
scriptures that you think has visible or invisible universal
body of elect, and read that and see that says congregation.
It is translated congregation. That's what the word means. That's
what Jesus's understanding of it was. When he give us that
word, he could have used other words as we learn. He could have
used other Greek words that means assembly or people or a gathering
or a group, but he used a specific Greek word, which was a governing
body of people who was called out of the membership of the
whole. So see, just like that, as we
talked about, the church is an elect within the elect. There
is the elect of God who's been called out of the world, and
then those elect are called together into churches. And there are
a lot of people that haven't done that, that don't do that.
And some that can't do that. We understand that. And we encourage
them to do what they can to get to one of those churches and
be a part of those, not just any church, but a New Testament
church. But this misunderstanding of
what church is has thrown everybody's misunderstanding off when it
comes to these passages. And I believe that's why they
interpret it the way they do because they believe that the
word church is equated to the elect of every time, all people,
everywhere, that's the elect of God. And so then they equate
that because the Bible equates the church with the body. And
so now the body is all the elect everywhere. Now, I don't mean
to be facetious about this or over sarcastic, but the term
body, if you take the term body to mean all the people everywhere,
that don't even make sense. A body is always a localized,
gathered thing, right? If we went out into a war where
bombs and mortars and guns and all things have been going off,
and you see this field of blood where all these bodies are laying,
but yet you see nothing but arms and legs, would you say, man,
there's a body? No, you'd say, hey, there's an
arm, there's a leg, there's a foot. A body is a localized unit. And the very thing to think that
a body is spread out everywhere, not only goes against the fact
that a body is one unit localized, but it goes against the meaning
of what church is. A called out and gathered assembly. So the misunderstanding, that's
why we've been teaching on the church. That's why we started
with the biblical definition of ecclesia. and we started there
to teach what does the church mean. And now, once we know what
the church is, it's a local, visible, gathered assembly that
God puts together and that forms one body in each locality wherever
they gather. And that body is the functioning
organism that Christ has ordained to be the place of His presence,
the place of His service, and the administration of the ordinances
and the propagating of the gospel. Now, let's look at the passage
here in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and I think you're gonna
see the context bears this out as well as the foundation that
we learned in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts. 1 Corinthians
chapter 12, look at verse 13. It 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. For the body is not one member,
but many. And so the universalist, I say
universalist, the universal churchist, the universal invisible churches,
we'll say, see there, that's talking about that we all are
baptized into one body, that's Christ's body, we're all baptized
into Christ's body, okay? As if Christ has this body, he's
a head, a physical head, and then we make up the physical
body. But brethren, don't forget, this
is a metaphor. This is a metaphor. The word
body is a metaphor. It's not a literal thing. We
are not a literal body, okay? It's a metaphor. Matter of fact,
if you remember, I think it was back in chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians,
or excuse me, not 10, chapter 11, Paul gives the account of
the Lord's Supper. And Jesus says, take, eat, this
is my What was he doing whenever he instituted the Lord's Supper?
He took some unleavened bread and he broke it and he said,
here, take and eat this, this is my body. Now, was that bread
his literal body? No, it was bread, wasn't it? Are we his literal body? No,
we're an organization or a group of people that have come together
that has formed a unity that is to work together as one body
works together. Just as I'm standing here today
and I have eyes that are seeing, ears that are hearing, mouth
that is talking, nose that is breathing, I've got hands that
sometimes work independent of my mind, but it's still there,
okay? My body is sitting here working
together that I might live. Different members. Matter of fact, if you go on
in 1 Corinthians 12, you'll find Paul uses that metaphor as a
body But if you look, the whole tenor of Corinthians is a letter
written by Paul to a church who was scattered, a church who was
not unified, a church who was not acting as one body, a church
that was disorganized, that had sin in the church. They were
not following the doctrine of Christ and his ordinances. They
were not following those things. And so Paul wrote this letter
to instruct and to correct and to condemn this church for what
it was doing. And one of the things that this
church was doing was it was acting independently of each other.
Now, think of the Universal Invisible Church. We have Brother JC and
the church down at Coweta. We have all these other churches
around. They are functioning independent of us. They're doing
their own thing today. And what they are doing, really
doesn't have any consequence of what we're doing here today.
That's not our body. That's somebody working independently
down there. We're working independently up
here. We're doing our thing here. The edification that we have
is coming from here. Is there not mutual edification
between two churches? Yes, that can definitely take
place. Just like in a body, there can
be mutual edification or helping whenever a doctor comes over
and gives you a shot that helps you feel better. That doctor's
not part of your body, but he does something to your body that
makes you feel better, or helps you, or makes you get stronger,
okay? See, there can be outside influences,
but the body is designed, just like our body is designed, with
blood cells that work to strengthen itself. Whenever we get sick,
we have these antibodies that come in and brrr, They work inside
our body, and it takes care of us, and it makes us get better,
okay? We are built up by our own bodies. That's Paul is using this illustration. He's using a metaphor. Now, back
to the Lord's Supper again. When Jesus said, take, eat, this
is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of
me, and he handed him that piece of bread, Is that bread representing
all bread everywhere? So now, every time we see any
piece of bread, we say, oh, hey, that's the body of Christ. Ooh,
hey, that's the body of Christ. Is he saying that this bread
represents all bread everywhere? No. He's saying this bread represents
who I am. He was using the bread as a metaphor
for himself. Now, in 1 Corinthians 12, he's
using the church as a metaphor, or excuse me, the body for a
metaphor for the church. The church is a body. That body
is a one unit made up of many members, but all working in unity
for one purpose, for one goal, under one directive. Christ is
our head, meaning not head like this, He's the head of the body,
severed from the neck down. He is the head in that he is
the chief. He is the leader. He is the overseer. He is the owner. He is above
all. He is overall. He has authority
over the church. Now, if you don't believe me,
go back to the Great Commission. What did Jesus say whenever that
church was gathered there and he was giving them the commission?
He said, all authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Jesus said in Matthew, I will
build my church. It's his church. We belong to
him. This church belongs to him. And he is the head of it, meaning
he is the overseer. He is the one directing it. He
is the one that is governing it. He is the one that is in
charge of it. That's what the word head is.
I'm the head of the household. Does that mean that I'm this,
and then you guys are the hands and feet and arms and legs? Okay,
no. What does being the head of the
household mean? The one who is the authority
and in charge. The one who is supposed to govern
and rule, okay? That's what it means to be the
head. Jesus is the head of the church who is the body. See, we function as the body
of Christ. One body, fitly joined together. And so Paul is using a metaphor
just like Jesus used the metaphor whenever he held up that bread
and said, is my body. That bread was no more His flesh,
no matter what the Catholics say. That bread is not His flesh. It is a symbol. What was that
a symbol of? We're gonna learn that in our
next section, which will be the Lord's Supper. But that bread
represented what? His broken body. It represented
in the unleavenedness of it. It represented His perfectness. His immutability, the fact that
he was sinless, okay? There was no leaven in him. And
we see that that body represented him broken for us, okay? It was a metaphor. And it didn't
mean that every bread everywhere now is his broken body. Just like here, Paul doesn't
intend that the word body mean everybody everywhere. He is speaking
to the church at Corinth. And he said, you church, you
gathered assembly, you congregation at Corinth, you should be acting
as if you are one body. You should be acting as if you're
one body. Look at verse 13 again. For by
one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be
Jews or Gentiles, whether we be free, and have been all made
to drink into one, spirit now let's break this down a little
bit four by one spirit are we all baptized into one body now
first let's just totally smash the idea that this is Holy Spirit
baptism that was talked about in Matthew Mark Luke and John
Acts okay whatever this is is not that this is not Holy Spirit
baptism that is promised in Matthew Mark, Luke, John, and Acts. How do we know that? It says,
for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body. Who is the baptizer in Holy Spirit
baptism? Jesus, not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn't baptize
anybody. The Holy Spirit does not baptize
anybody. According to the pattern, The
gospel pattern, it is Jesus who is the baptizer and he baptizes
with the Holy Spirit, just like John was the baptizer and he
baptized with water. Jesus baptizes with the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn't baptize
anybody. The pattern is Jesus baptizes
in the Holy Spirit. not backwards as this puts it,
the Holy Spirit baptizing into Christ. See, baptizing into Christ,
if you want to take that to mean Holy Spirit baptism, doesn't
fit what we are taught in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts. For
by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. So what does baptism by one spirit mean? Well, there are some people that
think that the word spirit here, and look at it, the word spirit
there, it's capitalized. What does that usually refer
to? The Holy Spirit, right? For by one spirit are we all
baptized into one body. Now, there are some who claim
that that word spirit there shouldn't be interpreted Spirit with a
big S, but a little s, meaning that the human spirit, that we
are to be brought by our human spirit. We make the decision,
we make the choice, blah, blah, blah. But there's no need to
change that there. I think the translators got it
right whenever they put spirit as in capital, a Holy Spirit. It is by one Spirit, Holy Spirit,
that we are baptized into one body. So the word spirit here
is the Holy Spirit. Now, for those who may say it's
not the Holy Spirit, let me give you the reasons why I think so.
Number one is the whole context of chapter 12 would dictate that
it's talking about the Spirit. Why would Paul jump from talking
about the Holy Spirit to jumping into talking about by the human
spirit one is being baptized? Look with me, if you would, starting
back at verse one, Let's look at the context. He says, now
concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles
carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. Wherefore, I give you to understand
that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus a curse. and that no man can say that
Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities
of gifts, but the same Spirit. Okay, so, so far we've seen three
places here that is talking about the Holy Spirit. And there are
differences of administration, but the same Lord. There are
diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh
all in all, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every
man to profit with all." Talk about the Holy Spirit. The manifestation
or the outpouring or the outworking of the Holy Spirit is given to
every man for the profit of everyone else. Verse 8, 421 is given,
here it is, by the Spirit, the word of wisdom, To another, the
word of knowledge by the same spirit. To another, faith by
the same spirit. To another, the gifts of healing
by the same spirit. To another, the workings of miracles.
To another, prophecy. To another, discerning of spirits.
To another, diverse kinds of tongues. To another, the interpretation
of tongues. But all these worketh that one
and the self, same spirit. dividing to every man severally
as He, the Spirit, wills. Then we see for as the body,
for as. You see that word for as? That's
what tells us this is a metaphor. Jesus is using a metaphor here.
Paul is using a metaphor here under the leadership of the Holy
Spirit causing him to write this. He is using a metaphor, for as
the body is one. So he's using that as an example
to say just like this, this, okay? So what's he comparing? There's a comparison here. For as the body is one and have
many members, and all the members of that one body being many are
one body, so also is Christ. are those who are of Christ.
Okay, if you're of Christ, if you are in Christ Jesus, united
to Christ Jesus, then you're gonna be the same way. Just as
the body is one but has many members, so is those who are
in Christ Jesus. For by one spirit are we all
baptized into one body. Now here again, people keep saying,
there you go, preacher. You can't be talking about a
church because there are a lot of churches. So it can't be talking
about the body. No, there are many churches everywhere. And every one of those churches
make up the body as a metaphor. Remember, it's a metaphor for
as the body is one. He's using that as an example,
just like as the bread, take eat. This is my body. And so we're seeing here that
he is using the metaphor to teach a spiritual reality. The metaphor
of a human body he is using for a spiritual reality of the congregation
and how the congregation is being, by the Holy Spirit, worked to
function as one in unity. Unity in purpose, unity in direction,
unity in gospel and doctrine, unity in the ordinances, unity
in love, unity in everything that we do. Write down all the
stuff that the church is doing and it's supposed to do. There
it is. We're to do it in unity, in all things unity. For by one spirit are we all
baptized into one body. Don't take the metaphor and say,
there you go, I'm gonna apply that to everything. Then that
means that everybody that's elect is the body because, you know,
there's only one body. Oh, you mean to tell me that
you're saying that there are some people that are not in the
body of Christ? Absolutely there are. There's
somebody that's not in the body of Christ. If there's anybody
watching this today that is not in a member of a local New Testament
church, you're not in a body. You are outside a body. You're
not in a body, you're not gathered, you're not jointly fit together
with anybody. Okay, so you can't say that you're
in a body. See, a body speaks of locality,
a body speaks of unity, a body speaks of one instrument, one
vessel, one organism. And that's what Paul is trying
to get through in this metaphor. Not that there's one body of
everybody everywhere, but there is a symbol in that body, and
that is unity in all things. We are to be working together,
loving together, be burdened together, everything, okay? That's the whole context of the
Corinthian letter. And so four by one spirit is
talking about the Holy Spirit. Why would it be anything different
since those first 12 verses all speak of the Holy Spirit. Why
would this not speak of the Holy Spirit? So what does it mean
by one spirit are we all baptized into one body? What's it talking
about then? Well, let's go back to the Great Commission. Jesus
said those who are made disciples are then to be what? What happens
after you're made a disciple? Anybody? They're preaching on for a long
time. What does the Great Commission
tell us to do? Go ye therefore to each all nations, baptizing them. On the day of Pentecost, after
Peter preached that gospel message and God had pricked the hearts
of those that was there, 3,000 to be exact, they said, what
must we do? And Peter said, repent, and what? be baptized. Why did he say that? Because that's what Jesus told
them they were to do as the church, is to make disciples and then
baptize them in water. And so that's what Peter, taking
that instruction from Jesus, said, okay, these men have been
converted and are believing, and so what are we to do if they've
repented of false understanding, false doctrine, false gospel,
false religion, false whatever, and turn to Christ as their only
salvation and believe on Him, what are we to do? We're to water-baptize
them. And so what did they do? They
water-baptized them. But then what does it say in
the Pentecostal address? It said, and those that gladly
received His Word were baptized and there were added, added that
day, 3,000 souls to the church. So the church was already in
existence. We know that there was 120, right? But there was 3,000 added to
that. How were they added to the church? By believing and being baptized,
they were added. Does that have anything, any
bearing in the commission? Absolutely, Jesus said to make
disciples, baptizing them, in the name of the Father, Son,
and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the age. So there is conversion, making
disciples, and by the way, for anyone listening, I don't mean
that we can make anybody a Christian by our preaching or teaching.
The Holy Spirit does that. But whenever the Holy Spirit
quickens somebody, The gospel can be heard and understood.
That's what was happening here. These men were perked in their
heart. Why? Because there was life given to them spiritually
to understand what Peter was saying. And so Peter, after he
preached and we see there was disciples that was made, he baptized
them and they added them to the church. Why? Because as Acts
says, they continued steadfast daily in the apostle's doctrine
and in breaking of bread. They continued in the doctrine
of the church. the doctrine of the apostles,
which is the same as the doctrine of Jesus Christ. They continued
in all things whatsoever Christ. They went from being unbelievers
to being believers. And whenever they were recognized
as believers, they were commanded to be baptized in water. And
then once they had been baptized into water, they weren't shooed
away to go wherever they want to go. No, they were instructed
to be come back and be added to the church and to be indoctrinated
by those who had already been indoctrinated. Those who had
already been taught the things of Christ. And so see there was
this reciprocity in the commission that Jesus give that first church
and now every church does it just like the first church does.
That's why we're called a body. We're functioning as one unit
to do that commission. That's why we don't need mission
boards. That's why we don't need other
organizations outside of this because Christ has ordained the
church, the congregation, the gathered people of God when they
come together to function as a body to carry out his work.
Why? Because number one, his presence
is with us. He promised it. Number two, because
he has empowered us to do that with the gifts that he has given
by the Holy Spirit. He has promised to do that. And
if we forget that, they'd go back to the beginning, just like
Peter did. Peter kept going back to the beginning. What happened
in the beginning? Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit
upon the institution of the New Testament church. Why? Why did
he tell him that? Let me read it to you. Why was
he sending the Spirit upon the local congregation? So that you
shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon
you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, that's
here in all, and in Judea, the surrounding areas, in Samaria,
those places outside and where our enemies are, and unto the
uttermost parts of the earth, places that we don't even have
a clue about. The church in its institution, the kind of church
that Jesus built, began with his doctrine, with his ordinance.
The gospel being at the center of both of those. Jesus has caused
a congregation of people, wherever they come together, to become
the vehicle of that witness. In Revelation, we're called a
lampstand. We're called a lampstand. We are a lampstand, why? Because
there's a candle, there's a light that's put on top of that, and
it radiates light to everyone that's within its vicinity. These are metaphors, brethren,
and not to be taken past the metaphor and what the metaphor
was intended. The metaphor was intended here
in 1 Corinthians 12 to bring to mind and to solidify in their
thinking that we are to be functioning as one, not individuals. And
so often we see churches that are just scattered, individuals
doing individuals instead of the church collectively doing
everything. Governing itself, praying together,
fellowshipping together, weeping with those who weep, rejoicing
with those who rejoice. We don't see that hardly anymore.
We see too much disorganization instead of an organization. four
by one spirit. You say, well, wait a minute,
that says four by one spirit, we are all baptized. And that's
not meaning, what is it talking about, preacher? If the spirit
doesn't baptize you, then who's doing the baptizing into the
body there? Well, it's the water baptism. This is talking about water baptism.
1 Corinthians 12, 13 is talking about water baptism. How does
the Holy Spirit, how are we baptized, water baptized by one Spirit?
Well, just like by one Spirit, go back in chapter 12 there, verse three, no man speaking
by the Spirit of God called Jesus a curse. How do we say that Jesus
is not a curse? By the Spirit of God. How can we say that Jesus is
Lord? by the Holy Ghost. But what does that mean? That
means that the Holy Spirit is the one who is leading, directing,
and empowering us to do that. It's the Holy Spirit who, whenever
we become believers, and then instructed by God's word to be
baptized, that Holy Spirit is leading us to follow the command
of Christ to be water baptized. Let me show you, turn with me
if you would to Luke chapter two. This by the saints or by
the spirit. Let me show you another place
where that phrase is used. And let me ask you, does this
mean the Holy Spirit did this? See, some people say, well, the
Holy Spirit is the one that's baptizing you into this body.
but the term by the Spirit can mean being led, being directed,
being urged, being prompted, being controlled to do this. Look at Luke chapter two, and
look with me if you would. I wanna start in verse 22, read
down. It says, and when the days of
her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished,
they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As
it is written in the law of the Lord, every male that opened
up the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice
according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a pair
of turtledoves or two young pigeons. And behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, And the same man was just and
devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost
was upon him. The Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him
by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ. Okay, so here we see Simeon,
is a man who is devout, who the Holy Ghost was upon him, and
had revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ. And here it is, verse 27. And
he came by the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents
brought him the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of
the law, then took him, took he him up in his arms and blessed
God and said, Lord, now let us thou servant depart in peace
according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
which thou has prepared before the face of all people, a light
to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel. And
Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken
of him. Now look at verse 27. Simeon
came into the temple By the Spirit, does that mean that the Holy
Spirit baptized him into the temple? No, but by that Spirit,
Simeon was led or urged or prompted or controlled to go into the
temple. For by the Spirit, He came by
the Spirit. The Spirit led him. He was led
by the Spirit to go into the temple. Now, that's what it's talking about
in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. By one Spirit, Holy Spirit, are we all led to be baptized
into one body. That's why we as Baptists, if
someone is scripturally baptized, if they've been immersed in a
church that has the doctrine and ordinances of Jesus Christ,
we recognize that one baptism as a valid baptism. And there's
no need for baptism again. And there are a lot of churches
that put restrictions on baptisms up to your nose. But if they
come from a church that is a New Testament church, then there
was authority to baptize. We don't have anything to say
about that. And if they were immersed under that doctrine,
acknowledging that faith once delivered to the saints, acknowledging
the fact that their hope is in Christ and his death, burial
and resurrection and their unity in that, then that baptism to
us is valid and there's no need to baptize. Why? Because the
Spirit will lead us to be baptized, and that baptism is a one baptism. There's only one kind of baptism,
and that's water baptism. There's only one baptism that
is gonna be until Christ comes back again, and that's water
baptism, not Holy Spirit baptism. The one baptism that the Bible
talks about that is a perpetual baptism is water baptism, not
Holy Spirit baptism. that's been commanded in scripture
and that's water baptism. This baptism right here doesn't
meet the criteria of Holy Spirit baptism because Holy Spirit baptism
is by Jesus Christ on the local church in or with the Holy Spirit. This is just backwards. This
is the Holy Spirit baptizing somebody into the church or into
Christ. It don't meet the criteria of
Holy Spirit baptism. And so we should take that understanding
and say, hey, I was wrong. Take that understanding and say,
oh, guess what? Half of theologians are wrong
about that. I wanna read you something. Again,
this doesn't make it true. The Bible is what makes it true.
But I wanted to read you the comment by John Calvin who is
a Protestant, and it is because of the Protestants that we have
this understanding of a universal invisible church. And the Protestants
is the reason why we have this understanding of a Holy Spirit
baptism other than the one Holy Spirit baptism of Pentecost.
But here's what John Calvin said on this verse, his comment. This is from Calvin's commentaries. Speaking of 1 Corinthians 12,
verse 13, what he thinks it means. He says, here there is a proof
brought forward from the effect of baptism. We are, says he,
engrafted by baptism into Christ's body so that we
are by a mutual link bound together as members and live one and the
same life. Hence, everyone that would remain
in the church of Christ must necessarily cultivate this relationship. Okay, so see, John Calvin here
even says that what this is talking about is that we are baptized
into the church. It's speaking of the church.
Now, whether or not, His interpretation of the church being a universal
body or not is immaterial. The fact of the matter is he
recognizes that body that's being talked about here is talking
about the church. And if the church is being talked
about, the Bible only speaks of one kind of church. And that
is a local visible congregation of people who believe the doctrines
of Jesus Christ and have been water baptized and are being
indoctrinated as a congregation of people together. The 39 articles says this of this passage of
scripture. It says, they that receive baptism
rightly are grafted into the church. The Westminster Confession
of Faith says this on 1 Corinthians 12, 13. It says, baptism is a sacrament,
and I don't believe it's a sacrament, but this is what they say. Baptism
is a sacrament of the New Testament ordained by Jesus Christ. Okay,
so they're saying here that water baptism is ordained by Jesus
Christ. So for those who are listening
that believes that water baptism is no longer needed, then here
we have the Westminster Confession of Faith. These guys at least
recognize that water baptism was commanded by Jesus. They
say, baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament ordained by
Jesus Christ for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the
visible church. They actually use the word visible
church, which would mean the congregation of people. Even
though they believe in this universal invisible body, they believe
that there's an actual visible body. And they believe that water
baptism is the thing that is to be followed by the command
of Christ for admission into the church. So anybody who has
not been scripturally baptized should not be admitted into the
church. And those who are in the church
that have not been admitted, they need to be baptized if they're
to be right and according to scripture, right? But either
way, both John Calvin and the Westminster Confession of Faith,
all Protestants, by the way, Say the same thing. Baptism,
ordained by Jesus Christ, which is water baptism, is what gives
you entrance into, or admission into, the local church, into
one body. Al Mohler said this, the common
experience of believer's baptism is central to the unity and identity
of the church. In 1 Corinthians 12, 13, Paul
reminds us For by one spirit, we were all baptized into one
body, whether Jews, Greeks, whether slaves, free, and we're all made
to drink of one spirit. Thus, baptism is presented as
a necessary act of obedience to Christ that marks the believer's
incorporation into the church as the body of Christ. So here
we see again, Another, and I would consider, even though Al Mohler
is a Southern Baptist, the word Baptist really don't mean anything
because there could be people that are Baptists that don't
believe in true Baptist doctrine. But Al Mohler, who would be considered
a Protestant because he believes in the Baptist coming from the
Reformation. But anyway, here Al Mohler even
says that he identifies or understands that Baptism is the entrance
into the church. And that's water baptism, not
Holy Spirit baptism. And I could go on, there's lists
of people that have quotes this same way, but I figured those
three would be sufficient for you to see that even though that
this isn't some novel idea by some weirdo preacher in a tiny
little church in Southwest Missouri who is believing some absurd
thing, okay? There are prominent people that
believe that. That doesn't make it true. What makes it true is
the context of Scripture and what we've just seen. The Scripture
led these people to be baptized into one body. They weren't baptized into many
bodies. They were baptized into one body, okay? And whenever someone transfers
into this church from that church where they were baptized, we
recognize that baptism and we don't have to baptize them again
because we recognize that church had the authority to baptize
them under a credible profession of faith, under the doctrine
and ordinances of Jesus Christ, and that was a credible baptism. And so if God, by his providence,
leads that person from that church to this church, then that baptism,
in effect, is a baptism into this body. Why? Because they've already professed
that. There are some people that want to be baptized again. They
have a conviction that they need to be baptized at each church
that they move to, okay? I would probably visit with somebody
about that, and if their conviction and their conscience bears on
them that they need to be baptized, then we'll baptize them. But we understand that this is
talking about Not Holy Spirit baptism, but it's talking about
water baptism. By one spirit, and let me just
plead with everybody watching and listening. Listen to Scripture. What is Scripture saying? There
is consistency. There's consistency in Matthew,
Mark, Luke, John, Acts. There's consistency in the commission.
The commission says that there's only one baptism that's to be
performed by the church, And that is by the church. And that's
water baptism. And that Jesus has promised that
that is going to continue until he comes again. He has promised
that the church is the pillar and the ground of truth. So that's where we are to be
indoctrinated. That's where we are to come for worship. He says
that they are the pillar and the ground of truth and that
they are the house of God. God has placed his dwelling here.
in the local church and that the spirit baptized it as an
institution there. And in every generation has the
same working of the spirit to dwell within, to dwell with us
and to empower us for everything that God has called for us to
do in service to him in a promulgation, a proclamation, the promulgation
of the gospel. Everything that we need is in
him. He has given us everything. Why?
Because he's the head of the church. He is the one who is
in control of us. And he has sent his spirit to
empower us and to enable us and to lead us and to guide us. That's why this church here,
in everything that we do, we seek for unity before we do anything.
We don't take votes. And if there's contradictory
and vote contradicting votes, And if the church is split on
what decision needs to be made, we just don't do anything. We
don't make a choice on that. We just continue to pray and
minister with one another and find out why there is disunity
in our understanding of things. And we go to the word of God
to work those things out. And if we can't ever come to
an agreement on that, then we realize that God doesn't want
us to do that because he wants us to do everything in unity.
He wants us to do everything in unity and not in schism. And how are we brought to that?
By one Spirit. The Spirit enables us to do that,
just like the Spirit leads us to be baptized. Now, I'm gonna
talk about Romans 6, Galatians 3, Colossians 2. I'm gonna continue
that, Lord willing, next week. So we'll keep looking at this
topic next week. But we see here in 1 Corinthians
that by one Spirit, It's talking about the influence of the Spirit,
that the body here is talking about a local congregation. And I just would mention, because
there are some, and I've seen this argument by many, that it's talking about a universal
church, because look at verse 13, if you would. It says, for
by one Spirit, and Paul uses the word we, all, Are we all
baptized into one body? And Paul uses that word, we,
and so he's talking about, so see there, this is a universal
baptism because Paul was not a member of the Corinthian church,
but he said he included himself in this one baptism by one spirit. Well, I was baptized here, right? Anybody that Brother JC baptizes
and admits into their church down in Coweta, if I'm talking
with them and we're talking about baptism in general, okay, I would
easily say, hey, listen, we were all baptized by one spirit into
one body. Now, does that mean that I was
baptized in their church into their body? No. I'm just meaning
that the fact that baptism took place. I was baptized into the
church. You were baptized into the church.
You were baptized into the church. We were all by one. And how did
we all come to that baptism? Into the church? By that one
spirit. The same spirit that led you
to have the gift of this and you to have the gift of this.
See, look at the context. There are many members with diversities
of gifts but one spirit leading them all to do those gifts. Well,
here Paul is saying, there is many members, we, but one spirit
has led us to be baptized into one body. Why? Because that's
where our devotion is. That's where our allegiance is.
That's where our time is spent. That's where our gift is to be
exercised. That doesn't mean that it can't
be seen and exercised outside of this congregation. But here's
where God has united you to, so that you might be encouraging,
that you might be edifying to others, that you might be serving
Him in a local capacity. So you got to remember, back in
the days when this was written, they didn't have internet, they
didn't have Facebook, they didn't have sermon audio, they didn't
have TVs, okay? They didn't have all these things.
So we can't take the mentality of 21st century and place it
upon what was written back here. What was Paul talking about?
He wasn't talking about preaching over the internet. He wasn't
talking about preaching through Facebook, having internet chat
groups, okay? He wasn't talking about that.
Matter of fact, these people rarely even got outside of their
city. So he wasn't really even talking
about churches going to other churches and fellowshipping.
He was talking about one body. In Corinth, being a body of Christ,
there. Ephesus, you're a body of Christ. Matter of fact, look at verse
27. Now, let me ask you a question here, okay? And for everyone
watching. If the word we in verse 13, look
at it. For by one spirit are we all
baptized. If the we there is including Paul into the Corinthian
church, Does the ye in verse 27 mean
that he's not in the church? Now look at verse 27, or not
in the body. Verse 27, now ye are the body
of Christ and members in particular. Now he's talking about ye. Remember,
that's a plural. It's a group of people. It's
a singular plural, or a plural singular, however you wanna say
it. meaning that it's a collective of people, but it's speaking
of a specific collective group of people, ye. If I would say
ye, I'm talking about Lori, Avonlea, Kaylin, Zach, Waylon, Caveman,
wherever he ran off to, okay? I'm talking about those who are
gathered here right now. If I say y'all want to go down
to the Pizza Hut and eat, I'm not talking
about everybody out there, I'm talking about who? The ones that
I'm addressing. The ones that this is talking
about. Now, if you take the word body and mean that that's everyone
everywhere and that we're baptized by the Spirit, the Spirit baptizes
us into this universal body because Paul said we, he's saying He
can't be talking about the Corinthian church just by itself because
he's included himself, who wasn't a member of the Corinthian church,
he was a member of the church at Antioch. Well then, in verse 27, does
that mean that Paul is not in the universal body? Because now
he says, ye are the member of Christ and members in particular. Now what's Paul saying here?
He specifies, he's reminding them, You Corinthians, you're
the body of Christ. Remember what the metaphor means.
The metaphor means a unity. The metaphor means that you have
become one in service and purpose to God in that community. And
he's saying ye are the body of Christ and members in particular.
But he didn't include himself in that. Why? Because he's directing
this to the Corinthians. In verse 13, he was talking to
them about the Spirit leading and directing everybody together
for certain things, and one of the things he used as an example
is water baptism. Hey, just like everyone has a
diversity of gifts, but the same Spirit gives you the gift to
do that, just like the Spirit tells us not to say that Jesus
is a curse, The same spirit has told us all that we need to be
water baptized. And then he goes back to saying,
now listen, you guys are the body of Christ here in Corinth.
Live like the body of Christ. Matter of fact, look what he
says right in verse 20. After speaking about the body
of Christ and members in particular, and God has said some in the
church. First apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after
that miracle was done, the gifts of healing, helps governments,
diversities of tongues. Now remember, when the time this
was written was still during that apostolic age, and these
miraculous gifts that was given was still intact to validate
Christ in the church, not only to the Jews, because Jerusalem
had not been destroyed yet, judgment had not come upon them, but also
to the Gentiles. He says, are all apostles, are
all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers of miracles?
Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do
all interpret? But covet earnestly the best
gifts and yet show I unto you a more excellent way. And then
he goes into 13, talking about love and charity. And all that
is to be done for the edification of the whole group. Of course,
then he goes on and talks about all the other stuff there. And
it's all about unity. within the local church. It follows after chapters that
have said this very thing. The chapter about the Lord's
Supper and how they weren't doing the Lord's Supper right. The
chapter of submission of a wife to her husband. As a picture
and a metaphor of the church to Christ. They were to be in
submission to Christ and again a metaphor. He talked about being
one lump He talked about being one bread together in chapter
10. He talked about discipline within
the church. He talked about marriage, all
these things, talking about the unity within the church. And so when Paul uses the word
we, it doesn't mean that he's including himself in some universal
baptism of the spirit into Christ or into a universal body. but
he was saying that by one spirit, all those who have been born
of God are led to be water baptized. That's why we're so adamant about
baptism. That's why we preach baptism.
Is it the gospel? No, it's the gospel in symbol
form. It's the gospel in the ordinance.
We preach the gospel through our baptism, and that is important. But we also have baptism and
preach baptism because it's commanded in Jesus Christ. If you're to
be obedient to Jesus Christ, you're to be baptized. If you're
to be in the local church, you have to be baptized first. You
can't be baptized and be in the church. And we just can't be flipping
about it. Say, well, it doesn't matter. It does matter. Why? Because one spirit Just
like how one spirit's gonna lead you to not say Jesus is a curse,
that same spirit's gonna lead you to be water baptized and
join a local church. All right, we'll stop right there
and we'll pick up with the other verses, Lord willing, next week. Anybody got any questions, comments? All right, it's been a matter
of prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning
for your mercy and grace once again. We thank you for the opportunity
that we have together here today. We thank you for the times that we had to fellowship
and the Word of God together around. And Father Lord, we pray
this morning for our members that are not here, especially
for Sister Louetta and the healing after her surgery. Father, we
pray that you'd be with her in that. Be with the caregivers
there, Lord, as they're in lockdown and no one can come visit. Father,
Lord, that just really breaks our heart that we're not able
to go and see how she's doing in person. But we're thankful,
Lord, that you've given us the ability to keep in contact with
her. And so, Lord, we just pray that,
if it be your will, that you might give her strength and Be
with all those that's there helping her. Lord, we pray for Brother
Ed, wherever he's at today, Lord, that you might be with him. Lord,
we pray for our nation, for this world. All this that's going
on with the coronavirus, Father, we know that you're sovereign,
and nothing in this is going out of control, that every person
that has contracted this virus has got it. Everyone who has
died from this virus has died by your sovereign will. Not one
person has been given it or died from it that hasn't been outside
of your purpose. And I know we don't know your
purpose. We don't know why these things happen, but we do know
some. You teach us in scripture that pestilence is given for
judgment. And our nation definitely needs
judgment. We've forsaken you, we've turned
from you. We do not recognize you. like
we ought to, Father. And we ask, Lord, that you would
continue to heal our country, that you would bring more leaders
from your people to help govern our nation, Lord. Not because
we look to the government for our sustenance, but how nice
it would be to live in a place where we are governed by those
who believe like we do. So Father, we lift up our leaders,
the ones that you've put in place. We know that you've done that.
We know that they rule by your will, by your purpose. So Father,
we pray for them that you would guide them, direct them to make
the decisions that they should make that's gonna be good for
the country and for you to be a part of what you have designed
for all of us. Father Lord, I pray for our church
that you might continue to bless it, I pray, Lord, that you'd
be with those in this town, if there's any here, Lord, in the
town, without a church that believes these truths. Lord, some of your
sheep that have yet to find where we're at, to know about us, Lord,
that you might bring us into contact, that you might lead
them here. Father, Lord, again, we thank you. Thank you for all
those ministers today. Across this world, churches all
over the place, preaching and ministering the Word of God,
or by home, sharing with their congregation through Facebook
because they are not allowed to get out from any other avenue,
Lord. We pray that your Word would
be heard today and that it would be loved and understood and that
it might edify your people. And again, Father, we're grateful
for the Lord Jesus Christ. We're thankful for salvation.
We're thankful that we are saved not because of any good thing
that we have to accomplish or any decision that we have to
make or any righteousness that we have to keep on our own, that
we are saved by the grace of God because of the work of Christ
alone. And so Father Lord, we just continue
to lift our hearts and our praises up to you for that very thing.
It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.