Thou dost hear our cry. Thou dost know our heart’s desire. Lord, grant Thyself to us. May this day be a day that Thy name is exalted in the midst of Thy people. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Will you please turn to the Gospel according to John? John 1. We will read from John 1:24-28.
And they had been sent from the Pharisees.
And they asked him, and said unto him, Why then baptizest thou, if thou art not the Christ, neither Elijah, neither the prophet?
John answered them, saying, I baptize in water: but in the midst of you standeth One whom ye know not,
Even He that cometh after me, the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose.
These things were done in Bethany beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
The first question that the priests and Levites asked John was, “Who art thou?” Thank God John knew who he was not. I think it is very important for us to know who we are not.
And thank God he knew exactly who he was—not because people thought he was something, not because he himself thought he was something, but because the Word of God said who he was, and it was revealed to him.
So he said, “I am not the Christ. I am not Elijah. I am not the prophet. I am a voice in the wilderness,” as the Scripture said.
Then these priests and Levites, the representatives of the Jewish hierarchy, said, “Now, if you are not the Christ, if you are not Elijah, if you are not the prophet, then why do you baptize? What right do you have to baptize? Who gave you the authority to do that?” That is the second question.
So far as we know, the Jewish people did not practice baptism. Typologically, they were baptized under the cloud and in the sea. They were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, as we find in 1 Corinthians 10:1-2.
So they considered themselves a baptized nation, a cleansed nation. They had no need to be baptized again.
It is true that in Leviticus 8, before the priests could serve in the tabernacle, they had to be washed and anointed.
It is also true that a leper, an outcast, when he was cleansed, had to be washed and then received into the camp.
It is also true that whoever was defiled had to be cleansed with the water of separation, the water of purification, according to Numbers 19. And if he was not purified by that water of separation and did not wash himself afterward, he was unclean.
We know some instances in the Old Testament where people washed themselves. For instance, David: after his son died through the discipline of God, he rose up from the ground, washed himself, and went into the house of the Lord to worship God. He needed to be washed before he could worship God.
So in Psalm 51:7 he said:
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean:
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Now, other than that, probably the other instance is Naaman. He was told by the prophet to go to the River Jordan, wash himself seven times, and he would be as fresh as a baby.
So in the Old Testament, among the Jewish people, they really did not practice baptism. Only when a Gentile was converted into Judaism did that proselyte, in order to become a full proselyte, have to be baptized, immersed.
That was a demand upon the Gentiles, but not upon the Jews themselves, because they considered themselves a clean people.
So when John the Baptist proclaimed repentance and practiced baptism in water, which represented repentance, they were surprised.
The Pharisees and scribes refused to be baptized by John because they thought they had no need to be baptized. Maybe the sinners, the publicans, should be baptized—for certainly not us righteous Pharisees.
So they rejected the baptism of John. They questioned John. They challenged him. They said, “How dare you practice baptism?”
“Now, if Christ should come, or even His forerunner Elijah should come, or if that prophet that Moses said should come—now, maybe he would have a right to make such a demand upon us. But who are you? How dare you baptize? You have no right to do that. We are a clean people.”
Thank God John answered clearly and with humility. He said, “I baptize you with water. Indeed, you are not clean. You need to repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.”
“But my baptism is only the preparation. There is One among you whom you do not know. He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and in fire. He has a winnowing fan in His hand. He will divide the chaff from the wheat. He will take the wheat into the barn and burn the chaff with fire unquenchable.”
Now, that is the ultimate. My baptism in water is just a preparation, but it is a needed preparation. God requires it as righteousness for that time. But this is not the end; it is just the beginning. What you really need is to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and in fire.
John testified that there was One in their midst whom they did not know. This Man was so great that John said, “I am not fit even to unloose the thong of His sandal.”
Now, we know that during those days people did not wear shoes like we do; they wore sandals. And when you came to a house, usually a slave girl would be at the door to unloose the thongs of your sandals. That was the work of a slave girl. It was the meanest and lowest service.
And here you find John, the greatest of the prophets, the prophet of the Most High, the forerunner of the Messiah. With deep humility he said, “I am nothing. I am lower than a slave girl. This Man who is coming is so great that I am not even worthy to unloose the thongs of His sandals.”
How he uplifted Christ!
Brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus comes to baptize us with the Holy Spirit.
On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down, and one hundred and twenty believers in that upper room in Jerusalem were baptized in one Spirit into one body.
The baptism of John was a baptism of repentance to prepare the way of the Lord. But the real Baptizer is our risen Lord. He will baptize those whom He has redeemed with the Holy Spirit, and the result is that we become one body, the body of Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 12, he says, “In one Spirit you were baptized into one body.”
When we were saved, we were not only regenerated individually and personally by the Holy Spirit. When we believe in the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit not only regenerates us, but He comes into our regenerated spirit and dwells there, making His home there.
So every believer is regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit. His or her spirit is quickened into life, and then the Holy Spirit Himself, God, comes and dwells in your new spirit. That is the experience of every believer.
But do you know that at this very time, when you believe in the Lord Jesus, when you are regenerated by the Spirit of God, when the Spirit of God comes and dwells in your spirit, at that very same time you were baptized in that same Spirit into one body of Christ?
Pentecost is historical. Pentecost is once and forever. Pentecost cannot be repeated; it is not repeated.
Those one hundred and twenty people were baptized in one Spirit into one body. From then on, everyone who believed in the Lord Jesus was, at the very time of his belief, baptized in that same Spirit into the one body.
That is the significance, the meaning, of baptism in the Holy Spirit.
It can easily be proved. When you believe in the Lord Jesus, something happens. God, before, was billions and billions of miles away. You might believe that there was God, but there was no communication.
But when you believe in the Lord Jesus, immediately you cry out. You know Him. Why? Because you receive His life. Your spirit is quickened into life, into communication with your proper environment: God. He is your proper environment.
This is true with every believer: “Abba, Father.”
If you are not a believer, you are a professing Christian. You may pray and say, “Father God,” but it sounds as if you are calling a father whom you do not know.
But at the very same time, on the day that you are saved, you go out and meet another person whom you did not know before, and you discover that person also is a child of God. What happens?
Immediately you find a bond between him and you—a bond that is closer even than your brothers and sisters in the flesh. You belong to him, and he belongs to you. Why? You were baptized in the Holy Spirit into one body.
That is what our Lord Jesus has done for us: baptized into one body, one people, one nation.
On the contrary, if you reject Him as your Savior, the result is that one day you will be cast into that unquenchable fire.
Thank God we are in the Lord. Thank God we are one body, one people, one nation under God.
As John was questioned by the priests and Levites, who represented orthodoxy, tradition, and that religious system, brothers and sisters, do you not know that since that time the same question has been asked throughout history?
Maybe the world does not know how to ask that question, but certainly the religious world knows how to ask this question. And that question has often been asked of God’s people: “Why do you do this? Why do you do that?”
“Why do you practice believers’ baptism? Why do you break bread together? Why do you gather together in the name of the Lord Jesus?”
Brothers and sisters, why do you not remain in the mainstream of Christianity? Why do you not gather with the Catholic Church? Why do we not gather with the Protestant denominations? Why is it that you must do this or do that differently from other people? On what ground? By what right? Who gives you the authority to do these things?
Is it because you are not happy with where you were before? Is it because you find it more comfortable to be with people who have the same temperament and learn the same form of worship?
Or is it because, when you were born, you were born into such a category and that is all you know? Do you know why you meet in the way that you meet today? What is your justification?
I think this is something we need to be clear about. Do you want to be different just to be different? Why are you so different from traditional Christianity? Is it because of reaction, or is there something more positive there?
Dear brothers and sisters, what is the justification of your gathering together?
We have to say that the only justification for any gathering of the Lord’s people, in any way and in any form, has to come from the Word of God—not what people say, not what you like, but what the Word of God says.
And more than that, it has to come by revelation from above.
I think we all believe that the Word of God is the guiding light to our Christian life. If we want to walk with the Lord, if we want to grow in Christ, we have to go back to the Word of God and find our guidance there.
Without the Word of God, how can we grow spiritually? We will be groping in the dark. How do we know that we grow properly and normally?
Without the Word of God, it is all left to us to experience God in whatever way we experience Him. Brothers and sisters, thank God He will come down and give Himself to us, but because of our frailty, our weakness, our ignorance, and our darkness, if we just live by our personal experience, we will end up in sorrow.
Thank God there is the Word of God. It is the light of our path. By the Word of God, we know how to walk after Him.
But, dear brothers and sisters, do we know that the same Word of God gives us guidance as to our corporate life? People believe that the Word of God shows them how to live individually before God, but people think that so far as our corporate life is concerned, God says, “It is up to you. Do whatever you like.”
And that is what we find today in Christianity. There is no guiding principle as to our corporate life. Everyone does what is right in his own eyes.
My dear brothers and sisters, we are saved individually, but we are called corporately. We are called into one body.
Can you believe that our Lord does not give us any guiding principle in His Word as to how we shall gather together unto Him? I believe there is as much teaching and example in the Word of God that governs our corporate life as our personal life.
But even with the Word of God, if you take it as letters, it kills. It has to be revealed, that it may be living to you.
You know, brothers and sisters, you dare not play with your own spiritual life, do you? But how many are playing with church life today?
Well, in the Word you say, “Well, a church has elders, has deacons. Fine. Let us have a New Testament church. Let us elect some of us as elders, and some of the others as deacons, and maybe leave a few as the laity. You have the church.”
You are laughing, are you not? But this has been done among God’s people. “Well, Roman Catholicism is not right. Protestantism is not satisfying. Let us follow the New Testament pattern: elders, deacons, saints. You get everything.”
Many tried. They worked for a few months, and then disappeared.
True, in the Word of God, in the church, you have elders and you have deacons. But, brothers and sisters, if you take them as letters, it kills. It has to be in the Spirit.
This morning, as I was meditating, I thought of the temple and the synagogues.
On the mount, God revealed the tabernacle to Moses. As a matter of fact, we think of Mount Sinai only as the revelation of the law. But actually, there are only a few chapters on the law; there are more chapters on the revelation of the tabernacle, because God’s heart is the tabernacle, not the law.
The law is just a preparation. The tabernacle is God’s purpose. God revealed the tabernacle to Moses in detail. He said, “Be careful. Do everything according to the pattern on the mount.”
Now, Moses was great in learning. He learned everything Egypt could offer, and Egypt was famous for its architecture. Moses must have been a great architect. For Moses to build a tabernacle, well, it was nothing to him. He could build a kingdom.
But God said, “Do everything according to what I have shown you.” And this is the faithfulness of Moses: he did everything according to what God told him. He made no improvement.
That is the tabernacle.
And I began to think of the synagogues. You know, during the Babylonian captivity, the temple was destroyed. The Jewish people were dispersed in captivity. They wanted to worship God, but there was no temple.
But the Jewish people were very clever. They invented a very ingenious system called synagogues.
If you want to worship God and there is no temple, why, it is easy. If you have ten Jewish men of leisure—that is to say, if you have only ten Jewish men who can give some time for God—you can organize a synagogue.
You do not need to travel too far to Jerusalem. Right where you are, on your street, you can gather nine other Jewish men and organize a synagogue.
In the synagogue, you can read the Word of God, you can pray, you can sing songs, and you can freely fellowship. Everything—except you cannot offer sacrifice.
So very soon you find synagogues springing up all over.
And if I am not too happy with you, I gather another nine that I am happy with and have our own synagogue. If I do not like the way you worship, well, I gather a few of the same temperament as I am, and we have another synagogue—and it is very comfortable.
You have the synagogue of the leather workers’ union. The mechanics can have a synagogue. The carpenters can have a synagogue. The rich people can have a synagogue. The officials can have a synagogue. You can do whatever you like.
It is very comfortable, very convenient, and you are worshiping God very freely.
So very soon you find synagogue substituting for the temple. There is no need for the temple. No wonder most of those in captivity did not return. What is the sense of the temple—the revealed way of God for corporate worship? What is the need of that? We have our synagogue, very comfortable.
Brothers and sisters, what do you have today? Is it a synagogue, or is it the temple?
The church is the holy habitation of God. Do you believe that He will just leave it with you to decide what to do with the church? Do you not believe that He has given us a pattern?
But what is the pattern? A few elders, a few deacons, a few saints, some prayers? No.
It is true that in the New Testament we are given teachings and examples. But remember: the tabernacle Moses built was according to the pattern in heaven. And what is that pattern? The same pattern for the church.
It is not teaching, not doctrines, not details. It is a Person: Christ.
If you receive revelation from the Word of God as you study the New Testament, you will find it is Christ. He is the pattern given for the church.
For the church is called “the Christ.” There is one body with many members—many members, but one body. So also is the Christ. What is the pattern of the church? Christ is the pattern.
All right, let us go back. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down, and the one hundred and twenty believers were baptized into one body. On the very same day, three thousand were added.
And you read Acts 2:42: they all persevered. They all continued, continually being occupied with the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread, and in prayer.
When our Lord Jesus was on earth, He said, “I will build My church upon this rock, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
He does not tell us how He is going to build His church. He just tells us He will build His church upon this rock—that is, upon Himself—and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
In Matthew 18:20, He said, “Where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I in the midst of them.”
Just two or three gathered together in My name: I am in the midst. But how will the two and three gather?
The apostles had not received any instruction from our Lord, either before His death or after His resurrection. The Lord did not instruct His apostles how to build a church, how to gather God’s people, or how to meet together. There was no instruction. The Lord said, “Yes,” that is all.
But here you find these three thousand one hundred and twenty people. They gathered. They persevered in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread, and in prayer.
With one accord they gathered together. They met sometimes in the temple area, at Solomon’s Porch, because that was big enough for them to meet. Other times, they met at home. They broke bread from house to house. They loved one another. Nobody said, “This is mine.” They shared with one another.
Nobody instructed them. Nobody told them what to do. It just came naturally—spiritually, naturally, supernaturally, naturally.
With no instruction, with no rules and regulations, with no programs, these people gathered together unto the Lord.
Why did they gather in this way? Was the temple not enough? If you want to gather, go to the temple and worship God.
In Judaism, there is a system, a complete system of worship. Every detail of your corporate life is clearly laid down. You can do this; you cannot do that. On Saturday, you can pluck the wheat, but you cannot rub it, because that is labor.
Everything is clearly defined, well organized, smoothly run. That is the way to worship God together, no doubt.
The religious hierarchy of that day would question these Christians: “Why, instead of meeting in the traditional way, do you meet in homes?”
And if you came to the temple to worship—well, they were Jews, and they still went to the temple. John and Peter went to the temple at the time of prayer. But why, at other times, did you separate yourselves and meet in Solomon’s Porch differently? Why do you meet in the name of Jesus? Is Moses not enough for you?
Without any human hands, you find a way of life beginning to come up among God’s people. That is the reason why, in the beginning, people did not know how to label them. “Who are you?”
Well, they said, “These are the people of the Way.” They had a way of life that was different from the Jewish way—a Way.
When I first came to this country and met with the brothers, oftentimes I clashed with the brothers because they said, “This is not our American way of doing things.”
I told them, “It is not the American way or the Chinese way. It is God’s way.”
These are the people of the Way—not personal, but corporate. They have a special way of life, different from the world completely.
If you go into church history, in the year 100, a letter was written by Pliny the Younger, the governor of Bithynia and Pontus, because many Christians were brought before his tribunal to be judged and sentenced to death.
And this man wrote a letter to the emperor Trajan, asking for advice: how should he deal with these Christians? And this is what he wrote:
The whole of the error and crime of the Christians lay in this:
They were accustomed on a fixed day to meet before daylight,
And to sing among themselves a hymn to Christ as to a god,
And to bind themselves by an oath,
Not to commit any wickedness,
Not to be guilty of theft, or robbery, or adultery,
Never to falsify their word,
Nor to deny a pledge committed to them when called upon to return it.And having done these things, it was their custom to separate,
And then to come together again to a harmless meal,
Of which they partook in common without any disorder.
That is how they met in the year 100.
During the first three centuries, there were numerous bodies of Christians who were not satisfied or happy with the worldliness of the church. They desired to return to the teaching of the New Testament.
Throughout every century, you find many Christians desiring to return to the simplicity and sincerity of Christ.
We do not have time to go over church history. Let me just illustrate.
In the sixteenth century, we have the Great Reformation. Thank God for the Reformation: justification by faith. What a gospel! Great tidings!
People were bound by fear, and now they were set free: justification by grace through the blood of the spotless Lamb.
Luther himself was given more revelation than he ever accomplished. Actually, he was given revelation of the universal priesthood of believers.
He was given revelation of the church as the assembly of the saints.