And as the people were in expectation, and all men reasoned in their hearts concerning John, whether haply he were the Christ;
John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but there cometh He that is mightier than I, the latchet of Whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: He shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire:
Whose fan is in His hand, thoroughly to cleanse His threshing-floor, and to gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire.
With many other exhortations therefore preached he good tidings unto the people.
Dear heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee. Through Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus, we have ready access to Thyself.
We know that Thou hast called us into Thy presence, and by the blood of Thy beloved Son we do come. We ask that Thou wilt reveal Thyself again to us tonight. Reveal Thy mind through Thy Word to us, that we may really be drawn into one heart with Thyself, that Thou mayest get all that Thou dost desire in us.
So we commit ourselves and this time into Thy hand, and ask Thy Holy Spirit to do the work. So we give Thee all the praise and glory, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
We are using John the Baptist as our background, and we want to ask three questions.
The first question is: Who are you? We are asking this not in an individual way, but more in a corporate way. Who are you, you who gather together tonight? Do you know who you are?
We find that John knew exactly who he was not, and he also knew very clearly who he was. I do hope that, by the grace of God, we who are here tonight know who we are not, and know who we really are.
Sometimes we do not know who we are. We always think we are something that we are not really. But in the light of God, we want to see who we really are. We are one people, one body, one church, one family of God. That is what we really are.
Tonight we will consider the second question. This is the question that the Pharisees asked John the Baptist: Why do you baptize?
John the Baptist was not only preaching; he was baptizing the people. The emissaries asked him who he was, and he said, “I am not the Christ. I am not Elijah. I am not the prophet.” Then they asked, “Who are you?” He said, “I am just a voice in the wilderness: ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’”
Then they asked the second question: “If you are not the Christ, and you are not Elijah, and you are not the prophet, then why do you baptize people? By what authority are you doing these things?”
So far as I understand, the Jewish people as a nation did not practise baptism. Of course, according to type, when God led the people of Israel out of Egypt, they passed through the Red Sea.
In 1 Corinthians 10, we find the Holy Spirit’s interpretation: the children of Israel, when they passed through the sea, were under the cloud and in the sea baptized unto Moses. This was a baptized nation.
Formerly they belonged to Pharaoh. Now they passed through the Red Sea; they were baptized unto Moses. They now belonged to Moses and were under the leadership of Moses. They were the chosen people of God, and they considered themselves a clean people. Therefore, they felt that they did not need to be baptized again.
In the Old Testament, before the priests were anointed, they had to wash themselves so that they would be clean. Then they were anointed and consecrated as priests to serve God. This is found in Leviticus 8.
In order to serve God, you have to be clean. To be anointed with oil, you have to be washed first. Then you can go into the tabernacle to serve God, because God is holy. If we would draw near to God, we need to be holy.
Again, in Leviticus 14, we find the law concerning the cleansing of the leper. After a leper was cleansed, he had to present himself to the priest, offer sacrifice, and wash himself before he could enter into the camp.
In Numbers 19, God prepared a red heifer, which was to be completely burned. The priest who burned the red heifer had to wash himself before he could enter into the tent. The ashes of the red heifer were used for the purifying of God’s people.
If an Israelite was defiled by touching the dead, he had to purify himself with these ashes and living water. He had to be sprinkled on the third day and on the seventh day, and then wash himself before he could enter into the camp. The camp was holy, so nothing defiled could enter into it.
These were some of the occasions in which we find the washing of the whole body. You may also remember David in 2 Samuel 12. After David knew that the child was dead, he rose up, washed himself, anointed himself, and went to the tabernacle to worship God.
David wrote in Psalm 51:7:
Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean:
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Then, in 2 Kings 5, Naaman, the great general, was a leper. Elisha told him, “Go to the river Jordan and wash yourself seven times.” Finally, he washed himself seven times in the Jordan, and he was completely healed.
So far as I know, these are the few occasions in the Old Testament in which baptism, or washing of the whole body, was done. Other than that, the Jewish people did not practise baptism because they felt that they had no need for it. They were a chosen people; they were clean before God.
According to Jewish tradition, however, if a Gentile wanted to become a full proselyte, he had to be baptized. The Jews did not baptize themselves, but they baptized Gentiles who converted to Judaism, because they considered the Gentiles unclean.
But here we find John the Baptist. He lived in the wilderness, a very isolated life. Suddenly there came a voice out of the wilderness: “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
He not only preached repentance, but he baptized people with water. John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. No wonder the religious authorities were challenged by this. “How dare you baptize people?”
In a sense, they realized that if the Messiah came, or if Elijah came, or if the prophet came, perhaps baptism would be required. Somehow, instinctively, they knew that they were not as clean as they thought. Yet it was very hard for them to recognize that they were unclean and needed to repent.
That is why the Pharisees refused to accept John’s baptism. They considered themselves clean. John’s message was unusual, and his practice was unusual. They thought that such a message should be directed to the Gentiles. The Gentiles needed to repent; they themselves needed only a little improvement.
So the religious authorities asked, “Why do you do these things? By what authority are you doing this? You are not a prophet. You have no right to baptize people.”
John’s answer was very clear-cut. He said, “I baptize you with water. You need to repent. You are unclean. But I only baptize you with water; it is a ceremonial washing.”
“But there is One standing in your midst, mightier than I, and I am not even fit to untie the latchet of His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He has in His hand a winnowing fan. He will gather the wheat into His garner, but He will throw the chaff into the unquenchable fire.”
In other words, John’s baptism was preparatory. The baptism with which Christ baptizes people is ultimate. He will baptize people either with the Holy Spirit or with fire.
Those who believe in Him, He will baptize with the Holy Spirit. In one Spirit, those who believe in Him become one body. But those who do not believe in Him, one day He will baptize with fire—the unquenchable fire.
This is the answer of John the Baptist. He told them why he baptized: he was preparing the way of the Lord, preparing for the Lord to come and baptize those who believe in Him with the Holy Spirit. Those who do not believe in Him will eventually be baptized with fire.
Now this is the background. We want to apply it to ourselves. Why do you do these things?
As God’s people, we gather together. The Bible says, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” As God’s people, we are not isolated. You cannot be an independent believer.
The life we receive is one life. We share the one life of Christ, and we were baptized in the Holy Spirit into one body. Therefore, we have to gather together.
Out of every tribe, every tongue, every people, and every nation, God has called us out and gathered us together unto Himself. That is what we are. That is the meaning of the church.
We are called out that we may be in. We are called out together unto Christ. Where two or three are gathered together unto the name of the Lord Jesus, there He is in the midst of them. That is what we are.
As believers, we gather together to worship God, to sing praises unto Him, to exhort one another, to help one another, and to demonstrate the excellencies of the One who called us out of darkness into His marvellous light.
We receive water baptism after we believe in the Lord Jesus, and we break bread to remember the Lord together.
In Acts 2:42, we find the result of Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down from heaven. The one hundred and twenty in that upper room were baptized in one Spirit into one body.
Pentecost was a tremendous experience. Unfortunately, people are often occupied with the sound and the sight. They remember the sound like a mighty rushing wind and the tongues as of fire coming upon the heads of the one hundred and twenty.
But the sound and the sight were secondary. They were temporary, and they changed. The essential and primary meaning of Pentecost is this: in one Spirit, the one hundred and twenty were baptized into one body.
Before that, they were one hundred and twenty individual believers. They were the faithful believers who returned to Jerusalem and waited ten days. But on the day of Pentecost, something happened: those one hundred and twenty individual believers were baptized in one Spirit into one body.
They were now one hundred and twenty members of the body of Christ. They were organically united into one—not merely externally together, but inwardly one. They became members one of another, inseparable in eternal life.
This is the meaning of Pentecost. On that same day, three thousand believed in the Lord, and they too were baptized into one body. Suddenly, the one hundred and twenty became three thousand one hundred members, and all who came in became members of that body.
They were not merely externally together. They were inwardly related in life, one in life, in the same organic union.
The Bible says that they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
The apostles did not have their own teaching. Paul did not have his own teaching, Peter did not have his own teaching. They taught Jesus Christ, and they were taught by Christ. The teaching of the apostles is none other than the teaching of Christ.
They continued to be occupied with the teaching of Christ—not the teaching of men, not even the teaching of the apostles themselves. Through the apostles, we have the teaching of Christ.
They persevered in the fellowship of the apostles. The apostles’ fellowship is fellowship with Christ. In 1 John 1, John says that our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 1, we are called into the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
There is only one fellowship, not many fellowships. It is the fellowship of the saints, fellowship with God and with His Son. They continued in that fellowship; they broke bread together, remembering the Lord; and they prayed together, interceding together.
Now, brothers and sisters, are we doing that? Do we gather together in the name of the Lord Jesus?
People may ask, “By what authority are you doing these things? Why do you not meet with the Roman Catholic Church? Why do you not meet with the Protestant churches? Why do you meet separately? Are you not dividing God’s people?”
The Roman Catholic Church is not the oldest church. The church began on the day of Pentecost, and that church was not the Roman Catholic Church. That church is the church of the living God.
People may point to the Lutheran, the Methodist, and all the other Protestant churches, saying that the Reformation began in the sixteenth century. They may ask again, “Why do you not meet with them? Why do you meet separately? On what authority are you doing that? Are you not causing division among God’s people?”
They may say, “How are you baptizing people? You are not an ordained minister. How dare you baptize people? You break bread on the Lord’s Day, but you do not have a priest to officiate at that breaking of bread.”
They may ask, “What theological training do you have? Are you an ordained minister? Do you have a licence to preach?” In the old days, you had to have a licence to preach.
Brothers and sisters, there are all these questions: “Why? Why? Why?” Do you know how to answer these questions? I think that is very important.
It is very strange that we who are meeting together may not know why we gather this way. Perhaps we think that we are just another sect, another denomination.
We may be here because this is where our fathers and mothers met, because this is the way our grandparents gathered together. We are born into this situation. We are the third or fourth generation, and we simply accept whatever has been handed down to us.
That is why we are here. That is why we break bread. That is why we do these things. In other words, to us it is a tradition.
But do you know, brothers and sisters, that the reason why we gather in this way has to be revelational, not traditional?
By revelation, I do not mean a new revelation outside of the Bible. By revelation, I mean that the Holy Spirit has spoken through His Word in a living way to our hearts. He reveals the Word to us.
It is not something handed down by our forefathers, however accurate it may be. It has to be something that the Holy Spirit has revealed in you.
The Apostle Paul said, “It pleased God to reveal His Son in me.” He said that what he preached was not taught by man; it was revealed to him.
Not only does our individual life need revelation; our corporate life needs revelation. We need to know by revelation how He wants us to walk on this earth. We need to know the mind of God concerning our lives and concerning the way of the church.
Thank God, this is in the Word of God. But we need the Holy Spirit to make it real to us, so that it becomes a firsthand experience, not a secondhand or thirdhand inheritance.
We need to seek the Lord and ask Him to show us the way of the church. Why do we do all these things? What is the authority given to us?
Why do we meet this way? Number one: we believe that Christ is the Head of the church.
Christ is not only the Head of every man. In 1 Corinthians 11:3, it says that Christ is the head of every man, and “man” there includes woman. Who is your head? Are you your own head? Do you govern yourself? Does your will decide your actions?
No. Who is your head? Is Christ your Head? The Bible says that Christ is the Head of every man. Therefore, He should be your Head.
When you believe in the Lord Jesus, you not only believe in Him and accept Him as your Saviour; you also accept Him as your Lord, as your Head. You surrender your life to Him.
He saved you, and you give your life back to Him, accepting Him as your Head. Let Him govern your life: “Not My will, but Thine, be done.”
But the Bible also says that He is not only the Head of each individual believer; He is also the Head of the body.
In Ephesians 1:22-23, we are told that God gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. In Ephesians 4:15, Christ is the Head, from Whom all the body is joined together. In Colossians, we are exhorted to hold fast the Head.
Christ is the Head of the church. In other words, He governs the church. It is His will that directs the church—not your opinion, not my idea, but Christ.
Therefore, we must hold fast Christ as the Head. Aside from Him, we have no other head.
But look at Christianity today. God’s people gather together, but under whose head do they gather? Though they may call upon the name of the Lord, some gather under the name of Martin Luther, some under the name of John Wesley, some under the name of baptism, and some under a kind of experience, such as Pentecostalism.
In 1 Corinthians 1, Paul told the Corinthian believers that some said, “I am of Paul,” “I am of Apollos,” “I am of Cephas,” and some, in an exclusive way, said, “I am of Christ.” Paul asked, “Is Christ divided?”
Here we find people gathering around many names other than the name of Christ. The head of many groups is not Christ, but men—even spiritual men. Yet it is not Christ. Other things take over the authority of the church.
The Lord has shown us that He wants us to gather unto His name. He wants us to put ourselves under His authority and hold fast Christ as the Head of the church. In everything, we learn to seek to know His mind.
This is why we gather in this way.
Number two: we believe in the body of Christ. There is only one Head; therefore, there is only one body. All God’s people belong to that one body.
Christ is not divided. Therefore, God’s people should not be divided. But look at Christianity today: how God’s people are divided. There are thousands and thousands of divisions among the people of the one body.
One says, “I belong to this group,” and another says, “I belong to that group,” and we are not together. This is sad, and this is something with which God is not pleased.
Why do we gather this way? Because we believe that God’s body is one. We should not be divided. Therefore, we come out of division and return to the one body.
We are not the ones who create division. We come out of division and return to the one body. We stand on the ground of the oneness of the body of Christ.
By the grace of God, we diligently keep the unity of the Spirit. We believe that all God’s people are one, whether they meet with us or not.
If they belong to the Lord, they are all our brothers and sisters. They belong to us, and we belong to them. Nothing can separate us from our brothers. If a person is a true believer in the Roman Catholic Church, he is our brother. If he is a believer in the Pentecostal church, he is our brother. He is in the one body of Christ.
This is where we stand. We stand on the unity of the body of Christ. We welcome all believers.
We do not have special membership. We do not have a book with your name on it. If you are a member of the body of Christ, you are a member. You do not need to join, because you are already in.
If it is an organization, you have to join in order to be a member. But if it is an organism, you are born into it.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is why we meet in this way.
We believe that we are a spiritual house, a holy habitation of God.
Peter says that when we come to the Lord, the living Stone, we become living stones, being built up together into a spiritual house. What is the church?
Today we say, “We go to church.” What do you mean by going to church? Do you mean you are going to a building? Is that building the church? No.
The church is built with living stones. Who are the living stones? We who come to the Lord become living stones, because He is the living Stone. When we come to Him, we receive His life.
As living stones, we are to be built together into a spiritual house. The church is not a building. The building is where the church meets. The church is the people—the living stones.
But the living stones need to be built together. Our Lord Jesus said, “I will build My church upon this rock; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Christ is the Rock. He is the foundation.
We, as living stones, are built together upon Himself into a holy habitation for God to dwell in. Wonderful.
But are we being built together? You may be a member of a church. What do you do as a member of the church? What are your duties?
Perhaps you are required to attend church on Sunday. Some people attend church only twice a year—at Christmas and Easter. Others may attend only once a week.
When Sunday comes, you put on your Sunday best—not only your best dress, but your best manners too. After all, it is only an hour, so you can afford to be good.
You are ushered into the church and to your seat. Perhaps you have your own pew. You sit down and begin to be entertained. First the pipe organ plays, then the choir sings, then perhaps the priest or pastor says a prayer, and there may be a professional soloist.
Finally, the pastor or preacher speaks. After twenty minutes, people begin to look at their watches. Then comes the blessing, and everybody says goodbye: “See you next week.”
Are you being built up together? It is very peaceful, you know. You have no quarrel with anybody. You do not step on other people’s feet because you do not serve the Lord together. You do not work together. You are all at arm’s length.
You can afford to be polite. You live your own life, and they live their own lives. You see each other once a week, and that is all. Are you a spiritual house?
Once a week, all the stones roll together. After an hour, they all roll back to their own places. Do you think God has a dwelling place among His people?
A habitation is a place in which God dwells in the Spirit. Without being built together, there is no building. You may be a member for life and still be a stranger. Nobody knows you, and you know nobody. Very peaceful.
Why do we meet this way? Because we believe that we need to be built up together. Yes, we do step on one another. We rub against each other. That is the way we learn to bear the cross.
I often say there is no heavier cross than in the church. But the heaviest gives you the best exercise. This is the instrument of transformation. Glory to God.
We believe that God’s people should serve together, be related to one another, be concerned for one another, and bear one another’s burdens. We need to be built up together, that God may dwell in the Spirit among us.
That is why we meet in this way.
Number four: we are a holy priesthood.
We are a spiritual house, and in the spiritual house we function as a priesthood. Every one of us is a priest. Nobody may call you a priest, but you are a priest.
The purpose of our life is to serve God. But you are not a priest independent of other people, because we are a priesthood.
Christ is the High Priest, and we are all priests under His direction. By the Spirit, we learn to function together, offering up spiritual sacrifices pleasing to God.
We thank God that He has given each one of us at least a gift. With that gift, we are supposed to serve for the edification and building up of the body of Christ.
Do not look to a few people to function for everybody. The whole body must function together.
Look at your physical body. Every member of your body is living, and every member is functioning. But they function together.
I am talking now. I use my mouth, my tongue, and my teeth. Many years ago, when I had my teeth pulled out, I could still speak, but I could not enunciate correctly. Why? Because I needed the teeth to help my tongue fulfil its function.
You may say that the teeth are for eating and the tongue is for speaking. But you cannot eat very well without the tongue. Who shifts your food from the front to the back where it can be crushed? And when it is crushed, who shifts it back? The tongue helps the teeth.
I usually eat pretty fast, so I bite my tongue quite often. One day my tongue may say, “I’m finished with you. I’m going out.” But it cannot do that. It is stuck for life. That is the reason why love is longsuffering.
Brothers and sisters, that is what we are. We are together serving the Lord. The service of the body of Christ is not for selfish reasons, but by using the gift and grace God has given us to serve one another.
We complete one another, and we serve one another under the leadership of Christ, by the direction of the Holy Spirit. That is why we meet in this way.
Perhaps I will mention one more reason why we meet this way. We believe that we are the body of Christ, and one day this body will become the bride of the Lamb.
Individually speaking, we are all virgins. The Bible never calls an unbeliever a virgin; virgin refers to believers.
In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul says, “I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.”
He says that he is afraid that the enemy will corrupt them from the simplicity and purity that is toward Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, we are virgins. We have been engaged to Christ. Christ is in heaven; we are here preparing ourselves for the day when we will be joined to Him as one.
We need to keep the simplicity that is toward Christ—that our heart may be pure toward Him.
Today Christianity has become so complicated. It has become a great organization, and there are all kinds of things which can lead us away from the simplicity of Christ.
So we want to keep ourselves simple, not complicated. For instance, when we break bread, we want to break bread in the simplest way. We do not want to go through all kinds of rituals. We want our hearts to be pure toward Christ.
That is why we meet this way. That is the way the early Christians kept themselves pure for the Lord and made themselves ready for His return.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is our longing. Our bodies are here, but our hearts are already there. Our prayer is, “Come, Lord Jesus, come.” We are here waiting.
This is why we meet in this way. We do not consider ourselves better than anybody. As a matter of fact, we feel that in many ways we are far behind.
But we have only one desire: we want to do the things that please Him. We want to walk in the way that He has ordained for us.
We do not want to be people who say, “Lord, Lord,” and yet do not do His will.
So we look for the mercy of God, by His grace, to do all the things that He wants us to do, to see what He wants us to see. This is our humble wish before Him.
Amen.