What a topic, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is the Lord's ministry, that is what He does. He baptizes people in the Holy Spirit. Now it is one of the topics, one of the doctrines that people misunderstand and misuse today. It has to do with the Lord's ministry to a person's life.
Transcript
Alright, today we are continuing in the Gospel of Mark chapter 1 focusing on verses 6 through 13. Important Scriptures this morning. Mark chapter 1. Today we begin at verse 6 after we recap for you what we introduced to you last week and the first five verses.
Mark is written by John Mark. We were introduced to him in Acts chapter 12 verse 12. John is his Jewish name and Mark is his Roman name, his surname, John Mark. So we pick him up in Acts chapter 12 verse 12 when Paul and Barnabas came down from Antioch of Syria – some two hundred miles from the North – came into Jerusalem to speak about some issues with some of the apostles. And when they went to leave, they took Mark with them from Jerusalem. John Mark is Barnabas’ cousin.
So they are traveling to Antioch of Syria. That is when the missionary trips began up in Antioch and they decided to take John Mark with them and he turned back. Part way through the missionary journey it got too tough. When they went for the second missionary journey, Barnabas wanted to take Mark again but Paul would not have it, so they split up, disagreeing. Barnabas and Mark went over to Cyprus while Paul and Silas went up to southern Asia Minor. So they had two groups going in the second missionary journey. Mark made it through this one. When they got back, the missionary journey was over.
We do not know anything more about Mark except what the historical documents tell us, it is not in the Bible. But the historical documents tell us that John Mark, when they got back from the second missionary journey, joined up with Peter, and became a disciple of Peter. And they believe that is where his gospel came from because the Gospel of Mark is written under Peter’s testimony of Christ. And so after Peter died around 63 to 64 AD, we are told by some documents that John Mark joined up with Paul and began to assist him. Remember, Paul was against him to begin with because he quit during that first missionary journey. But apparently he had matured, and he was assistant to Paul. Paul in Philemon verse 24 said that Mark is a fellow worker. In II Timothy, Paul’s last letter he wrote to Timothy, he told him to come and, “Bring Mark with you as he is useful for ministry.” So Mark became a pillar in the church and an effective worker and witness for Christ in the later years.
So Mark is writing his gospel under the testimony of Peter. It is probably the first gospel written of the Gospels.
To whom it was written? It was written to the Romans. It is written in the style to minister to the Roman way of thinking, the Roman mind, which thought along the judicial system. Everything had to be according to the facts. No hearsay. And so Mark wanted to present the facts to them. That is why he leaves out a lot of details about the ministry of Christ and we will see that in our study. So it was written to the Roman mind, the Roman way of thinking. It is written like a legal brief to present the facts of the situations, the facts about Jesus Christ. That is why it is so short, it just sticks with the facts.
The theme of the book is Mark presents Jesus as the Suffering Servant. We see that in Mark chapter 10. So that is the introduction to Mark that we took last week.
Now we have the prologue, the introduction, verses 1 through 13. Mark chapter 1 verse 1 has the creed of Mark, The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Beginning, as I told you last week, means the first stages, there is no definite article with it. It is just Beginning of the gospel (or good news) of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, which is an expression of deity: Son of God.
In verses 2 through 8 we started the credentials of John, this is John the baptizer. He is not called John the Baptist in the original manuscripts. He is called John the baptizer. The Jews knew him as Yochanan haMatbil, John the baptizer. This is not John Mark the writer, this is John the baptizer.
First of all, in verses 2 and 3 Mark presents the fact that John the baptizer came to fulfill prophecy. In Malachi chapter 3 verse 1 and in Isaiah chapter 40 verse 3 that He is the messenger that God sent before His face, who shall prepare the way before you, and, A voice crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths.”
Then we saw the preaching of John, verses 4 and 5. John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. A baptism of repentance, we saw last week several scriptures where the Bible tells us the John’s baptism was for Israel, for the Jews. This is not believer’s baptism, nor Christian baptism, but John’s baptism of repentance for Israel; which is interesting because John began to baptize at the point where the Jews celebrated the festival of teshuvah, which means repentance. Every year the Jews would go down to the river and get baptized. They spent forty days being baptized and repenting of their sins in case the Messiah should come, so they would be ready for Him. It was not something that God told them to do, this was part of their religious system, part of their religious activities. But at the same time John came with a baptism of repentance.
We took time to study repentance last week. Repentance means make a decision to change. I keep hearing the same wooden-headed definition for repentance as being to change the mind. But it means make a decision for change and carries with it the idea that you realize that you cannot change yourself. You just make a decision for change, it must be Christ that changes you. His coming into your life changes you, puts you on a totally different path, a totally different road that you want to go down and that is very important to see. Because many Christians struggle in our day because they believe that to receive Jesus is to take Jesus with you wherever you go and in whatever you do. In reality, He is with you, but He is inside of you to lead you down the path that He has, not the path that we want. It is a totally different change, and He brings about repentance.
But this is a baptism of repentance. This is John baptizing the Hebrew or Jewish people to prepare for the coming of Messiah, which is just right around the corner.
Verse 5 says, And all the Judean country and the ones of Jerusalem went out to him, and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River confessing their sins. So they responded. Not all of them. We know from the other Gospels that people came out, especially the religious leaders and gave John a bad time and harassed him.
In verse 6 we have the presentation of John. It says, And John was clothed in camel’s hair, and a leather belt around his waist, and eating locusts and wild honey. He was in the clothing of a prophet; the camel’s hair, and the leather belt around his waist, and eating locusts and wild honey is what the prophets did. We see that in II Kings chapter 1 verse 8 and Zechariah chapter 13 verse 4. Elijah was dressed like this we are told in II Kings chapter 1 verse 8. So he is clothed in the dress of the prophets, but it is also the dress of the poor people. Poor people could not afford more than a camel’s hair sack over them with a belt around the waist and eating locusts and wild honey. So the prophets lived the life of the poor, not the comfortable. And you can see the wisdom of it. Not only did it keep them humble, but those hairy garments scratched like crazy, made them very uncomfortable, so they could not get comfortable. You can tell in their messages, something is bothering them. They come out with some pretty harsh things. It is the food of the poor, it is the clothing of the poor, but most importantly, it is the clothing of the prophet of God.
Verses 7 and 8, The Priorities of John. Verse 7, And he was preaching, saying, “The One who comes after me is mightier than I, of whom I am not sufficient when bending down to loose the strap of His sandals.” 5 That is what John had to say about the coming Messiah, he said he is not sufficient. It was the servant’s job to take off the sandals and shoes and wash the feet. It was the servant’s job to fetch the sandals so the master could leave. What John is saying is he not even worthy to be a servant of The Servant. And that is a key, by the way, in understanding a humble approach to Christ. The most qualified person to be used of the Lord is the one that has the attitude that I am not sufficient. I am not sufficient for this. I cannot do it. I am not worthy. Christ makes us worthy. He makes us sufficient. He is our sufficiency. So it is interesting to see a servant’s heart; not worthy to even serve The Servant who is Jesus Christ as He came.
Verse 8, And I myself indeed baptize you in water, but He Himself will baptize you in the Holy Spirit. What a topic, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is the Lord’s ministry, that is what He does. The baptism of the Holy Spirit that is His ministry and that is what He does. He baptizes people in the Holy Spirit.
Now it is one of the topics, one of the doctrines that people misunderstand and misuse today. You have heard of the term the baptism of the Holy Spirit. There are groups, Pentecostal, charismatic groups, and others, who teach that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a second experience. That the first experience is to believe on Jesus, but you have no power. You have no power for service, you have no power for testimony, so you need a second experience. So they lay hands on you to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The problem with all of that is there is no baptism of the Holy Spirit as a second experience taught in the Bible. It is not there. Every time you see the baptism of the Holy Spirit it has to do with salvation, it has to do with the Lord’s ministry to a person’s life.
Listen to what Paul said in I Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13, For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free; all have been all made to drink into one Spirit. So when you are baptized with the Holy Spirit, you are brought into the body of Christ, you are saved. So when you first come to Christ, He baptizes you in the Holy Spirit, that is what saves you.
Let me give you an example. Last week we studied from Acts chapter 11 about Peter coming into Jerusalem and being confronted by some of the circumcision, that would be the Jews. They said, You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them. Peter went into Cornelius’s house and preached the gospel. He is a Gentile. Jews had no dealings with the Gentiles. So then Peter explained himself. He was in the city of Joppa praying and in a trance he saw a vision, a great sheet coming down from out of heaven. He saw all kinds of animals on this sheet, which were considered unclean according to the dietary laws for the Jews. He heard a voice saying, “Rise Peter, kill and eat.” These are unclean animals. They are not allowed to touch them or eat them, and a voice said, “Peter, rise, kill and eat.” But Peter said, “Not so, Lord, for nothing common or unclean has at any time entered into my mouth.” This whole thing happened three times, Peter says, that I was told to eat, and I said, “No way, Lord.”
All this had to do with the fact that three men were down at his gate (after the third vision) sent by Cornelius from Caesarea. And Peter was told by the Holy Spirit to go with them. He took six brothers with him. The man told Peter – this would be Cornelius – about an angel that appeared and told him to send for Peter in Joppa. In verse 14 the angel said, Who will tell you words, by which you and all your household will be saved. This is salvation. Verse 15 of Acts chapter 11, And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, as upon us at the beginning. Interesting, while he was speaking the Holy Spirit fell upon them as He did upon us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how He was saying, “John indeed baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” When the Spirit fell on Cornelius’s household and saved them this is what Peter thought. We were told about this. John baptized with water, but Jesus baptizes in the Holy Spirit. That is salvation here. If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us, when we believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ; who was I that I could hinder God? How do I stop God’s Spirit from saving people? I cannot. I cannot hinder God. So they all said, Well then God has given repentance to the Gentiles.
Another thing we studied last week about repentance is that it is given by God. God gives repentance to people. A person cannot make a decision to change without God’s Spirit bringing about that awareness and bringing about that decision, but there must be a condition of repentance. So the Lord’s ministry is saving people, and it is called the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And what exactly does that mean, baptism in the Holy Spirit?
First of all, the word baptism is the word (baptizdō) and it means to dip or to immerse. To both the Jews and the early church it had two meanings:
1) It represented cleansing.
In Hebrews chapter 6 verse 2 the writer of Hebrews says that the Jews need to move on from the old practices and he says one of the practices is the baptisms, plural. The Jews practiced religious baptism. They baptized their hands. they would hold their hands in a prayer position and let the water run down their hands, and then they would reverse their hands pointing down and let the water roll back down so that the water caught every space of their hands. This is before they ate. That is why the Pharisees came to Jesus and the disciples when they were out in the cornfield, and they got on Jesus because the disciples were not washing their hands. Ceremonial cleansing is what they practiced, and it represented – it did not create – it represented cleansing.
2) The second meaning is identification.
(baptizdō), baptism means identification. In I Corinthians chapter 10 verse 2 Paul says that all the Israelites when they followed Moses through the Red Sea, when the Red Sea parted, he says they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Moses did not have a baptismal ceremony right in the middle of going through the parted waters. Because they followed Moses they identified with him, so they were baptized into him.
So to be baptized in the Holy Spirit means that the moment you receive Christ you are cleansed, and your identification is with Jesus Christ. That is why it is baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Let me repeat that. The moment that you receive Christ you are cleansed, and your identification is with Jesus Christ. It is not a second experience. That is not taught in the Bible. It is the ministry of Jesus to a person when they come to know the Lord. A physical baptism in water expresses what has happened to you in your spirit. Believer’s baptism is when you are out of the water, and you get dunked under, and rise up; you are baptized into His death and rise up in the newness of life. This does not happen to you at water baptism, it happens to you at spiritual baptism. The physical baptism expresses what has happened to you in the spirit. It is a testimony of what happened to me in my spirit and my soul when Jesus Christ saved me. Very clear in Scripture. It is misinterpreted and misapplied.
In Mark chapter 1 verses 9 through 13, the credentials of Jesus. Verse 9, And it happened in those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John into the Jordan. The little prepositional phrase in those days is actually a phrase that is making reference to the Jewish feast days, in those days. So, those days because we are in the days of teshuva, the days of repentance for the Jews. We learn from Matthew chapter 3 verse 15 that the reason that Jesus had John baptize Him was for the fulfillment of righteousness. Mark does not present that to us, he knows the Roman mind is not asking.
So why was Jesus baptized? Well, it was strictly for a Jewish reason. All priests who are entering into the priesthood, entered at the age of thirty years old. And we are told in Luke chapter 3 verse 23 that Jesus was thirty years old when He came to be baptized, when He came to be manifested to Israel. In order to be in the priesthood you must be washed, baptized. That is one of the things you must do. You must also make sacrifice, and you become washed. And so in order to fulfill all righteousness, that is for Jesus to be accepted amongst the Jewish people, He had to be washed and baptized.
He was accepted by the Jewish people because even Nicodemus called him Rabbi according to John chapter 3 verse 2. They accepted Him as a rabbi.
Also, next in chapter 29 of the book of Exodus verse 7, not only did they have to be washed but they had to be anointed with oil is a symbol of the dwelling of God’s Spirit upon the priest.
And it is interesting that after John baptized Jesus, notice verse 10, And immediately while rising up from the water, He saw the heavens being split, and the Spirit coming down as if a dove upon Him. Notice it says, as if a dove. It was not a dove. Like a dove would fly down and land, that is what the Holy Spirit did upon Jesus.
Verse 11, And there became a voice out of heavens, “You Yourself are My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” He received testimony by the Holy Spirit. And secondly, He received testimony by the Heavenly Father. The word beloved means the object of someone’s love. That person is beloved.
In the book of Ephesians – in the first three chapters of the book, Paul tells us and teaches us our position in Christ. In chapter 1 of Ephesians he says that those who are in Christ are going to stand before God the Father without blemish and without spot in His love, because they are accepted in the Beloved One. See, Jesus is the object of God’s love. Because I am in Christ God the Father loves His Son and His Son is the only one that is acceptable to Him and well pleasing to Him. In that moment that I received Christ my position is I am now in Christ and Christ is now in me. I am now the object of God’s love, not because of my goodness, but because He loves His Son and His Son is in me. Therefore I get to experience the love of God the Father for His Son because His Son lives inside of me. The moment that I received Jesus Christ I am clothed in His righteousness not mine.
So you have the testimony of the Spirit. You have the testimony of the Father from Heaven as the credentials for Jesus as being the Messiah. Then in verses 12 and 13, And immediately the Spirit drives Him out into the wilderness. The Spirit of God was in charge here and drives Jesus – literally it is the word to cast out, to throw out. He drives Jesus into the wilderness. Verse 13, And He was there in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan and was with the wild beasts. And the angels were ministering to Him. So He is in the wilderness for forty days, that is how long teshuva is. It also represents the forty years of the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness, and they failed in their attempt to obey God, but Jesus succeeded. Being tempted by Satan. In the Greek text the word translated tempted is tempting. It is a participle showing that Satan was tempting Him all during the forty days that He was out there. And then it says the angels, afterwards the angels were ministering to Him. Notice the literal translation, they just did not minister, they were ministering to Him. It shows continuous action in the past, was not just a one-time thing. They were ministering to Him.
Angels in Scripture are in charge of the physical elements of life. The book of Revelation says that the four winds were controlled by the angels. It says in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 14 that the angels being sent out for ministry on account of the ones who are about to inherit salvation. Angels minister to those who belong to Christ. Once we are saved angels are sent out to take care of our physical needs, and minister to our physical needs themselves.
So there is no description here of the temptations that Satan made, you can get that in Matthew chapter 4. There no details about the combat between Jesus and Satan and the tempting of Satan. It is just a factual statement that Jesus went out in the wilderness. He was tempted by Satan. He came back victorious. And that is it. Factual statements written to the Roman mind of how Jesus conquered Satan. It was not that Jesus defeated Satan only at the cross, He defeated him right here. So Satan tried to break Him, he could not do it. That is when he was defeated. It was on the cross the Jesus paid for our sins, but Satan began to be defeated at this particular time. So it was not until later that He went to the cross, but He defeated Satan here for us. We cannot hold up Satan’s temptations, Jesus can. That is the message. And Jesus defeated Satan to the point that later on Jesus said Satan has nothing in Me, he has already been defeated.
That does it for today.
I cannot over emphasize to you the seriousness of the doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Like I say, there are groups that present it as a second experience. The Bible does not teach that. You never see the Bible say the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a second experience. It is all derived to represent an experience that one has. But to say that Jesus saves you, but you do not have power, I find that to be offensive. I would think that Jesus would too. “You only have Jesus. You do not have any power.” Well, the Jesus I know has all the power. But Jesus baptizes people in the Holy Spirit as He saves them as we studied in Scripture. We are all baptized by one Spirit into the body, all made to drink in the one Spirit. It is very important because that is the difference between groups today is how you handle the baptism of the Holy Spirit. What do you say it is? What does it represent? It represents Jesus’ ministry. He baptizes people in the Holy Spirit. He cleanses them and He identifies with them, that is the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Next week we will start the next section which is Mark chapter 1 verse 14 through to the end of chapter 9 verse 50, where Mark presents the Servant’s ministry in Galilee. So we will take that starting next week. Let’s pray.
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