At the Surrey Tabernacle, Borough Road
“He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” Matthew 3:11
THE word baptize, as used in the Holy Scriptures, always means to immerse; nevertheless, there is this difference in the meaning of the same word, that in some cases the word baptize means, immersion, and emersion; in other cases, it means immersion without emersion; that is, that the people are immersed, never to return by emersion from that into which they are immersed. Such is the baptism of the Holy Ghost, as we shall this morning, I think, I will be able very clearly to show. But before so doing I will just set forth baptism as meaning immersion and emersion; and then, secondly, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that immersion from which there is no return.
First, then, just a word upon baptism as meaning immersion and emersion. And I make a few remarks upon this, for the sake of setting forth the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ. He himself said, “I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened until it be accomplished!” And the 42nd Psalm certainly will explain to us what is there meant: “Deep calls unto deep,” said the Savior, for he evidently is the speaker there, “at the noise of your waterspouts: all your waves and your billows have gone over me.” Here evidently is the immersion of the Lord Jesus Christ into the wrath of God on behalf of those for whom he died. Let us notice two great circumstances as illustrative of this. And it is a matter of essential importance; our life is in it; our eternal welfare is in it; the glory of the blessed God is in it. Take, in the first place then, the ark. You observe that the Lord chose the creatures that should be in the ark; that he impressed them with that instinct by which they left their native forests and native habits, and that he so directed them that they found their way to the ark, and that when they arrived there they distinguished Noah from all other men, and that they went into the ark, and that this ark is spoken of as being baptized, for the apostle Peter takes up that very part, that the ark is represented as undergoing a baptism; and I am sure it may well be said to undergo an immersion, if you look at the tremendous floods that arose when the great God broke up the fountains of the great deep, and when the windows of heaven were opened, and the torrents that rolled down from the skies met the mighty deeps that came from the subterraneous reservoirs; I am sure the ark may well be said to have undergone an immersion. And observe that all the creatures that were in that ark were by the ark carried safely through the flood, and the ark settled at last on a lofty mountain, with all the creatures that were in it before the ark underwent this baptism or immersion. Is not this a solemn and at the same time a simple and very beautiful representation of that which concerns us? Do we not read in the Holy Scriptures of a people being chosen in Christ Jesus? Do we not there read that the redeemed shall return and come to Zion? Do we not there read of a people given to Christ? And all these persons were in Christ's love and in Christ's power; all these persons were as objects of God's choice in Christ Jesus. So that the dear Savior came thus, as described in the 42nd Psalm, “Deep called unto deep.” Deep were the reservoirs, subterranean reservoirs, that were opened up; mighty were the oceans that rolled in over the great southern continents when the world was drowned; and it may seem extravagant to some of you, extravagant in me to say that these oceans and these deeps were as nothing in comparison of the unfathomable deeps of Almighty wrath that rose against Immanuel, and that those torrents were as nothing in comparison of those tremendous waterspouts, for so the word of God expresses it, that rolled down upon our Immanuel, God with us. And as the flood, when it engulfed the whole earth, formed a shoreless sea, so is the wrath of God shoreless to every lost soul. When once the soul is exposed to the infinite wrath of God, there is no haven to which it might direct its course; there is no land at which it might hope to arrive; there is no escape; it is like a shoreless sea. And yet the dear Savior, he did, in his atoning death, carry his people safely through it, rose from the dead, is at God's right hand; and as not a life was lost in the ark, so all that were thus in Christ Jesus were carried safe through the mighty flood, were carried safe through the whole. And the apostle Peter might well say that this is “the like figure whereunto even baptism does also now save us,” namely, Christ Jesus the Lord. And see how sweet the thought, to be acquainted with our need of such a Savior as this, and to be acquainted with what he has done, that he has gone through this baptism, as described in the 42nd Psalm, to which I have referred, and as referred to by himself, when he said, “How am I straitened;” that is, under these solemn responsibilities, to go through this scene. He has carried us safely through, and now, through the Lord's mercy, it is our happy lot to understand that he has done so, to see and to believe that he has done so. And when the Lord is pleased to bring us into close fellowship with himself, this great salvation from this shoreless sea of infinite wrath, from these almighty torrents of eternal fury that must have carried us away into endless woe and endless despair, when we realize something of what he has done, it fixes our confidence and our affections upon him; and here the blessed God appears attractive, lovely, blessed; here he appears as a friend omnipotent, eternal, unchangeable; as a friend that loves at all times. Again, take another instance. When the Israelites came into the light of the cloud, they were immersed in that light; not sprinkled with it, but they were immersed in that light, and they were, in a sense, immersed in the sea. The apostle says that “they were baptized” that is, immersed, “unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” Now as in the 6th of Romans and some other parts baptism is spoken of as death, that is to represent death and burial, as well as resurrection; so here, when they were baptized in the cloud, in the light of the cloud, when they were immersed in the light of the cloud, they thereby became dead to their former slavery, and they began to taste the sweets of freedom, they became dead to Pharaoh and all his host. Just before that, Pharaoh was close upon them, and they were afraid; but the Lord went into the rear, stood behind them, and the light of the cloud shone upon them, and they were immersed in that light, and those that understood it began to realize a little of the comfort of freedom, both from slavery and from the great dragon, who, with his army, was pursuing them. Just so now, when brought into the light of the gospel, and to see in that light God himself as our interposer, our Savior, we then begin to realize a little of the liberty of the gospel; we then begin to see that our sins are virtually dead, that our slavery is gone. And what was this light of the cloud but the presence of the Lord? and what is the light of the gospel but the presence of the Lord? You know the comment that David makes upon this immersion into the light of the cloud; he makes a comment upon it, a comment which, if Bishop Colenso had noticed, he would not have written the infamous nonsense that he has written. David's comment upon the people, when immersed in this light of the cloud, is this, “There was not one feeble person among them.” But Mr. Colenso wants to know how the feeble and the weak could get through the sea. But the word of God settles it by saying, “There was not a feeble person among them.” Why, they were immersed in the light of the cloud, and there was the Holy Spirit strengthening their bodies, just as he now strengthens our souls; there was the presence of God; mountains flowed down, valleys exalted, as it were, and their bodies were strong, not one feeble person among them. And so, it is now. Why, if the Lord were to grant to me his presence today, I should not feel any feebleness, but I should feel power, and be happy; and if he were to grant you the blessings of his presence, and immersed your soul into the light of the gospel, showed you his love, and that God himself is your interposer, why, you would be hardly able then to keep yourself from singing, as did the Psalmist when he said, “The Lord is my light, and the strength of my life, and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” Thus, they were immersed in the cloud, this cloud a figure of the gospel; for God was in the cloud, God is in the gospel; the Lord defended the people by the cloud, and he defends his people now by the gospel; he guided them by the cloud, and he guides his people now by the truth. But they were also in the Red Sea; there they were immersed; not bodily immersed in water, but inasmuch as they went down, as it were, into the sea, they went down into that state in which an actual death was brought about as it regards their adversaries; so that herein was the death of all their foes. And what a beautiful figure is this of the death of our sins! But I must not lose sight of another point here, they were baptized unto Moses; what does that mean? Why, that they were baptized unto the liberty that Moses should bring about; that is, they were immersed into liberty. And so, when they had been immersed in the light of the cloud, and were then immersed in the sea, and the victory was wrought, here was immersion and emersion; they came out into liberty, and they were free. You have only to read the 15th chapter of Exodus, and see what a glorious song these people there sang and rejoiced in. I think, then, without going farther, that these two circumstances set forth the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ: first, the ark carrying the people safely through; so Moses took the people safely through the Red Sea; “not a hoof” and that is a beautiful expression, that will suit us free-grace people very nicely “not a hoof” should be left behind; and similar to this is the language of the Savior, “Not a hair of your head shall perish.”
But I come to that which must occupy the greater part of our time this morning, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the immersion of the Holy Ghost. “He shall immerse you in the Holy Ghost, and fire,” for that is the proper reading of this scripture. Now in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, 12th chapter, and at the 13th verse, you have these words, which I will name before I enter more minutely into this matter. The apostle there says, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized” that is, immersed, “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.” Now “we are immersed into one body.” The Independents laugh at us in attempting to establish the idea of immersion from the scripture I have just named; but I think they might have kept their laugh until they heard what we have to say about it: they should have stopped for that; but, however, we will take up that presently. Now there is an allusion in these words, you will observe to both the ordinances. “For by one Spirit are we all immersed into one body” so by the ordinance of baptism we come professionally and professedly into the church of the blessed God; “and have been all made to drink into one Spirit” there is an allusion evidently to the Lord's Supper, to the wine, the blood of the everlasting covenant. “By one Spirit are we immersed into one body.” Senseless, say some, say the Independents, to read it in that way. Well, I do not think so; my feeling is this, that the body there spoken of means the body of the people; and the man who is to be brought into the body of that people, and made one with them, that man is dead in trespasses and in sins; and the Holy Spirit takes the soul out of death, and immerses it into life, and it will never come out of that life again. The Holy Spirit takes the benighted soul and immerses it into light, and it will never come out of that light again. The Holy Spirit takes the soul and immerses it into the fountain that shall wash away all its stains, and there the soul shall appear. The Holy Spirit takes the soul, and immerses it into that peace, which is as a river, and into that righteousness which is as the waves of the sea. Here, then, by one Spirit are we who were dead in trespasses and in sins, immersed into the church, brought into the church of the blessed God. Let us have another scripture from the New Testament before I go to the Old Testament, and it is this. Take the 3rd chapter of the Gospel by John: is it not there said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God”? And when you were born, and when I was born, were we not immersed into this life? Only there is an emersion relative to this life, as well as an immersion; we are immersed into life, but we have to go out of it again, because sin is in it, and wherever sin is, there we shall have to go out of that place; wherever sin is, that is the place we shall have to leave; for the Lord is determined that his people shall not be left anywhere, not finally, where there is anything that can injure them. When we take the work of regeneration, what is the baptism of the Holy Ghost there but immersion? Hence the apostle said, “He has saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly.” Now then, let us see what is meant here; “He shall immerse you in the Holy Ghost, and in fire.” Thus, then, if we look at the baptism of Christ, we see how he carried his people safe through wrath, and we shall, by believing in him, escape the wrath to come. Then if we look at the baptism of the Holy Ghost, it immerses the soul into life, into all that blessedness that the Lord has for it. Here, then, we still keep up the idea of immersion. I shall now go on to show that this work of the Holy Spirit, baptism of the Holy Spirit, is immersion, and I shall go on to show what it immerses the soul into before I come to the fire. Now, if you will just go to the 37th of Ezekiel, you will there find the baptism of the Holy Ghost in beautiful accordance with the day of Pentecost, for at the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came “a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it” sprinkled all the house where they were sitting? No; “filled all the house where they were sitting.” And if it filled the house, and they were in the house, and if that were not immersion, then I really do not know what immersion means; I am utterly at a loss to know what the meaning of it can be if it be not that. But we go farther; 37th of Ezekiel; the Lord brought the prophet into the valley, and there taught him both what we are by nature, and what a convinced sinner is when he is brought unto the Lord; that his bones are dry, that his hope is lost, and that he is cut off from all help in the Lord. He said, “Can these bones live?” The prophet said, “O Lord, you know.” Then he began to prophesy; and I need not here stop in the details of that department; I will come at once to what is evidently there the baptism of the Holy Ghost. “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live;” and the Holy Spirit, that is the heavenly wind, in the universality of his power, breathed upon these slain, and they did live. But did they live by being breathed into, without an atmosphere in which they could continue to breathe? No, friends; there was not only inspiration thus to raise them to their feet and bring them into that we shall presently have to dwell on; but they were immersed into a certain atmosphere. Here was the Holy Spirit in the universality of his power; “come from the four winds, O breath and they stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army,” called an army because of the victory that was given to them, and also because they were raised up to contend for the truth as it is in Christ Jesus the Lord. I will here just say a word upon that into which they are immersed. They are immersed into a new atmosphere; they breathe what they never breathed before; they live in a clime they never lived in before; they live in a state they never lived in before. Where do they live? Well, first, just take, for instance, the love of God. Am I wrong in this? Does not the Lord immerse us in his love? Are there not some within these walls this morning that know what it is to be immersed in God's love? Have there not been times when your very soul has been spiritually, relative to the love of God, as Ezekiel was when he said it was unto the ankles, and unto the knees, and a river then that could not be passed over, waters that had risen, waters to swim in? Oh, my hearer, is there not such a thing, while we are in this world, as being immersed into the love of God, and our souls saturated with his love, we feel that he loves us? Think you not that the woman at the Savior's feet was immersed into the love of God? Did not her soul overflow with love, and was she not in the very element of love? It was the very element of her soul. Did she not know that that love was as a river, waters that were risen, waters to swim in? What was this but a wondrous immersion? And so, the Holy Spirit thus comes and brings us into this love. Then, again, take if you please, the counsel of God; that is a kind of atmosphere, of climate, in which the Lord's people can breathe freely; where the great God comes and says, swears by himself, saying, “In blessing I will bless you.” And what is the counsel of God? It is summed up like this; indeed, it is expressed in the words I have quoted. But take another scripture, and you will find no counsel in the Bible, on the one hand, to equal it; and on the other hand, you will find no counsel in the Bible to contradict it, namely, that the Lord has sworn, and will not repent, that Christ is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Here is God's counsel; you are brought to believe in this and immersed in it. I hesitate not to say, as a general rule, of course I feel sometimes dark, and dead, and in bondage, but still, as a general rule, my very soul has been immersed in this eternal perfection of the Mediator for years, and I solemnly believe that nothing but God's almighty power itself can take me out of it. There I am, in his eternal and immutable love; there I am, in this sacred counsel of the eternal priesthood perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ; and I can breathe freely there, because it is no use for my sins to say anything against me; it is no use your saying anything against me, and it is no use my conscience saying anything against me, and it is no use for the devil to say anything. The law is too just to say anything, and justice is too correct to say anything, and the gospel will never change its voice; and it is no use for death to say anything, no use for trouble to say anything. Well, say some, you defy everybody there. Quite so, quite so; breathe quite freely there; neither evil nor adversary; there is neither death, nor sin, nor trouble. And if anyone should arise and whisper to me, “Perhaps it won't always be so,” I begin to sing out a sort of answer, “Who shall separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus the Lord?” “He shall immerse you in the Holy Ghost,” in the love of God, in the counsel of God, in the glory of God. It is a new earth, a new heaven, a new sun, and moon, never to grow old; new stars, new trees, new people, new song, it is all new together. Thus, then, the baptism, that is, the immersing work of the Holy Spirit, is to immerse the soul into eternal life, and there is no going out of this state of things. “Immersed into one body,” that is, into the church. And you that are taught of God, you know the ordinance of baptism is not the way into the church; it is the way into the church as it regards membership and external things, but you must be in the church vitally and truly before that, or else you have no right to the ordinance; and you must be in the church vitally before you come to the Lord's table, or else you have no right to be at the Lord's table. Now, then, the Holy Spirit thus came as the four winds; and these dry bones, what a transition! became men, stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army. That is one representation of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Now the disciples on the day of Pentecost were immersed into the love of God in a way they never were before; they were immersed into the counsel of God in a way they never were before; they were immersed into the glory of God in a way they never were before; and, as we shall presently have to observe, they were immersed into the service of God in a way they never were before. I would venture to say, if any one of these apostles were here now, he would stand astounded at real Christians attempting to make baptism consist of anything short of immersion. He would say, “My soul was made alive by the Savior calling me; I was then immersed into life, immersed into light, and immersed partly into liberty; but now, when the day of Pentecost came, why, I was then right in, as it were, to the glories of the blessed God, swallowed up and immersed therein, so that this world and all it contained appeared to them as mere toys in comparison of those glorious things into which they were brought. Thus, then, it is the work, of the Holy Spirit to give us to understand the immersion of Jesus Christ, and his emersion by the resurrection, and how he carried his people safely through; second, it is the work of the Holy Spirit to immerse us into life; and third, into the liberty of the gospel. This matter appears clear to my mind. Come back to the 37th of Ezekiel. We have one representation there that the Holy Spirit comes as the mighty wind, and immerses the people into liberty, and into all the blessedness of the gospel.
Now shall I, before I come to the other part, just hint at what this immersion is sure to bring us to? 37th of Ezekiel; the Lord says of these people, “I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel.” Just compare that with what I quoted just now, that “we are all immersed by one Spirit into one body,” said the apostle, Paul; and Ezekiel says, “they shall be one nation upon the mountains of Israel.” I think you are pretty well established in what is meant by the mountains, that it means those gospel transactions that lift us above sin. Love brings us up above sin; that is a mountain, therefore: sovereign choice brings us up above everything against us; it is a mountain, therefore. Mediatorial perfection brings us up, regeneration brings us up, the promises bring us up, fellowship with God brings us up, the power of God brings us up. So that by the mountains we are to understand those standings we have above all that is against us. “One nation;” this is what the work of the Holy Spirit is sure to bring us to, to these high places. And “one king,” in contrast to the succession of kings of Judah; “one king,” namely, Christ Jesus, “shall be king to them all.” There is the one Spirit, the one King. “He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever.” Is that your King? You know some that profess to obey this King say, “He will reign over me if I let him, sir.” You, you poor little moth, go home and read your Bible; don't talk such nonsense as that. You let him! you let him! You read your Bible, you silly thing, and you will find that he must reign, and shall reign, and will reign. Let him indeed! “He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever.” “One king shall be king to them all;” that King that reigns with certainty; that King that is meek and lowly in heart, whose heart will never be lifted up above his brethren. “And they shall be no more two nations.” The kings and priests of Judah could not keep Israel together; in spite of all these kings and priests did, the people fell to pieces. But under Jesus Christ they keep together; there has never been a schism in his body yet, and never will be. “Neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.” Now the literal Israel were divided into two kingdoms; but Christ shall remain one. This, then, is what the work of the Holy Spirit is sure to bring us to.
The next verse I am about to quote is so dear to my heart, that if it were saleable, I would not sell it for all the treasures of this globe. “Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols.” My Jesus Christ did not; and so, by him I am as free from idolatry as he is; “nor with their detestable things;” Jesus Christ did not defile himself with anything, and my faith lays hold of him, and as I stand in him I am as free from that which defiles as Christ himself is; “nor with any of their transgressions;” Christ did not; he took them all away without defiling himself. He could touch the leper without the leprosy touching him. If any mere man had touched the leper, that man would have been unclean; but when Christ touched the leper, the leprosy fled from him; and the leprosy could not touch the Savior, he remained clean. So, as he remained clean, my faith lays hold of him, and by him I am as free from transgression as he himself is. “But I will cleanse them.” And how will he cleanse them? He will cleanse them as the saved testify; “To him that loved us, and washed us,” not sprinkled us, but “washed us from our sins in his own blood.” “So,” so, by their being one nation upon the mountains of Israel; so, by there being one King that shall be king to them all; so, by an indissoluble unity, they shall no more be two nations; so, by my dear Son putting away all their sins, and they constituted, accepted, and perfect, and eternally glorified in him without spot or wrinkle; “so,” after this manner, “shall they be my people, and I will be their God.” Are we come to that? I wonder how many of you, now, can go home and read the 37th of Ezekiel, and come to that verse, and look up to heaven and say, “O God, the searcher of all hearts, you know that I see and feel that I am an utterly detestable transgressor, that all these evils belong to me, that I am altogether corrupt, and that if ever I should realize what is here said, it must be entirely by your dear Son; it must be by his blood and his righteousness, your mercy and loving- kindness.” Blessed God, “is not this right?” for “whatsoever is not of faith is sin;” and Enoch had this testimony, that he pleased God, simply because he had faith in the truth. How many of you can go home and say, “That verse, taken in that gospel sense, is dear to my heart”? How many of you can go home and pray over it, and say, “Lord, breathe into my soul more and more of the blessedness of this promise, that Jesus may not only be my sanctification, but that I may realize that sanctification very abundantly, in softening my heart, lightening my eyes, endearing your name, and causing me to run, with enlarged heart and liberated soul, in the way of your commandments.” Such is the immersion of the Holy Ghost. I had intended to have noticed the other parts of the chapter, to show that the work of the Holy Spirit brings us to these things, but your time is nearly gone, and I must, therefore, now come to the other part of our text. But before so doing, perhaps I had better just say, then, that the Holy Spirit immerses us into three things. First, into God in his love and mercy to us, as I have tried to show. Second, into the service of God. I would not give a thought for the minister of whom it may not be as truly said spiritually as we sometimes say of a man literally; we say, “Why, that man is completely immersed in the world, taken up with the world, it is his night and day care; he is immersed in business.” So, the minister, if he is baptized by the Holy Ghost, he is immersed into the service of God, day and night; matters not whether it is Sunday, or Monday, or Tuesday; he has no fixed time for study. “Saturday is the time for study; then we go into our study; then we go on with our studios; then we begin to think of study.” And so, they have a dry study, and get up a few dry-studied sentences, and a few dry-studied sermons; and a pretty concern it is, it is all head work, formal work, and dead work together. No, my hearer, the man that is sent of God, his study is everywhere; wherever he is, he is in the service of God; if he is walking the streets his mind is more or less taken up with eternal things. He may be called upon morning, noon, or night, to speak for his Lord and master; his tongue is like the pen of a ready writer.
But then it says “fire.” That means three things. First, it is to denote that the new world into which we are immersed has no cold weather in it; it has no winter. Hence the tree bears fruit all the year round; there is no winter in Christ; but there is that holy fire that keeps up such a nice temperature that there is no cold there; no, the more we are there the warmer we shall be, in the best sense of the word. And therefore, we want the fire; we should not like to be immersed into a cold religion, we want a fiery, living religion. Secondly, this fire represents the gospel. “Is not my word like fire?” And so, the Christian, when he is immersed in the gospel, how happy he is! when he can walk amidst the fiery living realities of the everlasting gospel of the blessed God. And then, lastly, it means the zeal of the people. “Make his ministers a flame of fire;” and the living creatures in Ezekiel's vision are spoken of as fire; and so, the people of God are to be as a flame of fire. I am sure last night, when I and two of our deacons walked round our new chapel, and looked at it, I thought, Well, this looks like fire. And I did in my own soul bless the Lord when I saw the noble building there, and saw how it looks; and really every brick in the building looks like a high-doctrine brick, especially those that are nearest the top; so, the very chapel itself seems to say who built it. I thought, now, here is fire, here is the work of the Holy Spirit. And a friend showed me the other day, that I prophesied this new chapel thirteen years ago. Now I used to say I would not prophesy anything that could by any possibility take place in my own time, lest I should be a false prophet; but it is put upon record that I did, and at the end of the thirteen years there it is; it is not finished yet, but then he who began the good work will finish it; the hand of Zerubbabel laid the foundation, and his hand shall finish it. What is this? Why, it shows the living fire, the zeal of the people; that they have heard the great command, “Speak to the people, that they go forward.” It is true some few look very cold upon it, and I look very cold upon them. And I don't much like some of you to go away, and show yourselves friendly, and shake hands, and be very kind with those who stood in the way of the new chapel. We should have had a new chapel thirteen years ago, built and paid for long before this, and we in it, and a congregation half as large again as this, if certain parties had not stood in the way. And for myself, I wish to be humble and kind, but there are some things I have great difficulty in forgiving. I hope I am set out, and shall set out, for the good of the souls of the people; and when persons professing to be Christians stand in the way of the gospel, there is something to me so unaccountable about it, that of all the crimes a man under the heavens can commit; I do not think any crime can equal that of hindering wickedly and willfully, whatever the motive may be, the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Now my prayer for you is, not, I confess, excluding myself, that the beauty of the Lord may still be upon you, and that he may establish the work of your hands; yes, the work of your hands, that he will establish it. I am sure you are sincere. And I could not look at that chapel last night without feeling truly astonished, it is perfectly wonderful what you have done.