“He Will Baptize You with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:8)
Last week we looked at Christ’s calling of his disciples. He said, “Follow me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.” And they left their nets, they left their boats and followed him… Others left their tax-collector’s booth or business practice, commercial ventures, old life or forsook their previous occupations—and they followed-after Jesus.
The commitment to follow Jesus is the commitment to discipleship; following Jesus necessarily—100% of the time, in every case, with ZERO exclusions—following Jesus is about discipleship and disciple-making. This is THE calling to which we have been called; this is the heart-&-vision of Christ for His church…
Mark’s Gospel is a basic textbook/how-to-manual that shows the church how to do the ONE thing Jesus commands us to do: MAKE DISCIPLES…
There are book-ends (a.k.a., “Inclusio”) in 1:17 and in 16:15.
• 1:17, “Follow me—be my disciple—and I will make you to become fishermen of men.”
• 16:15, “go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (//Matthew 28’s Great Commission).
…the contents of the Gospel, from chapter 1 thru ch. 16, provide us with all we need to know and describe how we go about doing that. What we have between these “book-ends” is commentary on that ONE singular focus: being disciple-making disciples…
1) Mark’s 1st order of business (1:8) is to familiarize his reader with the teaching of the Holy Spirit.
2) Mark’s 2nd order of business: Announce the Good News (1:14-15).
a. Confession of Sins (1:5b)
b. Expectation the Messiah will come set things right
c. Teaching about the Kingdom
d. Genuine repentance and belief.
3) 3rd—Personal Calling from Jesus: “Follow Me” (1:17).
4) And 4th, Commitment to follow…
So what does that committed discipleship look like? For Mark, you might say that “A Great Commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will Grow a Great Church!”
And apart from the baptism in the Holy Spirit, there’s nothing great about anything we do…
While JB’s baptism was an outward-sign that pointed to a deeper work, Jesus’ baptism or immersion in the Holy Spirit would cleanse the heart, the soul, the inner spirit. John’s baptism could cleanse the outside with a water-washing that is symbolic; Jesus came to cover us for reals and soak us in something much different…
==>(The following bullets describe the ministry and baptism of the Holy Spirit)<==
• In the gospel, there’s an occasion where Jesus proposed that He should wash his disciples’ feet… Peter said, “No, Lord, I am not fit for you to wash my feet!” And Jesus said, “Peter, if I do not wash your feet, then you can’t be my follower.” And Peter said, “Then Lord, not just my feet, but ALL of me!”
• Jesus MUST wash you; you and I must be cleansed… But the washing that we require is a deeper, spiritual one.
• The OT foretold of a general outpouring of god’s HS. The HS was known to fill certain people at special times, in order that God’s purposes would be accomplished powerfully thru them… But Joel 3 predicts that a day would come when the HS will be poured out upon all humans—and, indeed, as JB put it, with the Messiah came the Spirit whose prevenient work will bring all people into the realm of salvation by grace thru faith…
• To Nicodemus in John 3, Jesus said, “You must be BORN AGAIN…” He explained what that meant: a deeper work of God’s grace. Man’s religion tries-&-tries to cover us with goodness, but that will NEVER save and it will never transform… You must be born again—baptized or immersed in the Holy Spirit.
• This Spirit of God is absolutely necessary, and not just some kind of special add-on for super-spiritual people! Everyone in heaven will have been baptized in the Spirit, no exceptions. You need this! But it doesn’t happen by accident; it will not happen by chance, and it does not occur automatically: it is the heart’s desire for more of God: JB said, “He must increase; I must decrease.” You want more of Christ, and less of self—when your desire for God eclipses your desire to satisfy the selfishness, then the Holy Spirit will baptize you—the Spirit of God will fill your heart, cleanse you thoroughly of all sin, and empower you for service in the kingdom…
• To Timothy (2 Tim. 1:7) Paul wrote, “God has not given us a Spirit of timidity, but one of power, of courage, and of self control.”
• So this Spirit in which we MUST be immersed, that 3rd-person of the Trinity, empowers and enables every believer to communicate the Gospel. That is the ONE thing that ALWAYS occurs:
o Acts 2 the Spirit came upon the followers of Jesus and they spoke clearly to all nations, in various languages, the Gospel of Jesus Christ…
o …and in Acts several times it says, “And the Spirit filled them and they boldly declared the truth of God,” or “they proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
o The very last image of Acts—Acts 28—Paul, baptized in the Spirit—was boldly declaring the kingdom, with no hindrances! That’s what the Spirit does, and that’s why Mark’s Gospel begins with that statement in 1:8, “He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.” Because evangelism and discipleship is done in the immersion of, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
• The work of the Spirit is very predictable: Galatians 5 explains 9 “fruit” of the Spirit, which is to say “products” or necessary outcomes of the work of the Spirit in its baptism for you: “The fruit of the Spirit is love… joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, & self-control.” To me, these so-called “fruit” of the Spirit are a kind of barometer that lets me see where we’re at in this whole sanctification-Spiritual-formation project that God has in mind… And, given the context of what Mark says about the baptism of the Spirit, I have to see these fruit as part of that empowerment to communicate the gospel in evangelism and discipleship terms…
• To the church at Thessalonika Paul wrote, “Do not get drunk on wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.” In the same way that I could give myself-over to the effects of alcohol, I can also give myself-over to the work of the HS…
• Over-&-over, in a way that could NEVER be missed or mistaken but has—I believe intentionally—been neglected and ignored by a spiritually lazy church, God’s Word requires you & me to be immersed in the Holy Spirit of God. To be holy just as He is holy—your holiness will be based on God’s holiness: the only inherently holy thing in the universe is God, and any thing or any person—that’s you, that’s me, the church together—will be holy insomuch as we are filled with the Holy Spirit of God; holiness is derived from a thing’s proximity to God who is holy!
• 1 Thessalonians 5:23 says, “May God himself give you His Spirit; may the God of peace sanctify you thru-&-thru—fully immersing you in His Spirit—so that your whole spirit, your whole body & soul, will be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul knew about Jesus’ teaching, remember Jesus’ discussion w/the woman at the well? He said to her, “God, who is Spirit, is searching for spiritual worshippers.” Somehow there are people who get this; they are truth-&-spirit disciples who just want to be filled with, and immersed in the Presence of Christ… And it is FAITH that gets me & faith that gets you under the spiritual covering of the Holy Spirit…
• Paul wrote of this immersion, “The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.” (1 Thess 5:24) But no one will ever be filled with or baptized by the Spirit or Born Again in the Spirit against her or his will; Jesus uses no battering ram or force to enter in—He is gently knocking on the heart’s door… And no church will ever be filled with the Spirit against their will—it is a matter of obedience (since Christ requires it) but a matter of faith that must overcome inherent pride. If I am so full of self there will be no room for the Spirit; if I am doing the religious work on my own, earning my own way into heaven, then there will be no opportunity for the Spirit to do its work at that deeper level that God requires…
• In Romans 8:4 it says, “God’s righteous requirements are FULLY met in us who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the (Holy) Spirit.” And the doctrine of the spirit there describes being led by the Spirit just as Christ was led by the Spirit into the wilderness… Because the SAME Spirit that attended to Christ, that hovered over the waters at creation—the Spirit of God—is the same Spirit that fills, cleanses and empowers the believer to live the righteous and holy life.
• Romans 8:37 says that baptized in the Spirit “we are more than conquerors: we are overwhelming victorious conquerors through Him who loved us!”
• Now there are 2 things we told NEVER to do in regards to the baptism of the Spirit:
o Do not quench the Spirit (1 Thess 5:19).
o Do not grieve the Spirit (Eph. 4:30). It says you were “sealed” with/by the Spirit… The Spirit brings gladness and joy unspeakable and full of glory—the joy of the Lord strengthening you & the church is the Holy Spirit! You have been sealed with the HS, and you do not want to grieve the Spirit…
• If we are baptized in the Spirit, as Mark’s Gospel promises Jesus will do, God will grow and mature us in amazing ways. 1 Corinthians 2:1-16 says,
“We speak a message of WISDOM among the mature…we speak God’s secret wisdom… (which) God has revealed to us by His (Holy) Spirit…
READ: 1 Cor. 2:10-16… “…But we have the mind of Christ.”
…this is the work of the Spirit, what the Bible calls “sanctification,” a big word simply meaning “to be made holy by God,” or “set apart” for God’s purposes (by God’s calling). Jesus developed this concept at length in John 17; and what Mark wants the church to know is that Jesus will baptize you in the Holy Spirit… & sanctify you.
• This was the secret to the early church. Do you think that those amazing miracles of the early church were only for biblical days, way back when… and NOT for today? God’s Spirit, and the miracles that accompany the outpouring of the Spirit are for NOW, and the only glass ceiling for the church… here/anywhere… is a matter of little faith—we have constructed our own limits that God never intended… for Jesus guarantees that—baptized as such in the HS—we will do even greater things than these…
• …in Acts 19:1-7, Paul happened upon a group of Jesus’-followers at Ephesus. He asked them, “Did you receive the HS when you believed?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there was a Holy Spirit!” So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” They replied, “John’s (water) baptism.” It says they were subsequently baptized in the name if the Lord Jesus… “and the Holy Spirit came upon them.” They spoke, communicated God’s truth (in “tongues” in that case)…
So I am asking the same question here today: did you receive the HS when you believed? How do you know? In Acts 19:1-7 they were compelled to speak in a special way, to communicate God’s special truth; literally it says, “They spoke in tongues and prophesied.” That is to say, the communicated God’s truth, and that is precisely how you know you are baptized in the HS. Your language will communicate God’s truth in effective ways that edify the church and build the church. Your words/deeds proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God. You will grow; you will mature and you will communicate God’s wisdom, A.K.A., evangelism and discipleship. That is the outcome of such a baptism; that is the point of Mark’s gospel: Go and make disciples, proclaiming the gospel to the whole world, “to all creation,” teaching them what Jesus has taught you…
• Consider the last words of Christ to the church as he was ascending. In Acts ch. 1:8, the resurrected Jesus Christ gives this promise:
“The HS will come upon you and you will be my witnesses…” all around the world! The ministry of the Holy Spirit is one of testifying to what you have seen and heard concerning the Christ… This is what the Spirit does; that’s the point of mark 1:8, that the baptism in the Spirit empowers you & me to accomplish what Christ requires, and that is such a simple matter: evangelism and discipleship, a.k.a., The Great Commission.
1) Did you receive the HS when you believed?
2) Yes? Then you have a ministry of proclamation and everything you say & do is designed to deepen your own walk with Christ as you partner with others in discipleship. Your words will be bold declarations of the kingdom of God. You have been set apart—sanctified—for God’s special purposes. No? Here’s your next step:
a. Seek the internal witness of the Spirit. Have ONE desire: God’s deeper work in you. Agree with the Apostle Paul: “I want to know ONE thing; I want to know Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection.” It’s not about a theology; it is about a person. Jesus Christ. Mark ch. 1 thru ch. 16 is focused on the person of Jesus Christ; Mark’s gospel is a textbook on discipleship; it is a manual for the church to know how to learn and teach about Jesus. 1:1 says, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” And it is the written heralding of the gospel; but its purpose is to show you & me how to be the true heralds of this truth about Jesus. The Spirit will transform you into the more believable Bible that someone else will know & trust unto salvation… May someone who knows you but doesn’t know Jesus come to know Jesus because they know you!
b. Let Him produce the fruit of the Spirit, and EMBRACE the truth: “I am a child of God, totally surrendered to His work, obedient to His will & way. Be confident: “I have the Spirit of God in me; I’ve been sealed with the Spirit; I have the mind of Christ; I will live in that truth; God is sanctifying me, setting me apart for His purposes.” Share that testimony, focus on the person & work of Jesus…
c. Filled with the Spirit, you have ONE ministry: Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses…” and all we do will be focused on that. Evangelism. Discipleship. Your testimony of Jesus is amazingly compelling.
d. Do NOT quench the Spirit; do NOT grieve the Spirit. Be strengthened by the joy of the Lord’s Spirit working in you…
3) Drop your nets now. Follow Him. Jump out of the boat, leave everything else behind. Follow Him…
CLOSER:
In Mark 1:9 the Spirit descended upon Jesus and the voice was given from heaven: “You are my son whom I love, with you I am well pleased.”
Today, if you’ve been baptized in the church, will you recall the waters of that baptism, and acknowledge & confess that the sacrament, as an outward sign of an inner work of grace, symbolizes death to the old self, and being raised to new life—the new life in the Spirit…
…if you have not learned about the new life in the Spirit, ask the Lord for a spiritual affirmation. The internal testimony or witness of the Spirit, AND the outward “fruit” of the Spirit should be enjoyed by you & others. May your obedience of faith procure for you a righteousness not of your own… not just a covering by the atonement but a thru-&-thru complete immersion in the Holy Spirit of God… Peter said, “Not just my feet, Lord—but wash ALL of me!”
…and if you have not been baptized in the church, FIRST ask the Lord to completely fill and cleanse you with His love and forgiveness of sins, be justified, and seek the baptism of the HS, and may your water baptism be an authentic outward sign & public declaration of the inner work. Seek 1st-&-foremost His kingdom & righteousness, and He will add all these things unto you.
BENEDICTION: May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you thru-&-thru; He will do it, He is faithful and will complete His work already begun in you…
Communion…
