 Hey man, so here we are in John chapter number one, so we're going to start really in verse number 15 tonight in John chapter number one. We're going to look, last week we looked at who Jesus was. We looked at who Jesus was in the first 14 verses of John chapter one. Tonight we're going to look at who John, the Baptist is and what he was doing here. In verse number six the Bible says it kind of tells us who he was and why he was there, but we're going to look at specifically what he was doing and why he actually meets Jesus in this chapter as well. Look at verse number six, the Bible says there was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light. We talked about Jesus being the light last week. It says that was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. But no, I'm sorry, verse number eight. He was not that light saying John was not the one. He was just there. He was just there. He was sent to bear witness. He was sent to come in and kind of declare the coming light is what John was there for, but it's important to know that John was sent from God in verse number six. We're going to start in verse number 15 where the Bible says John bear witness of him and cried saying, this was he of whom I spake, he that cometh after me is preferred before me for, and then he says something that he says twice. He says, you know, I have this underline in my Bible. He says, for he was before me. And after we look at the second time he says that, I'm going to show you what he's talking about when he says for he was before me. And look at verse 16. And his fullness have all we received and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. So he's already declaring that this person Jesus is the Messiah. No man has seen God at any time the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father. He out declared him. And this is the record of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who art thou? So the next few verses, John is out in the wilderness. He's preaching this. He's preaching Jesus Christ. We just saw that. What was the message that John was preaching before he started doing the actions that he was doing? He was preaching Jesus Christ in the wilderness. And now the Pharisees and the scribes, they send people out to visit. I'm sure he's making quite a stir. They send people out to see who is this guy? What's he doing? And they start interrogating him here in verse number 19. It says, anyway, they ask, who art thou in verse number 19? In verse number 20, he starts telling them. He says, he confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. Now every single Pharisee, every single Jew knows, you know, Christ is not Jesus' last name. It's not like, you know, Jared Pizarnski. Christ is the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, the Christ being the Messiah. So basically John, when he says, you know, truth came by Jesus Christ, he's saying, this person Jesus is the Christ is what he is declaring to everybody. Because the Jews and the children of Israel had been waiting for the Christ. This is how all people in the Old Testament were saved by believing God's promise that he was going to send a Christ or the Messiah. We see that word used in John chapter one here as well. So the scribes and the Pharisees, they go out to see what this is all about and they asked him, what then? He said, I'm not the Messiah is what he's saying. He said, what then? Art thou Elias. That means that's a New Testament word for Elijah. Are you Elijah? And I'll tell you why in a few minutes why they're asking if he's Elijah. And he said, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, no. Now that's interesting because this kind of shows that, you know, this was a prophecy that Elijah would come first. And this kind of shows that, you know, John was saying, you know, he either knew that it was a spiritual fulfillment or he just didn't know that he was fulfilling this spiritual prophecy. Because he was actually spiritually fulfilling a certain prophecy in the Old Testament by being there. He was the spirit of Elijah as we'll look at in just a few minutes. Look at John chapter one, verse 22. So he tells them, I'm not Elijah. I mean he's not physically Elijah. John the Baptist was not, you know, Elijah, you know, brought back down from heaven. John the Baptist was fulfilling a prophecy, it was a spiritual fulfillment of a prophecy. We'll look at that in just a few minutes. Look at verse 22. They said them, who art thou? They said, who are you then? Then we may give an answer to them that sent us, what sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as sayeth the prophet, Asaius. Now Asaius is Isaiah. Turn to Isaiah chapter 40. Turn to Isaiah chapter 40. This is what, this is what John the Baptist is quoting right here. He's quoting Isaiah chapter 40, which is a prophecy. I mean Isaiah chapter 40. Look at verse number one. Isaiah chapter 40 in the Old Testament. Look at verse number one, where the Bible says, comfort ye, comfort ye my people, sayeth your God, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Then verse number three says, the voice of him that cryeth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. So this is what John the Baptist is quoting. He's quoting this messianic prophecy from Isaiah chapter 40. Now turn to Matthew chapter 17. Let's go back to this idea of him being Elijah, because there is a prophecy in the Old Testament we'll look at in just a couple of seconds about, you know, Elijah coming and, you know, before the Christ comes. Alright, look at Matthew chapter 17, and look at verse number 10. Look at Matthew chapter 17. Look at verse number 10. So the disciples actually asked Jesus this. It says, the disciples asked him, saying, why then say the scribes that Elias must first come. And I'm going to show you that prophecy in just a couple of minutes. And Jesus answered and said to them, Elias truly shall come first and restore all things. But I say unto you that Elias has come already and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise also the son of man, also the son of man sufferer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. Now turn to Malachi chapter 4, the last chapter in the Old Testament. Look at Malachi chapter number 4. And let's look at this prophecy in the Old Testament. Malachi chapter 4. Right before the book of Matthew, you'll see the last book of the Old Testament, which is Malachi chapter number 4. And look at verse number 5. This is what the scribes and the Pharisees were referencing when they were asking John the Baptist, are you Elijah? Look at verse number 5. It says, of verse number Malachi 4 verse 5. It says, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. So the Bible here is quoting that Elijah is going to come and he's going to attempt to make straight the way of the Lord. It's kind of the same thing here. He's going to try to get people's hearts right to prepare for the Messiah to come. That was the point of Elijah coming. And here we see Jesus explain to us in Matthew chapter 17 that it, John the Baptist was a spiritual fulfillment of this prophecy. Okay. So either John was talking in verse number 21 that he was not a physical fulfillment of it. He wasn't actually Elijah. And he knew, I mean, I think that's my opinion. The Bible doesn't really say for sure what he actually knew. But I think that since he was taught of the Lord, that he knew that he was a spiritual fulfillment of that. He just didn't feel like he had to explain things to the scribes and the Pharisees at the time. All right. That's my thoughts on that. Look at verse, go back to John chapter one and look at verse number 23. So basically, if you look at John chapter one in verse number 21, 22 and 23, he's kind of, you know, telling him I'm not actually Elijah, even though he was the spiritual fulfillment of Elijah as Jesus explained in Matthew 17. But in verse number 23, he quotes and he says, I am the one, I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord. He says, I am fulfilling this prophecy in Isaiah chapter 40. So he's literally telling them that he's a prophet is what John the Baptist is telling the Pharisees. He's like, Hey, I am a prophet. I am the guy that is Isaiah chapter 40 was talking about. Now look at verse number 24, verse number 24. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. So they were just there to cause trouble. They weren't going to believe anything that he said anyway. And he said, and they asked of him and he said unto him, Why baptize this thou then? If thou be not that Christ nor Elias, neither that prophet. John answered them saying, I baptize with water, but there standeth one among you whom ye know not. He it is who coming after me is preferred before me whose shoe latchet I am not worthy to unloose. So again, he's declaring Jesus. He's declaring the Christ. He's declaring this isn't about me. This is about this person that's about to come on the scene. Verse 28 says these things were done in Bethlehem Bara beyond Jordan where John was baptizing. And then verse 29 in John chapter 1 we see the baptism of Jesus here. We see Jesus being baptized. It says the next day John see Jesus coming unto him saying, behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. And then in verse number 30 he says again, he says this is he of whom I said after me comeeth a man which is preferred before me for he was before me. Now this is interesting. Turn to Luke chapter 1. So twice John has said about Jesus that he was before me. I mean it's pretty clear that we've seen so far that John knew exactly who Jesus was. He knew, behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. You're not talking about a prophet there. You're literally talking about the Messiah. But he knew exactly who Jesus was. He wasn't like, oh, this is some person. He knew that Jesus was the Son of God. Look at Luke chapter 1 and it's interesting. The wording he uses that he says is twice. He says for he was before me. Luke chapter 1 says this. Luke chapter 1 talks about Elizabeth who was John's mother. It says, and after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived and hid herself five months saying thus the Lord had dealt with me and the days wherein he looked on me to take away my reproach among men. And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth. So all that to say this, Elizabeth was pregnant six months before. This is going to tell Mary that she is with child of the Holy Ghost is how this story continues. So all that to say this, John the Baptist was born before Jesus. He was at least five, six months older than Jesus physically on this earth. So all I'm trying to say is that Jesus, or John the Baptist when he said for he was before me, he was acknowledging that Jesus was God. He was telling the Pharisees, he was telling the people there that this is the Son of God. He was before John, not because he was born before him, because he was born after John as Jesus was what? He was from eternity. He was, you know, he was not, boy, Jesus always was. He was the Word of God and the Word was God just as we looked at last week. Jesus was from eternity and John is literally acknowledging the deity of Christ with that statement. How many people caught it? Who knows? Definitely not the Pharisees, right? Look at verse number 31 of John chapter one. Now we're going to look at what John was doing, what John was doing. We're going to look at what John was doing the day before, what John was doing when Jesus came there. In verse number 31 it says, so he was doing this thing, he was baptizing people. And it says, and I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest, made known to Israel, therefore I am come baptizing with water. And John bear record saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and an abode upon him. And I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, this is the Holy Spirit, and remaining on him the same as he that baptizeeth with the Holy Ghost. So now we see John is baptizing people. He's baptizing people with water. And then he's saying that this person that I'm talking about, the Messiah is going to baptize with the Holy Ghost. So I want to explain to you for just a few minutes the difference between the baptism of water and the baptism of the Holy Ghost. So turn to Acts chapter 2 in verse number 38. Acts chapter 2 in verse number 38. Let's look at the baptism of the Holy Ghost, because this is a very specific thing that happened in the book of Acts. It's something that also it applies to us today, and I'm going to explain to you what that is. Look at Acts chapter 2 in verse 38. There's a lot of false teaching about the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and an equivalent of the baptism of the Holy Ghost is being filled with the Holy Ghost. Those are things that are the same. Look at verse number 38 of Acts chapter 2. Then Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. So people that teach baptism for salvation will use this verse all the time. But the point is salvation is the part where it says repent, because repenting means changing your mind from unbelief to belief. So the salvation part of this verse is in the repent part of the verse. And that is just saying, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. What is the gift of the Holy Ghost? What happened in Acts chapter 2? They got filled with the Holy Ghost, and they started speaking in all these different tongues or these different languages, and they started preaching on the day of Pentecost to all these different people that were in Jerusalem from all these different nations, and they started preaching what? They started preaching Jesus Christ to these people. The miracle had a purpose. It wasn't a bunch of blabber. It wasn't a bunch of gibberish. It was to preach the gospel to people in the language that they could understand. So that is what the Holy Ghost was doing for them in Acts chapter 2. Look at Acts chapter 1 verse number 5. Again, we see this idea of being baptized with the Holy Ghost, being prophesied to the disciples before it actually happens in Acts chapter 2. But in Acts chapter 1 verse number 5, it says, for John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Again, talking about that day of Pentecost miracle that God is about to perform. Why? It had a very specific purpose. It had a very specific purpose of just spreading the kingdom of heaven on earth, and it made a lot of sense. All these people were come from other nations. They would get saved and they would go back to their nations and just start spreading the gospel all over the world. So, being baptized with the Holy Ghost, look at Acts chapter 7. Look at Acts chapter 7. So, when you are saved, and I'm not going to spend the whole sermon on this, but basically this is how the Holy Ghost works with you. Your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost if you're saved. When you are saved, God puts a down payment of the Holy Ghost in you. Ephesians chapter 1 talks about you being sealed with the Holy Ghost. You get that earnest of the spirit, meaning God puts enough Holy Ghost in you, enough spirit in you, in order to seal you, keep your salvation, keep you saved. You're a temple of the Holy Ghost. Again, Ephesians chapter 4, that's why you can grieve the Holy Spirit, because you have the Holy Spirit with you if you're saved. So, if you're going to be saved and you're never going to go to church, and you're going to be a drunk or whatever you're going to do in your life, you're going to be grieving that Holy Spirit that's with you that you're sealed with. But that's not what the Bible is talking about as far as being filled with the Holy Spirit or being baptized with the Holy Spirit. All right? Look, you're not going to be filled with the Holy Spirit if you're just not doing anything for the Lord and you're living a wicked life. We should all pray that we be filled with the Holy Spirit when we go out soul winning. We should pray, God, you give me the utterance. Look, I'm telling you, it's a real thing. I mean, the most quiet people, the most introverted people, how is it that they're such great soul winners? Because they have the Holy Spirit working with them when they're out soul winning. You'll literally be with someone who never says anything, the quietest person that you know, and you go out soul winning and you'll see them preach the gospel to somebody you're just like, well, like, where did this come from? It's filled with the Holy Spirit and they're preaching the Word of God. Look at Acts chapter 7 verse number 54. I mean, Stephen, Stephen, the first person martyred in the book of Acts, Stephen gives this huge, awesome sermon, but we don't know much about Stephen if he was some great order or whatever, but the Bible tells us how he was able to do that. Look at verse number 54 in Acts chapter 7. Acts chapter 7 verse number 54, the Bible says, when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, what? Being full of the Holy Ghost, looked upon, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. Jesus stood up for this guy, standing on the Word of God, and then he said, behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. But he was, this was a fulfillment of the promise given to us in Matthew chapter 10. Turn to Matthew chapter 10. This is this idea of being filled with the Holy Spirit, filled with the Holy Ghost. And he just, he just preaches the Word of God to these people to where they're just, you know, their hearts aren't ready for it. So what? It just, it cut through their stony hearts. It just, they gnashed on him with their teeth and then they upkilling him. They end up killing him and he sees Jesus right before he dies. Look at Matthew chapter 10 in verse number 17. So look, this is a great promise here in Matthew chapter 10. Now that you understand what it means to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Like you don't have to be a pastor to be filled with the Holy Ghost. You just have to be somebody that is just, you know, being obedient to God, wants to go out and preach God's Word. And look, God will answer this prayer for you. Look at verse number 17. But this is a great promise here, especially as, you know, a world gets more and more hostile towards Christians. You don't have to worry about that. Look at verse 17. It says, but beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils, they will scored you in their synagogues, you shall be brought before the governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. Verse 19. But when they deliver you up, take no thought of how or what you shall speak, for it shall be given you in the same hour what you shall speak. For it is not ye that will speak, but of the spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. This is a huge promise right here. And this is why if you read accounts of people that were martyred and I mean just horrible things were done to them, just tortured and killed and burned to death. And you just be like, you know, I don't know, you read stories like that and you just, I don't know if I could take something like that. I don't know, you know, they're saying recant, recant. All they wanted a lot of these people to do was say, hey, just say that you don't believe in Jesus. Say that you don't believe that, you know, these people should have been rebaptized, just recant and will throw you in prison or will kill you quickly or whatever. You know, all this suffering can stop and you read these accounts and they never stop. Like they just never recanted. They just never recanted. They're on fire and they're just praising Jesus as they're burning at the stake. You know, like how is that possible? It's possible because God promises that in that time the Holy Spirit will give us utterance. The Holy Spirit will speak for us. So it's not that Stephen was some great man, I mean he was. I mean I don't want to take away from Stephen. I don't want to take away from the courage of these people. But that is just simply God fulfilling his promise by when we need it the most, God promises that he will fill us with the Holy Ghost. You don't have to worry about what you're going to say. You're like I don't even, I can't really quote Bible verses and I can't really do this that well and all that. Hey, at that time you'll be quoting all kinds of stuff if that happens. It's a promise that God, I love that promise. You don't have to worry about that. This is one of those promises that God just gives us. He's like at that time I will fill you with the Holy Ghost and I will tell you what to say. But look, you don't have to be getting martyred to be filled with the Holy Ghost. You know, you can just be studying Bible and wanting to go preach the Bible, you know, preach the gospel to somebody and you will feel the Holy Ghost working with you when you are preaching the Word of God to people. You will, I mean it's God working with us as we go out and obediently do what we are supposed to do. It's a great promise in the Bible. That's what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit to be baptized with the Holy Ghost. And that's exactly what happened on the day of Pentecost. And you know, then weird religions pop up and weird cults are made out of all this. We should just take the Bible for what it says. It's not complicated, right? I mean all these miracles that God did through baptizing these people, that's not the only time that they spoke in other languages in the Book of Acts. I'm sure it wasn't the only time that it happened. You know, throughout Christian history. But the point is there was a point to it. It was people preaching the Gospel and it was God working with them to get people saved. It is the purpose of it. It wasn't just some craziness to try to prove that you're spiritual or prove that you're saved or some weird false gospel. All right? So that's what it means to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, baptized with the Holy Ghost and that's what John was talking about. Now, let's talk about water baptism. Let's talk about water baptism because John was baptizing people in the Jordan River. Turn to Luke chapter 3. The first mention of baptism in the Bible is actually in Matthew chapter 3. But let's look at, what I want to explain to you tonight is why John was baptizing and why Jesus needed to be baptized. You're like, what in the world? Jesus needed to be baptized? Why did Jesus need to be baptized? So that's what I want to explain to you tonight. But first before we can understand why Jesus needed to be baptized, we need to understand why John was baptizing. All right? So look at Luke chapter 3. Look at Luke chapter 3. It's mentioned the first time in the New Testament in Matthew chapter 3. But look at Luke chapter 3 in verse number 2. So this answers why John was baptizing. Why was John baptizing people? Okay? The question is, why was he doing this? Look at verse number 2. Because before Jesus came, he was baptizing other people. Look at verse 2. It says, Anas and Caiaphas, being the high priests, the Word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. So why was John doing what he was doing? This answers it right here because God told him to. The Word of God told John what to do. And he came into a country, into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. As it is written in the books of the words of the psalmist, the prophet, Isaiah saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Isaiah 40, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his past straight. So John was told to do this by the Word of the Lord. John was told to do this by Jesus, by the Word of God. All right? The Word of the Lord came to him in the wilderness. Because it's kind of similar to, you know, how Paul was taken for three years and taught of Jesus. You wonder like Paul wrote, you know, two-thirds of the New Testament. How did he know all this stuff? Because Jesus taught him. But Jesus literally took him for three years and taught him personally. So the Word of God told John to do this. So the question is, what is this water baptism that he's doing? If you kind of read the New Testament the first, second, third time, you're kind of like, it seems like baptism kind of came out of nowhere. It seems like, okay, he's doing this thing, but for some reason the Jews knew what it was. The Jews, it wasn't out of nowhere. Is the point. And the New Testament kind of tells us what it was about. But there's three Old Testament references that I want to show you for baptism. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3. The Bible kind of tells us in 1 Peter chapter 3 one of the reasons for baptism. It gives us an Old Testament comparison for this. But there's three references to the Old Testament that kind of unlock baptism for us. Let's look at that for just a few minutes here. We're just going to kind of have to do a little bit of a Bible study here tonight to kind of wrap our arms around this one. But to the untrained eye it might seem like baptism came out of nowhere in the New Testament, but that's not the case. Look at 1 Peter chapter 3. The Bible teaches that there are pictures of baptism in the Old Testament. All right, and we see that in 1 Peter chapter 3. Look at verse number 18. The Bible says, For Christ also has suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit. By which also he went and preached unto the Spirits in prison. I believe that's a reference of Jesus going to Hell, his soul going to Hell, which sometime were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing wherein few, that is eight souls were what? They were saved by water. All right, now. This is what everybody misses in the Bible that believes false things about baptism. First of all, were they spiritually saved by water? We're talking about they were literally saved. Like their lives were saved. They were physically saved by water. And then the very next three words kind of explain that this is a picture. This is a picture. It says, The like figure wear unto even baptism. Doth also now save us and people will say, people will take those words. Baptism also doth now save us. They'll be like, see, you have to be baptized to be saved. No, read the verse. It says, the like figure. What it is saying is that this is a picture. It's talking about Noah and the eight people in his family, the eight people that people that survived the flood is a picture of baptism. It says, and then it literally says in parentheses, it says, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So what the Bible is explaining here in verse number 21 is that saying that the flood was a picture of physical salvation and baptism is a picture of your spiritual salvation. It's a picture of it. It is not your spiritual salvation. You are not saved spiritually by being baptized. It's a picture of it. Turn to Romans chapter six in verse number four. Romans chapter six, look at verse number four. Romans six four is one of the most common if you have a baptism certificate you've been baptized here. Romans six four is on your baptism certificate. Romans six four kind of explains this in detail. It shows it just kind of a picture of your salvation. It says, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death that like as, you see that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even oh also should walk in newness of life. So it is a picture of us being buried with Christ and rising again to walk in newness of life. It's a picture of it. It's not your salvation. All right. So the physical salvation of the ark and the eight people saved is a comparison to it's just saying it's a comparison to a pick, you know, baptism of water being a picture of your actual salvation. All right. I mean it's not that complicated. Turn to first Corinthians chapter 10. So and it explains. It says, and then it literally says that it is an answer of a good conscience towards God, meaning it's something that you should do to be obedient towards the Lord. That's what it's talking about. All right. Look at first Corinthians chapter 10. Look at verse number one. First Corinthians chapter 10. We see another Old Testament reference to baptism. First Corinthians chapter 10 in verse number one. It kind of gives us another point of baptism. It says in verse number one. It says more over brethren. I would not that you should be ignorant how that our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea. Talking about the cloud that was leading them. Talking about the parting of the red sea that saved the Israelites from Egypt. And it says in verse number two. It says in all and we're all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And verse number three is really the key here. It says and did all eat the same spiritual meat. So what this is saying is that they all ate the same spiritual meat showing that baptism identifies you with a group of believers. It identifies you with people that believe the same doctrines as you. The doctrines of the Bible. This is why Jesus chose to be baptized. Not to give away the answer but this is why Jesus chose to be baptized by John because they shared the same doctrine. And it was he was showing his accord with him. Jesus was giving validity to what John was saying by being baptized by him. Go to Leviticus chapter 16. It's also a picture of a cleansing. And so this is probably the main thing that the Jews were thinking that it was referencing in Leviticus chapter 16. It was something that the high priests did. Look at Leviticus chapter 16. Look at verse number three. It says thus Leviticus chapter 16 verse number three. It says thus Aaron talking about the day of atonement here. Right? This is the big chapter. The big chapter that pictures you know we got the bulls, the goats. We got all the different things that are done in this chapter that Jesus fulfills all. Jesus pictures everything in the day of atonement in Leviticus chapter 16. But look at verse number three says before we even get into the sacrifices. It says Aaron shall come into the holy place with a young bullock for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering and he shall put on a holy linen coat and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh. He shall be girded with a linen girdle and the linen mitre shall be attired. This is hat. These are the holy garments. Therefore look at this. He shall wash his flesh and water and so put them on. You know we're kings and priests the Bible says in Revelation chapter one. So it's just a picture again of the cleansing that has taken place after your spiritual salvation. Now turn to Acts chapter eight who should be baptized. Who should be baptized. Acts chapter eight is the quintessential chapter in the Bible that tells us who should be baptized. You know where Philip meets the Ethiopian eunuch. Look at verse, I mean the word. You know it's interesting that in Leviticus chapter 16 the priest is to wash himself. I doubt he sprinkled a few drops of water on his head because that wouldn't you know baptism literally means the word means to immerse. That's what the Greek word means. Baptism was actually made up to just it but it meant in the Greek it meant to immerse. So the idea that anyone could be baptized by sprinkling is ridiculous just by the meaning of the original Greek word in the first place. All right. But it's lazy it's convenient you know if you want to turn baptism into something weird that gives you salvation you know you don't want to have to fill a big baptistry. You know you might as well change that too. Right. Look at Acts chapter eight and look at verse number 26. It says the angel the Lord spake unto Philip saying arise and go towards the south unto the way that go down from Jerusalem unto Gaza which is desert and he arose and went and behold a man of Ethiopia eunuch of great authority under Candice the Queen of Ethiopians who had the charge over all her treasure and had come to Jerusalem for to worship was returning and sitting in his chariot and he read Eseus the prophet he's reading Isaiah the spirit said unto Philip go near and join myself to this chariot and Philip ran thither to him he's reading messianic prophecies from Isaiah and Philip ran thither to him and heard him read the prophet Eseus and said understandeth what thou readest he said how can I accept some man should guide me this is Romans chapter 10 right here you know how are they going to hear without a preacher and he desired that Philip that he would come up and sit with him and the place of the scripture which you read was this he was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb done before his shearer so he opened not his mouth just a prophecy in Isaiah about the Messiah in his humiliation his judgment was taken away and who shall declare his generation for his life is taken from the earth and the eunuch answered Philip and said I pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet this of himself or of some other man so he's asking here's this messianic prophecy and he's saying who is this person and Philip knows the answer so Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus here's the soul winning presentation right here and as they went on their way they came unto a certain water and the eunuch said see here's water what doth hinder me to be baptized he's like here's water so he's had Jesus preached unto him and Philip you know they come to water and he says what doth hinder me to be baptized and Philip said verse 37 if thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest meaning if you are saved if you have trusted on Jesus you can be baptized that is who should be baptized people that have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ which is all that it takes to be saved the bible is so clear on that it's more clear on that than anything else is that it only takes believing on or trusting on Jesus and he answered and said I believe now he confesses with his mouth to Philip I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God he commanded the chariot to stand still they went down into the water into the water and both Philip and the eunuch and he baptized him so verse 37 is the quintessential verse on who should be baptized it's people that are saved that have believed on Jesus and that's why it's removed from every modern bible because you can't baptize babies if you have verse 37 in there kind of wrecks everything right which is why it's removed you would think people would wonder why it goes from 36 to 38 but apparently they don't all right so it's listing the only one prerequisite to being baptized which is belief which is all it takes to be saved so that's the question now the next question is so now we know who needs to be baptized we know why John was baptizing does baptism save you here's the verses people use Acts chapter 2 go back to verse 38 Acts chapter 2 actually go to Mark chapter 16 I've already kind of explained that one it says repent and be baptized repent meaning believe on Jesus change your mind believe on Jesus be saved and be baptized it's very simple all right look at Mark chapter 16 look at verse number 15 Mark chapter 16 verse number 15 this is another one that people will use to say that baptism that you need to be baptized to be saved but this is I mean all we have to do is read this one and it's very simple Mark chapter 16 look at verse number 15 and he said under them go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature so you're gonna go preach the gospel to everybody and you know it says he that believeth so some people are gonna believe some people aren't when you go out and preach the gospel to people some people don't want to hear the gospel you preach the gospel to somebody look we preach the gospel to three people today two got saved one didn't so some people will believe some people won't it says he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved see you have to be baptized to be saved but first of all we don't even need the last half of the verse but the last half of the verse helps us but it says he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved so the bible is saying here he that believeth and is baptized you know shall be saved so that's a true statement he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but here's another true statement he that believeth and drives a forward shall be saved he that believeth and eats turkey on saturday shall be saved he that believeth and installs carpet for a living shall be saved and it explains it to us of the last part of this verse And it says, But he that believeth not shall be damned. Does it say he that believeth not and doesn't install carpet shall be damned? No, the thing that damns you is not believing. Meaning the thing that saves you is belief alone, which is what matches every other part of the Bible. They also use John chapter 3, which I've preached through that before. But the funny thing about John chapter 3 is John chapter 3 is probably the chapter in the Bible. I think it is the chapter in the Bible that says the most times that you just need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. He that believeth on the sun, half everlasting life, verse number 36. I mean, it's got the most clear verses in the Bible about what it takes to be saved. And then they'll take the conversation with Nicodemus at the beginning and say, oh, you have to be born of water and of the spirit. And they'll say, the water is baptism. OK, this Bible has been around for thousands of years. God promised to preserve us. He's miraculously preserved this Bible for us. And yet he makes it contradict itself multiple times in one chapter. Like, you're reading it wrong. You have a problem with the way you're interpreting things in the Bible. I mean, it's just a Bible reading rule. You can't just read something and interpret it where it just makes clear verses wrong or contradictory. It's very simple. It's unsaved people that don't understand what they're reading, what they're talking about. You know, I mean, just imagine Acts chapter 6 and verse number 31. I mean, it's a really complicated verse in the Bible. What must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. You're like, man, that's really hard to understand. What do I have to do? I mean, you'd think, like, did they give him half an answer? Did they not really tell him how to be saved? Are they lying to him? You know, like, they've left out that you also have to install carpet. You also have to be baptized. You have to do these other things. The poor guy's going to go to hell because they didn't tell him the whole thing. I mean, give me a break. It doesn't make any sense at all. All right, so look, it's just, he that believeth in a baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. It's not believing that damns you. It's because believing is what saves you, all right? Very easy to understand and clarify these things. Two people that want to understand the truth. All right, so back to what baptism is. We know that baptism is for believers. It's for people that are saved. That's what John was doing. He was declaring Jesus Christ to people, and he was baptizing people, all right? Baptism is a command. It's something that we do in obedience to God, in obedience to Christ. It's the answer of a good conscience towards God. You know that, hey, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna do what God wants me to do in this Christian life. God gave me this free gift of salvation. I'm gonna do what God wants me to do. It's a picture of my salvation. It's obedience to him. It's the first step in showing him that I'm gonna walk in newness of life. They're not gonna actually just like, hey, I'm saved. See you later, thanks for stopping by. I'm taking this thing, keeping it for myself for the rest of my life. I'm actually gonna walk in this. I'm actually gonna read the word of God and do the word of God in my life. And look, it also identifies us with believers as we see with Moses in the Red Sea. So there's a lot of things that baptize, that baptism means. I mean, and you know, a lot of people think, you know, it's not really a big deal. But you have to remember that people were killed for this. You know, when you look at books like The Martyr's Mirror and all these different accounts of people, many of these people were killed simply because they would not accept baptism as part of salvation. It was baptism that got many Christians in the first few centuries killed because they would not accept it as part of salvation and they would not stop baptizing people. So it's a big deal. And it's a big deal that the doctrine is understand. I mean, that's why Baptists were called Anabaptists. It was a joke. It was a joke. It was a derogatory term. You know, that meant rebaptizers, rebaptizing, but here's the thing. If you've been baptized as a baby as a Lutheran or as a Catholic or baptized in a Pentecostal church or whatever it was, you've never been baptized. So I mean, the irony of Anabaptists and rebaptizers is we only baptize people one time here. But it is a scriptural baptism. Whatever they did when I was a baby was, it was something, but it was not baptism. All right, it was not baptism. So it's an answer of your good conscience and obedience towards God. It identifies you with a local group of believers. It's a picture of your salvation. It's a picture of that cleansing that has taken place. Now turn to Matthew chapter three. It's also something that shows that we wanna walk in that newness of life, as John 6.4 says, and not continue in sin. It's a picture of us showing God that we don't wanna continue in the life that we had. We wanna have that newness of life. We wanna walk in that. Look at Matthew chapter three, look at verse number one. In those days it says, came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He's saying, the Messiah is here, believe on him is what he's saying. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his past straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair and a leather and girdle, he had a good belt. I preached the whole sermon on that. I don't know if you guys saw that. But he had a good belt about him, you know, and he was out in Jerusalem, all Judea in the region around Jordan and we're baptizing of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. What were they doing? Were they getting saved by repenting and walking away from their sins? No, they were telling God we're sorry. They're getting things right with the Lord. They got saved, they're getting things right and they're saying, you know what? We're gonna walk in a new life now. You should confess your sins. It doesn't save you, but you should confess your sins every day. It's a good thing to do. You wanna have a good relationship with your heavenly father. Not to make a mockery of the grace that we've been given. I mean, grace will abound, but we're not to make a mockery of it. It's a symbol of your new life. Now, why did Jesus get baptized is the question. Now that we know why we should get baptized, why did Jesus get baptized? By the way, just a side note, that's a proof that baptism doesn't save you. It's a proof that baptism does not remit your sins because did Jesus have sins? He was without sin, the Bible says. So baptism itself has nothing to do with the remission of sins. It is just a picture of your salvation because Jesus didn't need to be saved. He came to save. That's the first thing, but then why? Why did Jesus have to get baptized? Are you in Matthew chapter three? You should be in Matthew chapter three. Matthew chapter three. Look at verse 13. We get a little bit more detail in Matthew chapter three in verse number 13 about why Jesus needed to be baptized of John. Look at verse three and it says, then come Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade him saying, I have need to be baptized of thee and come and start of me. Imagine God coming to you, asking to be baptized. And you're just like, what in the world? And John said, he didn't understand. Like, you need to baptize me. And Jesus answered, answering said unto him, suffer it to be so now, for thus it becomeeth us to fulfill all righteousness, then he suffered him. Now I'll turn to Philippians chapter two. So John says, you should be baptizing me. I shouldn't be baptizing you. And Jesus says, you need to just do it. He says, you need to just do it. This is what is supposed to happen. We need to fulfill all, I need to fulfill everything, all righteousness. What is he saying? I need to fulfill everything that God the Father has sent me to do. So you need to do this. He said, just suffer it to be so. He's kind of saying, you don't need to understand it. You just need to do it. Now look at verse number eight of Philippians chapter two. Philippians chapter two in verse number eight. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself. This is talking about Jesus. And look at this. It says, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Remember the garden where Jesus is sitting there and he's praying to God and he's literally sweating blood. He is so stressed out. He was fully man and fully God. He felt everything that we felt. He felt all our temptations. He felt all the pain. He felt all the torture. He knew exactly what was gonna happen. And he just was asking God, if there's any way, remove this cup from me. And God said, God said, there is no way. He's like, this is what needs to happen in order for salvation to be available to who? To all men. He's saying, you have to do it. And what did Jesus do? He was obedient. He did it. Jesus got baptized by John because he was obedient. He was showing obedience to God. And why? Why did he go to John to get baptized? Because he identified with John's doctrine. Because he wanted to validate exactly what John was saying. What was John saying? He was saying that Jesus is the Son of God. That Jesus is the Lamb of God. That Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the one that everybody's been waiting for. And he's saying, he's valid. He's right. Here I am. Baptize me. Why? Because he's being obedient to God. Now, doesn't that kind of sound like why we should get baptized? For obedience to God? He identified with John's doctrine. That's kind of like why we should be baptized. We should get baptized and then we should rise from the water and walk in newness of life. Jesus was, what was about to happen in Jesus's life? He was about to start his ministry. The very next thing that happens in John chapter one is Jesus starts calling disciples. And he starts walking in his ministry on this earth. So as Jesus marks the beginning of his ministry with his baptism, it is showing us that we should mark the beginning of our Christian life with baptism. It's a big deal. It's a big deal. Jesus got baptized for the exact same reasons that we should get baptized. It's a beautiful picture. It's a beautiful picture. And we should walk in newness of life just as Jesus walked and started his ministry on this earth. He was being an example to us here of why we should get baptized. Obedience to God, identifying with the proper doctrine, being saved of course, and walking. And walking this walk, deciding, you know what? I'm not just gonna be saved and hang onto this and do nothing, I'm gonna start doing what the Bible says and I'm gonna start making some changes and start preaching the gospel to people, start getting people saved, start enlarging the kingdom of heaven, just exactly what Jesus was about to go do with this three and a half year ministry. So why did Jesus get baptized? The exact same reason that we should. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.