Water Baptism vs. Spirit Baptism: What Places You in the Body of Christ?

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. And again, it's good to have everybody back with us. And for those of you on television, if you haven't watched our program before, we are just simply taking the Scriptures from Genesis and the Lord carries. We hope to go all the way through one day to the whole book of Revelation. But in the meantime now, pick it up with us in the book of Exodus chapter 14, and we want to keep moving on. And again, for those of you watching on television, if we ever leave you with a question, please feel free to call us on our 800 number. We appreciate them. Now in Exodus 14, as God has now opened the Red Sea by virtue of Moses stretching His rod over the waters, it's opened up, and they walk through on dry land, and now if you'll come in at verse 26 of chapter 14, and the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand, and the sea returned to his strength. And when the morning appeared, the Egyptians fled against it, and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And of course the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. There remained not so much as one of them. Now the Scripture does not indicate whether Pharaoh himself led his armies. I rather doubt it, and if history is correct that Ramesses II was the pharaoh at this time, then he certainly wasn't, because they're quite sure that one of the mummified pharaohs that are still over there was indeed this same pharaoh. But whatever, the Scripture leaves us unaware as to whether or not Pharaoh himself was drowned, but none of the others were left. God had completely destroyed them. And then verse 29, it makes it clear once again, "...but the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall on their right and on their left." And again I have to discredit, I guess is the word, the movie Ten Commandments, because you would never run three to seven million people and all of their livestocks and their herds through that narrow channel as they showed it in the movie. Now I know they did quite well with what technology they had, but I'm again convinced that not only did God move this whole multitude miraculously faster than just a three-mile -an-hour walk, but also He must have opened the Red Sea an amazing amount of distance. He had to have, in order for that large a multitude to go through within such a short period of time. But whatever, how He did it, how much He did it, we know He did it. The Scripture says so, we believe it, and the picture again, as we hopefully brought out as clearly as I know how in our last program, was a picture of our own salvation. It is actually indicative, of course, of the burial of Christ, and coming out on the other side is resurrection. And well, maybe we should look at a verse in Romans. Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6. I think most of my class people are aware, and I'm sure most television people are becoming aware, that I do not teach according to a written format. As these things come to mind, I have to just stop and we'll go and check them out. But you see, in Romans chapter 6, Paul makes it so plain that we too have to be identified with the death and burial and resurrection of Christ. Even as Israel was separated from Egypt and went through that typical burial of the Red Sea, even though they didn't get wet, in type it was their burial, their death to Egypt, and they came out on the other side, even as Christ came from the grave, and we too. Now, if you'll come down to Romans chapter 6, verse 4. Therefore, we are buried with Him by baptism into death. Now, I may have a lot of people flap at this, but I am convinced in my own mind that this is not a water baptism, because water baptism cannot do what Paul is talking about. And that is that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of Father, even so we also walk in newness of life. Now, no baptism can give new life. Only the power of God can do that. So I am convinced, contrary to the way maybe I was raised and taught in my earlier years, this is the baptism of the Holy Spirit that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. And maybe I didn't intend to do this, evidently the Spirit is leading for a reason, but turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, keeping your hand in Romans 6, we're going to come right back to it. But here in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 is what I consider the only valid baptism for us in this age of grace. And it's a baptism that human hands cannot touch. It's a baptism that a lost person can have no part in, as over in water baptism we can never be sure as to a person's salvation. Now, I was brought up in a congregation where we examined very thoroughly any candidates for baptism, and yet I've come to the conclusion in my later years that there is no way a group of men or a group of pastors or a group of ecclesiastics of any kind can truly determine a person's salvation. Oh, we can hear their testimony, and we can come to some human conclusions, but we can never look on the heart. That's something that only God Himself can do. And I've told my class over the years, I don't think it'll actually happen this way, but if it were, and we get to glory, we're suddenly going to realize that a lot of people are there that we didn't think would be, and there's going to be a lot of people not there that we thought should be. Now, it won't be that way, because we're not going to have that kind of knowledge, I'm sure, but if, hypothetically, if that were the case, we would both be surprised and disappointed, because see, we can't look on the heart. We can look at somebody's outward veneer, and we can come to a conclusion, but that's not the heart, and here's where we have to be so careful. This is why the Scripture says also, judge not. You and I can't judge as to whether or not a person is a child of God. Only God knows. And so consequently, this baptism that Paul alludes to now in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 12, for as the body, that is, this human body, is one, in other words, from head to toe, we are controlled by one central nervous system, one mind, one brain, and so our whole body, even though it is operating throughout all the members, Paul says, half-many members, and all are members of that one body, being many, ten fingers if we're normal, and ten toes and our eyes and our ears, and all the various functions of this body are different, and yet they're one, see? All right, so also, he says, is Christ, and of course he's referring to the body of Christ. So also is the body of Christ. Now verse 13. This may shock some people, but again, I'm not changing the wording. I'm not twisting it. We're going to leave it set exactly where it sets. Four by one Spirit. That word Spirit is capitalized, so who is it in reference to? The Holy Spirit. Four by one Holy Spirit are we, and remember, Paul always writes to believers, what's the next word? All, see? Not just a favored few, not just a special elite, but how many? All. All. But of course, that's according to God's determination of who is a believer and who is not. So, by the Holy Spirit then, are we all, every believer, whether weak or strong, whether spiritual or carnal, we are still all baptized into the one body? Whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether we be bond or free, we've all been made to drink or partake of what? That one Spirit. Now, let me qualify. The body of Christ, which, of course, came on the scene in the New Testament sometime, I think, after Pentecost—now, that's again where a lot of people will disagree with me, and that's fine. You go ahead and search the Scriptures until you're sure you can prove me wrong. But I am myself convinced that the body of Christ did not necessarily begin at Pentecost, because Pentecost was strictly a Jewish holiday with a Jewish message. But when the gospel begins to go out to Jew and Gentile, especially up there at the church at Antioch, where in Acts chapter 11 it says they at Antioch, when they became believers, were first called what? Christians. See? That's where they began to be called Christians, not the Jewish believers at Jerusalem in those previous years, but when Gentiles started coming in by faith in the gospel of the grace of God, they were now called Christians, the Scripture says. And so that's where I have to feel that the body of Christ began, is when Paul begins to preach this message of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, and by faith, and faith alone, without the law. And as men and women began to believe that, then the Holy Spirit baptized or placed them into the body of Christ. Now, I asked my class the other night, and I've asked all my classes over the years, I don't care what denomination you're a part of, it doesn't make any difference, the question is still valid, is every member on your church role a genuinely born-again Christian? No. Now, we can't judge, but we know for a fact that they are not all true believers. And so, what about the unbeliever? Are they members of the body of Christ? No. No, they can't be. They're unsaved. Only the saved go into the body of Christ. And so, this is where I get the premise, the only baptism that really counts for eternity is this one, the one that places the true, genuine believer into the body of Christ. Now, you can have your name on umpteen church roles, but unless you're in the body of Christ, you're doomed. The Scripture makes it so plain. But if you are a child of God tonight, you are in the body of Christ by virtue of placing it there by the Holy Spirit, as Paul makes it so plain here. And then, as members of the body, we all still maintain our individuality, we all have a unique place in that body, and yet we are all what? One. See? And that's why when you walk into a room full of fellow believers, are you a stranger very long? No. No. Oh, I've experienced it, and I know you have. And I know I've had people from far -off states come into my class, and on the way out they'll say, you know, the minute I stepped into this room, I felt at home. Well, that's as it should be, because you see, when you're with fellow believers, there's that oneness that any other group of people can never experience. All right, now then, I didn't, like I said, I didn't plan to go into that, but for some reason we were led to it. But now back to Romans chapter 6. Beginning with verse 5, he said, for if we have been planted, see? Now the analogy is, of course, is planting a seed. If you were to plant a kernel of wheat, and all things being appropriate, what's the first thing that seed does? It dies. See? It germinates. Yes, it dies. Now, when that seed dies, what else happens? New life. Now, the whole system of nature, and of course we've again alluded to this many times over the last couple of years in this teaching, the whole sphere of springtime is a picture of what? Death, burial, and resurrection. Everything that produces the seed in the fall, that seed falls some place, but it's going to die, and when everything is right, it's going to spring up into new life, it's going to reproduce again. Death, burial, and resurrection. All right, now it's the same way in the Spirit. We have to die. You remember the very first law, if you want to call it that, that God gave to Adam and Eve concerning the tree, the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt what? Surely die. See? Surely die. There's no escaping it. Well, you see, Ezekiel comes along many years later, and he puts it in a little different language, but it's still the same law, the soul that sinneth shall what? Surely die. So, you see, the human race is faced with no alternative but that we have to die because we're born in sin, and yet there is a loophole. And what's the loophole? We can die in the person of Christ on the cross, by identification, by faith, by trust, that when He died, I died. When He died, you died. See? And that's what Paul is stating here, for if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, see, if we can honestly believe that He died my death, see, then we shall also be in the likeness, or with Him, when? In resurrection. Now, see, that's our blessed hope, that we aren't just going to live and die like a dog, and we don't have to live and die with a prospect of an eternal doom. We can live and die with a prospect that the best is yet to come, isn't it? What is the old, one of the old Reformers said, and maybe it's even Scripture, that the greatest thing that can happen to the believer is to what? Is to die. See? Now, we don't like to face death for a multitude of reasons. We don't like to leave our loved ones. We like to still be part and parcel of our energy and of our designs and so forth. But in reality, in reality, death for the saint is what? It's glorious. It's just on to something far better, see? But for those who have not experienced this identification, death is something indeed to be feared. Death is something horrible to experience, because it's not going to something better, it's going to what? Something a thousand, a million times worse. All right. So now then, verse 6, knowing this, that our old man, now we haven't taught the book of Romans in this class. Someday we're going to get there. But when Paul speaks of the old man or the old nature, who is he talking about? The old Adam, see? The old Adam that we're born with. You remember last week when we talked in Ephesians chapter 2 that we who were dead in trespass and sins have now been made alive? Well, how were we dead in trespass and sin? In the old Adam that we're born with, see? So now come back to verse 6, that our old man, our old Adam, is crucified with him. Now what does crucifixion do? It kills, see? And when we're crucified with Christ, what do we, or what does God do with the old Adam? He kills him, see? In so many words. He puts him out of commission. And so he goes on to say that the body of sin might be destroyed or put out of commission, that henceforth we should not serve sin, for he that is dead is freed from sin. You know, several years ago I had some judges in my classes, and it was always interesting to bring up an analogy of this, that what if they had in their courtroom someone who was convicted of a hideous crime, and all the evidence was against him, and they're about ready to turn it over to the jury, and they're almost sure, you know, the jury's going to find him guilty. But just before it happens, the old boy dies. Well, then I always like to ask one of the judges, you know, I said, well, now what happens? It's all done. The case is ended. It's closed. You can't try a dead man. Well, that's obvious, isn't it? You can't do any kind of business with a dead person. Now this is the analogy that Paul is driving. If our old Adam is dead, can you any longer deal with him? No. See? That's the whole idea. So that he that is dead, in other words, those of us who have let old Adam be crucified, we are now dead to the desires of that old Adam. And that's, again, the power of God. You don't work for something like that. You don't try to attain this. This is all part of the power of God when it's exercised in His saving salvation. Then verse 8, and then we're going to get back to Exodus for a moment or two. Now if we be dead with Christ, that is, by identification with the crucifixion, we believe that we shall also, what, live with Him, see? And that's why the resurrection is fundamental to our faith. You know, I've had quite a few people, more than I like, tell me, well, I've had a Sunday school teacher, or I've had a preacher who could certainly preach about Christ and His earthly ministry, could preach about His crucifixion, but they had trouble with the resurrection. What about those people? Well, I'll tell you what about them. According to Scripture, if they can't believe all of it, they're as lost as if they believe none of it. We have to believe that Christ rose physically, literally, spiritually, every which way you can think of from the dead, and He's alive evermore. All right? Now then, let's go on to verse 10, and we'll go back to Exodus. For in that He died, He died unto sin, in other words, to rid us of old Adam, how many times? Once! See? Once for all, the hymn writer has put it. The book of Hebrews, over and over, that this Christ did once, and it satisfies for all eternity. All right, now then, let's go quickly back to Genesis for the few moments we—or, Exodus for the few moments we have left. And we find now that as the Egyptians are floating up on the seashore, and the Israelis look back at the view—and I don't want this to sound morbid, but what's the first three words in chapter 15? Then sang Moses and the children of Israel. Now this is the song of Moses. Now, I'm not going to take time to read through it. Read it when you have some spare time, because I think it's rather important, because when you get to the book of Revelation, and we get into the eternal state, what are we going to sing? The song of Moses, see? The song of redemption, that the battles are over, and that we have now attained that to which God has been bringing us all along. So the song of Moses, like I said, I'm not going to read it. You study it in your own spare time. All right, now verse 22. We'll move on just for a little bit yet. So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea. In other words, they've crossed it, the waters have come back, drowned the Egyptians, and now Moses begins to lead that multitude down toward Mount Sinai. And so he brings Israel out from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur, and they went out three days in the wilderness, and found no water. Now that's a dilemma, isn't it? That many million people, and all that livestock, and there they are in that hot Middle Eastern Sinai desert, and no water. Verse 23, and when they came to Merah, an oasis of some sort, they could not drink of the water of Merah, for they were bitter, in other words, undrinkable. Now the first thing I like to point out to new believers, whether they're young or old, is that in just a little while after their salvation experience, they're going to run into a bitter experience. I mean, it's just the way God works. We are never saved to walk a rose -petaled pathway. We're going to have trials, we're going to have difficulties, just like Israel did. Israel comes now down into that forbidding desert, and God doesn't just give them a hunk of roses. They're going to go through some very trying times, and here was the first one, right off the bat. They're thirsty, their cattle are bellowing, and their sheep are bleeding, and no water. And then when they do find it, a bitter disappointment. It's not fit to drink. Now let's read on. I don't want to stop there. And then verse 24, the people naturally murmured against Moses, and they said, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord, and the Lord showed him a what? A tree. Now the article, again, I was reading concerning this, referred to this, that Moses just found a branch out there in the desert, and he threw it into the water, and through some chemical reaction it became fit to drink. And you know, see, they lose the whole thought. The tree throughout all of Scripture points to only one tree, and what is it? The cross. Now, I haven't got time, what's left, but you see there's a reason why the cross is referred to as a tree. It's because back in Deuteronomy it says, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And so the cross was the place of curse. It was where God literally poured out His wrath upon our Passover lamb. So anyway, when they come to the place of a bitter experience, there's only one remedy, and what is it? The cross. See, this is what God wants us to do. Whether we've been a Christian for years on end, or whether we're a new believer, when a trial or a tribulation comes, where do we go? To the foot of the cross. Because, see, that's where everything begins and ends for us today. If we try to bypass the cross, we're just hopeless as these Jews were in Egypt. But it has to be, again, let me repeat it, the work of the cross, see. And so He cast the tree into the waters, and as soon as the tree was cast, what happened? The waters were made sweet. And so also in our experience, if we can just learn that when tribulations and disappointments and sorrows come, my, we just race to the foot of the cross, because that's where everything has been satisfied. All right, now then, after that bitter experience made sweet, Moses again leads them by virtue, of course, the cloud and the pillar of fire, which is the very presence of Jehovah who is leading them on, and He brings them now to an oasis, and again, here's one of those questions that I just can't answer, and I guess every class has asked it, well, what's involved here in the 12 wells of water and the 70 palm trees? Well, I'm sure there's something involved, but all I can say is it was an oasis, and it was just a place where they could have water to drink. Seven million people couldn't rest under the shade of 70 trees, but whatever, it epitomized a place of rest, relaxation, and the satisfaction of their thirst. And so they came to Elam, verse 27, where were 12 wells of water, and threescore or 10 or 70 palm trees, and they encamped there by the water. Now, we'll just, for the moment that's left, go on into chapter 16, you know, maybe I won't even have to go into chapter 16, I think I can finish the minute with just plain common sense. I think most believers are aware of the expression, a mountaintop experience, aren't you? What's a mountaintop experience? Oh, I mean something that just thrills you. But you know what? You don't accomplish anything on a mountaintop, do you? I mean, it's a beautiful place to see the view, it's a beautiful place to feel the exhilaration of that high altitude air, but where does the work have to be done? Down in the valley. And so it always is with a Christian experience. You may have a mountaintop experience, but listen, don't try to stay there. You've got to get down into the dirt and grime of the valley, where you'll have the trials and the tribulations and the disappointments. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time.