“I
Indeed . . . But He”
I
indeed baptize you with water . . . but He . . . will baptize you with the Holy
Spirit and fire —Matthew 3:11
Matthew
3 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
The
Preaching of John the Baptist
3
Now in those days John the Baptist *[a]came, [b]preaching in the wilderness of
Judea, saying, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven [c]is at hand.” 3 For this
is the one referred to [d]by Isaiah the prophet when he said,
“The
voice of one [e]crying in the wilderness,
‘Make
ready the way of the Lord,
Make
His paths straight!’”
4
Now John himself had [f]a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his
waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem was going out
to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan; 6 and they were
being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.
7
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said
to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8
Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you
can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that
from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. 10 The axe is
already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear
good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11
“As for me, I baptize you [g]with water
for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not
fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you [h]with the Holy Spirit and fire.
12 His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His
threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn
up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Have
I ever come to the point in my life where I can say, “I indeed . . . but He . .
.”? Until that moment comes, I will never know what the baptism of the Holy
Spirit means. I indeed am at the end, and I cannot do anything more— but He
begins right there— He does the things that no one else can ever do. Am I
prepared for His coming? Jesus cannot come and do His work in me as long as
there is anything blocking the way, whether it is something good or bad. When
He comes to me, am I prepared for Him to drag every wrong thing I have ever
done into the light? That is exactly where He comes. Wherever I know I am
unclean is where He will put His feet and stand, and wherever I think I am
clean is where He will remove His feet and walk away.
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