Mark 1:5  And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
6  And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey;
7  And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
8  I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.

There is much confusion regarding baptism. The Bible defines baptism as being by immersion and in much water.

Romans 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Colossians 2:12  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

John 3:23  And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.

There is no such a thing as “infant baptism”. Pouring or sprinkling is not baptism. There are people who have been poured and they insist that is good enough because their hearts were right with God. The Biblical fact is that their hearts were not right with God and the fact that they want to fight against the truth also shows that their heart is not right with God.
There is no point in playing games with the truth. Baptism does not save anyone. Baptism is a picture of what has already taken place in the heart of the person who is truly saved. Romans 6 gives us a very clear picture of what happens when a person gets saved. True Biblical baptism is that picture.
When a sinner turns to God in repentance, and trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, they have essentially died to self and their old self has been buried with Christ and they have been raised up to newness of life in Christ. That is the picture that true, Biblical baptism paints. The purpose of baptism is to give that visual object lesson of what takes place in the heart and life of the person who truly gets saved.
We have talked much about New Evangelicalism. New Evangelicalism does not agree that a person must die to the old self and be raised up a new person in Christ. Most if not all New Evangelicals use CCM or worse music in their “worship” services and in their daily lives. That music is not God-honouring. Most if not all New Evangelicals use perversions of various sorts in their teaching. Seldom do they ever preach anymore. The perversions cannot make the claim: “thus saith the LORD”, because they corrupt what God said.
John baptized those who came to him in repentance. They turned to God. John preached and they believed in the Messiah that John preached. Their baptism was a picture of the fact that they were not going to fight against God any longer, but they were going to submit to Him and trust in His forgiveness through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They needed to look forward to that shed blood. Did they all actually believe in John’s message? God knows the heart. John acted on what he saw. He was not the judge. God knows the heart and if a person gets baptized without actually being saved, they just got wet. It helps them nothing.
Biblical salvation makes a glorious difference in the recipient’s life. New Evangelicalism lies about that difference and deceives many people into believing that change is not that big a deal. They claim that all that is necessary is to believe in Jesus. Change might happen, but it might not. That “Jesus” is not the Jesus of the Bible.
We see in verse 5 that the people that were coming to John were tired of their life of sin. They wanted to be delivered from the bondage of sin. They were ready to hear the truth and respond obediently to that.
In verse 6 we read that John lived a very simple life. This is not a pattern that we are told to follow. John had a unique calling. There is no other person that is called to what John was told to do. He was the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ. He prepared the way for His coming. We are not called to that.
John was told to dress in a very plain manner. He was clothed with camel’s hair and he had a girdle of a skin around his loins. His diet was locusts and wild honey. He lived a very simple life. He survived on that diet because God told him to eat that way. Jesus Christ ate the same type of food that all other Jews ate. He was accused of being a glutton. Of course, that was not true. The Bible is not a book about dieting. It is a book that teaches us how to know the true God and know His peace and blessing. Certainly there are certain things that are forbidden such as alcohol, or the eating or drinking of blood, but there are many options with regard to what can be eaten.
In verse 7 John had a very simple and clear message. He exalted the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came after John. John did not have a pride problem. He knew that Jesus Christ was far greater than he was. He had no problem stepping aside and seeing Jesus exalted as the Messiah. Sadly, most of the Jews of that time, rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah/Saviour.
In verse 8 John declared that he was baptizing the people with water. The water was a picture of the Word of God. There are people in Israel who have made a business of selling little bottles that a person can take to the Jordan and fill with water and take it home as if it were “holy” water. The fact is ‘that water’ is just plain old water. There is no saving value in that water. What is needed is for the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to be applied to the heart of the repentant sinner to cleanse the person of their sin.
John further declared that Jesus Christ would baptize the saved with the Holy Ghost. The Charismatics have corrupted that fact. They have a false teaching regarding the “baptism of the Holy Ghost”. In Acts 2 we read that the apostles were filled with the Holy Ghost in a new and special way. That was a particular event that applied to them. They were empowered with special gifts to prove that they were the true apostles. There were a couple of other instances in the book of Acts where those who believed and were baptized spoke in tongues. Tongues in the Bible is always a human language. It is never unintelligible babble.
The few instances in the book of Acts where the saved spoke in tongues (another language) were for a sign to unbelieving Jews. It was to prove to them that salvation is a work of God.

Romans 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Every true born again Christian receives the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation. There is no ‘second blessing’ and there is no praying to receive the Holy Spirit. He is given to every born again Christian at the moment of salvation.

Ephesians 5:17  Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
18  And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

Every true child of God has the Holy Spirit in them from the moment of salvation. What that person then needs to do is yield to the work of the Holy Spirit in their heart and life. That work is the ability to say yes to God and no to sin. It is also that ability to understand the Word of God correctly. God opens the understanding of the saved person to receive the truth.
There are thousands of people who claim to be saved, but they fight against the truth. They try to stop people from teaching the truth. The few that are truly born again, will receive the Word of God gladly and they will grow in their Christian life.
Don’t be deceived. Take the Word of God as the truth that it is and submit to the will of God and know His blessing in your heart. You will never be sorry for doing that.
Pastor Bartel