So there we have it, so we've got four baptisms mentioned there: the first one, the baptism into Christ, is a change in Identity - it’s a change in who you are. The second one is a change in your Positioning, in relationship to the spiritual powers - you are now out of the kingdom of darkness and in the kingdom of light. The third one is a change from being powerless to having Power; and the fourth one is a change in your Soul - so you can walk with the Holy Ghost, and live a life that's incredibly productive. Each one is a change.
Now I'm just going to go briefly through two of these baptisms: Baptism into Christ; and Baptism in Water. I want you just to allow the spirit of God, to just help open your understanding, to what the instruction concerning this baptism is; because as you get a hold of it, and embrace it, and live in it - it shifts you, you change.
One of the most common struggles that believers have is this: they keep thinking and remembering how they used to be, and live condemned, because old problems seem to be there. The devil seems to continue to condemn them. Let's just have a look at two or three scriptures related to this.
First John 20:21. We're going to look about what it means to be baptised into Christ - there are some distinct meanings, and distinct parts to it. Now this is talking about the operation or work of the Holy Spirit: where you are born again, and become changed in who you are. Jesus had received, and had the disciples there in front of Him, after He had died, and then He said: “As the Father sent Me, I send you”. So He's sending them into the world, He's sending them on a mission of advancing a kingdom; but they cannot advance the kingdom of God, unless they themselves have a foundational experience of being placed into the kingdom of God, of being placed into Christ, of being placed into His kingdom.
When He had said this to them, He breathed on them, and said: “Receive the Holy Ghost”. So at that moment in time, as Jesus breathed upon them, the spirit of God flowed from Him, came into them - and a change took place inside them. A change took place. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6: 7 – “when we receive Jesus Christ, we become joined to Christ”. That's a marriage term - you are in covenant, connection. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.
So first thing that happens is: God puts His spirit into your spirit, and you are now one with God. You are one with Jesus Christ. You are one with the spirit of God. You are joined, the spirit of God is fused with your spirit - you are one. You have now had something dramatic take place inside you.
The old nature, which used to live in sin, now is declared to be dead. Now you're born, and you're a new person in God's eyes. You're a totally new creation, it says. So the first thing is, the spirit of God comes in. Second is, now the spirit of God is inside me, and I'm born again, now I am joined to the Lord. I cannot be ‘not joined to the Lord’; I am joined, and one spirit with Him.
The third thing that happens is: now I'm a new creation. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, it tells us: “now you become a new creation. The old has passed away”. You say: I don't feel like the old has passed away. Nevertheless, it's a spirit reality. Your experience may be that you still wrestle with old things; but the teaching of baptism in relationship to this is: you have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness; you're in the kingdom of light - you are a new person.