Doctrine of baptisms (with Qs and As) by GW North

I have been asked very point blank if I would preach to you sometime on the subject of the
doctrine of baptisms. So I thought I would do it this afternoon as the Lord gives me
grace and enlargement. Well this is the subject I only remember ever preaching on it once and
it was some years ago in Liverpool and a very memorable occasion. Just a few of us were there
upon that occasion. I don't think I've got much of a clue what I said then because I'm rather inclined
if you may use this phrase concerning things of the Spirit of God to speak off the cuff. I don't
know whether you can quite use that word but in that long ago I learned that the whole art of
anything in the spiritual life was abandonment in the moment unto Jesus Christ. That doesn't of
course preclude the fact that one has to do much much preparation. Hours and days and months and
years of saturation in the scriptures of truth and in mostly the saturation in the Spirit of God.
This is the greater thing and from that arises everything that is of any use in the Christian
Church. So then I want to talk to you concerning this great subject of the doctrine of baptisms.
Perhaps we'll read shall we in the Ephesian letter and then I want to ask you a question
having read a certain portion. Chapter 4 following the great Amen of chapter 3 for chapter 3 finishes
up with Amen. And in the fourth chapter verse 1 I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you
that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you're called with all lowliness and meekness
with long suffering for bearing one another in love endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace. Let us notice immediately that we're not asked to create a unity. We're
to keep what is already in existence. We're to keep the unity of the Spirit. Alas, alas,
there are those who with impunity think they can break the unity of the Spirit. They don't. They
only break their own cells. You can't break the unity of the Spirit. You are asked to keep it.
If you don't keep it, then you won't know anything about it. And here then is the great truth. There
is one body, verse 4, one Spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all.
The question I want to ask you is this. Do you believe there is only one baptism?
Well, in the face of that scripture, you can't do anything else, can you? I only wanted to ask
you whether you denied the scripture or not, really. I know, of course, that you don't wish
to and yet so often does one find that this particular scripture is almost declared null
and void. You see, beloved, what we do not understand is though that the scripture makes
reference to many things, yet you'll find in so many things that it will declare there's one.
Out of all this and in the midst of all this, there's only rarely one. For instance,
the Bible makes reference to many gods. I can name them Ashtaroth, Diana of the Ephesians,
Baal, Carchinus. We could go all through these tremendous persons, Astarte and so on.
Though that name isn't actually mentioned in the Bible, you've got Teraphim that I mentioned,
and you've got a word used in the Bible, a terrible word, meaning dung idols. Well now,
my beloved, the Bible makes reference to all these things but distinctly tells you there's
only one God. Now, the Bible alludes to lots of baptisms but tells you there's only one baptism.
All right. Now, that should settle it. I shouldn't need to say any more to you really. If you let
that sink in, if you really do, you will find that it will answer all your problems. And to
tie this up, seeing that my subject was chosen for me, or at least the title of the subject was
chosen for me, in Hebrews, I won't tell you who chose it, but in Hebrews chapter 6, we'll find
the words that actually have been laid down for me to preach on. In chapter 6 and verse 1, we're
told, therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, in case you think that we're
being advised to break loose some principles and get very sort of loose and haphazard, that word
principles is really, in the Greek, the word of the beginning. That's your Greek word there. Leaving
the word of the beginning of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying
again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine
of baptisms. And so immediately you've got one baptism and here you have baptisms. You see,
I'm not going on because I'm not expounding this section at all. But the thing that you need to
notice, it's one doctrine, singular, through them all. And the doctrine of baptisms, I believe,
is made fairly clear in the Scripture and all turns on the great doctrine of the one baptism.
The one baptism. It's important for us to understand this, beloved, because you see,
just take the fact of water baptism. It's been magnified and brought up and all sorts of things
are being said about it and all sorts of experiences are being promulgated and preached about it.
And sometimes I'm asked, well, I believe in baptism in the name of Jesus only and sometimes
I'm asked to give opinions on certain practices that go on in certain places and so on, as though
I am the sort of oracle that has to pronounce upon it or something like that when I'm nothing of the
sort. And all I want to share with you is what I believe and seek to walk in as life itself. Not
what I teach because I suppose the very fact that I've been asked to preach on it proves that I don't
do it. I don't preach and teach concerning this great matter. I think it is a pity that the Church
of Jesus Christ should be so divided on the subject of baptism as you know it is. It always has been.
It hasn't just come up in the 20th century since the Charismatic Revival, but right from the
beginning of the church almost, as you go back in church history, we won't say right from the
beginning, but going back hundreds of years, the church has been divided on whether you should
sprinkle babies and call it baptism or whether you, if you belong to a certain section, should
believe in baptismal regeneration or something like that or whether you should believe in adult
baptism or whether you should have believers baptism or whether you should be baptized in the
name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost or be baptized in the name of Jesus or all these great problems
and detentions have arisen. Well now, beloved, I do not want just to take on controversial issues
at all. I want only to tell you what the Lord made very plain to my heart and that's all I've
sought to do over the weekend or weekends or weeks or days when we've been together on any
a subject on which I have been allowed or led of God to speak upon. The doctrine of baptisms,
as we've said, there are many baptisms referred to in the Scripture. I believe there is only one.
Well, I think it's the one that we looked at last night in 1 Corinthians chapter 12,
where we were told, verse 13, that by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. Now,
there it is. You're definitely told what it is. There can be any dissension about it. There
needn't be any query in any mind. In Ephesians, you're told by the same writer from the same
spirit. Paul wrote both letters. There's one baptism and in the Corinthian letter he says,
and by one spirit or actually the Greek word there is in, in one spirit. Now here we are shown,
if you like, the medium of the baptism. In one spirit are we all baptized into one body. That
is the baptism. That's the baptism and beside it there is none other for there's only one.
That right? Must be. Or else I don't understand logic at all. Praise the Lord. So then, beloved,
we're right at the very seat of it all. You see, not that that's the first time that baptism is
alluded to in the Corinthian letter. Let's go back to the first chapter. In the first chapter,
you will find this. Verse 11 of the first chapter, it has been declared unto me of you,
my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now,
this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, I of Apollos, I of Cephas, and I of Christ.
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? I thank
God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius. Lest any should say that I had baptized in
my own name, but I baptized also the household of Stephanus, besides I know not whether I baptized
any other, for Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel. Hallelujah. His name wasn't
Paul the Baptist. And I want to tell you my name isn't the Baptist either, for God never sent me
to baptize. I thank God I get more requests to marry people than baptize people in these days.
I have to turn most of them down, I'm afraid. But here is the great and glorious truth about it,
beloved, that Paul saw this clearly, fancy, going to Corinth, and he only baptized a few.
Showing that to him baptism in water wasn't it, wasn't all that important,
unless he would have done it, if it was so important, wouldn't he? Of course he would.
He did tell them to, he did establish what he'd received from the Lord, as we were thinking this
morning of the bread and the wine, what we'll call the Lord's Supper or the Communion, we did
find that he said he received from the Lord and preached unto them the gospel by which they were
saved. But he said God didn't send me to baptize, praise God. Now I want to declare to you that God
hasn't sent me to baptize. Hallelujah. What a precious thing it is. Now we will know that this
baptism is baptism in water. Baptism in water. Now let's move on again and there's another baptism
referred to in the 10th chapter and this is what we read. Moreover, brethren, I would not that you
should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea
and were all baptized unto, and your Greek word here is into, they were all baptized into the
mediator of the old covenant, Moses, in the cloud and in the sea. Now that took place at the Red Sea.
That was a baptism. Not one of them got wet. They were neither immersed or sprinkled. How about that?
To show you, you see, if I was going to say all the artfulness of God, you see what he's showing you?
You see what he's showing you? You do, don't you? They were neither immersed nor sprinkled, nor did
they have water poured on them if you prefer that. They were nevertheless baptized into Moses. That's
your word. In the cloud and in the sea. Praise God. Now I'm very tempted to stop and spend quite
a long time on that, but this is a great revelation for our hearts to see, beloved, because you see,
it's by this one Spirit that we're baptized into our Jesus. We're baptized into Christ. In fact,
the Scripture makes this very plain. Let's go to the Galatian letter, and in the Galatian letter,
this is what you will read. In chapter three, verse 26, you are all the children of God by
faith in Christ Jesus, for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.
There it is. There has to be a baptism into Christ, and I want to tell you that this does
not take place in water. Praise God. I want to make that very, very clear to you, as though I
should need to make it clear. Obviously, a man isn't baptized into Jesus Christ in water. Praise
God. He's baptized by one Spirit, or in one Spirit, are we all baptized into one body,
and that body is the body of Christ, and it is the body of the Spirit, and it is a baptism into
union with other spirits when you are baptized into the Spirit of God, of Jesus Christ, and my
spirit too, that's in me, we're all baptized into the one Spirit. You understand that? And this is
the great and essential union. It's as indissoluble as the union of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. It is
eternal and abiding, and you could only get into Jesus Christ one way. You've got to be baptized
into him, and that's the baptism. You cannot get into Jesus Christ by merely believing. It is what
takes place in you, consequent upon your believing. That's right. It is what the Lord does unto you.
You see, here then is the tremendous thing. Let's go back, shall we, into the beginning of the
Gospels. In the beginning of the Gospels, and you know this took me years, I mean there's hope for
all of you, I tell you. You should all get on, how sick I was. Yes, I've been studying the Bible
since I was in my teens, and decades have gone by before I saw this. I didn't see that instead of
each of the Gospels right at the beginning talking about the blood of Christ, or this and that about
Christ, they all refer to one thing without exception, and that is that Jesus Christ was
going to baptize in the Holy Ghost. They all say that right at the beginning, and yet you see,
I've been brought up on a good sound evangelical teaching and doctrine about the cross and about
the blood and about all that, and I know it's all referred to at the end, but John Baptist, who was
the Lord Jesus' own official forerunner, he came, oh he could miss about him water, he could have
baptism in water, but he said, and all the Gospels refer it, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
will look at it together. I think John's Gospel is probably the better one to look at.
In each case it was this, and let's just read it. In John chapter 1,
verse 28, do you see the end of it? John was baptizing, is that right? John was baptizing,
and the next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is
preferred before me, for he was before me, and I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest
to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. God grant that we may understand this,
that to the whole of the Israel of God, let's lift it out of mere Israel, this was the purpose of
baptism in water, to make manifest this one, glory be to God, and he says, this is why I've come,
and in verse 32 goes on saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it 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 and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizes
with the Holy Ghost. There it is, and you may take your references into the other three Gospels.
He was announced at the beginning as the great baptizer with the Holy Ghost. He wasn't announced
at the beginning as one who would, you know, that we love to preach about, bear all your burdens and
give you rest, you know, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and all these sort of
things, that he was not announced like that. He was announced as the great Spirit baptizer,
amen. That's how he was announced. Would God somebody had told me that when I was as young
as some of you are? Would God somebody had told me that? Praise God. Of course, no excuse, it was
written in the Bible, but you know, if you have guided reading and thinking, it's surprising how
much you can miss. They tell me that in Russia they take you for conducted tours and it's surprising
how much you don't see. The guide takes you to see what they want you to see. I understand,
I've never been to Russia, but the tremendousness about it, beloved, is that this is the great truth
that our Lord Jesus obviously is the one that baptizes. He's the baptizer. We'll get this
settled. Praise his wonderful name. And he baptizes into his body when he baptizes you.
When you're baptized, you're baptized into his body, into himself. He's really saying,
I'm baptizing you into me. Oh, glory. Amen. That's a tremendous thing. He's really putting
his arms around you and saying, come here, I've always known you. You really belong to me. Come
on in here. You see, this is what he's saying. And he's baptizing me into himself. You see,
in that hymn that we're saying, not alone the gift of life, but his own self he gave me,
that hymn has sown something of wrong thinking in your mind. You can't have life unless you
have him. He doesn't give you life and himself. You haven't got life unless you've got him.
Be careful. Be careful. Don't let wrong ideas be sown in your mind.
In him is life. I want to tell you it's spirit life. It's God life.
And he baptizes into himself. Praise God. Now where in the world then does water baptism come
in this, seeing that it's alluded to? Well, beloved, it is brought out and it is instituted
in the church so that it may convey to you a picture and that you may see what it's all about,
this great baptism. It's enacted out in front of your eyes. You could do without it. We could
all do without it. We're not going to say we don't want it, but it's only put in for a picture.
That's all. And when God puts these pictures into the church, we must keep them because they have
a necessary use. There's going to come a time when we won't want it anymore,
where we won't want it anymore, when the sea is going to be done away and all the rivers
that flow into it. There's going to be one river and it's the river of water of life.
It's the Holy Spirit River. That's the one that's going to be left forever. Is that right?
Amen. And you see, beloved, we're going to be brought face to face with absolute reality,
but baptism has a necessary use. And the necessary use of baptism is found in Romans chapter 6.
Norman didn't know why he chose that hymn, did he?
Amen.
Buried with Christ, raised with him too. Here we are then, Romans 6. What shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin
live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us, as were baptized into Jesus Christ,
were baptized into his death? 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. What a tremendous thing this is then for us to see, beloved.
Wherever there is a true baptistry, and one of these days perhaps, well I don't know whether
we're promised or threatened with it, we're going to have a baptistry here. I've heard it mooted
upon several occasions. There isn't one here yet, but we could easily rig you up one. There
wouldn't be any difficulty about that. Several baths and deep sinks about.
That's not the important point at the moment, but we've got to have all things done decently
in order. But the tremendousness about it, for our hearts to realize, beloved, is that a baptistry
is a grave. Only symbolically, only pictorially, you must not get into your head that because
you're baptized in water, that means you're dead. I mean I've heard it said, I know I'm dead because
I've been baptized in water. Well what a lot of nonsense that is. Do you think the thief on the
cross knew he was dead? He was never baptized in water. You know he knew he was dead, hung on a
cross beside Jesus. He was never baptized in water, but he knew he was dead all right when he died,
when they broke his legs to hasten it on, for instance, and so on. I'm talking literally now.
But here then is the tremendous thing that a baptistry is a tomb, and it is to speak to us
of Jesus's tomb, and in a marvelous thing. You see, this is the combination. The bread and the
wine speak of Calvary. The baptistry, which is the other ordination, speaks of the tomb
and the resurrection. The crucifixion, the burial, the resurrection. That's what these two ordinances
stand for in the church. They're very, very wonderful, and they've got to remain there
because the Lord has put them in the church. They have this great vital necessary use.
They bring us back to the fundamentals of it all, the very foundation. Hallelujah. Jesus Christ
literally died on that cross, and then, beloved, you, when you were baptized in water,
you were baptized into his death, verse three. You were baptized into his death pictorially, of course,
and then, and buried, praise God, verse four, as a progression here, death, burial,
raised up, resurrection. Hallelujah. Now, that's the purpose of baptism in water.
So, baptism in water in the New Testament, I mean, after the Acts of the Apostles, then,
after the descent of the Holy Ghost, let's put it that way, is not a baptism under repentance.
I mean, there's a lot of this being banded about, about this baptism in water, a baptism of
repentance. You want a huge understanding you've got to be men. God was talking to us this morning
about all these things, and put away childish prattle that's being talked about,
even around churches. You've got to put all this away. In the New Testament, after the descent of
the Holy Ghost, and before the descent of the Holy Ghost, everything was Old Covenant.
Understand that very clearly. In its essence, it was the sort of progression from the Old Covenant
with the King on the earth, with his Old Covenant people. And then he died, and rose again, and the
Holy Ghost came down, and this is what he says, you're going to be baptized in the Holy Ghost,
not many days hence. And they were baptized into one body. As I heard it said only a few days ago,
120 units of a congregation became one body. That's right. Hallelujah. They were baptized into one
grey body. Amen. Do you believe that? You must think before you answer really, because it's
not popular. I can tell you that. And I'm not trying to entrap you into making statements.
This then, is the great and logical and sane revelation of God in the Scriptures of Truth,
beloved. The great one baptism. Amen. Now, that's why, beloved, on the day of Pentecost,
when they were all baptized in the Spirit, they were commanded to be baptized in water.
Because, you see, beloved, all these people could lose the sight of the fact of Calvary.
See, they were all taken up with the fact that the Holy Ghost, the third person of the Trinity,
had come. They were all on fire and flaming in it. They were all speaking in other tongues.
They were all speaking the marvelous works of God. And you know the thing that Peter said. He
said about Jesus of Nazareth, you've taken him, you've crucified him, and he's raised from the dead,
and now the Holy Ghost has come, and these people repented. And Peter said, now listen,
you will all be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Amen. And you
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for the promise is unto you. And so he goes right on through
these great truths. And they realized that this thing that had happened to them was not just
exclusively for them. It was for all who came and were coming to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so, beloved, the Lord did this wonderful thing. You, my beloved,
when you were baptized in Spirit, in the Spirit, you were baptized into the body of Jesus Christ.
Praise God. That's why you could begin to live like Jesus Christ, and that's why you could begin
to work and act and function like Jesus Christ. Because you were baptized into him,
as simply and as sweetly as that. God's very logical and very simple. I find that it's men
that complicate the great truth. Only men who complicate it. I've heard one of the great men,
I went and heard him preach. He spoke of three baptisms. But after that I found out somebody
who'd had four. I've heard somebody say they had four. I don't know how they worked it all out,
but there it is. And I say to them, hey brother, there's only one. There's only one.
Now, they don't like it if you keep telling them what the Scriptures say, but they should like it.
Praise God. Now, beloved, let's go on from this then, shall we? You were baptized into Jesus
Christ, and you know that they were baptized into Jesus Christ. If you go to the Acts of the
Apostles, that's the second chapter. In the third chapter, you find it. Peter and John,
they're going up into the temple, and there lies a man, and he's laid. And he's never walked,
and he's always begged for his living. And he says he wants something from them. And old Peter
says, silver and gold have I none, such as I have to give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ.
There you are. He actually said he was there in the name of Jesus Christ.
He knew he was baptized into Jesus Christ, you see.
You have to be baptized into Jesus Christ to bear the name of Jesus Christ.
And then you can function in the name of Jesus Christ. It's all so simple. I don't see why
people get so tied up about it. I want to make big doctrines about it. It's ABC to me.
Praise God. I suppose it's because I'm a simpleton. But it's right, beloved.
Hallelujah. And it says in Romans 6, it says, our old man, and we know this,
what I used to be, the old person I used to be, bearing my old name and all that, is dead,
crucified with him. But that didn't happen when I was dipped in water. God knows it didn't. I know
it didn't. And I'm not trying to kid myself it did. I was only saying, look everybody, this is how
it happened, you see. I was buried with Jesus Christ. Amen. And I rose up. I'm telling you of
the efficacy of that death that took place nearly 2,000 years ago. It was that that did it.
That that did it. And I'm letting you see. That's why I believe. I testify it to you.
I declare it to you. It's Jesus. That's right. That's what baptism in water is all about.
Like we said this morning, we're showing forth his death
in the communion. We're shouting it out. Glory be to God. Now that's a marvellous thing.
Moreover, beloved, you are to know not only what you were baptised into, and not only what you
were baptised in, for you were baptised in the spirit, in spirit, into the body, but you've got
to know where you were baptised. Do you know where you were baptised? Do you know where you
were baptised? Now in water I can tell you where I was baptised but I'm not meaning that. Now we've
all got to be baptised at the same place. That's what I'm talking about. Now you might have been
baptised in China or India or in the best places in the best denominations or something of that
nature, beloved, but you and I have got to know where we are baptised.
Now we're told, beloved, and this is part of our trouble, in that most of us haven't really
got the pattern that God has set out for us. Now had we all been ancient Israelites, had we all been
Jews, we would have understood this immediately. But you see, we're Gentiles and it's a good thing
we've got this Bible because we can begin to see what it's all about. Now had you lived as an ancient
Jew, you would have known the setup of the tabernacle and the temple. The setup was this.
You will take the tabernacle, shall we, when it was first instituted. Then had you looked,
you would have seen the great cloudy pillar, you see, that was down there standing over the
Merseyside where God was dwelling on the earth, behind that curtain. And that was over the tent.
And then round it all you would have seen the great outer wall. It was only a material thing.
It wasn't solid and it was set up on posts all the way round. And we'll take that this is near
the entrance and instead of being a gateway here into this secluded tabernacle, there was an altar.
And the only way in was by the altar. But had you got there, although you were not allowed inside
unless you were a priest, you could only come as far as the altar. And then you can get very near
to that. The Levites relieved you of your sacrifice. It was all done for you. And the animal was slain.
You would have seen between the altar and the actual tabernacle where God dwelt, a thing called a laver.
Now when priests were first instituted priests, Aaron and his sons, they were baptized at that
laver. That's where they were baptized. If you may read this yourself, Leviticus, Exodus,
the chapters, you will find yourself in Leviticus 8 and so on. And you'll find the whole process
that Moses stripped off these men and he could only just sort of lave them a bit. But by the time
it got to the temple, old Solomon, he did everything in a grand way, he made a sea,
a great big thing, not just a little laver. It was a great sea which they could be plunged,
utterly plunged. And they were literally baptized. You must not think that John instituted baptism.
He did not. And then after that, after they were once bathed, this is what Jesus said,
he that's bathed, absolutely bathed, need not save it to wash his feet. You remember that in
John chapter 13. That's all you need. And that's all he meant. Going to and fro the tabernacle
and the altar, after they had their first baptism, which was their initiation into the body
of God. You say surely not. Only symbolically. They ate God's food. They took God's sacrifices.
They had God's tithes. It was all for the priesthood. They were in that sense symbolically,
God represented on the earth. All right. And that they had an initial baptism into it.
All right. Now that's the place where the baptism takes place, Titus.
And in Titus, we have this great truth. Chapter three,
verse four, after that, the kindness and love of God, our savior toward man of earth,
not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy. Now you note this,
he saved us by the labor of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shared with
and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shared on us abundantly. There it is. So Jesus Christ,
that we, that being justified, that took place at the altar, if you like, at the cross,
that being justified, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
This is a faithful say, and I will that these things should be affirmed constantly.
Now, I don't know whether you're constantly hearing these things affirmed, are you?
Here's God speaking. He said, these things have got to be constantly affirmed. Now I'm affirming
this to you this afternoon. I'm affirming to you that the baptism takes place in the labor of
regeneration. That's where it takes place. There's one baptism and you're baptized in the Spirit.
The water stands for the Spirit. You know that this labor was filled with the water.
Hallelujah. And they were baptized in that labor. And the same with us.
That's where your baptism takes place, my beloved brothers and sisters. And when you come out,
you've been baptized into Jesus Christ. And you've put on Christ. That's what we're told
immediately. We've put him on. Now that's our clothes, because this is, they say,
now you shall be endued or clothed with power from on high. Well, who's the power? Jesus Christ.
He's the power of God. It says so. Christ, the power of God. You put your clothes on
if you've been baptized into Jesus Christ. Is that right?
And you've put on Christ. Your Bible's your commentary on your Bible.
Somebody said to me the other day, he said, and we were right up in the northeast corner of England,
not so far away. He said, I don't know. He said, when you preach, you make the Bible explain the
Bible. I said, well, that's what it's for. You don't want men's explanations of the Bible.
We want the Bible to explain the Bible. The Bible explains the Bible. I put on my clothes.
Hallelujah. Glory. I've been baptized into Christ. I put you on, Lord Jesus. I put you on.
Christ, the power of God. On your great chapter, 1 Corinthians 1 speaks of water baptism. He goes
right on. He said, Christ didn't send me to baptize in water. He sent me to preach Christ,
the power of God. Amen. And I put him on. Hallelujah. There's only one baptism, beloved.
There's only one baptism. Hallelujah. Oh, and it's a marvelous thing when God does this,
that I might go right through in this glorious revelation that God has given, and I might live
here as Jesus Christ on the earth. Then you might say to me, well, if this is so,
what is it that they're calling the baptism in the Spirit? What happens when people get baptized
in the Spirit? Do you know, somebody said to me the other day, well, somebody said to me the other
day, oh, the person's in the room. I won't look where that person's sitting in case I have to
think. People tell me so many things. And they say, oh, fancy you saying that when you were
preaching. But they said this, that they knew of somebody who went to what's called the hottest
Pentecostal church in England. It's not local. It's up in the Midlands. And they said, these
people that had been running this mission all these years had been to someone they knew they
could vouch for this and had said, we discovered at last that speaking in tongues is not the
initial evidence of the baptism in the Spirit. We've got proof of it now in our meetings.
Well, they need never have believed it if they hadn't accepted the dogmas of people.
They'd never have believed it. This is the great revelation. Hallelujah.
Why? If you'd have heard as many devils speaking tongues as I have, you'd have known that. You'd
have stopped all that myth a long time ago. But glory be to God, don't let me put you off from
speaking in tongues. When you've been baptized into the body, when you're there, oh, glory.
You could speak in as many tongues as Jesus Christ does. And he speaks in them all because
he can speak Hindustani. Yes, he does answer the Hindustanis in English when he talks to them.
That's right. Of course he doesn't. Don't you see? It's all simple to me. I don't know even
the good news about this. You can speak in Mandarin. Of course you can because Jesus speaks
in Mandarin. You do see this, don't you? You do, don't you? And he could speak in angels' tongues
too. That's what Paul says. That's simple enough. You don't need to make a fuss about that. And
it's not a sort of a lot of saliva slapping stuff. It's not that. It's sane language.
Hallelujah. Initial evidence. Who needs that? Does God need it?
Oh, may God save us from these petty small things of men.
Now, I'm a good mind to command you all to speak in tongues. Now,
you say, well, Commanders, he can't do that. Well, can't I? In the authority of Christ I can. Why can't I?
You say, but I can't. Yes, you can if you say you're baptized.
But you mustn't mistake the ability for the necessity. That's all. You mustn't confuse ability
and necessity. This man said to me, oh, I can remember when he was baptized in the Spirit.
I was baptized in the Spirit before he was. And he came to see me. Yes, I was.
Oh, sorry. That's all right. We're old pals. We understand one another. Glory to God.
And he came to me and he said, I didn't speak in tongues, I said. He said, you could have done.
And at that time I didn't believe him, but I do now. I could have done. I didn't. You see,
I could have prophesied, but I didn't. See, I could have done. Because of the ability in Christ,
you see, because of the power that's there. He gives gifts according to his will. I know it.
You see, he works your will. If you will, he will. Don't you see that? Don't you see this?
You haven't seen the thing, Hardy, yet, if you haven't seen this. He's not out there giving big
commands. He gets in you, starts to work your will. And if you're not stubborn, he'll work
your will to speak in tongues. He'll work your will to prophesy. He will. You believe it, lovey.
It's all simple. Do you believe it? It's all simple. Yes, it's an enormous thing. God wants
you to understand this and understand it very clearly. I can see this. I can do anything that
God wants me to do. Praise God. All right, let's go on, shall we? You are baptized into Jesus Christ
in the Spirit at or in the labor of regeneration. That's where you were baptized.
And there is an experience following that. Of course, there's an experience following that.
You can get it all together. Well, I know people. Have I ever told you about it? Have I ever told
you about some of these people I've known? Well, I can think of a fellow in Bradford. This was
he got saved at work. And he got saved because the chap at work told him to go and ask God for the
Holy Ghost. He didn't say, go and ask God and forgive you your sins. He said, go and ask God
to give you the Holy Ghost. So God gave him the Holy Ghost. And this was about Friday.
And on the Saturday, he turns up at church and he looked a real man of the world with the fellow
that let him in, you see. And that's why I had to look at him. He looked a real worldling.
And that was that. And he joined us in the open air. He came back the next Saturday.
We got down to pray together before we went out in the open air. And I think I spoke in tongues
when I was worshiping the Lord. And Ron spoke in tongues. So did Don. Listen. No one told him
about getting the baptism. He started to speak in tongues like we did. He was a good boy.
He didn't fight. He learned his lessons straight away. He went in like that. You say,
didn't you have another experience? No, no, no. It wasn't necessary.
Yeah. Of course it wasn't. You see this very clearly, beloved. You're baptized
in the labor of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. That's how he saved you,
it says. That's what those verses in Titus say very clearly.
And I want to tell you that the cross without the baptism is not valid.
If you read those verses in Titus, that being justified, that's the cross, we may be made
heirs according to the hope of eternal life, sons, eternal life, regeneration. It's all there.
And the glorious renewing back into the image of God from which Adam by transgression fell.
Hallelujah. And here we are. And we're in this mighty place. You might say, well then,
I know I'm born again, but I'm not in these gifts of the Spirit. Well, you can get in. That's easy
enough. That's easy enough. Praise the Lord. Lots of people hold back because they want,
they feel they want to be so dead honest. And they feel they don't want to work anything up
in the flesh. They don't believe in their baptism because you could, you never had this baptism
till the old man was, you know, dealt with the old man. He dealt with the old man.
You understand that? The old man can't get in here. Well, any old men in Christ.
You've got to see this. And all this fear about the old man and the flesh taking over and all
this business, my beloved, do God credit and honor him. And stop all this nonsense as though
you're God's judge. The Lord is telling you and you ought to believe it.
All right. Yes, there are experiences following the baptism in the Spirit.
And you may find this in the case of the Lord Jesus Christ himself in Luke chapter four.
And herein, you will find a tremendous difference as we talk along these lines
between the old and the new. In Luke chapter four, you will find that Jesus comes back
full of the Holy Ghost. And then you'll find in verse 14, he comes back in the power of the Spirit.
There it is. Now, you see that power, that word power, that's your word,
dynamis. All right. X one eight. All right. And he goes in the synagogue in 16. He takes the book
and he opens the book and the Spirit of the Lord's upon him, he says in verse 18,
because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the broken
hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, the recovering of the sight, the blind and so on.
And this man, this blessed Jesus of Nazareth, now as the Spirit of the Lord upon him,
he's in power. He's in the anointing. Now, the Lord Jesus was anointed
and the power comes with the anointing.
There it is. It's in your Bible. I didn't write it. I'm only pointing you to read it properly.
I love to say this. I love to say, because my God wrote this book to me,
I love to say it. It's absolutely true. And if what men say doesn't fit in with this,
I reject what men say. Whoever says it, I invite you to do the same.
Hallelujah. And he comes back and he's moving now in the great anointing.
He was not baptized in the Spirit. Jesus was never baptized in the Spirit.
He didn't need to be because he had no sin, because the baptism in the Spirit deals with
sin and the old man and baptizes you into the new. That's right. The anointing equips you in
power for service, if you like to put it that way, or if you like for the real ministry.
I am so convinced of this, beloved, as I go on and see this. This is so clear to me. Now,
you say, where's the demonstration of the old and the new? It lies here.
John Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. Is that right? But he never
did one miracle. He wasn't anointed in this great sense. He didn't move in places. He preached
in the fullness of the Spirit. But listen, what was the difference between Jesus Christ and John
Baptist? Jesus Christ was conceived of the Spirit. He was born of the Spirit. John Baptist never was.
John Baptist was only filled with his Spirit from the womb when he was born. Jesus Christ was
conceived and formed and, if you like, it was filled with the Spirit before he was born.
If I may put it that way. Sorry to have to put it that way, but I don't know quite how to say it.
But you'll get this very clear. John says this himself. You remember when they came to him
in the third chapter of John's Gospel, and they said to him, Oh, Rabbi, him to whom thou bearest
witness beyond Jordan, he's the same as baptizing, and all men come to him. Remember that?
He said, Oh, that's wonderful. He didn't say this, but this is what he said. He said, He that hath
the bride is the bridegroom. You see? And he said, But the friend of the bridegroom
is the one that stands and hears his voice, rejoices. Do you see this? Now John Baptist
was never in the bride. Why wasn't he in the bride? Because he was never baptized in the Spirit.
He was filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb, but never baptized in the Spirit.
The baptism in the Spirit never started until Acts chapter two, but there were many people
filled with the Spirit before the baptism in the Spirit became the norm for Christian life.
All right? We'll talk it through together some time, if you like. Now you've got to understand
this that in your New Testament, in your New Testament, nobody was filled with the Spirit
in the New Covenant until they were baptized in the Spirit. It is not recorded in the New Covenant,
that is from Acts chapter two onwards. The four gospels came before the New Covenant started.
They were still old covenant in this sense, and nobody was filled with the Spirit before they were
baptized in the Spirit. Now that will clear you up because you hear lots of people talking about the
oh well the fullness of the Spirit and the baptism in the Spirit, and they try to say that you can
be filled with the Spirit without being baptized in the Spirit. That is not true, not in the New
Covenant. Nobody was filled with the Spirit. You may read it in Acts chapter two, and they were all
filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them
utterance. That's when they were baptized in the Spirit into the body, and then after that they had
fillings and so on as you go on. So don't get tied up about this. Keep this very clear. All you've
got to do is to read your Bible properly. Now, well they weren't, they weren't. They're called
fillings. The exact word is the same, fillings. Subsequent? Probably, yes. If you like a sort of
a taking on of the washing in the labor after the original baptism bathing. Yes, all right,
possibly so. But the big thing and the blessed thing for us to understand, beloved, is this,
that both baptism and anointing are intended by God for us because you are baptized into the
anointed one. You are baptized into Christ. Your baptism takes you into the anointing.
All right? Have you got that clear? All right, have a copy of this tape and think it out sometime.
Your baptism, when you're baptized in the Spirit, you're baptized into the body of Christ. Christ
simply means the anointed one. So you're baptized into the anointing. All right?
You got that clear? So you should and we all should and must go on in the anointed life,
which is the Christ life. You are, you see, I want you to make this very clear. Jesus is the name of
the boy, the baby that was born in Bethlehem. He wasn't known as the Christ until Jordan.
When the anointing, he says, I'm anointed, the anointed one. Now, when you are baptized,
you're baptized into the anointed Christ. You're not baptized into Jesus. All right?
You're baptized into Christ. The scripture is very discriminative
when it tells you you're baptized into the anointed. Hallelujah.
Can be, but was so in the case of the early church. As I wanted to point out with Don, everything
started to function immediately and it could in every one of us if we were rightly taught and
instructed. Hallelujah. I can look around in this room. Now I can see at least one person
and I don't want to fix my eyes on that person. But straight away, baptizing away, speaking in
tongues in a couple of three days and passing on into all the great fullness of God. When I say
baptize, I mean regenerate. No subsequent things at all. Just moving on into it. And God wants us
to be here. And I want to tell you this, beloved, people talk about this anointing. It is a sort of
evanescent kind of a thing. If you say to me, now, when did you get the anointing?
I mean, it's a sort of a question people might ask you. Do you know I haven't got a clue?
I haven't got a clue. I'd like to ask some of these brethren that talk about it. When did you
get your anointing? I don't know when I got the anointing. It just seems to work. It just seemed
to happen. And I want to tell you this, beloved, that the whole secret of it is complete abandonment
to Jesus Christ. That's all the secret of it is. I don't know. I really don't know. Nobody came and
poured oil on me. Nobody put hands on me. Nobody said, now, brother, we're going to pray for you
to get the anointing. Lots of people do that in meetings. They say, Lord, anoint this brother.
Some of you heard what my replies to that usually. I usually say, Lord, I've got it.
I'm in it. I live in it. I don't need anointing to preach. I haven't needed anointing to preach
to you today or this morning or yesterday. I haven't needed it. I haven't known my need of it
for decades. I haven't, honestly, beloved, I must be absolutely true. All I know is I get up and talk
and pray. That's all I know.
But you see, if you'll be head over heels in love with Jesus, if you'll make Jesus all,
if you'll leave everything else and everybody else without any sort of highfalutin notions about it,
or think you've got to run away from people or something like that and come out of a sentimental
sloshy in loveless as though you're just going to be married tomorrow or something like that
and really be in love with him in a real powerful, bloody cross, burial, resurrection,
gone away out of everything else, hopelessly lost in God, if you'll be like that,
you'll be anointed away. You needn't worry. Amen. That's what God wants.
He doesn't want namby-pamby stuff. He wants good, solid, spiritual, rock-like
quality of character that had sooner died than sin.
That's what he wants. Abandoning unto the Lord Jesus Christ. If you do happen to sin,
the capacity to sin is always present with us. If God took away capacity,
we wouldn't have a capacity for righteousness. I mean, the capacity that I have to love
could be a capacity to hate. It's the same capacity. I could fill it up with hatred.
I could fill it up with love. The capacity always remains. It's the desires that are changed.
It's this, you see. And so we go on and desire and go on with our Lord Jesus Christ in this
wonderful thing. Here then, beloved, I suppose I ought to come back to earth a bit.
It's the wonderful doctrine of baptisms. Running throughout all baptisms, beloved,
is the sense of death. The doctrine of baptisms is death. You know that. If I got you and held
you long enough under the water, you'd soon die physically. That's right. It's the doctrine,
my beloved, of death and burial and resurrection. Hallelujah. In a new person,
being a new being and having a new nature and bearing a new name,
it's a complete cutting off, a dying away from, that's the word thanatos, it's in death,
a dying away from everything else and a living unto God. That's what it is. That's the doctrine
of baptisms, beloved. This is the great thing and God at last brought thought into our knowledge
and within our sensibilities, this great labor of regeneration, beloved, this great labor of the
spirit, this glorious place where Jesus Christ, taking the privilege of dying for you and as you
to abnegate all your life and cross it out by a powerful crucifixion and burying you right down
into his death, you'd have the privilege of taking your naked spirit, your self, and plunge you
into the Holy Ghost and fire the Holy Ghost into himself in that blessed spirit. Amen.
Glory. And all other baptisms are pictures of it all, all the lot. There's one baptism,
one body. See, it's all put there. This is the unity of the Spirit. One God, one Father,
that's all. Hallelujah. He's in us all. He's over us all. It's wonderful. Do you feel this?
Are you conscious of this? You are, aren't you?
If I can't, you can, I suppose.
No, I can't. You can't. I could.
You're trying to say you won't. 431? Is there any Acts 431 in my Bible?
Oh, yes, there is.
Sorry, I was looking at another chapter. I was thinking of 341. The numbers got reversed in my
mind. When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together,
and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness,
and the multitude of them that believed were of one heart, one soul. That proves they were
in one body, don't they? In one spirit. All right. Now, Acts 431. I think the answer to this
is clear. It starts with the fact that they'd gone back. You will find this in verse 23.
They went to their own company. These were the two apostles, Peter and John.
It's Peter that's answering about the man that was healed in the third chapter.
They went back to their own company, and they all prayed with one voice. They all prayed one
prayer, and this is what happened. They asked in the name of the Holy Child Jesus, verse 27,
who was anointed. Do you see that? The Holy Child Jesus who was anointed, they asked that God would
do tremendous things. Verse 29 and 30. Grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak
thy word by stretching forth thine hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done by the name
of thy Holy Child Jesus. When they prayed, the place was shaken, and they were all filled
with the Holy Spirit. Well now, I believe the answer to this is this.
It means exactly what it says. It could include two companies of people,
that there were some who'd never been filled before, and others who were, and they were refilled.
All right?
The refilling is that I believe that God does keep on filling us more, in the sense that we can
grow. Today, I can grow, I can expand, as a result of living for God, and I believe that I'm capable
of being more full of the Spirit tomorrow, in this sense, than I am today, and I believe I can have
more and more of God's fullness as I go on with Him. Now, that's the sense in which I mean that,
but if you've got something else to say, it would be nice to hear what you've got in your mind,
because if you've been given meditation here, it might be that we can do with it. But
the fact is that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit must include them all, of course,
every one of them. Yes, I do believe that I can be more filled with the Spirit tomorrow,
and the day after, than I am today. I believe I can have more of God tomorrow,
providing I've got all of God that I could have today.
Could it be that in the sense that all Jesus Christ went up and prayed, and went upon His
Father, and worshiped Him, and worshiped Him, that had come down, and you noticed this sense
of how the Lord was present to heal, in the same sense, isn't it? I would think that, yes.
That's right, Peter. I would agree with that, I think. I don't see a problem here at all.
You don't. I think, if for example, taking these on that,
if we had four tumblers here, two of them are filled with water and two are not, and somebody
comes along and fills the two of them not, well, they're all filled with water. In other words,
the people who have already been filled with the Holy Ghost are still filled with the Holy Ghost,
and those who are not are filled. They're all the same here, filled. That's why I say it.
I told you I was a picture.
I would like to say this, that I've always been given to understand that the Greek
tense is the present one, and it's be being filled, and you can't be more filled than what you were
any time, and I believe this is the truth. I believe, firstly, what Bob said, and not that
the other is an error, but I believe that what Bob said is really correct. I've been filled with
be being filled with the Holy Ghost. I've always had one there, but I'm full of this. I've got to be
filled right to the top, all the while. I think that there's another teaching about that says
the water runs out and you've got to be topped up. That, of course, is complete nonsense,
you see, but I would believe in my heart that what Bob is saying is the truth.
Sorry about that, John, but it's not the present.
It's just all filled. They were all filled. I was speaking about that first, well, I was speaking
of being filled with the Holy Spirit in another passage. Oh, yeah, I see. Sorry, I thought you
were talking about. Oh, sorry. Yeah, that's right. That's been being, no, all the time.
Praise God. Hallelujah. That's been my great tremendousness. I think this is altogether
really. Sometimes we can get mistaken in our approach. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
came down on this earth to get his bride. Is that right? This is why he came. So we're only
rarely concerned with those who are, they're all kings and priests unto God in the new covenant.
Do you see this? So we ought not to contemplate an altar. I believe that there is an approach to
this in people's experiences. What I am doing is putting the baptism in the Spirit further back,
not bringing it, taking it on. I'm taking it back. In other words, I'm saying that many,
many more people are baptised in the Holy Ghost than we say by our exclusive
Pentecostal emphasis, if I might put it that way. That's the thing I'm really saying.
I believe that. I believe John Wesley was baptised in the Spirit. I believe
Penny was baptised in the Spirit. I believe George Fox. I believe C.T. Stud was. I mean,
I'm picking out great names at the moment. I believe a host and a multitude of others
were baptised in the Spirit. They didn't know anything about the Pentecostal things.
I believe they could have done. That's what I believe, and I believe this quite with all my heart.
The manifestation of the works.
It is that the Lord was anointed and then the powers manifested.
That's the disciples manifested power before they were. That's right. When they went down at the
70th and the 12th. Yes, I think the answer to that lies here, that they went out under the anointing
of the Christ. They went out as his chosen ones when he was on the earth. He called them to himself
and he gave them the authority. He gave them the power. They had power before Pentecost and so on.
They had this same anointing and we're told that even the prophets spoke by the Spirit of
Christ that was in them that came on them and for that very occasion.
Yes, they need not necessarily be separated. They can all come together. This is the great wonder.
I think we can see that very clearly in the scriptures say on the day of Pentecost.
They went straight out and got on with the works. They moved on into this tremendous experience
with the Lord. What they had to wait for was the baptism. They already had had dedicated authority
in the anointing. They'd done it before. They had to wait for the baptism. They had to pass into Christ.
Did you say then earlier on that the anointing was not necessarily a definite experience,
suggesting then that therefore the baptism is a definite experience?
Yes, I would say that very, very emphatically that the baptism in the Spirit is the vital thing
and when it is experienced then beloved everybody knows it's taken place.
Now, it should be and the real truth about this is that this great standby text of mine that's in
the whole, it is Romans 10 and 17, that faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God
and people don't hear the thing so they don't have faith to believe it and so it never takes
place in their lives at all, you see. It could do. So this is why Paul says,
I will that you affirm these things constantly. Keep on saying them because people have got to
hear this thing and then they can believe, receive and function. But coming back to
my own experience and I know it would be foolish to try and make everybody fit into my own
experience but there is this about it that you virtually only know what happens to yourself.
You can believe other people when they talk to you but you know, you all know you've had your
dinner for instance, you can believe that somebody across the road rode it if they told you but you
couldn't prove it. You know and you can prove that you've had your own
dinner, lunch or whatever you want to call it. All right, now the same here beloved that
I know that my own experience along this line was that I found that things started to happen.
I never had another experience in that sense. I just found that, well,
that's all that's happened. People seem to get healed and people seem to get delivered and I
didn't do any special and I believe that this is how it should be and I'll tell you how I believe
it should be if you go back into Acts again, that great chapter that our brothers drawn
attention to it. Chapter four, the verse I mentioned that
that against the Lord and his Christ, you know I mean verse 26 of chapter four,
of a truth against thy holy child or servant is the word there, Jesus whom thou hast anointed.
Both Herod and Pontus Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done and now Lord
behold their threatens and grant unto thy servants that with all bonus they may speak thy word by
stretching forth thine hand to heal. Now do you see they said we're thy servants and we want to
stretch forth thy hand. You've anointed your holy child Jesus. That's right, we've stretched forth
your hand. Now this was the tremendous thing he didn't say well now Lord please anoint us so that
we can see some signs and some wonders done. Now this is popular modern day if you like
Pentecostal praying. Anoint this brother so that he can do signs and wonders and miracles. Now that's
right isn't it? I'm not that's obvious we must have heard this many many times but you see in
the early church they simply said you've anointed your holy child we'll do the works.
You see Jesus was the anointed one the permanent anointing and to realize this will make the life
flow so that I don't have to go and fast and pray for 10 days to get a special anointing.
I am not saying that if I didn't that if I did fast and pray I wouldn't move into more power if
you like. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that these are not conditions laid down
in the Bible. It's the recognition beloved that you've been baptized into that anointed one.
Amen and the anointing is on the head that's where it was poured and it went all the way down his
beard and ran down his clothes there you are clothes with power from on high there's your
anointing you put on your Christ it runs down and here we are. We're in the great anointing
and we're to recognize this and we're to move in it. I was somewhere up in it was Newcastle
in the university and the Lord blessed us in a very real way. God put some tremendous things up
there but as the weekend began to close the president came to me and he said
we run a weekend pre-terminal weekend next year we've had it this year he said but we
won 1971 and he was sort of hedging and humming and I said oh you mean you want to ask me to
come and speak for you he said yeah yes that's right he said you'd like me to come I said no
and be with you in the household for the weekend he said yeah that's right he said well would you
and I said yes I'll come if I'm available he said don't you want to pray about it I said no
well I pray about what I know I should do you see
you see but if you're in the right quarters you're supposed to pray about it
then you see God delivers from saying I wanted to pray about what I knew already in my heart I
should do I said yeah I'll come if I'm available praise God I don't know quite what it'll all be
about but I'll come why not you see it's this anointing beloved that keeps you going
say oh my little daughters are toxic I'll come and pray with her that's Jesus
that's right lay your hands on them the anointing's there it's permanent
and won't you see this and we're in the body oh glory it stops us scratching about making
a hollow balloon seeming very pious about things that God doesn't want us to be pious about
he wants us to be very practical and live in this great realm of moving about amongst men and women
nevertheless let me remind you that they were in a mighty prayer meeting when we read this
hallelujah just don't you think you can neglect it they will all pray hallelujah the place was
shaken glory hallelujah they were all one heart one soul
oh
that's how it works in when we're in one that's when the anointing flows you see
one head one beard one great coat that it all ran down when we're one
God wants us to be one
what are we
doing that's the big thing for us to decide
all right hallelujah I think we'll have to draw this to an end

Raw whisper.ai output

Original audio at https://biblebase.com/download/4979/