He Said Fire And Spirit - What Does That Mean?

How familiar are you with John the Baptist? Who was he, really? What was his purpose in life? How important was he, and what does he and his words have to do with you today?

Actually, his words are, or should be life changing. Let’s look at it.

Jesus said John was a big deal. In Matthew 11:11 Christ said, “I tell you the truth, John the Baptist is greater than any other person ever born … “

Jesus looked across all of human history, every prophet, every king, every person who had ever drawn breath, and said John stood above them all.

Plus John had a purpose that no other person was able to do - He was paving the way for Jesus to take over - more of Christ - less of John.

And what he said should deeply affect you and me.

So what was John the Baptist doing? John is in the wilderness calling people to get ready, and he makes one thing crystal clear, he is not the one they’re waiting for.

He says in Matthew 3:11-12, “I baptize you with water to show that your hearts and lives have changed. But there is one coming after me who is greater than I am… He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He has his threshing tool in his hand, and he will clean out his threshing floor. He will put the good grain into the barn, but he will burn the chaff with a fire that cannot be put out.”

A threshing floor was where farmers separated wheat from chaff. After the harvest, they would throw the grain into the air, and the wind would carry away the lightweight, worthless chaff while the heavy, valuable grain fell back to the floor.

What was useful was kept. What was worthless was discarded. We are the wheat and chaff. Which one are you?

And John says Jesus comes with that same kind of intention, not to leave everything as it is, but to do a sorting, a separation, a burning of what doesn’t belong. This is not a gentle sermon or life improvement, it’s judgement.

That word baptize - “baptizo” in the Greek, means to be fully immersed, completely overtaken, saturated. Like cloth submerged in dye until every fiber is changed. Has Christ changed you like that?

This is not surface-level belief. This is not showing up on Sundays. This is a full takeover.

God actually promised this long before John opened his mouth. In Ezekiel 36:26-27 He said, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit inside you and help you live by my rules and carefully obey my laws.”

God doesn’t mildly change a person. He completely transforms them.

But then comes the part many might miss - the fire. Fire purifies. It burns off what doesn’t belong. What is it that doesn’t belong in your life?

Is it depression, an addiction, a bad trait, pride - what is it? No wait, sit on that for a moment. What needs to be burned off in your life? What’s lingering, dragging you down, something you can’t shake - what is it?

Peter understood this. In 1 Peter 1:6-7 he writes that troubles come “to prove that your faith is pure. This purity of faith is worth more than gold, which can be proved to be pure by fire.” The fire is not punishment. The fire is a process of maturity, growth and change - it’s a blessing.

But you have to be willing to let it burn.

Here’s the hard truth. I know a lot of people who know their Bible, chapter and verse, theology, doctrine, decades in the pew. But they were never fully taken over.

The Spirit never seized control, and the fire never burned anything away. So what do they have? Knowledge without transformation.

Paul draws a sharp line in 1 Corinthians 8:1: “Knowledge puffs you up with pride, but love builds up.” Without the Spirit and the fire, knowledge can actually inflate the very thing that needs to be burned away.

The Pharisees knew the Bible better than anyone in the room, and Jesus said they were like whitewashed tombs, beautiful on the outside, full of dead things on the inside.

Does Christ, the Holy Spirit, God - really change you from the inside out? Are you a new creature? Have you ever been? If not, maybe you just have head knowledge. What has Christ really change about you?

The religious leaders of the time had information but not transformation. They knew about God but didn’t know God. And when God showed up in the flesh, they called Him a threat. Could you and I be like this?

So here is the question: do you just know, or have you been changed? How has your life and lifestyle changed? How has your love for others changed? How has your worship of God, your following of Christ actually changed.

Wait, stop, write down what’s changed. It’s worth the time …

Because Jesus didn’t come to make you smarter about religion. He came to take over your life, fill you with His Spirit, and burn away everything that doesn’t belong.

Romans 12:2 says it plainly; “Do not be shaped by this world; instead be changed within by a new way of thinking.”

You and I don’t need more information. You and I need surrender. To confess the short comings, to come clean on secrets, to admit your old way of thinking and feeling.

Because the moment you and I stop managing Jesus and start letting Him take over, that’s when the Spirit moves, the fire does its work, and life actually changes.

GOD, expose our sin. It’s a scary prayer. Help us desire differently. That thing in our life, just burn it off. Help us grow and keep growing. Not in skill, knowledge or just awareness, but in a love for you, a love for Christ, a love for the Holy Spirit, a love for your ways and a love for others - even loving the unlovely. Help us. IJNIP amen ♥️