Jentezen Franklin - The Blood, The Cloud and The Sea
Now, I want you to see in 1 Corinthians 10, we'll go there in just a moment, but lemme set this little message up. And I'm gonna call it "The Blood, The Cloud, and The Sea", and it'll take me about 20 minutes to teach it to you. But I feel the authority of the Lord in this. You see, there are times in the scripture where this phrase, the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven, keeps coming up. For example, in 1 Peter 1, he's the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, the King James says, down from heaven. And so, the Holy Spirit baptism is very important. There's water baptism, and there's Holy Spirit baptism. And let me explain the two like this. If you get baptized in a swimming pool, you go down into the pool, and you are immersed into the water, and you come up out of the water, and you come back up the steps, out of the swimming pool. That would be a baptism down into a swimming pool.
But, the comparison of the baptism in the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit, both are biblical terms that are found over and over and over in the scriptures, would be instead of getting you going down and getting baptized into the water, imagine standing under the Niagara Falls. Millions and millions of gallons coming down out of heaven, pouring out. That's the kinda language in Joel, for example, the prophet Joel said, "In the last days, I'm gonna pour out my spirit," and it's going to fall like a Niagara Falls, cascading millions and millions of gallons of Holy Spirit baptism, and you will be immersed. And then, once you are immersed, you can be in-filled, and then there will be an out-flow.
1 Corinthians 10 gives this revelation now, understanding what I'm saying. The baptism in the Holy Spirit and the baptism in water. Now, watch. This is New Testament. Paul begins to teach. "Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all the fathers," listen: "Were under the cloud," that's a reference to the Old Testament, when they were in the wilderness, and God sent a cloud, and they lived under that cloud. They were under the cloud: "All passed through the sea," they were all baptized into Moses, everybody say, "They were baptized into Moses". This is such weird stuff you read right through and it makes no sense unless you allow the Holy Spirit to open your eyes. They were baptized into Moses, where? "In the cloud and in the sea," two baptisms.
The cloud is the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the cloud represents the Holy Spirit. And the sea, remember, when they went down into the Red Sea, the Egyptians were pursuing them, and they went down, and God parted the water, and Israel went through, but when the Egyptians tried to go through the same water, the water collapsed on them, and drowned Pharaoh's army, and defeated them forever. So, here's what I want you to see. He said in 1 Corinthians 10:6, that all of these things are examples for us. The cloud and the sea is an example, a type, for you and I. There were three successive phases in Israel's deliverance out of Egypt. Not one.
Well, I've been born again, and the rest of the stuff, the water baptism, the Holy Spirit baptism, see, that's what I'm talking about. You can choose to have the in-filling. Just because you're in a room doesn't mean you're gonna get, you have to be open to it. But a lot of people just think the blood of the lamb, I'm saved, and that's wonderful, and that is your ticket to heaven. No other way to be saved but through the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. But you settle there and you miss out on the other two that have tremendous spiritual significance for the totality of your deliverance. Lemme put it this way. When they came out of Egypt, the blood of the lamb was enough to get them on their journey. They were freed by the blood of the lamb, you remember, when they slew the lamb, and they put the blood on the doorposts. It started their exit out of Egypt, but can I say this? And I want you to lean in.
The three phases of deliverance is, number one, faith in the blood of the lamb. For us, 1 Corinthians 5 said: "For Christ is our Passover lamb that was slain". So, when I put my faith in Jesus Christ, and the blood that he shed on the cross, instantly, I am forgiven. Instantly, my name is written in the book of life. Instantly, for lack of a better word, I have my ticket to heaven, and the devil can't take it away. It's established and it's sealed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Now, I'm going to heaven by the blood of the lamb, but I'm not getting out of Egypt just by the blood of the lamb. Because Egypt has forces that are trying to re-chain me and re-capture me and re-enslave me, all the time.
And if it was just the blood that they had, they would have been recaptured because the Bible's very clear, the Egyptians started, Pharaoh said, there's a Pharaoh spirit that the moment you make the commitment, I trust you, Lord, I wanna be born again through your blood. Forgive me. Regenerate me, the word regenerate comes from the word "regene", meaning born-again, I'm "regened", I have a new father. Even though my other father might've been this, that, and the other. I'm your child now. That's established through the blood, but that does not mean you're gonna have victory down here in Egypt. You're going to heaven, but you may be defeated down here, and be re-enslaved, and bound back up, and put back in, and messed up and depressed again, and living in fear and torment, and still be a child of God. Because you're ignoring the two baptisms. It was the blood, it was the cloud, and it was the sea.
The second baptism is the cloud. It represents the Holy Spirit. The sea represents baptism in water. And God says this stuff is very, very powerful. It's not a ritual, it's not a ceremony. The blood that got them on their redemptive journey did not get them out of Egypt. The blood of the lamb got Israel started out of Egypt, but it alone did not get them out of Egypt. If there had not been more than the blood of the lamb, they would've been recaptured and enslaved and chained up and defeated the rest of their life, even though the blood had been applied to their house. Wow. What I'm saying to you is, the blood is not the totality of the provision for your salvation. It is what gets you to heaven, it's not what gives you victory down here alone. It's the blood that comes with the baptism in water, and the baptism in the Holy Spirit, that breaks the chains of the enemy.
The blood is the only way I can be saved. But it took two more experiences for God's people to come out of the dominion of evil forces. Two baptisms, one in the cloud, the Holy Spirit, and the other in the sea. They went down into the water, and they came out. Now, listen to what it said. They were all baptized under Moses, in the cloud, and in the sea. The cloud was above. The sea was down. One was going into the pool. The other was the Niagara Falls coming down. And boy, when you get the baptism in the Holy Ghost, and you let God fill you, you're gonna have one river coming down, and then you go down, and you've put yourself in the water, one you do, the other heaven does. The cloud is a type of the Holy Spirit, the sea is a type of water baptism, and they were immersed in the cloud.
The cloud, when they were out in the wilderness, was so powerful that once they got in that cloud, it led them, that's a type of the Holy Spirit, but I want you to see this. When they went into the water, the water was the cut-off point for the Egyptians. The bondages of Egypt, the chains of slavery, could not and did not have authority to be clamped back on them, and the Bible said when Israel came up out of the water to the other side, and the Egyptians came in with their chariots, and got in the same water, the water destroyed them. The sea was the final cut-off point, and God said to Israel, "These enemies, you shall see no more". Will they tempt you? Will they try? They will, but here's the point. Once you obey God, this is just obedience. Once you obey God in water baptism, when you stand, they're gonna come in this side, they're gonna come out this side, and when they stand on this side, something spiritually, in the spirit world, has changed.
I now have authority. I now have legal right to say: I am no longer a slave to sin. I don't have to be an addict. I don't have to be bound. I don't have to be messed up. I don't have to be a slave to the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. I'm not superhuman, I will wrestle, I will deal with things, but I have legal authority and right because I went under and I came up a new creation, and the old things have passed away. Somebody thank God for the blood and the cloud and the sea. Hallelujah.
Now, watch, real quick. I'm getting there very fast. The final separation of Israel from Egypt was not accomplished by the cloud, as powerful as the Holy Spirit is. The final separation from Israel was not accomplished by the blood, as powerful as the blood of the lamb was. The only thing that could separate Israel from Egypt permanently was the baptism in the sea, under the water. And when you get the revelation of that, that I laid down in a watery grave according to Paul's teachings, and the old me is dead and buried, and I am coming up brand-new and I'm free from the chains of fear and torment and guilt and shame and addiction. Oh, look out. For the believer, water baptism is the final cut-off point to the past. Salvation is instant, but separation from the world is a process.
1 Peter 3 gives another quick example. We read right through this stuff, and we don't understand. That was 1 Corinthians 10, now this is 1 Peter 3. He's talking about, they were formally disobedient, long-suffering, how God waited during the days of Noah. Remember, now, he's taking you back to the Old Testament, the story of Noah. Watch what he says. While the ark, everybody say, "The ark represents Jesus". While the ark was being prepared in which few, that is eight souls, that's Noah's family, were saved through water. You know what he just said? He said, "I want you to see that Noah and his family got in the ark, Jesus Christ".
They were the only ones in an ungodly, wicked world that got in the ark. They were all invited, but they all did not partake. And when they got in the ark, then the rain and the water burst forth from the ground and from the sky, and when the water came, the Bible said they were saved by water. Interesting wording. In the ark, they passed through the water. By the waters, they were delivered from a wicked, ungodly world. Could the wicked pass through the same water? No, they perished in the water. Just like the Egyptians, in their chariots, perished when they tried to go through the water to follow after Israel and defeat them.
Now, here is Paul or Peter, 1 Peter, he's saying, I want you to understand that Noah is a type of you entering with your family into the ark, and there was a key to their deliverance, it was the water. The water is what saved them, but the water is what destroyed the ungodly and wicked that would not get in the ark. If it not had been for the baptism in water, your salvation is not complete. If you've never been baptized, you've got your ticket to heaven the moment you pray in an altar and receive the shed blood of Jesus Christ, but you do not have victory down here like God wants to give you victory until you get the, you need the baptism in the Holy Spirit, which is the cloud, and the baptism in the sea, which is the water baptism. And that will become the devil's cut-off point. Hallelujah.
Jentezen Franklin: Now, give us your name.
Alex Hernandez: Alex Hernandez.
Jentezen Franklin: And how did you end up at free chapel?
Alex Hernandez: I heard about free chapel when I was in jail, and just, I'm nervous right now.
Jentezen Franklin: How did you hear about it in jail?
Alex Hernandez: Picked up a book of fasting, and it had your, I seen you on the cover, Jentezen Franklin, and I read it. And, just the whole process of me getting going in jail, and giving my life to Christ, was something spiritual, something different changed in me.
Jentezen Franklin: And how long have you been out?
Alex Hernandez: I've been out two-and-a-half months now.
Jentezen Franklin: And you've been in church here?
Alex Hernandez: Yes.
Jentezen Franklin: Praise God. Are you ready for this? I baptize you in the name of the father, the son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Praise God, hallelujah. Bless the Lord. Hi. What's your name?
Alexa: Alexa.
Jentezen Franklin: Alexa, how long you been coming to the church?
Alexa: Since Easter of last year.
Jentezen Franklin: Did you make a commitment to the Lord then?
Alexa: No. So I actually, the past two years have been a struggle. In may of 2020, I found out that I was having a sweet baby. And, I tried for awhile to make it work with his dad, and I prayed many times on it. And God's answer is always no. And, I didn't understand it. And there was a time when I got very angry with God. And I remember, may 1st of last year, was one of the hardest days, and it was one of the scariest days. I got some news that I was blindsided with, and I laid on my back porch and cried. And I just remember laying there and screaming, and just asking God to get me out of this nightmare. And he did, and I remember praying, and I told God the outcome that I wanted, and he gave me an outcome that was better than I prayed for. Now, I came to church the very next morning, and pastor Javon Ruff was preaching, and I felt like everything that he was saying, he was speaking to my heart. And I remember, he did the altar call, and I just felt like I needed to come down to the altar. And, I was in the very back of the balcony, my baby was sleeping in my arms, and I was wearing heels, and I said, Lord, this is me giving my life to you. You know, I'm giving it all to you, I'm laying it at your feet, but there's a lot of stairs, my baby's sleeping. I'm in heels. I had all these excuses of why I wasn't gonna walk down here, but I said I'm gonna give it to you from my seat, and pastor Javon started doing the prayer over everyone down here, and he stopped, and he said, "I can't go on because I feel like there's someone else that needs to be down here". And I was like, holy-moly, that's me. And so, I sat up and I took my baby with me, and we walked down the stairs and made it here, and he prayed over us, and I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I turned around and the lady that had placed her hand on my shoulder began to tell me that she was once a single mom, that she came to free chapel and she met her husband who was a pastor here, and she was pregnant with their baby, and she gave me so much hope. And I just felt like God placed her there to let me know that everything was gonna be okay, and that his plans are greater than my plans, and there are days that I felt like the only thing I could do was lay on the floor and just beg God to help me. And he did, and he showed me that even when I'm having bad days that he is still good, and he still has a plan, and I'm so thankful for that.
Jentezen Franklin: I love that. Don't you? Some days, all you can do is lay on your back and cry. You ever had a day like that? I sure have. That's part of life, folks. But God is faithful. You ministered to all of us, whether you know it or not. You were going there, and it was going deep, wasn't it? To God be the glory, and he's gonna take care of you and your baby in amazing ways. I baptize you in the name of the father, the son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Great, great, great. Hallelujah. Give us your name, sir.
Craig Goodman: It's Craig Goodman.
Jentezen Franklin: And how long you been coming to the church?
Craig Goodman: So, I've been coming to this church on-and-off for years, and by the grace of God and the spiritual program of recovery, I'm here to say today I'm free from the bondage of alcohol. So, yeah.
Jentezen Franklin: What happened?
Craig Goodman: You know, today is actually five months that I've been sober, and I'm very grateful of that. And I was actually sitting up there about ten rows deep, back in October, and you were speaking about having a sermon on God uses life's bruises, and you know, I thought I was the only person here that day, and God spoke to me that day, and you know, that's true. You know, God can use my bruises to help another person, and that's what happened to me, and there's a different way of life out there, and I know that today, and I'm very grateful for it. My daughters are here today, and you know, I'm very grateful that, you know, that I'm present in their lives today, and that's a miracle. That's a miracle.
Jentezen Franklin: I love that. I'm present. I'm present in their lives. Because that's what that addiction does, is it just takes you, you're there, but you're not there. And, what a blessing. What a powerful, powerful testimony. And to know that that addiction that wants to pursue you the rest of your life, you have spiritual authority when you come up out of this water to say, "I'm no longer a slave to sin. I belong to Jesus Christ".
Craig Goodman: Yes. I'll close with this, you know, the only person that can help another person like me is a person with the same problems. And I know today, my purpose is to help another person. And I will. So.
Jentezen Franklin: Yes, you will. So talk to those people today, and we don't come from an approach of looking down. You know, it's just anything that is destroying your life is not of God. It's just that simple. And so, what would you say to them that you know you needed to hear?
Craig Goodman: So I would say it all starts, you know, what worked for me is a 12-step recovery program. You know, it all starts with surrendering. You know, admitting I was powerless over alcohol and my life was unmanageable, and that's the first step I took, and you know, step two is I came to believe a power greater than myself could restore me to sanity. You know, God is doing for me what I could not do for myself. You know, so. I'm grateful for that.
Jentezen Franklin: So great, so great. I baptize you in the name of the father, the son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Bless him, Lord. Thank you for that miracle. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.