I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Luke 3:11-12). John the Baptist had become the most popular preacher in Israel by the time he was to introduce Jesus to the people. He had become the most powerful, because he was filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Nor had he grieved, quenched or disobeyed the Holy Spirit, so he was at his zenith in spiritual power and public influence when it was time for him to present Jesus Christ as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."
John humbly presents Jesus by contrasting their respective baptisms. "I have baptized with water," he said, "but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." I don't believe John was denying the importance of his "baptism, a sign of repentance," but was seeking to show the eternal urgency of believers shifting their faith to Jesus Christ and His "baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire!"
I would like for us to consider three effects of the Christian believer's "baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire:" (1) Purification; (2) Illumination; and (3) Radiation.
