Week 7 The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

Transcription

1 Week 7 The Baptism of the Holy Spirit Review & Introduction Terminology A. The phrase was coined by John the Baptist (Mk.1:8) and the term baptism means to be placed into, as in salvation (1Co.12:13) and the body of Christ (Eph.4:4-5). B. The 3-fold work of the Holy Spirit and man 1. With all men: This with experience lasts until the new birth, the end of this life, or until God gives you over to reprobation (Jn.16:8-12) (Jn.14:17). 2. In the believer: Promised in the Old Testament prophecies of Ezekiel (Ez.36:26-27) and found throughout the New Testament (1Co.3:16) (Rom.8:9) (Col.1:27). 3. Upon the believer: Foreshadowed quite often in the Old Testament. For example: the 70 elders (Num.11:14-17, 25-29), Saul s anointing (1Sa.10), yet is later refused (1Sa.16:1,13-14). a) The purpose of the anointing of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament was for wisdom, power, insight, and boldness it could be temporary as David feared (Ps.51:11). C. Jesus had His ministry foretold by Isaiah (Isa.11:1-5) (Isa.42:1) (Isa.61:1). At the beginning of His ministry, He too was baptized in the Holy Spirit (Jn.1:29-34) doing the work of the ministry by His power (Acts 10:38). Applied to the New Man A. (John 20:19-23) Easter evening: account 1 1. (22) The disciples are born-again as Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit on them. 2. (23) They are given authority to declare how forgiveness is found with God. B. (Luke 24:33-36,44-49) Easter evening: account 2 1. (44-45) Corresponding to their new birth, Luke tells us how their understanding was opened to know the Scriptures and understand them. 2. (46-49) Added to the great commission is the injunction to wait on Jesus' promise of power from on high (Jn.16:7). The 120 gathered would wait, though born-again. Chronology in the Book of Acts A. (Acts 1:1-11) Setting the stage 1. Luke continues his accounting by repeating that which Jesus had spoken at Easter and what He would tell

2 them again at His ascension 40 days later. 2. (8) Power is dunamis in Greek: dynamite, dynamic translated miracles in (1Co.12:10). Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the supernatural power given as the Spirit comes upon you. B. (Acts 2) Pentecost 1. (1) Pentecost was 10 days after Jesus ascended. One indicator of the previous salvation of the disciples gathered is found here: they were all in one accord! 2. (2-4) The Holy Spirit comes upon the church. No outward manifestations are ever repeated, but the resultant power is repeated over and over again. 3. Peter explains the experience by the Word (Acts 2:12-21, 37-39). C. (Acts 8) Philip in Samaria 1. (1,4) The gospel comes on the heels of the death of Stephen. 2. (5-12) The Word was preached and many were saved. 3. (14-17) That next step is the baptism in the Holy Spirit (16) for though they were saved the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen upon any of them. D. (Acts 9) Paul s conversion 1. (3-9) He was saved on the road outside of Damascus and led blindly to the house of Judas. 2. (17) Ananias is sent by God to pray for Saul who is healed and filled with the Holy Spirit. He tells the Corinthians later of his constant life of praying in tongues (1Co.14:18-19). He would lay hands on others to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit (2Ti.1:6). 3. (20,22) The results of Paul being filled are immediately evidenced. E. (Acts 10) Peter sent to the Gentiles 1. (1-24) God worked miraculously in making this come together. 2. (25-43) The Gentiles are assembled at Cornelius' home for Peter to give his abbreviated sermon. 3. (44-48) Salvation and the baptism of the Holy Spirit occurred simultaneously. They would then be water baptized in obedience to the will of God. F. (Acts 19:1-7) Paul in Ephesus 1. (1-6) These 12 that Paul finds were not yet saved and had only the message of John the Baptist to go by. Paul gives them the gospel and they respond in faith and are baptized. Then (6-7) Paul immediately prays for the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the same signs are seen as the Spirit comes upon them. Application & Review A. Who can receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit? 1. Only those who have been born-again 2. Those willing to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ and want Him to use them (Acts 5:32) 3. Those who will ask by faith in prayer (Lk.11:9-13) (Acts 4:31) (Acts 8:15-16)

3 Transcription of 15TS306 Var. Scriptures The Baptism of the Holy Spirit July 15, 2015 Review and Introduction Let s open our Bibles tonight and get started. We re going to continue on in our study of The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit. We re on week seven this week, and if you can find Numbers 11 and 1 Samuel 10 in your Bibles, and we ll go forward from there. I m going to ask you to move a couple of verses tonight just so we can keep it together as far as moving through the Scriptures. We ve tried to put this study in this series on The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit in a flow that would equate to what God is doing in your life. We started with - Who is the Holy Spirit? - that He s God, that He s a Person, He s part of the trinity (the third Person of the trinity). We looked at His work in the world of convicting the world of sin and of righteousness and judgment. We looked at what happens when you receive that conviction, and you turn to Christ; and what things does the Holy Spirit do the moment you believe. We then looked at, on the fourth week, as you get saved the Holy Spirit begins to lead you and guide you into the truth of God. He s your teacher. He causes you to grow. In week five, we looked at the next work of the Spirit that of helping you begin to put on these new things that you re learning in Christ and begin to put off the old man, which seeks to war against the spirit. And then last week we looked at when the Lord begins to move in, and you begin to respond to Him, that the natural consequence is the Holy Spirit begins to produce fruit in your life - the fruit of the Spirit, as He makes Himself at home in you, and you begin to abide in Christ. Well that brings us to tonight, where we begin to look at something different and that is, what happens now that you are producing fruit and the Holy Spirit wants to use your life to be a blessing to others, to witness to the lost, to share your faith with those who don t know Him? So, we move tonight to this empowering of God s Spirit upon your life the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And I know that there s been confusion - at least there has been since I was a young Christian - and sometimes that confusion is just, I think, an unwillingness to just let the Bible be the final word about doctrine or practices. But I m hoping that tonight I can convince you that God has power for you to serve Him. It is my firm biblical conviction that every one of you should be baptized in the Holy Spirit; that there is evidence in God s Word that is overwhelming. There are practical portraits of His power in the book of Acts, as the 1 st - century church is developed, that would convince any, I think, serious student of how vital it is that we have God s power upon our life to be a witness to the world. I have found that when people have difficulty understanding this wonderful gift, it is usually either a lack of their understanding of the Scriptures or they ve seen great abuses; and because of the abuses that they ve seen in others, they kind of turn away. Well, I hope tonight that God s Word clearly taught will help you to overcome all of that. Having said that, if you have trouble with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I m sure you ll make it to heaven. So it isn t a point of contention,

4 okay? But I really do believe that God has great things for us, and strength for us, that we need. We re going to discover tonight that this empowering of God s Spirit is not a reward for service. It isn t God giving to you something that you ve earned, and it isn t something simply reserved for the early apostles or the early church. The infilling of the Holy Spirit is not the domain of the spiritually mature, if you will. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is available to everyone who is saved and who has surrendered themselves to Jesus and who wants to be used by Him. So I pray that God s Word might speak to you. You need His power. The world needs some Christians on fire. They need to see the joy of the Lord in our lives. And by the time we finish this evening, and before we dismiss, we ll have a time for you to come, and we re going to lay hands on you and pray for you that the Lord might fill you with His Spirit. Terminology A. The term baptism of the Holy Spirit comes from John the Baptist, of all things. You might remember in Mark 1:8 that John said to those who were following him, I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. The word baptism, in Greek, just means to be immersed in or to be placed into. When Paul wrote to the Ephesians about our salvation, he wrote in Ephesians 4:4-5, There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism. He speaks about this salvation that God gives us where, when we get saved, we are placed into, if you will, the body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12:13, Paul said to the believers, For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free and have all been made to drink into one Spirit, speaking about our salvation. When we were saved, God placed us into the body of Christ, and water baptism, which follows salvation, is always an outward acknowledgement of that new birth. God moves in, and now I m alive, and my old life is dead, and Paul says in Romans 6:4, we were buried with Him through baptism. So you go under the water, and you come out with a new life. So that was that outward, if you will, relationship expressed of something that is going on internally. B. There are three unique relationships that God the Holy Spirit has with you, and they are designated by specific words that are repeated over and over in the Scriptures. 1. We are told that the Holy Spirit is with you. Well, He s with the world. We read that in John 16. The Holy Spirit is with us to convict us, to show us who Jesus is, to bring us the good news, to drive home the truth of God s love. He s with everyone. 2. The moment you believe in Him, something else happens. He moves from just with you to dwelling in you, and the word para, with, is the word en then. He comes in to live in your heart, and you become a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you.

5 3. But there s a third relationship and that is He will fall upon you. The Greek word is epi, and it means just that to land on top, if you will, of your life. Now Jesus said, there in John 14:17 to the disciples, He is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells ( para ) with you and will be in you. And Jesus made this promise to the disciples on the night He was to be betrayed; that there was coming a time when this relationship with God, by His Spirit, was going to be very unique. They were going to become temples of the Holy Spirit. So, He is with you until you believe. He then comes to dwell in you. You might remember a few weeks ago, when we were looking at the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer the minute you get saved, and we read that Scripture out of Ezekiel 36:26a where the prophet says (looking forward to this time), the Lord saying through the prophet, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; (unknown in the Old Testament; unknown, this Christ in you, the hope of glory is what we read in the New Testament Colossians 1:27). That was God s plan. Man didn t get that. But God had it laid out even in the days of Ezekiel. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them (Ezekiel 36:26b-27). This new birth. Right? The Holy Spirit s with me. He then comes to dwell in me. And even throughout the New Testament, this awesome plan of God of dwelling in you is revealed. Paul said to the Corinthians, Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16). We read it in Peter, that the big surprise to the angel was, What do you mean, you re living in them? It is this new birth that is spoken of in the Old Testament but yet is shown to us in the New that brings the fascination of even the angels. It s the glory of this new birth. Paul said in Colossians 1:27, Christ in you, the hope of glory. So, with all men, in the believer. But then there is this upon experience, and you will find the upon experience in the Old Testament, where the Holy Spirit falls upon believers in God for service, for power, for a while sometimes taken away through disobedience; others worried about losing His power. But you will find that exhibited, if you will, in the Old Testament which is why I brought you here to chapter 11 of Numbers. But here s the story, and you remember the story of Moses being so frustrated with the complaints of the people that he just said to the Lord, Lord, if You love me, just kill me! These people are wearing me out! In fact, verse 15, If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now if I have found favor in Your sight and do not let me see my wretchedness! Well the Lord s response was, Moses, I ll just get you some help. I ll just get you some help. Verse 16, Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel. Here re their qualifications. You know that they re elders, they re leaders, they re officers. Bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. I will come down. I will talk to you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you, and I will put that same Spirit upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not have to bear it yourself alone. And so He tells them to consecrate themselves, to come out the next morning, that He s going to gather them together and pray. And we read down in verse 25, just kind of skipping ahead, that the Lord, then, that next morning came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, (to

6 Moses) and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, although they never did so again. And Joshua, who so loved Moses, was upset because (in verse 26) two of the seventy that were invited (two of the Blues Brothers), Eldad and Medad, didn t show up. And Joshua thought, You guys are being really disrespectful to Moses, and he was angry; and he said to Moses, Just forbid them to even be a part! Kick them out. They didn t even show up. And Moses said to him, in verse 29, Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the LORD s people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them! That s his prayer. So Moses finds himself in a position where he is overwhelmed with work. His power comes from the Lord, but he just feels like there s more to do than he can handle. He's willing to check out. Lord, I love You. Just let me go. And the Lord said, Let Me just get you some help, and I will give them the same power that I ve given to you. And so He anoints these seventy elders, and if you jump way ahead in your reading to Deuteronomy 1, you will read that it was a great idea looking back. Moses, so thankful, as he rehearses all that happened to them, and he said to them, Remember when the Lord sent me, and I was getting ready to give up, and He anointed you elders? And these men that were known of the tribes and faithful were given God s power, and, as a result of getting God s power, they were enabled by the Spirit to serve the people. But the Holy Spirit came upon these lives. I ll take of the Spirit that is upon you. I ll put it upon them. And they prophesied just once because they weren t really prophets, but they were anointed by God to serve, and so they did. Well, flip ahead to 1 Samuel 10, and it is the story of the anointing of Saul. Now, you know that Saul was the first king over Israel. He was also a guy that God had not chosen as much as the people had chosen him. They said to the prophet Samuel, We want a king like the world. And the Lord didn t want that He wanted a man after God s own heart; but they picked a tall guy, a good-looking guy, a guy that looked like he could beat anybody up; he was just head and shoulders above everyone. We want that guy, and they picked him. And God anointed Saul for the work that He had for him. And we are told that story here, beginning in verse 1, Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his (Saul s) head, and kissed him and said: Is it not because the LORD has anointed you commander over His inheritance? When you have departed from me today, and then he begins to give him some things that will take place in his life, as he walks away, to be sure that Saul, then, understood, as he was leaving, that God was with him. And so, verse 9, So it was, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart; and all those signs (that you can read in the first eight verses) came to pass that day. When they came there to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet him; then the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. And it happened, when all who knew him formerly saw that he indeed prophesied among the prophets, that the people said to one another, What is this that has come upon the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? And so the anointing of God s Spirit upon Saul for service. Verse 26, way towards the end, And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and valiant men went with him, whose hearts God had touched. God gave to Saul the capacity to be king and to serve. Now, you know the story of Saul that he disobeyed the Lord literally every step of the way. When God said, Left, he went right. If God said, Move, Saul sat. And Saul s heart was not right with God, and so there

7 came a time when the Lord took away from Saul this empowering work of God s Spirit. It had nothing to do with his new birth. There was none of that in the Old Testament. But it had to do with his unwillingness to serve God. God enabled Saul. God touched his heart. God surrounded him with godly men. God made it evident that He had called him (in the first ten verses or so here), but Saul wasn t moved by any of that at all. And so, over a period of years (as you flip ahead to chapter 16 or so), there is this departure of God s Spirit from Saul s life, and he is set aside, and God says, I ve got another man, and I m interested in him. Chapter 16:1, David s anointing the second king. Now the LORD said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons. And Samuel is sent, and he goes to Jesse s house, and he arrives there, and he said, Would you bring your sons in? The Lord has chosen one of them to be the king. And Jesse brings all of his kids in except for David, who is a little punk, redheaded kid, outside watching the sheep, smelling pretty bad. Dad brings in his eldest son, Eliab, and he said, Well, I think it s probably him. He s big, he s tall, he s good looking, and Samuel said, I think you re right. And the Lord said, No, no, no, no, no. Don t look at the outward. You look at the inward. God looks at the heart. And he said, No, it s not him. So they began to set everybody aside. Abinadab gets set aside. Shammah gets set aside. And then they finally get through all of the seven kids, and Samuel said, You got any other kids? I m not feelin it (pretty much). And Dad said, Well, yeah. I ve got little David out there, but he s kind of a punk. He s the youngest. Well, bring him in. So they brought him in, and right away the Lord (in verse 12) said, This is the one! You take this one. This is the guy that I have chosen. Then Samuel (verse 13) took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah (back home). And verse 14, But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the LORD troubled him because you really can t fight God and win. But notice David then gets the anointing of the Holy Spirit. So, in the sense of the Holy Spirit s power upon for service, you find it early on with Moses and his inability to handle everything on his own, and God gives him seventy helpers. But their strength comes from the Spirit of God upon them. Saul is called. It s not God s choice; it s the people s choice. God still gives to Saul the abilities that he needs to serve the Lord well. He changes his heart. He gives him His power. He surrounds him with godly men. And Saul still cashes out. No, I don t want to do this. I don t want to do things God s way. And finally the Lord said, Fine. I ll take My Spirit from you. I ll take the man that I ve chosen. And forward comes this young man, David, and the Holy Spirit gets set upon David s life, and the anointing of God stays with him. And David gets the wisdom and the insight and the power and the boldness that could have been Saul s, had he desired to walk with God; that did belong to Moses and the seventy elders in the book of Numbers 11. So, reserved for a select few in the Old Testament. But what was Moses wish? Oh, I wish everyone could be filled with the Spirit. Well, that s, indeed, God s wish too.

8 Now you might remember David, later in his life - in his sin with Bathsheba, for a year hid his sin. He had her husband killed, he got her pregnant, he tried to cover his sin, he got very ill - if we put the psalms together; and he just couldn t sleep. But when he finally repented, in Psalm 51, and he confessed his sin to the Lord, he said in verse 11, Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. I know I need Your help. And the Lord honored that prayer, obviously. C. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah, speaking of the work of God s Spirit that would fall upon the Messiah, wrote in chapter 11:1-2 of Isaiah, There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, (speaking about Jesus), and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. Jesus would be the ultimate example of the Lord s power falling upon His life. And by the time you get to John 3:34, you read, The Spirit was not given to Jesus by measure, or literally nothing restrained the work of God s Spirit in His life. So, you find pictures of this anointing of God s Spirit in the Old Testament upon the saints and upon those who would serve the Lord. You come forward, and you find these great prophecies of Jesus: Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles (Isaiah 42:1). And you might remember when Jesus came into His public ministry in Nazareth, He showed up at the temple, and they said, Would you read the Scriptures this morning? And He took the scroll, and, of all days, it was the day to read Isaiah 61:1 which spoke of the work of the Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. All that He came to do, He stops in midsentence and gives it back and says, Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing (Luke 4:21). He didn t read the rest of the verse which spoke of what He would do when He returns. But it was, The Spirit of God is upon Me. Jesus comes out publicly to begin His ministry, and at His baptism, what did we read there? (John 1:29-34) Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. And that s how John said it was revealed to him. And the Spirit remained on Him, He didn t leave Him, and Jesus began His ministry. So He went on to do the work of the ministry not as Jesus, the Son of God; because it says He emptied Himself of that privilege (Philippians 2:7). But He went to do the work as Jesus the Man, dependent upon the power of God s Spirit our ultimate example of how we walk under God s power and are led by His Spirit. So, in the Old Testament you have the Holy Spirit with people; you have the Holy Spirit upon a few. In the New Testament, we have the Holy Spirit with us all, as well. But we have something new. The Holy Spirit comes to live in us when we get saved. And yet there is this baptism of the Holy Spirit that comes upon us for power to do exactly what we read in the Old Testament and exactly what we find in Jesus ministry, enabling us to be a witness for Him. Applied to the New Man

9 There is a principle of biblical instruction and teaching and study that is called biblical hermeneutics. Kind of a big word, but let me just tell you what it says. It declares that if Jesus taught something, and then the apostles practiced it, and in the epistles in the New Testament, there is instruction for it, then it should belong as a practice in the church. So communion Jesus taught it, the apostles practiced it, the epistles teach about it, and we practice it. Same thing with baptism. Why don t we do foot washing? Well, it s a humbling experience, but you only find it in one place. Jesus washed the disciples feet. There s no ongoing practice. There s really no instruction in the epistles about that. So, it can be a good thing to learn. Now, I wanted to bring that up just in terms of the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit and the baptism of the Holy Spirit fulfills all of the interpretive demands of biblical hermeneutics. Go to John 20:19. I want to just look quickly with you at two separate accounts of Easter evening, and you re at one of them, here in John 20, and we ll go to Luke 24 in a minute, which is the other one. A. Easter evening account 1 (John 20:19-23) 1. But let s look at verse 19 here, chapter 20 of John, where we read this, Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, Peace be with you. When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. So, hiding in fear, though many reports had come saying He was risen, Jesus shows up at night, with 120 or so saints-to-be hiding out for their lives; and He comes to tell them of their salvation and of their future commission. So, He tells them in verses 19 and 20, Look, it s Me. He says in verse 21, The way I was sent, I now want to send you. He then breathes on them and says, Receive the Holy Spirit. And, at this point, these 120 men and women have a different relationship with the Holy Spirit who was with them. He now comes to dwell in them. Here, receive the Holy Spirit. And God breathes upon them, and we ll read in Luke 24:45, He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures, the consequence of getting saved. Spiritual things become spiritually understood. You begin to see them for what they are. 2. And then notice in verse 23, Jesus gives them authority; not authority to say, Yeah, I ll forgive you, and I won t forgive you. But authority to declare to the world how your sins can be forgiven. Right? He gives them a message to preach. If you come to Jesus, you re forgiven. If you don t come to Jesus, I don t care how sorry you are or how hard you try, you re not going to be forgiven. It s the message of the gospel that they will now be sent out to preach. Okay, so this is a really short, if you will, five-verse report of Easter evening.

10 B. Easter evening account 2 (Luke 24:33-49) Now, back up about twenty chapters or so to Luke 24, and let s look at the same report, except it s given to us by Luke. Verse 33 parallel passage, more information so we can better understand what happened that evening. We read in verse 33, So they (the two on the road to Emmaus) rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them (the 120) gathered together, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon! And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread. Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, Peace to you. But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. And He said to them, Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. But while they still did not believe for joy and marveled, He said to them, Have you any food here? So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence. 1. Then He said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me. Then we read, And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures (verses 44-45). That happened to you when you got saved. You didn t get it, right? Until the Lord moved in. Spiritual things spiritually discerned. 2. Then He said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission (or forgiveness) of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things (verses 46-48). So He saves them, Receive the Holy Spirit. He commissions them, You can preach forgiveness or not, depending on what people respond. This is the gospel. He repeats it here. You re witnesses. But then He says this, verse 49, Behold, I send the Promise of My Father (not in you but upon you, epi in Greek) but tarry (or wait) in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. So the great commission is repeated here with the added words that Jesus will repeat on ascension day, forty days later. Wait here to begin this witnessing work which should begin here in Jerusalem, until you receive power from on high. Now you might say this - look, they re saved, they have their understanding opened, they understand the Scriptures, they know how to rightfully divide the word of truth. They ve got everything they need except His power. They re going to heaven, but they haven t yet gotten His power. So by Easter evening, these disciples are believers, they have the Holy Spirit living within them, but they are told to wait to go out and share until, Jesus said, you receive power from on high, the Promise of My Father, that He will fall upon your life. Chronology in the Book of Acts

11 A. Setting the stage (Acts 1:1-11) 1. So let s flip forward to Acts 1. I just want to drag you through Acts for a few minutes to follow the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the early church. Acts 1:1, The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, which, He said, you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Therefore, when they had come together, (forty days later) they asked Him, saying, Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And He said to them, It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; ( epi ) and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. So, at the ascension of Jesus, which took place forty days after Easter, Luke, here, repeats the very words that he had heard Easter evening. Wait here until you receive power, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, from on high. And the disciples, as Jesus is getting ready to leave, say, Is it time to set up the kingdom? And Jesus said, That s none of your business. It s not for you to know. But here s what you should know - the Holy Spirit s coming upon your life. You re going to be a witness for Me to everyone, beginning here and extending all the way around the ends of the earth. 2. And verse 8 is a pretty good definition of what is the baptism of the Holy Spirit He will come upon you, and you will receive (the Greek word is dunamis, the word dunamis sometimes is translated dynamite, dynamic). In 1 Corinthians 12:10 it s translated miraculous or miracles. But here, by definition, it is a supernatural power given to the believer as the Holy Spirit falls upon your life so that you may be a witness for Jesus to the ends of the earth. And as you read through the book of Acts, you find that the early church is defined in ministry by the power of the Holy Spirit upon their lives. They would be the first ones to tell you, as does the narrative itself, that without His power this church goes nowhere. There s forever a, God, pour out Your Spirit and help us, and it continues. B. Pentecost (Acts 2) 1. You remember, here in Acts 2, Pentecost. Pentecost came ten days after Jesus rose into heaven, ascended. The disciples, in obedience to Him, were still in Jerusalem waiting. Verse 15 of chapter 1 said there were 120 or so. Were they saved? They were. How do we know that? They had been given the Spirit. Their understanding had been opened so they understood the Scriptures. Chapter 2:1 says they were in one place with one accord. That never happened

12 before. They were always arguing, fighting, debating who s the greatest. But here they are sitting together, obeying the Lord, in one accord, waiting for God to do what He had promised. 2. Verse 2 says, And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. So here they are, ten days after Jesus left saved, understanding the Scriptures, in one accord, obedient to the Lord, waiting for the promise of God, and then one morning, here comes the Holy Spirit. And the description in verses 2-4, which tells us what took place, a couple of interesting things. They were sitting down. I like that. So often these Holy Spirit ministry folks feel like they need to work the Holy Spirit up. They don t. He falls upon you. Notice it says he sat upon each of them, verse 3; the tongues of fire sat, epi, upon each one. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. They began to speak in other tongues as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance. Now, let me say this to you about the Pentecost experience. Of all of the manifestations or signs that are found on Pentecost, none of them are repeated. Ever. This is very unique to a first work of God, if you will. You will not find any more mighty, rushing winds. You won t find tongues of cloven fire on people s heads, just kind of floating overhead. You won t find tongues being a language that someone else can understand. You will see praying in tongues, prophecy, power, the power to witness, boldness and fruit. We will study the gift of tongues in a couple of weeks. I think you ll be excited about that as well. But let s just say that this is a work of God in fulfillment of all of those promises and what they had been waiting upon since Easter evening. A crowd gathers, as you might suspect. Everyone begins to hear in their own language the praising of God as these men spoke in other tongues, and the people began to say to each other, What do you think this is? (verse 12) And then some clown actually says, They re drunk (verse 13). And I m thinking, Yeah, I m drunk, so I speak Chinese all of a sudden. (Laughing) It doesn t make any sense. 3. But Peter stands up, and he begins, in verse 14, to explain what men and women are seeing about this outpouring of God s Spirit upon the church. And beginning in verse 14 and all the way down through verse 39, which comprises his message, he preaches the gospel explaining that this is the outpouring of God s Spirit upon all flesh, as God had promised through the prophets for years to come. So, if the whole sermon is here (down through verse 39), this is a 45-second message. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, empowered. The Holy Spirit is upon Peter s life, and Peter s putting it together, man. He grabs this Scripture and that Scripture and this Scripture, and he s got them all right, and people are listening, and God is moving, and His Word is not going out void. And it is exciting, and it s laced with Old Testament application. And when you get to verse 37, here s what you read, Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? So I assume that Peter was on a pretty good roll about verse 37. He s starting to sweat, got his preaching finger out. You know? He s filled, man. He s anointed. And somebody stops him. Stop! We don t want to hear any more. We want to know how to get saved! We re convicted. It s cutting to our hearts. Knock it off! What s the answer? What do we do? And Peter said,

13 in verse 38, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. And Peter gave them direction, if you will, on what they were to do, and Peter had been saved fifty days. This is a man who had been saved for seven weeks, and upon his life is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to be a witness. And he fulfills John 20 (we just read) and Luke 24 which we just read. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is upon you. You ll be endued with power from on high. And you ll be My witnesses. And Peter stands up before a crowd of people from all over the globe, who are in town for the Passover, and he just preaches for 45 seconds, and they re hitting the deck, going, Don t say any more. We need to know how to get saved. That s a pretty powerful example of what being filled with the Holy Spirit can do. Well, flip ahead to chapter 4:31. Now, by the time you get to chapter 4, things have gotten a little difficult. Peter and John have been arrested. The Sanhedrin have threatened to beat them if they continue to preach in Jesus name. It s not so easy already. There s already persecution. So by the time you get to verse 31 you read that they had gotten together to pray for power, and it says, And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. And so God pours out His Spirit upon them, and (verse 32) the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. So, as persecution becomes evident, they gather with the church and say, Lord, give us power. Not to run but to stand. And the Lord shook the building where they were gathered. He poured into them, again, this fullness of His Spirit to enable them to stand, and the result was great power, great grace. That s exactly what the two verses tell us. C. Philip in Samaria (Acts 8) All right. Flip ahead to Acts 8. In chapter 8 is the story of Philip being sent to Samaria. 1. Now, when Saul was consenting to the death of Stephen, verse 1 of chapter 8 says there was a great persecution that arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church. Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. So that s the story of Acts 8. The gospel comes to Samaria as the church, under pressure, runs out of Jerusalem. You ll be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria. Isn t that what Jesus said? And even to the uttermost parts of the earth. So here s the Samaria ministry. 2. Beginning in verse 5, Philip preaches the gospel. Verse 6 tells us the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who

14 were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city. They received the word of God from Philip. They turned to Christ. There was a great revival, if you will, in Samaria. It was a miracle. There was even a man named Simon who had held the city through his sorcery for years, and he heeded (verse 13 says he believed Philip as he preached) Philip concerning Jesus, and he even got baptized (Simon) himself as well. He was amazed. Well, Simon turns out to be a phony. But let s just look at the work of God. The preaching is going on, the power upon Philip s life, he s been filled with the Spirit. 3. Verse 14 says this, Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Now, do you receive the Holy Spirit when you get saved? Of course you do. But here s what we read (verse 16), For as yet He had fallen ( epi ) upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. So, it was important enough to the early church disciples to say, Have they been saved? Yes. Have they been baptized? Yes. Have they been baptized in the Holy Spirit? No, they haven t. We d like to pray for them to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And that became the concern of the early church; and so, as Philip ministers in Samaria, it is Peter and John who are sent with one interested concern. Let us lay hands on them so that the Holy Spirit might fall upon them so that they might be powerful in the ministry that God has given them. And you can read the story of Simon and how he saw something, and he wanted to buy that power, and Peter said, You re going to rot in hell. You d better repent. Pray for me, Peter. Simon was dishonest, but yet he saw the power of God begin to fall upon the lives of the people. D. Paul s conversion (Acts 9) 1. Chapter 9 of Acts Paul s conversion. You might, I m sure, know the story well that he was on his way to Damascus at high noon, outside of town, to kill Christians when the Lord shined His light in Paul s face, and he fell to the ground. And he heard a voice from heaven, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? And Saul said, Lord, who are You that I might know? And He said, I m Jesus whom you re persecuting. It s been hard for you to kick against the goads (the conviction of your heart). And so, trembling, he said, What do You want me to do? And He said, Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. So he was left blind, and his friends led him to the house of Judas, a fellow that was living in Damascus. 2. Meanwhile, God speaks to a fellow named Ananias, a believer in town. He said, Look, I ve got this guy Saul. He s praying. I want you to go over there and pray for him. He s a believer. And Ananias said, No he s not. He s a killer! Lord, maybe You haven t checked the morning newspaper. This guy s done horrible things. And the Lord said, No, no, no. Verse 15, He is a chosen vessel of Mine, and I m going to show him how many things he must suffer for My name s

15 sake. So (verse 17) Ananias shows up at Judas house, lays his hands on Paul and says, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And so God had him lay his hands on him, and the Lord saved Paul, and he was filled with the Spirit. We know that Paul was saved. He calls him a brother. We know that Paul prayed in tongues often; said to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians and we ll get to that in a few weeks) of these gifts of the Spirit. And he would often lay hands on people to pray for them as well. 3. So what is the result? Verse 20, Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. Verse 22, Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ. Power to be a witness. Isn t that what God wanted to give us? Strength to be a witness. E. Peter sent to the Gentiles (Acts 10) 1. In Acts 10, the gospel is sent by the Lord directly to the Gentiles for the first time. Up until now, it was the Jews who were getting saved. But now, the Gentiles. And the Lord did it in a very interesting way. He picked Cornelius, a Roman centurion, who was in Caesarea along the coast, seeking God; and God had an angel appear to him and say, Send men to Joppa (another coastal city), ask for a guy named Peter, and tell him to come and tell you what he knows. And Acts 10, the first thirty-three verses is the story of how He got the two together. 2. For our purposes tonight, I just want to jump to Peter s sermon because he arrives at Cornelius house, and he s a little freaked out. First of all, Jews didn t hang around with Gentiles, and there was a room full of them; a host full of them. In fact, one of them was a Roman centurion. Yeah, come on in. We ve been waiting to hear what God wants to say to us. And Peter even drug a bunch of people with him because he thought, If I get in trouble for this, I m going to have people that are going to testify I tried everything to get out of this. Well, in verse 34, Peter opened his mouth in the midst of this crowd and said, In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ He is Lord of all. And he begins to preach the gospel and, again, to just lay out very clearly to the people what the Lord has done, and what the Lord came to do, and how you can be saved. It s a very short message. For you would-be preachers, the most powerful messages in the Bible are really short. I think length is our problem. Well, verse 43, To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins. Remember Peter, anointed with the Spirit, witnessing. 3. While Peter was still speaking these words, verse 44, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered, Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. So, something

16 uniquely takes place here - as the gospel is preached, as the people open their hearts, they get saved, and then they get filled with the Spirit almost simultaneously. It s the first official sermon to the Gentiles and the recurring signs of the evidence of God s Spirit (verse 46) that follow. Now, we won t go over chapter 11, but suffice it to say when Peter got back to Jerusalem, he got in trouble. Hey, I heard you went to talk to the Gentiles. What do you think you re doing? Who do you think you are? And Peter went, I know, I know, I know. Let me call in my witnesses. He called in all the dudes that he brought with him, and they go, Oh, yeah. As Peter was sharing, the Holy Spirit fell on them like He fell on us. What could we do? And then the whole group in Jerusalem went, All right. I guess the Lord wants to save Gentiles too. And He empowered them, if you will, as Peter explained the awesome work of God. F. Paul in Ephesus (Acts 19:1-8) One final stop Acts 19. We re jumping all the way forward to verse 1, where Paul finds himself in Ephesus on the way to where he s going to end up in prison and be in prison for many years. Verse 1, And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples he said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? So they said to him, We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit. And he said to them, Into what then were you baptized? So they said, Into John s baptism. John, remember, said, There s One coming after me. It was the anticipation baptism, right? He s following me. Just repent and wait for Him. Verse 4, Then Paul said, John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Jesus Christ. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. They got saved. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Now the men were about twelve in all. And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. So God began to use these men filled with the Spirit. Application & Review So, look, the Scriptural evidence for the infilling of the Holy Spirit is overwhelming. Why do you suppose the disciples made such an issue of it, being sure that saints were filled with the Spirit once they believed? The reason is pretty simple. That s where they started. They were saved and told to wait. They learned firsthand of the power of God upon their lives. They experienced it time and time and time again. In John 7:37-39, there on the last day of the great Feast you remember as the Feast of Tabernacles Jesus stood up on the last day of the Feast and said, If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink. Out of his belly will flow torrents of living water. And John, writing the gospel years later, wrote his own little biography. He said, Jesus was talking about the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive, but the Holy Spirit hadn t been given yet because Jesus hadn t been glorified yet. But that was the power that God planned to give and pour out upon His own. So, the chief purpose