Baptism in the Holy Spirit

Charisma and Character — Steve Gregg

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Intro to the Gifts of the Holy Spirit (Part 1)

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Baptism in the Holy Spirit

Charisma and CharacterSteve Gregg

In this talk, Steve Gregg discusses the baptism of the Holy Spirit and explains that receiving the Holy Spirit is not just a one-time event, but an ongoing process throughout a Christian's life. He emphasizes the importance of living a holy life, not only on the outside, but also on the inside, with the Holy Spirit dwelling within. Gregg also touches on different beliefs within Christianity regarding the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and shares examples of individuals who have experienced supernatural phenomena after receiving the Holy Spirit. Overall, he encourages believers to actively seek the Holy Spirit through prayer and setting their affections on things of the Spirit.

Transcript

Tonight we're going to continue what we began last time, talking about the general subject of the normative work of the Holy Spirit. The series I'm calling Charisma and Character because I believe that the charismata, which is plural charisma, the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Holy Spirit are the normative things of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. The fruit of the Spirit is what translates into character.

So we've got the charisma, which are the gifts, and character, which is the fruit, and these are the normative things. These are the main things the Holy Spirit does and has always done in true Christians. There are other things that are not as normative, unusual things the Holy Spirit does, peculiar phenomena, both in the Bible and in church history.

There have always been unusual things that God has done, but we can't count on Him to do the unusual just because we can't anticipate what unusual thing He might think of next. But we can, from Scripture, determine what is the usual, what is normative, and what, at the very least, we should expect to be the experience that we have of the Holy Spirit in our life. Last week I gave my own testimony after giving some introductory thoughts from the Scriptures and told of my own encounter 26 years ago with the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

I said that I would talk more about that this week. That is what I'm going to do. Rather than talk about any of the gifts in particular or the fruit in particular tonight because later sessions in this series will occupy those subjects, I'd like to talk what I think must precede those things, and that is the normative relationship of the child of God to the Spirit of God.

You see, when you're born again, you don't just have a new set of opinions. You don't just come to believe orthodox things. You don't even just come to be acquainted and aware of God.

As a Christian, you have a transference in your life from a strictly natural life to a supernatural life. Now, that doesn't mean the natural life is gone. Unfortunately, it is still with us, and it will be with us until it ends in death.

But along with the natural life, we have now the infusion of the divine life. It says in 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 4, which I suppose is the first place I'll have you turn, I hope you have Bibles with you, and if you do, I hope you'll have them open because we have a lot of scriptures I'd really like for you to look at with me. I think it always has a greater impact when we not only hear but can see the scriptures with our own eyes.

Sometimes I've learned more in a meeting at times when a pastor drew my attention to a verse, then he went on to something else, my eyes remained glued on the verse, and God spoke different things to me, additional things to me from that verse that I probably wouldn't have gotten had I not been looking there. But in 2 Peter chapter 1, well, I said verse 4, but we'll pick it up at verse 3, which even there is not the beginning of the sentence. It's a long sentence, but in verse 3 it says, As his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Now, it says that we have been made partakers of the divine nature. Now, before we were made partakers of the divine nature, we had merely human nature, and that human nature has fallen and therefore weak and corrupt, tending toward sin, and even if there were any motions whatsoever toward doing the right thing, incapable of doing so. Now, Paul talks about this, I think, in Romans chapter 7. How he talks about wanting to do what is right but failing to do so, and being confused and frustrated over that.

Because in the flesh, a man cannot please God, or a woman cannot please God. It is necessary to have an added dynamic to life before Christianity can be lived. And this is why there is so much frustration and so much inconsistency, I think, in churches and in groups like this.

I mean, I'm not trying to distinguish ourselves from churches, just in groups of Christians, in the Christian community. In that everybody knows what Christians are supposed to be like, or maybe not everyone does, but I think most people do. Most people know what Jesus was like, I think.

But Christians are not very consistently that way, and the ones who are trying to be sometimes are very frustrated and burned out, and under condemnation a great deal, because they're not succeeding. And I think one of the reasons that people get frustrated and burned out in the Christian life is, and there may be other reasons too, but certainly one of them is that they are attempting to live the Christian life in the power of their own human nature. This is either because they have not yet been regenerated and not been partakers of the divine nature, or having been regenerated, having been buried, and having received the divine nature, they're not walking in the power of that nature, which is something that we are consciously told to do, to walk in the spirit.

Paul said in Galatians chapter 5, walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. The Christian life cannot be lived by human beings unaided. The best of human beings is not capable of living up to God's standards.

Now, I realize that even under the law there were some good Jews who kept the law, it would appear, blamelessly, but we have to understand that the law in the Old Testament generally only defined outward behaviors, outward morality, and so forth, that God required. Jesus, when he came, made it clear what God is looking for is a righteousness that proceeds from a deeper place, from the whole area of the motives and the heart. And that sins in that region are every bit as offensive to God as outward sins, in fact, because there's not much difference.

The outward sins proceed from those inward motions of sin inside. And therefore, to have a righteousness that pleases God requires that we be clean not only on the outside, but inside as well, and that's the part we really can't change ourselves. We can bite the bullet and screw up our willpower to full maximum amount, and we can live a clean life outwardly.

But to change our own motives and our own heart is not in our power to do. This requires that there be a new nature given to us, and this new nature comes in the person of God's spirit. And as I tried to make clear in our lecture last time, God's spirit isn't anyone other than God himself.

The Holy Spirit is God. He's not an it, he's not a power, he is God. He is the God of the spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

And when the Holy Spirit comes to reside in us, it is nothing other than being inhabited by God himself, which is why we are alternately called in Scripture the temple of God or the temple of the Holy Spirit, because he lives in us. And when he lives in us, we have then, coming with the divine person, his own divine nature. So that as Peter says, we have been made partakers of the divine nature.

And the Christian life is not simply imitation of the life of Jesus in terms of outward forms. It's not just conformity to a set of moral standards which the church upholds, or which we find in the Bible. The Christian life is living from an entire different place inside, from a divine dynamic, from a new nature which is given to us which is contrary to that nature with which we were born.

And it is the task of the Christian to learn the secret of what it means to walk in the spirit. And this requires, I believe, a total dependency and trust in the Holy Spirit and a total fullness of the Holy Spirit to pull it off. If you'll look with me over at Romans chapter 8 real briefly.

In Romans chapter 8, beginning at verse 2. Now you say, why didn't you start at verse 1? It's the most famous verse in that chapter. And that's why I didn't, because it would tempt me to talk about it a great deal, when it doesn't really have in it the material I want to talk about. So we'll skip over the very famous and well-loved verse 1 and dip in here at verse 2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. On account of sin he condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. I'll read a little further.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded, that means fleshly minded, is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal or fleshly mind is enmity against God. That means hostility against God.

For it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God, but you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.

Now, we could read far more of this, but I think the basic point I want to draw is embodied in those verses. He says in verse 2 that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Now the law of sin and death is something he was discussing in the previous chapter.

I alluded to it a moment ago, but I did not read it. We could just get it from one verse out of chapter 7, although there is a passage beginning at chapter 7, verse 14, and to the end of that chapter that is more of an expounding on it. But in verse 23 of chapter 7 he says, But I see another law in my members, that is in my flesh, in my body, I see a law at work, warring against the law of my mind.

Now he has made it clear earlier that the law of his mind is the law his mind embraces, which is God's law. His mind endorses and embraces the law of God, but there is another law in him that does not endorse the law of God and makes war against it in his flesh. And bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.

Now notice here, this law at work in his members brings him into captivity to the law of sin. So when he says in chapter 8, verse 2, The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin. See in chapter 7, verse 23 he says, I am in captivity to the law of sin in my members.

But there is something now that makes me free from that captivity. Now the captivity to the law of sin is characterized by failure to live up to the standards which God has even put in your heart that you want to live up to. You desire to live a holy life, but failure to do so comes as a result of being in captivity to the law of sin.

Now there is a freedom from that law that Paul speaks of, and he says that the freedom comes through another law. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. And it's quite clear that by mentioning the spirit there, he is referring to the Holy Spirit.

Because he goes on to speak a great deal in the verses that we read about this same spirit, and he refers to him in verse 9 as the spirit of God. If the spirit of God dwells in you. So it is the Holy Spirit that makes us free from the law of sin.

But in what way and how? There are many theories about this. And there are some people who believe that once you come to Christ, you then need to experience another thing called sanctification. Usually called entire sanctification.

A second work of grace. And they believe that at the time that this happens to you, there is an actual eradication of the sin nature. And this is how the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes you free from the law of sin and death.

He actually extracts from you that law that is in your members. That brings you into captivity. So this sin nature is gone.

Now there are not very many people who can convincingly claim to have had this experience. There are people who have claimed it. Not very many in our generation do.

But of course this is a teaching that comes out of the Wesleyan tradition, which by the way, in other respects, I highly respect that tradition. I just don't particularly agree with this particular doctrine. But Finney taught it.

Wesley taught it. The Salvation Army was founded by the Booths who taught it. And the Nazarene Church taught it.

So there are several denominations out there that exist because of the Wesleyan influence. And this was the doctrine. That after you are saved, there is another work of grace you need to look for.

And that is called entire sanctification. And this is obtained, they say, through seeking God, through prayer, through maybe fasting, desperately calling out to God for it. And finally, you get it.

And when you get it, your sin nature is gone. And from then on, you have no more indwelling sin. Well, the very few people I've met who claim that this has actually happened to them have not convinced me that what they describe has really happened to them.

I mean, I will not doubt their testimony that something has happened to them and they may have had a very good feeling. But it simply is not the case in their lives, as I observed it, that they are sinless. And there are occasionally, very rarely, people from this tradition you meet that actually claim that they have not sinned for a number of years, many years, because they have experienced this entire sanctification.

Well, that's a very nice thought. But there's a couple of problems with it. One of which is, as I said, I have never met anyone who convincingly can say they don't ever sin anymore.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I just don't recall ever meeting anyone who said that, whose life impressed me as 100% Christlike. And the other thing is, I don't believe that doctrine is taught in Scripture. I don't believe the Bible anywhere teaches that you reach a certain place and cross a certain threshold, and suddenly the sin nature is gone, and you're nothing but a walking, perfect, sinless person without a sin nature.

I do believe that there is victory over sin promised, and it's in these verses, but it's not through obtaining a second work of grace called sanctification. It is through, as Paul put it, walking in the Spirit. He says that in verse 4. He says that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.

That's what I want. I don't want to desire with my mind the law of God, but with my flesh serve another law. I want the righteous requirements of the law to be fulfilled in my life.

That is, I want to live up to it. And he says that happens to us, but he finishes with these words. In us who do not walk according to the flesh, but who walk according to the Spirit.

Now, the victory over sin, then, is in walking according to the Spirit, or what Paul Elsper called walking in the Spirit. Because, as I mentioned earlier, I think it's Galatians 5.16 or 5.17. Paul says, walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So there's really a power there offered to the Christian for holiness.

That if we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And I can't think of any sin in your life that will continue to be with you and plague you if you are not fulfilling the lust of the flesh. It is a promise of overcoming sin in your life.

But, something we need to understand is that Paul does not promise here an instantaneous crisis of sanctification. He describes a process called walking. I don't want to dwell on this too long, because I really want to get to the subject of the baptism of the Spirit.

But this is prior to it, in terms of, it's anterior to it in our thinking as to what the baptism of the Spirit is all about. Walking in the Spirit is the metaphor that Paul uses very frequently. In fact, the Christian life is often in the New Testament spoken of as a walk.

We're told to walk in love. And to walk worthy of the calling wherewith we are called, and so forth. So, walking with God is a metaphor for the Christian life.

And walking in the Spirit is, as I say, something Paul speaks of repeatedly. And he indicates that that is the secret to overcoming the law of sin and death in our life. That leads us to sin.

Now, it's obvious that we need this divine nature. We need the Holy Spirit to overcome our human nature. But it's not just having the Spirit.

It's walking in the Spirit that will guarantee that we overcome sin in our lives. Now, walking in the Spirit is a very important metaphor. I mean, it's used frequently, and I think it's well advised that Paul used the term walking.

We do not find, for example, Paul ever speaking of flowing in the Spirit, nor any other biblical writer. He never talks about flowing in the Spirit. Now, I'm not sure that term is invalid, flowing in the Spirit.

There might be some reality that is well described in that way, but the Bible doesn't use that term. And perhaps one reason that the Christian life is not described as flowing with the Spirit, but it's called walking in the Spirit, is because flowing cannot be divided into increments. Flowing is just something you just kind of cruise, and once you're in the stream, once you're in the current, it just carries you along.

Whereas walking is broken into individual steps. And when you're learning to walk, you learn, first of all, by taking a first step. When you're a child, you take your first step, then you probably fall down.

Fortunately, you're usually well padded at that stage in life, so you don't get hurt badly. And also, there's not a lot of falls, so you don't gain much momentum before you hit something solid. But you don't get very far without going down.

And it's interesting how thrilled parents are when the child takes the first step or two. Even though, of course, if the child was still walking in exactly the same way, five years later, they'd be tearing their hair out and taking them to specialists. But at his age, just taking a few successful steps and falling down is quite okay.

It's exciting to see a child making that much success, because they know that that child is going to just learn how to walk a little bit at a time. And eventually, before you know it, walking will be as natural as crawling had been, or eating, or any other natural thing they do, and that walking is simply going to be done as sort of a second nature. But once you reach the point where you don't fall down very often when you're walking, and it is like second nature to walk, or even first nature, for that matter, it's your nature as a human being to walk upright.

Animals don't do that except birds, and certain lizards in Honduras. But even then, there is no guarantee that you'll never fall. Because even when you learn to walk like a pro, or just like a person, your walk is still made up of steps.

And every step has to be successfully taken. And the fact that you've taken 10,000 successful steps without a break doesn't mean that your 10,000 first steps are going to be flawless. Every step is a new achievement.

Every step is a new thing. It may make the Christian life seem laborious, but it is not because, as I say, walking becomes fairly natural to you. And when you first become a Christian, walking in the Spirit is very foreign to you.

It's something new. It's something you don't quite know how to do. You might take a few steps and then fall back into a sin that you were enslaved to before.

But you get back up and keep it up, and eventually, walking in the Spirit is actually more natural to you than walking in the flesh. And this is what sanctification, or holiness, is made up of, of successfully walking in the Spirit. Now, I don't think the day will come when you do not need to walk in the Spirit in order to avoid fulfilling the lust of the flesh.

The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us who are walking according to the Spirit. If I stop doing that, the flesh is just as strong as ever. Paul refers to this as two laws, one law overcoming the other.

The law I made free from the law of sin and death by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Well, I understand this to be analogous to the law of gravity. The law of sin and death pulls you down morally, just like gravity pulls you down physically.

And there are laws of nature that can override the law of gravity. There are certain laws employed every day by birds and airplanes and so forth, laws in the field of aerodynamics, which when properly employed, properly exploited, they lift something above the ground. Gravity is still trying to pull it down, but they kind of overcome the power of gravity.

As long as the laws of aerodynamics are being employed, the laws of gravity can be overcome. And when you're in an airplane, you know that you're way off the ground, and that's a really amazing thing because as a human being, you can't fly. Gravity overcomes all the time, but eventually if you fly enough, you forget to be in awe about it.

But the first time a person flies, it's just an amazing thing. Wow, I'm way up here, up where the birds are and so forth. And you might start to feel like, wow, you know, I'm overcoming gravity.

And it is true, in a sense you are, but don't be too cocky about it because if you would happen to step out of the plane at that moment, you'd find the laws of gravity were every bit as much in force as they were before you took off. As soon as you cease to employ the laws of aerodynamics, and if you step outside the airplane, you don't have wings anymore, you're no longer going to be able to exploit the laws of aerodynamics, then you'll find the law of gravity has as much power over you as it ever did. And when Paul says, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death, I believe it would be similar to saying the laws of aerodynamics make me free from the law of gravity.

But only so long as I am taking advantage of them. If I were foolish enough to stop doing so, the law of gravity is not gone, it's still there. It's just being overcome by something superior to itself.

And likewise, walking in the spirit is what happens when we are taking advantage of the divine nature which the Holy Spirit confers to us, the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, enabling us to overcome the natural carnal desires. And so Paul says, we do fulfill the righteous requirements of the law while we are walking according to the spirit, not according to the flesh. So sanctification is simply an ongoing thing.

It's so much more attractive to believe. I wish I could just kind of put out all the effort all at once and get the breakthrough and get the eradication of my sin nature and suddenly be entirely sanctified and then not put out any more effort anymore. I think that a lot of people get weary just looking ahead at the rest of their life and saying, man, I'm going to have to resist sin every moment, every day of my life.

Can't I just kind of get the one breakthrough? I'd put out a lot of extra effort for it for a week or so, not even fast a few meals. If I could just get that breakthrough, then I don't have to strive anymore. Well, it's attractive, but it's simply not what the Bible teaches.

The Bible teaches that we are in a warfare and the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit lusts against the flesh and these two are contrary to one another, Paul said in Galatians. And so, overcoming sin, which is in your nature, can be done only by the divine nature in the Holy Spirit and this comes not as an automatic result of possessing the Holy Spirit, but as a result of walking in the Holy Spirit, which means I take this step in the Spirit and this step in the Spirit and this step in the Spirit. Now you might say, well, what are the specifics of, I mean, let's get away from the metaphor.

What's it mean to take a step in the Spirit? What's it mean to walk in the Spirit? Well, there's a number of things Paul brings out here and we need to at least take a look at them briefly and then we'll talk about what is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In the passage we read in Romans 8, he said in verse 5, 4, those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. That is, we set our minds on the things of the Spirit.

The first thing that is a part of walking in the Spirit is setting your affections, setting your goals, setting your values in order with the things of the Spirit. It means repenting of old sinful patterns of thought and habits of thought and values and so forth and putting those away and taking on new ones. By the way, there's reference to this need to do that in a couple of other places that are very like each other.

One is in James and the other is in 1 Peter. In James chapter 1, in verse 21, James said, Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls, but be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. Now, how do I set my mind on the things of the Spirit and on the things of the flesh? Well, I lay aside the filthy things of the flesh that my mind, in my unregenerate state, my mind was prone to think about, and I lay aside the filthiness and overflow of naughtiness, as the King James says, superfluity of naughtiness, the King James says, and I receive with meekness the implanted word of God.

Now, that's how my mind gets changed. Sanctification comes in part because the Holy Spirit works upon the word of God. The word of God informs me of the truth of God.

It brings life in itself, just like a seed planted is alive, so the word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than any twig to sort. So we receive the word of God. We set our minds and our affections on the things that the word of God instructs us to be set on.

And, James says, and you do it. You be doers of the word and not hearers only. Walking in the Spirit requires that you expose yourself to the mind of the Spirit revealed in Scripture and you agree with it, you embrace it, you believe it, and you do it.

Now, there's another passage not too unlike that in 1 Peter 2, 1 Peter 2, verses 1 and 2, the first epistle of Peter this time, the second chapter and the first two verses. Peter says, Now, this is like that passage in James. It tells us something to lay aside and something to take in.

In both cases, what you're taking in is the word. James says, after you've laid aside filthiness and an overflow of wickedness, then you take in the implanted word. So the metaphor of the word is a seed there.

But in Peter, the metaphor of the word is like milk that a baby grows on. But it also is received as a result of laying aside former ways of thinking. So, Paul, in other places, which we do not have time to look at in Ephesians 4 and in Colossians 3, Paul talks about putting off the old man and putting on the new man.

Someday we'll have time to look at that, but that's a work of the Spirit too. But walking in the Spirit means that we set our minds on the things of the Spirit. These we become acquainted with from the Scripture.

We set our hearts and our minds upon them and we do them. But, of course, it also is necessary that we trust not in ourselves to perform the things God requires. This is the problem of the Pharisee.

He knew what God wanted. In a sense, he wanted to do it too, but he just didn't have the Holy Spirit. He didn't trust in God.

He trusted himself. If you'll look further in Romans 8, we'll see this. In Romans 8, verse 13, he says, For if you live according to the flesh, you'll die.

Romans 8, verse 13. If you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. Now, think about it. If you're going to walk somewhere, you're going to have to know where you're going.

You either have to be able to see your goal, or if you're blind, you need a senile dog, you need to feel you have to have some concept of where you're going if you're going to really get anywhere. And the other thing is you have to have the strength to move yourself in that direction. You may see exactly where you want to go, but if you're paralyzed from the waist down, you don't have the power to get there on foot.

Now, to walk requires a goal that you can see, that is, some kind of guidance system to get to a designated and desirable point, and the power to get yourself there. Now, notice that walking in the Spirit takes care of both these things, because in verse 14, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. The Holy Spirit leads you where to go.

He sets the goals. He shows you the steps to take. But also in verse 13, if you, through the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body, the deeds of the body is just another term Paul is using for the works of the flesh, the sinful things that prevent you from living according to God's standards.

You have to put those to death, but hey, you can't do that in the flesh. You do that by the Spirit. The Spirit provides the power.

The Spirit provides the guidance. You are led by the Spirit and enabled by the Spirit, and every time you take one step, every time you have to make one decision, every time you have to move forward one bit in your Christian life, or in life at all, the success secret is that you allow yourself to step in the direction and at the pace that the Holy Spirit leads and allows and enables you to do. If you find yourself too weak to do all the things that you think God wants you to do, maybe He doesn't want you to do all those things.

Maybe you're getting ahead of Him. Maybe you're in the flesh. The Holy Spirit will enable you and empower you to do the things that He leads you to do so long as you're trusting in Him and not in yourself.

Well, there's a lot there that I need to pass over in favor of what I said I was going to talk about in particular, and that is the question of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I want to show you something in Matthew 3. We'll start there, and we're going to move through a number of other scriptures. This is the first place the expression of baptism in the Holy Spirit is introduced.

Matthew 3, verse 11, John the Baptist is speaking. He says, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, that he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Some manuscripts do not include and fire. So if you have a modern translation like the NIV or something, it may not have the words in fire. But the important thing in this verse for us is that it says, John the Baptist, he, meaning Jesus, will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit baptism. A man or a woman cannot baptize you in the Holy Spirit. It is not the work of man, it is the work of Jesus.

Now, a man or woman can baptize you in water. A human being can physically lower you and immerse you in water. But a human being cannot baptize you in the Holy Spirit.

Only Jesus can do that. So that on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell, and people were wondering what was going on, Peter stood up and spoke and said, this is that which Joel spoke about. He quoted a prophecy from Joel and he says, now this Jesus who you crucified has now been seated at the right hand of God and he has poured out this which you now see and hear.

Peter said to the people, Jesus is the one who baptized the church with the Holy Spirit. He is the baptizer. But what is the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Well, let's look at a series of passages which we will take.

I hope it will lead us logically through some thoughts that will give clarity. Look at John 14. John 14, I'd like to read verses 15 through 17.

John 14, 15 through 17. Jesus was in the upper room with his disciples and he said to them, if you love me, keep my commandments and I will pray the Father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. In contrast to Jesus who was leaving, this new helper would stay with them forever.

Even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. Now, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit, he said this to his disciples, the Holy Spirit dwells with you and shall be in you. Now, the disciples at this point in their lives had not been regenerated as near as I can tell.

I believe that regeneration, or what we call being born again, was an experience that happened to them after the resurrection of Jesus. I cannot be dogmatic about this, but I am inclined to believe this because of something Peter says. You don't have to turn there if you don't want to, but Peter says over in 1 Peter 1, 3, that God has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

That is, by the power of Jesus' resurrection, we have been begotten again or born again. Regeneration is a work of the resurrection life of Jesus, his having risen from the dead to procure it for us. Now, this makes me suppose, and not all would agree on this point, that people who were saved in the Old Testament, even the disciples who followed Jesus until at least his resurrection, they were saved in the same sense Abraham was saved.

They were justified by faith. If they had died at any time in that time of their life, they would have gone to heaven. But I do not believe that after the resurrection of Jesus, they had the phenomenon that we call rebirth, the phenomenon of regeneration where God actually takes out the old stony heart and puts in a heart of flesh, where God actually puts his spirit in them and gives them a new life.

I personally believe, and there are some who disagree, that the Old Testament saints had to live their life of faith without the advantage of this regeneration. They were justified because they believed, and they did their best to live up to it. But you probably have wondered when you read the Old Testament, how come God speaks so well of people like David and Moses and Jacob and some of these guys when really they weren't in all respects very good examples.

Moses was pretty good most of the time, but David sure blew it a lot, and so did Jacob and a number of the guys. Samson, I mean, how did he get saved? You know, I mean, that guy didn't do anything but sin on record. But the Bible says he was saved, it says in Hebrews 11, by faith.

And we don't see the changed lives quite as dynamically in the Old Testament of the believers as we do in the New Testament, not because the Old Testament believers weren't sincere, but because they were not empowered. They did not have a new life, the divine nature given to them, unless I'm much mistaken in my understanding of the Scriptures relevant to this. So I think that the regeneration, the rebirth, is a result of or was made available by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, which means that when Jesus uttered the words we just read in John 14 in the Upper Room, he having not yet died nor resurrected, they were not yet, had not yet experienced the rebirth.

They were believers and as such they were saved, just like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were saved by being believers. But I don't believe they had been regenerated yet. Now, when Jesus spoke to them and said, The Holy Spirit is with you and he will be in you.

This, I think, is a significant contrast. With you and in you. In what sense was the Holy Spirit with them at that moment? Well, there's two possibilities.

If they were not regenerate, then in all likelihood we cannot say the Holy Spirit was in them. In fact, he was not, because Jesus said in the same Upper Room discourse, that if I don't go away, the Holy Spirit won't come to you. So obviously the Holy Spirit was not yet in them.

But he said that the Holy Spirit was with them. In what sense? One sense could be that the Holy Spirit could be that external influence coming from God who was convicting them of sin, convincing them of sin, righteousness, and judgment, that Jesus was the Messiah, and they had been drawn to Jesus through the influence of the Holy Spirit external to themselves, just like all of you before you became a Christian cannot be said to have come to Christ without the Holy Spirit having worked upon you, though he was not yet in you. And that is possibly what he meant to say to his disciples at that point.

Or it's also maybe more probable, it seems to me, that Jesus meant in the person of Jesus himself. Jesus had been living with them. They had been with him and he with them for three and a half years, and he was the embodiment of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit was working and living through him. And when Jesus said, You know him because he's with you, I would not be surprised if what Jesus meant is, You know him because you know me and I'm with you, and he has been with you all this time that I've been with you. You have come to know this Holy Spirit, though you have not known him by that name.

I don't know which way he meant it, but one thing is very clear. There is a difference between having the Holy Spirit with and having the Holy Spirit in, because when those two are contrasted, it's clear that with means not in. With means outside.

And so at that point in their lives, the Holy Spirit was outside of them, not inside of them. But he said the time will come when he shall be in you. Now, turn with me just a couple pages over to John chapter 20.

And now we have Jesus resurrected. And that same day, meeting with his disciples that same evening, after his resurrection, in the upper room. And in John chapter 20 and in verse 22, Jesus, it says, Well, when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.

Now, this breathing on them was obviously symbolic, but maybe it was more than symbolic. I personally believe that the breathing upon them was intended to convey the idea that he was at that moment imparting the thing that he was speaking of, the Holy Spirit. The person of the Holy Spirit was being imparted to them through his breathing upon them.

And one of the things that makes me think that is that the Greek word for breath and spirit are the same word. You could translate it, but it would be more awkward and it wouldn't be as appropriate. But it could as easily be translated, he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Breath.

Because pneuma can mean wind or breath or spirit. The same Greek word. And his act of breathing upon them was to impart the spirit to them, I believe.

And I think that it was at that point that these men were regenerated. Jesus having been raised from the dead, it was now possible for them to experience rebirth and for the spirit to come in them. And I am of the opinion that when Jesus breathed on them, the Holy Spirit came to be in them and fulfilled the promise he had made earlier in chapter 14.

But that was not the end of his promises to them and their experience with the Holy Spirit. In Acts chapter 1, we have yet another promise of Jesus to these same men. Now, in Acts chapter 1, we are focusing on the last day of Jesus' earthly sojourn here.

This would be 40 days after his resurrection. Now, since Jesus, on the very day of his resurrection, breathed on his disciples and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. And now we come to 40 days later, we're talking about the same guys.

The Holy Spirit has been resident in them now for almost six weeks. And Jesus makes a new promise to them. And that promise is in verse 8, Acts 1, 8, But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and to the end of the earth. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Now, notice that word upon is different than with and it's different than in.

All these words with, in, upon, these are all words that we call prepositions. And in the grammar of any language, a preposition is a word that defines a relationship. If you are sitting beside somebody, that defines your physical relationship to them.

You're in relation to them in the room, in the space here next to them. Beside is a preposition. If you're under the ceiling or above the floor or south or west of something or inside the room, all of those things describe your relationship to the things mentioned and those are prepositions.

Prepositions are using different prepositions, with you, in you, upon you. Jesus is describing different kinds of relationships to the Holy Spirit that His disciples would know. They knew one relationship as they were in the upper room.

When Jesus breathed on them, they knew yet another. But now He speaks of a third. The Holy Spirit was with you, now He's in you and now He's going to come upon you.

Now, the Holy Spirit coming upon a person is a concept that is known from the Old Testament. When Jesus used it, it was not a brand new expression. The Holy Spirit coming upon a person.

In the Old Testament, it was common for the Scriptures to speak of the Holy Spirit coming upon a man when He would prophesy. All of the prophets had the Spirit of the Lord upon them. Isaiah said in Isaiah 61, 1, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me.

Even Saul, when he was pursuing David, fell among the prophets and the Spirit came upon him and he prophesied, even though he wasn't even a good man. He wasn't even a believer, I guess, technically speaking. He wasn't a saved individual, but the Spirit came upon him.

When David was anointed to be king, the Spirit left Saul and came upon David. Sometimes when the Holy Spirit came upon a person in the Old Testament, other things happened. Like Samson, when the Spirit came upon him, he was suddenly endued with supernatural strength, which he apparently did not possess at other times.

Now, one thing that the Old Testament certainly gives the impression of is that when the Holy Spirit comes upon a person, this is a special anointing of empowerment. Empowerment either to prophesy or to break gates off their hinges or whatever. It's supernatural power.

This was the concept that was frequently found in the Old Testament. The Spirit comes upon a person and when the Holy Spirit comes upon a person, that person is able to do things that a man cannot do, but which God can do. He is given divine supernatural assistance and empowerment.

Now, Jesus then was quite in keeping with the concept from the Old Testament. In verse 8 when he said, You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. What do you expect when the Holy Spirit comes upon a person? They are empowered.

So, what I would point out to you at this point is that the disciples, as near as I can tell, had been regenerated for several weeks at this time. They already had the Spirit in them, but now he is saying that they shall have the Holy Spirit upon them. Now, I personally believe that if a person has the Holy Spirit in them, that person is a Christian, is a born-again Christian.

The reverse is true also. If a person is a Christian, they have the Holy Spirit in them. Every Christian has the Holy Spirit.

How do I know that? Because we read it a moment ago in Romans chapter 8. Paul said, If any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. You do not belong to Jesus if you do not have the Spirit. So, every Christian, by definition, has the Spirit.

John says in both 1 John chapter 3 and 1 John chapter 4, he says that we know that he abides in us and we abide in him by the Spirit which he has given us. The presence of the Holy Spirit is what Paul calls in Ephesians 1, the earnest or the guarantee that we belong to God. It is like the seal of God.

I said, He, the Holy Spirit, is the seal of God. And the seal of God is like a wax imprint with a person's signet pressed into it that guarantees its authenticity and its source and its ownership. The Holy Spirit is our seal.

The Holy Spirit is, in every respect, our inheritance. He is the earnest of our inheritance. So, if a person is a Christian, he has or she has the Holy Spirit.

That is a given in Scripture. You might say, Well, I think I know some Christians who do not have the Holy Spirit. No, you do not.

You might know some people who are called Christians and do not have the Holy Spirit, but by definition, they are not Christians if they do not have the Holy Spirit. If any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His, says Paul. But, it is an altogether different subject to discuss whether a person, a Christian, has had the Holy Spirit come upon him or her.

Because it is quite clear that the Holy Spirit does not come upon every believer in power at the moment of conversion. It did not happen to the Apostles. And it did not happen to a number of others in the New Testament, which we will see in a moment.

The question, however, is, if we are talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which of these various relationships of the Holy Spirit is the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Now, you will find two camps in the evangelical community, in the body of Christ today. You will find those who believe that you are baptized in the Holy Spirit at conversion. And that every person who is born again is also baptized in the Holy Spirit.

It is quite clear that those who hold this view are equating the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the Holy Spirit coming to live inside. Because, as I think we establish from Scripture, every Christian does have the Holy Spirit living inside. Every Christian has the Spirit.

But receiving the Spirit in that sense, is that what the baptism of the Holy Spirit is? Some would say yes. Others, of what we would call the Pentecostal tradition, hold that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not what takes place at conversion necessarily, but is when the Holy Spirit comes upon you in power. Now, we have, therefore, in the body of Christ, two camps on this subject of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Those who believe that all Christians have the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and those who believe that not all Christians necessarily have the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and may yet need to receive it, sometimes subsequent to their conversion. The latter group would be called, generally speaking, they have the Pentecostal view of the subject. Some would even call it the charismatic view, but I don't know that the word charismatic is the right word for it.

Charismatic is a term that refers principally to belief in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And, by the way, there's one major charismatic group that does not hold the Pentecostal view about the baptism of the Spirit. That is, there's a major movement in the body of Christ right now who believe in the gifts of the Spirit, and therefore they are charismatic, but they don't believe in the subsequence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit to conversion.

They believe that the baptism of the Spirit happens at conversion. That's the Vineyard Movement. John Wimber in the Vineyard Movement, their official stance is that all Christians are baptized in the Spirit, but they take the unusual position for those of that group, that they do believe the gifts are for today, and they believe in the exercise of the gifts, but they believe the baptism of the Spirit happens at conversion.

Now, it's much more common to find charismatics have the same tradition as the Pentecostals on this, that charismatics and Pentecostals generally believe that when you're born again, you may or may not also be baptized in the Holy Spirit. If you are not baptized in the Spirit at conversion, then this should happen at some time subsequent to conversion. Now, it's quite clear that Pentecostals, when they talk this way, are using the term baptism of the Holy Spirit as an equation with when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, secondary to conversion, secondary to the Holy Spirit coming in you.

I hope I'm not belaboring this too much, but I wanted to be clear, because people, I think, do get confused about this. Now, if we would ask, does the Bible give us any help here? What is the baptism of the Spirit? Is it what happens to every believer at conversion when the Spirit comes in? Or is it this other thing of the Holy Spirit coming upon? Which one in the Bible is called the baptism of the Holy Spirit? The answer is B, because as I pointed out, the first place that the baptism of the Spirit is mentioned is by John the Baptist. The second place, and only other place in the Bible, is by Jesus in this same chapter in Acts, Acts chapter 1. And if you'd look there, Acts chapter 1, verse 5, Jesus said, For John truly baptized with water, sounds like he's just repeating back what John said, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

Now, remember the timing here. This is the day of his ascension, not the day he breathed on them, which was 40 days earlier. These men have had the Holy Spirit in them for 40 days, but they have not had the Spirit yet come upon them.

And Jesus says that you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So, obviously, Jesus is equating being baptized with the Holy Spirit in verse 5 with what he described in verse 8. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you receive power. So, in this, I would have to side with the Pentecostals.

Not that I've ever been a Pentecostal. I've never been a member of a Pentecostal church in my life. And I've never generally regarded myself to be a Pentecostal.

Charismatic, perhaps, but this is the Pentecostal view. I'd have to say the Scripture sides with the Pentecostals on this one. If we would say, well, where is the baptism of the Holy Spirit equated with conversion? It is not.

But there is one verse that is sometimes thought to do this for the non-Pentecostal view. If you'd like to look over at 1 Corinthians 12, we'll see a verse that is sometimes said to prove that we are all baptized in the Spirit at conversion. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 13.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 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. Now, notice, by one Spirit we've all been baptized into one body. It is argued that what Paul is saying is that when we came into the body of Christ, we were baptized in the Spirit.

However, this is not what he says. Being baptized in the Spirit means that the Spirit is the element into which you are baptized. How do I know that? Because it is contrasted with being baptized in water.

John said, I baptize in water, he's going to baptize in the Spirit. Jesus said, John baptized in water, you will be baptized in the Spirit. It's clear.

Baptized in the Spirit. The phrase in the Spirit corresponds to in water, in the contrast. When you're baptized in water, water is the element into which you are immersed.

When you're baptized in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit is the person into which you are immersed. You are immersed into Him. Now, Paul does not describe in 1 Corinthians 12, 13 being immersed into the Holy Spirit, but being immersed into the body of Christ.

It is by the Spirit that you've been baptized into the body of Christ. The body of Christ is that which you've been baptized into in this case, and the Holy Spirit is the one who did it. However, the baptism of the Spirit is done by Jesus.

Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit baptizes you into the body. The body is the element into which you have come to be submerged.

You become part of the body through the working of the Spirit. But that's not the baptism in the Spirit. That's baptism by the Spirit into the body.

Is that clear enough before we go on here? Everyone know the distinctions we made here? So, on the one hand, there are those who believe that you are baptized in the Spirit when the Holy Spirit comes to be in you at conversion, and they would use 1 Corinthians 12, 13. The Pentecostals, on the other hand, have always said, no, you're baptized in the Spirit secondarily to conversion. This may happen at conversion, but it is something distinct from conversion.

It may happen subsequently, and that is to be equated with what Jesus talked about in Acts 1.8. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you receive power. Now, how essential is the baptism of the Holy Spirit? It's clear you can be saved without it. Without being baptized in the Holy Spirit, you can be saved.

The disciples were. Before the day of Pentecost, they were saved. So, what's the point? I mean, if you can be saved without baptism in the Spirit, why bother with it? Actually, there is, not as much as I think there was, but maybe I'm wrong, maybe there is just as much some conflict between the Pentecostal, non-Pentecostal elements in the Church, and some of those who object to the Pentecostal teaching on this say, well, when you say that you have to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit secondarily, and that not all Christians have it, doesn't that kind of break the body of Christ up into haves and have-nots? I can't count how many times people have made this objection.

Doesn't this kind of divide the body of Christ into the haves and the have-nots? I'd say, I guess it does, doesn't it? In fact, when I meet Christians who have deliverance from cigarettes, and Christians who don't have deliverance from cigarettes, I see the body divided into haves and have-nots there too. When I see Christians who have been water baptized and Christians who have not been water baptized, I guess there's haves and have-nots in that too. As a matter of fact, not everyone has the same things in the body of Christ, although some things are available to all.

I don't believe that all have the gift of healing, or of miracles, or of teaching. You know why? Because Paul said, do all have these gifts? He said, are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, do all have the gifts of tongues, implying no. But then, I guess, for example, if I claim to have the gift of teaching, and you don't profess to have it, does that suddenly divide the body of Christ because I'm a have and you're a have-not? But maybe you have money and I don't have anything, then you're a have and I'm a have-not.

You know, I mean, this business of, well, we can't talk of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as something additional that some Christians haven't received, because that makes some Christians feel inferior. No inferiority. Those who have it are not superior to those who do not.

It's a gift. The baptism is the gift of the Holy Spirit. He is given to us freely.

Those who have received this power have not earned anything that others have not. They have not qualified for something that other Christians have not. And one wonders why it is that all Christians don't receive the baptism of the Spirit.

Yes, Jen? Why is that a reflection? Well, it would be folly for us to try to understand all the mysterious workings of God. However, if I were a person who, if I were reading these scriptures and felt, well, I don't think I have what Jesus is talking about here, I would definitely want to figure out why I don't, just in case there's something I'm omitting in my life, something I should be doing differently. Because there is, in some passages in Scripture, it almost seems like a sovereign thing, how God just, of His own will, He just baptizes people who aren't even looking for that.

And other times, people have to pray for it specifically. Let me give you five examples in the book of Acts real quickly. In fact, we will not be able to read the passages.

I just want to call your attention to them because each of the five is a lengthy passage and we simply don't have the time to go through them in detail. But in Acts chapter 2, the first place, we read in Acts 2 and verse 4, and they were all, this is when they were in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, it says, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them others. Now, later on, we're going to talk, if we have time, about the question of tongues and so forth and whether that's a necessary part of this whole deal.

But these people, you know, they were filled with the Spirit and they spoke with tongues. Now, I want to point out to you that I don't think any commentator would deny, I don't think any Christian would deny that what happened here in Acts 2, 4 is what Jesus predicted in Acts 1, 5 and 8. In other words, what is here called filled with the Holy Spirit, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, is what Jesus called being baptized in the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit coming upon you. We see then some interchangeability of these terms.

You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now, Acts 1, 5. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, Acts 1, 8. They were all filled with the Spirit, Acts 2, 4. These are all synonymous terms. Now, this is the first instance in the book of Acts. There's more, but we won't read more on it.

Let's turn now to Acts 8. Here we have the story in the early part of the chapter of a man named Philip who went to Samaria and evangelized there. There were tremendous things happening. It says in verse 6, Acts 8, 6, And 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 were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city. So they gave heed to the word, they listened.

Then it says, we will skip down a bit, The apostles in Jerusalem heard about this. They sent John and Peter to investigate. And they saw what was going on.

And it says in verse 15, Who, that is Peter and John, When they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet he had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

And they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Now the term receive the Spirit in the Bible is used more than one way. And you need to be careful about that.

Because you will find the term receive the Spirit in different contexts used different ways. In this context it clearly refers to the Holy Spirit coming upon them. Because it says so.

In verse 16, He had not yet come fallen upon them. They had become believers. They had been baptized.

As such, they certainly as Christians, they had the Holy Spirit in them. But He had not come upon them yet. Just like when Jesus breathed on His disciples and the Spirit came in them.

But had not yet come upon them. So these people in Samaria, they became Christians. The Spirit came to be in them, but not yet upon them.

Later in chapter 9, We find Saul of Tarsus converted on the road to Damascus. And we see that he truly becomes a believer and professes Jesus as Lord. On the road to Damascus.

In chapter 9 of Acts, in verse 10. There was a certain disciple. Earlier than that.

In verse 6, he trembled and astonished and said, Lord, what do you want me to do? He is calling Jesus as Lord. He submitted to Jesus as Lord. He is a believer now.

He is a Christian. However, three days later, Another disciple in Damascus comes to him. And it says, this man Ananias says to him in verse 17.

Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you came, Has sent me that you might receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Okay. So, Saul was converted on the road to Damascus.

And three days later, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Through the ministry of this man Ananias. Quickly, we are going to get more details from these stories later.

But we are surveying them right now. Chapter 10. Peter is preaching in the house of a Gentile centurion and his friends.

The man's name is Cornelius. And we are told in verse 44. Acts 10, 44.

While Peter was still speaking these words. He was just preaching the gospel. It says, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.

Okay. So, here is people who had not even, you know, there was not even an altar call. They had never professed faith in Christ prior to this.

They were not water baptized yet. But the Holy Spirit fell upon them anyway. And they were all filled with the Spirit.

In the same way as at the day of Pentecost. Because it says in verse 46. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnified God.

So, here these people in Cornelius' house. The Spirit fell upon them and they started speaking in tongues. And Peter had not even finished his sermon yet.

Okay. There is one other case in the book of Acts. Where people are baptized in the Holy Spirit.

And that is in Acts 19. And Paul comes to Ephesus. Shortly after Apollos has left there.

Apollos, prior to being corrected by Priscilla and Aquila. Had a deficiency in his knowledge of the gospel. And he knew only the baptism of John.

These 12 men apparently were disciples raised up under Apollos' preaching. Because that is all they knew also. And it says in Acts 19, 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? Now that is a dumb question.

If all Christians receive the Holy Spirit in every sense of that word. When they believe, they don't have to ask that kind of question. But, they said we have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.

And he said to them, into what then were you baptized? And they said into John's baptism. Then Paul said, John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance. Saying that the people, to the people that they should believe on him who would come after him.

That is on Jesus Christ. And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them.

And they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Now, we have just surveyed five cases. And they are the only five cases in the Bible.

All of them in the book of Acts. Where we actually read a description of people being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Well, there is one other case.

And that is Jesus was baptized in the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit came upon him in the form of a dove at his baptism. That is mentioned in all four Gospels actually.

But, apart from Jesus own baptism of the Spirit. There are only five cases on record in the Bible. Of people being baptized in the Spirit.

Now, this is not to suggest that these are only five cases. The book of Acts is very sketchy. And certainly the indication is given that it was common.

As soon as someone was baptized in water, Paul laid his hands on them. So that the Holy Spirit would come upon them. I think that was normative procedure.

These few cases are mentioned especially because there is some other significance in them. Besides just the fact that we have here the baptism of the Spirit. But let me summarize for you very quickly.

The day of Pentecost. 120 in the upper room were baptized in the Spirit. It said filled with the Spirit.

Chapter 2. In chapter 8. The converts of Samaria converted by Philip. Were baptized in the Spirit when Peter and John came down and laid hands on them. Chapter 9. Saul of Tarsus or Paul as we come to know him later on.

Is converted on the road to Damascus. And three days later is filled with the Holy Spirit. Presumably of Ananias.

Chapter 10. The household of Cornelius. While they are being preached to, the Holy Spirit falls upon them.

And then in chapter 19. These 12 minute Ephesus. Paul preaches them, baptizes them in water, lays hands on them.

And the Holy Spirit comes upon them. These are the five cases. Now from these five cases.

The verse numbers again. I don't have them in my notes. Go ahead and give them.

Chapter 2 verse 4. Chapter 8 verse 6. And okay 9, 17. 10, 44. 19, 1 through 7 I think or 6. Something like that.

Yeah. Okay starting verses there. Sure.

Okay. Now. There are several questions we want to ask and receive biblical answers to.

About the subject of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Because it is clearly normative. Jesus said it's normative.

And by the way, you know the disciples were not even permitted to begin their ministries publicly. After Jesus ascension. Until the Holy Spirit had come upon them.

They had been trained in the best seminary in history. Three and a half years. Under Jesus himself.

He had even sent them out on missions to heal the sick and do things like that. On brief excursions. Part of their training.

But now that he was leaving them. He said do not leave Jerusalem. Terry and Jerusalem until you receive power from on high.

That comes from Luke 24. But it's the same thing. He says now you're going to receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

Then you'll be my witnesses to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the other most parts of the earth. Now I find it important to note. That neither Jesus nor the apostles began their careers in ministry.

Until the Holy Spirit came upon them. Jesus was a carpenter for 30 years. Never did one miraculous thing.

Until at age 30 the Holy Spirit came upon him. In the form of a dove. And from that point on his life was miraculous.

And if Jesus could not begin his ministry without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. And his disciples whom he had trained could not begin their ministry without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. I find it astonishingly brazen.

That many modern Christians believe they're capable and qualified to minister. Though they have not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes a seminary education alone is all the qualification that's required for a man to go into full time ministry.

Sometimes less than that. I don't even have that. And I mean sometimes just training or experience or something is considered to be enough.

But Jesus gave his disciples training. But that wasn't enough in itself. He required also that they wait until the Holy Spirit come upon them.

Then they would have the power and the anointing. To do God's work through God's power. Not through their own.

They could walk in the power of the Spirit. And the law of the Spirit of life in Christ could actually make them free from the law of sin and death. And could give them power to do supernatural things.

And do them with special gifts and so forth. Now when I heard about this for the first time many years ago. I mean I don't know about you.

But I couldn't. I just couldn't let it go. I just couldn't rest.

I don't want to live another day without this. I'm astonished how many people there are who hear about that and say ho hum. Maybe I'll think about it a little more.

And it's okay to think about it more. If you're not convinced it's biblical. Then by all means search the scriptures.

Think about it. Pray about it. And don't make any moves in that direction until you're convinced.

But what amazes me is how many people are. They don't have any real objection to it. They just don't care.

They're just apathetic. And maybe it's just because I always wanted to serve God. And I always wanted to live a Christian life successfully in a biblical manner.

That when I learned there was more than I had known and experienced. I just had to have that. And I told you last week.

I was raised a Baptist. I was converted as a child. I believe I was a true Christian.

I believe I had the Holy Spirit in me for 12 years. But at age 16 I was baptized in the Holy Spirit. And my whole life changed.

The whole dynamics and character of my Christian experience and my relationship with God passed into a new dimension. And while there are many people who can testify to various phenomena that occurred when they were baptized in the Spirit. I don't want to list any list of things that have to happen.

All I can say is what Jesus promised is you'll receive power. That power is the power to live the holy life. And it is the power to do whatever it is God wants done.

No matter how much miraculous ability that may require. God has sufficient to enable through His Spirit to do that. Now there are three or maybe only two remaining questions I want to ask.

Because I only have a little while here to finish up. I want to treat two questions of great importance. One is what is the evidence that a person has been baptized in the Spirit? Now the reason I have to ask this is because it's clear that in the Bible some people were baptized in the Spirit at conversion.

The people in the house of Cornelius. I mean at the moment they heard the gospel they not only were converted but instantaneously were baptized in the Spirit as well. However others were baptized in the Spirit near conversion like those 12 men in Ephesus.

They were converted. Paul baptized them. And then almost immediately afterwards he laid hands on them and the baptism of the Spirit came upon them.

But still that was separate. He baptized them after they believed but the Spirit didn't come upon them until this separate act of laying hands. It may have been only a few minutes later but it was a separate thing.

If a person can in fact be baptized in the Spirit at conversion. How does anyone who has been converted know whether or not they have been baptized in the Spirit? Now one thing I think it was clear in the book of Acts that almost all the cases we read there. People got baptized in the Spirit subsequent to their conversion.

Only one exception. The household of Cornelius is the only exception. The men in Ephesus got baptized in the Spirit within a few moments after conversion.

Paul got baptized in the Spirit three days after his conversion. The people in the upper room and the people who have been converted through Phillips preaching probably got baptized in the Spirit within a few weeks of their conversion. But there was a gap.

In my case it was years between my conversion and my being baptized in the Spirit. I don't know that there is any limit to how long that gap can be. And it is possible that everyone in this room was baptized in the Spirit at the moment they were converted.

But it's possible they were not. But how would one know? That's the question. How do you know? What evidence is there that you have been baptized in the Spirit? Now the reason I raise the question is partly because it's a very practical and necessary one.

If I want to know whether I have the baptism of the Spirit, I need to be seeking that. I need to have some way of knowing whether that's already there. There needs to be some criterion.

But one reason I raise this is because there's a very standard answer that's given by Pentecostal people to the question, and that is tongues. Pentecostal people, generally speaking, feel that tongues, speaking in tongues, that is in foreign languages that you have not learned, possibly heavenly languages that you've never learned, but supernaturally being able to speak in this language, that this is what is called the initial evidence of being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Initially, the first evidence.

And because it is the initial evidence, they say, you don't really have the baptism of the Spirit unless you've spoken in tongues. No other evidence will suffice for them. This is the initial evidence, and it's called the initial evidence doctrine.

Now, some Pentecostal groups go way beyond others. Some would even say you're not even saved unless you speak in tongues. This is the United Pentecostals and so forth would say that.

That's pretty wild. But the more moderate Pentecostal groups generally would just say, no, you can certainly be saved without speaking in tongues, but tongues would be the evidence that you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, which is separate from salvation. Now, I guess the question is, is that right? Is that what the Bible says? The answer is, no, the Bible does not say that anywhere.

Now, what we do find is the Bible does indicate that the majority of the persons on record who got baptized in the Spirit did speak with tongues. Just think of those five cases again. The day of Pentecost, did they speak in tongues? They did.

The household of Cornelius, did they speak in tongues? They did. The twelve minute Ephesus, did they speak in tongues? They did. Saul of Tarsus, when he got filled with hurt, did he speak with tongues? We don't know.

He didn't say. It doesn't say in the record whether Saul spoke in tongues because it doesn't, it just doesn't mention it. But the same man later said to the Corinthians, I thank God that I speak in tongues more than you all.

So we know that Paul did have the gift of tongues, whether he received it when Ananias ministered to him or not, we don't know. And I don't suppose we have to know, but we know that at least there's another case of a man baptized who also was a speaker in tongues. The one case that is really open to question is the men and women in Samaria, Philip's converts, when Peter and John came down and ministered to them because we're not told whether they at that time or any other time spoke with tongues.

However, there is some reason to believe they may have because there was a man named Simon who was a sorcerer present, and he was familiar with many supernatural things. In fact, he was a great wonder worker himself prior to his conversion through occultic demonic power. But it says when he saw that the spirit was given by the laying on of the apostles hands, he offered money to the disciples that he might have that power also to give to other people.

Now, it does not say what it is he saw, except that he saw that this was administered through the laying of hands. I doubt that a man who'd done so many miracles himself of a counterfeit sort would have been impressed only to see the hands on the head and nothing more. It would appear something supernatural, something impressive.

We don't know what it was. It may well have been tongues. When Peter rebuked Simon, he said, you have no part in this matter because your heart is not right with God.

But the Greek word matter, and there's some Greek concordances over on that shelf. You can check with me if you think I'm wrong. The Greek word there, matter, can have four English translations, thing, matter, word, or utterance.

The same Greek word is translated all those different ways. Thing, matter, word, or utterance. The King James translates it matter.

You have no part in this matter. It could have translated you have no part in this utterance, which would possibly point in the direction of tongues. We do not know.

All we can say is they might have spoken in tongues or they might not if we are not told. We could certainly not say with any certainty that they didn't. But we can't say with certainty that they did.

So the most we can say about the cases in the book of Acts is in most cases, three of the five cases, we're specifically told that when they were baptized in the spirit, they spoke in tongues. Two of the five cases, we don't read whether they did or not, but they may have. So it is possible that all five cases they did.

But I would not argue that that was the case because the scripture is silent and I can't go beyond what scripture says. But I can say this. Even if the scripture did declare that in all five cases they spoke in tongues, that would not be the same thing as establishing the doctrine of initial evidence.

Because those are simply anecdotal instances. Those are just individual cases. Certainly there were thousands of cases in the early church of people being baptized in the spirit that are not on record.

If the scriptures recorded only five of these thousands and all five happened to be cases where people spoke in tongues, it would not be the same thing as saying everyone else did also. We would only know that at least in those five cases they did. In order to establish a doctrine of initial evidence, we would have to have some statement of scripture that affirmed it.

And this we do not have. In fact, we don't have anywhere in scripture a teaching, per se, about the gift of tongues. The closest thing we have in scripture to a teaching about the gift of tongues is 1 Corinthians chapters 12 through 14.

And most of that is saying how to use tongues and how not to use tongues in a public assembly. It's mostly correctional in nature. It was assumed that the people who were reading it already were speaking in tongues and had been doing so for quite a while.

And they had to be kind of roped in and controlled a little bit because it appears that they were not exercising a great deal of control. And for that reason, he didn't have to talk to them about the initial evidence of the baptism of the spirit. That was long ago in their lives.

He didn't have to talk to them about that. And so we do not have in Paul's writings or in the scripture a teaching about tongues being the evidence. And therefore, I am inclined to think the answer is no, tongues is not the initial evidence.

But having said that, we can establish, at least from the cases in the book of Acts, if it is a fair sampling, that it was a normal, common evidence. That it was very common for people to speak in tongues when baptized in the spirit. And I would, in the absence of information of the contrary, I would assume that it would still be very common.

That if people are baptized in the spirit today, it would be very common for them to speak in tongues. But not 100% mandatory to prove that they are baptized in the spirit. The real evidence of the baptism of the spirit is the fruit of the spirit.

A tree produces fruit. And the fruit it produces is of the nature of the life that is in it. If the Christian life is ruled and governed and filled with the Holy Spirit, then the fruit of that life will be spiritual fruit.

So that Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 7, of the false prophets, you will know them by their fruit. You will know a true prophet from a false prophet by the fruit, not by their gifts they prophesied. True prophets prophesy and false prophets prophesy.

One type is filled with the spirit, the other is filled with the demon. So prophecy, which is even, by the way, Paul said, a far better gift than gifts, even prophecy is not a guaranteed evidence of the baptism of the spirit. A person may prophesy and have a demon instead.

You know a true prophet, you know a true spirit-filled man by the fruit, not by the gifts. And the fruit of the spirit, of course, is love, joy, peace, gentleness, meekness, self-control, and things of that sort. Character traits that are like Jesus.

I might just say, Juan Carlos Satis was an Assembly of God pastor in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He now lives in the States, if I'm not mistaken. He wrote a book years ago called Disciple.

And in the book, he gave this example, which I thought was very apt. He said, in Buenos Aires, there are not many trees. And therefore, at Christmas time, in order to decorate the homes with Christmas trees, people generally would buy artificial trees.

They're made of wire and paper and cellophane and stuff, real cheap materials. And you could buy them very cheaply. He said you could buy one for $2 or $3, generally speaking.

And as you put them in the house and decorate them, you might hang expensive gifts upon them. A tree that costs $2 or $3 might have an Omega watch on it, or some other highly expensive article, some expensive jewelry of some kind or something. And if somebody would be impressed and say, look at that wonderful tree, look at the tremendous gifts that are on that tree, it must be a very valuable tree.

They'd be greatly mistaken, because the tree did not produce the gifts that were placed upon it. They were placed there by another. The tree and its own innate value is not determined or discerned by the kind of gifts that it possesses, because they are not in any sense dependent on the tree.

They are there as a result of another. The tree just happens to be there to hang them on. But if you find a tree that produces good apples, you know that that is a good tree and an apple tree.

You know exactly about the nature of the tree and the health of the tree. You know what kind of life is in that tree, because the fruit is the product of the tree itself and of the life that is in it. So also, he said, the gifts of the Spirit are that way.

God gives gifts even to people who are not good, even to people who are not spiritual. When Saul was pursuing David, the Spirit came upon him briefly, and he prophesied, but he never lived a spiritual life. So also, other people in the Bible sometimes have evidence of some form of gifting, sometimes a false gift, but they are not really spiritual people.

Spirituality, the fullness of the Holy Spirit results in spirituality, and spirituality is measured in character, in Christlike character, which is defined in terms of the fruit of the Spirit, which you will read of in Galatians 5, 22 and 23. Let me just say in closing, because I've just run out of time, I think, that we might wonder, how do you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Well, you ask, because Jesus said, you earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to those who ask him? You must first thirst, I believe, because Jesus said in John 7, 37 through 39, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink, and he that believes in me, as the Scripture said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living waters, and John said this, he spoke of the Holy Spirit.

If you thirst, you can receive this living water. That's John 7, 37 through 39. You must have an initial thirst.

If you're not thirsty, if you're apathetic, I don't think you'll get anything. But if you're thirsty, and if you ask, it's quite simple. Of course, you receive baptism of the Spirit like any other gift from God and any other blessing from God through faith.

If you ask without faith, James says, let not that man think that he'll receive anything from the Lord, in James chapter 1. He that asks with doubts rather than faith. And there's one other thing I'd like to suggest, in addition to all those things, is in the Bible it would appear that it was normative to receive the Spirit through the laying on of hands. Now, this was not always the case.

In the house of Cornelius there was no laying on of hands, and on the day of Pentecost there was no laying on of hands. And the Spirit fell upon them nonetheless. Which proves that one does not need to have hands laid upon them in order to be baptized in the Spirit.

But the fact remains that in three of the five cases, this was ministered through the laying on of hands. Now, if the Holy Spirit can be given without the laying on of hands, why bother with the laying on of hands? And the answer to that is not entirely clear. But I think that it seems to be God's pattern to want to minister His blessings to believers through believers.

It speaks of an interdependency in the body of Christ, which Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 12. I believe that it affirms one another as members of the body of Christ, agents through whom God can minister to us. If God can heal me without the laying on of hands, why should I ever have anyone lay hands on me? Why should I have anyone not with oil? Because it affirms the work of God in you to ask you to minister the gifts of God to me.

And that may be one reason why this was commonly done. But I'll say this, I believe you can be baptized in the Spirit without the laying on of hands. But if I were eager to be baptized in the Spirit, I wouldn't ask God to make an exception for me.

I would certainly pursue it through all the normative ways that are presented in the Bible as the norms. And it would appear that that is the norm in the book of Acts. The apostles came and laid hands upon them.

Ananias came and laid hands upon him. Paul, when they came out of the water, he laid hands upon them. And the Spirit came upon them.

And this, I'm afraid, is all we have time for tonight. And so we'll close and consider that we do not really have any more time to discuss the baptism of the Spirit, especially in these lectures, but we will continue to talk about the work of the Spirit in the Christian life in the future lectures. It is, of course, a possibility that some persons may wish to follow up on this.

I would urge you, if this is all new to you, that you not respond too hastily, that you give it some consideration and pray about it. I don't want you to be influenced by simply a message that sounds convincing, but that you haven't had a chance to examine and cross-examine. If, however, you are aware that the Scripture teaches these things, and you also are aware that your life does not exhibit the fruit of the Spirit in the measure, or the anointing and the power of the Holy Spirit in the measure that you think it ought to if you're filled with the Spirit, then we would certainly offer an opportunity to you before you leave tonight to pray for you.

Not only I, but I think Darren here would be available. He would like to bring in a good old Pentecostal boy.