We Need the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Acts 19:1-7
I love teaching on the topic of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. It was my pastor, Jeff Johnson’s most favorite topic. It is essential that we, as believers, understand and experience the empowering work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. In Acts 19, we pick up with Paul as he’s faithfully traveling to minister the Gospel of Jesus. He comes across these 12 men and asks them if they received the Holy Spirit when they believed. I believe that he came across these 12 and noticed an outward lack…. A lack of enthusiasm, a lack of zeal, maybe a lack of excitement, or just a lack of love for the things of God.
Before we move on, it is essential to note that there are two viewpoints on the work of the Holy Spirit: Cessationists and Continuationists. Cessationists believe that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased with the apostolic age, while Continuationists believe these gifts are still available today. Here at Calvary Church, we hold to a Continuationist perspective, affirming that the Holy Spirit’s work is ongoing and that all spiritual gifts are accessible to believers.
Now, is it possible to be a saved & Spirit-filled Christian but still find yourself lacking the power to do the work of the ministry? YES! Throughout our studies, we’ve seen that the Holy Spirit is essential to our relationship with Jesus. Jesus sent Him to be our comforter (John 14:16), teacher (John 16:13-14), and daily source of Spiritual power. (Acts1:8)
There are three separate and distinct ministries of the Holy Spirit, and the Bible mentions each with three different Greek prepositions.
- With (para): this is the Convicting work of the Holy Spirit. He dwells with you, convicting you of your sin. (John 14:17)
- In (en): this is the Converting work of the Spirit. He comes in you, seals you, and begins to make you more like Jesus. (Ephesians 4:13-14)
- Upon (epi): This is the Conforming work of the Holy Spirit. He comes upon you, empowering you to live a life pleasing to the Lord and His high calling for us. (Acts 1:8)
So many believers today are tired, burned out, and feel as if they are ill-equipped to serve God. Or maybe they have lost the desire to serve the Lord entirely. I would suggest it is because they have all of the Spirit, but the Spirit doesn’t have all of them. Is that where you find yourself? Then it is time to ask for the Baptism, the power of the Holy Spirit! It is OK to ask! It is good to ask! We all need a constant filling of the Spirit’s power.
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FULL TRANSCRIPT:
Open your Bibles to Acts chapter 19. Acts chapter 19. I’ve entitled this Bible study, “We Need the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.” We need the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You need the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. You’re not going to make it without the empowering work of the Holy Spirit. And we learn this many, many times in our studies so far. We were introduced to the power of the Holy Spirit back in Acts 2. Remember Jesus. If you want to go there, you can hold your places in Acts 19 and come back with me to Acts 1, or actually Acts 1:4. In the beginning of the book where we were taught, “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.” And what would the baptism do? Verse eight, chapter one, “you shall receive power.” That’s the Greek word “dunamis.” A lot of Bible teachers like to compare this to dynamite, but I would rather use the English word “dynamic.” The dynamic power of the Holy Spirit, because I don’t think the Spirit of God is going to create chaos, like an explosion, because God’s “not the author of confusion,” (1 Cor 14:33) but rather he’s going to give us a dynamic, unexplainable power to accomplish all that God desires for our lives. So you’re going to “receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,” and mark that word, if you haven’t already, upon. It’s the Greek preposition “epi.” And we’re going to look at a lot of scriptures today in a lot of different Greek words, that the New Testament is written in Greek, and then we’re reading it in the English. So we’re going to look at a few words that are very important for our study today, and this is one of them.
And it says “you shall be witnesses to me, Jerusalem, all Judea and Samaria, to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). This is how the book of Acts opens up. The book of Acts opens up with Jesus saying, “Look, I want you to wait in Jerusalem, and you just wait because there’s a promise. And when you receive the promise, you’re going to be different people and you’re going to go around the world and you’re going to be used greatly by me. But you got to wait.” Before you go, you need to wait. And I think that’s even a Word from the Lord for some of you. That God has you in a place of waiting. And you need to wait. You need to wait upon the Lord. And so here, if you were told to wait in the first century, Jesus is ascending into Heaven. He tells you to wait. It would open up a lot of different questions like, well, “wait for what?” And, “How will we know?” And “what will happen exactly?” “What are we waiting for?” “Where are we supposed to wait?” I mean, Jerusalem is a big city. And on and on the list can go, but it’s almost like Jesus in his simplicity and just a small amount of words, it’s like, you know, “wait in Jerusalem, you’re going to receive power, and you’ll know when you know, it’ll be obvious.” And that’s what happens in Acts 2. In Acts chapter two, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes upon these faithful 120 believers; followers of Jesus Christ. They receive an anointing or what Jesus called – and this is where we get the phrase – “baptism of the Holy Spirit.” Baptism is just a transliteration of the Greek word “baptizo.” They didn’t choose another English word for it – they just transliterated it into a word we can pronounce – baptism. The word baptism just means, “to be completely submerged.” And when we go out to the reservoir and you are going to be water baptized, or you are watching water baptism, you will find that we’re going to take you all the way under the water. And depending on how much sin you have, we’re going to leave you down there for a while and then bring you back up. But we’re going to bring you back up. You’re going to go down because, you know, going under the water symbolizes being buried with Christ. It all has significance and meaning.
To baptize means “to go under.” It was a word that was used in the common day, “Koine,” Greek of the day. They would use the word baptism for many definitions, but one of them was to take a white cloth and to put it into, let’s say, purple dye. They would take that white cloth and completely submerge it in the purple dye, and it would come back purple. It would be changed. And so here, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a phrase we get from Jesus himself. It’s important as we begin here, because this is a controversial topic, unfortunately. One thing that Christians have a tendency to be really good at is arguing about things that take away the significance of actually what you’re arguing about. So Christians love to argue about things. They love to go back and forth. And I don’t believe this…and I don’t believe that, you know. And I’m speaking of secondary things. Things that don’t matter when it comes to your salvation. But things that, you know, you could even disagree on them.
I’m not saying we won’t have disagreements over different things that are secondary, but to spend your whole life arguing about them, it’s just unnecessary. And so I’ve taught you over the years, and I’ll teach you again that whenever you hear the church arguing about something, try to step out of the argument and get to the root of what Jesus really wanted to teach you there. So don’t jump in and go, “oh, I’ve got an opinion too.” Okay, we set your opinion aside and open yourself up to the teaching of God’s Word and see if God doesn’t minister to you behind the argument. Because I think the world has seen the church argue enough. I think the world has seen the church argue about secondary…like if there’s one thing the church is known for today is how good we argue. And unfortunately, maybe kick our…you know, kick believers when they fall, kick them while they’re down and such. But God is doing a new work in these days. And the breakthrough in the darkness that’s necessary, even as it was in the first century, is the agape love of God.
The world doesn’t have that. It doesn’t exist in our culture. It only exists among true believers, did you know that? Youhave a unique role in this world. And the uniqueness of your role is to display the agape love of God, to live with the fruit of the Spirit that God produces in you. And today we learned that we need the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We’re studying the Book of Acts, learning our history. This is the foundation of our church, this church right here in Aurora. The book of Acts is the foundation of this church. It precedes me moving here 25 years ago. It precedes this property when it was just land. It precedes the 60 or 70 years or 50 years of our little movement of “The Jesus People.” It goes back and back and back. The history of our church goes back to the book of Acts, and we would do well to pay attention to the book of Acts. You know, post-Covid, we were coming out and just sensing where the flavor of our church was and what we needed and how God would have me to lead our church. I felt like He was speaking to me to go to two books of beginnings, like we were going to start over again and two books at the beginning. So midweek, we went through and started at the very, very beginning in Genesis. And “Let’s just find out where we came from and all the foundational doctrines of the church.” It was amazing. We’re in the book of Exodus now. And then, the other book was here in Acts – that we chose for the weekend – the Book of Acts. Who are we as a church and what does God have for us? We didn’t make this up. We don’t want to be a part of a church that “man has made.” I mean, we are watching this more and more of churches that “men have made,” have been undone by their very hands. We don’t want to be a church that’s built on man or man’s personality or anything that has to do with men. We want to be a part of the real Church that Jesus is building. Can I get an “amen,” for that? I was setting you up for that.
I want to be a part of the Church that Jesus is building, because, “the gates of Hell will not prevail,” against the true Church (Matt 16:18). And that’s why we’re in the book of Acts, because there are so many ideas that get thrown out at pastors and leaders today. They lead your church within whatever is the new trend and whatever the new thing is and whatever the new book is and whatever the new study guide is and whatever. And I’ve been around long enough to see all these “winds of doctrine,” (Eph. 4:4) and all these weird ways of doing church come and go. And even some of them are trying to come into our church and we say, “no thanks.” We just want the simple teaching of the Word, the vibrant presence of the Holy Spirit, and then we’ll get to see what God wants to do. We’re not going to find out what man wants to do. We want to see what God wants to do. That’s our desire. Of course, none of us hit it perfectly. Our church is imperfect. You’re listening in another state, another country, another part of the world.
I know your church is imperfect, but we want to be as close to abiding in Christ as often as possible so that He can lead us and He can guide us. Because one of the things that we learn is that God is able to reach the world through ordinary people. Ordinary people. Regular people. Simple people. He can use those that might be well-educated and might have a lot of experience. That’s not exclusive. You remember when Paul wrote to to the Corinthians, he said, “not many wise.” He didn’t say, “not any.” He says, “not many noble.” He didn’t say, “not any.” So it’s not that there aren’t some wise and some well-educated and just…it’s not that. It’s just like when all is said and done, I mean, we bring all that we have to the Lord. And what do we have to begin with? But anything that He gave us, everything that we have, came from Him. We all came into this world the same way – naked and screaming. Did you know that? That’s how we came in.
It’s like, “Ahh, what happened?” “Put me back in!” You know, it’s like, “What am I?” What’s going on?” We all came in the same way. And all that we have, including life, has come from the Lord (1 Cor 4:7). “What do you have that hasn’t come from God?” Because this culture, like, ingrained it, “Oh, I’ve worked really hard and I…all sleepless nights and I’ve studied real hard.” But, okay, where did you get the brain to study so hard? And where did you get the desire and the drive? And where did you discern how God made you? That came from the Lord. And the theme of Acts is the Spirit of God working through the Word of God in the people of God. He reached the first century believers, that 120, that Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit into. The Spirit came into these believers at the end of John’s gospel. Now he tells them, “stay in Jerusalem,” because this is what you need. You’re not going to be able to do anything without the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It’s not going to work. It’s not going to happen.
And that’s the model we see unfolding throughout the book of Acts. God empowering believers with the Holy Spirit “endued from upon high,” going from city to city, country to country, around the world with the gospel. Pick up with me now in verse one of chapter 19. “And it happened when 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?’ And 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.’ 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 Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them. There’s that word again. It’s the Greek word, epi. The Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Now the men were about twelve in all” (Acts 19:1-7). Now you remember earlier in chapter 18 and verse 21, notice with me, Paul had told these few believers in Ephesus that he would come back if he could. And he said this in verse 21. He “took leave of them, saying, ‘I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem. But I’ll return again to you, God willing.’ And he sailed from Ephesus”.
So he had to leave. He wanted to keep the…you want to keep the feast. He wanted to be there for worship. He says, “I’ll be back if I can, if God allows it.” Because remember, Paul knows what it’s like to want to go to Asia, which is where Ephesus is, and have the door closed twice (Acts 16:6-7). So he wanted to go back.
But as we learn in our study last time, he just “left it with the Lord.” And that’s a lesson you need to learn. I know there’s a lot of things you want to do, a lot of things you want to accomplish. There’s a lot that you have planned – five year plans, ten year plans, desires, all of that. And those are great and grand as you choose to glorify God. But listen, you’ve got to leave it in the Lord’s hands. It may happen. It may not happen. God may open that door for you. He may close that door. Open doors; blessed. Or closed doors, “blessed be the name of our Lord” (Job 1:21). You’ve got to look to Him either way, God willing. In this case, God was willing. I like that. I like when my will lines up with God’s will. It’s like, “Hey man, I want to be back.” I hope God lets me. And then he’s…and God says, “go for it.” Like, yes, that is so good.
So there he comes back and he meets these disciples. And he asks them a very interesting question. “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” This is the key question in the whole text. How we answer this question will determine the whole flavor of this section. This paragraph. “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And there’s basically two options here that we have before us. Option number one is Paul asking them if they’re really saved. Is that what he’s asking them? Is he asking them some technical theological question that when you were saved and when you heard John, when you heard the gospel, did you really receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Or is he referring to the baptism of the Holy Spirit that is given to believers that are already saved? Those are the two questions, because that’s where the dividing line is when it comes to this text. There are two sides in the argument. Just in case you ever walk into this argument. There are two sides to this argument, and there are technical terms. I’ll give them to you.
You probably never use them, but you should know them. There are two technical terms to describe the different positions on the present work of the Holy Spirit today. And camp number one, if you want to use that group number one will be considered “Cessationist,” and group number two would be considered, “Continuationist.” And I know there are difficult words we don’t use very much, but just pull the root word out of each. Cessationists believe that some… and there’s always debate on which, but some gifts are not available to believers today that the Holy Spirit doesn’t work today like He worked in the New Testament in the book of Acts, and they would eliminate a lot of the “sign gifts.” And again, there’s even debates on what gifts exist. Cessationist. I went through this in-depth when we were looking at this text earlier. Someone came up after a previous service and said, “Where are those studies?” They’re on the app under the heading of series…so if you’re looking on the app under the heading of series, “The Holy Spirit,” I did…I don’t know, there’s probably twenty Bible studies to give you an understanding of who the Holy Spirit is. How He operates. How the Holy Spirit fits in the Trinity as a person.
The Holy Spirit is God, third person; a part of the Godhead. I went through all of that. So we’re not going to. We don’t have time sufficient to go through twenty Bible studies in our remaining time. But they’re available to you verse-by-verse on all of them. So one side is Cessationist, the other side is Continuationist. If you just pull out the word “continue,” a Continuationist believes that the Holy Spirit works today, just like He did in the book of Acts. If you’re wondering, you are in a church that is a Continuationist church. We believe that the Holy Spirit still operates today, just like He did in the book of Acts. We believe that God, the Holy Spirit, can do what He wants, when He wants, through whoever He wants, just like He did in the first century. We are Continuationists. That’s our theological perspective, and we choose not to argue about it. We choose not to get into a debate about it.
We respect other viewpoints, but we are Continuationists. We believe that the gifts are available today. All of them – those that are listed in the in the scriptures. And the Holy Spirit is moving in our life. Although the gifts are available today, we believe there is a “more excellent way,” that all believers should be living in (1 Cor 12:31). That we shouldn’t be living for the gifts, we should be living for the Giver of the gifts. And the most excellent way to live your life is not to focus on the gifts, but to walk in God’s agape love. And that’s our…that’s a very simple summary of a very complex topic. So how you answer this question is going to determine how you handle this text. Is he talking to unbelievers and saying, “Are you saved?” Or is he talking to believers, and “Have you experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit like was mentioned in the very beginning of the book of Acts? We hold to the second view. We would say that these are believers that Paul already knew; that when you’re born again, that you receive the Holy Spirit.
Paul’s taught that throughout his letters. If you’re taking notes, let me just give you a few things we have learned from Paul’s teachings, inspired by the Holy Spirit that he himself knows about the Holy Spirit. Number one, we learn from the Bible that the Holy Spirit is who regenerates us. When we are born again, it’s because of the Holy Spirit. The Scripture, Titus 3:4-5, “But when the kindness and the love of God, our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.” Paul knew about the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, Paul also knew about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He indwells the believer. He wrote this to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” He knew that. He knew the teachings of Jesus in John 14 about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Thirdly, Paul also knew the teachings of the sealing of our salvation by the Holy Spirit. That the Holy Spirit seals us, just like the ancient seals that would be sent on a scroll or a letter. It would mark that letter as the official document of the one that sent it. And the seal of the Holy Spirit is the marking in your life that you are officially saved and will be saved until the end. Ephesians 4:30, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
Paul also knew when he asked this question that the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our salvation. 2 Cor 5:5, “Now he was prepared us for this very thing is God, who has also given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” So why do you think Paul asked this? I believe he asked this because of something that was visible. I believe he asked this because he saw in them or didn’t see in them evidences of a fruitful life.
I believe that he came across these twelve and noticed an outward lack of enthusiasm, or a lack of fervency, or a lack of excitement, or a lack of love for the things of God. Maybe there was no real passion in their life similar to what you saw. What we saw in Luke chapter 24. Remember, you have these believers leaving, coming home, from Jerusalem, on the way on the road to Emmaus, and Jesus shows up to minister to them. But how are they described? But they’re just walking around. Haven’t, you know, they’re very discouraged as they’re talking to Jesus. They’re believers, but they’re bummed out, lacking fervency. And so in studying this, in finding…trying to find a real concise understanding of the two viewpoints, here’s viewpoint number one, and I quote,
These twelve were disciples, but not of Jesus. They were disciples of John the Baptist. They only knew what Apollos taught them – the baptism of repentance leading up to the coming Messiah. In their belief, they were still looking for the one that was coming. When Paul came to town, he recognized this, clarified the gospel for them, and immediately baptized them in their newfound faith in Messiah who had come.
End quote. I find that an interesting view, but it’s not entirely faithful to the text, Because if you go back to chapter 18, when you look at chapter 18, let’s consider Apollos here in verse 24, it says, “A certain Jew named Apollos, born in Alexandria, was an eloquent man, mighty in the scriptures. He came to Ephesus. The man had been instructed in the way of the Lord.” So he doesn’t have a complete, he doesn’t lack understanding of Jesus as Messiah. So, if Apollos was the one that was teaching, or someone like him, it noticed Apollos. He had a limited…he had limitations in his teaching. But then notice what happened. God brings Aquila and Priscilla to him. It says that he was “fervent in spirit,” verse 25, “he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, even though he knew the baptism of John.”
So there was more to be clarified. And that’s where Aquila and Priscilla are in verse 26. When they heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God “more accurately.” So they kind of sealed, as we’re learning in Bible study, many times in Bible study, as, as the pastor is teaching, you’re getting something and now you’re learning a little more accurately and you’re like, “Oh, I never saw it that way before,” or, “I didn’t fully understand it that way before.” That’s what happened with him, as we see this husband and wife teaching team. And then verse 27, when he desired to cross to Achaia, which is going back to the area of Corinth, the “brethren wrote.” That’s an interesting phrase that tells us that there were brethren in Ephesus before Paul comes back. So there are real believers there. They’re not fake believers or half believers or…there’s real believers in Ephesus. So whether Apollos, or Priscilla, or Aquila, whoever taught them, there’s brethren there. They wrote the letter. He took off to Corinth.
And then verse one of chapter 19, Apollos is in Corinth, and Paul is coming back to Ephesus, and that’s where he meets them. So I don’t know that that is really a good way of looking at this text, because whoever taught them, there’s brethren in Ephesus, and I believe these twelve are a part of that, “brethren.” The second viewpoint is that Paul met these twelve Christians, and I quote,
And discerned there was something missing in their relationship to Jesus Christ. Yes, they were believers, but something just wasn’t there. Maybe they were discouraged, defeated, downcast. But like the two on the road to Emmaus, they there was a discernment by Paul that they lack the fullness of the Spirit.
So Paul comes alongside of them, and he is growing in the truths of the gospel and revealing the fullness of their Savior, Jesus Christ. And notice, he felt it necessary to mark this time to water baptize them, that this would be the moment that it all comes together (Acts 19:5). And he “lays hands on them,” verse six. And the evidence outwardly, like we saw in Pentecost, with “tongues and prophecies,” speaking forth the Word of God, took place. More for them than for anyone else. Just an evidence of “man…okay.” Because, you know, sometimes you miss things and then somebody explains it to him, and then you’re afraid of keeping missing things and keeping missing things. And here’s a confirmation that God gave to them, uniquely in their own personal journey and walk that says, “Hey, here you are. There’s twelve of them. There is no doubt whatsoever now that they are completely born again in their hearts and our hearts. No doubt.”
This also happened, by the way, again, putting a lot of scriptures together, back in Acts chapter eight in Samaria, where you see…go back to Acts with me. Chapter eight, verse 14, since we’re already there. Acts 8:14. Philip’s coming in to Samaria. There’s great joy, there’s healings. Amazing! What’s happening? In verse 12, it says, “when they believed,” this is Acts chapter eight, “Philip, as he preached these things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.” That, my friends, is the definition of salvation. These people are saved at this moment, right here.
“Simon himself had believed when he was baptized, and he continued with Philip and was amazed seeing the miracles and signs which were done” (Acts 8:13). And it’s interesting, Simon is separate from this, and we went into Simon and how he is separate from these people, but we studied this. But let’s look at 14 now. “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 who is going to receive the Holy Spirit? Those that just received the Holy Spirit. The ones that are saved. So here now they heard about what’s going on. They sent them down. They laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. What experience did they have with the Holy Spirit? Well, it says right there in verse 16, “for as yet he had fallen upon none of them.”
This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You see it in the beginning of Acts. You see it here in chapter eight, and now you see it in Ephesus, because God’s about ready to do something amazing in Ephesus. Like, this is this is going to be a breakthrough of the demonic strongholds of Ephesus. And it started with this little meeting with twelve people.
It reminds me of what God’s doing in Aurora right now. When we first moved here, and it was just a small gathering of people, it was just very, very small. And we opened our home and started a Bible study. We had as many as five people show up and as many as zero. How’s that? And you’re like, where did Marie go? You know, like what happened? No…zero…people from the neighborhood. And we’re just like, “What is the Lord going to do?” What is the Lord going to do? Well, God had a plan for Aurora, let me tell you. He had a plan through this little church. That group of five people, that group that moved from…God had a plan. But before He works out his plan, He works on the person.
Did you know that?
It’s like, well, “Lord, I don’t know. I don’t know if you want me to.” I don’t know if I want to be used. You know, you do want to be used and you got to allow Him to work through you. And before He works through you, you know what He’s going to do? He’s going to work on you. He’s going to chip away and he’s going to add and subtract. He’s going to use pain and problems and difficulty. It’s all. Nothing is wasted by God, did you know that? Every day of your life, God is making you into the woman and into the man that he wants you to be. And here, these twelve men would be the foundation of all…and the other brethren that are already there in Ephesus… are going to be the foundation of all that God wants to do there. Here are these disciples, followers that are asked, “did you receive the Holy Spirit?”
I don’t believe he was asking them about their salvation. I believe he was asking about their empowerment. And they said in verse two, “we haven’t even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And so we have to ask the next question. Is it possible to be a born-again believer and lack in your understanding of the scriptures? Yes or no? Of course! Everybody starts out that way. Everybody here that was born again, whether you were saved as a kiddo in a Christian home, or you were saved from the streets responding to a gospel invitation. No matter where you came from, there was so much for you to learn. You did not get saved with total knowledge. You didn’t know everything. Some of you didn’t even know you responded to the gospel. I know I’m a sinner and I need forgiveness, but nobody laid out to you twenty Bible studies on the Holy Spirit to understand it. It’s going to take some time.
It’s going to take some time to learn the things of God. It’s going to take some time to learn the scriptures. I mean, I think of some of you, when you were born again, you hadn’t even read the Bible before, imagine that. Never read the Bible for some of you. And it comes to mind because this was me when I was born again. I didn’t even own a Bible. And I had a lot to learn. So the idea that you have believers here that had not heard about the Holy Spirit, that’s not unusual. That’s not unusual at all. To say, “Well, I was born again. I’ve been walking with the Lord for ten years. And, pastor, I’m telling you right now, I’ve been born again. I’ve been in a church my whole life. And you are the first man to ever tell me about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.”
Okay, this was the day God wanted you to learn about it. It’s okay. God has everything in perfect timing for you. And so the idea is like, “well, you know, I have so much to learn.” I know. So do I. Do you know, you could spend your whole life studying the Bible ‘til your last breath? Until you’re 110 years old, you know, and you’ve spent your whole life studying the Bible, and you still have things to learn. The only time you’ll “know it all,” if you want to use that phrase, is when you shed this earthly body and you wake up in the presence of the Lord. The Bible says that “we will know even as we’re known” (1 Cor 13:12). That’s when we understand all things from Christ’s perspective, but it’s not today. So don’t let that throw you off course. The fact that they’re believers and they haven’t heard about the Holy Spirit. Okay. That’s not unusual. Not only that, we also have to ask the question, “Is it possible to be a saved, born-again, Spirit-filled Christian and still find yourself lacking in power to do the work of the ministry?” Yes.
I see it all the time. It is so common. And what? That the phrase you might hear pastors or me use isn’t necessarily all the time mentioning the “baptism of the Holy Spirit.” Here’s what you might hear. It’s exactly what Paul wrote in Galatians 3:3, “Are you so foolish that you would begin in the Spirit and try to perfect in the flesh?” I see it all the time where men and women want to accomplish the will of God in the arm of human ingenuity. Human education. Human. I mean, why would churches, you know, fall for all the trendy nonsense if they weren’t looking for some human way to save their church, or some human way to lead their church, instead of just waiting in Jerusalem? And receive the power. The Lord wants to lead his church. The Lord wants to help his people, and we have to have it in the right order. We’ve seen and learn in the course of our studies together, how essential the Holy Spirit is to our relationship with Jesus.
Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be our Helper or our Comforter, or you might have heard it referred to as the Greek word. Our “Paraclete,” was the one who “comes alongside,” to help us. In John 14:16 it says, “And I will pray the Father, and He’ll give you another Helper, that he will abide with you forever.” We learned that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be our teacher. He said in John 16:13, however, “When He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on his own authority. But whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will tell you the things to come. He will glorify me, for He will take of what is mine and declare it to you. The Holy Spirit is our source of daily power. Acts 1:8, “When the Spirit of God comes upon,” us. Now I do believe that the Bible teaches us to expect and to receive and to ask for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus taught it. It’s practiced in the book of Acts, and it’s clarified and enhanced in its teaching throughout the epistles. It’s a very important relationship you and I are to have with the Holy Spirit.
By the way. Again, note takers in the Bible, there are three primary relationships that a person can have with the Holy Spirit. Three ways. And they come to us from the Greek words used to describe them. Number one, if you’re taking notes, the Holy Spirit is in the world today “convicting” the world of their sin. So of the six, seven, eight billion, and, check, the number of the billions of people on the earth now and the billions that came before, and if there are more still to come. This is the work of the Holy Spirit with every single human being on the planet, before and after the convicting work, the conviction of sin. How will you ever know with absolute clarity, how will you ever know your separation from God, unless God revealed it to you? So He does.
He reveals it to you through the Holy Spirit, through the teaching of God’s Word, through a friend, through mom, through dad, to tell you the truth about your sin. I know it’s uncomfortable and I know it’s hard to receive, but it’s the truth. The truth is that we’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Sin. It’s a Bible word. It’s a Bible word to reflect our imperfection or our unholiness. It reflects a teaching, a truth, that none of us are perfect. So maybe in the language of our everyday life, we’ll just say like, “I’m not perfect.” I’m not perfect. And we’re like, we all know you’re not perfect. I make mistakes, I make mistakes, I know. So if you make one mistake in your life, then you’ll never be perfect. Ever. The rest of your life. You can’t. You’ve made one mistake. And so when it comes to God, sin is far more. It’s the worst mistake you can make.
It’s far more than just, “Oh, you know, I stumbled in, I fell and I made a little mistake.” No. Sin is an unholy, unrighteous act toward a holy and righteous God. And all it takes is one, folks, although we have way more than one. You know that, right? If you don’t, ask the person next to you, “Am I a sinner?” And they’re going to say, “You bet you are.” Especially if they know you. He’s like, “Man, what kind of church is this?” A church that is going to tell you the truth. We’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). And the Bible says that the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). The wages of sin is death. If you’ve been to a memorial service recently, then you’ve been reminded of that truth. Because all of us will die an earthly death. Because all of us have been touched and tainted by sin. That’s the wage. But it’s even worse than that. It’s not just physical death.
The wages of sin is also spiritual death. Spiritual death. It’s the separation. That’s really what death is. It’s separation. Physical death is the separation of the spirit and the soul from the human body. Spiritual death is the separation of the resurrected body, spirit and soul from God for all of eternity. We often refer to that as living life in Hell, a real place, actually. Hell is being thrown into at the end of the book of Revelation “into the Lake of Fire” (Rev 20:14). So Hell is even worse if you can think of a worse place than Hell. That’s where eternity will be spent. And you go, “Oh come on, pastors, a bunch of fairy tales and a bunch of made up things.” Really? Well, what do you have in its place? Well, kind of, “what’s your philosophy of life?” “Well, you know, I just live and party and we’ll die tomorrow.” How’s that working out for you? Living a life of emptiness. Living a life of broken relationships. Living a life with no hope.
I mean, what kind of hope is that? Your hope is not in the afterlife. Your hope is the next party, the next bottle, the next joint, the next line. Whatever it is you’re into. What kind of life is it? Well, you know, “I just don’t believe in God. I’m an atheist.” Really? You’re an atheist? So you don’t believe in God who you say doesn’t exist? So who don’t you believe in? Well, God. But you say He doesn’t exist. I know, I know, I know. No. You know God exists because God put eternity in your heart. You know that intrinsically. You push it down and stuff it down. Well, you know, “I believe in….” You fill in the blanks of what your philosophy is. And here’s the reality, because maybe your philosophy is thinking of this, maybe your philosophy as well. You know, pastor, I just believe in “all roads lead to God.” Ahh – now you’re getting close. I believe that, too.
I believe all roads lead to God. And I know some of you, “Honey, get out of this church.” No, no, hear me out. I believe all roads lead to God, But not “all roads lead to salvation,” because all of us are going to face God. So it doesn’t matter what “road you take,” if you want to use that terminology, you’re going to face God and you’re going to give account for your life (Romans 14:12). And really what you’re going to give account to is, “What have you done with my Son,” Jesus Christ? I mean, if every road mattered and they’re all equal and every religion is equal, and every man-made religion is equal, if they’re all equal, then answer me this: Why did Jesus Christ die on the cross? Why was He buried in a tomb? Why is, and was, He resurrected? And why are you sitting in a room filled, or listening on the radio, or watching online somewhere to a room filled, or your room, or your front room filled with people who love Christ and have devoted themselves…?
You know how it started? With the convicting work of the Holy Spirit. You responded to what God has done. He’s always first. You and I are the responders. Number two. The second relationship we can have with the Holy Spirit is as believers. When you and I are born again, the Holy Spirit comes into us. “In,” us, Jesus said. And I forgot to mention the Scripture in John 14 for the convicting work John 14: 17, “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.” So He makes a distinction between the two for the “in,” experience. Every believer receives the Holy Spirit, the converting work of the Holy Spirit, where, as Jesus said, He will be “in you.” And Paul, we learn, the Spirit teaches us. He seals us. He empowers us from the inside. He leads us. He guides us. He teaches us. The Holy Spirit is real and active in our lives.
Which leads us to the third relationship that we can have with the Holy Spirit. And that is the “upon,” experience or the “epi.” This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is where the Holy Spirit conforms you into the image of Christ. You have convicting, converting and conforming. And so then you said “was there…is there, such a thing as a second blessing?” Yes, I believe in a second blessing. And a third blessing. And a fifth blessing. And a thousandth blessing. That God loves you so much that He will empower you for all that He has in store for you. Which is where, our friends that disagree with us, this is where I would invite you in a little bit closer. And away from argumentation, and a little bit closer. Because sometimes all we’re dealing with is not a “theological divide,” as much as a “semantic divide.” So maybe “baptism of the Holy Spirit,” discomforts you. Although it came from Jesus, He’s the one that used the phrase, it came from Him (Acts 1:5).
But perhaps the way you were raised, or the church you were raised in, or the theology that you were taught, it makes you uncomfortable, and I respect that. So let’s consider this. In Ephesian 5:18, Paul says, “Don’t be drunk with wine, but instead be filled with the Holy Spirit.” So perhaps baptism is not for you. Maybe you just need to be “filled.” And you need to ask the Lord to fill you afresh. I need a filling of the Holy Spirit because over time, you know what I find out? I find that I leak. And I need to be refilled and refilled and refilled. Remember what Jesus said he talked about “out of the abundance of your heart will flow…what? Rivers of living water (John 7:38). You know what He was speaking of? The Holy Spirit. Which reminds you know, do you think, okay, how can I have the Spirit in me? And I still need…because, pastor, are you saying to me that “When I was saved that I didn’t get all of the Holy Spirit, there’s still more? Like God gives the Spirit in measure, and a little bit here, a little bit there?”
No, no, no, that’s not what I’m saying at all. When you were born again, you receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit indwelling in you. You receive the fullness. The Spirit got all. You received all of the Spirit. But what perhaps didn’t happen is that you did not give all of your self to the Holy Spirit. Perhaps that’s an area of your life where you have not surrendered to him in yielding to the work of the Holy Spirit. Think of it this way. You had some 90-95 degree days. You’re out mowing the lawn, or at least, watching your neighbor mow the lawn. And it’s hot. And it’s sweaty. And it’s a long day. Or, it’s the day you chose for yard work, but it’s the hottest of hot days. You finish everything, you’re famished, and you don’t want a soda, and you don’t want lemonade, and you don’t want a Big Mac. You want a glass of water. Ice cold water. And so you go in, you get yourself a glass of water, and you begin…it’s the kind of heat and exhaustion that you have, as you’re drinking it, you actually, “feel it filling you.” You just feel like, “Oh, this is so good and so refreshing. I needed this.” You get another one. You feel…and you’re just feeling so good and you’re filled. Think of taking in the water as receiving the Holy Spirit inside. But then, you know there’s more water available to you. It’s in the backyard, in your swimming pool. So you decide, hey, it was hard. It was hard. I’ve already feel refreshed because the water is in me, but I think I can feel a little bit more refreshed if I go outside and I jump into the pool. So there you are, filled with water and you’re jumping into the pool now, surrounded with water. And I know the illustration lacks a little bit because we’re talking about a holy God, but stick with me. The reality of “taking in,” and then “being completely covered,” you want them both, I’m sure.
And you’re jumping into the pool. You’re not drinking it in. That’s not the water to drink. Amen? You don’t drink it in. You’re not getting in any more of the Holy Spirit inside of. You know, you’re giving yourself completely to water for refreshment. Isn’t that awesome? And that’s what the…that’s what the Lord wants from you. He wants you to give yourself completelyto Him. I mean, think about it. I know people are listening to me right now. You’ve been walking with the Lord for ten years, and you are no more mature than the first day. Why? Well, you know, “Pastor, I’m born again.” I believe you. I believe you. “And I have seen some of the fruit of the spirit in my life.” I know. I’ve seen some too. And you know, “Pastor, I…the reason I haven’t grown in ten years….” No, no, let me tell you. You don’t need to explain it to me. I’ll tell you why. You have not yielded yourself to the Holy Spirit.
You have not…why are you…why are you still dealing with the same things over and over again in your marriage? And almost always, the spouse will go, “because of him.” “Because of her.” But you need to learn to use the phrase, “because of me.” God wants to save your marriage. He wants to deliver you from addiction. He wants to empower you to reach this city. He doesn’t want you just to be a moral, you know, “good little boy,” “good little girl,” that goes to church. He wants you to live in power. He wants you to live in strength. He wants you to have His confidence. He wants you to walk in faith. And you and I, we cannot do this on our own. Time will not permit to tell you the story specifically of how God saved my marriage and my family, not merely because I was born again. He had more. He had more. And whenever I say that, I always feel like an infomercial…“And there’s more!”
But God was starting to work in changing and regenerating me. But He had still much more. And empowering me and helping me and saving things and relationships in my life that I could have never saved a mile. That’s the work that God wants to do with you. Let me show you one more scripture, and then we’re going to have to head out. The worship team can come up now. Luke chapter 11. So don’t leave. Don’t leave yet. I want to give you a chance to receive the Holy Spirit today, believers. I want to give you a chance to be born again today, unbelievers. I want to give you a chance to be empowered and be filled with the Holy Spirit and to receive it. And here, you got to understand, this is so good. Chapter 11, verse 11. So good. You got to see it in your own Bible because it’s so powerful. Jesus. Simple, simple, simple teaching. Simple. He says, “If,” and answer the question with me loud so everybody can hear online and on the radio.
Answer what you think. The question is. If Jesus was asking you today, “If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?” No! Okay, you guys can do better than that. Will you give him a stone? No! “If he asks for a fish, will he give him instead a serpent instead of a fish? No! Well, “he asked for an egg. Will they offer him a scorpion?” No! I mean, it’s so simple. Nobody does that. I mean, unless you’re a horrible dad. Like, horrible. Horrible. We need to “mandatory report,” you. That’s how bad you are. Nobody does this. Nobody gives their kid a scorpion when they’re hungry. Nobody gives their kid a snake when they’re hungry. Nobody gives their kid a stone, “Eat this rock.” No, because even in our own humanity, we have a human love for our kids. They’re hungry. You’re going to feed them. We’ve spent our whole life taking care of our kids.
Notice with that in mind now. No. No. Jesus is leading it on. He says, “if you then,” church, “being evil.” Now, don’t let that word throw you. It’s a poor translation here. It just it’s better to say if you being apart from God like, “you’re not God,” basically is what He’s saying. “If you being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” You can ask the Lord for the Holy Spirit, just like you would ask your dad for food. Just like you would come and go, “I’m hungry, can you feed me?” Oh, yeah. Here, here, take the scorpion. Tell me how it goes. Take this stone. As you hear the teeth breaking. Take this snake. Nobody does that. And you know what? Your Heavenly Father is so much better than every dad in the house today. He’s the best out of the house. He says you come to him and ask the Holy Spirit.
How much more will He give to you, the Holy Spirit? So today, if you’re here and you said, “this is it, this is it. God has spoken to me. I want the baptism of the Holy Spirit.” Would you just stand to your feet? I want to pray for you. I want to help you. Just stand up and say, “I want the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I understand what you said, pastor. This is what I want. This is what I need.” Even if you again, you might be in a different theological camp. Okay. That’s fine. Like just think, do you want more? You need more. It’s not about the argument. And it’s not about the sense of “Man, I’m going to do this on my own.” This is the power of God.
Anyone else who would say, “this is what I need? I need it for my singleness. I need it for my marriage. I need it for that addiction to pornography or to lying. I need it for the anxiety and the worry I live with. I need power because I want to see our city change, and I want to see our state change.” And the change that you want to see will not come with human methods. Do you understand that? It will not come politically. It will not come through human reasoning. The change that you want to see in your home and your marriage and your family only comes through the Holy Spirit. That’s it. Anyone else? The work of God in your life today. Those of you that are in a good place sitting right now and you’re like, okay, baptism of the Holy Spirit’s a one-time thing, and you’re in a good place where you’re just sensing this call is not for you, I want you to put your eye on someone standing. Like a laser-focused someone near you. There’s quite a few people standing, far more standing than sitting. So you’re going to have to pay attention to this. But look at someone right now. Get your eye on them.
And now get up and go to them and lay hands on them. We’re going to do what the Bible says. We’re going to lay hands on one another as the church. And if nobody’s laying hands on you, then you move and lay hands and just like, get together, don’t be left alone. Get together. This is the body of Christ. This is the work of His Holy Spirit. This is his desire for your life. This is what He wants to do. And this is what I want you to do. Number one, those of you go that are laying on hands, I want you to pray for the person….maybe God to give you a word or a scripture or something from your devos today. Number two, the person that’s standing, you need to ask. So say it out loud. I know you could do it in your heart, but you need to ask God, “Give me this. I need the baptism. I want the power.” And just ask Him.
And then I’m going to pray. So those three things and we’re all going to pray together. And I just want you to know, millions of people are praying to God right now and He hears them all. So don’t worry about it. So you’ll hear a lot of praying in the room. You’ll hear a lot of voices. It’s okay. God can sort it all out because he hears your voice, singular. Are you ready? So begin. Ask, pray, and I’ll pray for you. Go ahead. Right now, out loud. Out loud. The room should be filled with noise right now. Just let the Lord minister to you. Father, I thank You for the overwhelming work of your Spirit this weekend that You are doing something, You are baptizing, You are changing. You are Lord. By faith, we claim the marriages here. We want the prodigals. We claim them to come home. We love them and care for them. Let them feel our love. Today we pray for our unsaved friends and family and our kids.
We pray for our bosses and our employees. We pray God for the pain in the room. We pray for the diagnoses, for the treatment, for the victories in the room. Lord, we pray that You would answer the call to receive the Spirit today because just like fathers taking care of their kids, Lord, You take care of Your kids, bless Your church and bless Calvary, that we might be used greatly in this community. In Jesus name.
We pray that you’ve been encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer, call us at 877-30-GRACE. That’s (877) 304-7223. To listen to this message in its entirety, or to join us for our live stream services, visit us online at calvaryco.church, or download our free Calvary Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.
