Baptism with the Holy Spirit

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Okay, so today we're on our next lesson. And the topic for today is this phrase baptism with the Holy Spirit or baptism in the Holy Spirit in and with will kind of be used interchangeably. Now, when I say baptism with the Holy Spirit, what comes to mind? I'm curious, what do you guys think of. What'd you say? Lutherans. Okay, Lutherans come to mind. That's funny. Do you have a reason or does it just pop up? [00:00:46] Speaker B: They believe that there's an actual change in your spirit and that the Holy Spirit is in the water. [00:00:51] Speaker A: Yes. Yes. A regenerative baptism. Yeah. Okay, that makes sense. Does anything else come to mind or nothing? Nothing could be an answer. Water comes to mind when you hear baptism of the Holy Spirit. Okay. Huh, Hank? [00:01:10] Speaker B: I think of Jesus whenever he gets baptized. [00:01:14] Speaker A: Yes. And the Holy Spirit descends. Yeah. Okay. That's a good answer. What were you saying? Oh, nothing comes to mind. It's okay. You know, for a little bit I had this. This is. Well, as you'll see, or I hope you'll see, that this is an incredibly biblical doctrine. We just want to make sure to understand it biblically. But for, you know, various reasons, people might attach, you know, too much significance or too little people might attach negative connotations to this phrase. So hopefully we can dispel that. But for a while, I thought I had negative connotations about the phrase the doctrine of the baptism with the Holy Spirit. And I'll tell you why. It was emphasized heavily at this retreat I went to one time, actually I went to twice. So I did return to this retreat. And I don't know necessarily why I returned because both experiences were wild. But we were out in the Rocky Mountains on a ranch and I was with a bunch of college aged guys, some of my friends and other members of our fraternity from all over the nation came, probably about 40 of us to this ranch in Colorado. And in the name of this, the people there were trying to guide us to encounter a baptism with the Holy Spirit and other such things. And the way that they encountered the Spirit was weird and disturbing and confusing. They were losing control of their body. They were saying and doing weird things. It was not a healthy place. It was not a healthy way to understand this doctrine. And so it was tainted in my mind because of that. I hope we can see that chaos is not rendered from the baptism with the Holy Spirit, that those things are not related, that there are abuses of this doctrine, even as people might honestly be trying to understand it faithfully. Hopefully we can be loving and kind and charitable to people who understand it differently than I do. I mean, people in this room might have different conceptions of how this should be taught, but hopefully we can understand the work of the Spirit better and how it relates to specifically salvation. Now, before we get into the. The nitty gritty of it all, let's do our review. So first, what is theology? This is what we're doing. We're doing theology. You're the theology man, Asher. What is it? [00:04:06] Speaker C: It's the study of God and how to be more like Him. [00:04:09] Speaker A: That's right. Yeah. So we are studying God, and as we know him, he transforms our lives. We want to apply what we're learning. Theology is not properly done as just an academic discipline. It is transformative. So that's what we're doing. We're trying to learn about God from the Word. So we've been studying salvation as of late, the doctrine of salvation, and kind of doing all these little categories, subcategories of salvation. So we started with common grace. Can anyone remind us what is common grace? Probably did this back in, like, October, so maybe November. I don't remember, actually. Probably October. What is common grace? [00:04:52] Speaker B: Yeah, it's grace that isn't given just to believers. It's grace that can be given to also unbelievers. [00:04:59] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's distinct from a saving grace. It is God giving good gifts, graces to all peoples. So we see this in the beauty of creation. We see this in people as they maybe do good and righteous things, even not knowing the Lord, obeying the law, being kind, good neighbors. God as a common grace, gives us marriage. We see art. There are all sorts of things we can point to that are common graces. And the reason it's in this category of salvation is not because it saves, but because it reveals to us that there is a God and that we need that God. We don't know him naturally, but we need Him. And so it's the reason common grace points us to our need of a Savior. Then we talked about election. Does anyone remember what we said election refers to? Mm, yeah. How God chooses His people. We talked about how different Christians understand that word to mean, but ultimately just bare bones, how God chooses His people. And we talked about union with Christ after that. What is union with Christ? I said this one was really important. It's kind of at the heart. Yeah. Being with Christ. Or we could say being one with Christ. So you are unified to him in his death and in his resurrection and in his eternal life. You become one with Christ. This Happens because first we are regenerated. What is regeneration? That was the next lesson. Yes. Being made a new creation, made new, regenerated. We see this in the Bible as receiving a new heart from the Spirit, a living heart that is freed to follow the Lord and obey him, whereas the heart before is enslaved to sin and can only sin. Then we talked about conversion. What is conversion? Yes, when we convert to God. I explained this one with kind of a formula. Who remembers the formula? Conversion equals what? Yeah, faith plus repentance. Repentance plus faith equals conversion. So after we've been regenerated, we have faith and repent of our sins. That is conversion. And God then justifies what is justification? To be made or declared right or righteous. And I say declared because we still sin. Right. So there are many things I do. You do that even after you believe in Christ that are not righteous, but you are declared righteous. The righteousness of Christ is credited to you. So in God's eyes, you are righteous. So that is justification. It's kind of this legal courtroom picture of you being declared right, not guilty. And then we talked about adoption last, and Aiden gave us another little zoom in on adoption last week. What is adoption in salvation? That is. [00:08:30] Speaker B: Yeah, kind of like God adopting us. [00:08:34] Speaker A: Yeah, it is God adopting us. He brings us into the family. Right. And he treats those who are his children as he treats his own son, Jesus, which is a wonderful thing. That's why I thought it'd be helpful to have another lesson on it last week. But now we come to one that is honestly often skipped when you're studying through salvation. A lot of times, if you have a book or whatever might skip this Baptism with the Spirit, maybe because of some of the weird connotations, but we don't want to skip it. I think it's definitely something you might run into someday. So we're going to talk about this topic. Here's a summary or the definition of it at the top of your handout. Baptism with the Holy Spirit occurs at conversion and is God's mighty act of renewing a sinner's heart and uniting him or her to the church. So baptism with the Holy Spirit occurs at conversion and is God's mighty act of renewing a sinner's heart and uniting him or her to the church. So we see this is kind of. There's overlap with some of these. You might see new heart overlaps with regeneration, uniting to the church, you know, overlaps with union with Christ and adoption. That's because practically chronologically, a lot of These things happen all at the same moment. We parse them out so we can study them and understand them and also to explain them in a logical order. But in reality, a lot of these happen at the same time. Not all of them like election is before, but union, regeneration, conversion, justification, adoption, are all happening kind of at the same time with even baptism with the Spirit. So that's why there seems to be some overlap. But let's talk about it. Let's go through the major affirmations. So that's main point number one. And the first affirmation is this baptism with the Holy Spirit first occurred at Pentecost, but occurs in every Christian even today. So first occurred at Pentecost, but it occurs in every Christian even today. To see this, we're going to go to Acts chapter two. Pentecost was the Jewish holiday and is the Jewish holiday that occurs 50 days after the Passover. So after the Passover on a particular year, the year that Jesus was crucified and resurrected, 50 days later came this Pentecost that we read about in Acts 2. So he has ascended, not long before this, back into heaven. We read Acts 2. Look at verse 1. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they this is talking about the church, the believers, the disciples of Jesus. They were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind. And it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. So here we see the Holy Spirit in action. Now I have a question for you guys. Was this the first act of the Spirit in history? You're saying? No. That's right. No, it wasn't. So. Genesis 1:2 says, the Earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Second verse of the Bible we see the Spirit working and even also in the Old Testament. Although this verse comes in first Peter or second Peter, actually 1:21 says, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. So the Spirit worked in creation, the Spirit worked through the prophets and in other ways. We could list numerous examples, but this is not the first time the Spirit has showed up on the scene. It is not his first time doing any works at all. But it is a significant moment in History. Now, was this the last time the Spirit acted in history? No. That's right. No. He works even today. So I want to affirm that the Spirit has worked and continues to work today. Not just baptism with the Holy Spirit, but that does occur now. 1 Corinthians 12. Go there. Just a couple books over from Acts. After Acts is romans. And then 1 Corinthians is after Romans. 1 Corinthians 12. Would somebody read First Corinthians 12, 13. [00:13:49] Speaker C: For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, the chooser, Greeks, slaves, or free, and all were made to drink of one spirit. [00:14:00] Speaker A: Thank you. So what does this tell us about baptism with the Holy Spirit? Does it teach us anything about baptism with the Spirit? [00:14:17] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:14:19] Speaker A: It makes us all one in Christ or all Christians are one in Christ. That is. Yeah, yeah. It's not exclusive to the Jews. Yeah, that's an important point. It is universal for Christians. Every single Christian experiences this. This is not necessarily affirmed by everyone who claims to be a Christian, but it is universal for Christians. That is an important point. I want you guys to remember. [00:14:47] Speaker B: An. [00:14:47] Speaker A: Older Christian named John Stott. He said once, baptism of the Holy Spirit is a universal Christian experience because it is the initial Christian experience. It is what makes us Christians. It happens at the time of regeneration and conversion. So it is the initial Christian experience that every Christian has. That's another point we want to remember, but we'll talk about more later. The second affirmation, baptism with the Holy Spirit comes by the sending of the Father and the Son. So it comes by the sending of the Father and the Son. So we're talking trinitarian language here. God is one God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son. Go to John 14, John 14, And we'll. Someone read verse 16, 14, 16. Now I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you. Okay, so this helper is the Spirit. And who gives the helper in this verse? I would say the Father, the Son. Jesus asks the Father, and the he is the Father, will give you another helper. But you know, hey, hold on to that answer. Go to verse 26. But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. So again, the Father is sending, but he's sending in the name of Jesus in this text. So there's. It's kind of developed a little more. So the Father does send. Jesus is not irrelevant to that sending. But then go one more down, not one more verse, but another one. Chapter 15, verse 26. You don't have to turn the page very much, but when the helper comes, this is Jesus speaking still. Whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. So altogether, what do these verses tell us about the Spirit? Well, exactly what I said. He is sent from the Father and the Son. Why does this point matter? Does anyone know why this is important? Mm. [00:17:34] Speaker B: Is it that, like, if the Father. If it been sent by just the Father, it looked like the Father had lightning? If they weren't all equal or something like. [00:17:49] Speaker A: Yeah, there's definitely an argument to be made for that. I think people that do teach that only the Father sends the Spirit wouldn't say that, but I think you could make that argument. I think 1. It's clear in the Bible. So if the Bible says it, we should believe it and teach it. I know that's pretty obvious, but there was a very large, what is called a schism, a split in the Church, you know, thousand, thousand years ago or whatever, however many years between the east and the west over this. This is not the only issue. They were really kind of just arguing about whose pope is the real Pope. But, you know, they were both wrong. But there. That was part of the argument was, is the Spirit sent from the Father or the Father and the Son? That was a really big point. So when there's a split that big in Church history, it kind of means we have to address it and see what the Bible says. So we want to make sure we remember this is what the Bible teaches. Spirit sent from the Father and the Son. Affirmation number three. Baptism with the Holy Spirit sanctifies Christians. It sanctifies Christians. Flip to Galatians 5, chapter 5. Now, Galatians 5, we're going to read a passage starting in verse 16. Maybe some of you will recognize this passage. You'll probably recognize it anyway. But we did do a study of Galatians this year or last year. Galatians 5, 16. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now, the works of the flesh are evident Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such things, there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. So why do you think the Spirit is? I mean, obviously we see the Spirit as sanctifying. If you live by the Spirit, you produce the fruit of the Spirit. If you live by the flesh, you do the works of the flesh. So we should live by the Spirit. Why do you think the Spirit is so important in sanctification? Well, actually, what is sanctification? Let's make sure that we're all on the same page. What is sanctification? We haven't done that lesson yet, so I guess we shouldn't assume. What does it mean? Yeah. Oh, yeah. To be made holy. That's right. To be made holy. Sometimes in the Bible, sanctification will just refer to an act of God making someone holy by setting them apart. Other times, and often in the Bible, we're talking about the progressive being made holy throughout the Christian life. So the progress throughout the Christian life of being made holier and holier as life goes on. Now, why do you think the Spirit is important for this work of being made holy? [00:22:07] Speaker B: It works in our heart. [00:22:14] Speaker A: To sanctify. [00:22:15] Speaker B: To make us holy. [00:22:16] Speaker A: Yeah, it sounds like what you're saying is our actions kind of flow from our hearts, so we need that work to begin in the heart. Right. And the Spirit is especially credited with regeneration and renewing the hearts of mankind. Yeah. So we're in. We are in sinful bodies, all of us. We all are born that way. We cannot bear purely the fruit of the Spirit on our own power. We can't. You know, this part of Paul's point, you know, in Galatians, you. You cannot please God by doing works of the law, by doing good deeds alone, because we are sinful. It is all tainted by our sin. We need to be transformed by the Spirit and empowered by him to please God. So if we want to grow in Christlikeness, we need the power and guidance and the freedom provided by the spirit in chapter 5 of Galatians, verse 1. For freedom, Christ has set us free. This is free from sin. We need to be freed from sin by the Spirit so we can pursue sanctification. That is why we need the Spirit to sanctify Christians. Those who believe in Christ will be made holy by Him. Next, affirmation. Baptism with the Holy Spirit empowers Christians. So similar, but so a little overlap, but not exactly the same. The Holy Spirit empowers Christians. Go over to Ephesians, chapter 5. That's the next book after Galatians. Ephesians 5. We'll so and read verses 18 to 21. 1821. Ephesians 5. 1821. Thank you. [00:24:15] Speaker B: And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery. To be filled with the Spirit. Addressing one another in psalms and hymns, in spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. [00:24:37] Speaker A: Yeah, thank you. So the call here from Paul in Ephesians is to be filled with the Spirit. What does being filled with the Spirit do according to this passage? You know, what's the result. [00:25:05] Speaker B: Of the Spirit? [00:25:06] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:08] Speaker B: Submitting to one another in the fear of God. [00:25:11] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. So we humbly submit to one another. We have reverence for Christ. I think all of these things listed occur only if we are filled with the Spirit. So addressing one another in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, giving thanks always for everything that God has provided. Submitting to one another. These are things that people do in the church. To have good church life, we need the help of the Spirit. We need to be filled with the Spirit to empower us to please him and do these things. So we need his power. That's why we read in John 14, the Spirit was called the Helper, because He helps us. He empowers Christians. Now, the last affirmation, Baptism with the Holy Spirit unites Christians with the church. So I'm going to have us flip back over to First Corinthians, chapter 12, and I will read verses 12 through 14. So First Corinthians 12, 12, 14 says, for just as the one, or just as the body is one, and has many members in all the members of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one Member, but of many. So what we're seeing here is that unity will fail without the Spirit. And why is unity important for the church? Anyone have a reason why might unity be important for the church? [00:26:58] Speaker B: Being around other Christians can strengthen your faith, and they can encourage you whenever you're going through suffering or trial. [00:27:07] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Being around other Christians in unity strengthens your faith, helps you persevere. That's right. It's hard for groups of people to not fight and split and, you know, quarrel over all sorts of things, especially people from so many different backgrounds and places. But when we are unified, we show that God, Father, Son and Spirit is one. We represent the unity he has in himself. We represent the power of the Gospel to unite Jews and Greeks who were not friends, slaves and free who were not friends. Only the Gospel can unite like that. It is a witness to the power of Christ, and we need the Spirit to unite us. That's one of the key things that baptism with the Spirit does. Now, let's talk real quick about some errors to avoid, especially this first one. Baptism with the Holy Spirit is not a second blessing. Baptism with the Holy Spirit is not a second blessing. I think I put second blessing in a quotation mark. That is a term that's used. Does anyone know what that means? When I'm saying it's not a second, what does the second blessing refer to? Does anybody know? No, it's okay. It means that the Spirit rushes upon someone during or after or well after his or her conversion. So it's not necessarily tied to conversion. It is something that could happen at the same time or could happen later. Proponents of this view would also say that it can happen an indefinite number of times. I could be baptized with the Spirit today and next week, or maybe not for another 10 years, but then it happens again, or maybe every single day. There's an indefinite number of times that this could happen. According to people that believe it is a second blessing. They say that because the first blessing is salvation, the second blessing is being baptized with the Spirit. That's why it's called that. Pentecostalism teaches this, and more extreme charismatics believe this. Though not everyone who has the term charismatic attached to them necessarily believes in a second blessing of the Spirit. So it's important to not assume that if someone is charismatic, they might see how the apostles. So here's the reasons they might teach this. They might see how the apostles, they might had to wait for Jesus to send the Spirit later. Right? They waited. And then in Acts 2, at Pentecost, the Spirit was sent. Or they might read in Acts 19, which tells us some disciples of John the Baptist that had been baptized by John but not been baptized by the Spirit. So that's another passage they might bring up in support of their beliefs. And I think the problem is that they would read Acts 2, the Pentecost, the first coming of the Spirit, and this other occasion with John the Baptist's followers. They view these as normal experiences, but they are not. They're abnormal experiences. The apostles of Jesus and the disciples of John had been baptized in water before Christ died, was buried, was raised, and ascended into heaven. It was a different time in salvation history. After Christ is ascended, it is baptism with the Spirit happens at conversion. So we want to remember this because we don't want to deceive ourselves or others into waiting and hoping maybe the Spirit will baptize me again, or maybe I'll get more power from the Spirit. People are manipulated into thinking this. And this is. That's what the Bible teaches about the work of the Spirit. Now, on the flip side, another error I want to encourage us to avoid is we shouldn't immediately dismiss any outward experience of the Holy Spirit just because someone has some, maybe a more outward experience of the Holy Spirit than you or I. We shouldn't immediately dismiss it as false. We shouldn't immediately call it demonic. And people do say that. And I think we should be more charitable. You know, I wanted to include this. You know, there are genuine Christians who are more charismatic than I am. Yeah, maybe some of you, maybe your parents, maybe, you know, people. So we should practice. This is a novel concept. We should practice listening before we accuse someone of demon possession. Does that sound reasonable? I think it's reasonable to listen, see what people believe first while still holding what we see to be true in the Bible regarding the Spirit. So, but just because it's true does not mean that we have to give everything equal amounts of charity. Right. I don't think when I was watching people convulse on the floor for three hours in Colorado, I don't think that is legitimate. I don't think I have to pretend that it's just as legitimate as my view of the Holy Spirit. They are not the same. So we need to be careful to not teach and practice dangerous things. So you know what we all need, though, that we can agree on? We all need the Holy Spirit to sanctify us in truth, to teach us and illuminate the meaning of the Word, and to help us obey and honor God with our lives and that leads us to enacting the doctrine. So just real quick, before we end, we. We want to talk about how we can apply this. Not just so we know what this term baptism with the Holy Spirit means, but what we should do with it. And first, we should thank God for the gift of the Spirit. We need a helper. We need a comforter. We need someone to sanctify us. We need someone to empower us to do ministry. We need someone to unify the church. Without any of those things, we're lost and hopeless. The church will die. We need the work of the Spirit. But because the Spirit is Spirit, we don't typically see the Spirit. And we may not see as many outward expressions of the Holy Spirit in our church. And so it's easy for us to forget him, take him for granted, to kind of ignore him, just because I know what a father is, I know what a son is, but a spirit is a lot more mysterious to me. So I'm going to kind of ignore him. We should not do that. We should see what the Bible teaches about the Spirit and thank God that he gives us the Spirit. Second, we should pursue unity in the church to which you've been united by the Spirit. This is especially a call for those of you who have turned from your sin and trusted in Christ. Seek unity. It's honestly really hard at your age. I feel like there are all sorts of divisions and dramas, dramatic things going on. When I was a teenager too, I like this person. I don't like this person. I'm gossiping about this person. I hate so and so, for whatever reason. These are not things that people should do in the church, whether the other person is a Christian or not. You should love people that are here. You should pursue unity. You should seek friendship with all. Not that you have to be best friends with everybody, but seek to be kind and loving and caring as far as you can, to work especially hard to be united to those who are different than you. So you can represent in that relationship the power of the Gospel to unite people that are different. That is one way you can proclaim the gospel to people who come in here and see how unified the church is. Are there any questions about this doctrine before we close? No. Well, again, if you ever have any others, you can always ask me, and I'd love to try to answer them. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word, but especially this morning, we want to thank you for the gift of the Spirit, that you give your spirit to those who turn from their sins and trust in Christ so that we can be sanctified, empowered and unified in the church. Lord, we praise you for this wonderful work, and we pray that you would help us to meditate on it and see further how it can transform our lives. We pray this all in Christ's name, Amen.