Spirit Baptism

Transcript

GRM 964
6/18/2006
Spirit Baptism
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh


We spent our last few studies looking at the matter of water baptism in the New Testament, and we talked about the baptism of John the Baptist, the baptism of Jesus Christ, Christian baptism. We noted that they are all unique and distinct. And then we looked at some of what we might call problem passages to clarify certain passages that might seem, taken by themselves, to indicate that baptism is a necessary ingredient in our salvation. We found that that could not be a possibility, that would be totally contrary to scripture, it would be totally contrary to the whole argument of the book of Romans 3-4. But water baptism symbolized our cleansing from the defilement of sin, represented our public identification with Jesus Christ with the public testimony of our commitment to Him.

I thought tonight we’d talk a little bit about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We are coming up to one of the major passages on this in our study of the book of 1 Corinthians, but I thought it would be good to talk about some of the issues of Spirit baptism in connection with water baptism, because the scripture does connect them together. In the earliest references to Spirit baptism it’s John the Baptist, John the baptizer, who says I baptize you with water, the One comes after me who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. So he talks about his baptism was water, in the same context he prophesies the coming baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Baptism of the Spirit is a unique ministry of the Holy Spirit. It did not occur until Christ finished work on the cross, it marked the beginning of the new covenant that is a provision for Israel and a provision of salvation for all people. Baptism of the Holy Spirit, one writer noted at least 11 specific references to the baptism of the Spirit in the New Testament. The first four come from the gospels—Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, John 1:33. So all four gospels refer to the baptism of the Holy Spirit and we just keep that in mind as we move along, because we often think of, and properly so, of the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the context of becoming part of the church. As we’ll talk in a moment, the baptism of the Holy Spirit as talked about in the context of the coming of the Messiah of Israel. And when John the Baptist said the Messiah is going to come and baptize you with the Spirit, no one, including John, had any concept of the development of a church. That is material that had not yet been revealed. Acts1:5 is another prophecy of the coming of the Spirit, Acts 11:16 refers to the baptism of the Spirit, Romans 6, I Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:27, Ephesians 4:5, Colossians 2:12.

Go to Matthew 3. We’ll just take this one reference out of the four gospels since they are all similar. John the baptizer is carrying out his ministry. He came preaching in the wilderness, calling people to repentance in Matthew 3:2, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Then we are told that John was the one that Isaiah had prophesied about. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. The one who came before, would come before the coming Messiah to prepare the hearts of the nation for His coming. The description of John as a prophet, and we’re told that all the people at Jerusalem and the surrounding region were coming to the Jordan River, verse 6, and being baptized by him as they confessed their sins. Then you have the rebuke to the religious leaders in Israel, who were coming to identify with this popular movement among the people but had expressed no repentance over their sins.

Then he warns them of coming judgment. And remember these two themes run together in the Old Testament prophecies of the coming of the Messiah of Israel. He will come in fierce and devastating judgment on sinners. And He will come with wonderful blessings for those who belong to Him. So John’s message is both and he warns them in verse 10, the ax is already laid at the root of the tree. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Verse 12, his winnowing fork is in His hand, He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor. He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Gather the wheat into His barn, the good, those who belong to Him through faith. The rest will be consumed in the fires of judgment. So parallel ideas. Verse 11, as for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I and I am not fit to remove His sandals. I am not really worthy to be the lowliest of slaves to Him. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. And as we’ve noted in the context, I take it the baptism of the Holy Spirit refers to the action of the Messiah with the Holy Spirit on those who have prepared themselves by repentance and faith to receive Him. The baptism of fire is the baptism of judgment. They will be immersed in judgment. Remember the word baptize, if we translated it, means to dip, to immerse, to submerge. If you translated this you could say at the end of verse 11, He will immerse you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. And the fire is the fire of judgment on the unbeliever, as we saw at the end of verse 10—the tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. The end of verse 12, the chaff is thrown into unquenchable fire. The baptism with fire, the immersion and fire is the being consumed in judgment, the fires of judgment.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. And that’s what we want to talk about—baptism with the Holy Spirit. You’ll note, as John prophesies about this, this is something that would be uniquely done by the coming Messiah. So it had not yet occurred to this point. John, whom Jesus would say is the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, did not baptize anyone with the Holy Spirit. So the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a ministry uniquely associated with the ministry of the Messiah. We’ll say more about the baptism of the Spirit and its connection to the Old Testament.

But first go over to Acts 1:5. Here is Jesus’ final meeting before His ascension to heaven. And with the ascension to heaven in Acts 1, that is His final departure from earth, not to return for earthly ministry until the Second Coming. So this is a special time in preparing them. He gathered them together in verse 4, told them not to leave Jerusalem. Remain in Jerusalem and wait for what had been promised to them by the Father. And I’ve told you about Him, referring to the Holy Spirit. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. At this point in time the baptism with the Holy Spirit has not yet occurred. So John the Baptist in announcing the coming of the Messiah said He would baptize people with the Holy Spirit. But through Christ’s earthly ministry He did not baptize anyone with the Holy Spirit, because here we are after His death and resurrection and 40 days of ministry following His resurrection, with His followers. And now He is ready to go to heaven and He says, don’t go anywhere. Remain right here in Jerusalem, because you have yet to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So here His closest followers have not yet been baptized with the Holy Spirit. You remember during Christ’s earthly ministry He told them about the coming of the Spirit, particularly the last night that He spent with them. He prophesied of the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Go back to John 14. In John 7:38-39 He told them, he who believes in Me as the scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. But this He spoke of the Spirit whom those who believed in Him were to receive. For the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. That’s John 7:39. So you’ll note here we do get insight that the giving of the Spirit requires the glorification of Christ. Interesting concept in light of the fact John the Baptist was announcing the baptism of the Holy Spirit before Jesus even began His public ministry. And yet John didn’t understand that the Messiah had to suffer and die and be raised, because remember when he’s in prison he sends his disciples and asks Jesus, are you really the Messiah? Or should we look for another? Have I been confused? Because he was thinking of the Messiah setting up a kingdom, and he’s in prison. Things aren’t going well.

When you come to John 14 Jesus is preparing His disciples for His departure and in verse 16 He say, I will ask the Father and He will give you another helper, that He may be with you forever. So that is the Spirit of truth. And the world doesn’t receive Him, doesn’t know about Him. The end of verse 17, you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. So a uniqueness in the Spirit’s ministry associated with Him being in them, so that He can fulfill what Jesus said in John 7:38-39, out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water. This He spoke of the Holy Spirit who would be given to them.

Down in John 14:26, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you and bring to your remembrance all that I taught you. Incidentally in verse 26, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you, that explains to you why the disciples could write about the life of Christ years afterward and they weren’t dependent on their fallible human memory. Jesus told why they would have perfect recall on the matters they were to write about. And that would have particular significance to them, those that God had appointed to write, like the gospel of John. Doesn’t matter whether 10, 20 or 30 years go by before John sits down to write his gospel. The Holy Spirit now is going to guide him and bring to his mind, enable him supernaturally to remember what God wanted recorded. There will be no inaccuracies.

Come over to John 15:26, when the Helper comes, the paraclete, the Helper, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about me. John 16:7, but I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go I will send Him to you. Now here we get insight. It is to their advantage to have the Holy Spirit with them instead of Christ Himself. We say, what advantage? We don’t need the Holy Spirit, we have you, Lord. You’re here. But Jesus says, it’s to you advantage that I go, because with my going the Holy Spirit will come. That is better for them, that will bring a dimension of God’s work in their life that they did not even experience during their earthly ministry with Christ. Something amazingly unique is going to take place in the life of these disciples. I mean for the last three years they’ve traveled Israel, ministering on behalf of Christ and ministering with Christ, healing the sick, preaching the gospel of the kingdom. Now He says, you know it will be better for you that I go to heaven. If I don’t go to heaven the Holy Spirit can’t come.

So you see the coming of the Spirit is dependent upon the finished work of Christ on the cross and His final ascension to the Father, which brings to completion His earthly ministry. And then will prepare the way for the coming of the Holy Spirit to continue the ministry on earth. And the Holy Spirit’s ministry will be to convict the world concerning sin, righteousness and judgment. That is the ministry going on today. That’s why we share the Word of God, the Spirit of God does the ministry of convicting the world through the ministry of the Word.

So that anticipation is what we’re talking about in Acts 1:5. Still hasn’t happened, but now you are within days of the coming of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes, then you will receive power. Acts 1:8, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses. And then He ascends to heaven. In Acts 2 you have the coming of the Holy Spirit. And the baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs for the first time. Now the term the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not used in Acts 2. Acts 1 Jesus says you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. We see the coming of the Holy Spirit in a unique and special way in Acts 2, and even though the term, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, is not used in Acts 2, we know that it is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Over in Acts 11:15 Peter is recounting what happened in Acts 10 when he preached the gospel to Gentiles at the house of Cornelius. And the Holy Spirit fell upon them, remember, in Acts 10. And Peter said, who can forbid water to keep these from being baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit. In Acts 11 the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem want to know why he was preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. Peter reiterates that down in verse 15, as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning, back in Acts 2. Fell upon them, the Gentiles, just like He did upon us, the Jews, in the beginning in Acts 2. I remembered the Word of the Lord, how He used to say, John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. So he said here they’ve been baptized with the Holy Spirit, Gentiles in Acts 10, just like we Jews were in Acts 2. So there’s not much confusion over when the baptism of the Holy Spirit first occurred.

Before we go any further I want to talk a little bit about this matter of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. How did John the Baptist have any idea. In I Corinthians 12:13 we’re told, by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—the body of Christ, the church. What did John have in mind when he was using the metaphor of the Messiah will immerse you in the Holy Spirit, baptize you with the Holy Spirit. What was John thinking? What were the people thinking? What is this? What does he mean? The Old Testament didn’t use the term, baptism of the Holy Spirit, but John preaches it as a necessary ministry of the Messiah. And Jesus refers to it in John 7:83-39 as we read.

I think the Old Testament prophets did prophesy of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They didn’t call it the baptism of the Spirit, they called it the outpouring of the Spirit, the pouring out of the Spirit upon the redeemed by the Messiah. Go back to Isaiah 44. Remember as John came the last of the Old Testament prophets and he’s preaching about the coming of the Messiah, the Messiah will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and He will baptize you with fire. And John evidently has some understanding of what he’s talking about, and the people had some understanding. The Old Testament talked about the coming blessings of the Spirit in connection with the Messiah’s ministry, the coming judgment that the Messiah would bring on unbelievers. Isaiah 44:3, God addressing Israel here and promised blessing for them. Verse 3, I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. Note this, I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, my blessings on your descendants. Promise of pouring out the Holy Spirit on Israel in connection with Messianic ministry. In the day when Israel will be restored to the place of blessing and to receive all that God has promised.

Turn over to Ezekiel 39—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. Again the context is the restoration of Israel. In fact my Bible titles the section beginning with verse 25, Israel Restored. Verse 25 begins, thus says the Lord God, now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel. And I will be jealous for my holy name. That statement there, I will be jealous for My holy name is foundational in understanding why God will do what He does with Israel, why He will restore them. Ultimately, it is for His holy name. He has put Himself on the line, if you will. It is for His own exaltation and the fulfillment of His promises. All their sins will be wiped out, their disgrace. The end of verse 26, they’ll live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid. When I bring them back from the peoples, gather them from the lands of their enemies, I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God because I made them go into exile, then gathered them to their own land. I won’t leave them in exile any longer. I will not hide my face from them any longer, for I will have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel. Jews understood clearly this would take place in the context of the coming of Messiah. That’s why John could be preaching about the baptism, the immersion in the Spirit, because the prophets prophesied the Spirit would be poured out on the nation in the days of Messiah. Remember, John nor any of the Old Testament prophets understood the relationship of the suffering and death of the Messiah and the reigning in glory of the Messiah. Peter tells us in his letter, the Old Testament prophets couldn’t sort it out, couldn’t understand the suffering and dying Messiah and a ruling and reigning Messiah. But you see the pouring out of the Spirit in verse 29, in the context of Israel’s restoration.

Joel 2—Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel. This will be a key verse because Peter quotes this in Acts 2. We’ll refer to that in a moment. But just note verse 28. It will come about after this that I will pour out my Spirit on all mankind. We’ll see this in Acts 2 in a moment. But you’ll note the promise of pouring out of the Spirit. Now note here, it’s not just on Israel. The previous references had particularly to do with the pouring out of the Spirit on Israel. Now we’re told the Spirit is going to be poured out on all mankind, not just redeemed Israel. Again, that would be in the context of Messianic ministry.

Zechariah 12—now you just go to the next to the last book of the Old Testament. And end time events, the substance of Zechariah’s prophecies here. We’ll pick up with verse 10, I will pour out on the house of David on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on me whom they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one who mourns for an only son. They will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. Here you see the repentance of Israel, the mourning over their sin, over rejecting their Messiah. And you’ll note the first part of verse 10, I will pour out the Spirit of grace and of supplication. God will pour out His Spirit on the house of David, on the inhabitants of Israel. Pour out the Spirit of grace and supplication, referring to the pouring out of the Spirit on the nation Israel. And the fulfillment of this for the nation Israel is yet future. It will await the closing of the 70th week of Daniel, when Israel finally is brought to their knees through the series of judgments of that time. And in Zechariah 14 you have depicted the return of the Lord and the splitting of the Mount of Olives, and so on.

The end of Zechariah 13 talks about the time when I will say they are my people and they will say, the Lord is my God. This context in preparation for the return of the Lord, Israel will return in repentance and mourning to Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah and Savior. Thus all Israel will be saved, as Romans 11 tells us, quoting from the prophets. In this context we just want to note the Spirit is poured out upon them. This pouring out of the Spirit I think is the same thing as the baptism of the Spirit.

Come to Acts 2, and here Peter is standing on the day of Pentecost. The Spirit has been poured out on the people, the disciples of Christ. People are in awe so Peter stands up to explain from the scripture what is taking place. He says in verse 16, this is that which was spoken through Joel the prophet. Then you have the quote from Joel, we just read the first part of it. It shall be in the last days, God says, that I will pour forth of my Spirit on all mankind. So here we have what was prophesied by Joel taking place—the pouring out of the Spirit in the context of the Messiah’s ministry, particularly His ministry of suffering and dying as Isaiah 53 so clearly set forth, to be the Redeemer for the nation, and not only for the nation, but for the world.

So he says they will pour forth of my Spirit. Now what has happened is the baptism of the Spirit. Look down in verse 33. Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. See the terminology being used. Christ has been exalted to the right hand of the Father. Remember John 7:39, the Spirit was not yet given because Christ was not yet glorified. Now He has been exalted, Acts 1, you’ll receive the Holy Spirit not many days from now, Christ ascends to heaven, He sends the Holy Spirit from the presence of the Father. He poured forth this which you see. The Holy Spirit has been poured out on them, if you will.

Turn over to Acts 10:44, Peter has been preaching again the message of the gospel—the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And then he concludes that with saying, verse 43, of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins. There is clearly a response of faith to the message Peter has preached. And while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon those who were listening to the message. And all the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed. The circumcised believers are Jews, of course. Because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles. What did the Old Testament prophets prophesy—Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Zechariah. I will pour out my Spirit. What happened? The Spirit was poured out upon them.

So we read in Acts 11:16 as Peter explained what had happened at the house of Cornelius to the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, he said this was the fulfillment of what Jesus had said would happened. You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. So the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament prophecies in connection with the Messiah’s ministry is the baptism of the Spirit. So when John the Baptist came saying, I baptize with water, I immerse you in water, but the Messiah will immerse you in the Holy Spirit, it was not much of a transition in the Jewish mind to think, yes, He will pour out the Spirit on them. We know the Holy Spirit will be poured out in connection with the Messiah’s ministry. So the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the pouring out of the Holy Spirit that was prophesied by the Old Testament prophets.

Let’s go to Romans 6. Don’t make any rabbit trails in your mind yet. We have the promise of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit and what that ministry will entail. Remember, it was dependent upon the glorification of the Messiah, which as we know required His death, burial and resurrection, and a glorified body and His ultimate ascension to the right hand of the Father. In Romans 6, the first 10 verses, we have baptism into Christ Jesus talked about, and I take it that’s talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Verse 3, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death. We have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we, too, might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, we will be in the likeness of His resurrection. Through this section our identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, I take it, is the work of the Holy Spirit in identifying us with Christ. Colossians 2 talks about this as well, that spiritual identification with Christ, which is the baptism of the Spirit. So when we are immersed in the Spirit, the Spirit is poured out upon us, there is an identification that takes place. That’s why it’s dependent upon the glorification of Christ, that we can be identified with Him in His sacrificial death, His payment for our sin, and His resurrection to newness of life. So we can be those who can go into an eternal kingdom as the cleansed and forgiven.
Now come to I Corinthians 12, and here’s where I want to be careful that we put things together properly. Look at verse 12, this is all about the ministry of the Holy Spirit on the spiritual gifts in chapters 12-14, as you are aware, in I Corinthians. Verse 12, for even as the body as one and yet has many members. So here he’s using the picture of the physical body with all its parts. And all the members of the body, even though they are one body, so also is Christ. So your body has many parts—fingers, ears, toes and so on—it’s still one body. So also is Christ. So now we make the transition from the physical illustration to the spiritual reality. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. That’s the body of Christ, because we were told we make the transition from the physical body to Christ and a spiritual body. Whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, we were all made to drink of one Spirit. So different pictures of the Spirit. We have drunk of the Holy Spirit, and He now fills our life, we’ve been immersed in Him. The body is not one member, but many, and going on now in the analogy of the church as the body of Christ. It’s the baptism of the Spirit that makes you part of the church. That’s why we say the church had its beginning in Acts 2.

The issue we want to remain clear on. The Old Testament prophesied the coming of the Spirit in connection with the Messiah’s ministry. We looked at Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36, new covenant passages. When we partake of the communion service, I Corinthians 11, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. The new covenant was promised to Israel, would be established with the nation Israel. But as we’ve noted on other occasions, the new covenant is established in the finished work of Christ on the cross. And that is the foundational provision for salvation. Ultimately, when all Israel is saved, as we read about in Zechariah, it will be because they turn in repentance to faith in their Messiah who was crucified for them. And so they can be forgiven.

But does that mean, then, there is no future for Israel as Israel because it all just becomes the church, for by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. So the baptism of the Spirit places you into the church. Well for us today with God’s setting aside of Israel, Romans 9-11, the baptism of the Spirit places you into the church. With the completion of the church at the Rapture, there will still be the baptism of the Holy Spirit, because people will have to believe in Christ and be identified with Him in His death, burial and resurrection for salvation. For Israel to be saved, they will have to experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But that won’t place them into the church, that will make them part of believing Israel. That’s why the Old Testament promises regarding the salvation of Israel and then the salvation of Gentiles—always puts the salvation of Gentiles as a subset to the salvation of the nation Israel. It’s not primarily talking about the salvation of Gentiles that occur today in the church. The Old Testament doesn’t prophesy that. It does prophesy coming salvation of Gentiles in connection with the establishing of the kingdom, but in that context, the Gentiles will be inferior to the Jews, because the Jews will be the prominent people. So we enter into the provisions of the new covenant, part of which involved the baptism of the Holy Spirit as the essential ingredient in the salvation God has provided. And in this day, the church day, that baptism of the Holy Spirit places you into the church, because that’s the entity that God is working with in salvation today. After the rapture of the church, then that faith and belief will associate you with believing Israel and that identification.
So just want to be clear that we see that the baptism of the Spirit is prophesied in the Old Testament, it’s prophesied by John the Baptist in the connection with the new covenant that will be established with Israel. Now we enter into the salvation provisions of the old covenant, and the Abrahamic Covenant made provision for that, because in Abraham all nations would be blessed. But the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant awaits the redemption of Israel. That includes more promises than just the salvation, although the other promises are contingent upon the salvation—the blessings, the restoration to the land, and so on. So are we tracking there on the baptism of the Holy Spirit, provided in the finished work of the Messiah. It’s that salvation work. That salvation work of the Spirit places you into the church today. It has since Acts 2 and will down to the Rapture. After the Rapture the baptism of the Holy Spirit will identify you in the context of believing Israel as the entity that God will be dealing with again, because the church will be complete.

What about tongues as the sign, and we’re going to get into this in more detail in our study of I Corinthians. In Acts 2 the explosion of the charismatic movement, neo-Pentcostalism, the modern day charismatic movement began in the ‘60s. The old line Pentecostal movement that had its beginnings in the early part of the last century, we talk primarily about the modern day charismatic movement, although there are similarities, but there are differences. In Acts 2 there is no doubt that the gift of tongues accompanied the giving of the Holy Spirit. And in Acts 2:4, they were all filled with the Spirit and began to speak with other tongues. I take it in the context here we’re talking about other languages. I don’t think there is any doubt there. Down in verse 6, when this occurred the crowd came together and were bewildered because each of them was hearing them speak in his own language, dialectos. In his own dialect. That word always means language or a native language. So when they were speaking in tongues they were speaking in the various languages. Because remember this is the Day of Pentecost, one of those days when Jews came from all over the empire. Unless there were reasons that prevented them from coming, they were to come. So you have people from various people here. Sort of like we’d have today—Jews that emigrate to Israel from other places, they have to learn Hebrew because that’s not their dialect, that’s not their native tongue. Even though they are Jews, they are Jews living in Russia or living in another place, so their native tongue is the language of the country they’ve been living in.

So here these Jews are hearing them in their own language, their own dialect. Verse 8, how is it that we hear them in our own language to which we were born? Acts 1:19 you see this word, it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem so that in their own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, the Field of Blood. So here you see you have it translated from one language to another. In their own language, in their own dialect it was Hakeldama. Now that means Field of Blood. So you’re down here, we’re talking about a language.

So what happens Acts 2 is to demonstrate the Holy Spirit has come, because how are people going to know? You don’t see the Holy Spirit here. You see visible representations for a time, but you don’t see the Holy Spiriit. What is the concrete evidence? And there is another reason that comes out in Corinthians as well, we’ll see in a moment, for them speaking in tongues. But that evidence the Holy Spirit had come. They are speaking in another language. We’ve talked before, it’s not gibberish, because gibberish, babbling kind of speech was practiced in a variety of pagan religions of the time. So that wouldn’t have been something unique, would not have been something the Jews would have accepted as real. Because they were aware in mystery religions they practiced the babbling speeches. But that would never have been accepted as real. But here they are speaking languages that they never have studied or learned.

When you come over to Acts 10 and the Gentiles receive the Spirit, the same thing happens. Verse 46, they were hearing them speak with tongues and exalting God—the Gentiles, the Jews are hearing them. Obviously this had to be languages because if they were just babbling the Jews would have immediately said, it’s counterfeit, it’s just like the pagans do. That’s not what we did on the Day of Pentecost, we spoke in languages. They’re just babbling incoherent speech, that’s a pagan characteristic, that goes on in the mystery religions. So they would never have accepted the Gentiles as true believers who have truly received the Holy Spirit unless it was the same phenomena that they had experienced. In fact, I think you’ll find as you study the word tongues through the New Testament, that’s its normal use. It’s a language. And we use it the same way. We’d say to somebody, what’s your native tongue? No confusion on that, we mean what’s your native language. We don’t use it maybe as commonly as some other expressions, but that’s not a tongue which we speak, we mean that’s not a language that we speak. Because we speak with our tongues and form the sounds. So the Bible uses the tongue in that way—people from every nationality, every tongue, every race. Obviously we’re speaking all kind of languages.

In Acts 19 with the disciples of John. All laid hands on them, the Spirit came on them, they began speaking with tongues. I take it even thought it’s not mentioned, in Acts 8 with the Samaritans, they received the Holy Spirit when the apostles come and lay hands on them, they would have had to be visible manifestation that they had received the Spirit as well. And so I take it what we have in the major groups that received the Spirit, there is a visible evidence of being able to speak in a language they haven’t learned, which gave unity to the early church. You don’t end up with a Jewish church in Acts 2, then a Samaritan church in Acts 8, then a Gentile church in Acts 10, and then a John the Baptist church in Acts 19. And furthermore, the coming of the Holy Spirit is always in the context in the speaking of tongues of an apostolic ministry, the apostles being personally present in Acts 2. The Holy Spirit doesn’t come on the Samaritans until the apostles come in Acts 8. And then Peter is present in Acts 10, and Paul in Acts 19. That unified the church, because all these groups recognized the apostles were the leaders and we come under apostolic doctrine, apostolic authority, apostolic teaching. That wouldn’t be a continuing phenomena for everyone.

Look at I Corinthians 12:10, in the different gifts, to another the effecting of miracles, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing of spirits, to another kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues. Here Paul makes clear that not everyone gets the same gift. Different people get different gifts. Down in verse 28 it’s the same thing. So it’s not expected that everyone will receive the ability to speak in tongues. In I Corinthians 12:13 we saw, for by one Spirit you were all baptized into one body. All the Corinthian believers had been baptized into the body of Christ. But not all the Corinthian believers had spoken in tongues. Verse 29, all are not apostles, are they? Implied answer in the way that’s worded is no. Down in verse 30, all do not speak with tongues, do they? No. In fact when you get down to chapter 14, and we won’t go into this, but we are told that the speaking in other tongues was a sign to Israel that judgment had come upon them. Coming from Isaiah, when they heard the Assyrian language being spoken in their midst, they would know God had judged them, because it would indicate they had been conquered, God had brought them under judgment. Paul says that’s the same testimony to Israel—the presence of these foreign languages in the midst of Israel is an indication that judgment has come on the nation for their rejection of the Messiah.

Just let me summarize what we’ve said about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, then we’re done. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was prophesied in the Old Testament. There it was called the pouring out of the Spirit, it would be poured out on the Jews, it would be poured out on all flesh, as Joel 2:28 said. It was a ministry of the Spirit that required the finished work of Christ. Now the Old Testament prophets didn’t understand the distinction, so all they saw was it required the ministry of the Messiah. That’s what John the Baptist understood. So he proclaimed what the Messiah would do, and you need to get ready for the coming of the Messiah. Further revelation revealed that the baptism of the Holy Spirit would be dependent upon the glorification of Christ, indicating the completion of the work of redemption, and He mentioned that. The Holy Spirit had not yet been given because Christ was not yet glorified, John 7. He prophesied the coming of the Holy Spirit to His disciples. In Acts 1 it was yet future. So the new covenant is implemented in Acts 2.

But be careful, the church benefits from the salvation provision of the new covenant, we observe that. This cup is the new covenant in my blood. We do not enter into all the provision of the new covenant, because the new covenant is established with nation Israel. But in line with the Abrahamic Covenant, that in you all nations of the earth would be blessed, there is provision for the salvation of Gentiles. And everyone has to be saved the same way. We looked at that in Romans 3-4. So the baptism of the Spirit is poured out upon those Gentiles today who believe in Christ. And today the baptism of the Holy Spirit places you into the church, and that provision of the new covenant is operative—salvation provision.

At the completion of the church God will resume His program with Israel and the 70 weeks of Daniel and will go into the 70th week of Daniel. And that 70th week will ultimately climax with Israel being brought to their knees in repentance, mourning over their sin, turning in faith to the Messiah and thus the return of the Messiah, the pouring out of the Spirit, and baptizing the nation and their salvation. In the book of Acts, that transition book of the early history of the church, we call it transition, we move from God dealing with the nation Israel as a nation as the center of His salvation work on earth, to the church being the center, with its beginning in Acts 2, and the early development of that church. As new groups are saved, they manifested their receiving of the Holy Spirit by speaking in other languages. But that is not an ongoing characteristic of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Baptism of the Holy Spirit comes with faith in the Messiah, because you were spiritually identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. We sometimes say that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a non-experiential ministry. But I don’t know if I like that term, but it is not dependent upon our feelings. That’s not to say that that work of the Spirit does not move us emotionally, but faith in Christ results in the Spirit identifying us with Christ. We are immersed in the Spirit, and He brings cleansing to us by His identifying us with Christ.

So baptism of the Holy Spirit is crucial. We have people who are baptized in water as believers today, testifying that they have been spiritually identified with Christ. They have been washed from their sins, cleansed and received the Spirit, and now are followers of Christ. So this ministry of baptism is absolutely essential. Nobody can be saved apart from the ministry of the Holy Spirit in His baptizing work. Now people were saved before the finished work of Christ, but they did not experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was working in the world and has always worked in the world. Jesus said, He is with you, but He will be in you. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb.

So we talk about the Holy Spirit having been sent. The Messiah hadn’t sent Him to carry out the unique ministries He would have as a result of the finished work of Christ on the cross. But Old Testament saints like Abraham, and David and the prophets were saved individuals. But they did not experience the baptizing ministry of the Holy Spirit. But they did experience the cleansing that God provided for them through faith in His Word. But ultimately was based upon the work of the Lamb who had been slain in the plan of God from before the foundation of the world.

Let’s join together in prayer. Lord, we rejoice in all that you have provided for us in Christ. Lord, blessings that we begin to just touch the surface of, to grasp something of the concept of the uniqueness of the Spirit’s ministry in our lives as your people today. It’s amazing to contemplate that we have entered into riches and fullness and blessings that Old Testament saints did not have or know. Lord, how sad that we should live anything other than lives that fully and clearly display the wonder of the presence of your Spirit in our lives. Lord, I pray that we might be a people consumed with a passion for you, a passion for manifesting the beauty of your person, the power of the Spirit who dwells in us, who might have a passion to manifest the transformation you have brought about in us in every area of life. We are a people who have been immersed in the Spirit, He has been poured out upon us. We have been baptized in your Spirit, we have been made new in Christ, the old man has been crucified. We are new creatures. Lord, the wonder of it all. And yet the full splendor yet awaits us when we

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