He Will Baptize You With The Holy Spirit

(This sermon is in an outline form so you may need to flesh it out a little)

Please open your Bibles to Mark 1:1-8 which we will read in a few minutes.

Last Sunday when we took a look at this passage of Scripture we talked about three things:

1. Mark was announcing Who Jesus is

2. Mark was immediately letting us know that Jesus was and is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies

3. And that John the Baptist had also been foretold in the Old Testament and that John, himself, was declaring Jesus as the Savior and we should be doing so as well.

With that in mind let’s go ahead and read Mark 1:1-8

Today we will be looking at the last verse in this passage of Scripture where Mark gives us a glimpse of what is coming in the future …

Mark 1:8

“I baptize you with water but He (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

We as believers in Jesus the Nazarene love baptism.

We do not believe that the ritual of baptism saves the soul

Baptism is an honor; an honor to be identified as a follower of Jesus!

New thought … Baptism with the Holy Spirit.

The Jews were very familiar with the Holy Spirit but not Trinity.

The OT – Holy Spirit descends – specific events

What is this baptism in the Holy Spirit?

Function of Holy Spirit – administrator of Grace

Unmerited favor – too vague

Grace = God in action

Prevenient Grace is God wooing us

Convicting Grace is God revealing our sin

Saving Grace is God enabling us to respond salvation

Sanctifying Grace is transformational sinner-to-saint

(Blank Screen)

John Wesley – house analogy

Prevenient Grace

In our natural sinful state

We do not know the Lord

We may not even know that we do not know the Lord

Holy Spirit starts revealing a better way

Holy Spirit starts drawing – like the current in a river

We may

Move with the Holy Spirit

Resist the Holy Spirit

Prevenient Grace – activity of Holy Spirit alone but not Baptism in the Holy Spirit

--------------------------------------------

Convicting Grace

We are still in our natural sinful state

Holy Spirit reveals our sinful nature to us

Uncomfortable condition

We may

Understand our sinful condition

Resist the Holy Spirit and deny our sinful condition

Convicting Grace – understanding sinful condition – activity of Holy Spirit alone but not Baptism in the Holy Spirit

--------------------------------------------

Saving (Justifying) Grace

Holy Spirit reveals the need

Repent (turn away from sin)

Faith in Jesus Christ for salvation

Saving Grace –

Cooperative action

Holy Spirit enables human response

Person cooperates with Holy Spirit

Person rejects Holy Spirit’s help

Saving Grace – salvation is entered into – still not Baptism in the Holy Spirit

----------------------------------------------

Sanctifying Grace – Baptism in the Holy Spirit – entire sanctification

It IS totally possible for Saving Grace and Sanct. Grace to be simultaneous

Seldom the case

How do you know if your saved but not entirely sanctified?

Still feeling divided allegiance between self desires and pleasing the Lord

Still feeling divided allegiance between pleasing self and pleasing others

Struggling with sin

Sinning – conviction – repentance – sinning – conviction – repentance

Continual cycle

Life of spiritual struggle

Closet Christian

Weak prayer and erratic prayer life

No desire for God’s Word

No desire for Christian fellowship

Entire sanctification (holiness) impossible without the enabling Holy Spirit

Holiness requires holy love empowered by the Holy Spirit

Trying to live a holy life without the Holy Spirit – two outcomes

Attempting to achieve holiness without love results in dry legalism

Attempting to love without any regard to holiness results in acceptance of all sin

Scriptural basis for entire sanctification – living a holy life?

Matthew 22:37-40 – two great commandments – “all” means ALL

“Baptism in the Holy Spirit (entire sanctification) is the point where the serious work of transformation begins, not the point where it concludes.”

At the moment of sanctification we are empowered to love God with our whole hearts and our neighbors as ourselves.

We become able to live the life of faith

The absence of this experience is why the church in America is woefully sick.

We are a bunch of people trying to live with Jesus at the threshold, just enough to be saved but not allowing Him full access to us and denying Him full obedience.

John Fletcher said that Wesley’s understanding of entire sanctification is accomplished through the filling and baptism with the Holy Spirit whereby we come to love God with all our heart, soul and mind. Not a perfection of performance, not a perfection of behavior but a perfection of intent, a perfection of love. And that the essence of holiness is not behavior, behavior is important and behavior is improved as a result of the experience of holiness. But the essence of holiness is love, love for God. Righteousness is holy love, it is loving God and loving others as one loves oneself.