Pneumatology, The Spirit’s Works in us
Week 2
Matt. 3:11, "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; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
Last week we began this series with a bunch of preliminary topics and some scriptures for you to gloss over during your bible studies.
>>>Were you able to define in your heart, at least on a surface level, of what the Holy Spirit is/does/manifests in the believer? Or are you still a little unsure of Him and His role in the Trinity? That’s okay; that is why we have sermons and Bible studies. I’ll tell ya, it took me a long time to know everything. It doesn’t just happen. Of course I’m kidding, but I do want to take serious this week’s focus…
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Let’s define this first off. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a movement, a step forward; it is getting closer to God via the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, in such a way, that manifests itself via visible signs all around them. Granted, the Holy Spirit is within each believer; we are all baptized in the name of “The Father, Son AND the Holy Spirit”; so it is in here [point inward], but what occurs in life is that not all of us take full advantage of what it means to be fully filled by it/Him. I do know that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit does occur at the time of being saved, but in my opinion, fully using the power of Him, comes later once a mature believer is groomed. I have to add that we can look to some instances in the Bible where the outpouring occurred at the beginning, which I’m not denying because it surely did and does happen, but at the same time it seems more often that it takes the mature follower to fully understand what it is. This is oor discussion today in sermon form, but as I said, this is a time to define within your heart what the Bible says about it.
What I want you to think about is “Giving and Receiving”, just in general terms. It is the exchange that takes place when we honor another with tidings, time, fellowship or compliments to and from another. One starts, the other accepts and offers an exchange of this love, feeling or action. The reciprocating back and forth between people is the idea. In the Spiritual world there is also this exchange between us and God and is central to us having a greater share in what God gifts to us. The exchange works in this way:
We call on Christ to be our Savior and Christ lovingly says “Yes” without hesitation, meaning he accepts your loyalty and in return he offers Salvation. It is the free will giving of ourselves to God, but I have to place a Caveat here:
God made the first move in all of creation and in us, he was first. The “Prevenient Grace” [the grace that comes before] of God is the dominating force that we either accept or not. I don’t want to get the order wrong, so I need to emphasize that, but in our life here we call out to God and he hears us, accepts us, forgives us and ushers us into God’s presence. It is the giving and receiving of one to another [mind you we get a lot more than we give, amen].
In many ways it is like the many things we try to master in this world. For example: I have been taking guitar lessons for a year and now I see myself beginning to get better. In sports, those who give the countless hours to hit a ball or run faster than everyone, they have a return of being the best at their craft.
Spiritually we have similar returns. When we give our time to the Lord in study, he gives spiritual depth and discernment. When we offer a full tithe to God, He shows us that we can never out give God and somehow things time and time again work out…the needs get met. And when we give our time to be involved in the needs of the church, God shows us/gives us a heart that loves more, feels more and sees more than the rest of the population of the world [even the rest of the church]. When we worship… and we do it in such a manner to promote/ask the free flow of the Holy Spirit, God gives graciously and abundantly. The small gesture by us is returned by great gifts by God.
As much as we offer ourselves, God continually gives more. It says in Luke 11:9
"Ask, and it shall be given unto you". Also in John 14:13 it says to us:
“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
To add to that, when we ask God into our lives we must believe you have in fact received this gift from God. The Holy Spirit is not a second blessing after conversion, but something offered at baptism. What we must learn to do then is to engage this holy power/fire that is within us.
It is a true statement that all Christians receive the Holy Spirit upon their conversion/baptism, and in the same way, we have all been baptized by/with the Holy Spirit. This means we have everything we need to be admitted into heaven. We have everything we need to live holy lives. We have everything we need to bath in the Holy Fire of the Holy Spirit. This is expressed in Cor. 12:13 where it says,
"For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit."
>>>So what about this?
Many Christians claim to have this secondary experience with the Spirit in their lives. It is called “Slain in the spirit” or “Overcome” by the Spirit/ Holy Ghost. Asking those who have experienced this, they say these moments bring great blessing and comfort to people who, by all accounts were living Christian lives before, but something “extra” has happened. The results from an experience like this brings a stronger desire to read the Bible, a stronger desire to fellowship with other believers and from then on a desire is awakened in people to look for deep worship experiences. So this forces us to look at the issue and ask,
>>>Although I am Christian, is there something more out there I have not as yet received/taken advantage of?
There is no doubt there are strong feelings on this and my objective is not to say your experience was not authentic, but to see what these experiences were and what they mean.
The term "Baptized with the Holy Spirit" occurs several times in scripture:
• Matt. 3:11, "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; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
• Mark 1:8, "I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
• Luke 3:16, "John answered and said to them all, 'As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
• John 1:33, "And I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, "He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and “remaining” upon Him, this is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit." [my emphasis]. I want you to recall last week how in OT times there was a selective nature to the Holy Spirit.
>>>Do you remember? At certain times the Spirit moved in people [i.e. Saul, Samson, Gideon, Zedekiah, ect..] to accomplish a mission. Then it receded. Here there is a difference in the Christ, for it shall remain in/with him, and because of that…HE can baptize with it.
• Acts 1:5, "for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
• Acts 11:16, "And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, 'John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit." [future tense]
What we can say as fact is that the term “Baptized by the Holy Spirit” is used in the Bible. It is an event. Also, we can conclude that when a person in the Holy Spirit, Holy power is bestowed upon them.
>>>Now, what are these holy purposes? To preach the Gospel, to live a purer life, to have a live that is more devoted to God and to evangelize the world, are among them. Baptized in the Holy Spirit also offers that holy chastising[conviction], and you know what I mean, when you want to say something to someone or react harshly to criticism, but the Holy Spirit says, “No, that does not come from the mouth of a professing Christian!” It says, “Halt! Go no further down this road!”
There is a story about an early evangelist from Wales named Christmas Evans that talks about this. In his diary he explains a time when the Holy Spirit gave him a taste of the holy chastisement and the subsequent feelings in his heart. Let me read an excerpt for you:
It tells of one Sunday afternoon he was traveling a very lonely road to attend an appointment in a nearby village on the other side of the slope, and he was convicted of a cold heart. He says, “I tethered my horse and went to a sequestered spot where I walked to and fro in an agony as I reviewed my life. I waited three hours before God, broken with sorrow, until there stole over me a sweet sense of his forgiving love. I received from God a new baptism of the Holy Ghost. As the sun was setting I went back to the road, found my horse, mounted it and went to my appointment. On the following day I preached with such new power to a vast concourse of people gathered on the hillside, that a revival broke out that day and spread throughout the whole principality.
One person listening to the Holy Ghost’s conviction caused revival in Wales. Imagine taking three hours alone with God in today’s world. We are not that familiar with the Holy Spirit to that degree anymore, for the most part.
Being familiar with the Holy Spirit and the bathing in it inevitably means you come to recognize it better and faster, whereby altering your entire life at the first word from it, whether it means to do more or do less.
The issue for us then has to be whether or not Baptism of/in the Holy Spirit is a subsequent event after baptism or are we all bathed/bathing in it now? It would seem that it is something occurring a bit later after Salvation. Before your hackles go up, I’m going to redirect this so to affirm us all, don’t worry your baptism is real. But I do want us to consider what is said in John 20:22. In this text Jesus tells the disciples to receive the Holy Spirit,
“And when he said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.”
The implications are this: Well, let me put it in the form of a question. How long had the disciples been with Jesus? If you look in your Bible, Jesus tells them this AFTER he was crucified. It was AFTER Mary and the women went to the tomb. So, it was after 3 years of ministering to them. It was after Jesus said, “If you love me feed my Sheep. It was after saying, “Get up! Pick up your mat and go”. It was after all of these things and yet now is when they receive the Holy Spirit.
>>>Didn’t Jesus have it already? The scripture said it “remained” with him and could baptize in the Holy Ghost.
Weren’t they already believers, devout believers? Did they not leave everything to follow Jesus and be “fishers of men”? Were they not already saved? That is a big one to answer? Jesus said to them, “Who do you say I am?” It’s in Mark 8:29 where Peter answered, “You are the Messiah”. So yeah they were saved.
When Jesus said “Receive the Holy Spirit” it meant they were saved since the unsaved cannot receive it. So, in the disciple’s case, it came later. Were they more mature and ready for it then versus earlier; is that why? I don’t know.
John 14:15-31 tells us everything we need.
"If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?" Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. "All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
"You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father for the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me. "Come now; let us leave.
To finish I said I’d reaffirm you in your baptism and I don’t want to leave any of you wanting . There are not two separate categories of Christians that I speak about today. There are not regular Christians and then those who have had this “extra” anointing. This would be an incorrect way of looking at our brothers and sisters. Imagine if you were to step out into a light mist of rain, it would take you a long time to get wet. On the other hand, if you were to step out into a torrential downpour, it would only take a second for you to be completely drenched. I said two categories, there are three. Some just get wet without ever taking Christ as their personal Savior. I’d be lying if I didn’t mention it.
Perhaps you are a light mist Holy Spirit type. Others of you may be in a full downpour and completely dripping of Him. The gentle mist takes time while the downpour is quick, both are valid and God works and uses both types. If you haven’t had a downpour yet, you aren’t a second class citizen, just receiving it in a different way. I pray that you search for the Holy Spirit and accept it in any way he comes to you; In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
