WE HAVEN’T EVEN HEARD
Text: Acts 19:1-7
Introduction
1. Illustration: There is NO COMPARISON between the power of Satan and the power of the HOLY SPRIT IN YOU. The power of Satan is like a little firecracker while the power of the Holy Spirit inside of you is like a NUCLEAR BOMB!
2. At the end of WW2, our military leaders looked at the possibility of invading Japan. The conclusion they came up with was that it would cost hundreds of thousands of lives. That was when they decided to drop the atomic bomb. After they did, Japan decided that it was more power than they could fight against. So, Japan surrendered.
3. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is about power: power to witness, power for spiritual battle, power for holy living, and the power to worship.
4. Do you have all of the Holy Spirit you need?
5. Read Acts 19:1-7
Transition: Paul asks these believers…
I. Did You Receive (1-4)?
A. When You Believed
1. Last week we talked about Apollos and how Priscilla and Aquila took him under their wings and showed him a more complete understanding of the Good News.
a. He was a good preacher and had a solid understanding of the OT Scriptures, but he only knew about the baptism of John the Baptist.
b. However, once taught the full Gospel by Priscilla and Aquila he became a powerful witness of Jesus.
2. In our text today, we begin with v.1 which says, “While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus, on the coast, where he found several believers.”
a. This begins Paul’s third missionary journey. For quite a while he had wanted to go to Ephesus, but he had to wait for God’s timing.
b. Now, receiving a release from the Holy Spirit, he makes his way to Ephesus.
c. It was a strategic place for Paul to minister because from here he could reach all of Asia.
d. He decided to take the route over the mountains rather than taking the route more used route to the coast.
e. This enabled him to have stops in Lystra, Iconium, and Pisidian Antioch, where he visited churches, he had established their earlier.
f. When he finally reached Ephesus, he came across a group of “believers.” In the Greek text, Luke uses the word “disciples,” and some scholars debate as to whether they were actually believers in Jesus.
g. However, Luke consistently uses the word “disciples” to describe followers of Jesus.
h. So, the NLT, in my opinion, uses the correct term in calling them believers.
i. But like Apollos, they were deficient is their understanding of the faith.
3. Let’s look at v. 2, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” he asked them. “No,” they replied, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
a. It is interesting that the first thing that Paul asked them is “did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
b. The first thing to pay attention to is that the word “believed” is in the past tense, which indicates that not only had they believed, but that it was a continuous belief.
c. Actually, the phrase “when you believed,” can be translated “after you believed.” So, Paul was not questioning their faith, what he was asking was did they receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that the believers received at Pentecost.
d. Like the believers at Pentecost, they had the Holy Spirit living in them when they believed, but they had not yet experienced the endowment of power that the other believers received on the day of Pentecost.
e. Way back in chapter 1, Jesus told his disciples, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. 5 John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:4-5).
f. Then on the day of Pentecost, Peter declared, “No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike— and they will prophesy.” (Acts 2:16-18).
g. So, it wasn’t Jesus they hadn’t received, but rather the gift that Jesus promised his disciples was coming.
h. In fact, they responded to Paul by saying, “we haven’t even heard there is a Holy Spirit.” Now, since they had heard about the preaching of John the Baptist, it’s hard to believe that they hadn’t heard about the Holy Spirit, because he referred to him often, and the Holy Spirit is referenced regularly in the OT.
i. So, what they hadn’t heard about was Pentecost. They hadn’t received the promise of the Father that was poured out at Pentecost.
4. The next question that Paul asked them in vv. 3-4 is, “Then what baptism did you experience?” he asked. And they replied, “The baptism of John.” 4 Paul said, “John’s baptism called for repentance from sin. But John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus.”
a. Like Apollos, they were believers, but their understanding of the whole Gospel was lacking.
b. Again, like Apollos, they had received the baptism of John the Baptist, which was a baptism of repentance and turning back to God.
c. John called people to repent of their sins and to believe in the one coming after him, which was Jesus.
d. The purpose of John’s preaching was so that people would believe in Jesus, which was the same goal as Paul’s preaching.
e. Therefore, just as Priscilla and Aquila did with Apollos, Paul was correcting their limited theology.
B. Did You Receive the Holy Spirit
1. Illustration: I want to share with you a question by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who is certainly not known as a Pentecostal preacher. His doctrine and theology were that of the Reformed Church. When he was the pastor at Westminster Chapel in London, England, near the end of his life--and some say at the very pinnacle of his ministry--he asked his congregation a question. He said, "I want to talk to you today about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You may call it what you want, but I want to know, have you experienced the fullness of the Spirit? I know all of you listening to me come as I do from a Reformed background. But it’s not good enough. I know that all of you would want to say to my question about the Holy Spirit, ’Well, we got it all at conversion; there’s no need for any more experience.’ Well," said Martyn Lloyd-Jones, "I have only one other question to ask you. If you got it all at conversion, where in God’s name is it?"
2. There is a difference between receiving the Holy Spirit when you believe and being baptized in the Holy Spirit.
a. “Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22).
b. The verse I just read to you happened after the resurrection, and Jesus appeared to his disciples.
c. He breathed on them and said, “receive the Holy Spirit.”
d. The word “breathed,” is the same word used in Genesis where God breathed life into the nostrils of Adam.
e. So, did the disciples receive the Holy Spirit that night? Yes, they did!
f. Then what happened at Pentecost?
g. It was an additional work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the disciples.
h. We all receive the Holy Spirit when we believe, but this additional work empowers us for ministry that comes later.
i. Is this additional work of the Holy Spirit available to Christians today? Yes, it is!
j. How do I receive this additional work? All you have to do is ask for it!
k. “So if you sinful people 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.” (Lk. 11:13).
l. Ask the Father and he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.
Transition: The next thing we see is the…
II. Holy Spirit Came Upon Them (5-6).
A. Paul Laid Hands on Them
1. Notice how quickly they respond to Paul’s teaching. In v. 5 we read, “As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
a. Once they heard the complete truth about Jesus, they wanted to make sure they were on solid ground in their relationship with Jesus.
b. So, they were immediately baptized in the name of Jesus.
c. Notice the phrase, “as soon as they heard this.”
d. They didn’t want to waste any time, so they had Paul baptize them right on the spot into Jesus.
e. This is the only mention in the NT of someone being “re-baptized.”
2. Now that they had been adequately baptized, in vv. 6-7 it says, “Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.”
a. Since they were now baptized in Jesus, Paul does to them what Ananias had done to him back in chapter 9.
b. He lays hands on them, and once he did this the Holy Spirit came upon them.
c. Luke tells us that this is followed by a familiar occurrence in the Book of Acts, “and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied.”
d. I say this is a familiar occurrence because it happened on the Day of Pentecost in chapter 2, and it also happened at the house of Cornelius in chapter 10 (in fact there it says that was how they knew they had received the same thing they did at Pentecost), and now it happens here in Ephesus.
e. In addition, I think an argument can be made that it also happened in Samaria, where Peter and John lay hands on the believers there and they received the Holy Spirit.
f. Afterwards a man named Simon the Sorcerer wanted to pay Peter and John for the ability to baptize people in the Holy Spirit, and he must have seen something he wanted to reproduce.
g. I think he heard people speaking in tongues, even though it is not specifically stated in the text.
3. Beloved, we often go through times when we wrestle with what we believe.
a. Please don’t misunderstand me, the essentials remain the same. We are sinners and deserve spiritual death, but Jesus died on the cross for us and rose from the dead. This can never change!
b. But some of the non-essentials we often wrestle with, and for me lately this is it for me.
c. You see, as a Pentecostal, I have always believed and taught that in order to be baptized in the Holy Spirit you had to speak in other tongues.
d. This has nothing to do with salvation, but with this empowerment with the Holy Spirit.
e. However, lately I have softened that stance a little bit. God can baptize us in his Holy Spirit however he chooses, but I still believe that it is USUALLY accompanied with tongues.
f. The Holy Spirit is like an 8,000 lbs gorilla, he does whatever he wants.
B. However, He Chooses
1. Illustration: “Wesley never bought into the notion that the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased after the time of the apostles. Rather, he tied the loss of supernatural Christianity to the worldly clergy that entered the Church during the post-Constantinian era. Wesley believed that the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit were to be an expected part of the life of faith.” (https://peopleneedjesus.net/2017/05/30/seven-ways-john-wesley-preached-about-the-holy-spirit/).
2. Seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit with all you have, and let Lord decided how he wants to do it.
a. “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.” (Lk. 24:49).
b. Every day, in my personal prayer time, I pray that you are all baptized in the Holy Spirit.
c. I used to pray, “with the proof of speaking in other tongues.
d. Now, I just pray, “in whatever way you choose.”
e. Like John Wesley, I believe that the gift of tongues is available to all Christians, and I pray in tongues every day.
f. As to whether or not it is the proof of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, well, I leave that up to God.
g. But that shouldn’t stop us from seeking whatever gift the Holy Spirit chooses to give us.
h. “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts…” (1 Cor. 14:1).
Conclusion
1. In Ephesus, Paul asked the believers…
a. Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?
b. Then he laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
2. What’s the point preacher? Earnestly seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit and be willing to accept whatever God has for you.
