Alright, let's go to John chapter 14, and
this evening we're going to deal with the
third baptism.
Remember, we're dealing with the doctrine of baptisms,
and we said that there were four.
The first one was baptism into Christ, the
second one, baptism in water, and then the
third one, baptism in the Holy Spirit, which
is the one we're going to deal with
this evening.
Now, in John chapter 14, and also in
John chapter 16, the Lord Jesus provides quite
a lot of instruction concerning the baptism of
the Holy Spirit.
Now, I think we need to just say
by way of introduction that this is a
very controversial area.
There are those who are for, and those
who are against the baptism of the Holy
Spirit, and there are those who take it
to extremes.
And what we want to simply do this
evening is find a biblical perspective.
And so, we need to simply look at
what the scriptures teach.
We cannot go outside of what the scriptures
teach.
We cannot practice things that are not written
clearly in the Word.
But if it is written in the Word,
then we also need to be obedient to
it.
And so, we cannot remove or take away
from the Word.
We cannot add to the Word.
That is our prime responsibility.
And so, we'll endeavor to look at it
simply from the point of view of the
Word, and not from our own experiences, whether
those experiences are negative or positive.
So, let's turn to John chapter 14, and
let's read from verse 15.
If you love me, keep my commandments, and
I will pray the Father, and He will
give you another Helper, that He may abide
with you forever, even the Spirit of truth,
whom the world cannot receive, because it neither
sees Him nor knows Him.
But you know Him, for He dwells with
you, and He will be in you.
I will not leave you orphans, I will
come to you.
Now, Jesus makes quite a few very important
statements here.
The first is, He says that He has
to go away.
The beginning of chapter 14, He says, I
have to go to prepare a place for
you.
But now, here He says, don't be worried,
because I'm going to send you the Holy
Spirit.
I'm going to ask the Father, and He
will send you the Holy Spirit, and He
will fulfill my place.
He will be in my place, and He
will teach you, He will guide you, and
He will be another Comforter.
And so, He speaks about Him as another
Helper, or another Comforter.
That word Helper there, in the Greek is
Paracletos, which is the same word as someone
who is your counselor in court, someone who
tells you what to say, someone who assists
you through the legal intricacies of a legal
system.
And so, someone who stands by you, and
who gives you advice, and who supports you,
during a court case specifically, but obviously in
this case, in life in general.
Now, the second thing that He says about
the Holy Spirit, is very important to note
in the end of verse 17.
He says, but you know Him, for He
dwells with you, and He will be in
you.
Now, remember at this time, this was before
Jesus ascended, this was before the cross even.
And so, He says, and this is technically
part of the Old Testament.
So, He's saying now, you're in the Old
Testament times, and the Holy Spirit is with
you at the moment.
Now, we know that that is true, because
the Holy Spirit is always all over, because
He is God.
One of the attributes of God is that
He is omnipresent, He is everywhere at all
times.
So, the Holy Spirit was with people in
the Old Testament, but He says, He's going
to come to you in a different way.
Not that He wasn't on the earth before
that, of course He was on the earth,
but He's going to come in a different
way.
And He says that He is with you,
but He will be in you.
So, the Holy Spirit, instead of just being
with us, is going to be in us.
Now, also, in the Old Testament you'll read
that sometimes the Holy Spirit came upon men,
and empowered them to do great things, or
to prophesy, or to do certain things.
And so, you remember Samson, for instance, it
would speak about the Holy Spirit came upon
him, and He would get very strong.
And He would take a jawbone of an
ass, and He would slay many, many men.
And then the Holy Spirit would depart from
Him, and He would become like any other
man again.
And then again, the Holy Spirit would come
upon Him, and empower Him for another great
miracle.
But now the Lord Jesus says, that's going
to change.
Instead of the Holy Spirit coming on you,
or being with you, He's actually going to
reside within you.
And so, the relationship with the Holy Spirit
is going to change.
This is what Jesus, essentially, is announcing here.
Now, if we go to chapter 16 of
John, just over the page, and I'm going
to read quite a long section here, from
verse 7 through to verse 15.
And this is part of the same discussion,
and the same teaching by the Lord Jesus
on the Holy Spirit.
And He says, Nevertheless 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 depart, I will send Him
to you.
And when He has come, He will convict
the world of sin, and of righteousness, and
of judgment.
Of sin, because they did not believe in
Me.
Of righteousness, because I go to My Father,
and you see Me no more.
Of judgment, because the rule of the world
is judged.
I still have many things to say to
you, but you cannot bear them now.
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has
come, He will guide you into all truth.
For He will not speak on His own
authority.
But whatever He hears, He will speak, and
He will tell you things to come.
He will glorify Me, for He will take
of what is Mine, and declare it to
you.
All things that the Father has are Mine.
Therefore I said to you that He will
take of Mine, and declare it to you.
Now, He is saying a lot of things
about the work of the Holy Spirit.
But just look, let's look at some of
those things very quickly.
The first is, He says in verse 8,
that He will convict the world of sin,
of righteousness, and of judgment.
This is not His ministry to the church.
So, He is saying the Holy Spirit has
a ministry to the church, and He has
a ministry to the world, to those who
are saved, and to those who are unsaved.
To the unsaved, His ministry is to convict,
in other words, to work in their lives,
and to make them aware of sin, and
of judgment, and of righteousness.
Those three things.
Now, if the unbeliever becomes aware of those
things, becomes aware of his sin, becomes aware
of the fact that there is judgment for
that sin, but also becomes aware of the
fact that there is righteousness to be found,
through what Jesus did on the cross, they
then can find their way to salvation, and
they can turn to the Lord Jesus.
So, that is His function as far as
the world is concerned.
But now He says, He is the Spirit
of truth.
Now, you will see that He is called
different things in the New and in the
Old Testament.
One of the names of the Holy Spirit
is, He is the Spirit of truth.
He is not the Spirit of lies, or
the Spirit of falsehood, but the Spirit of
truth.
This is in direct opposition to the work
of the devil.
Remember, the devil is the father of all
lies.
This is His nature, this is His character.
But the nature and the character of the
Holy Spirit is truth.
And He will lead us, He says, in
truth.
And so He says, He will guide you
into all truth, for He will not speak
on His own authority.
Now, the question is then, what is all
truth?
Will He tell us that it is Wednesday
today?
No, He is not concerned about that kind
of truth.
He is obviously concerned about the truth of
the Word of God.
The truth of Jesus.
Jesus says, I am the way, the truth
and the life.
So, truth is to be found in Jesus.
Truth is to be found in the Word.
And in fact, in John chapter 17, the
next chapter, the Lord Jesus says, the Word
is truth.
Your Word is truth.
And so the Holy Spirit leads us into
all truth.
All truth about the Word, and all truth
about Jesus.
That is the prime function and work of
the Holy Spirit to the Christian.
So, He will guide you into all truth.
He will not speak on His own authority,
but whatever He is, He will speak.
He will tell you things to come.
So, He is going to tell us about
the future.
He will glorify me, glorifying the Lord Jesus.
For He will take of what is mine
and declare it to you.
Now, you will see that He is saying,
the Holy Spirit will not draw attention to
Himself.
But He will draw attention to Jesus.
Now, remember what Jesus did.
Jesus never drew attention to Himself.
He drew attention to the Father.
And this is in the very nature of
God.
And this is something we battle with, because
we like to draw attention to ourselves.
Even from small, a little baby, even before
it can speak, knows how to draw attention
to itself.
By screaming and acting and performing and doing
all sorts of things.
That draws attention.
This is what we do by nature.
But you see that the God, the divine
nature, is not to draw attention to Himself.
The Holy Spirit focuses attention on Jesus.
Jesus focuses attention on the Father.
And so, there you can begin to see
how the Father and the Son and the
Spirit work together.
And so, He will glorify me.
And then verse 15.
All things that the Father has are mine,
therefore I say to you that He will
take of mine and He will declare it
to you.
So, He is going to take the things
of Jesus.
What are the things of Jesus?
Not just the truths of the Word, but
the character of the Lord Jesus, the personality
of the Lord Jesus.
He is going to take all of the
things that pertain to Jesus.
And He is going to reveal those things
to us.
Now, you can immediately see here that the
focus here is not on what we get
out of the deal.
Or on us or what we experience or
feel in the process.
The focus here is on that which is
of God, which is going to be made
real to us.
And so, you can see the beginning of
the emphasis of the work of the Spirit.
Now, in Acts chapter 1.
Again, we are reading three scriptures here that
are all the words of the Lord Jesus.
And He is teaching on the subject.
In Acts chapter 1.
And this is just before Jesus ascends to
heaven.
And He is speaking to His disciples on
the Mount of Olives.
And verse 4 of Acts 1 says, And
being assembled together with them, He commanded them
not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait
for the promise of the Father, which He
said, You have heard from Me.
For John truly baptized with water, but you
shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not
many days from now.
Therefore when they had come together, they asked
Him, saying, Lord, will You at this time
restore the kingdom to Israel?
And He said to them, It is not
for you to know times or seasons which
the Father has put in His own authority.
But you shall receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you.
And you shall be witnesses to Me in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and
unto the end of the earth.
So, again you will see here that the
Lord Jesus compares these two baptisms.
He says John baptized with water.
And obviously Jesus also baptized, or His disciples
baptized in water.
But He says now there is another baptism
which is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Now remember this concept of baptism meaning immersed,
covered in, lost as it were, dipped totally
in the medium in which one is being
immersed.
And so in the case of water, being
covered by water.
But in this case, being covered by the
Holy Spirit.
Now there is different language that is used.
Some places the scripture speaks about being filled
with the Holy Spirit.
Now remember Jesus says He will be in
you.
But then also speaks about the baptism or
the immersion in the Holy Spirit.
Now you can see the disciples here immediately
say, but now Lord what about setting up
the kingdom.
Now they are still thinking that Jesus has
come to set up a political kingdom.
Remember Israel was under the domination of Rome
at this time.
And they thought He was going to deliver
them of the Roman oppression.
And He says to them, but it is
not about that.
He hardly answers the question.
He immediately says to them, it is not
for you to know when this is going
to happen.
Now we know when that is going to
happen.
It is going to happen in the millennial
kingdom which is at the end of the
age, at the end of time, which is
to come.
But He again brings their attention on the
work of the Holy Spirit.
So you can see they are earthly minded.
They are thinking about a political kingdom.
But Jesus is thinking about a spiritual issue.
And He is saying, but in fact I
am going to give you the Holy Spirit.
Now notice what He says in verse 8.
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you.
And you shall be witnesses to me in
Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria.
And so the Holy Spirit is there to
empower us.
Now we can see that from the Old
Testament.
When the Holy Spirit came upon men they
were able to do mighty deeds.
Samson was able to pull down those pillars
of that great palace in which he was.
And killed many Philistines in that experience.
Men were able to speak great things of
God.
Daniel was able to prophesy the things that
would come.
Not only the coming of the Lord Jesus
but right through to the end of the
age.
Now He says you will receive power.
But notice the emphasis.
You see now one of the problems today
is that there is an over or wrong
emphasis on the power of the Holy Spirit.
The power of the Holy Spirit for us
to do all sorts of amazing things.
But notice what the Lord Jesus says.
What the Holy Spirit will do for us.
He will empower you to do what?
To be witnesses to me.
Now notice the language very carefully.
He is not saying so that you may
witness for me.
But He says you will receive power and
you shall be witnesses.
Now those are two different things.
Someone who gives witness or witnesses to an
event or something.
Or someone who is a witness.
These are two different things.
And so you can go into a court
of law and you can testify to something.
You can say this is what I saw.
And your testimony may be true or may
not be.
That does not matter.
But that is giving witness.
But Jesus does not say you will give
witness.
He says you will be witnesses.
You will be witnesses.
So in other words He is saying your
whole life is going to demonstrate what you
are testifying to.
So it is not just a vocal expression.
It is not just what you say with
your lips.
But it is in fact what your life
says.
And He says that you will be witnesses.
You will be living testimonies.
And this is an Old Testament concept which
was prophesied in the Old Testament.
That this is one of the things that
would happen in the New Testament.
Is that the law would not just be
written on tables of stone.
But it would be written upon our hearts.
And from our hearts it will find an
expression in the way that we live our
lives.
And the way that we do things.
The way that we act.
And especially the way that we react.
These things should testify to the resurrected Christ.
Should testify to the Lord Jesus.
Now also you will see here that the
emphasis is not on the experience they would
have.
It does not speak about them having goosebumps
or them experiencing anything.
The emphasis is on the consequence or the
fruit of this experience.
And the fruit of this experience is that
they would be living testimonies to the risen
Christ.
And then of course He says not only
here in Jerusalem but in Judea, Samaria and
to the uttermost parts of the earth.
This was His plan for the spread of
the gospel.
Now we know that this is true.
Because when one looks at these guys in
the book of Acts.
One sees that the book of Acts is
called the book of Acts.
Not called the book of sayings.
Or the book of preaching.
Or the book of teaching.
It is the book of Acts.
It is the things they did.
And you will see it begins.
The book is begun by saying.
The former account of Mato Theophilus of all
that Jesus both began to do and to
teach.
And so the book of Acts is about
the things that they did and that they
taught.
Which is a continuation of the ministry of
Jesus.
Notice it says the things that Jesus began
to do and teach.
The inference is that this book now that
we are reading here, the book of Acts.
Is what Jesus continues to do.
But not from an earthly perspective but from
heaven.
Through the empowering of the Holy Spirit.
Empowering the church now to do those things.
Which he had begun to do.
And so the emphasis is on the doing.
Not so much on the speaking.
And you will immediately pick up that there
are some people who over emphasize the speaking
part.
But in fact Jesus is here emphasizing the
doing part.
Alright.
Now having established those basic principles.
And these are the promises that Jesus gives
in John.
And here in Acts chapter 1.
Now let's go to the book of Acts.
And let's have a look.
And there are 5 accounts in the book
of Acts.
Of people who were filled or baptized with
the Holy Spirit.
And I want us to look at each
one of those 5.
Because from those we will learn very valuable
lessons.
And the first one is right here in
the next chapter in Acts chapter 2.
Now we are probably going to talk a
bit fast tonight.
Some people complain that I speak too fast.
But we have a lot of material to
cover tonight.
And I would like for us to get
a total overall view.
Now Acts chapter 2 tells us about the
day of Pentecost.
And it says in verse 1.
That when the day of Pentecost had fully
come.
They were all with one accord in one
place.
Now remember Jesus had told them in the
section we have just read.
That they must go into Jerusalem.
And they must wait there until this promise
has come.
And so there they were waiting.
And verse 2 says.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven
as of a rushing mighty wind.
And it filled the whole house where they
were sitting.
And there appeared to them divided tongues as
of fire.
And one sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit.
And began to speak with other tongues as
the Spirit gave them utterance.
And so here was the first time that
people were filled or baptized with the Holy
Spirit.
There was 120 of them at this occasion.
And it tells us the languages that they
spoke.
So they began to speak in languages that
they had never learnt.
You will see that it says in verse
8.
And verse 7 says.
They were amazed.
They were people in the city.
And they were amazed at what they heard.
And they said.
Look are not all these who speak Galileans.
And how is it that we hear each
one in our own language in which we
were born.
Parthians and Medians and Elamites.
Those were in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontia, Asia,
Phrygia and Pamphylia.
Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene.
Visitors from Rome both Jews and proselytes.
Cretans and Arabs.
We hear them speaking in our own tongues
the wonderful works of God.
And so these men, the people, the onlookers
were saying.
But in fact these guys are Galileans.
They don't know these languages.
And then it lists all the languages which
they spoke.
So they spoke miraculously by God's power languages
which they had never heard.
That was the one thing that was happening
here.
The second was that there were tongues of
fire that appeared on them.
And the third was that there was a
sound of a mighty rushing wind.
These were the three visible things that happened
on this occasion.
Now of those the sound of the wind
and the tongues of fire only appeared here.
It doesn't appear in the other ones, in
the other four accounts we have in the
book of Acts.
It is also not taught anywhere in scripture
that these things are part of the experience
of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
And so we cannot extrapolate that and say
there is going to be a sound of
wind.
There could be.
But there doesn't have to be.
Or that there is going to be tongues
of fire.
There could be but there doesn't have to
be.
Because the only time it happens is here
in the book of Acts.
And when something happens like that we can
say well yes that was what happened on
that occasion.
But that does not have to be a
doctrine.
It is not something that has to happen
in every other occasion.
This is what happened here and this was
a special occasion in many respects.
Because it was the first time that it
happened.
OK.
Now let's go to Acts chapter 8 and
here is the second account.
And what happens here.
Now remember Jesus said that there will be
witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and then
the outermost parts of the earth.
Now this is in Samaria.
This is the third phase in the spreading
of the message.
From Jerusalem to Judea which is the area,
the province just around Jerusalem.
Now Samaria is a little bit further away
and the gospel has now reached to that
point.
And let's read from verse 14.
Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem
heard, that's Acts 8 verse 14, that Samaria
had received the word of God, they sent
Peter and John to them, who when they
had come down prayed for them that they
might receive the Holy Spirit.
Whereas yet he had fallen on none of
them.
You see the language again here is speaking
about them falling on them.
And they had only been baptized in the
name of the Lord Jesus.
So they had been baptized in water but
not in the Holy Spirit.
You see the two things there.
Now this is very important because there are
other people who say no, the baptism of
the Holy Spirit is the same as when
you get born again.
It's the same experience.
It's not a separate experience or a separate
event.
But you can see this is clearly a
separate event because these people had been baptized
in water.
They would not have been baptized in water
if they had not been born again.
If they had not given evidence of having
accepted Christ.
So they had been, if we can speak
in the language of baptism, they had been
baptized into Christ.
They had been baptized into water but not
yet into the Holy Spirit.
And so you can see that this is
a third and a separate experience from the
first two.
And so many people get confused and they
say no, no, but when you get saved,
then you receive the Holy Spirit.
No, you can see from this that it's
a separate event.
And verse 17 says when they laid hands
on them they received the Holy Spirit.
Now when Simon saw that through the laying
on of the apostles hand the Holy Spirit
was given, he offered them money saying, now
this was a witch doctor who had got
saved.
And he said well I also want this
ability to give people this power.
Give me this power also, verse 19, that
anyone on whom I lay hands may receive
the Holy Spirit.
But Peter said to him, your money perish
with you because you thought that the gift
of God could be purchased with money.
You have neither part nor portion in this
matter for your heart is not right in
the sight of God.
And so he's saying it's not something that
we can buy from God.
Not with money or with anything else.
Now remember the first of the principles that
we dealt with.
The very first foundation, dead works, repentance from
dead works.
There's nothing we can do in order to
buy anything or to bribe God into doing
something for us.
God gives us things because He is gracious.
And we do things for God because we
want to praise Him and we want to
bless Him by the things that we do
because we are grateful for what He has
done for us.
But not in a buying and a selling
situation.
But you can see here that this man
thought he could buy this gift.
And Peter says no, your money perish with
you.
There's no way you can buy this gift.
Now let's go to Acts chapter 9, next
chapter.
And what happens here is Paul has now
gone, or Saul as he was then, goes
down on the road to Damascus.
He sees this great light.
He meets Jesus as his Saviour.
He was a religious Jew up to this
point but did not believe in the Lord
Jesus.
He gets saved and then in verse 17,
sorry let me just fill you in before
this.
God then speaks to a man called Ananias.
Paul had now been struck off his horse.
He was blind because of this great light.
He had seen something of the Lord Jesus.
He is led by hand into Damascus and
he now stays in the city there.
And God now directs another man called Ananias
to now go and pray for Paul.
And verse 17 says, And Ananias went his
way and entered the house, and laying his
hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord
Jesus who appeared to you on the road
that you came, has sent me that you
may receive your sight and be filled with
the Holy Spirit.
Immediately there fell from his eyes something like
scales, and he received his sight at once.
And he arose and was baptized.
When he had received food he was strengthened,
and then Saul spent some days with the
disciples at Damascus.
Now I want you to take note again.
You will see here that Ananias entered into
the house, verse 17, laying hands on him
said, Brother Saul.
So was Saul saved?
Was he born again at this point?
Yes he was.
Otherwise Ananias would not have addressed him as
brother.
He had met Jesus on the road to
Damascus.
So he was born again, but he was
not yet filled with the Spirit.
And again he prays for him that he
might receive the Holy Spirit.
Again a second or separate experience.
Now let's go to Acts chapter 10.
Now what happens here is that Peter now
goes and he preaches for the first time
to Gentiles in the house of Cornelius.
And in verse 44, Acts chapter 10, verse
44.
While Peter was still speaking these words, the
Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard
the word.
And those of the circumcision who believed were
astonished, as many as came with Peter, because
the gift of the Holy Spirit had been
poured out on the Gentiles also.
For they heard them speak with tongues and
magnify God.
Then Peter answered, Can anyone forbid water, that
these should be baptized, who have received the
Holy Spirit, just as we have?
And he commanded them to be baptized in
the name of the Lord, and then they
asked him to stay a few days.
So again you can see the same thing
happening here.
Now it's interesting about these last two events,
that in both these occasions, in Paul's experience
and in these of the household of Cornelius,
water baptism followed baptism in the Holy Spirit.
So it doesn't have to be in that
order.
You don't have to first receive Christ or
be baptized in Christ, then be baptized in
water, then be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
It doesn't have to necessarily.
That would be the general order.
It would normally be in that order.
But it doesn't have to be in that
order.
Obviously coming to Christ has to be the
first thing.
Nothing happens before that happens.
But then the other two can be swapped
around.
In some cases people are baptized or filled
with the Holy Spirit before they are baptized
in water, and in other cases people are
baptized in water first.
And of the five occasions in the book
of Acts, you'll find that two of them,
they were baptized in water after they were
baptized in the Holy Spirit.
So the order is not important.
Then let's go to the last one which
is in Acts chapter 19.
And this occasion now is at Ephesus.
And this is also very important because this
account is given to us because this is
a long time.
This is a lot of years after the
day of Pentecost.
Some people say that these experiences were only
for the establishing of the church at the
very beginning.
But this is many years later.
And this is still happening.
And so we can see that this experience
continues to happen amongst the believers even long
after the day of Pentecost.
And so in Acts chapter 19, let's read
the first six verses.
And it happened while Apollos was at Corinth
that Paul, having passed through the upper regions,
came to Ephesus.
And finding some disciples, he said to them,
Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you
believed?
And they said to him, We have not
as much as heard whether there is a
Holy Spirit.
Now notice again, he finds certain disciples.
So are these people Christians?
Yes, they are Christians.
They are called disciples.
Peter says to them, Sorry, it is Paul.
Paul says to them, Have you received the
Holy Spirit when you believed?
In other words, when you put faith in
Christ.
Remember the second principle.
When you put your faith in Christ, did
you receive the Holy Spirit then?
In other words, they were believers.
They were born again.
And they said, No.
In fact, they said, We don't even know.
We have never even heard about the Holy
Spirit.
Now we know at this stage, we found
out that Apollos was teaching about the Lord
Jesus.
But he didn't know everything.
And he in fact is taken aside by
a couple of people, a husband and a
wife.
And they teach him more fully.
And they teach him certain things which he
didn't know.
At this point, he didn't know about the
Holy Spirit.
And in fact, he didn't even know about
baptism in the name of the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit.
Remember in Matthew chapter 28, he says, Baptizing
them in the name of the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit.
Now you can see why Paul says, But
what baptism were you baptized with?
Because if they were baptized correctly in the
name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
they would have heard, at least heard of
the fact that there is a Holy Spirit.
But they said, We have never heard of
the Holy Spirit.
So he says, But there is something wrong
then.
You were baptized with some different baptism then.
And so he questions them.
And verse 3 says, He said unto them,
Into what then were you baptized?
They said, Into John's baptism.
Now remember, John's baptism was a baptism of
repentance, which was separate, but a forerunner to
the baptism of the Lord Jesus.
And then Paul said, John indeed baptized with
baptism of repentance.
Verse 4, Saying to the people that they
should believe on Him who would come after
Him, that is the Christ Jesus.
And when they heard this, they were baptized
in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when Paul had laid hands on them,
the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they
spoke with tongues, and they prophesied.
And so you can see again how this
happens.
Now we need to move on a little
bit faster.
The next section I am going to deal
with now is, What is the work of
the Holy Spirit?
What is the function and the ministry of
the Holy Spirit?
And I am not going to go through
all of the scriptures, because otherwise we will
never finish in time.
But maybe let's just look at odd ones
in between.
But if we go back to John chapter
4, you will find that the Holy Spirit
helps in worship.
Jesus speaks to the woman at the well,
and He says that the true worshippers will
worship in spirit and in truth.
And so one of the things the Holy
Spirit does for us is that He helps
us to worship correctly.
The second thing is, and we have seen
that in John chapter 14 verse 26, is
that He leads us into all truth.
Now practically, it simply means that He opens
His word to us.
Now there are many people who have been
born again, but not been baptized with the
Holy Spirit, but they are able to understand
the word.
It makes sense to them.
And yet others, somehow, even though they are
genuinely born again, the word remains closed to
them until they are filled with the Holy
Spirit, and then suddenly the word opens.
And when they read the word, it begins
to make sense for the first time.
This is part of the work of the
Holy Spirit.
But even on an ongoing basis, when you
read a passage of Scripture, which you have
read many times in the past, and it
meant absolutely nothing to you, and then suddenly
it stands out, and suddenly it hits you
between the eyes, that God is actually saying
this.
Now that's the work of the Holy Spirit,
because it's not an intellectual thing.
You could have read through it many, many
times, and you could have understood what it
was saying, but in fact it never meant
anything to you.
The light hadn't gone on.
It wasn't illuminated.
It didn't become real.
And then suddenly one day you read it.
Now that's what the Holy Spirit does.
He suddenly makes things real to us from
the word.
And so He teaches us.
He leads us into all truth.
In John 16 we saw that He convicts,
and He convicts the world and so on,
but He also leads Christians.
He leads and guides us as Christians.
And then also from John 16 we mentioned
that He makes Jesus real.
He makes Jesus real.
In Acts 1 we saw that He gives
us power to be witnesses.
He gives us power to be witnesses.
Now I'm going through this list again, and
I'll explain why I'm doing this.
Then in Acts 6 you'll see that He
empowers us to serve God.
He empowers us to serve God.
And so sometimes we are weak in our
own ability to serve God.
We're tired.
We just don't have what it takes to
do the things that God wants us to
do.
The Holy Spirit empowers us to do sometimes
the almost impossible.
And you see men like Stephen, for instance,
who becomes a martyr, and he faces those
stones, and he looks into heaven and he
says, Father, forgive these people.
We'd say that's impossible.
How could you do that?
But he does that because the Scripture says
he was full of the Holy Spirit.
And so he empowers us to serve God,
but he also empowers us to face persecution.
And when you read about the martyrs and
how they faced persecution, not only in the
book of Acts, but right through the centuries,
and you say, but this is superhuman that
someone could do this.
No, in fact, it was superhuman in the
sense that the Holy Spirit empowered them to
face that persecution and to be witnesses, even
to Christ, in the face of persecution, on
the fiery piles, on the ices they were
put out there to freeze, on the rackers
they were stretched, as these various things were
done to Christians over the ages, and they
continued to glorify God in the most unbelievable
circumstances.
This is the empowering work of the Holy
Spirit.
And then in Romans chapter 5, it says
that the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
And so he gives us love, a supernatural
love sometimes.
We say, but you know, this is a
supernatural love that this person has for these
people who are so unlovely, often in the
mission field or in some area of ministry.
That's the love of God which is poured
into our lives or into our hearts by
the Holy Spirit, Acts 5 says.
And so he pours his love into us
through the work of the Holy Spirit.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and again one
would have to read that whole chapter, but
it speaks about different gifts that he gives.
Nine different gifts.
Gifts of healing.
Gifts of miracles.
Gifts of prophecy.
Gifts of tongues.
Gifts of knowledge or word of knowledge or
word of wisdom.
And so different gifts that he gives to
the church.
Those gifts are not for individual benefit, but
they are given for the benefit of the
church.
And those operate sometimes not so visibly, but
they operate within the lives particularly of those
who are in some form of ministry or
the other.
We're not speaking about ministers in the sense
of those who are the chiefs of the
church.
But whenever we endeavor in any area of
ministry, whether to visit people or to pray
for people or to share the word with
them, the gifts of the Holy Spirit should
be in operation in those times and empower
us to serve God and to serve the
church and to serve the body of Christ.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 14, we read that
he helps us to pray.
He helps us to pray.
And so sometimes we don't even know how
to pray, but the Holy Spirit will lead
us to pray correctly and to pray according
to the will of God.
Very important that we pray according to the
will of God.
In Ephesians it speaks about the Holy Spirit
as being the guarantee of our salvation.
The guarantee or the down payment, the deposit
of our inheritance, speaking of that which is
to come in the future.
Now that's quite a mouthful and quite a
lot of stuff that we need to deal
with there.
Hebrews chapter 6, the passage that we're actually
dealing with, you'll see that it speaks about
the Holy Spirit giving us a taste of
heaven, a taste of things to come.
And we've just recently been blessed by a
tape by an Indian brother who speaks, a
brother, Zak Kunan, who speaks about heaven on
earth.
That in fact there's a sense in which
we can taste heaven on earth, and this
is part of the work of the Holy
Spirit.
Now I've not given you all of the
things.
I've just given you a list and I
haven't even counted.
There must be about 15 different things that
the Holy Spirit does for us.
And you'll notice that in all of this
we haven't even spoken about tongues.
We've spoken about all of these things.
Now to many people, the Holy Spirit and
tongues, this is all there is to it.
The Holy Spirit helps us to speak in
tongues.
Yes, that's what the Holy Spirit is.
One of the things the Holy Spirit gives
us, one of the gifts, one of the
things that we're able to do.
But there are many, many, you can see
many other things that the Holy Spirit does.
Now if we're going to teach on the
subject, we have to teach on all of
the work of the Holy Spirit.
We can't just teach on the one aspect,
on tongues, or on any other one aspect.
We have to teach all of these things.
And the work of the Holy Spirit is
not just to give us the ability to
speak in tongues.
No, He has a far greater job, a
far greater ministry in our lives.
And so many people say, oh no, I
just want to speak in tongues.
Well in fact, that's really just such a
small part of what the Holy Spirit has
come to do.
He's come to do far more than that.
And so why do we need the baptism
of the Holy Spirit?
Because we need all of these things.
We need Him to help us to worship.
We need Him to teach us.
We need Him to show us how to
pray.
We need Him to pour His love into
our lives.
And all of these things that we've spoken
about.
And so yes, tongues I believe is a
valid experience.
But it's only a small part of the
total work of the Holy Spirit.
And so we need to pray.
And we need to say, God, we need
the fullness of that which the Spirit is
able to do in our lives.
And more than that, we don't just need
a once-off experience.
Many people say, no, no, as long as
you in 1952 were filled with the Holy
Spirit, then that's all that matters.
No, in fact, we need to be continually
empowered by the Holy Spirit.
And in fact, let's turn to Ephesians 5.
And a very important verse that's in here.
And so yeah, many people lay an emphasis
on an experience they had a long time
ago.
That's not the issue.
It's not whether you had an experience a
long time ago.
The issue is, is your life empowered to
serve God today in this way?
And this is really the important thing.
In Ephesians 5, verse 17.
Now he says, Do not be unwise, but
understand what the will of God is, or
the will of the Lord is.
And do not be drunk with wine, in
which is dissipation or excess, but be filled
with the Spirit.
And that word, be filled there, should literally
be translated be being filled.
Be continually filled with the Holy Spirit.
So it's not just a once-off experience.
It needs to be an ongoing experience.
I need to be constantly filled and empowered
by God.
I need to constantly be drawing from Him.
Now again you'll see that many people preach
from Acts 1, verse 8 where it says
you will receive power after the Holy Ghost
has come upon you.
And you'll hear that they'll speak about that
word power, is the word dunamis, from which
we get the word dynamite.
And they say, this is a dynamite type
experience.
Now, you know, I don't believe that that
is correct.
Because from that word dunamis, you also get
the word dynamo.
And a dynamo is something which constantly generates
power.
Now in fact, for some people, it is
a dynamite experience.
It's one big explosion and after that there's
just a bit of ash left.
And you know, there's maybe chaos all over
the show.
But there's nothing sustaining to the experience.
But the word dunamis, I believe, is really
intended to be the word dynamo, which we
understand, which is something which constantly is able
to generate power and give power.
And so it's not just a once-off
experience, it's a constant experience as we draw
from the Lord Jesus.
Now, last scripture I'm going to go to
is John chapter 7.
And here it tells us how this needs
to happen.
John chapter 7 and verse 37.
And it says, On the last day, that
great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him
come to me and drink.
He who believes in me, as the scripture
has said, out of his heart will flow
rivers of living water.
But this he spoke concerning the Spirit, whom
those believing in him would receive.
For the Holy Spirit was not yet given,
because Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Now, you remember the first verse we spoke
about, where we spoke about the fact that
he was with them, but he would be
in them.
Now you can see here that he's saying
that the Holy Spirit was not yet given.
Doesn't mean the Holy Spirit was not on
the earth, that he was not given in
a special way.
But he says, where do we receive the
Spirit?
From the Lord Jesus.
If any man thirsts, now that's the first
requirement.
We must want this experience.
Many people say, Oh well, you know, if
God wants to give it to me, he
can give it to me.
Now Jesus says, we must thirst.
If any man thirsts, let him come to
me.
Not to any minister, or to any committee,
or to anyone else.
Go to the Lord Jesus.
He is the one who gives the Holy
Spirit.
Yes, we see on two occasions in the
book of Acts at least, where people were
prayed for and they received the Holy Spirit.
But those apostles who prayed for them could
not give the Holy Spirit.
Jesus alone is the giver of the Holy
Spirit.
He alone is the one who baptizes.
I can baptize in water, and in fact
on Sunday we will be baptizing some folk
in water.
That I can do.
But I cannot baptize people into Christ.
That's the work of the Holy Spirit.
I cannot baptize people in the Holy Spirit.
That's the work of the Lord Jesus.
You see how the two work together.
The Holy Spirit baptizes people, put them into
Christ, but Jesus fills with the Holy Spirit.
He says, If any man thirsts, let him
come to me, and let him drink.
And he says, From his innermost being will
flow rivers of living water.
And he says, This he spoke about the
Holy Spirit.
Those who, those believing in him would receive.
And so the first thing we need to
do is we need to believe.
The second thing we need to do is
we need to go to Jesus and actually
receive from him, drink from him.
And the third thing we need to do
is we need to believe.
Those who believing on him would receive.
And then he says, For the Holy Spirit
was not yet given.
And so, how do we practically apply this?
Well, you need to go to the Lord
Jesus in your prayer, in your quiet time,
and say, Lord, I recognize that I don't
have all of what is available to me.
Maybe I've got a certain amount.
Maybe I've got a little bit of the
working of the Holy Spirit, but I need
more.
And by constantly going to the Lord Jesus
and drinking from him, he is the one
who is faithful to his word, and he
will fill with his spirit.
That's a work of God.
That's not a work that anyone else can
do for you.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you that the Lord Jesus
came to us and that he revealed yourself
to mankind.
He performed miracles.
He spoke your word.
He gave direction.
He did all of these wonderful things.
And then he went away, but we thank
you that he didn't leave us without a
counselor, but that he sent the Holy Spirit
who fulfills and completes the work that he
had in fact begun within our hearts and
within the world and within the church.
And so, Lord, we pray that we may
be open to the work of your spirit,
and, Lord, that we may recognize those areas
in which we need the empowering of your
spirit.
And, Father, we pray that we may come
to you, that we may come to the
Lord Jesus, and that we may drink of
him.
Forgive us, Lord, for looking to men to
fulfill these needs in our lives when in
fact these are things that you want to
do in our lives.
And so we pray, Lord, give us grace
that we may turn to Jesus, that we
may thirst after him, and that we may
indeed want more of him, and that by
doing so we may receive that which is
your promise for us.
And so, Lord, as we meditate on these
things, and maybe, Lord, some of us struggle
with some of these concepts and these issues,
we pray that by your spirit you would
teach us.
We thank you that that's one of the
functions in the ministry of the spirit is
to teach us and to lead us and
to guide us into all truth.
We ask these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.