Sermon Tone Analysis

The Baptism and Filling of the Holy Spirit (2)

(Acts 1:4-5)

May 9, 2021

Read Acts 1:1-5 – The book of Acts is about how Jesus continued His mission of seeking and saving the lost thru a group of lowly followers, called the church, who preached a message of redemptive death and regenerative resurrection empowered by the Holy Spirit.

These are basics!

The lightning of Jesus’ life results in the thunder of the gospel thru the church.

But 21st century Xnty has become enamored of its own methods, message and marketing power.

We’re like the neurotic rooster who thinks the sun comes up because he crows.

Success to us is large crowds and lots of activity.

Fads range from seeker inspired rock music, to coffee lounge atmospheres to 15-minute motivational pep talks.

We borrow the most poin profane symbols of secular culture and call it profound – like the recent marketing of a quarter’s worth of adult SS curricula complete with lesson plans and video clips called “The Gospel According to Barney Fife.”

Wildly successful, it led to other products mislabeled Bible studies centered on I Love Lucy and The Simpsons.

The truth is, the results would be the same if Jesus never died and rose again and there was no HS.

We’ve forgotten who we are and what we are about.

Spurgeon was right: “If your gospel has not the power of the Holy Spirit . . .

you may have a performance in the [church] to allure the people, whom Christ crucified does not draw.

If you are depending on sing-song, and fiddles, and semi-theatricals, you are disgracing the religion which you pretend to honor."

We need to get back to basics – and here they are before us – the death and resurrection of Christ, and the empowering work of the HS.

But the work of the HS has often caused confusion.

Jesus promises in v. 5 that the disciples will be baptized with the HS shortly.

Then in 2:4, they are filled with the HS, leading many to see these as one and the same.

They are not.

At this unique time – the birthday of the church, they happen simultaneously, but they are different and we need to understand those differences to maximize the Spirit’s work in our lives.

The HS makes us unique.

Other religions look to a dead founder for inspiration.

We worship a living Savior, who sent the HS to animate and empower us on earth.

There is nothing like this anywhere else in the world, and to taint it with the trivialities of secular methods is a disgrace.

So – what does the Bible teach us about the baptism and filling of the Holy Spirit?

Two items we saw last week; two more today.

I. Baptism is His to Do; Baptism is Mine to Accept – We are never commanded to be baptized with the Spirit.

It is promised by Jesus during His ministry and delivered 10 days after His ascension.

Now, it’s the experience of every believer the moment they accept Christ.

I Cor 12:13: “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jew or Greeks, slaves or free – and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”

Rom 8:9: “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”

The indwelling HS is God’s gift to all believers.

But we are commanded in Eph 5:18: “Be continually being filled with the Spirit” – filled = controlled by the Spirit, just as an intemperate person is controlled by His anger, so we are to seek the Spirit’s control in our lives.

II.

Baptism is Permanent; Filling is Periodic – Baptism in the Spirit is a once-for-all, never repeated action by Christ which unites us irrevocably with His Spirit.

But His presence doesn’t mean I always yield control to Him.

The coach at third base may signal “Stop”, but I may choose on my own initiative to keep right on going with disastrous results.

Same with the HS.

He’s there; He’s available; He’s working thru the Word and inner promptings to help me, but I choose to obey or go my own way at any given moment.

III.

Baptism Initiates; Filling Implements

The baptism of the Spirit brings us into a relationship with God.

Like marriage.

One moment the bride is Smith.

The next moment she is Jones.

Everything changes at “I will.”

One moment there are 2 individuals; the next there is 1 family.

So with saving faith.

The moment we repent and say, “I will”, we are born again.

We’ve entered a personal relationship with God Almighty.

And it is the baptism in the Spirit that initiates that relationship.

I Cor 12:13: “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.”

Baptism in the Spirit makes us instantly part of the body of Christ and one with every other believer.

“Were all baptized, on Greek word – past action.

So’s “all were made to drink of one Spirit.”

Past tense.

One and done.

It happens in a moment and is done and over, though the results remain forever!

Once we’re part of the body of Christ, it is permanent.

We may be a weak link, but there are no amputations from this body.

The sinful Corinthians, as bad as it gets, were not threatened with removal from the body.

Jesus promises in John 6:39: “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”

Once we are His, there is no turning back.

With all our blemishes, we are His forevermore.

Another analogy is in Rom 8:15: “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba!

Father!” 16) The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

To receive the Spirit is to be adopted into the family.

We become Rom 8:17: “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” -- a privilege beyond imagining.

All that Christ has, we have; the same love of the Father, eternal life, heaven as home, shared rulership.

It is beyond our comprehension.

It is all ours by adoption.

And once adopted, you can’t get out.

Not even our own sin can get us kicked out.

Once adopted, it is for keeps.

Tim McCarver was fine catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals.

He says, “I was taught to have pride in being a Cardinal, to believe I was part of a big family.

The problem was guys bought into ‘being part of the family’ and were unprepared to be traded or released.

It was disillusioning.

It was a one-way family which they can dissolve any time by getting rid of you.”

In God’s family there is no getting traded or released.

Once in, you’re in for good.

John 10:27-28: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

28) I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

Spurgeon said, “That was the bait my soul could not resist.

It was life insurance, and insurance of my character, and insurance of my soul, and insurance of my eternal destiny.

I knew I could not keep myself, but if Christ promised to keep me, then I would be safe forever.”

This is why I love that song – “He will hold me fast”.

“I could never keep my hold / Through life’s fearful path; / For my love is often cold; / He must hold me fast.”

This is what the baptism in the Spirit initiates.

But what the baptism in the Spirit initiates, the filling of the Spirit continues.

Look at Acts 2:4: “And they were all filled with the HS and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

Gifted by baptism in the Spirit; they are used in profound ways by the filling/control of the Spirit.

Similarly, we’ve all been gifted to serve – just in different ways.

I Cor 12:4) Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5) and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6) and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.

7) To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

The gift comes with the baptism; the effective use of the gift depends on us yielding control to the Spirit, thus empowering our use of those gifts.

The filling involves our will.