The Holy Spirit (4)

Lesson Four: The Evidence of the Holy Spirit’s Indwelling

Acts 10:44–46 ESV

While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared,

Acts 11:15–18 ESV

As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

Acts 19:1–6 ESV

And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

Lesson Four: The Evidence of the Holy Spirit’s Indwelling

Central truth: Speaking in Tongues is the physical evidence of a spiritual experience

In Acts 10, we get to see an example of the manifestation of tongues being convincing proof that believers had received the Holy Spirit.

Acts 10:44-47 “Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. 45 The Jewish believers* who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too. 46 For they heard them speaking in other tongues* and praising God.

Then Peter asked, 47 “Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?”

After Peter has a dramatic vision of the sheet that is filled with all sorts of unclean animals being lowered down from heaven, He is told to go to the House of Cornelius, a Gentile, to proclaim God’s salvation through Jesus Christ.

Cornelius was told by God to send and get Peter

As Peter spoke to Cornelius and his entire household about the remission of sins through the blood of Jesus, the Holy Spirit fell on all them and they spoke with other tongues.

When the Jewish brethren at Jerusalem heard that Peter had carried the Gospel to the Gentiles, they were highly critical according to Acts 11:3, they said, “You entered the home of Gentiles* and even ate with them!”

How Does Peter respond?

He tells hem about the vision He had that came from God and how God had said, Acts 10:9, “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.”

Peter goes on to present the evidence proving that the Gentiles’ salvation was genuine and therefore ought to be recognized by all the Jewish brethren.

Acts 11:15-18, “  “As I began to speak,” Peter continued, “the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning. 16 Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said, ‘John baptized with* water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”

18 When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.”

Notice that it was the speaking in Tongues that finally convinced the group that accompanied Peter to Cornelius’ house, that these Gentiles had received the gift of salvation-

It was also the evidence that convinced the Jewish believers in Jerusalem

It is also interesting to note that they received salvation and the baptism of the Holy Spirit simultaneously.

When a person first gets saved, that is when the gift of the Spirit is available

and it is often the best time for them to get filled with the Holy Spirit

No one laid hands on these Gentiles- They all had received the Holy Spirit at about the same time

none failed to receive

Here there is no suggestion that they had to tarry or wait to be filled with the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit Outpoured at Ephesus

Acts 19:1-6 , “  While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus, on the coast, where he found several believers.* 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.”

3 “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.”

5 As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues* and prophesied.”

Here we see another example of Gentiles receiving the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

These men were all new converts who had been followers of John the Baptist.

They had heard the message that John preached of the Promised One coming

They had believed John’s message, and they had been baptized by him in the name of the Father.

however, because the news didn’t travel as fast then as it does now, they had not yet heard the Promised one Had Come

Matthew 3:11, “I baptize with* water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

Paul tells them that Jesus is the Promised one, and he had come, he had died on the cross, and he had been resurrected from the dead; And Now they should believe on Him.

Paul then baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus

But Paul didn’t stop there

Paul wanted them to be filled with the Holy Spirit

Acts 19:6, “Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues* and prophesied.”

Without exception, all these new converts received the Holy Spirit when Paul laid hands on them!

Again there was no suggestion of tarrying or waiting

Notice: “they spoke in other tongues and prophesied.”-

Sometimes when people are filled with the Holy Spirit they receive something in addition to tongues.

But notice that Tongues was first

The Scripture doesn’t say they prophesied and spoke in tongues

Tongues is first

Kenneth Hagin- “I have seen people speak in tongues and prophesy when they received the Holy Spirit. I have also seen people speak with tongues and interpret when they received the Holy Spirit. But we shouldn’t expect any more at the moment than what the Word of God teaches. WE SHOULD EXPECT TO SPEAK WITH TONGUES. IF SOMETHING ELSE IS ADDED, WELL AND GOOD.”

“ When I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, i received a gift from the Spirit too, although I didn’t realize it at the time. I knew I had received the Holy Spirit because I spoke with tongues, but to be perfectly honest, I felt a little disappointed. Having heard some Christians tell of their experiences when they were filled with the Holy Spirit, I expected to have some kind of overwhelming hilarious experience, but I didn’t

Afterwards i said to myself, ‘all I did was talk in tongues. I’ve gotten a bigger blessing than this many times just praying.”

“but the baptism in the Holy Spirit is not just receiving a blessing; it is much more. I knew my bible, so I said, ‘I don’t care what I feel or What I don’t feel. I know I have received the Holy Spirit because I have spoken with other tongues. I have the Bible evidence.’

I continued to praise Him in this manner for about three day. After those days had passed, I felt fine. Later I realized that at the same time I had received the Holy Spirit and had spoke in tongues, I had received another gift of the Spirit- the Word of Knowledge.”

The Door into the Spiritual Gifts

As we have seen speaking in tongues is the initial supernatural sign or evidence of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling.

Speaking in tongues is the beginning of it all

Kenneth Haggin, “I have found in my life that the more I pray and worship God in tongues, the more manifestations I have of the other gifts of the Spirit. the less I talk in tongues the fewer manifestations I have.”

Speaking in tongues is the door into all the rest of the spiritual gifts.

Some people are only interested in the other gifts of the Spirit, but we have to go through the “door” to get there.

The Bible teaches us in 1 Cor 14:1 to, “desire spiritual gifts”, and is 1 Cor 12:31, “earnestly desire (covet earnestly) the best gifts.”

But we need to remember that these words are written to believers who were already filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues

they weren’t written to believers who didn’t have the spirit- which is probably why cessationist believe the gifts have ceased

Because they deny tongues as the evidence of the Holy Spirit, therefore they close the door to the supernatural gifts

The Corinthians had an abundance of speaking in tongues.

So much it seemed that when they went to church, all of them wanted to speak with tongues at once!

That isn’t edifying it is chaos, so Paul corrects them and tells them that only two or three should speak in public, and another should interpret.

If an interpreter wasn’t present they should keep silent in the Church (1 Cor 14:27-28) , But He never discourage tongues he actually said, “I wish you all spoke in tongues,” 1 Cor 14:5, and in 1 Cor 14:18, “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you.”

Paul didn’t say they had the wrong thing

they had the right thing, but they were so thrilled and exuberant, they all wanted to talk at once.

If everyone is praise God, it is all right for all to praise God in tongues at once

But it certainly would be wrong if everyone started talking in tongues while someone was trying to preach.

Also, it would not be right for someone to spend an hour teaching in tongues without any interpretation.

Paul says this, the speaker would be edified or built up, but the listeners wouldn’t get anything out of it.

As Paul said, it is better to speak a few words with out understanding so we can teach others than to speak ten thousand words in tongues unless there is an interpretation.

Some people however, have made a mountain out of a molehill- They say Paul was telling the Corinthians not to speak with tongues at all.

This couldn’t have been his intention, because he had just said in 1 Cor 14:18-19, “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you. 19 But in a church meeting I would rather speak five understandable words to help others than ten thousand words in an unknown language.”

Certainly it would be better for Him to stand before the congergation and speak ten words in his own language so they can understand him than it would be to stand there and speak ten thousand words in tongues uninterpreted.

But in order to correct one error Paul did not suggest we make another by abandoning speaking in tongues altogether.

Rather we are told to covet earnestly the best gifts.

As we do this and walk into a more powerful and effective christian life, we will go through the door of baptism of the Holy Spirit to receive the glorious spiritual gifts God has promised those who believe in His Word.

Memory text: Acts 10:46 “For they heard them speaking in other tongues* and praising God.”

Lesson in Action: “But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only…” James 1:22