Acts 18:18-19:7

Baptism of the Holy Ghost

There are 6 distinct times in the New Testament that are descriptive of the Holy Ghost coming upon certain believers.

Jesus gave the apostles the Holy Ghost (John 20:22)

Pentecost, upper room full of believers (Acts 2:1-4)

Believers filled with the Holy Ghost (Acts 4:31)

Samaritan Christians (Acts 8:14-17)

Cornelius’ household (Acts 10:44-48)

Disciples in Ephesus (Acts 19:1-6)

I cannot emphasize enough that these examples are descriptive and not prescriptive. By that, I mean they tell us what happened rather than telling us what should happen for us. Each one of these examples had 1 ingredient we do not possess, and that is the presence of the apostles. Despite what some might claim, we do not have an unbroken line of succession to the apostles in the way of authority and power. Sure, every believer heard the Gospel from someone who heard the Gospel from someone who heard the Gospel all the way back to the Apostles, but with rare exception the Holy Ghost does not baptize us in His outward glory like He did with the apostles. In only 3 of those examples did the recipients of the Holy Ghost speak in tongues, although it is certain that Paul and certain others spoke with tongues later as well.

Scripture teaches us that believers receive the Holy Ghost at the time of conversion (Ephesians 1:13-14) and that we are baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13).

However, being baptized with the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit are not the same thing.

Ephesians 5:18 teaches us that we not only can be filled with the Spirit, but we should be. Turn to that verse and let’s read it together with the surrounding context.

Ephesians 5:15–20 KJV 1900

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Paul tells the Ephesians - and by proxy, all Christians - to walk uprightly and with wisdom, because why? Because the days are evil. He then gives a blueprint of how to do this:

Understand the will of God

Reject drunkenness, but be drunk with the Spirit

Speak to yourselves (each other) in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs

Give thanks ALWAYS and for ALL THINGS

Submit to one another

Notice how Paul draws a distinction but not a parallel between being drunk with wine and with being filled by the Spirit. When drunk with wine, or any alcohol, it takes over your mind. Some say it brings out your true self, but what it really does in lower your inhibitions and tolerances. Being filled with the Spirit does something different, but not so different.

The Holy Spirit will cause us to do and say things we never thought would be humanly possible.

Amongst those of us Christians who are not of the charismatic persuasion, we start to get the cold sweats when we talk about being filled with the Holy Spirit. Our minds conjure images of the poor sods who fall backwards when Benny Hinn waves his coat in front of them, or the fools who flop around on the floor or bark like a dog or speak gibberish and call it “spirit language.” I don’t say this to be unkind, but what I say is truth; it is foolish to believe that any of those things are indicative of being filled with the Holy Spirit. But don’t take my word for it.

In Galatians 5, we see a list of the fruits of the Spirit. There are 9 of them listed (and by the way, none of them are the gift of tongues), and what is the 9th one? It is “temperance,” or self-control. In contrast, the works of the flesh are listed earlier in that same chapter, and the last two are “drunkeness” and “revellings” (carousing). So a sign that you are filled-or drunk-with the Spirit is that you are quite literally the opposite of filled with wine. One makes you lose control, one gives you self-control.

One of the first things that happens when a man is really filled with the Spirit is not that he speaks with tongues, but that he learns to hold the one tongue he already has.

J. Sidlow Baxter

We see this in it’s most perfect example, of course, with Jesus. Never did He lose control of Himself. He never lost his temper, spouted off His mouth, let idle words slip out, or spoke or acted in any way that was contrary to the Spirit of God. But don’t look at Him and say, “yeah, but He was Jesus. I can never be like Him.” Oh, you’re right...you can’t be sinless, but you CAN be filled with the Holy Spirit! Twelve apostles, including Paul, are proof of that. So is Cornelius, 120 believers in the upper room, the Samaritan Christians, the Ephesian Christians, and what’s more, millions of Christians since those days have been filled with the Holy Ghost!

No man faces the stake and fire and instead of cowering away, embraces it. But that is what Polycarp did. He said to his executioners who were about to nail him to the stake,

“Leave me as I am, for He who gives me strength to endure the fire will also enable me to remain on the pyre without the need of your nails.”

No woman helps the executioner do his job, but that is exactly what Perpetua did. When the executioner trembled at the duty he had, she guided his trembling hand to her throat so that he could send her to her Lord. And consider her fellow Christian, Felicity, who was pregnant and therefore forbidden by Roman law to be executed. Therefore, she prayed that she would give birth before the execution day so she could die alongside her fellow condemned Christians.

You might say, That is insanity! No, my friend, that is being filled with the Holy Spirit. That is what being dead to yourself and dedicated to the Lord will give you: peace that passes all understanding!

I’m not making a very good case for following Christ, am I? But if He is able to give you the grace and peace in THAT type of situation, can He not also give you wisdom to understand life’s troubling situations? Can He not also give you strength to endure hardships, large or small? Can He not also give you peace to accept when friends or family forsake you, and you feel all alone?

How are we filled with the Holy Ghost?

Most Christians are not joyful persons because they are not holy persons, and they are not holy persons because they are not filled with the Holy Spirit, and they are not filled with the Holy Spirit because they are not separated persons. The Spirit cannot fill whom He cannot separate, and whom He cannot fill, He cannot make holy, and whom He cannot make holy, He cannot make happy!

A. W. Tozer

We’ve looked earlier at 6 narrative examples of people being baptized with the Holy Ghost. Of those 6, one of them involved Jesus directly. Two were directly following disciples and apostles gathering together in prayer and preaching. The remaining three were new or recent believers who were baptized AND had the blessing of one or more apostles.

Although Paul directly laid his hands on the twelve men in Ephesus, he later wrote to the church there and told them to be filled with the Spirit. This indicates that even in the absence of apostles, the Spirit of God will still fill us up. As I told you earlier, we all receive the Holy Spirit when we are saved and He seals us in redemption, but how are we to be filled by Him?

Submit to Christ’s lordship

obey Him

Peter - Acts 5:32 “And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

Repent of known sin

do not continually rebel against Him

Paul - Ephesians 4:30 “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

Let the Word of Christ dwell richly in you

the Word dwells in us when we dwell in Him, singing, etc.

Paul - Ephesians 5:18-19; Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

Pray in dependence on God

Acts repeatedly connects prayer and filling:

Acts 2:1–4 – They were praying when filled

Acts 4:31 – They prayed, and were filled

Acts 13:3–4 – Prayer precedes mission and filling

there is no Spirit filling without a posture of prayer

Worship with sincerity

he is not interested in empty platitudes

worshipping without sincerity is not worship at all, so we should lift up our voices in song, and prayer, and in both an outward and inward posture of worship as Jesus said, in spirit and in truth (John 4:24)

Step out in obedience and faith

Many fillings in Acts occur during obedience, not prior to it.

Acts 4:8 “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders,” – Peter is filled as he opens his mouth to speak

Acts 13:9 “But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him” – Paul is filled in the moment of confronting evil

Yield continually—be repeatedly filled

Romans 12:1 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

when we yield to Him, we are surrendering self-will and exercising self-control

John MacArthur described it about as well as anyone I’ve ever heard. He likened being filled with the Spirit not so much like a cup being filled, because when it is full, it’s full. You can’t add more to a full cup. Instead, being filled with the Spirit is like how a ship’s sails are filled with the wind. You may not be able to feel or see the wind, but you will know it’s there. And the more full the sail, the further and more swiftly the ship will move. Being filled with the Spirit will guide us and empower us to go much further than we can ever go on our own

To take all of this, packaged up neatly, and tied with a bow: He has given all of Himself to you; now you must give all of yourself to Him. His sacrifice for you was once, but your sacrifice to Him is daily. “But I gave all of myself to Him yesterday. I yielded and obeyed and operated in boldness and self-sacrifice yesterday!” Yes, and today is a new day. Is that too difficult? Is that too tedious? Well, maybe you’ll never be filled with the Holy Ghost.

You want to be the best husband and father you can be. But do you yield to that every day?

You want to be the best wife and mother you can be. But do you yield to that every day?

You want to be the best children you can be. But do you yield to that every day?

You want to be a Spirit-filled Christian. But do you yield to that every day?

These Ephesian disciples wanted to be filled with the Holy Ghost. They weren’t even sure it was possible, but they desired it above all other things. So when Paul said, “You’ve been baptized by John unto repentance, but you’ve not been baptized unto Jesus Christ,” they eagerly were baptized and blessed by Paul. And only then were they filled with the Holy Ghost.

It is simply taking the Word of Christ (Scripture) and letting it indwell and infuse every part of our being. To be filled with God’s Spirit is to be filled with His Word. And as we are filled with God’s Word, it controls our thinking and action, and we thereby come more and more under the Spirit’s control.

John F. MacArthur