Well, good morning.
I would like you to turn to John’s Gospel, Chapter 1. There will be a number of scriptures that we read. First, we will read what John the Baptist had to say about the Lord Jesus, beginning in John 1:29-34.
On the morrow He sees Jesus coming to him, and says, Behold, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.
He it is of Whom I said, A Man comes after me Who takes a place before me, because He was before me.
And I knew Him not; but that He might be manifested to Israel, therefore have I come baptizing with water.
And John bore witness, saying, I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove from heaven, and It abode upon Him.
And I knew Him not; but He Who sent me to baptize with water, He said to me, Upon Whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on Him, He it is Who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.
And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God.
Then later in the same Gospel, John 20, after the Lord was resurrected and glorified, we will look at a few verses—John 20:19-22.
When therefore it was evening on that day, which was the first day of the week, and the doors shut where the disciples were through fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and says to them, Peace be to you.
And having said this, He showed to them His hands and His side. The disciples rejoiced therefore, having seen the Lord.
Jesus says therefore again to them, Peace be to you. As the Father sent Me forth, I also send you forth.
And having said this, He breathed into them and says to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.
Turn to the Book of Acts, Chapter 1. Just before our Lord was raised to glory, it says this, beginning in Acts 1:1.
I composed the first discourse, O Theophilus, concerning all things which Jesus began both to do and to teach, until that day in which, having by the Holy Spirit charged the apostles whom He had chosen, He was taken up; to whom also He presented Himself living after He had suffered, with many proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking to them the things which concerned the kingdom of God.
And being assembled with them, commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, said He, ye have heard of Me; for John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit after not many days.
In Acts 2:1-4, we have a familiar section concerning Pentecost.
And when the day of Pentecost was now accomplishing, they were all together in one place.
And there came suddenly a sound out of heaven as of a violent, impetuous blowing, or a hard breathing, and filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared to them parted tongues as of fire, and it 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 to speak.
Let us turn to Acts 10. This is at Cornelius’s house, the Gentile’s house: Acts 10:44-47.
While Peter was yet speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were hearing the word.
And the faithful of the circumcision were astonished, as many as came with Peter, that upon the nations also the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out.
For they heard them speaking with tongues and magnifying God.
Then Peter answered, Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit as we did?
Then, in Acts 11:15-18, Peter explains this event later at Jerusalem.
And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us also at the beginning.
And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, John baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
If God has given them the same gift as also we, when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who indeed was I to be able to forbid God?
And when they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying, Then indeed God has to the nations also granted repentance unto life.
And then, in the epistles, there is just one verse of extreme importance regarding this subject: 1 Corinthians 12:13.
For also in the power of one Spirit, we have all been baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; we have all been given to drink of one Spirit.
Now, let us pray.
Lord, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You that You tell us that Your words are spirit and life. And so, once again, we ask You to breathe upon Your Word.
We tell You, as Peter said, “You alone have the words of eternal life. To whom shall we go? There is no one else.”
Unless You speak, our time is wasted. But when You speak, we are helped. So we look unto You that You will quicken us by the Holy Spirit, that we will hear what the Spirit says to the churches, and that our eyes will be opened.
May we behold things in Your Word that we have never seen. May we know You and glorify You with our lives. For we ask this in Jesus’ precious and worthy name. Amen.
Well, I think most everyone knows that this is the first Sunday of the new year. Likewise, it is the first Sunday of the month. I think all of you by now, at least, should know what we do on the first Sunday of every month.
For some period of time, we have been looking at a foundation series, considering different foundational aspects that are vital for the Christian life. The series began with this title: “Searching the Scriptures That We Might Grow in Christ.”
This comes from 2 Peter 3:18:
Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This was the burden we had when we started this foundation series some time ago. Now, I think everyone knows it is not just about ministry. The title, “Ye search the Scriptures,” comes from that word about the Berean believers in Acts 17:11.
They were more noble than those at Thessalonica, because they not only received the word, but daily searched the Scriptures to see if these things were so.
So our burden in this foundation series is, first, that we would receive the Word and, by receiving the Word, grow in Christ. Secondly, that we would search the Scriptures as the Berean believers did and thereby, in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, grow in Christ.
Finally, the third component has to do with fellowship. We have been encouraging—and for those of you who do not take part, it is never too late—that we fellowship about what we have learned, what we have heard, and what we have received when we gather in groups for Bible fellowship on Fridays.
Brothers and sisters, we feel that what we need is to hear the Word of God. We believe that what we need to do is search the Scriptures to see what the Word of God says. Then we have a real basis for fellowship in Christ, that we could grow together in the knowledge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I hope you will permit me that little explanation, because sometimes people pick up these messages and come into them later, and they have no idea what we are doing. By the way, I hope this does not offend too many people, but some of you still may have no idea what we are doing.
So it is good that we come back, focus, and refresh with one another what our burden is as we come once a month for the study of the month. It is not merely to gain some knowledge of a subject. It is through that knowledge of the subject, as we receive the Word, that we could grow in Christ Jesus.
We can be strengthened with all might in the inner man and grow up into the Lord, to that full-grown man in Christ. Through that, we have a real basis for fellowship.
That is what we have been doing. For those of you who do not know, who may not remember, or who may be hearing this tape, we began with a focus on the individual Christian life. We spent some time looking at the individual Christian life.
I appreciate the exhortation that was given back then: it is very difficult to separate the individual life from the corporate life. But lately, we have been focusing upon corporate life and considering the essentials regarding corporate life.
Now, to some of you, that phrase corporate life may still sound strange, like we are General Motors or some great corporation. If we were, we would all be in trouble. But corporate life, if you look at the Scriptures, has to do with church life. It is simply another way to explain church life.
It is a corporate vessel, a united body. The church is the corporate vessel that God uses to express His testimony in the church age.
Lately, we have been focused upon this matter of corporate life. We have looked at a few essentials: the cross, the headship of Christ, the priesthood of all believers, and a number of other things.
Although these things are not comprehensive, we thought that the last essential matter before entering into the practical would be to look at the Holy Spirit.
I believe all of us know in our hearts as believers that the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential. You cannot live the Christian life without the Holy Spirit. Likewise, you cannot live the corporate life without the Holy Spirit.
That is why we thought we should center and focus our last topic on these essentials upon the Holy Spirit.
Now, I think there is a tendency—and this is a burden. If you do not get anything else, please understand this part of my burden. When we look at the Holy Spirit, our reaction first of all is to look at Him as a personal thing: personal empowering, personal enabling, personal anointing.
All of those things are essential. Without personal power, personal enabling, and personal anointing, you cannot live the Christian life. It is impossible.
But the burden that we are focusing upon this month is the Holy Spirit and the corporate life. Likewise, without the Holy Spirit, particularly as demonstrated in the Book of Acts, you cannot live the corporate life.
You may try to live church life. You may try to stick it out for a while. But unless you know something of the enabling of the Holy Spirit, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the filling of the Spirit, and the receiving of the Spirit, unless you know something of this great depth, you cannot and will not live the Christian life.
We cannot even begin the Christian life without the Holy Spirit. You remember the story in John 3 about Nicodemus, that nocturnal visit when Nicodemus came to the Lord Jesus at night.
The Lord Jesus said:
Unless you are born of the Spirit, you cannot see the kingdom of God.
We cannot begin without the Holy Spirit. It is essential. Then He went on to say in John 3:5:
Unless you are born of the Spirit, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
How essential the Holy Spirit is to the believer’s life. We cannot live this life without the Holy Spirit.
I do think this is a real problem: we tend to look at everything in the light of the individual. There is a phrase I would like to impress upon you as a burden, which the Lord gave me some time ago and which is still living with me.
Without the individual life, the Christian life is impossible. But without the corporate life, the Christian life is incomplete.
Sometimes everything revolves around what I get from the Lord, how the Lord helps me, and what the Lord supplies to me. We never enter into the Lord’s full purpose regarding His church. If we do that, we miss everything about God’s purpose.
This is so important, so basic, and so vital that we need to emphasize it again and again: without the individual life, the Christian life is impossible; without the corporate life, it is incomplete.
Another matter by way of introduction that I would like to reinforce is that when we come to the Holy Spirit, we tend to look at the Holy Spirit impersonally. What do I mean by that? We tend to look at the Holy Spirit as a thing—as a power, as a force, as something that emanates from God, as an enabling or an anointing.
The Holy Spirit becomes a thing, and I think that is a real danger. What we need to see is that the Holy Spirit is a Person. He is the member of the Godhead with Whom we have the closest communion.
He is the member of the Godhead Who lives within us and dwells within us. He is the member of the Godhead Who takes responsibility to bring us into the full purpose of Christ.
We look at Him impersonally—as a thing and not a Person. In my reading, I came across a quote that meant so much to me years ago that I kept it in my notes. It was from The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit:
A frequent source of error and fanaticism about the work of the Holy Spirit is the attempt to study and understand His work without first of all coming to know Him as a Person.
Thousands can testify to the blessing that has come into their own lives as they have come to know the Holy Spirit, not merely as a gracious influence, emanating, it is true, from God, but as a real Person, just as real as Jesus Christ Himself—an ever-present, loving Friend, and mighty Helper, Who is not only always by their side, but dwells in their heart every day and every hour, and Who is ready to undertake for them in every emergency.
Now, do you look at the Holy Spirit as a thing? Unless we see the Holy Spirit as a Person, we will not understand His work, and we will never enter into His purpose.
People get confused about the triune God. People ask, “Can you explain the triune God?” I cannot explain the triune God, but I can say this: there are a few simple things that have helped me understand how the Godhead works.
First, concerning the Father: God is for us. You remember Romans 8:31:
If God is for us, who then is against us?
As a matter of fact, in my version, the word be is added for understanding. It is simply, “If God for us.” Is that not powerful? God the Father is for us.
Secondly, when we come to the Son: God is with us. You remember the prophecy in Isaiah, later repeated in Matthew 1:23:
They shall call His name Emmanuel; which being interpreted is, God with us.
The Lord Jesus comes and is with us. Finally, when we think of God the Holy Spirit: God is in us.
You remember when the Lord Jesus, in His last discourse with His disciples in John 14, said, “I will go to the Father, and He will give another Comforter of the same kind. He will be with you, and He will be in you.”
God in us. Is that not remarkable? To me, that is the most simple definition of what the Godhead is all about: God is for us, God is with us, and God is in us.
What great provision He has made, and how it ought, in the end, to make us worshipers.
Today we are going to look at three things:
Often we see the work of the Holy Spirit, but we fail to see the purpose of the Holy Spirit. That will make a difference in corporate life.
Secondly, we want to look at the baptism with the Spirit. Maybe only fools would tread where angels dare to go, but there is so much controversy about the baptism with the Holy Spirit that we need to give it some attention. It is a vital component of corporate life, and we need to understand it.
I cannot think of any subject that has divided the church more than this singular subject of the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
Finally, we will look at the filling with the Holy Spirit. If we understand these three things, perhaps we can appreciate how vital, how significant, and how important the Holy Spirit is to corporate life.
Let us begin with the purpose of the Holy Spirit. The works of the Holy Spirit are manifold. I think we can all agree to that. They are numerous, and we do not have time to go into the depths of all His works. We would have to take a month-long conference, and even then we would not touch upon all the works of the Holy Spirit.
But a few of them we need to mention. Through the Holy Spirit, we receive regeneration. When we are born again, we are born of the Spirit; we are regenerated. This is the work of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit convinces men of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He is the great Convictor. I spent so many of my first years as a Christian trying to convince people of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Thank God, it is the Holy Spirit’s work to convince men of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
That does not mean that we do not witness. We should witness. But when the Holy Spirit convicts, they are convinced.
The Lord Jesus said in John 16 that He will lead you into all truth. He is our Teacher. Not only that, the Lord said He would announce to you what is coming, and He will bring you into remembrance of all the things that He has said.
His works are manifold. You cannot begin to tally them all. If you had a great ledger and could tally all the works of the Holy Spirit, you would see that they are many. They are manifold. They are great.
Not only that, the Holy Spirit’s names are manifold. I hope you will look at this during the month as you study the Word. The Holy Spirit has at least twenty-five names in the Bible, and perhaps you may find more.
He is called the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, the Comforter, the Oil of Gladness, the Spirit of Life, the Spirit of Truth, and the Spirit of Judgment. You could go on and on.
He indwells us. He quickens us. He strengthens us in the inner man. He quickens our mortal body, as Romans 8 says. He teaches us how to pray. He intercedes for us according to the will of God.
He makes us worshipers, because the Lord Jesus said to the woman at the well that what God is after is those who worship in spirit and truth.
The Holy Spirit manifests Himself in numerous ways. When you study this month, look at the ways He manifests Himself: as wind, breath, fire, oil, a dove, a seal, and even an earnest.
Brothers and sisters, that is really only the lead-up to the burden on my heart. Though His works are many, His purpose is one.
Often, as believers, we focus upon all the varied and many works of the Holy Spirit. We look at this work and that work. We emphasize this activity and that activity. But we altogether miss the supreme thing throughout the Word of God: the purpose of the Holy Spirit.
The works of the Holy Spirit are many. The purpose of the Holy Spirit is one.
I was taken back to Genesis 1. I think you all know the story, but this is how the Bible begins, and it is significant. Genesis 1:1-2:
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
And the earth was waste and empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
The word God is Elohim. It is the plural God, the supreme Deity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In the beginning was God.
In the very beginning, the Holy Spirit is in place, hovering, brooding over creation, waiting until something in God’s heart would be realized. This is the purpose of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is hovering and brooding. We do not use that word brooding much in modern America, but brooding is like when a chicken sits upon her eggs, waiting for them to hatch.
The Holy Spirit has but one purpose. He is looking over the chaos, over creation, making sure that God’s purpose is realized. That is His one and only focus.
When you come to the end of the Bible, you begin to see the two bookends. Turn with me to Revelation, the last chapter, Revelation 22:17:
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come.
In the beginning, we see the Holy Spirit waiting, hovering, and brooding over creation, waiting to see that what God wants is realized. At the end, we see the close of the Bible and the Holy Spirit joining with the bride, saying, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come.”
This is the purpose of the Holy Spirit. It is to get a corporate vessel. It is to find a bride for Christ.
In all of God’s creation, everything that was made was, in the end, to be that corporate vessel presented to His beloved Son—to be His companion and His helpmate for all eternity. That is the purpose of the Holy Spirit.
When you begin to read in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 about how God’s purpose and plan was to make man in His own image, you begin to see that man was a corporate man. It was man and woman; it was not individuals. He was after a corporate vessel from the beginning.
When it is elaborated upon in Genesis 2, we begin to see that this corporate man is, in fact, a wife. We see it with Adam and Eve, but when you go to Ephesians 5 and come to the end of the Bible, you begin to understand that the whole foreshadowing in creation was that Christ may have a wife.
It was God’s great purpose, and it is the Holy Spirit’s singular purpose.
I hope that helps, because I really think it is a problem today in the church. We look at everything concerning ourselves. We ask, “Will He anoint me? Will He empower me? Will He give me gifts? Will He make me complete?” Always the interest is this way, when the Holy Spirit’s interest is that the Father will have what He is after.
This purpose of the Holy Spirit is wonderfully illustrated in Genesis 24. I know our brother Jerry is speaking on the life of Abraham, so, brother, I promise not to steal your thunder. If your next message was Genesis 24, I apologize.
In Genesis 24, the whole story is about a loving father, Abraham; about a son who was the delight of the father’s heart, in whom he invested everything; and about a faithful servant.
The one purpose of that faithful servant was to go and find a wife for the son of that father’s love. This is the purpose of the Holy Spirit.
The servant managed all the affairs of Father Abraham’s house. Abraham sent him to his own people and said, “Bring me back a wife for my son.” It was the one commission; it was the one purpose.
When the servant found Rebekah at the well, he had prayed, and she did precisely what he prayed. He knew that Rebekah was the helpmate for his master’s son. He knew that. “This is of God” is a phrase in that great story.
Then, of course, he went into the family, and they said, “Let us ask her.” They called Rebekah and said to her, as Genesis 24:57-58 records:
Wilt thou go with this man?
I will go.
Those three words are so precious to me. This is what God is after. He is after one who responds to Him and who will simply say, in the end, “I will go.”
This seems to me to be the purpose of the Holy Spirit—the whole purpose. This foreshadowing in Genesis is fulfilled in the New Testament when we come to see that corporate man prepared as a bride for our Christ.
This is the purpose of the Holy Spirit. It is at the beginning of the Bible. It is at the end of the Bible. It was what was in Father Abraham’s heart, foreshadowing the purpose of God, and it is what is in the Holy Spirit’s heart.
So, brothers and sisters, I hope, first of all, that when we think of the Holy Spirit, we do not think of Him as a thing but as a Person. I hope that we do not think of Him merely as many different things—power, anointing, or enabling—but see the Holy Spirit with one purpose on His heart.
All those other things are included in that one purpose: to bring to the Lord Jesus that eternal companion. That is the purpose of the Holy Spirit.
Now, secondly, let us look at the baptism with the Spirit—the baptism with the Holy Spirit. I believe I have real potential here to offend a few people, so forgive me up front, if you will.
I am not going to hide my background, because I know some of you think I am going to come as a charismatic and use this opportunity to foist upon you my teaching. Maybe at the end you will see that it is different.
I was saved in the Assemblies of God. When I was saved over thirty years ago, anybody who was saved and showed potential, they wanted to rush off to Bible college and make him a minister.
I was convinced of two things. Number one, I could never join the church because, by the Lord Jesus’ work, I was already in the church. Number two, I thought there was no need to go off to Bible college.
Now, if you have gone off to Bible college, do not be offended. But the training ground for believers is the corporate vessel—it is the church. You can learn more by being with the saints and being built up with the saints than you will ever learn by going away to school.
So my brother and I took divergent paths. He went off to Lakeland, Florida, to the Assemblies of God ministering, wondering why I did not. I stayed in Richmond, and I am so grateful that the Lord brought me here with you saints.
Here I have learned something of the corporate vessel. Here I have learned something of God’s purpose that I would never have learned otherwise. Here I began to understand that passion of the Holy Spirit and that desire of the Father: that God would have a wife for His Son.
My background is charismatic. I was saved in the Jesus Movement in the early seventies. I date myself, and I apologize. There was a real move of the Holy Spirit in the Jesus Movement, with all of its excesses.
Then the Lord brought me here. I will never forget the first time I was here with the saints. Stephen spoke on Acts 2. I have told this story before.
Stephen actually offended me a little because he trampled on my teaching. Being a good charismatic, I saw the whole issue of the baptism with the Holy Spirit in a different light.
Our brother’s emphasis was on the end of Acts 2, when Jesus was exalted. My emphasis was upon the experience of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. I never told him that night. I had too much respect to go up and say, “You have trampled all over my teaching.”
But something of the Lord’s purpose got hold of me that night. Something got into me. Something I heard said, “Though you see this differently, this is the purpose of God.” I will never forget it.
Since that night in October 1972, I have been with you saints all these years, learning about the corporate vessel. I will say this, and you may not understand it or even appreciate it, but this is my chief joy: to be with the saints and to know the Lord Jesus.
I have said this only to tell you that some of you may think I have an agenda when it comes to the baptism with the Holy Spirit. I do not. What I thought has been turned upside down, and praise God, I believe the Lord in His mercy balanced me.
Now I see this baptism with the Holy Spirit in what I believe is a fuller way, in a way that touches upon God’s purpose. The baptism with the Holy Spirit is a vital element that brings about the purpose of God.
Without the baptism with the Holy Spirit, we could not be brought into the purpose of God. It would be impossible. We could not have this purpose of the Holy Spirit fulfilled without the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
This matter is so vital that at the beginning of the Lord’s earthly ministry and at the end of the Lord’s earthly ministry, it is emphasized—both as He comes onto the scene and as He leaves the scene.
We have already read John 1:32-34. John bore witness:
I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove from heaven, and It abode upon Him.
Looking back at the beginning of creation, the Holy Spirit was hovering and brooding over the chaos. When we come to the New Testament, we see the Holy Spirit finally finding His place to settle. It is upon the Lord Jesus.
The Holy Spirit comes to rest. That restless dove that has been brooding, going about creation and looking for God’s purpose to be fulfilled, finds its resting place in the Lord.
John said:
Upon Whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on Him, He it is Who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.
And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God.
In the introduction of the Lord Jesus, this was the issue. When He came to be baptized by John in the Jordan, it was said, “He is the One Who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.”
This issue is found in all three Synoptic Gospels. In Matthew and Luke, it says that He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. In Mark 1:8, it says that He will baptize with the Holy Spirit.
But, brothers and sisters, it is not only at the beginning of the Lord’s ministry that this appears. It is also at the end of His ministry, when He goes off the scene.
In Acts 1:4-5, the Lord Himself says:
Being assembled with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to await the promise of the Father, which, said He, ye have heard of Me; for John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence.
The baptism with the Holy Spirit is of extreme importance when it comes to corporate life. Corporate life cannot begin without the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
There seem to be two teachings about the baptism with the Holy Spirit. This is where I may stumble onto your teaching.
The Pentecostal or charismatic teaching states that it is an operation distinct from and additional to regeneration, which is to be sought after and obtained by the believer, and most often accompanied by the sign of tongues. I felt very comfortable in that teaching.
Secondly, there is the fundamental teaching. It states that the baptism is an event synchronous with the reception of Christ, which is never to be repeated and never to be sought.
I hope you see that these are two divergent opinions. Maybe, by the time we end this month studying this subject, we will have a more balanced view than these two extremes. That is my hope, and that is the burden upon my heart.
We do not need to see what man says. What we need to do this month is see what the Word of God says. We need to search the Scriptures. We need to see whether these things are so. If we do, we will grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The first thing about the baptism is that it is not of the Holy Spirit. If you were like me and grew up in a Pentecostal background, we always talked about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
That expression does not occur in the Word of God. It is always the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
What is the difference? You may think, “Brother, you are splitting theological hairs.” Well, I do not have much hair to split. But put it this way: the baptism of the Holy Spirit can become a thing. The baptism with the Holy Spirit is always a Person.
You can be with someone. I think we have made the baptism with the Holy Spirit a thing.
The second thing that confuses many people is the issue of the baptism and the filling with the Holy Spirit. Many people say that the baptism with the Holy Spirit, the filling with the Holy Spirit, and being full of the Holy Spirit are the same thing.
I think if we study the Word of God, we will discover not only that they are two different things, but that they are two different emphases. It is wrong to use these terms interchangeably.
That treads on some of my old theology very hard. We would constantly ask people, regardless of whether Christ was formed in them or whether they had really gone on with the Lord, “Did you have the baptism of the Holy Spirit?” Everything was well if that one element was fulfilled.
But when you come to the filling of the Spirit, you begin to see that it is continuous. It is more than once. It can happen over and over.
There are only two occasions in the Book of Acts where the baptism with the Holy Spirit is used. First, at Pentecost in Acts 2, prefaced by the Lord’s words in Acts 1. This is when the Jews were brought into the purpose of God.
Then again, the word baptism is used following Acts 10, in Acts 11, when Peter stood in Jerusalem and gave an explanation of what happened with the Gentiles at Cornelius’s house.
These are the only places in the Book of Acts where the baptism with the Holy Spirit is used. There is a significance. There is meaning.
There is one verse in the whole Bible that explains it: 1 Corinthians 12:13.
For in one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body.
That is the baptism with the Holy Spirit. To explain it more succinctly: it is not an individual experience; it is a corporate experience.
When we believe in the Lord Jesus, at least two things happen to us. First, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Using a generic word that goes across both filling and baptism, we receive the Holy Spirit.
You remember when the Lord Jesus was with His disciples in that room, where they were in fear of the Jews. He came to them, breathed into them, and said:
Receive ye the Holy Spirit.
When we believe in the Lord Jesus and are born of the Spirit, the first thing that happens is that we receive the Holy Spirit. He indwells us.
But there is a second marvelous thing: when we believe in the Lord Jesus and are born of the Spirit, we are brought into the body of Christ. We are baptized with the Holy Spirit.
That is significant. Those who say the baptism with the Holy Spirit is an experience that must wait until later are saying that you are never a part of the body until the day you have that baptism.
We have all been baptized by one Spirit into one body.
The significance and meaning of the baptism with the Holy Spirit—and the reason it is only mentioned twice in the Book of Acts—is that it is the birth of the body and the making of the corporate vessel.
The reason it occurs at Pentecost is because that is when the Jews were brought into the body. The Gentiles had not yet been brought in. The reason it occurs the second time in Acts 10 is because that is when the Gentiles—Cornelius, his household, and his friends—were brought in.
Therefore, 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “Jew and Greek.” The baptism with the Spirit is a historic event that we enter into later when we are saved.
When we are born of the Spirit, we receive the Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes into us and indwells us. When we are born of the Spirit, we come into that corporate vessel. We are baptized with the Spirit into one body, and we become part of that corporate vessel.
Only because of the baptism with the Holy Spirit is corporate life even possible.
Now, the filling with the Spirit is our last subject. The filling with the Spirit occurs seven times—the perfect number—in the Book of Acts. Either it is the filling of the Spirit or people are said to be filled with the Spirit.
It occurs over and over. It can represent an individual experience of the Holy Spirit, and sometimes it represents a corporate setting. You see the filling of the Holy Spirit happen in the corporate setting.
It may happen to the same people more than one time, as we read in the Book of Acts. How can that be? It is distinct and different from the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and you may enter into it now or later.
Perhaps this will help clarify things. The filling of the Holy Spirit is actually given to us when we are born again. Now, this is where the charismatics all run out. Do not do that to me. Just stick with me for a moment, and maybe you will understand.
It is actually given to us in a package deal. When you buy a new car—you get a package. I am not encouraging us to support GM this morning, even though you may automatically have that impression.
When we come to the Lord Jesus and are born again, we receive the Holy Spirit, we are baptized by His Spirit, and actually we have the filling of the Spirit at that time.
Why, then, are there seven occasions throughout the Book of Acts if it all happens at one time? This is where we get in trouble. Even though we are given everything in the Lord Jesus when we are born again, we may not enter into it at that time.
We may not activate the Holy Spirit at that time. Some people, like Moody, came later into an experience of the filling of the Holy Spirit. Finney came into the filling of the Spirit when he was born again. I too, when I was born again—not when I was born, but when I was born again—came into the filling of the Spirit.
It is God’s heart that we would know the filling of the Spirit from the beginning. But sometimes, due to our condition, our makeup, or because we are filled with other things, we are not filled with the Holy Spirit.
One brother, Dr. Erdman of Philadelphia, explained the difference between the baptism and the filling in this simple way:
One baptism, many fillings.
You are not supposed to have only one filling of the Holy Spirit. Those who were at Pentecost were praying in Acts 4, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit again.
There are many fillings. In fact, Ephesians 5:18 says:
Be ye filled with the Holy Spirit.
It means, “Be ye continually filled,” or “Be ye being filled with the Holy Spirit.”
The baptism with the Holy Spirit is what we enter into at new birth, when we come into that corporate vessel and are born into the body of Christ. The filling of the Holy Spirit is what we are given at new birth, though we may not appropriate it then. We may later activate it as the Lord works in us.
The word filling of the Holy Spirit is completely different from the phrase baptism with the Holy Spirit. They are two different Greek words. One means infilling, and the other means outfilling.
The Holy Spirit infills us so that the life of Christ might be in us. It is filling for life. It means filled up, leveled up, filled full. We need life.
The Keswick teaching emphasizes the indwelling life. That is the first Greek word. Charismatics are always emphasizing power, service, and outward expression. That second word is the outfilling, and it is filling for service. It is for function.
When we come to this matter of the filling with the Holy Spirit, we have two things: the infilling and the outfilling. We need both, and we need to be continually filled—in and out.
There is a restaurant out on the West Coast I went to years ago: In-N-Out. I thought of the Holy Spirit. Great hamburgers. I think they are Christians; they have a verse on all their cups and fries. If you know me, you know how I love fries, so I ate many fries.
We need the Holy Spirit filled within, and we need the Holy Spirit filled without. We cannot live this life as Christians without the filling of the Holy Spirit. We cannot serve without the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Do you not think it is strange that in the first problem of the church in Acts, when the Hellenistic widows were neglected, the solution for serving tables was to find men full of the Holy Spirit?
You would think anybody could serve tables. We have lowered the standard for service to such a degree that we say, “If you are a warm body and have a pulse, you can serve the Lord.”
But from the earliest days in the Book of Acts, even those who served tables were full of the Holy Spirit. What a difference.
Do we wonder why the corporate life was so strong? This is the reason. They knew something of the infilling for life, and they knew something of the outfilling for service.
Let me answer just a few questions, and then I will close. I have probably worn you out, but these are vital questions.
Why have I not experienced the filling of the Spirit on a continual basis? One reason is that you cannot fill something that is full. You may be full of something else.
I believe, as our brother Nee and those dear ones learned in China, they learned a great lesson when they saw the excesses concerning the Holy Spirit: Calvary precedes Pentecost.
That is not merely a historical explanation. The cross has to do a work in us so that we are not full of ourselves and can be filled to all fullness with the Holy Spirit.
Secondly, will a specific sign follow? Oh, I used to believe this. Though I loved and respected dear Stephen, I was in total disagreement with his explanation.
When you look at Acts 2:2, there was a hard breathing that preceded the event. In Acts 2:4, there were tongues. In Acts 4:8, when Peter confronted the high priest, utterance was given.
In Acts 4:31, when they were filled after corporate prayer, boldness was given. When you look at Saul in Acts 9:17, his eyes were opened—that was the sign.
When you look at Acts 13:9, when Saul turned on Bar-Jesus the magician, discernment was given. In Acts 13:52, Paul and Barnabas were filled with joy.
To my dear friends in the charismatic movement, though you may not claim me, I do not believe there is one sign. Scripture will not support that position.
Third question: does it require the laying on of hands? This is a good question because when you look at the Samaritans in Acts 8:17, Peter and John laid hands on them before they received.
That was a special case because these Samaritans were neither Jew nor Gentile; they were a mixture. In one sense, this is a special case of baptism because they would have nothing to do with the Jews.
The Lord moved upon them so that there would be one body, one corporate vessel in Christ. Peter and John laid hands on them.
If we look at the disciples of John in Acts 19, Paul laid hands on them. This was a verse I used to use often because it says, “Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?” We would use that as reinforcement for our argument that the Holy Spirit comes afterward.
But if you read carefully, these were disciples of John. They had not even been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Even Apollos had been instructed only in the teaching of John.
Paul laid hands on them. But if you look at Pentecost, no one laid hands on them. If you look at Acts 4:31, at the corporate meeting, no one laid hands on them.
I think we should be careful and warned, as we study this month, not to make a rule out of something that the Scriptures do not make a rule.
We who see the Lord’s purpose can enter into the filling of the Holy Spirit without any help from any man. You may be in your closet, in a meeting, or in prayer, but God can fill you to overflowing with His Spirit.
Well, that is the burden for this month. I hope you will study it. I hope you will take all the Scriptures concerning the Holy Spirit and meditate on them.
I hope you will think about it, even if it challenges your own experience. I hope you will consider that it is better to know what the Word says than to do what man says.
Praise God, every provision has been made that Christ would be in us by the Holy Spirit. We can receive the Holy Spirit. We are baptized with the Spirit into this corporate vessel.
We are filled with the Spirit so that we may be able to live this life within the body and serve with the fullness of the Spirit. This is what I believe the burden about the Holy Spirit in corporate life is.
There is a little poem:
Father, by this blessed filling,
Dwell Thyself in us, we pray.We are waiting;
Thou art working.
We are waiting;
Thou art working.Fill us
With Thyself.
Lord, I want to ask You to teach us this month about the Holy Spirit. Teach us Your ways, Lord. Show us Your purpose.
Bring us into all that is provided in Christ Jesus. Fill us with Your Spirit, that we might live together as that corporate vessel that will eventually be the bride of Christ.
We want to say with the Spirit of God, in that last mention of the Holy Spirit:
The Spirit and the bride say, Come.
For we ask this in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.