LIFE IN THE SPIRIT Part 3: Baptized With The Spiritin+the+Spirit/Part+3...3 Jesus Christ. The second has to do with us being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Let’s begin with what the

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LIFE IN THE SPIRIT

Part 3: Baptized With The Spirit

Over the next few weeks we are going to lay the theological

foundation for our personal experience of the power of the Holy

Spirit.

Foundation = a body or ground on which other parts rest or

are overlaid:

Our personal experience must always stand on the grounds of

Biblical truth. In other words, “What does it look like to operate in

the power of the Spirit, be filled with the Spirit, anointed by the

Spirit, and led by the Spirit ?”

This morning’s study is the centerpiece of that foundation. We’re

going study about being baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Some use the term baptized in the Holy Spirit, others refer to it

as the baptism of the Spirit.

It’s my great desire, my great prayer, that this morning’s study will

clearly address questions like: What is it? Do I need it? Do I have it?

Should I even care about it? How do I get it?

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One of the shortest sermons I’ve ever preached is on John 3:16

titled: The Greatest! It’s safe to say that that without a doubt John

3:16 is the greatest statement, the greatest promise, ever made to

the world: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only

begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but

have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

I believe that we can say with the same degree of certainty that

the greatest promise ever made to the church is found in Acts 1:8

- “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon

you.”

The greatest statement, the greatest promise, made to the world

was about Jesus. The greatest statement, the greatest promise,

made to the church was made by Jesus.

The promise to the world has to do with regeneration — being

made alive to God, becoming a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17).

The promise made to the church has to do with unction —

enabled and empowered to live for Jesus in the world.

There is no Christian life without those promises! The first promise

is the means by which we become Christians. The second promise

is the means by which we live on mission as faithful and fruitful

witnesses for Jesus. The first has to do with us putting our faith in

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Jesus Christ. The second has to do with us being baptized in the

Holy Spirit.

Let’s begin with what the Bible says about our need to be

baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Our need to be baptized with the Holy Spirit sits like bookends in

the ministry of Jesus. Our need to be baptized with the Holy Spirit

is declared at the very beginning of the public ministry of Jesus.

Our need to be baptized with the Holy Spirit is so essential to the

Christian life, so necessary for living on mission, that John “the

baptizer” refers to it when introducing Jesus to the nation of Israel.

Luke 3:15-16 As the people were in expectation, and all were

questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might

be the Christ, 16John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you

with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of

whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you

with the Holy Spirit….

John was talking about Jesus. This experience of being baptized

with the Holy Spirit is something that Jesus does to us! Jesus is the

baptizer — the Holy Spirit is the “element,” if-you-would, that He

baptizes us with. That truth is so crucial for us. It should alleviate

any and all fears concerning this experience because it is the lover

of our souls who is immersing us into the person and power of

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the Holy Spirit. Jesus will never do to us that we should be afraid

of!

Here’s the other bookend! We find it again at the close of Christ’s

earthly ministry. Our need to be baptized with the Holy Spirit is so

essential to the Christian life, so necessary for living on mission;

that Jesus refers to it at the close of His earthly ministry in His

parting words to his disciples

Luke 24:49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my

Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with

power from on high.”

When Jesus spoke those words to the disciples, they were already

converted. The Holy Spirit had already come to live in them.

John 20:22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them

and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

Remember, last week we learned that Jesus described the

relationship of the Holy Spirit to the believer by way of three

prepositions: with, in and upon. At that moment in John 20:22 the

Holy Spirit is in them. As we learned last week, it is the work of

the Holy Spirit in us that causes us to be regenerated, born again,

become new creations. That is the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

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You cannot be a Christian unless the Holy Spirit is in you through

repentance and faith in Jesus! Romans 8:8-9; 16

Through repentance (turning away from our sin, turn away from

our idols) and faith in Jesus (trusting in His the finished work of

the cross to save us), the Holy Spirit comes to live in us and we

are regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

You can't be a Christian without the Holy Spirit in you! But there is

a second work of the Holy Spirit, a second experience of the

Holy Spirit for Christians. That second experience is wrapped up in

the preposition upon. He is in every born again child of God. But

Jesus said that there is an experience of the Holy Spirit in which

He comes upon the child of God. We refer to that experience as

being baptized with the Spirit, baptism in the Spirit, baptism of the

Spirit, being filled with the Holy Spirit.

That is what John was talking about as was preparing the nation

for the ministry of Jesus, and that is what Jesus was talking about

at the end of Luke’s Gospel when he said to his disciples — who

already had the Spirit in them — "Behold I'm sending forth the

promise of my Father upon you. You will be clothed in power

from on high."

Acts 1:8 "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come

upon you."

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Remember — the Holy Spirit had come to live in them back in

John 20:22. Now Jesus speaks of a second work of the Holy Spirit

in the life of the believer. It's not the “in” experience. It's

separate and distinct from. We can’t over state this — the

experience of the Holy Spirit living in us has to do with salvation,

regeneration, conversion. The Holy Spirit living in us makes us

Christians, sons and daughters of God. The “upon” experience of

the Holy Spirit is not about becoming a Christian. It is all about

the power, enabling, and filling we need for faithful and fruitful

witness.

THIS IS HUGE — What you call this experience: filled with the

Holy Spirit, baptized with the Holy Spirit, baptized in the Holy

Spirit, Spirit baptism, is not paramount. What’s is paramount is

that we have the experience.

Here’s how Jesus clearly framed it —

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has

come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and

in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end (the remotest parts) of

the earth.”

Being baptized with the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential,

absolutely vital for us to be faithful in our witness and mission.

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How essential is it? Jesus forbade his disciples from even

beginning the work of the Great Commission until they had

received power from on high, until they were baptized in the Holy

Spirit. Look at Acts 1:4-5 —

4And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart

from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which,

he said, “you heard from me; 5for John baptized with water, but

you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from

now.”

There's the term: baptized with the Holy Spirit.

DON’T MISS THIS — The issue here is being witnesses for Christ!

Jesus says (and it’s quite mind blowing), Don't even attempt to be

a witness for me until you have the power from on high, the Holy

Spirit has come upon you. Yes, the Holy Spirit is in you, but He

must come upon you. Don't do anything until you have that.

Our need for the Holy Spirit to come upon us is wrapped up in

what it means to be a “witness” for Jesus. There are three

essential elements to being a faithful witness to Jesus:

1. To exalt Christ

2. To live a holy life — a life separated from sin and separated

to God,

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3. To be on mission with Jesus for His glory.

Those thee things should strike a familiar chord — loud and clear!

When we were getting to know who the Holy Spirit is we learned

that He is passionate about three things. The Holy Spirit is

passionate about Jesus, passionate about holiness and passionate

about mission.

When we were looking at the what of the Holy Spirit, what it is

that He does, we learned that He is always going to be

manifesting Himself and moving in our lives individually and within

the church corporately toward his passions — Jesus, holiness and

mission. We need to get this printed deep in our hearts. That

needs to be in the DNA of our identity; who we are and what

we’re about as believers and as a church. The Holy Spirit is always

seeking to work in and through our lives for the exaltation of

Christ, the living out of holiness and the mission of Christ. That is

the definition of faithful witness!

THIS IS SO HUGE. It certainly has been hitting me like a freight

train, and I believe it’s been big on the hearts of so many here at

Metro. I want you to think about this in regards to those three

elements: When the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples

everything changed forever.

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We have the record of this happening to them in Acts 2. As we

look at the account we will see how radically things changed.

By the way — it’s at this very point that so many of us halt and

hesitate in regards to being baptized with the Holy Spirit.

CHANGE! EVERYTHING changes! We’re not quite sure that we

want anything to change — let alone want everything to change.

DON’T MISS THIS — We are gathered today as redeemed rebels

on our way to heaven because the first Christians waited for,

looked for and longed for the Holy Spirit to come upon them. The

Gospel reached all the way out to us because they were radically

changed!

Acts 2:1-3 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all

together in one place. 2And suddenly there came from heaven

a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire

house where they were sitting. 3And divided tongues as of fire

appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4And they

were all filled with the Holy Spirit

Jesus said, “You'll be baptized with the Spirit.” The description of it

is that were “filled with the Holy Spirit.” We can use both

terminologies; but I believe there is some nuance in the term

“filled with the Spirit” that we'll look at next week.

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One thing is obvious to us in this scene — There is nothing

normal about this scene! There’s a sound like a might rushing

wind! There’s fire! And they are filled with the Holy Spirit. NOT

NORMAL doesn't stop there.

and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them

utterance. 5Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout

men from every nation under heaven. 6And at this sound the

multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because

each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7And

they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these

who are speaking Galileans? 8And how is it that we hear, each

of us in his own native language? 9Parthians and Medes and

Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,

Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts

of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11both

Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them

telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

The Disciples are speaking in tongues because the Holy Spirit has

come upon them — and all of these people are hearing what

these men are saying, not only in their own language, but in

specific dialects of their ethnic languages! NOT NORMAL!

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12And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another,

“What does this mean?” 13But others mocking said, “They are

filled with new wine.”

This was so NOT NORMAL that everyone thought they were

wasted!

14But Peter,

We are going to see that this is a radically different Peter than the

Peter we see in the Gospels at the time of the trial and crucifixion

of Jesus! This is Peter filled with the Holy Spirit!

14But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and

addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem,

let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15For these

men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third

hour of the day. 16But this is what was uttered through the

prophet Joel:

Peter quotes from the “minor prophet” Joel (Joel 2).

17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,

This is big stuff! Under the empowering of the Spirit Peter gives a

fresh definition of the “Last Days”. If anyone says, “How do we

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know we are living in the “Last Days” simply point them to Acts 2

where Peter defines the last days for us. The “Last Days” are from

Pentecost until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The “Last Days”

prophecy of Joel is being fulfilled on the day of Pentecost in 32AD.

The close of the “Last Days” is at the Second Coming of Jesus

Christ.

Pentecost has already happened. The Second Coming has not

happened. METRO — by Biblical definition, we are living in the

“Last Days.”

All the way down to verse 21 is just the introduction to the first

sermon preached in Church history.

This is a different Peter! Britt Merrick called him “Pentecost Pete.”

Peter goes on to preach this incredible sermon that begins in

verse 22 and ends at verse 36. Jump down to what happened at

the close of his preaching.

36Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God

has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you

crucified.” 37Now when they heard this they were cut to the

heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers,

what shall we do?” 38And Peter said to them, “Repent and be

baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the

forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the

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Holy Spirit. 39For the promise is for you and for your children

and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God

calls to himself.” 40And with many other words he bore witness

and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from

this crooked generation.” 41So those who received his word

were baptized, and there were added that day about three

thousand souls.

EVERYTHING changed when the Holy Spirit came upon the

church. Peter went from denying Christ to proclaiming Christ. The

night before Jesus was crucified Peter was at the house of the high

priest where Jesus was being interrogated and beaten. One of the

servant girls said to him, “Aren't you one of those guys who were

with Jesus. He denied with a curse that he even knew Jesus. In

other words, Peter said “May God kill me and damn me if I'm

lying…. I don't know Jesus!” Peter went from cowardly denial to

boldly proclaiming Jesus as the crucified and risen Lord! He went

from being afraid of a servant girl to standing before all of

Jerusalem proclaiming Jesus! THAT is power from on high!

The same is true of the other disciples. Where were the disciples

when Christ was crucified? All but John fled fearing for themselves

in light of the cross. But after the Spirit came upon the church

every single one of them (with the exception of John) died violent

deaths for preaching the cross of Jesus Christ.

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EVERYTHING changed when the Holy Spirit came upon the

church. They operated in the power of the Holy Spirit — Power

from on high. As a result of the church being baptized with the

Holy Spirit the world was never the same!

Jesus modeled this very life. Jesus stepped into our humanity. At

the Incarnation nothing was subtracted from Jesus’ divinity. His

deity was not diminished in anyway. Instead, in His incarnation

Jesus added humanity to His deity. Theologians refer to this as the

Hypostatic Union. Hypostasis means that Jesus is one person with

two natures: divinity and humanity joined together in the person

of Jesus — fully God and fully man.

THIS IS HUGE — For us to understand the DYNAMICS of our

mission we need to understand the relationship of Jesus to God

the Holy Spirit. In His humanity Jesus showed us that the disciple

is to live a life that begins with the Holy Spirit, and is empowered

and directed by the Holy Spirit. Follow me.

We are told in both Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels that Mary

conceived Jesus by the power of God the Holy Spirit (Matthew

1:20; Luke 1:34-35). In Luke 2:11 Jesus is called “Christ,” which

means anointed.

Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the

Lord has anointed me

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We will talk about the idea of anointing in a couple of weeks.

Jesus was “anointed” or “empowered” by the Holy Spirit to

undertake His mission. At the beginning of His public ministry,

Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the baptizer. As

Jesus came out of the water Luke tells us that

Luke 3:21b-22 …..the heavens were opened, 22and the Holy

Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove;

So the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus, as Jesus was about to begin

His three years of ministry leading up to His death on the cross for

our sins. Luke then tells us that Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit

into the wilderness for 40 days where Jesus was tempted by Satan

and resisted, refuted and defeated Satan in each temptation. Then

Luke writes

Luke 4:14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to

Galilee,

Luke 4:16-21 16And he came to Nazareth, where he had been

brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue

on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17And the scroll

of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll

and found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the

Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim

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good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to

the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at

liberty those who are oppressed, 19to proclaim the year of the

Lord’s favor.” 20And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to

the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the

synagogue were fixed on him. 21And he began to say to them,

“Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

NO SMALL SIDE NOTE — People misunderstand and misrepresent

the “Spirit-Led” and “Spirit-filled” life. Jesus is the perfect example

of what the “Spirit-filled” life looks like. If you want to know what

“Spirit-filled” and “Spirit-led” looks like, forget the bizarre stuff you

see on TV or in a lot of churches and simply look at Jesus.

WE LOOK AT JESUS and we see that His mission was begun by,

empowered and directed by the Holy Spirit. All of the ministry

Jesus did, as powerful as it was, was done by the power of the

Holy Spirit. He said, if I cast out demons I do it by the Spirit of

God — that same power is given to the church.

There is no genuine Christian life, there is no fruitful life and

ministry apart from the person and power of the Holy Spirit. WE

need to be born again by the power of the Holy Spirit, and we

need the Holy Spirit to empower us in our mission. LISTEN — If

the sinless Son of God was in need of the power of the Holy Spirit

how much more do we, whose sins are so many (and the day isn't

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even half finished) need the power of the Holy Spirit?

METRO — I want you to listen very carefully please. I'm going to

repeat myself. There is the Holy Spirit in us, converting us; then

there is the Holy Spirit coming upon us — filling us. These are

two separate and distinct experiences for the Christian.

You're not a Christian without the Spirit living in you. But not

every Christian has yet had the Holy Spirit come upon them for

empowering them, filling them, enabling them to live faithful,

fruitful lives on mission with Jesus and for Jesus.

That experience is available for every single Christian, but not

every Christian has had it. We can see this proven in scripture.

We’ve already seen in Acts 1 and 2 that the Holy Spirit was

poured out upon men and women who we know we already

indwelled by the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). There's a separation

between those two events. We see this happening again in Acts 8

where there are men and women who were converted under the

ministry of Philip.

Acts 8:14-17 14Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that

Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter

and John, 15who came down and prayed for them that they

might receive the Holy Spirit, 16for he had not yet fallen on any

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of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the

Lord Jesus. 17Then they laid their hands on them and they

received the Holy Spirit.

These people were beyond question believers — saved and

regenerate. As such they had to be indwelled by the Holy Spirit.

But though they had experienced the work of the Holy Spirit in

regeneration, they had not yet experienced the work of Jesus

baptizing them with the Holy Spirit; they had not yet had the

upon experience of the Holy Spirit.

We see the same thing in the life of Paul the Apostle.

Acts 9:4-6 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to

him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5And he said,

“Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are

persecuting. 6But rise and enter the city, and you will be told

what you are to do.”

Acts 9:10-12; 15-17 Now there was a disciple at Damascus

named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And

he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11And the Lord said to him, “Rise and

go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look

for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, 12and

he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay

his hands on him so that he might regain his sight”…. 15But the

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Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to

carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children

of Israel. 16For I will show him how much he must suffer for the

sake of my name.” 17So Ananias departed and entered the

house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the

Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you

came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be

filled with the Holy Spirit.”

After his dramatic conversion Paul received the UPON experience

of the Spirit.

We see the same thing in Acts 19 (which by the way is some 20

years after Acts 2).

Acts 19:1-6 And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth,

Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus.

There he found some disciples.

That word disciple is only and always used in Acts to reference

Christians.

2And 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.”…… 6And when Paul had laid his

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hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began

speaking in tongues and prophesying.

We can’t escape this! Sometimes people are born again, converted,

regenerated, saved, the Spirit dwelling in them, but they don't

experience the Holy Spirit coming upon them until a later time.

By the way — we do see in Acts 10 an example of how you can

have the “in” and the “upon” experience of the Holy Spirit at the

same time.

THAT’S A LOT OF GROUND WORK; ALL TO MAKE THIS POINT

What if the disciples hadn't obeyed Jesus and waited in Jerusalem

until they received power from on high? What if Peter and John

hadn't gone to Samaria to pray for those new converts? What if

Ananias had refused to go to Paul? What if Paul hadn't gone to

the church in Ephesus? What would have happened?

Well they would have still all been Christians but there would have

been a weakness to their Christianity. It would have been a frail,

humanly powered Christianity — nothing close to the fullness of

what the Father had for them through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It would have been a “naked” Christianity! Remember what Jesus

said at the end of Luke’s Gospel

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Luke 24:49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my

Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with

power from on high.”

That’s radical to think about in light of the words of Jesus to the

church in Laodicea

Revelation 3:17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I

need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor,

blind, and naked.

They would have collapsed under the weight of the mission and

crumbled under the heat of persecution that raged against them.

Weak, frail, humanly powered, mission challenged, timid,

intimidated and less than ideal Christianity — naked, stripped of

power! I say this with love and I say it knowing that this

description has been staring me right in my face over the weeks

leading up to this series and up to this very moment: This is a

description of many Christians today. They — and let’s be real

with ourselves — WE wonder why our Christianity feels that way.

And so many think that the remedy is simply a function of trying

harder. It's not a matter of trying harder! It's about receiving more!

It's about receiving power from on high — power that changes

everything — power that changes the world!

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How do I know if I've been baptized in the Holy Spirit? The

issue is power from God.

Many here would confess that they have experienced a genuine

work of the work of the Holy Spirit in their life. After all, He didn't

take up residence in you to sit and do nothing! He's in you,

working in you to will and do of the Father’s pleasure! But it is

possible to have the work of the Spirit in your life — yet come

short of the fullness of His work of enabling and empowering by

way of the Holy Spirit coming upon you.

Take for example the story of D. L. Moody, that great, famous

American evangelist from Chicago. He died in 1899. Moody had a

great ministry. He had planted churches in Chicago. Out of his

ministry came the Moody Bible Institute and Moody Publishing.

He was already doing an incredible work for God. The Spirit was at

work in him. But when he would preach at meetings there were

two little ladies that always sat in the front row. Their names were

Mrs. Snow and Auntie Cook. Whenever Moody finished preaching

they would come up Moody with a smile on their face and say

we're praying for you. Moody would reply with a “thank you.” But

after a while it really bugged him until finally, one day, he replied

— "Well you're praying for me why don't you pray for the people,

for the lost, that they get saved, pray for them, not me." And their

reply was — We're praying for you to have the power. That

totally derailed Moody! But he took it to heart and began to

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bring it before the Lord in prayer. Not long after that exchange

Moody was in New York en route to London — walking down Wall

Street. And as he was praying he was suddenly filled with the

Holy Spirit. He was overwhelmed with the presence of Christ like

he'd never been before; so much so that he ran to a friend's house,

knocked on the door and begged him to give him a private spot

in his house. There in that room he laid in the presence of Christ

for hours.

Moody continued on to London where he preached and saw

thousands of people saved. Two little ladies who said — We’re

praying that you get the power. There was something of the work

of the Spirit before, but he discovered there was something more

to be had. He was so convinced of this that later in his life he said

this.

Quote: D.L. Moody — "I've lived long enough to know that if I

cannot have the power of the Spirit of God on me to help me

work for him I would rather die than to just live for living's

sake."

QUESTION — What are some of the barriers then to the

baptism of the Holy Spirit? Why is it that not every Christian has

experienced this yet?

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THE FIRST is tied to God's sovereignty. Sometimes God's timing

is a mysterious thing. Why was Cornelius and his household

baptized in the Spirit at the same time they believed — but the

believers in Samaria weren’t — the believers in Ephesus weren't —

and Paul wasn't? I don't know. I don't have an answer for that

one. That sits with the sovereignty of God who does what He

wants — when He wants!

2. Sometimes there’s an element of ignorance — like in Acts 19,

the believers in Ephesus.

3. This is a big one — if not the biggest! I alluded to it earlier on.

Often times the barrier to us being filled in the Holy Spirit is

because we have a deep refusal to yield our will to His. We're

committed to our own agenda and our own will. The Holy Spirit

will never fill you and then say, Now you have power from on high

— go do what ever it is that you want to do! The Holy Spirit is

going to come upon you, fill you, and say, Here’s what Jesus wants!

There must be a desire for the empowering of the Spirit. But it

must be married to a willingness to surrender your own will to the

will of Christ.

4. There can be a refusal to repent of sin. Remember — the

empowering of the Holy Spirit will always move us toward holiness.

A refusal to repent of certain sins is essentially saying to Holy

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Spirit, I don't want holiness. That’s a barrier because the Holy

Spirit is the Spirit of holiness.

5. This might be one of the biggest — if not the biggest barrier: A

lack of deep conviction of need. You just might be satisfied in

your weak Christian experience. That's a barrier. If you don't

desire to live a holy life on mission that exalts Jesus — you don't

need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

6. Wrong motive. Some people are seeking the filling of the Holy

Spirit — not because they're actually desiring to exalt Christ, live a

holy life and live on mission with Jesus for His glory. They're just

after some sort of “experience.” They want to be exalted and

personally gratified with some display of power.

So then what must be done? I’m praying that the Lord is using

this series — this morning — to flood your heart and your mind

with an overwhelming sense of your deep and real need to be

baptized in the Holy Spirit. It is absolutely essential for faithful

and fruitful Christian living.

I’m praying that the Holy Spirit is working in your heart to forsake

the sin that is holding you back from a life of holiness.

I’m praying that the Lord is working in all of our hearts this

morning a desire to surrender our will to God's will. If we are not

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willing to surrender — in varying degrees at various times — our

will to God's will, there's no need for us to ask for the filling of the

Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit will always lead us in the will of

God.

HERE’S THE DEAL — At the end of the day we have to ASK!

Simply ASK! Here's what Jesus said

Luke 11:9-13 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you;

seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

10For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds,

and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11What father

among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give

him a serpent; 12or if he asks for an egg, will give him a

scorpion? 13If you then, who are evil, know how to give good

gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father

give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

God is not your heavenly Father unless the Holy Spirit is living in

you! Jesus is talking about the promise of the Father to pour out

the Holy Spirit on our lives so that Jesus would be exalted, we

would be holy and we would live on mission with Him for His

glory!

Our heavenly Father wants us to ask because He desires to give

this to us. Jesus said that we need to ask. It is God's will that

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every one of his children are filled with the Holy Spirit. Therefore

we have a tremendous confidence when we come in faith asking

for that which He desires.

What will happen when the Holy Spirit comes upon us? How

will we know that we've received Spirit baptism?

FIRST — We that ask in faith and receive by faith. The entire

Christian life is a life of faith. We receive Jesus by faith, we walk

by faith, and we receive the Spirit by faith.

Having dealt with our motives, having surrendered our will to His,

having dealt with our sin issues, having confessed our deep need

for and dependence upon the power of the Holy Spirit — we

come and we ask. We ask in faith. Asking in faith means that

we’re not demanding a certain sort of sign — we’re not judging

our experience on the basis of a certain sort of sign. We receive it

by faith.

Having said that — there just may be some signs. At Pentecost

there was tongues — elsewhere in Acts there was tongues and the

gift of prophecy. We're going to speak about those things in a few

weeks. For the believers in Samaria there was no documented,

immediate, accompanying sign. So there may be, there may not

be accompanying signs. That was the case in my life. When I was

baptized in the Holy Spirit there was no immediate sign. There

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might be an overwhelming, indescribable experience of the love of

the Father — that was my experience in a little single-wide trailer

that served as the school library at a Catholic elementary school. I

can’t describe it in a way that would do it justice — but there was

this warm and beautiful and all encompassing sense that God was

pouring His love out upon me. John Wesley talks about what he

called the strange warming of his heart on one evening at

Aldersgate Street in England.

I didn't even know it was a baptism in the Holy Spirit until years

later. But I do know this — Though there was not an

accompanying sign at the time like tongues or prophesy, there

was profound change in my life — a radical missional shift — a

profound hunger for the Word of God and a desire to serve Jesus

and His people.

THIS IS IMPORTANT — Not everybody is the same. We receive

this “upon” experience of the Holy Spirit by faith — whether we

feel, hear or see something or not. That is the Christian life. It is

one of faith. We take God at his word.

Regardless of what we feel or don't feel, see or don't see, if we

are baptized with the Holy Spirit there will be power — power

for faithful and fruitful living — boldness to speak for Jesus. You

cannot be baptized with the Holy Spirit and not receive power.

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CLOSE —

1. This upon experience of the Holy Spirit is not optional. We are

commanded to ask for and to seek to be baptized with the Spirit.

It's not a matter of preference. It's not like you can be sitting here

today and say, I hear you but nah, I don't want it. It's not optional.

It's God's will for everyone of his sons and daughters to be

baptized in the Holy Spirit.

2. Secondly, baptism in the Holy Spirit is not a reward. It is the

gift of the promise of the Father. It if is a gift then it is free and it

cannot be worked for or merited or deserved in any manner. It's

not received as a reward for hours of prayer or sacrifices you’ve

made for Jesus.

Those things are fine but the Holy Spirit is given to us as a free

gift of God's grace provided in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus

has already made the sacrifice for us to be filled with the Spirit.

It’s a promise of a loving Father, the loving Father.

We don't have to — and neither can we — coerce, beg or cajole

God into giving to us that which we need and that whom he

promised. Waiting on the Spirit, praying more, surrendering more

— those things aren't going to merit the baptism of the Spirit.

Those things ought to be a reflection and expression of our heart

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towards the Holy Spirit — but they done earn the empowering of

the Spirit.

3. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not exclusive. It’s not reserved

for ordained ministers. Nor is it the mark of the super spiritual. All

believers are told to expect it.

So now what’s left for us is to actually do this! We're not just

going to listen to a sermon. We're actually going to do what the

Bible says. We’re going to seek the promise of the Father, the

baptism of the Holy Spirit.