Sermon Outline for Sunday, June 13, 20, & 27 2021

Receiving the Spirit Baptism

Ephesians 5:18 ESV

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,

Acts 2:1 ESV

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.

Acts 2:37-40 ESV

Now 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?” And 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 Holy Spirit. For 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.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls

As Pentecostals, Spirit baptism is not regeneration or necessarily at the point of salvation, what is required for one to receive this fullness of the Spirit? The Scriptures do not give a formula, but we believe in the following order: Salvation, Sanctification (ongoing, never ending), Spirit Baptism. There are a lot of myths and misinformation concerning Spirit Baptism, so we want to look at a few considerations from the Word of God to clear up some of this misinformation.

As Church of God, we believe “In Speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance and that it is the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost.”

INITIAL EVIDENCE: The first manifestation of the baptism with the Holy Spirit that is observed outwardly is that the recipient speaks in tongues by the power of the Holy Spirit. The term “initial” is used to specify that speaking in tongues is the first in the order of externally observable evidences. However, it is also used to indicate that other evidences are expected to follow. (SCRIPTURE AFFIRMATION: Acts 2:4; Acts 2:7, 8; Acts 8:17-19; Acts 10:44-46; Acts 11:15-17; Acts 19:5-6)

• The Experience is for ALL believers:

• Joel’s prophecy, repeated by Peter on the Day of Pentecost, stresses that this outpouring of the Spirit is for all believers. This is sometimes called the democratization of the Spirit, in distinction to the Old Testament in which the Spirit was for a select few. The Lord now desires to put His Spirit upon all His people (Num. 11:29; Joel 2:28–29). Parallel to this is the idea that the promised outpouring of the Spirit upon individual believers transcends time and race, for the promise is “ ‘for you [Jews] and your children [descendants] and for all who are far off’ ” (Acts 2:39). The expression “ ‘far off’ ” is often understood in a geographical sense, which the Book of Acts certainly indicates. But Peter very likely had in mind Gentiles, in distinction from Jews, as the Book of Acts also indicates. This latter view is supported by a similar phrase Paul uses when he distinguishes Gentiles from Jews (Eph. 2:13, 17). The individual seeker must be convinced that the experience is indeed for him or her.

• Spirit Baptism is a Gift:

• A gift, by definition, is not given on the basis of merit. We do not become worthy to receive the fullness of the Spirit, for whatever we receive from God is on the basis of his grace, not our works. If one could be baptized in the Spirit on the basis of personal merit, then the troublesome and unanswerable questions are, What constitutes worthiness? and, What degree of spiritual perfection is requisite to qualify one for the experience? At the same time, needless introspection and a sense of unworthiness can be a barrier to being filled with the Spirit. If we must speak of a human requirement, then that requirement is faith.

• The Spirit Already Indwells:

• New Testament imagery for the baptism in the Spirit, if pressed literally, will give the impression that the Spirit is at first external to the individual (“poured out,” “baptized in,” “falling/coming upon”) or that we must think of Him in quantitative terms (“filled with”). But as we have seen earlier, the Spirit indwells all believers at the time of their repentance and faith in Christ. Therefore Spirit baptism is an additional work of the already indwelling Holy Spirit. Some refer to it as a “release” of the Spirit in one’s life.

• Openness and Expectancy Facilitate Reception:

• God does not baptize in the Spirit against a person’s will. Yieldedness to the Lord, a willingness to submit entirely to him, will facilitate one’s being filled with the Spirit. This is especially true with regard to the glossolalic aspect of Spirit baptism. The recipient must learn to cooperate with, or to be borne along by, the Holy Spirit, for the disciples spoke in tongues “as the Spirit was giving them utterance” (Acts 2:4, NASB). They did not generate the tongues-speaking; they responded, rather, to the impetus and prompting of the Spirit.

• Prayer and Praise Lead Naturally into the Experience:

• Luke, the foremost New Testament writer on Spirit baptism, records the words of Jesus: “ ‘If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask [keep asking] him!’ ” (Luke 11:13). This promise is in a context of Jesus’ teaching on prayer in which He speaks of persistence (v. 8), elaborating in verse 9 by saying “keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking” (the meaning of the Gk. present tense in all three instances). It is worth noting that Jesus says the Spirit will be given by our heavenly Father to those who ask, and that the Father will insure they do not receive some counterfeit or substitute in response to their petition. This ought to encourage some unsure and perhaps overly sensitive believers who fear that what they will receive will not be genuine.12

• We have noted that glossolalia is an expression of praise for the mighty deeds of God (Acts 2:11; 10:46) and that it is connected with giving thanks to God (1 Cor. 14:16–17). It is therefore very appropriate, during times of prayer in expectation of the infilling of the Spirit, for a person to engage in praise as well as petition. The disciples were praising God during the period preceding the Day of Pentecost (Luke 24:53), and while it cannot be proved or disproved from Scripture, experience shows that praising God in the language at one’s command facilitates the transition to praising Him in tongues.

• The Laying on of Hands is Not Necessary:

• Only three instances in Acts record the laying on of hands in connection with Spirit baptism—the Samaritans (chap. 8), Saul (chap. 9), and the Ephesians (chap. 19)—and nowhere is it stipulated as a requirement.

• God is Sovereign:

• Since the baptism in the Spirit is a gift, the timing of its giving is in the hands of the Giver. The Lord most certainly does respond to believing prayer when the object of the prayer is in accordance with His will. But for reasons which He does not disclose, sometimes the Lord’s timing differs from ours. It is evident from the Book of Acts and from church history that outpourings of the Spirit can occur at unexpected times. Consequently, a person who wishes to be baptized in the Spirit must not get under self-condemnation if the experience does not take place when expected. There may be times of special visitation by the Lord during which many people are filled with the Spirit. It is during those times that conditions are optimum for a prospective recipient.

Pastor Andy Lambert ~ pastorandy@cvcog.church