21

OVER A YEAR HAD PASSED SINCE MY HEALING.

The word was out. Old First Church had a new pastor.
                                                           Not another one. A new one!

People could see a difference. What would prove to be a five year revival had begun.

The historic church I was privileged to pastor was nearly ninety. If God was to give this lovely old lady a spiritual facelift, wisdom dictated that I move slowly. High intensity "spiritual aerobics" could be injurious.

One day, as I was praying for guidance, the thought came: God waited 2000
                        years between his covenant with Adam (Gen. 3:15)
                                    and his covenant with Abram (Gen. 12:1-4).

He then waited another 2000 years before
                        his new covenant in Christ (Heb. 8:6-13)

and almost 2000 years more before
                        his current, worldwide outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

I needed to take time out of the equation. "I decided" (as if it were up to me!) to give God 10 or 15 years to renew our church.

He didn't take that long.

There was keen interest in the gifts of the Spirit. I was led, instead, to teach on the fruit of the Spirit. This proved to be "wisdom from above" (James 3:17). It was safe. It allowed us to move with caution into deeper spiritual waters. After all, who doesn't want to be more loving!

After weeks of dealing with the Spirit's fruit (Gal. 5:22,23),
                                   not as a "dead works" thing (Heb. 9:14b),
                    but as the natural, inevitable, effortless result of a Spirit-filled life,
I invited our people to act on what they had been learning.

Over half of the standing room only congregation came forward that Sunday to publicly acknowledge and appropriate the gift of the Holy Spirit. After prayers of confession and repentance I asked them to kneel as a physical expression of their willingness to put themselves under his control.

The altar area and aisles were filled with hundreds of born again people who, for the first time in their lives, acknowledged and appropriated the gift of Holy Spirit in fullness. Awesome!

22

THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

The fifth verse of scripture speaks of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

"For John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized (key word) with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:5).

For nearly a hundred years, beginning with the Pentecostal movement in 1906, this particular part of the Holy Spirit's work has been divisive.

Traditional Evangelical teaching limits this baptism to the following explanation.
        "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body" (1 Cor. 12:13a).

Classical Pentecostal teaching is that, in addition to this baptism by the Spirit into the Church, there is a second baptism of believers by Christ with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5) and this "second blessing" is validated by speaking in tongues.

The depth of this division is illustrated by something which happened to me shortly after my decision to become a born again, Spirit-filled, growing Christian.

I had received several letters, phone calls and been involved in a number of personal chats, all of which finally came down to this:

"Dr. John, we understand you've been baptized with the Holy Spirit and received the gift of tongues. Is that true?"

One day a man called long distance and asked me to speak to The Full Gospel Men's Fellowship.

"We understand you've been baptized with the Holy Spirit and received the gift of tongues," he said. "We want you to speak to us."

"But," he concluded as he hung up the telephone, "if you ever do speak in tongues, let us know!"

That didn't disturb me, at least not much. I understood the language and theology of Classical Pentecostalism. I honored the experience of those who testified of "getting baptized in the Holy Spirit" accompanied by the gift of tongues.

That they questioned the validity of my experience in the Holy Spirit did not trouble me because I knew it was real!

I was hopeful a careful study of scripture would circumvent potential division and free our members to enjoy this fifth facet of the Spirit's blessing. Here's some of what we learned.

23

A REALITY FOR ALL BELIEVERS.

"For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:13).

The word we is exclusive and inclusive--simultaneously! As J. Sidlow Baxter points out:

We excludes every pre-Christian.
    The Holy Spirit is not God's gift to the world.
     He is God's peculiar gift to the Church.
It is we, Christian believers, to whom this gift has been given.

The word we is also, at the same time, inclusive.

We includes not just a few believers but all believers.
    All born again Christians share the same
    inheritance as Peter, Paul, James and John.
We are co-inheritors together with Christ of all the Father has given him.

The Bible is clear. God never intended the baptism of the Holy Spirit to be a source of division
             --some Christians have it and other Christians don't--
rather, he instituted it as the initial mark of our unity in Christ!

This means you have a part in the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
             "…the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable" (Rom. 11:29).

To employ a term from my childhood, God is not an Indian-giver.
            He is a covenant making and covenant keeping God.
He does not renege on his promises.

God is not the Supreme Adolescent who has to be
     kowtowed to,
          buttered up and
              patted on the back
                   to keep him sensitive to your needs.

He is the sovereign God whose gifts are irrevocable.
He never plays

"Heavy, heavy hangs over your head. If you don't behave, I'll cut you out of my will."

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is part of an irrevocable trust agreement between the Heavenly Father and his children.

If you have him, you have it!

FUTURE TENSE--PAST TENSE.

In each of the four gospels and in the first chapter of the book of Acts, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is always spoken of prophetically.

The language throughout, as you can see, is prophetic.

After the first chapter of the book of Acts, there is never any prophetic reference to the baptism of the Spirit. Instead, the language is historic. 1 Cor. 12:13 says,

"For by one Spirit were (past tense) we all baptized into one Body."

What you have is one prophecy--that of John the Baptist-- repeated five times,
       once in each of the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts
                 pointing forward to the baptism of the Holy Spirit,
                    and one verse thereafter (1 Cor. 12:13a)
                          pointing backward to the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Where do the prophetic and historic meet? At Pentecost (Acts 2). It was then that the Holy Spirit indwelt all who believed in Jesus that day and also baptized them into the body of Christ.

There is a sixth reference in Acts 11:16 where Peter explains how he remembered (past tense) the words of Jesus who said,
        "you shall (future tense) be baptized with the Holy Spirit."
Peter used this prophecy to defend his rather un-Jewish action of ministering to the household of Cornelius, a Gentile.

Acts 11:16 makes it plain that, since the day of Pentecost, all who believe in Jesus share in the Spirit's baptism at the moment of their conversion.

Someone put it this way: Just as a brick layer takes an individual brick,

spreads it with mortar
and puts it in place so
--while it remains an individual brick, it also becomes part of a wall--
so, too,
the Holy Spirit baptizes you at your new birth into the body of Christ.

While you retain your individuality,
you also become a part of the family of God
and begin to share in
all the benefits God has prepared for his children,
one of which is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

25

BAPTISM : A WORD WITH A DOUBLE MEANING.

One meaning is literal and describes a real object being placed in a real element.
           Here, baptism as an event occurs.

The second meaning is symbolic and describes the outer confirmation of an inner transformation which is given when someone is baptized.
           Here, baptism as evidence occurs.

Both of these meanings are true of all biblical baptisms.

In John's baptism (Mt. 3:1-6), the prophet literally immersed people in water as an event. He called them to repentance. If they responded affirmatively, he baptized them.

At the same time baptism as an event occurred, baptism as evidence also took place. The disciples of John the Baptist were publicly identified with, and committed to, the cause of righteousness.

This double meaning was also present in the baptism of Jesus (Mt. 3:13-17). He was immersed in water and baptism as an event occurred. In addition, immediately upon his being publically aligned with righteousness, baptism as evidence took place.

"And behold, the heavens were opened and he saw
the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him;
and lo, a voice from heaven, saying,
'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased'" (Mt. 3:16,17).

In Believer's Baptism a real person is baptized in real water. It is a literal happening. Baptism as an event occurs.

At the same time, baptism as evidence also takes place. There is a public witness to the fact that, through the event of baptism, this person is providing evidence of being identified with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus so that he or she

"might walk (more evidence) in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4).

It is a literal happening (an event), with a symbolic function (evidence).

Similarly with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Real people--newborn Christians--are baptized by the Spirit into a real entity, the Church (1 Cor. 12:13a). It is a literal happening and Spirit Baptism as an event occurs.

But the baptism of the Holy Spirit has a second and symbolic function. When believers choose to be filled with the Holy Spirit what I call the baptizing quality--the tangible, measurable, outward evidence--of being Spirit-filled is there for all to see. The fruit of the Spirit appears!

This means the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not just a (singular) once and for all-time event. It also consists of the many (multiple) re-occurring occasions when evidence automatically manifests itself in the form of the Spirit's fruit (Gal. 5:22, 23).

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