 Clearly that's not the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but what is it? What is the baptism of the Holy Spirit? There's a lot of discussion about it There's a lot of disagreement about it and for some it might come as some surprise to know that the term Baptized in the Holy Spirit or to be baptized with or any sort of derivation thereof It's only mentioned really four times that way one of the times that's mentioned is Matthew chapter 3 We see this a few times in the gospel as for me. I Baptize you with water for repentance This is John speaking for he who is coming after me is mighter than I and I am not fit it to remove his sandals He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire and so there's a few times that we see this We see this in the gospel and there's one other time that we also see this Let's go to Acts chapter 1 where Jesus is speaking to the disciples. He says chapter 1 verse 5 It says for John baptize you with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now Problem is though it tells us what's gonna happen But it doesn't really describe what the baptism of the Holy Spirit is and there's some version may say Baptized with in or of the Holy Spirit the word the shoes There's the Greek word on and it conveys all of those and so that's not really a big issue But what is the baptism of the Holy Spirit and then what is it not? And that's some of the we also need to deal with what it actually is not because we don't want to have any sort of confusion Now remember the Bible is trying to get us to see the condition of man Man might want to do good in many cases doesn't want to but even if man does want to do good He just does not have the ability to consistently do good to consistently do well and that's a problem That's an issue of the heart and the Bible has told us what God wants to do with the heart as a matter of fact Ezekiel 36 God states that I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues And you will be careful to observe my ordinances now This has to do a little bit with the baptism Holy Spirit However, this is not the baptism what he's speaking of here is a person's heart being regenerated So we don't want to confuse Regeneration with baptism of the Holy Spirit now Regeneration ultimately is going to lead a person to be baptized because it's regeneration this change of heart Is what is going to be what causes a person or leads a person into belief and in this case a Consistent belief and then there's another issue relating to the Holy Spirit Then we'll talk about just a little bit that is also not the same as being baptized in the Holy Spirit That is being filled with the Holy Spirit What we need to remember is this There is no command for us to be baptized in the Holy Spirit That is something that is done to us as John says and as Jesus says also Jesus is the one that's going to do this. So in order to see what it actually does. Let's go to John 15 Jesus is getting ready to die. He's getting ready to be crucified and he's preparing the disciples for this day And he makes a statement about the Holy Spirit coming upon them He says in John 1526 he says when the helper that I've said the Holy Spirit the Paracleteus the one that comes alongside and helps them Who will come whom I will send to you from the father That is the spirit of truth who proceeds from the father He will testify about me and you also will testify because you have been with me So what is the spirit going to do the spirit of truth is going to do the one thing that Jesus is doing? Also, and that is to testify of him what the gospel to magnify him Jesus remember in his earthly ministry was limited to one location wherever he was was wherever he was and so In that case he was limited now. It's voluntary on his part But what he's going to do is he's going to give mankind the Holy Spirit so that they can in turn be empowered to do his Will remember we also see this prophesied in Joel as well as an act when it happens on the day of Pentecost Peter has explained and he says and it shall be in the last days God says that I will pour forth my spirit on all mankind and your sons and your daughter shall prophesy your young men Shall see visions and your old men shall dream and so what's going to happen is the Holy Spirit's gonna come upon us and Notice what he says and they shall Prophecy this word prophesy sometimes we confuse it for always meaning a Fortelling or predictive prophecy, but the word just simply means to bring about a revelation And so what does the Lord want us to do with the Holy Spirit to bring about a revelation in other words to empower or To be empowered by the Spirit for service to build up people to testify of Christ to testify of his goodness The gospel and to build up the church or thereby building up the church now Paul also brings this issue up in 1st Corinthians 12 let's start in verse one He says now concerning Spiritual gifts or in this case the word that's actually used is pneumatic on so he's speaking about concerning the Spiritual things that's literally what the word means concerning these spiritual things or spiritual gifts He says I do not want you to be ignorant Well, we need to understand what's happening with the spiritual gifts or with these spiritual things And if we drop down in verse 7 he makes an important statement He says but to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit For the common good so Mariah said that the point of the Holy Spirit us being baptized in it This is what would be empowered for service to do what to build up the body Because Jesus is the one that is baptizing us and you're not baptizing yourself The Bible is clear that Everybody that is in Christ has been baptized into the Spirit by Christ Paul goes on to say in chapter 12 verse let's turn verse 12 He says for even as the body is one yet has many members in all the members of the body though They are many are one body So also is Christ and what he says for by one spirit We were all baptized into one body whether Jew or Greek Whether slave or free and we were all made to drink of one spirit Which is important number one the all means Everybody that means if you have been saved you place your faith in Christ for one second For one minute one hour one decade. It doesn't matter all of those who are in Christ have been baptized into The Holy Spirit whether you are Jew whether you are Greek No one there's no second-class citizens in the body every believer has to have the Holy Spirit If you have not been baptized in the Holy Spirit, you are not a Christian Paul makes this point in Romans 8 9 He says however, you are not in the flesh but in the spirit if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you But if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ He does not belong to him and so if you do not have the spirit If you haven't been baptized into the spirit, then you do not belong to him Now let's make sure we understand this picture to be baptized means to be dips to be immersed That means to take on the qualities the Bible knows of no Christian who does not have the Holy Spirit The identifying mark of every Christian of every believer is the Holy Spirit And so whatever you've been baptized into you take on those qualities For example, if I baptize or immerse a white piece of cloth into red dye That that cloth is going to come up with the same qualities as that red dye Similarly, if you have been baptized into the Holy Spirit, you'll come up with the same qualities of the Holy Spirit Will you have the same qualities perfectly? Well, obviously not which is where this other passage comes in and some and we sometimes confuse it We should not this is an Ephesians chapter 5 verse 17 and 18 says don't be foolish But understand what the will of the Lord is and do not get drunk with wine For that is dissipation But be filled with the spirit in other words Now it's not to say to be drunk with the spirit because this is the word this word here But is a word of contrast so rather than having no control because of wine You are to be controlled or have control with the spirit because we know one of the fruits of the spirit one of the results of having the spirit is Self-control and why we know this is a difference between the baptism of the Holy Spirit and being filled Remember being baptized is something that is done to you by Jesus But in this case to be filled that's something that you do this word play rooste is something that you do to yourself This is a middle voice, which means you do it to yourself on your behalf It's a constant thing. It's a yielding of yourself of your will For the benefit of the spirit to empower you even more so so upon the profession of a person's faith That is brought about because their heart has been regenerated that person then according to the Bible is Taken by Jesus and baptized into the Holy Spirit having the qualities of the Holy Spirit in them working in them moving in them Now there's gonna be there's a bit of a controversy where something that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a second act It is not and one of the pastors that calls a little bit this controversy is John 20 However, if we read it properly, we'll see that it's not saying that they are going to receive the Holy Spirit later Let's go to John 20 verse 22 and he says and when he said this he breathed on them and said to them Receive the Holy Spirit now the question is did they receive the Holy Spirit then or is this telling them that they will receive The Holy Spirit is his pointing forward. Well in this case, we know it's pointing forward Here's how because Jesus also sees them again a little bit later after his death bearer resurrection He sees them in Acts chapter 1 and notice what he says. Let's go back to it after they saw him Let's matter. Let's start in verse 4. He says gathering them together He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the father had promised Well, what was the promise from the father what we read in chapter 15 of John this Holy Spirit the help were coming Alongside them and so they are to go and to wait for this promise. He says in verse 14 Which he said you heard from me and John baptized you here doesn't verse 5 with water But you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now, so they won't they'll be baptized Not many days from now So clearly this hasn't happened yet and we see it in verse 6 So when they had come together they were asking him saying lord Is it at this time you're going to restore the kingdom of Israel? And the reason why they're asking this question because they understand that when israel is fully empowered then the kingdom will be restored They're not understanding the timing and they don't know all of what god is going to do And so this is what they're thinking in their mind at this point in time Then they'll probably go to heaven and be with the father. They they're misunderstanding what god is trying to do However, what does Jesus say to them? He says he said to them and it's not for you to know times epochs which the father has fixed by his own authority, but You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses Both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest parts of the world And so Jesus is reiterating when the Holy Spirit comes upon him He's reiterating what he told them in John 15 And so this is not them placing their faith in christ and receiving the Holy Spirit and then waiting a little while later To get the baptism of the Holy Spirit again They have not received it as of yet according to what Jesus says they have not been empowered as of yet And then there's also another passage that kind of brings in some confusion. This is in Acts chapter 8 When the Samaritans have believed however, they have not received the Holy Spirit And so what does the church do the church sends peter and john down to samaria? And then they give validity to these Jews or toms are to these Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit Why is that well what we have is something that that's descriptive in Acts with the Jews The Samaritans and the Gentiles we have people receiving the Holy Spirit And so that there would not be a divided body, which is why the body or why the bible talks about us as one body Paul uses that analogy often because he doesn't want us to have a divided body Remember that's the whole thing the first Corinthians He doesn't want us to have a divided body And so it would be very divided if one group has the Holy Spirit And the others didn't and so what did the Jews witness they witnessed obviously on the death pentecost the Jews receiving the Holy Spirit They also witnessed the Samaritans receiving the Holy Spirit How do they know the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit because peter and john gave validity to it How did the other Jews receive the Holy Spirit under the hands of peter and john and the other Jewish disciples? And then we see the Jews also believing that the Gentiles have received the Holy Spirit Why because these Jewish apostles have gone to them? And so now we see that we don't have a divided church and that everyone has received the Holy Spirit We cannot take what was descriptive in Acts and make it prescriptive Jesus stated that once they received the Holy Spirit, they will be his witnesses in Jerusalem Judea then Samaria Then the uttermost parts of the world to the Gentiles And then it would be known that everyone can receive the Holy Spirit and we know now Everyone who has faith in Christ who is a believer that person has the Holy Spirit again Roman says that if you don't have the Holy Spirit, you are not his Paul tells us again that every believer has been baptized into the Holy Spirit baptizing the body By the Lord and so what is the baptism of the Holy Spirit? It is Jesus upon the believer's profession of faith being baptized into the Holy Spirit It's the identifying mark that every believer has being dipped into the Holy Spirit And being empowered for service to do what to magnify Christ to testify of him And so doing building up the body It's not a lot of what we've seen people running around and all these different things No, because again once you've been baptized in the Holy Spirit Especially the more you yield to the Holy Spirit Then what we have more of self control And why do you want to have that to do the work of the father? Amen