Good morning. Wow, that was awesome. If you’ve got a Bible… This side of the room better than that side of the room, good morning! That has nothing to do with the message. If you’ve got a Bible, go with me to Romans Chapter Four. We’re going to continue our series through the book of Romans. The title of this message is “The New And Living Sign” (Romans 4:9-11). The new and living sign. Covered that new and living way principle in that video sermon that you saw last week. Missed being here but everything inside of me was trying to become outside of me. So, it was good that I got to rest. And so, when you saw that that message, what you come to realize is that Jesus did not come to abolish the law. He came to fulfill it, and in fulfilling it, we then walk it out in a new and living way in all the types and shadows as they’re fulfilled, whether it’s a feast or a prophecy, it all points to Christ. And today we’re going to see one that’s very key in the discipleship of a believer, and it is marked off in Abraham.
So, let’s read the text. I’m going to start in Romans 4:7-11, so we just see the blessing that David spoke, that Paul is going to continue to talk about here. It’s out of Psalm 32 but he says, “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man who against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” So yeah, that’s blessed when you don’t get what you deserve, that’s mercy, and when you do get what you don’t deserve, that’s grace. But then he goes on and he asks a question that he’s going to answer himself. “Is this blessing then only for the circumcised…” Is it only for those that have done something outwardly religious though commanded? Is that the only kind of person that can get that blessing when your sins, your transgressions and your iniquities are forgiven. Is it only for those or also for the uncircumcised? Is it for anybody? Is it for everybody? “…For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.” Right? Genesis 15. “How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised?” Because, see, if he’s counted righteous after he’s circumcised then circumcision is what made him righteous. Therefore, to be righteous, you’d have to be circumcised. “…It was not after, but before he was circumcised.” That’s right, a decade and a half before, and finally, verse 11, the key to our text here, “He received (that’s Abram) the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised….” So, circumcision was a sign. Now, what does a sign do? A sign points to something else. A sign is never a destination, okay? If you headed south on 82, actually, it’d be north and you go into Oklahoma, right? And you see a sign that says, “Oklahoma City”. You don’t climb up on top of the sign and say, “Hey, I’m there.” No, the sign is pointing to something else. The sign that Abraham got from God, which was circumcision, pointed backwards to the righteousness that Abraham was given when he was given the gift of faith. And the same is true for us. So, if this was the sign of the covenant then, then we want to ask, “How has Jesus fulfilled that and how do we live it out in a new and living way?” Because if we get this wrong, you’ll see down line it affects our discipleship in terms of walking out sanctification. So, it was an outward pointing to what had happened inwardly. I just need you to know that. It was an outward pointing back to what had happened inwardly.
So back in May, we did a message called “True Circumcision”. And you, if you want more details on how Jesus fulfilled it, the types of shadows in that, you can go back and listen to that, but I’m gonna just brisk over that really quickly, and then we’re gonna get to the more meat of this. But let me just show you this. Jesus did fulfill circumcision. He fulfilled it, both physically and spiritually. Physically. How did He fulfill it? Well, He was circumcised. Luke 2:21, “And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” So, Jesus was circumcised, not to point back to a time when He was cleansed, but to point to Himself as the one, listen to me, who would do the circumcising of hearts to come. Same was true with the baptism. Jesus was not in a baptism of repentance. He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness. Same is still happening here. That’s what He did. But He also fulfilled circumcision spiritually. How? In that He was cut off, circumcised from Israel, He was removed because God made Him to be sin who knew no sin that we could be called the righteousness of God in Christ. That’s Romans, or rather 2 Corinthians 5:21. This is prophesied. Look Isaiah 53:8, talking about Messiah, “By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was (what?) cut off…” That is a reference directly to the rejection from Israel, pictured in circumcision, the thing that’s worthless being removed. “…He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?” So, Jesus fulfills it. But if Jesus fulfilled it, how do we then walk it out in a new and living way? That’s the question. Let me say it this way, what is new and living circumcision? Okay, that’s a very vital question, because if God fulfilled it in Christ, and we’re to live it out, we need to at least know what it is. We know that that circumcision is now fulfilled, and it’s talking about something looking backwards.
Let me review. Let’s go back in time to Romans 2:28-29, okay? It says, “For no one is a Jew who is merely (what?) one outwardly…” No one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly. So, there’s the outwardly in circumcision. “…Nor is circumcision outward and physical.” So, it’s talking about there’s something that happens inside. Remember the outward sign was circumcision but there was a deeper circumcision, right? The next verse says, “But a Jew is one (what?) inwardly…” I want you to remember these terms; inwardly. “…And circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit…” Remember those three things, it’s inward, it’s of the heart, and it’s by the Spirit. Happens inside of the heart, and the Holy Spirit is the one that does it. It’s very significant because that we’re going to see that played out.
So, I’m going to tell you how we live it out in a new and living way, both in the actual and in the sign of it. And then I’m going to show it to you. It’s very simple. It’s in our baptism. Baptism is the new and living way that we live out circumcision, both in the actual act of circumcision, inward of the heart, right? And by the Spirit. And outward, the sign. So that, let me say it to you this way, so there is an inward baptism, and then there is an outward baptism. I’m gonna prove this to you, show it to you in the text, but I want you to know where we’re going so you can kind of think in terms of, okay, this is where we’re trying to fit this in. Okay? If it fits, it fits. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. So, let’s see what the text says. We’ll start here, Colossians 2:11-13. It says this, “In him (that’s in Jesus Christ) also you (that’s every believer) were (what?) you were circumcised with a circumcision made (what?) without hands…” What’s that referring to? Inward. In Him “…You were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by the putting off of the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.” The circumcision of Christ. Now, how many of you know that this is inward? This is not outward. This is inward. This is something that people can’t see. They can see the fruit of it, and later they can see the ordinance that we keep, which is water baptism. But there’s a baptism that is synonymous with the fulfillment of circumcision that happens inside. But when does that happen? Look at the next verse, “The circumcision of Christ having been buried with him (that’s key) in baptism.” Buried with Him in baptism. This is not referring to water baptism. You gotta get this. This is referring to the actual baptism of a new creation into the Holy Spirit, the baptism into the body of Christ, the baptism by Jesus, who’s the baptizer, into the Holy Spirit, who is the element, much like the water is, if a pastor baptizes you. That’s what this is referring to because it says, “…Having been buried with him in baptism…” Well, when people get water baptized, that’s not the moment that they’re buried with Christ. They’re buried with Christ when they’re baptized into the Spirit and then raised to walk in newness of life. Look, “…In which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” That did not happen at water baptism. This is talking about your real baptism, the one baptism, the true baptism, the inward. He goes on, “And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh (that means your sinful nature, God did what?) God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.” That sounds like the blessing from Romans chapter one, doesn’t it? Yeah, verses seven and eight. When does He do that? Does He do it at water baptism? No, I got to get this point across. Water baptism is an outward demonstration or a sign pointing back to an inward reality that happened by the Spirit. If you miss this, you’ll get baptism wrong, and you will be vulnerable to be taught wrongly, that somehow people get saved when they’re baptized, that going underwater and coming up is how your sins are washed away. So, we’re going to refute some of those misunderstandings here in a moment. But I want you to see that’s the context, baptism being the synonymous sign as circumcision. This is how 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 says it, “For just as the body is one and has many members (right? You have one body but you have many members), and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” So, there’s the context being part of the body of Christ. How do you become part of the body of Christ? You’re baptized in the Holy Spirit. This is the next verse, “For in one Spirit (there it is in one Spirit, not in water, but in one Spirit) we were all (what?) baptized into one body…” That’s how someone is saved. When the baptizer of the Holy Spirit, who I’ll show you, is Jesus Christ, baptizes you into the Holy Spirit. This is what it’s referring to, into one body. “…Jews or Greek, slaves or free, and all were made to drink of (what?) one Spirit.” It is like if I took you to a swimming pool and slammed you down into the water and while you’re drowning in that water, you drink yourself full. He’s not just on you. He’s in you. Well, that’s awesome. That is your actual baptism. That’s when your heart was circumcised. Your water baptism is an act of obedience that you do because Jesus says for us to do that, and it’s an outward demonstration of an inward reality. But nevertheless, we’ve got to understand this is how we walk it out in a new and living way.
Now, Jesus was foretold as being the one who would baptize in the Holy Spirit, mainly through the ministry of John the Baptist, the forerunner the Elijah who would come, according to Jesus, he was talking about the fulfillment of Malachi. Let’s look at a couple of references and I really do want to refute something here that’s been misunderstood, probably for hundreds of years in some denominations. Matthew 3:10-12, so John the Baptist is talking, and just for context, he’s talking to the Bible says the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Okay, so he’s talking to these fake religious leaders who are not bearing fruit and keeping with repentance. They’re just moralists is what they are. They don’t really love God. They don’t really love people. But this is what he’s saying to them. I would I’m going to include verse 10 because I want you to see something, a very important word here. Each of these three verses, 10,11, 12, end in the same word, “fire”. Watch he says this, “Even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. (In other words, things are being cut up that need to be cut up) Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Now have an easy question for you. It’s not a trick question. What fire is he talking about? He’s talking about hell, isn’t he? Yes, he’s talking about judgment. He’s not. Can we? Can we agree he’s not talking about the Holy Spirit? It’s easy, right? “Every tree that doesn’t bear fruit is thrown into the Holy Spirit.” No. Okay, so that’s clear. That’s easy. Now, in that context, look at the next verse. He says, “I baptize you with water for repentance (right? So that’s one kind of baptism), but he who is coming after me (Now, who’s that? Messiah, that’s Jesus) is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit (Let’s just pause right there, I know because watch it says) and fire.” Now, what whole denominations have done is they’ve taken this one passage and they’ve said this, “See? There it is. We not only get baptized with the Holy Spirit after we’re saved, but then we’re baptized with FIRE.” They have to say it like that. And then what they do is they reference Acts chapter two. We’ll get to that here in a couple of minutes. But they reference Acts chapter two when they say, “See? That’s where the fire fell.” Just pause that thought, it’s not true. He’s saying that he will come and He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire. Well, which is it? Well, it depends on who you are. He’s saying some will be baptized in the Holy Spirit, some will be baptized in fire. How do I know? Because I keep reading the Bible, and I read the next verse, go to the next verse. It too ends with “fire”, “His winnowing (the speaking of Jesus), his winnowing fork is in his hand (that’s judgment), and he will clear the threshing floor and gather his wheat (who’s that? Us) into the barn, but the chaff (who’s that? The unsaved), he will burn with unquenchable (there’s that word again) fire.” You see, he’s not saying that a believer will be baptized with fire. Trust me. Listen, read your Bible, you don’t want the fire of God to fall on. You people that have that happen to them, burn up, and I don’t mean in a good way. And then it gets conflated with what He would rather us be hot or cold. And so, “I want the fire of God” and whole churches are crying out, “Fire of God fall.” And God, in His mercy, doesn’t do it because they’d be consumed. The fire of God is judgment in all three verses. I want you to see that. Just in case you come from a background where people told you that you’re going to get this thing, that after you come to Jesus, there’s this second thing you need, and you need to start chasing after it, and you need to beg God for it and if you do it good enough, and you get the right people to lay hands on you, you’ll get the baptism in the Holy Spirit, friends, that’s not in the Bible. The only baptism in the Holy Spirit is the one at salvation at regeneration. There’s not a subsequent one. I’ll prove it to you what it is. It’s men who are unlearned and they’re misunderstanding what the text says. But we’re just going to read it and understand what it says because it actually is quite clear.
Also, Mark 1:7-8, John the Baptist, says this, or it says this of him, “After he preached, saying, ‘After me comes He who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with (what?) with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’” Okay, let me ask you a question. It’s not a trick question. Who is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit? Jesus is. No man can baptize you in the Holy Spirit, only the God-man. Jesus is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. And we want to understand the context of when that happens because it’s the fulfillment of circumcision. It’s the actual circumcision of the heart. Look at John 7:38-39, Jesus says it Himself. He says, ‘Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ (Now what’s He talking about? Well, look at the next verse, it says), Now this, he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive…” They hadn’t yet. Listen, they were believers, but this is before the birth of the church, and they hadn’t been filled with the Spirit. “…For as yet the Spirit had not been given (why?), because Jesus was not yet glorified.” He was not ascended to the Father. He hadn’t sent the Holy Spirit yet. That would come on the day of Pentecost, at the Feast of Pentecost, which is 50 days after first fruits, 50 days after the resurrection. Remember, He rose from the dead on first fruits, right? Crucified on Passover. Passover, three days later, first fruits. And then He walked on the earth, He was on the earth for 40 days, the Bible says, “appearing to many”, and then 10 days after that, they’re in the upper room so Pentecost comes and the Holy Spirit is given. They hadn’t had that yet. So, I want you to keep this. They’re believers but they’ve not yet been baptized in the Holy Spirit and entered into that new covenant.
Here’s where it does happen. As we’re approaching it, look at Acts 1:4-5, it says, “And while staying with them (this is Jesus) and staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem (right? This is during the 40 days, right? Actually before He’s ascension, right?), but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, ‘you heard from me; (now Jesus is going to say this) for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’” How did Jesus know that that was going to happen? Well, number one, He’s God. But here’s the second reason, He was the one that was going to do it. How do I know that? We read it. He hadn’t been poured out yet? So, you have believers. We call them Old Testament saints still. Yeah, they have faith in Messiah now. They don’t even know who the person is. But the miracle of regeneration not taking place. They did not have the Holy Spirit yet. And then He tells them something down in Acts 1:8, and it’s related to this. It’s related to being baptized in the Holy Spirit. It’s related to being baptized the circumcision of heart. He says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, (now, what power would they receive? He says it this way), and you will be my (what?) you’ll be my witnesses…” “You’re going to testify to who I am and what I’ve done. The Holy Spirit’s going to be one that empowers you to do that, and you’re going to be My witnesses where?” Now watch this is very important. He gives them four places, “… Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and (to the uttermost parts of the world) to the end of the world.” This is ESV. “And the end of the earth.” He gives them these four places. And these four places are the four places in the book of Acts that you see the Holy Spirit given. Under different modes, and under what seems to be different chronological order, because what’s happening in the book of Acts is not normative for church history in this in these instances but rather it’s formative. And each of these groups of people, Jews, those in Judea generally, which could come from anywhere, those Samaritans who the Jews had nothing to do with and they hated, and all the bacon-eating Gentiles who were thought of just outcast outside the Old Covenant. But in the New Covenant, what was God doing? He was going to bring in every tribe, tongue and nation under heaven. He wasn’t just going to save Jews, and the Jews needed to understand this, namely, the apostles needed to understand this. And how would they understand it? They would see these people be regenerated by the Holy Spirit, baptized in the Holy Spirit, with outward signs that would simply prove we’re legit. That was then. And once that’s established, you don’t see that that happen that way anymore but we want to take a look at these instances.
Here’s the first one. This is in Jerusalem Acts 2:1-4, “When the day of Pentecost arrived, (so, it’s 50 days since the resurrection), they were all together in one place.” That’s 120 people. They were gathered in the upper room. We know that from Acts one. Now watch, “And suddenly there came from heaven (let’s read the words) a sound (okay? Pop quiz, what, according to your Bible, came from heaven? a sound) a sound like a mighty rushing wind…” Okay, let me ask you a question, was there a wind? No, there was the sound of a wind. So, I’ve heard people in churches pray this, “We ask for Your wind to blow through.” Oh, then turn on the fans. Why am I mocking it? Because it’s twisted. You’re asking for God to do something that He never, ever did in the first place. But there was a sound, and the sound was there to do what? To alert people like a foghorn. Come. They would hear this sound and all those in Judea would then come be a part of it. That’s what he’s doing. This is formative as the church’s birth. It’s not normative. We don’t need to come to church and hope that the sound happens, or rather, that the wind blows. We do hope the sound works. We’re not asking the wind to blow. We want the Holy Spirit to move. But there was just “A sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. (Look at verse three) And divided tongues (what?) as of fire…” There are divided tongues, what looks like a tongue, divided flickering like a fire. Let me ask you a question, is there any fire? No, there is no fire. There appeared to them “…Divided tongues as of fire (that means flickering) appeared on them and rested on each one of them.” If you’re asking God’s fire to fall on you, as it did on the day of Pentecost, you’re praying the wrong prayer. It’s not what He did. Now you might be here and going, “Man, why are you so upset about this, bro?” I’ve seen the down line damage that this creates as people spend years in their discipleship, when they could be seeking the Lord in His Word, instead of what they’re doing is gallivanting all over the world trying to find experiences like this that they don’t even read right. It’s not the fulfillment of anything. It is in its own type of shadow, but not in wind and fire. That’s not what it is. And as a result, look at verse four. Here’s the sign, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” And what happened? They’re speaking in actual known languages. How do we know? Because people from other places were showing up, and they were hearing them speak in languages that they knew they didn’t know but they knew, and they were giving God glory in these foreign languages. Why? To show as a sign that this was the true work of God. This God uses signs and wonders this way to what? To validate the message. That’s why He did it this way. That’s why He did it. He doesn’t need to do it again. He’s already established the church. But this was the establishing of Jerusalem. And then what happens? Everybody shows up. And when all these people start showing up because they were all in town for the Feast of Pentecost, well, what do they do? They hear this huge sound. So, they show up to the area of the Upper Room. And I’ve been in the upper room, what they believe is the upper room, and it’s big, but it’s not this big because there’s 1000s that hear this. It must have spilled over into the street somehow, we don’t know. Peter stands up and he starts to preach, and he gives them the gospel. He tells them this is not men. Or drunk with wine. But this is what Joel the prophets prophesied that that the Holy Spirit would be poured out. And this is what’s happening here. Now watch the response, because remember, we went from Jerusalem.
Now we’re looking at Judea. This is how Judea starts to be evangelized. Acts 2:37-38, “Now when they heard this, (that’s the gospel) they were cut to the heart, and said to the said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” “What do we do?” Now Peter’s going to give them a commandment, and it’s going to come in such an order that if you don’t read the rest of your Bible, you’re going to think that this is prescriptive across the whole history of the Church, which it is not. And I’m going to prove it to you because we’re going to see other instances where the chronology of the events is completely different but God is going to prove what He’s already doing. What do we do? “And Peter said to them (watch), ‘Repent and be baptized (this is water baptism. Repent and be water baptized) every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins (and then he’s it’s supposedly thought), and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’” So, here’s what denominations have done. They’ve taken this verse, and they said this, “We preach the gospel to you. Then when you choose to pray the prayer and repent of your sin, then what we do is we baptize you. And when we baptize you, when you come up, your sins are washed away by the water, and then that’s when you get the Holy Spirit.” That simply isn’t true. How do you know? Because this is how God was dealing with Judea, and He’s dealing with them in a way where the apostles watch this, the apostles are present to witness it, and are being convinced that God is opening the whole church to the whole world. So, every single place they go, it’s a different chronology. Remember? The people in Acts two early or the 120 they were just baptized. They were baptized in water, right? They were baptized with the Holy Spirit. So, this is different than the first. This is the second.
Let’s see the third when they go to Samaria. Here’s Samaria, Acts 8:14-17. What’s happening in Acts chapter eight? Philip, the evangelist, the apostle. Philip is evangelizing, and he’s preaching the gospel, and they’re hearing it, and they’re believing. But verse 14, watch it says, “Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God…” Now this would be like, “What? You gotta be kidding, He would not save those pigs.” They thought of them as unclean. Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans. When they heard that they’d received the word of God “…they sent to them Peter and John.” Now, why is God doing it that way? God’s doing it that way so that Peter and John can give testimony that, “Yep, it’s not just Jews. It’s not just in Judea. Samaritans, too.” They didn’t just receive the Word of God. Watch, they’re going to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Look at Peter and John, “Who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.” You say, “Well, this looks like it’s now, you know, normative.” No, it’s not. You’ll see it in a moment, trust me. It says they prayed for them, “For he had not yet fallen on any of them…” Now look, He had not yet. Look they received the word of God, but He waits to baptize them. Jesus Himself waits to baptize them in the Holy Spirit, till the apostles can be there and validate it. By the way, when they laid their hands on you, that was a sign of their unity with you, that you were one, that there was no broken barrier, otherwise they wouldn’t be touching a Samaritan. “Who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. (Verse 16) For he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been what baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” You say, “Wait a minute. They were baptized in water already.” Yep. Well, that’s out of order. Take it up with God. Take it up with God. When you get to heaven, it can be the first thing you gripe about. It’ll feel just like normal church. “I got some questions.” Right? Well, I get it. Why is God doing this way? I’m telling you because He’s forming the church, and He wants the apostles to be witnesses to this. It says, And then verse 17, “Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.” Unity was the goal and for the apostles to witness it, because it happens differently in other places. You say, “Well, wait so they weren’t saved yet.” No, they weren’t saved yet. They weren’t. They’d received the Word but regeneration had not taken place. That is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. And if you don’t have the Holy Spirit, you’re not born again. Romans 8:9 proves it. It says, “You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” That’s cut and dry again. Why did God wait? He wanted the apostles to see it.
What about the Gentiles? Acts Chapter 10. Finally, to the Gentiles. Here’s Peter, right. Remember, God had to get him to go to the Gentiles by showing him the picture of the sheet full of unclean animals. Then finally he realized, Oh, this is a picture of Jesus fulfilling this, this ordinance, this dietary law, and now He’s gathering in everybody. Well, here’s how they’re baptized in the Holy Spirit. Acts 10:44-48 “While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word…” There’s God interrupting Peter again, common, but it’s while he’s preaching. He didn’t tell them to get baptized first. He didn’t have time to. He didn’t have them do anything. They’re just hearing the Word and the Holy Spirit falls. Verse 45 says, “And the believers from among the circumcised (that’s from Jerusalem) who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.” Are you kidding me? That’s why God’s doing it this way. This is formative, ladies and gentlemen, this is not normative. They are born again. When they’re born again, they receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. There’s not a second blessing that you’re out there tracking down. It does not exist in the Bible. Verse 46 says, “For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, (look what he says) ‘Can anyone withhold water?…’” Now it’s time for water. “I thought water came before Holy Spirit?” He’s not being prescriptive. You see it? “‘Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit, just as we have?’ (That’s the goal here, nothing else) And he commanded them to be baptized that would be in water in the name of Jesus Christ…”
Let me clear up one more misunderstanding, and it occurs in Acts chapter 19. Now this is a text that whole denominations have used to try and prove that you can be a disciple, even of Jesus Christ, and not be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Nothing’s further from the truth. If your heart has not been circumcised, you are not His. If you don’t have the Holy Spirit living in you, you’re not born again. But they use this text because they’re misunderstanding it. Let’s see what it actually says, Acts 19:1-6. This mission is in full bloom. Paul’s out on tour, right? It says, “And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus…” So instead of going the trade route, he came at it from the North. “…There (that’s in Ephesus. So now we’re aware where? The uttermost parts of the world to them? It was this is the others out there, everywhere in Ephesus) There he found some disciples.” Now, if you don’t read ahead, if you don’t read the rest of it, you’re going to think that these are Christians. But how many of you know all kinds of groups had disciples. The Pharisees had disciples, the Sadducees had disciples, John the Baptist had disciples, didn’t he? Yes, he did. Which ones are these? Well, let’s read ahead and we’ll see. “And he said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ (That’s a valid question because what is he really asking them, ‘Have you been born again?) And they said, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’” Okay? Then he asked the follow up question, “And he said, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’ They said, ‘Into John’s baptism.’” Whose disciples’ were they? They were disciples of John the Baptist. He had disciples. They come to Jerusalem. They’ve been experienced his ministry. They’ve been baptized, and they’ve gone away and they believed in the baptism of John the Baptist. Baptism of John was what? It was people that were saying, “I have faith that God is going to send His Messiah.” They didn’t know who it was. It wasn’t faith in Jesus. That’s what these disciples are. They’re not Christians. Yet, verse four, he goes on, “And Paul said, ‘John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling people to believe in the One who was to come after him, that ism Jesus.’” You see? He’s preaching Christ to them. Now they can believe on Messiah not just toward Messiah. “…On hearing this, they were (what?) they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” That is in water. You see it? You can’t get that conflated. Then what happens? Verse six, “And when Paul had laid his hands on them (again, a picture of unity) the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying…” Why was that important? Because it was the outward evidence to demonstrate that God was calling all nations, tribes and tongues to himself. Circumcision was always the same. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was always at the point of regeneration. None of these people were saved before they were baptized in the Holy Spirit.
So let me bring up this chart because I know you love charts.
Spirit Baptism Water Baptism
Element: Holy Spirit Water
Baptizer: Jesus Pastor
Baptized: Chosen by God Chosen by Believer (Not Optional)
Condition: Regeneration/Faith Obedience/Discipleship
Result: Universal Church Local Church
It’s not really a chart but it’s more of a list. So, we have two kinds of baptism. We would say this. This is the baptism of the Spirit. This is inward, right? And when water baptism is outward. Now, what’s the fulfillment of circumcision? Well, the fulfillment of circumcision of the heart is Spirit baptism. What’s the fulfillment of outward circumcision? Well, it’s water baptism. So that when you’re baptized, what are you actually saying? You’re saying that’s what happened to me. And others are able to look at your baptism and go, “That’s what happened to me.” And so, everybody gets edified. That’s God’s plan for that. And by the way, it’s not a suggestion, it’s actually a command. So, in these two baptisms, each of them have an element. An element is what you’re baptized into, right? In Spirit baptism, it’s the Holy Spirit. And in water baptism. Water, yes. I’m just making sure you’re awake. Like the preacher that looked down at somebody said, “Hey, wake that guy up.” And the guy next to him said, “You put him to sleep. You wake him up.” Okay. What about the baptizer? Who does the baptizing? We would say, well, in Spirit baptism, we know it’s Jesus, and over here in water baptism, we say pastor. It doesn’t have to be a pastor, but it should be somebody that knows the gospel and is regenerate, right? So one is the Spirit of God you’re baptized into, and Jesus is the baptizer. The other one is a reminder of that, an outward command to be obeyed. What about the baptized? What about the person who’s being baptized, someone whose Spirit baptizes, what? They’re chosen by God. But water baptism is what? Chosen by the believer. By the way, it’s not optional, but you do have to choose it. By the way, if you’ve not been water baptized after you’ve believed on Christ, you’re in disobedience to Jesus’ command. You need to repent. You need to sign up and be baptized. You do. And if you say, “Well, what’s the big deal about getting wet? It’s a big deal to our Lord.” We should obey it. Let’s do it. I guarantee you this. If you fight with baptism, you’re gonna fight with every other struggle of sin and every other obedience you ever have in your life. You get past that high hurdle. It definitely helps in the downline. What is the condition for these baptisms? Well, for Spirit baptism, it’s what? It’s regeneration and faith. That’s the actual circumcision. It’s the heart being circumcised. And what’s the condition for water baptism? It’s obedience, part of your discipleship. You see how they’re different? One points to the other. What is the result? Spirit baptism. You’re now part of what? You’re now part of the universal church. You’ve been brought into the body of Christ. Water baptism. Now it doesn’t make you a member of a local church but it’s how local churches throughout history have identified. This is someone who’s associated with us. You realize persecution in the about the first two centuries really only came once you got baptized. You could say you believed, you could even say Jesus was the Messiah, but when you got baptized, that’s when they knew you drew a line in the sand and you were saying, “I now identify with these guys.” That’s why we do it publicly. How does this apply to our discipleship? Well, the downline of it is this, justification takes place at regeneration. Spirit baptism, the full gift of the Holy Spirit, takes place at regeneration, at justification. Family, it’s not something you gotta go chase and you gotta go run after. You don’t need some super spiritual person to lay their hands on you and to conjure up some kind of utterance or gifting, and you don’t waste your time chasing those things. Get in the Word of God. Get to know Him by Scripture. Everything else is a distraction to the disciple. We get to walk this out in a new and living way. What a good grace.
Let me finish here, Galatians 3:26-29, “For in Christ Jesus (that’s all those who are in Him) you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ (that’s regenerative baptism, that’s efficacious baptism that’s not water baptism) baptized into Christ have put on Christ…” You don’t put on Christ because you go into baptism, you put on Christ when, what? When you’re delivered out of darkness and into His marvelous light. This is talking about salvation. And in that verse 28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, (that’s baptized in the Holy Spirit) then you are (what?) Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” You need not doubt. You don’t have to look somewhere else. You don’t have to chase an ecstatic experience. Here’s what you get to say, “Thank You, Jesus. You did that for me, and I’ve obeyed You in water baptism as a testimony of what You’ve done, an outward sign of an inward reality. And my church family got to participate in it, and what a joy it is to walk into your sanctification.” And we’ll get to that, knowing that’s already been secured.
SPEAKER
Steve LeBlanc
KEYWORDS
Romans, Blessed, Mercy, Grace, New And Living Way, Jesus, Law, Abraham, Righteousness, Circumcision, Sign, Fire, Holy Spirit, Spirit Baptism, Water Baptism, True Circumcision, Regeneration, Discipleship, First Fruits, Pentecost, Ascension, Salvation, Sanctification, Gospel, Audio Sermon, Bible Church