Have you received the Holy Spirit?
We believe in two things that make the church what it ought to be. One, there has to be an honest kind of biblical love and you have to have sound doctrine. So our commitment is not only to love the congregation and exercise the ministry of spiritual gifts and have fellowship with one another, but also to systematically verse by verse teach the Bible.
Acts is the historical record of the early church from the day of Pentecost through those early years. And now in Acts 18 we learned about one message that has three parts. We are studying how a person changes from Judaism to Jesus. And in Acts 18:18 the Holy Spirit gives us three incidents that illustrate that transition from Judaism to Jesus.
When Christianity was established and a New Covenant was introduced, there were many Jews who found it very difficult to make all of the transition rapidly. And so there were many people in the midst of transition, coming to Jesus Christ from Judaism. Now in our study here, we see the apostle Paul, though a believer in every sense, still taking a Nazarite vow which can only be found in Judaism.
So even Paul is in transition. And then we studied Apollos in verses 24 to 28. Here we meet a disciple of John the Baptist, the last Old Testament prophet. A man who believed that Jesus was that Messiah but didn't understand the cross, and who did not understand the Resurrection. John the Baptist only knew that Jesus was the Messiah and didn't know all that Jesus had done.
So now we come to the third section of our study, in Acts 19:1-7 where we meet a group of 12 men who also are in transition. Now remember that the whole of Judaism pervaded their lives. Christianity came in and it took time for all of the adjustments to take place. In some cases like Paul, he couldn't let go of some old patterns. And people like Apollos just didn't know the whole Gospel.
And so the Holy Spirit had to bring them along in individual circumstances to lead them to a full understanding of Christ and Christianity. Now our key discussion this evening is taking from a scene that we all face today in Christianity. And that is the question in Acts 19:2 where Paul says, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
We live in a time when Pentecostalism or the charismatic movement has posed this question to many Christians. The view that they take is that you can be a Christian and not yet possess the Holy Spirit. And at some point after your salvation you then by a certain activity allowed through certain information you can receive the Holy Spirit in certain ways.
And so the charismatic movement would make a distinction between having the Holy Spirit and possessing the fullness of the Spirit or the Baptism of the Spirit. But if you say a person receives only a limited portion of the Spirit, then you are saying in effect that the person has not received the Spirit at all. And that is wrong.
Jesus promised that we would receive the Spirit as salvation, which means receiving the Spirit as the Spirit is. And to draw the conclusion that the Spirit comes in part only and then later on in fullness is not biblical. 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.”
Many people say, “Well we receive Jesus as Savior but not as Lord.” That is also not accurate, Jesus is the Lord who reigns. And you receive Him for who He is. And the same is true of the Holy Spirit. There are no degrees in receiving the Holy Spirit. In other words the Christian receives the Holy Spirit in full from the moment of salvation.
The primary thing for a believer to do in the world is to exalt God. And when you hold a wrong view of Him, of His Son or of the Holy Spirit that grieves the Holy Spirit. The thought that you could be saved and get the Holy Spirit later is based on the book of Acts. But we cannot take transitional things in Acts as the norm for the Bible.
As we have learned, Acts is a transitional book. And learn these things and so this is a means for you to teach others. The New Covenant has come, so the old covenant, as Hebrews 8:13 says, “is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” And people come to Christ but still find it difficult to make the full transition.
And so in Acts, there are various transitions. Let us look back at our text as we saw three sections to our transition. First of all Paul was in transition in Acts 18:18 to 22. He was still making Nazarite vows on an Old Testament basis. He still wanted to fulfill this vow in the right way and he wanted to be there for the Judaistic feast.
Secondly we saw Apollos, a Jew born in Alexandria, an eloquent and learned man, mighty in the Old Testament. But he knew only the baptism of John which meant that he knew Jesus as the Messiah, but not the cross and His resurrection. Then Aquila and Priscilla explained to him the way of God more perfectly. After that he went back to Corinth and he taught believers who began under Paul.
Now we come to our third group in transition and that's in Acts 19:1-7. Now in these seven verses, God is still dealing with Old Testament influence. These 12 people are Old Testament saints still in transition. Verse 1, “And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus.”
In Acts 18:21 Paul had said to the Ephesians, “I will return to you, God willing.” And God did will and so he started his third missionary journey, went through south Galatia and confirmed the churches and strengthened them. Verse 2, “And finding some disciples he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”
Now when we look at the word disciple, it's easy to make the assumption that they were Christians. But verse 2 says, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" John points out that you can't always determine whether a disciple truly believes. Jesus in John 8:31 says that “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” John 6:66 says, “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” So the word disciple just means learner, and is no proof of Christianity.
People assumed that they were Christians here because the word disciple in the book of Acts is used to speak of Christians. But here they were not Christians yet. Why? Because they didn't know anything about the Holy Spirit in terms of His being granted to Christians. A Christian is somebody who believes in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And they didn't yet know that.
Verse 5, “When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” In the early church, when were people baptized? Immediately upon believing. If you look at Acts 2:41, "3,000 believed and were baptized." All through the book of Acts, baptism is immediate upon salvation. If these people were Christians in the sense of believing in the finished work of Christ, they would have known the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The charismatics believe that there is a second blessing. That salvation is the first blessing and then you surrender later on and you get the Holy Spirit as kind of a second blessing. This is the failure to recognize the transitional nature of the book of Acts. We cannot take the experience of the people in Acts in a transitional period and make it the norm for the church.
Not all of the disciples of John the Baptist had all of the information about Jesus. John was saying repent for what is at hand, the kingdom. And one day in prison he looked around and saw that Jesus was not setting up a kingdom. In fact it looked as if Jesus was becoming a victim. And he begins to wonder, is this the Messiah or not?
So when John heard in prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus if He was the Messiah. And if John himself had some questions about Jesus being that Messiah, it's easy to understand that some of his disciples too might not have understood a lot about Jesus either. Thus these disciples in Acts 19 could not have received a full understanding of Jesus as their Messiah. So they were not Christians yet.
And secondly, what happens in transition does not necessarily set the pattern. Romans 8:9 says, “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” Without the Holy Spirit, you are not Christian. 1 Corinthian 6:19 says, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?”
God says in Ezekiel 36:26, “I will give you a new heart and put My Spirit within you.” Now the credibility of God is at stake. And secondly the credibility of Jesus is at stake also in John 14:16-17, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever 17 the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” There was no other condition, just the prayer of Jesus.
Who receives the Holy Spirit? All who believe. You say well many people don't have the Holy Spirit. That is right. Jude 1:19 says, “These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.” They are mockers who walk after their own ungodly lusts, not Christians. Ephesians 2:22 says, “In whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
But in Acts 8, there are Christians who didn't have the Holy Spirit. Does it matter? No, because it's transitional. Acts 8:14-17, “Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.”
These are Samaritans and Jews hated Samaritans. Now the Jews had received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The Gospel had been preached in Samaria and for 500 years they had separate temples. And so God in His wisdom withheld the Holy Spirit from them until Jewish apostles arrived. And they saw them receive the Holy Spirit with the same manifestation that they had received on Pentecost. And then they could witness to the Jews in Jerusalem that God had made the Samaritans one with them.
Remember what happened to Cornelius in Acts 10:44-45? He also received the Holy Spirit, he also spoke in tongues as they had on the day of the Pentecost and all the Jews that were standing there were absolutely shocked. And Peter went back to Jerusalem and says, those Gentiles got the same thing we got. God wanted them to see that. God does not want any schism.
People who go around seeking for the Holy Spirit to have greater power and think they can earn the Holy Spirit are doing in a sense exactly what Simon, the sorcerer, was doing by wanting to buy the Holy Spirit and are to be castigated in the same way that Peter castigated Simon. When you take the gift of God and turn it into something which can be obtained through human means, you have destroyed the concept of grace.
Now back to Acts 19:2, “Paul said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” Why does he ask that? Because then he can establish by the answer whether they are saved. He is saying that faith is the key. Verse 3, “And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.”
Actually John the Baptist did teach about the Holy Spirit. But they did not know that the Holy Spirit had been given. John said the Holy Spirit would come. Verse 4-5, “Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
If a person knows nothing about the Holy Spirit, we should teach them about Christ, that He is the Savior. And in verse 6, “And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.” 2 Peter 1:2-3 says, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.”
Do you know that that is the last time it ever happened when a person lays hands that the Holy Spirit comes in the New Testament? Verse 7 simply says, “Now the men were about twelve in all.” Well why did they speak in tongues? Two reasons. One, God wanted to tie everybody into one church. And secondly God knew that they needed a strong convincing that the Spirit had come. So that the Jews too would know the Spirit came.
We met three transitions here, first Paul, then Apollos, then the 12. And we see these three groups still. We still have people like Paul who are saved, but hanging on to legalism. And then we have Jewish Christians who function fruitfully in the body of Christ as opposed to maintaining isolation. And then we have people like Apollos, who are people who believe in God, but they have never met Christ. I hope you are not in transition, but have come all the way to the fullness of experiencing all that God has provided for you. Let's pray.