Dr Greg Bahnsen - Modern Tongues Movement: The Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Part 1)

This recording has been released into the public domain by the Bonson Institute, where we aim to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. This morning's worship service, we're beginning a brief series that I've been asked to deliver to the congregation, which has increasingly become necessary as I view developments in our own community and even within our own congregation. Now be a series on the modern tongues movement. It's impossible, really, to take up a subject that big, with all of its many facets and implications, and to deal with it in just one short exhortation or lesson. And so I have felt it necessary to begin a short series on that. And I can't say at this moment exactly how long it will run, however short for me means anywhere between four to 12 weeks. I would imagine it will be this month, in the next four weeks, that we consider the subject. This morning's lesson is going to pertain to the subject of baptism in the Holy Spirit. And for our scripture reading, let's turn to First Corinthians, 12th chapter. First Corinthians 12, 13, 14 is something of the locus classicus, as we say, the classical locus, or the center of attention when you want to talk about spiritual gifts in the New Testament attitude toward them. Many other passages bear on it, but in our series we'll be focusing on these three chapters, and today we'll look at First Corinthians 12 with special reference to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Hear the word of God, Paul. Now, concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know that when you were Gentiles, you were led away unto these dumb idols. Howsoever you might be led, wherefore I make known unto you that no man speaking in the Spirit of God saith Jesus, is accursed. And no man can say Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are diversities of ministrations, and the same Lord, and there are diversities of workings with the same God who works all things in all. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal. For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit. To another faith in the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healings in the one Spirit, and to another workings of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another discerning of spirits, and to another divers kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these work the one and same Spirit dividing To each one severally, even as he will. For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For in one spirit were you all baptized into one body, Whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free. And we're all made to drink of one spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, it is not, therefore not of the body. And if the ear shall say, because I am not the eye, I am not of the body, it is not, therefore not of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set in the members, each one of them in the body, even as it pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now they are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee. Or again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. No. Much rather, those members of the body which seem to be the more feeble are necessary. And those parts of the body which we think to be less honorable are upon these we bestow more abundant honor. And our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness, whereas our comely parts have no need. But God tempered the body together, giving more abundant honor to that part which lacked. That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care, one for another. And whether one member suffers, all members suffer with it. Or one member is honored, all members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and severally members thereof. And God hath set some in the church. First, apostles, secondly, prophets, thirdly, teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing helps governments, divers kinds of tongues. Are all apostles, Are all prophets, Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret, but desire earnestly the greater gifts? And moreover, a most excellent way I show unto you. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. Thus far the Reading of God's Word it's difficult to begin the series that I have to begin this morning on the modern tongues movement. Not only because I have Dear friends in the Lord, who are of Pentecostal persuasion, who do believe in speaking in tongues, who do urge the second blessing of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But even if I didn't have that personal connection with people of that persuasion, I think we have to stand back and say with all admiration, with all sincerity and respect, that there are many things happening in the modern charismatic movement that ought to be happening outside the charismatic movement. There are many things about these churches that are commendable and noble and biblical and strong. Things which we should emulate, not the least of which is the enthusiasm with which these people praise God and are committed to testifying to his power in the modern world, whatever the cost may be to themselves. These are things which we all need to respect. It's difficult to begin because you know you have to say this. And yet as painful it is, I also have to add that we do if we are going to know more of Jesus as He's revealed in his word. As the hymn said just a few moments ago, we need to pay attention to how the word of God teaches the second blessing or not the second blessing, the baptism of the Holy Spirit or not the continuation of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We need to be assured in our minds that what we do in the service of worship and how we conduct ourselves and our experience of the Christian life is governed solely by the word of God. So that means I have to begin with a negative note. One of the people that's very close to me when I was preparing the sermon told me that this person was not real happy to hear the negative side of things. We need positive exhortation in the sermons, and I think that's a good word for the preacher to hear. We don't come here simply to be shooting down fellow believers and be doing the job of destruction. We also are here to do a constructive job of building, growing in the Lord knowing about to His Word so that we can construct the kingdom of God according to his power in our day and age. That is necessary. But we have to understand that we don't really know the positive message of Scripture unless we know those negative things that scripture contradicts. If I teach my children that 2 and 2 is 4, then send them to the market with that little mathematical lesson and they come back with five items when I told them to get two of this and two of that, and then they respond, well, it's true that 2 and 2 is 4, but it's also true that 2 and 2 is 5 and 2 and 2 is 6, we say, no, wait a minute, you haven't understood. By saying that 2 and 2 is 4, we mean 2 and 2 is not 5, not 6, not 3. It is 4. And for us to understand positively the teaching of the Bible about the Holy Spirit, we need to understand what the scripture contradicts as well. It's not just enough to say, well, well, yes, the Holy Spirit does the following. We must also understand in our day and age what the Holy Spirit does not do and what he has not promised to do. Because if we don't, we're going to end up constantly coming back from our worship service with 5 and 6 and other sorts of psalms that don't add up to what God tells us we should be doing in our Christian lives today. So there is controversy in the church. It's a controversy that's been intense since the early 1960s. The Neo Pentecostal movement is especially flourishing and has up until our current day been gaining converts and advocates, thousands each year. I'd like to summarize very briefly two aspects of Pentecostal or Charismatic teaching which are crucial to our consideration of the baptism of the Spirit today. First of all, just a brief quote from R.A. torrey's book the Baptism of with the Holy Spirit, which was published before the turn of the century, by the way. And so it goes to show you that the Pentecostal movement has historical roots. For a long time, their viewpoint has been, as he defines the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The baptism with the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God coming upon the believer, taking possession of his faculties, imparting to him gifts not naturally his own, but which qualify him for the service to which God has called him. You notice that the baptism of the Spirit comes upon the believer, and so you first of all have a believer, and then later this believer is baptized in the Spirit. Secondly, you'll notice that not only is this subsequent to his initial conversion, that this believer is now going to show evidence of the baptism of the Spirit by his faculties being possessed, which is just another way of saying he's going to be speaking in miraculous tongues. And thirdly, that this baptism of the Spirit is what will qualify him for the service God has for the Christian today. So baptism of the Holy Spirit in this very brief definition is subsequent to conversion, is manifest in the speaking of tongues, and is necessary for the empowering to lead the Christian life. Another writer in the Pentecostal tradition, Carl Brumbach, in his book Suddenly from Heaven, has said of the charismatic experience that the charismatic experience is of a transcendent and miraculous character, producing extraordinary effects which are visible to the onlooker, its initial oncoming being signalized by the utterance in other tongues. When one is baptized in the Spirit, everybody around him knows, because it will be signalized by his speaking in tongues. Finally, one more quotation from the Statement of Faith of the Assemblies of God Church. We believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit According to Acts 2, 4 is given to believers who ask for it. The baptism of the Holy Spirit, you see, is given to believers. So there again, in summary form, we see the key points that are essential to our message this morning. The baptism of the Spirit is said to be subsequent to conversion. Believers ask for is signalized so that all around will know that it's taking place by the speaking in tongues. And it is necessary so that we will be equipped to do the work God has given us as Christians. Now, with all due and sincere respect for my Pentecostal brethren, I disagree with each one of those points and I believe them to be not only contrary to the word of God, but as you might expect, just because of that, to be detrimental to the Christian life and a proper understanding thereof. So there's controversy in the church and it might be very distressing to us. In one sense, it ought to be distressing to us that there's this controversy over such an important thing as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That controversy is just bound to be intense controversy because what is at stake is nothing less than our personal experience, experience of being a Christian. If the Assemblies of God are right about the baptism of the Holy Spirit in terms of the experience individually of being a Christian, then to say that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not as they have described is to attempt to strip somebody of what to them is very dear is perhaps the very core of their experience, their feeling of what it is to be a Christian. On the other hand, if they are right, then what they declare has to say about us who believe we have the experience of being Christians, that in fact it's not genuine or at best it's only second class citizenship in the kingdom of God. So the controversy has to be intense. In the very nature of the case, it has to be intense because of the experience of the individual Christian and because of the practice of the Church. You see, if somebody were to pretend to be speaking in tongues today, I would not, as I have seen some of my Christian brothers do, halt the service and let the person continue. And then when he's done, praise God, this manifestation has been given. We would stop the service because we would stop that person from interrupting the service with giving something which is a pretend miracle. You see, the approach to the practice of the worship of God is bound to be extremely different between Reformed and Calvinistic church and a church which believes in the second blessing and the outpouring of charismatic gifts such as tongues. And so, you see, our worship and our experience of being Christians is radically affected by what you think of those three points I just gave you. Whether baptism in the Spirit is subsequent to conversion, manifest in the speaking of tongues, and finally necessary for the empowering of the Christian life. Well, the controversy is distressing because the controversy is, well, counterproductive. We'd rather see the Spirit of God unite the church. Nobody believes the Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit was given to divide us. After all, the Spirit was given to make one body and to unify believers. And so if we fight over the Spirit of God, then that's contrary to the very purposes for which one of the purposes for which the Spirit was given on the day of Pentecost. And this controversy is distressing because, you know, the world outside the world looks at us in the church and says, how come they can't make up their minds in such an elementary point of their dogma, of their creed, of their theology? Why is it the Christian church is constantly bickering and so we compromise our witness to outsiders and we impair our own effectiveness because time is taken to deal with each other on this point rather than the more positive kingdom building constructive activities that hopefully all of us are interested in? Well, it's distressing, but I say it's also hopeful. It's hopeful that there's a controversy in the church going on. There's a very promising aspect to that controversy. It is promising because it seems to me it forebodes a constructive resolution if all of us who are party to the controversy will be mutually committed to the word of God. You see, if we all say we're committed to the word of God, then the fact that we are arguing over a point, the fact that we are debating some point is very promising because what that shows is that we desire genuine unity in the truth. We don't say of the Bible that it's a wax nose to be pushed this way or that to fit the construction of the kind of face you want. A waxed nose is an illustration I've used from time to time. But I'm aware that the children maybe don't know what that means. Often people who are in the movies or on stage will have to put on makeup. And if the person doesn't have the right length of nose or the right construction of nose, then often they'll give him a wax nose they can shape to look like what they want to. The Bible is not like a wax nose where you can just mold it to whatever pattern you want to make it look like you want to make it say whatever you want it to say. And if we all agree that that's the case, that there is a word of truth here, and we are all mutually committed to that word of truth, then we must debate this point, because we must not say, you can have it your way, I can have it mine, as if the Bible were that wax nose. We have to say, I'm right or you're right or we're both wrong. But we've got to get some resolution of this. And so the fact that we're talking to each other, even if it is in a debate format, is still good, and it's hopeful. It reflects the effort of wrestling with the Scripture to become more fully obedient to the Scripture. And so that's good. Now, I'd like, with those introductory remarks, to take up then, this idea of the baptism of the Spirit being subsequent to conversion, manifest in the speaking of tongues, and necessary for the empowering to lead the Christian life. And on each point I have a decisive biblical thus saith the Lord. No, it is not the case. Now, how do I begin such a subject this big? How far back do we come? Do we step back? Do we finally get the panorama in view that we need to understand the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Well, in my preparation of today's lesson, I determined I would go back this far in preparation of your theological categories. Everybody, everybody who has an evangelical understanding of the way of salvation must in one way or another distinguish between what I will call the accomplishment of redemption and the application of redemption. Everybody must distinguish between what Christ has done in history outside of myself way back when to accomplish my redemption and the application of what Christ accomplished to my individual life or your individual life or his or her individual life. There's a difference between the work of Christ in redeeming me and the application of that redemption to my experience. There's a difference between the accomplishment and the application of redemption. Now, you all know that. Just think about it. Where did redemption take place? Somebody says, well, redemption took place at the cross. And that would be very true. Redemption is something that Jesus does. But, you know, if it just took place at the cross and everybody in the world still went to hell. It wouldn't be a very powerful redemption. It wouldn't be an applied redemption. Redemption doesn't simply take place at the cross and the resurrection. Redemption takes place in my experience too. I am redeemed. True, I am redeemed by the work of Jesus Christ, but I'm the one who's redeemed. So there's the personal experiential aspect of it. Redemption is first of all historical, secondly experiential. It is first accomplished, then it is applied. Now, if we begin with that elementary distinction, as simple as that is, that will help us to understand this baptism of the Holy Spirit. Because the whole question is, is the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the accomplishment side of redemption, or is it on the application side of redemption? The biblical answer to that question is that Pentecost and the baptism of the Holy Spirit that goes with it is part of a complex of historical events that are tied together as the accomplishment, the once for all accomplishment of our redemption. What had to be done so that we could be saved? What was necessary to be accomplished that we would be redeemed? Well, we all know some elementary parts of that answer. But very few of us proceed to put the whole New Testament picture together. We all know Christ had to die on the cross as a substitutionary vicarious sacrifice, the sin bearer for guilty sinners. Christ had to die, the Bible tells us he had to rise again. The resurrection is part of our redemption, for by his resurrection we are justified. Paul says we are all united to Christ in that element. Well, the New Testament doesn't stop there. The New Testament says that Christ, to accomplish our redemption, not only died and rose again, but he ascended on high to the right hand of God to receive the glory of the Father and to function as the King over all creation. And the Bible says it didn't stop there, that as part of that one complex of redemption, Jesus died, rose again, ascended on high, and gave the promise of the Spirit. The outpouring of the Spirit is part and parcel of those events that were necessary for the accomplishment of our redemption. I'm going to try to demonstrate that to you in just a moment or two here that in one sense the Bible summarizes the whole work of the Messiah, the whole work of the Savior as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That in a phrase, that is it. That is what Jesus came to do. And so what I'm going to contend, first of all, is that Pentecost is part of the accomplishment of redemption. It is not part of the application of redemption. It is not part of the ongoing experiential aspect of redemption. It is part of the historical work Christ did for our salvation. Pentecost, therefore, is no more repeatable, is no more a model for our own experience than the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ are repeatable events that are models for our experience. Does anybody believe that Christ is dying, dying and dying again? Of course not. He died once for all, Hebrews says. Does anybody believe that he's rising, rising, rising again? No. He rose once and for all. The demonstration of the vindication of God. Is he constantly ascending to the right hand of God? No, he now sits at the right hand of God. And so if I can show you that Pentecost is part of that sweep of redemptive events from the cross to the resurrection to the ascension to the outpouring of the promise of the Father, if that is all part of one complex unit, the accomplishment of our redemption, then we should say that Pentecost is no more repeatable, no more going on and on and on, no more a model for my personal experience than is the cross, the resurrection and the ascension of Christ with which Pentecost is so integrally conjoined. The second aspect of our study this morning is to show that the Pentecostal work of the Spirit is not an independent and added blessing, kind of a bonus to salvation, if you will. The second blessing, which it is called quite explicitly by our friends in the Pentecostal movement, it is not an independent added blessing to the redemption accomplished by Christ. It is rather part and parcel of the work of redemption accomplished by Christ. And the last thing that I want to demonstrate to you this morning is that the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which took place once and for all in the day of Pentecost and is not a repeatable second blessing, a bonus, if you will, added to our salvation that that is not even in the days in which tongues were valid, was not always and everywhere manifest by the speaking in tongues. So you've seen what the Pentecostals claim. You see what I am claiming. And now I'd like to let the Scripture make the decision for us. What says the word of God on this subject? Well, the first thing you'll notice if you do any study of the New Testament, the work of the Holy Spirit, is that the predominance of the mention of the Holy Spirit and the work of the Holy Spirit is in the latter part of the New Testament. It's amazing. Over 80% of all the mentions of the Holy Spirit come in Acts through the Epistles, the Gospels very sparse. For you see, in the Gospels, the Spirit is largely a matter of promise to the disciples. The Spirit is a future gift promised by the Messiah. But in Acts and the New Testament Epistles, the emphasis changes to the present reality of the Spirit, who is now active in the church. And so if you just do nothing more but account of the mentions of the Spirit, you must see that the day of Pentecost is pivotal. Everything up to Pentecost anticipates Pentecost. Everything after looks back to Pentecost. Pentecost makes the difference in terms of the New Testament doctrine of the Holy Spirit. As we proceed, it will be helpful for you to notice that in the Book of Acts there's an interchangeability of expressions. The day of Pentecost is referred to as the best baptism of the Holy Spirit. In chapter one, it's called the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In chapter two, it's called the gift of the Holy Spirit. In chapters two and ten, it's called the coming on of the spirit in Acts 1, or the filling of the Spirit in Acts 2, or the receiving of the Spirit in Acts 10 and the falling on of the Spirit in Acts 11. You just have to understand there's a variety of expressions, baptism, outpouring, gifts, coming on, filling, receiving, falling on. All of these refer, however, to the one event, the day of Pentecost, in all its multiple facets. So Pentecost is decisive. Now let's look at the work of Jesus Christ as it works up to the day of Pentecost. I think one of the most important passages we can consider here this morning is Luke 3, 15, 18. Of course, this is especially nice to present this lesson to this congregation, because you all are becoming expert in the theology of Luke through our many weeks of exposition in Luke, Luke 3, 15, 18. And as the people were in expectation, and all men reasoned in their hearts concerning John, whether aptly he were the Christ, John answered, saying unto them, while I indeed baptize you with water. But there cometh he that is mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit, and in fire, whose fan is in his hand thoroughly to cleanse his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his garner, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire. John says, my ministry, my baptism is but provisional and anticipatory. It is but the promise of a greater baptism to come. And when the Christ comes, he will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. You would think. Well, John might have said, he will die on the cross for our sins, or he will rise from the dead three days later, or he will be exalted as king over creation. But John says the work of the Messiah can be captured in that one phrase. Baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire. What I do is but provisional baptized with water. He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. Now, in this passage it is clear that baptism is associated with destructive fire and with differentiating judgment. When the fire of the baptism in the Spirit comes, it will destroy sinners, and in that way will help God differentiate between the chaff and the wheat, between that which is gathered into his barns and that which is cast away. When the baptism of the Spirit comes, it will mean judgment, destructive judgment, and differentiating judgment among men. By the way, verse nine preceding had already indicated that in John's own preaching, he says, even now the axe also lieth at the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Just as even in my preaching the ax is being laid to the root. Anybody who does not show forth the inner righteousness demanded by God will be cast into the fire. And when the Messiah comes, finally judgment will be here. Baptism in the Spirit, baptism in fire. The same association of destructive fire with differentiating judgment, the same idea of baptism as an ordeal through which we go in judgment for our sins is found in Luke 12:49, 51. Luke 12:49. Jesus says, I came to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I desire if it is already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with? And how am I straitened till it be accomplished? Think ye that I am come to give peace in the earth? I tell you no, but rather division. Jesus said, I came to cast fire on the earth. I came to bring baptism to the earth. I am now going to divide people between the sheep and the goats, the saints and the sinners, the saved and the lost. You see, in order for the Spirit and fire baptism to be a blessing upon the church of Jesus Christ, at first had to be a destruction. It first had to be a judgment. And that's why Jesus said, I have come to undergo the baptismal ordeal of death. I have come to give my life for my people. In order for the Spirit and fire baptism to be a blessing for us rather than a destruction of us as God's people, the Messiah must first become identified with us as our sin bearers. And thus Jesus told John, it behooves me to fulfill all righteousness. Baptize me, John. I will be identified with my people. I will be baptized. And God endows the Messiah with the Holy Spirit at that point, so that he might then bear away the condemnation that their sins deserve. You see, Jesus receives the Spirit for the removing of sin's curse. He receives the Spirit that he might undergo the ordeal of a fire baptism, so that then the baptism of the Holy Spirit can be received in the church as a blessing. You want to see the connections here? John, the first chapter. As John the Apostle writes of the baptism of the baptizer John the Baptist, we read in John 1:29 the testimony of the baptizer. And on the next day, he saw Jesus coming unto him and said, behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. And then verse 33. And I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize in water. He said unto me, unto whomsoever, upon whomsoever, you shall see the Spirit descending and abiding upon him. The same is he that baptizes in the Holy Spirit, who is the one that will baptize in the Holy Spirit, the one who bears away the sin of the world. Jesus receives the Spirit baptism then as the Lamb who will remove sin. And because Jesus has borne away the baptismal judgment of fire from God's people, Acts the second chapter tells this very significantly. Acts 2, 3. And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of. And it sat upon each one of them. And tongues of fire on each one of the Christians. On the day of Pentecost, why tongues of fire? Jesus said, I will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire, indicating that the baptismal fire of destruction and judgment has now been exhausted for the church. And it will not consume the church. It will but purify the church. Jesus has been baptized. Jesus has undergone the ordeal of God. And so now Jesus, when he baptizes the church in fire, the church is not consumed. Now, at the Jordan, then the Jordan river, the Father gave the Spirit to Jesus as the endowment for the Messianic task before him of accomplishing salvation for his church. And at Pentecost, now you must see the Spirit that Jesus received from the Father as the reward of his redemptive work. That work that is now finished for our salvation. That Spirit received by Jesus was given by Jesus to the Church as the promised gift of the Father. You see, if you just understand John's own categorization of the Messiah's work. You must see that Pentecost is part of a single unified complex of redemptive events which are epochal, which are once for all in their significance. Jesus has been baptized. Jesus underwent the ordeal. Jesus has received the promise of the Father. Jesus has baptized the church. You see that all ties together. You can't just lop off the end and say, well, that's just a bonus. Now for the church. That's part and parcel of what the Messiah's work was all about. That he might baptize his church and Holy Spirit and fire. In Acts 2, verse 33, then on the day of Pentecost, we see how Peter says that the Messiah's work can be seen as this baptismal work of the Spirit. Acts 2:33. Peter says, Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath poured forth this which ye see and hear this Jesus that you crucified, this Jesus who rose from the dead. This Jesus has ascended on high and has received the promise of the Father. He is the one who brought about this day. Peter said, he is the one who is doing this work in our midst. He has poured forth the Spirit on us. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is called the promise of the Father. Very significant language at the very end of Luke's Gospel. And I remind you here that Luke wrote both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. The end of Luke's gospel, chapter 24, verse 49, Jesus said, behold, I send forth the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high. When Jesus sends the Spirit, he is sending nothing less than what can be categorized as the promise of the Father. That promise that was looked forward to throughout all the days of the Old Covenant. That promise which the disciples anticipated being promised that the Messiah would come with Holy Spirit baptism. Jesus says, this is the promise of the Father. And Peter says, the promise has now been delivered to the church because Christ has baptized the Church in the Holy Spirit and fire. Pentecost, therefore, in the biblical perspective, is nothing less than the climax of Christ's redemptive work. John 7:39 show you how integral this idea is to New Testament theology. We have to understand that it can be said just in passing. Everybody should understand this. So parenthetically John says in John 7:39, he that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, this is Jesus speaking from within. Him shall flow rivers of living water. And then John adds, but this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive. For the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. The glorification of the Son of God, his resurrection and ascension must mean the giving of the Spirit to God's people. If we can drive this point home, which is just the name nail from which everything having to do with the charismatic movement hangs suspended. If I can just get this driven home to your hearts even more, consider now 1 Corinthians 15:45. 1 Corinthians 15:45 speaking of Adam and the second Adam, Adam and Jesus Christ, speaking of the effects they have on God's people, Paul says so also it is written, the first man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam became life giving Spirit. Those are fascinating words. Theologically. Paul says that the second Adam, Jesus Christ, has become life giving Spirit, which throughout Paul's epistles always refers to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of life. The Spirit that gives life is the Holy Spirit. And here he says, Christ has become life giving Spirit. Of course, Paul's perspective here is historical. What has come to be the case? What has been accomplished in history? He's not talking about the eternal and essential relationship between Christ and the Spirit, but because of Christ's work of redemption, because of his resurrection, Christ has come into such a permanent and complete possession of the Spirit that the two Christ and the Spirit are now equated in their activity of giving life to the Church. What Christ does, the Spirit does in this age and what the Spirit does is what Christ is doing in this age. Paul says that the second Adam became life giving Spirit. Christ and the Spirit are now equated in the work of giving life to the Church. In John the 14th chapter, remember how Jesus promised that he will send another Paraclete, another comforter to his followers. And immediately he says, I will come to you. How could Jesus make that confusion? How could he promise the Holy Spirit and turn around and say, I will come? In fact, Jesus had just said, it's necessary that I go to my Father, that I be glorified. But Jesus is saying, if I go to my Father, it is order that I might come in the Spirit to you. Jesus and the Spirit have become one in their saving activities. In the new Covenant, Christ is present by and in the Spirit in the Church of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit's word may not ever be considered a bonus added to the basic saving work that has been done by Christ. The Holy Spirit's work is not somehow an appendix to the salvation secured by Jesus Christ. It is not supplementary to our redemption. The receiving of the Holy Spirit is nothing less than the work of the exalted Christ. Pentecost is Christ's personal coming to the Church as the life giving Spirit, the promise of the Father. You see what I've been getting at here now, all these many minutes of exposition. What I've been trying to tell you is that Pentecost and the baptism of the Spirit on that day is not part of the ongoing experience of the Christian any more than the death, resurrection and ascension are. Pentecost is over here. On the other side of the ledger is part of the accomplishment of redemption is nothing less than the promise of the Father, nothing less than the glorification of the Son, nothing less than the whole, if you will, package of salvation summarized in a phrase. Jesus had to die, rise again, be ascended to the right hand of God, and from there deliver the promised baptism of the Spirit, that which was anticipated at the baptism of John at the River Jordan, that which is fulfilled on the day of Pentecost as the promise of the new covenant. Pentecost is the outpouring, is the baptism of the Holy Spirit as the crowning achievement of Christ's work of finished redemptive accomplishment. Pentecost means that the Spirit is now present, is now active in the body of Christ on the basis of the once for all work of Jesus Christ as our Redeemer. We're going to continue this thought next week, but let me end by just pointing out a really fascinating aspect of Paul's theology. Paul tells us that every aspect of Christ's once for all redemptive work is in a sense experienced by the individual believer when he becomes a Christian. That becoming a Christian can be categorized in each one of these terms. Christ died. We have died with Christ. When we become Christians. Christ rose from the dead. We have risen with Christ. If we become Christians, Christ rose, ascended to the right hand of God. We are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. If we are Christians. Let's just look at some of these passages. Galatians 2, 20. For the death of Christ, Paul says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. I have died with Christ. Or consider Ephesians 2, 5, 6. Even when we were dead, through our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ. For by grace have you been saved and raised us up with him. We have been raised with Christ. And notice he goes on to say, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places. In Christ Jesus we've ascended on high with Christ. Our Colossians, the third chapter, the first three verses. If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated on the right hand of God. Verse 3 For ye died and your life is hid with Christ in God, what's the conclusion? What can we say? If Christ died, therefore I have died with Christ. If Christ has been raised from the dead and I am raised with him, if Christ has ascended on high and now I am seated in the heavenlies with him, what are we to say of the Pentecostal outpouring? If Christ is given the promise of the Father and has baptized the Church, shall I not be baptized in the Spirit if I become a Christian? What does Paul say in verse Corinthians 12:13? Returning finally to our passage of Scripture this morning, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:13, for in 1 Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free, and were all made to drink of one Spirit. On the individual level, conversion is a death and resurrection experience. Conversion is an ascension experience. And conversion, Paul says, is a Pentecostal experience. To be converted is to be baptized in the Spirit. Or in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body. The Holy Spirit, you see, is viewed here as a gift granted to those who are in the body of Christ First Corinthians 12:13 is the only passage in the New Testament that speaks of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and is not speaking directly of the day of Pentecost. You will never find the phrase baptism of the Holy Spirit in its seven different occurrences. You'll never find that phrase in the New Testament outside of this one applied to anything but Pentecost. And here Paul says, we have all undergone that Pentecostal experience. We are all baptized in the Spirit. If we are Christians, who is baptized in the Holy Spirit, believers who ask to be baptized in the Holy Spirit as the Assemblies of God teach us. Paul would have nothing of that. He says, we all are baptized in one Spirit, for in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond are free. And notice how he follows that up in the very next phrase. We were all made to drink of one Spirit, to drink of one Spirit. Jesus had said in John 7 that rivers of living water would flow from within a man if he came to Christ for salvation. And John says this. He said, speaking of the Holy Spirit, that would come and now Paul says, we're all drinking of the living water, of the Spirit. We all drink of the Spirit. We, we are all baptized in the Spirit. Paul will not have any idea that there's a stratification in the Christian church between the haves and the have nots, between those who are empowered for service and those who are miserably waiting so they can finally serve God. Between those who have enjoyed the second blessing and those second class citizens who are hoping that it might be their lot someday. Paul does not stratify the church. He goes right on in 1 Corinthians 12 to say that even the, the most uncomely members of the body are given the highest honor in the body of Jesus Christ. Even that member that you think is the least important in the body of Jesus Christ is equally important with all the rest. The ears and the eyes and the noses and the hands and the feet, they all work together in the body. Paul will not have second class citizenship. And so he declares, we have all been baptized the Holy Spirit. When we have come into the body, when we have been included in a saving way in the covenant community, we have been baptized in the Holy Spirit. The fact that all believers share in the baptism of the Holy Spirit from the time of their incorporation into the body of Christ refutes all constructions of the Holy Spirit's baptism that sees it as an additional post conversion second blessing experience. You see, second blessing theologians inevitably stratify the church into the haves and the have nots, contrary to Paul's theology. And that's because they think of the second blessing as an experience of the individual believer after his conversion. But Paul says it's the experience of the Church on the day of Pentecost. And therefore anybody incorporated into the church enjoys the baptism of the Holy Spirit. My concluding thought. Paul says in verses 29 and 30, well, let's look at verse 30. He says, have all gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? Some of your translations say, well, actually give the effect of the rhetorical question. Paul is saying, not everybody interprets. Not everybody speaks in tongues, do they? Not everybody heals, do they? Not everybody has this gift, do they? In one and the same chapter. Then Paul says, we all have been baptized in the Spirit. And he says, not everybody speaks in tongues, do they? Now don't even consider whether we should speak in tongues today. Just consider the church at Corinth to which Paul wrote. And he said that all of them were baptized in the Spirit, but not all of them spoke in tongues. In this brief review of biblical teaching, if we'll let the Bible be our plumb line to which we will toe in our theology and our conception of the Christian life and our understanding of Christian worship, Paul will not allow us to think of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as subsequent to conversion. In the first place, it's not even the experience of the individual Christian. It's the accomplishment of redemption. Jesus has poured forth the Spirit on the church and everybody incorporated into the church therefore comes under that baptism of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, baptism of the Holy Spirit isn't always manifest in the speaking of tongues. It wasn't in Corinth. Why should it be today? And finally, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not the one and only thing necessary. The speaking in tongues is. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not the one thing necessary that will be empowered to lead the Christian life. Paul says, we've all been baptized in the Spirit and we all have a function in the Church whether we speak in tongues or not. We'll continue our considerations next week as we look further at the modern tongues movement. But today let's rejoice in the Lord that we enjoy the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That we do not have to seek this, that we do not have to mystically wait for it to happen to us in some spooky way. That it is the benefit of redemption that Jesus gives to all of his people and that we are not second class citizens, but rather we have all been empowered to find our place in the Church of Jesus Christ. Now before you say, well, that takes care of that the Pentecostals are wrong about the baptism of the Spirit. I can go back into my indolence. I can go back into my being, no function in the Church of Jesus Christ. Let's remember that though the Pentecostals are wrong to think that baptism of the Spirit means speaking in tongues, a second blessing and all the rest, they are right. They see that the work of the Spirit in baptizing the Church empowers the church for service. If you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, that is to say, if you have been converted and incorporated into the Body of Christ, then you should ask yourself, what is it that I should enthusiastically and with zeal be pursuing as my ministry within the Body of Christ? For any member that is not serving is not truly a member of the body. And anybody who's not truly a member of the body isn't baptized with the Holy Spirit. I'm going to end where the Pentecostals stand. I'm going to ask you, have you been baptized with the Holy Spirit? Let's pray. Lord, we ask that you would give our minds clarity of thought, that you would give us fidelity to the Scriptures, that you would enable us to apply the word of God to our own hearts this day. We thank you that our Lord Jesus Christ once and for all accomplished our redemption. That he left nothing for us to do in our own experience, that he died in our place, that he rose from the dead, that he has ascended on high and that he has baptized the Church in the Spirit. We thank you for that promise of the Father that he has poured forth on all those who are members of your body. We thank you for incorporating us into your body by your grace. We thank you for your love by which we've been redeemed, by which we've been converted, by which we've been regenerated and made to partake in the life giving Spirit. We thank you that the Holy Spirit does reign supreme in the Church. That the destructive fire of judgment, the ordeal has fallen upon you so that the baptism with fire might be a purifying effect on us. We thank you for your grace in all of these ways and pray for your empowering and your filling. That we might more and more live out our vocation and calling that we might minister and serve you, each and every one of us, as those who have part in the body of Christ. May every member find its place and perform its job so the body of Christ would be strengthened and built up in this day. For it's in Jesus name that we pray these things. Amen. This recording has been released into the public domain by the Bonsen Institute. Duplication, sharing and distribution is encouraged. For more information about the life and Ministry of Dr. Greg L. Bonson, visit our website bonseninstitute.com where we aim to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.