Welcome back to our study of the Holy Spirit. We are looking at the work of the Holy Spirit in and through the life of the Christian. We have already discovered two specific operations of the Holy Spirit.

The first work of the Holy Spirit is the work of salvation or regeneration. The moment a person believes on the Lord Jesus Christ and confesses Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, the Holy Spirit immediately recreates or regenerates that person's Spirit. That person becomes a child of God. That person becomes a new creature in Christ. That person becomes the righteousness of God in Christ. Salvation is the first work of the Holy Spirit. Once a person has become a Christian, the Holy Spirit moves into their Spirit and takes up residence. As the Bible says, your body becomes the temple of God or the house of God. 

Currently, we are focusing on the second work of the Holy Spirit or what the Bible refers to as "The Promise of the Father" or "The baptism with the Holy Spirit." We have already read Acts 1:4-8 in the previous lessons.

And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

For John truly baptised with water; but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

We mentioned to you in our last lesson that this experience we refer to as the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is to empower the Christian to become a more effective witness for Christ.

We could say that this Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a baptism of power. We are not inferring that Christians who have not experienced what the Bible calls the Baptism with the Holy Spirit are not Christians. We have already determined from reading Romans 8:9 – "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of God, he is none of his." When a person is born again, the Spirit of God moves into their Spirit. That person becomes a child of God, so every Christian has the Holy Spirit living inside of them.

The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is simply an additional experience with the Holy Spirit that equips the Christian with supernatural power and ability to become a more effective witness or disciple of Jesus Christ.

We have a great example of this found in Acts 8:5-17. In this story Philip travelled to a city named Samaria and began proclaiming the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. In verse 12 – “But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus, they were baptised, both men and women.”

This verse plainly states that the Samaritans believed the message Philip preached and were later baptised. Obviously, by Baptism in this verse, he is talking about water baptism, which is, according to the Bible an outward demonstration or testimony of the inward spiritual work of salvation.

In other words, it is obvious that the Samaritans who believe the preaching of Philip, accepted Jesus as their saviour and then were immediately water baptised.

Let’s go on reading with verse 14 – Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem, heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, verse 15 – who when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive (what – salvation? Jesus?) no – that they might receive the Holy Ghost….verse 16 – for as yet He was fallen upon none of them; only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Notice – Peter and John prayed for them to receive what? Notice, for as yet, the Holy Spirit was fallen upon none of them – fallen upon none of them. This is not talking about the new birth. These Samaritans were already saved.

It is not common practice to water baptise unsaved people. They had already accepted Jesus and were water baptised in the Name of the Lord Jesus. When a person becomes a Christian, the Holy Spirit does not fall upon them….He comes to dwell in them.

I think it is very easy to see the two ways the Holy Spirit works in the life of a person. The first work of the Holy Spirit is regeneration or the new birth or what we call salvation.

The second work of the Holy Spirit is what we refer to as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This experience is to empower the believer.

Let’s look more closely at this word “baptise.”

The word “baptise” is a Greek word which has been adopted into the English language is now a part of our Christian vocabulary. The root word for baptise means “to dip” or “dip into a dye” or “a colour”. 

This word was commonly used in the dye trade. Cloth would be dipped or immersed into a vat of dye. The material was literately “baptised” in colour.  When the fabric was removed from the container of colour, it had a distinct and new appearance. It became identified in a new way. Green cloth would come out of a vat of green dye. Blue cloth would come out of a container of blue dye. Its new colour identified the fabric.

There are two key things we learn from a study of the word baptise:  First, the word baptise means “to immerse”. Second, the word “baptise” signifies an “identification.” The newly dyed cloth is identified by its colour. Christians who are “baptised” or immersed become identified with Jesus Christ as well as with the entire Godhead – God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This is evident by the formula Jesus gave His disciples concerning water baptism. Jesus instructed his disciples, “baptise them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

Most Christians do not have a problem identifying with Jesus or identifying with the Heavenly Father – however, sometimes Christians have a difficult time identifying with the Holy Spirit. Interestingly, the early believers, the early Christians, had no difficulty at all identifying with the Holy Spirit.

Remember Acts 19:1-7? There were certain disciples followed John the baptist and Paul came and found them and he said to them – “Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?”

In other words Paul is asking them, have you been baptised with the Holy Spirit since becoming believers or Christians?

How did they respond? They said they have not even heard about the Holy Spirit. Notice Paul’s next question. How were you baptised? Why would Paul ask them what mode of baptism they experienced? If they were truly Christians, they would have heard the name of the Holy Spirit, at least during the time they were water baptised. The early church was instructed to water baptise people in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Paul quickly concluded that these disciples had not yet been born again. They were followers of John the Baptist not Jesus. Paul then preached Jesus to them and they were born again, and water baptised in the name of Jesus. Why were they baptised in the name of Jesus? Simply to distinguish Baptism into the body of Christ from John the Baptist's Baptism.

In verse 6 – And when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues and prophesied. 

We have two different distinct baptisms that the early church were familiar with. The first was water baptism, the second was the Baptism with the Holy Spirit.

Again, water baptism symbolized or testified to everyone who witnessed a person being immersed in water that their old life is now dead, and they are being raised to a new life in Christ. Water baptism in that sense, is simply an outward demonstration of an inward spiritual work. The water does not save or redeem a person, only the blood of Jesus can do that. So, we believe saved people get water baptized.

The second Baptism is what we have been talking about – the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. What do we mean by the Baptism with the Holy Spirit? What does this experience mean for the Christian?

It means you become immersed or saturated with God’s supernatural power. It means you have identified yourself with God’s supernatural power. It means you have placed yourself in a position for the Holy Spirit to work through your life in His fullest capacity.

When Jesus instructed his disciples in Luke 24:49 – And behold, I send the Promise of my Father upon you; but tarry (or wait) ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. Notice this command was not optional. Jesus did not say, I suggest you stay in Jerusalem until you received this power from on high; Jesus did not say I have an optional experience for you – it is called receiving enduement of power – it might benefit you – I will let you decide if you want to receive this experience.

No, Jesus commanded them to stay in Jerusalem until they receive this enduement of power or what we refer to as the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I want you to notice that this experience is not an option – it is a commandment of Jesus Christ. The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is not an optional experience. It is not an experience for Pentecostals only. It is a commandment for all Christians everywhere. Why it’s a commandment?

When we come back next time, we will examine why Jesus commanded every believer to be baptised with the Holy Spirit.