No Crisis Experience Commanded #9

Introduction: The Fourth Principle and Its Refutation

0:05 This adult Sunday school class was held on December 19, 1982, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, I believe we are all here and seated, and so we'll begin our class this morning. We'll ask, first of all, the question, what are we doing? And the answer is that we're examining from the Scriptures some of the major principles with reference to living the Christian life.

0:34 And from time to time, I remind you of the threefold goal we have in setting out to open up these major principles. I'm attempting to sketch in a working theology of how to live the Christian life, to immunize you against many errors that are afloat with respect to living the Christian life, and hopefully, where any of those errors have infected your spiritual bloodstream, to get them purged out. Now, we are presently engaging in a study of the fourth major principle, and we've spent the most time on this principle because, in many ways, it is the one by which most of us will be most threatened and most constantly attacked in terms of deviations from this principle. And the principle is this, that there is no crisis experience commanded or promised as essential to living, the Christian life. Now, the method by which we've attempted to prove this principle is to examine the pattern of the general instruction on the Christian life found in the New Testament, and it is the pattern of believers appreciating what God has already done for them in Christ, and then responding to that in an appropriate manner.

1:57 We find no pattern of urging believers to seek something more that they do not already have, that they have in Christ, but rather, to appropriate and live out what is already theirs in virtue of union with Christ. And then we addressed ourselves to certain specific problems around which this kind of crisis teaching often is found. So we looked at problems of moral deviation, problems of division in the church, lack of power, lack of victory over sin, and we noted that there is not one, and we noted that there is not one, and we noted that there is not one, explicit command in the New Testament to seek a deeper experience in the Holy Spirit as the answer to any one of these problems. And then for several weeks we've been examining the key passages in the book of the Acts which are often brought forward to support the teaching which we're refuting. And we looked at those passages and noted that there are indeed these four instances recorded in the book of Acts, recorded in the book of Acts, because a reception of the Spirit attended with extraordinary manifestations. And then we asked the question, are these passages given to be the norm for the church in all ages?

3:17 If not, then why are they given? And we've attempted in the past three classes together to answer that question. And the bottom line has been this, that those passages, Acts 2, Acts 8, Acts 10, and Acts 19, are the living demonstration of that great work which God has done in the New Covenant, namely establishing the one new humanity in Christ by baptizing all believers in the Spirit that they might be brought into union with Christ and constitute the one new man in Christ. And then we closed our session last week by making three secondary observations on the passages in Acts. We noted that all present received the Spirit in the extraordinary manner described. You didn't have just a few, quote, getting the blessing, and the rest passed by till another time. Secondly, where any teaching is recorded, where any preaching is recorded as attending or precipitating the blessing, it was teaching and preaching not on the baptism of the Spirit, not on the second work of grace, but it was teaching and preaching on Christ.

4:32 And His work for sinners. And then finally, in each case, we noted that no conditions were given beyond faith in Christ. The Spirit was given, even in these unusual manners, as pure gift. Now, in about seven minutes, I have condensed four or five hours of solid instruction, and I hope for you who are not here, you're not left hopelessly confused.

The Ordinary Reception of the Spirit in Acts: A Selective Use of Scripture

4:57 If you are, I urge you to get the tapes, and hopefully you'll get unconfused. Thank you. Now, what we propose to do this morning is to conclude this aspect of our study by examining the ordinary manner of the reception of the Spirit as recorded in the book of Acts, and as explained in the epistles. Way, way back in the dark ages, when we first began to consider this fourth principle, and I had you list on the board all of the various characteristics of this crisis, teaching, on the Christian life, one of the characteristics that one of you mentioned was that there was a very selective and arbitrarily selective use of the Scriptures in establishing this kind of teaching. Now, we're going to see that this morning. Often, this teaching is established on the basis of the four passages that we have studied in the book of Acts. But now, why overlook the more than four passages, which record the reception of the Spirit in a very ordinary manner?

6:05 Why take the four extraordinary accounts and say they are normative, but the many other ordinary accounts are not normative? You see, that is an arbitrary, selective manipulation of the Word of God. So now, we're going to buckle up our seat belts and make a quick trip through the book of Acts and see the pattern of the ordinary reception of the Holy Spirit. Turn, please, then, to Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2: The Ordinary Pattern After Pentecost

6:32 And here we'll see one of the crassest illustrations, or the most clear illustrations, of the crass manipulation of Scripture by those who teach this other doctrine. Acts chapter 2 begins, of course, with the account of this extraordinary reception of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, this great, epical event, in some ways as distinct as the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection. And then Peter begins to preach. And as he is preaching, we read in verse 37 that God the Holy Spirit did an unusual thing in the hearts of many. Now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, unto the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

7:49 Now, notice the clear content of Peter's directives. In response to their question, what shall we do, Peter points them in the direction of repentance, explicit. It is implicit because it is repentance and baptism unto the remission of sins in the light of the revelation of God's grace in the person and work of Jesus Christ. That's what it means to be baptized in connection with the name of Jesus Christ.

8:21 That is the revelation of God's saving mercy and saving provisions in the person and work of Christ. And, of course, implicit in that is the call to faith. So there's the call to repentance and faith and baptism with the promise that there shall be both remission of sin and, what other great blessing? Anyone?

8:46 And? All right. And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And Peter does not then give a parenthetical statement, that is, some of you shall receive the gift of the Spirit.

9:02 Subsequent to your repentance and baptism, if you meet certain conditions concerning which I shall subsequently instruct you. There's no such qualification given. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Spirit. For, and this is why he can be so certain about this, for to you is the promise.

9:31 The promise of what? The very promise he's been talking about. The promise of the Father given to Christ, verse 33, being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, what we have experienced, that great promise referred to in Acts chapter 1, that whole concept of the promise surrounds the gift of the Spirit. He says the promise.

10:01 He says the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even, now notice, as many as the Lord our God shall call unto Him. In other words, the promise of the Spirit rests upon the activity of God effectually calling sinners unto Himself. Do you see that in the text? As many as the Lord our God shall call from among your ranks, from among your children, from those that are afar off, it makes no matter, it's no distinction, the promise is to everyone whom the Lord our God shall call. And he completes his sermon with a call to what we would say separation from the world and identification with Christ and His people in a life of disciplined godliness. In other words, he testifies and exhorts them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation. Now comes responding time, and notice how simply and artlessly Luke describes it.

11:17 Then they that received his word were baptized, and there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls. And? They continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship in the breaking of bread and the prayers. And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done, notice, not by all the believers, through the apostles.

11:46 And all that believed were together, had all things common, they sold their possessions and goods, parted them all according as any man had need, day by day continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, breaking bread at home. They took their food with gladness, singleness of heart, praising God, having favor with all the people. The Lord added to them day by day those that were saved. Now let me ask a question.

12:13 Is that a description of a Spirit-filled, vibrant church, or of a church that is sadly lacking in the most necessary ingredient to be wonderfully used of God? What description do we have, as has been read in your hearing? Any question that that's a description of a Spirit-filled church? Is there?

12:34 If you read that, does this look like the description of a church that only got its foot in the door, but now if it would only go on to something more, it would really break out into blessing? Is that the description we have? No. This is the description of a church that is throbbing with the life and power and blessing of God the Holy Ghost.

12:55 But there's not the shredded evidence that they had tongues. That they had any second, subsequent experience in the Holy Spirit. All it says is, they that received the Word were baptized, and that they received the gift of the Spirit is so certain according to the promise given, Luke doesn't even bother to record it as a fact. He simply records the fruits of what happened as a result of their reception of the gift of the Holy Spirit.

13:27 And what you have in that description is a description of the Spirit's activity in the community of the believers. So the ordinary pattern established right in Jerusalem after that unusual coming of the Spirit, the ordinary pattern of the reception of the Spirit is preaching, conviction, repentance, faith, baptism, the gift of the Spirit, and then incorporation of the Holy Spirit into the community of the people of God, living out the life of God under the rule of the Word of God, which here is described as the apostle's doctrine. Now do you see that? Have I read anything into the passage? Have I quickly and artfully skipped over any major factor in the passage? Have you all seen it with your own eyeballs in your own Bibles? Is there any question about that passage?

14:29 Yes, Jeff? All right, so we could also say it's also implied that they walked on the ceiling. It's also implied that they all became Chinamen. It's also...

14:55 You see, if you start trying to teach doctrine from silence, then you can pour any kind of doctrine you want into that silence. So if people want to say it is implied, you say, all right, if you say it's implied, what implies it? Well, because...

15:10 Because this happened in the first part, it... Well, wait a minute.

15:14 Maybe it's the very fact that it didn't is why it isn't recorded, because God's trying to get a message through it. So you better accept God's announcements and his silences as equally inspired. All right? Does that give you a way you could respond if someone said that to you?

15:29 Good. All right, any other question on that passage? Yes, Jeff? Well, it seems there Luke does get explicit, doesn't he?

15:48 Fear came upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were done, not even generically, through the believers, but it says through the apostles, and in contrast to that limited group, all that believed were together. I mean, Luke could not be more accurate and more precise and more distinct in setting off the apostles from the common believers with the language available to him. So if anyone puts tongues in that reception of the Spirit on the part of the three thousand, there's only one way they can get tongues out of that passage, and that's to put it there.

16:26 And when you start putting things in the word of God, then there's a frightening, frightening passage about those that add to the words of this book. All right? So we see the ordinary reception of the Spirit following that extraordinary inrush of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The three thousand are incorporated in a very ordinary manner.

Acts 4: Continued Growth and Ordinary Spirit Reception

16:47 Furthermore, turn over to chapter four. Now the number grows to five thousand, and notice the ordinariness of the description. Chapter four, verse one. And they spoke unto the people.

16:59 As they spoke to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them being sore troubled, because they taught the people and proclaimed in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them and put them in ward unto the morrow, for it was now eventide. But many of them that heard the word believed. And the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

17:30 So here you have a record of a further increase from three thousand to five thousand, and not a shred of evidence that there is any pattern of the reception of the Spirit, but the pattern of hearing, believing, reception of the Spirit, incorporation into the life of the people of God with no necessary explicit reference. Why? Because the message had already gone forth that all who repent and believe unto the remission of sins are baptized. They shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

18:08 And that promise has not been rescinded because Peter said, it is to you, to your children, those that are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call. So when he called the three thousand. This is true of them. When he calls two more and there are now five thousand.

18:23 It's true of every one of them. But this is the ordinary pattern of the reception of the Holy Spirit. All right. Let's move on then to Acts chapter four.

18:36 I'm sorry. The latter part of chapter four, just as a passing reference, to note that this number that is now five thousand, again, is not a number of people who've only, quote, been converted. But because they lack the baptism. They greatly need some additional work of the Spirit.

18:53 Verse 32 says, the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul and not one of them said. And then we have a description of their corporate life lived out in the power of the Holy Spirit. And in between, there is this fresh filling of the Holy Spirit, particularly with the spokesmen of the group in the midst of the first opposition. And the place where they pray is shaken.

19:18 And they are filled with the Spirit and speak boldly. So whatever we are establishing, we are not saying that there are not frequent, fresh infillings of the Spirit and indunance of the Spirit in the midst of special emergencies and for special tasks and demands. We are not denying that truth at all. We have no desire to overlook it.

19:41 It is our great and constant prayer in this very place. Lord, send your Spirit upon us. That's what we pray when we gather up. That's what we pray when we gather on Wednesdays.

19:49 When we pray here on the Lord's Day. God, send your Holy Spirit. And it's that very thing that we have recorded in Acts 4 that we do pray for. But in no way are we sympathetic with the teaching that there must be an extraordinary subsequent reception of the Spirit as normative for the Christian life.

Acts 8: The Ethiopian Eunuch's Ordinary Conversion

20:09 All right? Move on now to Acts chapter 8. And it's very interesting. And I'm not prepared to say how much Luke was concerned.

20:17 How much Luke was conscious of this. That's tricky business trying to, as it were, get back into the mind of the biblical writers and say how much they were conscious of when they wrote. We know that they did not write in a trance. They wrote as conscious, intelligent men.

20:35 But one almost wonders if Luke was not very conscious of setting the contrast in these pivotal places. Acts 2 begins with the extraordinary reception of the Spirit. It closes with the ordinary. Acts 8 begins with this extraordinary coming of the Spirit upon these Samaritan believers.

20:54 Peter and John come down from Jerusalem and they pray for them. All right? The earlier part, the passage we studied. But now the latter part of the chapter records the conversion or the coming to faith of an individual.

21:11 The Ethiopian eunuch. Verse 26. And the angel of the Lord spoke unto Philip, saying, Arise, go to the south unto the way that goes down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, the same as desert. And he arose and went.

21:26 And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candacy, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship. And he was returning and sitting in his chariot and was reading the prophet Isaiah. And may I say, in a little aside, the counterpart of that is this. The counterpart of that is getting an inexpensive tape deck and get some cassettes of the Bible.

21:50 And that will make good companionship for those of you that have to spend a lot of time in your chariot, in your Ford or Chevrolet, whatever it is. He was making good use of his traveling time by reading the word of God. And the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, join thyself to this chariot. Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet.

22:12 How intent he was. Apparently oblivious of Philip, even chugging up alongside of him. And he's reading out loud in his chariot. That's the picture you get, don't you?

22:21 Philip's running and heard him reading. Didn't say saw him, said heard him. I love the picture of that. Here's a man so intent that he's reading out loud.

22:33 He was led as a sheep and he hears him reading out of the prophet Isaiah. And then he said to him, Do you understand what you're reading? And he said, How can I? Except someone shall guide me.

22:48 And he besought Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the scripture which he was reading was this. And notice, if Philip had been walking, he'd have been further on down. See the timing of God's providence, how perfect it is.

23:01 Philip's speed of running and whatever shape he was in that made it come for him to run at a certain speed. The timing was absolutely perfect that when he got there, he was right at that particular passage. He got there a minute later. He'd have been further on.

23:14 He'd have been in the later verses a minute earlier. He'd have been in the opening verses. He shall startle many nations. But he came right at the point he was reading these particular verses.

23:25 He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and as a lamb before his shearer is dumb. So he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. His generation, who shall declare?

23:39 For his life is taken from the earth. The eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaks the prophet? Of himself or of some other? Now, how would you love to get on a subway or train or bus tomorrow and someone sitting there reading out loud in his Bible and just as you plunk down next to him, he reads this passage and turns to you and says, Who in the world is Isaiah talking about?

24:07 I mean, it's the most timid amongst you, I think, would find it relatively easy to begin to witness, wouldn't you? I mean, the Lord made it pretty easy for Philip. He made it pretty easy for him, even though he was an experienced preacher. And Philip opened his mouth.

24:21 You men aspiring to the ministry? He didn't mumble, do clench lips. He opened his mouth. He used his speech apparatus.

24:30 Oh, there's some passages, there's so many things in it. But we're concerned with principle number four. All right, Philip opened his mouth. And he stuck to his subject, I'm sure.

24:42 And beginning from this scripture, he preached unto him Jesus. He preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on the way, they came to a certain water. And the eunuch said, Behold, here is water.

24:59 What doth hinder me to be baptized? Now here's what you can call a legitimate inference, Jeff. In preaching unto him Jesus, somehow in bringing the message of Jesus to a conclusion, he made an appeal to baptism. We can say that's inferred, because the eunuch says, Well, here's water.

25:16 What doth hinder me to be baptized? Well, how do you make the trip from Jesus to the water of baptism? Well, you make it the same way Peter did. Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins.

25:30 And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And so he says, What doth hinder me to be baptized? Then he commanded the chariot to stand still. And they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

25:44 And if we have any dear friends amongst us who have felt that sprinkling water on people or putting a few moist fingers on the forehead constitutes the biblical mode of baptism, this passage certainly would be an embarrassment to that position. They both went down into the water. So at least they needed enough water that both of them should be standing in it. And so there was either profuse, effusion, pouring a bucketful over them.

26:14 They would have had much drinking water in the chariot with them coming through a desert with an entourage. So the whole idea even of effusion doesn't seem to fit here at all. Immersion alone fits the circumstances and the Holy Ghost has recorded them. Now this is the significant part.

26:32 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit does something. But what does he do? He does not come upon the eunuch and make him speak in tongues. He does not move Philip to say, all right, now you've got stage one.

26:46 That's settled. That's taken care of. But I've got wonderful news for you. As glorious as the message of Isaiah was about the suffering lamb who would give forgiveness, I have something more glorious now.

26:58 You can actually have an experience of the Holy Spirit and speak with tongues and blah-da-da-da-da-da-da. No, no. The only activity of the Spirit recorded now is one that's so called clearly underscores this great principle. The work was done.

27:16 So what does the Spirit do? The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip and the eunuch saw him no more for he went on his way rejoicing. Philip didn't run back to Jerusalem and say, hey fellas, we've got a pattern established forever. I can preach and people can believe and be saved.

27:37 But until you guys come down and put your hands on them, they can't receive the Holy Ghost. So eunuch, hold up pitch tent for a couple of weeks while we run. None of that. None of that nonsense.

27:47 None of that. None of that nonsense. But if that were the teaching of the earlier part of chapter 8 as our Pentecostal and charismatic friends say it is, it would have been wrong for Philip to do anything other than that. But Philip understood.

28:07 He got the message. Once the message got through that Samaritan, that Samaritans, and even strangers from Ethiopia when they believed the Gospel, they received the Spirit as did the people at Jerusalem. He preaches Christ. He calls into faith in open confession and he assumes the Spirit has been given and the fruit of the Spirit is described as the man leaves and goes his way rejoicing, incorporated into Jesus Christ, one who is now united to the Son of God.

28:41 That's the ordinary pattern of the reception of the Spirit. Right in the very chapter that records an extraordinary reception of the Spirit. All right? Do you all see it?

Acts 9, 22, 26: Paul's Ordinary Reception of the Spirit

28:52 Any question on how we handled that passage? All right. Let's go on and bring the next witness. And here we can take the conversion of the Apostle Paul himself.

29:03 Acts chapter 9. I hope you're not finding this tedious. Are you? If you are, too bad because we're going to do it.

29:11 Because you need to be grounded. You need to be grounded in these things. I'm trying to make it and present it in such a way that it will not be tedious. But some things are tedious.

29:22 And if you love your soul and the truth of God, you'll bear the tedium at times in order to be safe as a servant of Christ and a child of God. Acts chapter 9. All right? The summary of the first nine verses.

29:35 Most of us are familiar with it. How the Lord arrests Saul of Tarsus. It's like God says, All right, Buster. Your time is up.

29:44 You've done all the damage you're going to do to my church, to my people, and you've served the devil and yourself and your false conscience long enough. And I've got great purposes for you. So he knocks him off his horse, flat on his face, blinds him, speaks to him. I mean, if anyone has any question about the nature of sovereign grace and conversion, just read Acts 9.

30:07 I mean, if you were to have taken a vote the day before this happened, throughout all the church in Jerusalem and Judea, who is the most unlikely candidate to become a Christian in the next six months? Paul would have won hands down. Saul of Tarsus would have won the vote, hands down. But little did we know what God had in his own heart and in his own purposes.

30:27 So the first nine verses records how God begins to deal with Saul of Tarsus. Now verse 10. And there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said unto him in a vision, Ananias.

30:42 And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, go to the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one named Saul, a man of Tarsus. For behold, he is praying. And he's seen a man named Ananias coming in and laying his hands on him that he might receive his sight.

31:03 Now notice in this initial account the only thing in connection with the laying on of the hands is that he might have his sight restored. But Ananias answered, Lord, I've heard from many of this man, you see, the reputation had gone through that whole area, how much evil he did to your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all that call upon your name. But the Lord said unto him, Go your way, for he's a chosen vessel unto me.

31:32 Literally, he is a vessel of election as you have it in the margin to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. And Ananias departed and entered into the house, and laying his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, who appeared unto you in the way which you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight. Now notice an additional factor is added that we didn't get in the original account, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. In the initial account all we have stated is going to lay hands upon him that he might receive his sight.

32:15 But obviously the Lord said something more to Ananias that is not recorded up in verse 12. He also said that he might be filled with the Holy Spirit. And straightway there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received his sight. The indication is Ananias must have laid his hands upon him because earlier it was said, laying on hands he'll receive sight.

32:39 Remember that up in verse 12? He has seen a man named Ananias coming in and laying his hands on him that he might receive his sight. And so though Luke does not say that Ananias laid his hands upon him, we have every right to infer, Jeff, we come back to a solid inference now, you see, by comparing Scripture with Scripture, that he laid his hands upon him, and all that's recorded is that there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received his sight, and then he burst out into tongues and spoke in tongues for three hours. No.

33:16 And he arose and was baptized and took food and was strengthened. How disappointing. I mean, you get our hopes way, way up here. He's going to receive his sight and be filled with the Spirit, Luke, and then all you tell us is scales fell from his eyes, he's baptized, has a good meal, and is refreshed.

33:37 Do you feel a letdown? I mean, this great chosen vessel. If anyone's going to have this glorious experience that would make your mouth water, surely he would have it. But there's no record of it.

33:52 No record of it whatsoever. And in the subsequent accounts in which we compare Scripture with Scripture, turn over, please, to chapter 22. Chapter 22. Here the Apostle Paul is giving his testimony, giving a defense.

34:13 And in the midst of it, he gives this account of his conversion. Verse 10. The Lord speaks to him, and I said, Acts 22.10, What shall I do, Lord?

34:27 And the Lord said unto me, Arise, go to Damascus, and it shall be told you of all things that are appointed for you to do. When I could not see, for the glory of that light being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus. And one Ananias, a devout man, according to the law, well reported of by all the Jews that dwelt there. You see how Paul adds a dimension about Ananias now for the sake of a wise and judicious testimony he's witnessing before Jews.

34:56 We don't even get these facts about Ananias originally, but now he slips in some facts. A beautiful example of holy tact. He's trying to make his message as unoffensive as possible. So he says, The fellow that first contacted me after I heard the voice from heaven, he was kosher.

35:13 He was a Jew well reported of by the Jews. All right? Ananias, a devout man, I'm sorry, it doesn't say he was a Jew, but a devout man according to the law, possibly a proselyte, well reported of by all the Jews that dwelt there, came unto me and standing by me said, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And in that very hour I looked upon him.

35:36 And he said, The God of our fathers has appointed thee to know his will, to see the righteous one, to hear a voice from his mouth. For you shall be a witness for him unto all men of what you've seen and heard. And now why do you tarry? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.

35:54 And it came to pass that when I had returned to Jerusalem and while I prayed in the temple, etc. The account he gives of his conversion here focuses, you see, not even on any mention of the Holy Spirit. Simply this mention of the message brought through Ananias, the fact that he shall be a witness and the call to be baptized, to wash away his sins by calling on the name of the Lord. So what he was doing inwardly and spiritually, having his sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord, is done externally and symbolically and sacramentally in baptism and then he goes right on to give the subsequent spiritual and historical facts. And this is something in here to indicate that there was any reception of the Holy Spirit that was extraordinary, that was in any way attended with tongues or prophecies, not a shred of indication whatsoever that this was true. That the Apostle Paul in that sense received the Holy Spirit in the ordinary pattern of embracing the provisions of God in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins in the way of faith, confessed in the ordinance of baptism. And then in chapter 26, the other account of his conversion given by the Apostle Paul,

37:21 here it's even more condensed. Verse 12 of Acts 26, as I journeyed to Damascus, at midday, verse 13, I saw on the way a light from heaven, verse 14, and when we were all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice, verse 15, and I said, Who art thou, Lord? Now here's the direction, verse 16, Arise, stand upon thy feet, for to this end have I appeared to thee, to appoint thee a minister and a witness, both of the things wherein you have seen me and the things wherein I will appear to you. And then he says, verse 20, I'm sorry, verse 19, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision, then he gives a summary of his preaching. But there's absolutely nothing in this more condensed version of his testimony to indicate that Paul had any extraordinary experience in the Holy Spirit. Now we do know he had some extraordinary experiences. He tells us in 2 Corinthians, there was one in which he doesn't know whether he was in the body or out of the body, caught up in the third heavens and heard things unlawful to utter, but that had absolutely nothing to do with his conversion and his reception of the Holy Spirit.

38:39 And in that sense, Paul received the Spirit, even though an apostle, with all the peculiarities of his apostolic office, in conjunction with his conversion, he received the Spirit in the ordinary way in which all of us receive the Spirit. All right? Any question now on the data regarding Paul? Yes, Pastor Nichols.

Addressing Objections: Paul's Gift of Tongues

39:04 Yes? Just so long as you aren't the advocate that you're playing. Okay.

39:46 All right. . Right. .

40:05 Right. And I would say he did. He received a special gift according to the sovereign will of God and according to his own teaching in chapter 12, which precedes chapter 14, he tells us how and why he got the gift of tongues. All right?

40:20 So we turn people back then, devil. . To 1 Corinthians 12. .

40:25 . . . .

40:33 . . . .

40:38 . . . .

40:43 . . . .

40:47 . . . .

40:51 . . . .

40:55 . . . .

40:59 . . . .

41:03 . . . .

41:07 . . . .

41:11 . . . .

41:15 . . . .

41:19 . . . .

41:23 . . . the word of knowledge according to the same spirit, to another faith in the same spirit, to another gifts of healings in the one spirit, to another workings of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues, but all these working the one and the same spirit, dividing to each one severally as he wills.

41:56 So he said, I got the gift of tongues because God willed it, I received the gift of tongues as gift, and furthermore, I do not assume that everyone else will receive it because I asked the question in verse 29, are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers of miracles? Have all gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? And the assumed answer in every case is no.

42:28 So that's how we should answer anyone who brings up that objection. Now would you want to add to that response? Would you be convinced if you had advocated that position and I responded that way? Or at least would...

42:43 All right? Good. All right. Yes, Mr. Mikowski.

43:15 You knew I was going to chop your neck off, so you chopped it off first. Mrs. Mikowski's been with us for over 20 years. She knows our patterns.

43:24 Go ahead, Louise. Yes.

43:36 Yeah. Yeah.

43:40 Yeah.

43:42 Yeah. That's another question, Louise, and we're going to hold off on that, and many have asked me, are we going to take up the subject of tongues as such? And...

43:51 I've given the promise that we will, somewhere down the road, take that up as a separate subject, but now we want to stick to the one issue, namely, what is the pattern of receiving the Spirit as given to us in the book of Acts. So, if we may, we want to hold fast to that. Yes, sir.

Acts 11: The Gentiles in Antioch and Cleaving to the Lord

44:34 I'm not doing that. Peter did. Yes.

44:42 Sir, that's been dealt with, and you'll have to get the tapes. I spent a whole hour expounding the Acts 19 passage along with the Acts 10 and the Acts 8 passage. All right? Good.

44:53 All right. Yes, that's been dealt with. We dealt with that, in fact, two weeks ago in great detail, and who were these people, what was the nature of their reception of the Spirit, and all of the rest. So, I believe that tape is available.

45:07 You can see the tape, man. All right? Good. All right.

45:11 If we may press on now. We have five minutes, and we're obviously not going to get through all the passages, but let's just press on to the next one, Acts chapter 11. All right. Remember what we're doing now.

45:23 We're seeking to demonstrate that though there are four recorded instances of an extraordinary reception of the Spirit, we have said these are not normative for the Church, and we've given the reasons why those four exceptional passages are recorded and why God worked that way. Now, we're going back through the book of Acts to see that we have more than four instances of an ordinary reception of the Spirit, which are in fact recorded. Indeed, or which constitute, indeed, the norm for the Church for all ages. We come now to Acts chapter 11.

45:59 Acts chapter 11, chapter 10, records the extraordinary reception of the Spirit at Caesarea, the household of Cornelius. Now, in Acts 11, beginning with verse 19, they, therefore, that were scattered abroad upon the tribulation that arose about Stephen, that's recorded. You remember in Acts chapter 8, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word of God. Some of them traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to none save only to Jews.

46:36 And the way they, of course, found the Jews was to go to the synagogue where the Jews of the dispersion would gather. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who when they were come to Antioch spoke unto the Greeks also, preaching. The Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number that believed turned unto the Lord.

47:02 So here we have a record of preaching, of repentance, and of faith. We have Christian conversion. Assumed in that is that they were baptized, though it doesn't say so. But assumed in that is that they manifested, declared their response to the message in baptism.

47:21 Now notice very carefully, the report concerning them came to the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem, and they sent forth Barnabas as far as Antioch. Now do you think of another passage that at this point parallels this? We've already studied it.

47:43 All right, Acts chapter 8. You see the parallels? When the apostles heard that the Samaritans received the word of God, Peter and John come down, lay their hands upon them. And they received the Spirit in some extraordinary manifestation.

47:58 Here now, the apostles hear these Gentiles, not Jews, these Gentiles in Antioch have received the word. So they send Barnabas up to check things out. Now notice what happened. They didn't send him up to teach them, now you people, it's wonderful, you've got a good start.

48:16 You've heard the preaching about the Lord Jesus. You've repented. You've believed. You've turned to the Lord.

48:21 You've been baptized. Now we're going to preach. Now we're going to preach. Now we're going to preach.

48:23 Now we're going to preach. Now we're going to go on to the real thing. And then we're going to tell you what we got down in Jerusalem. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Ghost came like the sound of a muddle, and then get them all to move.

48:37 Wouldn't that be wonderful? And furthermore, when we went to Samaria and laid our hands upon the Samaritans, do you know what happened?

48:46 What did Barnabas do? Well, look at the passage. Look at the passage with your own eyes. Who, when he was come and had...

48:55 had seen the grace of God, he saw grace at work in people who'd been converted. He was glad. And now he's going to exhort them. And what does he exhort them to do?

49:12 And he exhorted them all that with purpose of heart, they would seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit. That with purpose of heart, they should cry to God until they get the second blessing.

49:27 He did not teach them any such thing. He exhorted them that with purpose of heart, they would cleave to the Lord. They had embraced the one in whom all spiritual blessings are treasured up. They were, in the language of Colossians, complete in Christ.

49:51 And he says, cleave to Christ with purpose of heart. Feed upon him. Cleave to him. Cling to him.

50:00 Don't depart from him. Let no influence erode your confidence in, your trust in, your estimation of Christ. And why did he give them such a message? Because he was a second-class preacher?

50:14 That isn't what the Holy Spirit tells us. For he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and much people was added to the Lord. When you get a group of people who are truly converted and are clinging to the Lord in the fervor of their first love and in the simplicity of trust, you have a people who are full of the Spirit. And most often, in that context, you will see the Lord multiplying their life and adding to the church.

50:52 You see the ordinariness of it? Now, brethren, this is why this is nothing to take lightly. And just say, oh, well, people got a little different way of expressing how to go on. No.

51:04 It is either a matter of God having established the ordinary pattern of receiving the Holy Spirit in the way our charismatic friends teach, or in the way that God has shown us in his Word. And we cannot afford the luxury of either ignorance or indifference on these matters. Because in one, we are not able to do it. And we cannot afford the luxury of either ignorance or indifference on these matters.

51:28 Because in one, we are not able to do it. There is an emphasis upon the graciousness and the givenness of the Spirit's work on the basis of what Christ has done. On the other, the emphasis falls upon what we do in order, as it were, to earn the gift of the Spirit and these experiences in the Holy Spirit. Well, our time is gone.

Homework and Future Discussion

51:54 And I hope to get through more passages. But let me give you a little homework assignment. Study Acts 13, 38-43. If you are taking notes, just jot these passages down.

52:08 Acts 16, 11-15, 30-34.

52:15 And Acts 18, verses 5-11.

52:21 And then after you have studied or at least read those passages, then two key passages in the epistles, Galatians 3, 10-14. Galatians 3, 10-14.

52:35 And Ephesians 1, verses 13 and 14.

52:41 And after we have gone through that material, then we will take up the question, what are we to say about people who do have a crisis experience, whose lives are changed, and whose lives evidence that God has done something very real for them? What are we going to say? Well, I won't take up that question. It's a fair question.

53:01 It deserves an honest and, I trust, a biblically accurate answer. Well, let's thank...

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Application

53:06 Thank God for His presence with us and the privilege of studying His Word together.

53:15 Our Father, we confess in Your presence that we are amazed when we read Your Word. As You continue to give us light and understanding, we marvel at Your sovereignty. As we've looked at this passage and Your dealings with that Ethiopian eunuch and the precise timing of Your message to Philip and Philip's arrival at the chariot. We thank You for the simple proclamation of Christ from the Scriptures.

53:45 We thank You that the promise that the Spirit has given to all who repent and believe is good, not only in Jerusalem, to the sons and daughters of those Jews gathered from all parts of the then known world, but to as many as You call to Yourself. And we thank You that each one of us who has been called by grace has received the gift of the Spirit. And that being indwelt by Him, He has made known and continues to make known to us the riches of Your grace in Christ. We do thank You for the gift of the Spirit.

54:25 And though we've had to engage in discussion at times in which we've had to point out error, Lord, we confess before You we do not delight to score points in arguments, but we do revel in the freedom. We do revel in the freedom. We do revel in the freedom. We do revel in the freedom.

54:41 We do revel in the freedom. Give us a grace of the gift of the Spirit given to us because Christ died, given to us because Christ has been raised from the dead, given to us because You are a God of grace. Oh, may we not grieve so gracious a gift, even the person of Your Spirit who indwells us. May we not quench Him.

55:06 May we not resist any of His workings. May we know His health. May we know His life. blessing even in the assimilation of the things we've studied this morning and in the hour to come in which we will attempt to give ourselves to worship oh may we be the true circumcision who worship you in the spirit who glory in christ jesus and who put no confidence in the flesh holy father hear and answer our prayers and receive our thanks through jesus christ our lord amen