No Crisis Experience Commanded 10

Review: The Principle of No Crisis Experience and the Acts of the Apostles

0:03 This adult Sunday school class was held on December 26th, 1982, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Mottville, New Jersey.

0:30 Now we're going to attempt to pick up this morning precisely where we left off last Lord's Day morning. But looking out, I see again visitors amongst us, and particularly for your sake, so that you'll not be hopelessly lost in what we are doing, I'll take just a very brief amount of time not to review, but just to point in the direction of where we have been. We are examining together from the Scriptures what I have entitled Some Major Principles of Living the Christian Life. And our purpose in doing this is to have a working biblical theology of how to live the Christian life, to set in bold relief the many errors that are afloat with regard to this subject, and to purge away any of those errors that may be resident in our own thinking. And we are presently examining the fourth of these principles, one that has been expressed in these words, that there is no crisis experience either promised or commanded as essential to living the Christian life. And having opened up the significance of the meaning of the words as I have stated the principle, we then looked at the many teachings, on the Christian life, which assert that such a crisis experience is both commanded and promised,

1:54 and is indeed essential to living the Christian life. Well, we've turned to the Scriptures and seen that this is not the pattern of the overall instruction found particularly in the epistles, and it certainly is not the way in which the apostolic writers dealt with the various problems encountered in the Christian life of the early church. Well, I'm going to give you a little bit of time to think about this. I'm going to give you a little bit of time to think about this.

2:18 Well, then, the onus is upon us to explain why God records in Scripture these crisis experiences in the Holy Spirit, accompanied by unusual manifestations of His presence and power, such as we find in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. And so we examined what many have called the four Pentecosts, recorded in the book of Acts, Acts 2, Acts 8, Acts 10, and Acts 19, recorded in the book of Acts, Acts 2, Acts 8, Acts 10, and Acts 19, and we have sought to interpret those passages in the light of God's gracious work in the new covenant in constituting the one new humanity in Christ. And then we've gone back over the passages and noted that they simply will not fit the theology of the Christian life that is often extracted from them. And then last week we were in the process of going through the book of Acts again, noting what we would call the ordinary pattern for the research, the conception of the Holy Spirit, that in between these passages, Acts 2, Acts 8, Acts 10, and Acts 19, there are many incidents recorded in which people receive the Holy Spirit. And the interesting thing is that there are far more passages which give a record of the ordinary manner in which the Spirit is received

3:44 than the extraordinary manner in which the Spirit was received. And if we are to go back to the book of Acts, Acts 2, Acts 9, and Acts 10, we are to have an accurate theology of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian. It should be taken from the entirety of the witness of Luke as he gives it to us in the book of Acts. And so we worked our way through last week, right up until the 13th chapter of Acts, noting a number of passages in which the ordinary pattern of the reception of the Holy Spirit is the proclamation of the Godhead, the call to repentance, faith, and baptism, and when there is the reception of the Word, and in some instances explicitly stated that people were baptized, the clear teaching is that the promise of the Father is given in all such instances, and there is no record that, quote, mere conversion was regarded as just the first stepping stone putting someone in a position for something, higher and better, which would really then enable them to live the Christian life. Now we come this morning to the 13th chapter of Acts, and I hope to get through the remaining section, these remaining sections in Acts, and then turn to a couple of passages in the epistles, which I believe will hold for us the key

The Ordinary Pattern in Acts 13: Antioch of Pisidia

5:11 to understand this entire sweep of the testimony of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. All right, Acts chapter 13, and here we find Paul preaching at Antioch of Pisidia, and as he is preaching, he brings his sermon to what we might call a climactic point of setting forth the provisions of God in the gospel as well as the demands in verse 38, Acts 13, 38. Be it known unto you therefore, brethren, that through this man, that is, this man, whom he's been preaching about, the Lord Jesus, is proclaimed unto you remission of sins, and by him everyone that believes is justified from all things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken in the prophets. Behold you despisers and wander and perish, for I work a work in your days, a work which you shall in no wise believe if one declare it unto you. And as they went out, they besought that these words might be spoken unto them the next Sabbath.

6:31 He had gone in to the Jewish synagogue on the Jewish day of worship, and in the ordinary pattern of his evangelistic endeavor had seized that opportunity to preach. Well, he goes back the next Sabbath to do the same. Now when the synagogue broke up, many of the Jews and of the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, urged them to continue in the grace of God. So there were apparently some who believed, and it simply describes that as those who followed Paul and Barnabas, and you'll notice that the emphasis of their message to them was not an urging to seek a baptism in the Spirit, a seeking to press them to a second and final baptism, a higher work of grace, but it was an urging of them to continue in the grace of God, a similar emphasis as we found in previous passages. And then in verse 44, we read the account of the whole city, almost the whole city being gathered together, and then Jews are stirred up and stir up others, and they blaspheme, and Paul and Barnabas speak out boldly and say, in essence, we've fulfilled our, we've fulfilled our evangelistic mandate to you, and since you show yourselves to be swine who are about to trample the pearls of gospel truth under your feet,

7:58 we turn from you, to use the imagery of our Lord in Matthew's gospel, and so he says at the end of verse 46, we turn unto the Gentiles. For so the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set you for a light of the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation unto the uttermost part of the earth. And as the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of God, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. So their whole spiritual experience on the threshold is described in terms of coming to faith, a faith which ultimately has its tap roots in the eternal election of God. Now for any who say that the doctrine of election, is the worst thing they say about it, it's a doctrine from the pit of hell, others are a little more kind and say, well it's a biblical doctrine, but it certainly has nothing to do with evangelism, and it certainly ought not to be preached and taught. Luke is not at all fastidious in writing a historical record about the progress of the gospel to plant the doctrine of election right in that historical narrative. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

9:19 And he traces their faith back to the eternal ordination of the living God. Now notice this description that follows. And the word of the Lord was spread abroad throughout all the region, but the Jews urged on the devout women of honorable estate and the chief men of the city, and stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and cast them out of their borders. But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came into Iconium, and the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Spirit.

9:57 Now it's one of the few explicit references to a company of people being filled with the Holy Spirit, and you'll notice that this comes as not the fruit of some second work of grace, not as the fruit of some marvelous crisis experience, but as the state into which they are ushered, as they believe the word of the Lord, and in the midst of persecution, God gives them this unusual measure of joy, and of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. But not a hint, not a shred of a hint, that they came into this state by some subsequent crisis, that tongues and prophecy had anything to do with it, that carrying meetings, that seeking, that throwing themselves into passivity, letting their jaws loose, just saying, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, until they'd break out into babblings, that sheer nonsense to assume that any such things happened in the spiritual experience of these disciples. Luke just describes their condition with artless simplicity, they were filled with joy, and with the Holy Spirit. And they came into that posture in contrast to the unbelieving Jews, as by grace, rooted in the eternal electing favor of God,

11:24 they believed the word of the Gospel. So you see, the way of the Spirit is the way of faith in the Gospel. The way of the Spirit is the way of faith in the Gospel. Alright, then we turn on to Acts chapter 16.

The Ordinary Pattern in Acts 16-18: Greek Conversions

11:45 Some of you perhaps have been wondering, when in the world I was going to take this, uh, red-covered book off the desk, it's been sitting there for weeks. Well, this is perhaps the classic work, if we can speak at this early point in time, of something being a classic, on the biblical doctrine of the Holy Spirit, particularly in conjunction with the whole matter of Pentecostalism and the Charismatic Movement, A Theology of the Holy Spirit, the subtitle, The Pentecostal Experience, and the New Testament Witness, by Frederick Dale Brunner. And Dr. Brunner points out that, beginning in Acts chapter 16 and verse 11, we have a record of six Greek conversions. You have the Philippian Lydia in chapter 16, verses 11 through 15, the Philippian jailer, verses 25 to 34, then the Thessalonians, chapter 17, 1 to 10a, and then the Bereans, 17, 10b to 15, then the Athenians, 17, 16 to 33, and then the Corinthians, chapter 18, verses 1 through 11. Now, we could go through each of these passages in detail, but you can do that as well as I can do it, and I don't want to take up class time to do it.

13:11 We'll look at just a couple of them as specimens of the whole, but suffice it to say, in this entire section of the gospel penetrating the Greek world, and that's the focal point of Luke's concentration, beginning here in chapter 16, verse 11, and going through verse 11 of chapter 18, you won't find any hint whatsoever, or you will find no hint whatsoever, of any kind of a message that promises a second experience in the Holy Spirit that regards conversion as the mere first block in the steps to true truthfulness and usefulness, but wherever the data is explicit, you will find the same pattern. Proclamation of Christ, reception of the message of forgiveness of sins in Christ, and the clear evidence that upon profession of that belief in baptism, there is incorporation into the visible community of God, and the assumption is, from the fruits that follow, that the Holy Spirit has been given in conjunction with faith in Jesus Christ as set forth in the gospel. Let's look now at just a couple of these six instances. Let's take Lydia, verse 11.

14:37 Setting sail therefore from Troas, Acts 16, 11, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis, and from thence to Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, the first of the district, a Roman colony. And we were in this city tarrying certain days. Now notice, the only reference to tarrying is that they were biding time. They weren't having a tarrying meeting.

15:05 And on the Sabbath day, we went forth without the gate by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer. Now apparently, in this section of Philippi, there was no synagogue. But there were a group of women who would meet to pray. And as I've read the various commentators, they suggest that this was probably the situation.

15:28 There was no synagogue, but there were a group of devout people who would meet to pray, who had some light from the Old Testament scriptures. And so Luke says, we sat down and spoke unto the women that were come together. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, one that worshipped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened to give heed to the things that were spoken by Paul. And when she was baptized, you see her whole response to the gospel is here summarized in the words, when she was baptized.

16:11 Now from all that is gone before, we know that the apostles did not baptize, until they first of all preached the gospel. We know that they did not preach the gospel without setting forth Christ as the central blessing of the gospel, and the forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Spirit, all of the blessings of redemption in Christ. Then when people responded in faith to that gospel, they were baptized. So if you want to use a little form of historical shorthand for all of that, all you need to say with Luke is, and, she was baptized.

16:47 And Luke assumes that we will read into that everything that he has given us in other details in the book of Acts, that that is a form of historical shorthand to describe when she had heard, believed, received the gospel. When she was baptized, and her household, on the same condition that she was baptized, a believing, intelligent, response to the gospel, she besought us saying, if you judge me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us. Now again, the simplicity of the record.

17:29 No indication whatsoever that coming to faith as expressed in baptism left her in a sort of no man's land, no longer in the world, a saved person who crossed the line from wrath to grace, but a woefully, ill-equipped, saved person who needs some higher and second and more glorious experience in the Holy Spirit to really be what she ought to be. As a simple, believing, baptized person, she says, if you judge me to be faithful in the Lord, if you assess me to be the real thing, come and abide with me. And the indication is that Paul and his companions being willing to do so, judge her to be the real commodity. And then of course, we're all familiar with the account of the conversion of the Philippian jailer and his household and their baptism in the middle of the night. And you find the same emphasis, not a word of an explicit experience in the Holy Spirit. And then you read right on through to the summary statement concerning the Corinthians in Acts chapter 18.

18:42 And we find the same pattern, Acts 18 and verse 8. And Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his house. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed, and were baptized. And the Lord said unto Paul in the night, by a vision, Don't be afraid, speak.

19:08 Hold not your peace, for I am with you. No man shall set on you to harm you, for I have much people in this city. See the emphasis again upon the sovereignty of God. We found it with Lydia.

19:18 The Lord opened her heart. And now we find it again. I have much people in this city. I already have them in the councils of my eternal sovereign electing love and purpose.

19:30 And Luke is not embarrassed to lace such high theology in straightforward history. I have much people in this city. And he dwelt there a year and six months. Doing what?

19:43 Teaching the word of God among them. Not a shred of evidence that he dwelt there trying to somehow bring them up to some second, higher, greater experience. No. The new life that has been imparted in their conversion is to be nurtured by the teaching and the assimilation of the word of God.

20:04 And that's the pattern that we find right through that entire section with the six Greek conversions recorded as they are described by Dr. Brunk. All right. Any question now on any one of those passages related to what we're establishing?

Addressing Questions on the Ordinary Pattern and Spiritual Gifts

20:22 Mainly, that the normal pattern of the reception of the Spirit is the pattern of proclamation of the Gospel with its central message being forgiveness of sins in the Lord Jesus, the demands of faith and repentance, the expression of it in baptism, and the assumption is that all who thus respond have the blessings of the Holy Spirit in union with Christ. All right. Any question now about any one of those passages? Yes, Jim? You mean the fact that in the Corinthian church it's evident that the gift of tongues and prophecy had been given? Yes. But there's nothing to indicate that that had anything to do with the reception of the Gospel and their initial Christian experience.

21:29 And as we pointed out, remember last week when Pastor Nichols said he would play devil's advocate, whatever these gifts were and however they came, according to 1 Corinthians 12, they were distributed to each one as the Lord willed. And there is no assumption, in fact, there's a negation that all spoke with tongues or that all prophesied as Paul deals with that subject. All right. Any other comment or question on these passages?

21:58 Yes, sir. Yes. Any of the passages where it speaks of baptism, unless there is a compelling reason to believe it's speaking of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, such as you have in 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 13, we are to assume that it's baptism because the record is a historical record of something that happened to people that could be observed. And that could be, as in the case of the Philippian jailer, that he and his wife were in the house of the Holy Spirit and that he and his wife were in the house of the Holy Spirit and that he and his wife were in the house of the Holy Spirit and that he and his wife were in the house of the Holy Spirit and all his were baptized in that very hour.

22:37 Luke is writing as an observer who saw something happen to them as they went under the waters of baptism. All right. Any further question or comment on any of these passages? All right.

Challenging Selective Use of Acts and the Significance of the Four Pentecosts

22:49 Do you feel something of the weight of the overarching emphasis then of Luke's account of the ordinary pattern of the reception of the Holy Spirit? Do you feel something of the weight of that? Do you think you could sit down now with a charismatic or Pentecostal friend for whom for the most part there are only four parts or four chapters in the book of Acts of any significance? You see, the average charismatic or Pentecostal that I have talked with and this goes back for over 30 years so I'm not speaking out of a vacuum of ignorance, but I was only a babe hardly out of my swaddling clothes spiritually when I was thrust right into the midst of old classic Pentecostalism and I can remember the first time an assembly of God pastors sat down with me with his Bible and took me through Acts 2, Acts 8, Acts 10, and Acts 19. I remember that very clearly and I see one or two smiling who've been down that same road and it seemed quite impressive. It seemed quite impressive. But being cautious right from the beginning, right from the spiritual womb, I never bought things quickly.

24:02 God gave me a sense of the tremendous responsibility it is to handle his word for oneself and even more so of course in handling it for others and I felt well if this is biblical then it'll stand the test of time and holy scrutiny and I'm not going to go running off half crazy and half cocked and then it began to be evident you see, that there was a very selective use of the book of Acts. What about all of these other accounts? The latter part of Acts 2. Something more in Acts 2 than Acts 2, 1 to 3 and does not that say something about the ministry of the Holy Spirit and what about Acts 4 and what about Acts 8 I'm sorry the latter part of Acts 8 and what about the conversion of Paul and all of these other instances you see and we must not allow ourselves to be bullied by a selective use of a few passages especially now I trust that we understand the significance of that unusual work of God in conjunction with these four Pentecostal the Jerusalem Pentecost the Samaritan Pentecost the Caesarean Pentecost and the Ephesian Pentecost and we see in it that wonderful work that God is doing making it evident in the theater of the observable that he's making one new humanity in Christ of Jew and Gentile in which all those distinctions are broken down and in between he's telling us this is not

25:32 the ordinary pattern listen to what I'm telling you I'm telling you what I've done and then we have all of these instances where people are incorporated into Christ and into the church by apostolic preaching and not a shred of evidence that they are taught that they are nearly converted and now they must move on and have some second baptism in the Holy Spirit alright any question now before we leave those passages alright what I want us to do now then is to turn to several passages in the Epistle which are pivotal to what we would call the apostolic interpretation of the record of the apostolic activity and the first of those passages is Galatians chapter 3 Galatians chapter 3 now you remember I trust what the great problem in the churches of Galatia was you had these teachers who came down from Judea and they were plaguing the churches of Galatia telling them that they could not be full blown Christians some of them apparently going as far as saying they actually could not be saved you were still in the state of wrath and nature according to Acts 15 certain brethren

Apostolic Interpretation: Galatians 3 and Ephesians 1

27:01 came out who reported that they came out from us teaching that except the Gentiles are circumcised and keep the law of Moses they cannot be saved so apparently there were degrees of teaching that was being propagated by these people supposedly who were commissioned from the Judean church or from the I'm sorry from the Jerusalem church to come down and teach these things just as amongst Pentecostals there are degrees of teaching some actually say unless you have the baptism to be spoken in tongues you're not saved many others would say no you can be saved but unless you need the baptism so as there are degrees of aberration in current Christ's teaching there were apparently degrees of aberration in the Galatian heresy but now as Paul is dealing with this subject notice the emphasis that begins to come through in chapter 3 verse 1 O foolish Galatians who did bewitch you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set for you he said foolish Galatians in whose very presence Christ was placarded as the crucified one in whom in whom all forgiveness and spiritual blessing is to be had

28:30 now notice how he moves from Christ crucified to the spirit and to faith this only would I learn from you received you faith you see what he said he said how did you receive the spirit did you receive it by deeds you performed that earned the spirit or did you receive the spirit in the hearing of faith the hearing of what message the message of Christ crucified there's no way to fracture or separate verse 2 from verse 1 the assumption is that in the faith response to the message of Christ crucified they received the spirit well if you've received God's highest gift on the basis of what Christ has done received by faith what are you doing entertaining these so called teachers who are telling you if you want to really be saved or be full blown Christians you must now be circumcised and keep the ceremonial law of Moses he said God has already given you his highest gift now you're going to go back and do this this and this and this to get what he says foolish Galatians stupid Galatians no one would do anything so stupid unless he was

29:59 spooked bewitched and so he uses that very strong language alright then he's going to go on and emphasize the whole doctrine of justification the reception of the spirit functioned with faith and so he introduces the whole subject of Abraham but now then pick up the thread of thought in verse 10 you people want to commit yourself to the whole mosaic legislation alright this is the result as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse for it is written cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them before God is evident for the righteous shall live by faith and the law is not of faith but he that doeth them shall live in them Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone that hangs on the tree that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus that we might receive the promise of the spirit through faith you see what Paul is doing he is demonstrating that the way of the spirit is the way of faith the way of what kind of faith some additional faith

31:29 for an additional experience in the Holy Spirit no the way of justifying faith you see how all those things are tied together the way of justifying faith the faith that goes out of itself is the way of the spirit for in embracing the Lord Jesus is the way of the spirit for in embracing the Lord Jesus we receive the gift of the spirit Jesus and the spirit are inseparable as the divine grant unto believing sinners and so the spirit is received not on the basis of all the conditions we may need in order to have an experience of receiving the spirit the spirit is received on the basis of the work that Christ accomplished on behalf of sinners and every sinner that believingly embraces Christ and his work receives in Christ Jesus the gift of the Holy Spirit the clear teaching of this passage now turn over to Ephesians and there we see the Apostle bringing forward a sermon that is expected those of you who remember way back in the dark ages will remember I trust when we preached a series of sermons on Ephesians chapter 1 and beginning

32:58 with verse 3 we have this hymn of praise to the Triune God for his great salvation in the Lord Jesus the primary focus of the hymn of praise in verse 1 verse 7 in whom we have redemption through his blood and then in verses 13 and 14 it shifts to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in whom that is in union with Christ in whom you also having heard the word of the truth the gospel of your salvation in whom having also believed the Holy Spirit of promise who is an earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of God's own possession unto the praise of his glory now he's telling us that all of our blessings those conferred upon us in eternity are in conjunction with Christ those convert upon us in time we are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world in Christ we have now he says furthermore in union with Christ we have also received the Spirit as the earnest the down payment

34:27 of our completed salvation now notice how we received the Spirit in whom having believed you were sealed so you have these three specific things that are said in conjunction with the ministry to the Ephesian believers they heard the word of the gospel of their salvation verse 13 they heard the word of the truth the gospel of their salvation and having believed they were sealed hearing believing sealing and he says those things were true of every single Ephesian Christian without any exception fully cognizant of all of the various degrees if we recognize this as the Ephesian church all of the varying degrees of spiritual stature amongst the members of that church yet he says all of them in Christ Jesus having heard the word of the gospel having believed they were sealed so the whole idea of the gospel they believed and amongst them some are sealed and some are not sealed simply cannot be substantiated by a passage such as

Apostolic Interpretation: Romans 8 and the Inseparability of Christ and Spirit

35:55 this it cannot be substantiated by the entire witness of the ordinary manner of the reception of the spirit as we've seen in the book of Acts it cannot be substantiated by the Galatians passage that we've considered and then we could have time to open this up for some further question or discussion in Romans chapter 8 and this again is a pivotal passage because you'll notice how imperceptibly Paul moves backwards and forwards from the Holy Spirit to Christ himself he has set out that there are these two basic realms of spiritual and moral existence that cannot please God they're in the state of enmity to God the teaching of verses 7 and 8 but now then notice the transition in verse 9 but you are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you but if any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his and if Christ is in you now you notice the progression of the spirit of God spirit of Christ Christ himself

37:24 and then he's called in verse 11 the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead so you see there is what the theologians would call personal distinction within the God head the spirit of God is not the Father it is the spirit of the Father the spirit of Christ is not Christ and yet because Jesus mentions the one God where the Father and the Son are the spirit is and where the spirit is Christ is he is the spirit of Christ so Paul can move as he does in this passage from spirit of God spirit of Christ to Christ himself and so Christ dwells then in the heart of every true believer and if Christ does not dwell in us by the spirit who is the spirit of God he dwells in us now for people to come along and say well it is possible to have the spirit dwelling in us but not to be baptized by the spirit into Christ they are talking exegetical and theological nonsense because such a position simply cannot be established by opening up text and scripture it is a fine distinction that is made to support a previously established theory but it certainly does not grow out of the exegesis the opening up passages dealing with the doctrine

38:53 of the Holy Spirit so Paul's assumption with the Ephesians every one of them having heard and believed in Christ has been sealed with the spirit it is true of the Romans every one has been translated out of the realm of the flesh into the realm of the spirit possesses the spirit if any man has not the spirit of Christ as a life transforming power now you see that is the emphasis see people say you have the spirit oh yes you have the spirit but basically nothing has happened to you you have just been saved and if you really want something to happen that is life transforming and dynamic and powerful then you need your baptism well Paul is saying if the spirit dwells in you something dynamic and life transforming has happened if you have the spirit you are no longer in the realm of the flesh the spirit is the down payment the earnest of that completed salvation to talk of having the spirit but having nothing is to talk nonsense but that is basically what most Christ's teaching does assert oh yes you have the spirit you are regenerated but that is only little kid stuff now we go to the grown up stuff now Paul says no if you have the spirit we are full grown sons in that sense of Galatians chapter 4

Addressing John 20:22 and the Transition Period

40:22 though there is room for growth we are sons we are those who can call God our father we experience the moral and ethical transforming power of the spirit we are no longer at enmity with God we are no longer living and walking around in the realm of the flesh we have experienced his transforming grace as we embrace the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ alright any question on those passages some of you perhaps did a little bit of a question to raise yes yes uh huh he refused to say he was just receiving of the Holy Spirit and the conversion yeah alright so you are raising a question then what do we do if someone brings forward this passage alright what do we do what would you do if after all of this someone's only retreat was John 20 in verse 22 I think one thing would be evident you have got him on the run if he has to retreat here alright

41:47 but how would we respond to someone who said ah but you see here are people who are regenerated by the Spirit and now the Lord is telling him to receive the Spirit and then they go on and have something more in Acts 2 what do we say to that yes no alright alright notice the context the point that Mr. Brown is making is that those who are going to have a special task verse 19 when therefore it was evening on that day the first day of the week and when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews Jesus came and stood in the midst and said unto them peace be unto you and when he said this he showed them his hands and his side and the disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord Jesus therefore said unto them again peace be unto you as the Father hath sent me and I you here's a word of commission and when he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them receive ye the Holy Spirit whosoever sins you forgive they are forgiven forgiven unto them whosoever sins you retain

43:17 they are retained but Thomas one of the twelve called Didymus was not with them when Jesus came so the point Mr. Brown is making that we may have here a passage in which because of the special task the disciples given to the apostles there is at least symbolically an indication of our Lord that there would be special equipment given to them by a special endowment of the Spirit alright that's a possibility anyone else want to suggest what we might do with this passage yes Rich and what's the significance of that this passage comes within this section that we call what the transition period in which there is a winding down of the Old Testament and the Old Covenant and the Old Economy and the ushering in of the New Covenant and the New Covenant of course is going to be the age of the New Age is going to be supremely the age of the Spirit so this is an incident

44:43 that is in this transition period and we ought to be very very cautious of trying to make any such incidents normative for the Church in its full blown and polished New Covenant life and experience all right good point someone else yes Dean

45:20 all right

45:27 all right so you're saying then that what we have here is what the Holy Spirit works in the Old Covenant in an arbitrary way not in a regular system and here we have one of those arbitrary experiences of the Holy Spirit within this process in a certain case I think you mean the word extraordinary rather than arbitrary yeah all right all right very real possibility all right until Jesus is glorified all right someone had a hand right here yes Steve okay all right all right so we could very well have here our Lord teaching them something by means of an object lesson remember what he had already taught them in the upper room discourse that great discourse about the Holy Spirit and it could well be that what our Lord is doing here is showing them that though he is to lead them and the Spirit is to be

46:57 the other what what does he call him all the way through the upper room discourse he is showing them that though he is to lead them and the Spirit is to be the other what what does he call him all the way through the upper room discourse the other comforter the paraclete the one called alongside to help though he will be absent from them in his glorified state and the Spirit will be sent the Spirit is not sent in the sense isolated from the activity of Jesus what is the Spirit to do with the other what does he call him all the way through the upper room discourse the Spirit is to lead them all the way through the upper room discourse the Spirit is to lead them in to their spiritual life you see

48:27 there are a number of possibilities as to what this passage means precisely it has been some time since I've studied it and frankly I've never been comment back here. Yes, Jim? Exactly. And if someone says we're going to reproduce this, you'll have to get the Lord back out of heaven and have him breathe. So you see, when you start pressing those things and saying they're going to be normative, then you've got to get all the factors lined up. You've got to get Christ present to have him breathe. All those people say, no, no, no, no, no. We don't want to press that. Well, why not? If you're going to press it as normative,

The New Testament Motif: Incorporation into Christ by Faith

49:28 then at what point do you stop? The same way we saw with some of the other passages. All right. Now, does that give you enough fuel if someone brings this up to show that there are other possibilities more consistent with the overall testimony of Scripture? All right. We've got about five minutes left. Any further question on any one of these passages? Yes, Steve? No. No, we've stuck basically, Steve, with the book of Acts and making real to them that relationship of being in Christ.

50:45 Of course, then becomes the standard emphasis as Christian experience is unfolded in the epistles that in Christ, another text that I was going to use, but there's some debate as to whether or not we can apply it generally to all the people of God, because Paul says we, and he may just be speaking of himself and his companions, although I rather tend to lean to the interpreters and say, no, his experience is normative for all the people of God. 2 Corinthians 1, 20, and following, how many soever be the promises of God in Christ is the yea, and through him the amen to the glory of God. Then he goes on to say that in him we are anointed, we are sealed, we are given the earnest of the Spirit, that all of these things again come to us when we are incorporated into Christ. And what is the way of incorporation into Christ? Why, it's the way of faith. So you see, that's the whole motif, then, of the New Testament. And the point that Steve is making

51:51 is that our Lord himself gives an interpretive clue, as it were, to the great significance of Pentecost. It's not only a reception of power to be witnesses unto him, but in that day, the Spirit will come and make real what he has done, incorporating the new humanity into this union with himself by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And it's very interesting that couched in the midst of that great discourse on the work of the Spirit is John 15. Abide in me. For whatever the Lord is teaching them about the Spirit, they must never think of the work of the Spirit as divorced from the intimacy of communion and union with Jesus Christ. The Spirit comes to effect that union. He comes to make real to us the privileges and the responsibilities. So the Spirit never leads us from Christ, but always leads us to Christ and to an ever-growing appreciation of all that is ours in the Lord Jesus.

Critique of Arbitrary Biblical Interpretation

53:01 All right? Any further comment or question? All right? Yes. Don?

53:09 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So whatever it would be, it would still fall within this framework, would it not?

54:42 So there's something, whatever they may have received in steps... Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So whatever it would be, it would still fall within this framework, would it not?

54:45 So there's something, whatever they may have received in steps and stages had to do with this overlapping of the ages. And I wasn't trying to be poetic. Steps and stages overlapping the ages just came out that way. So to say that that's normative for us is tenuous business, and it's really a form of whether willful. Nonetheless, it is a form of manipulating the Word of God and not being honest with the whole testimony of Scripture. And you see, so many people are so accustomed to handling the Bible. You see, so many people are so accustomed to handling the Bible. And you see, so many people are so accustomed to handling the Bible.

55:15 That way. Dipping down here, there, everywhere, extracting something with no reference to its immediate context, with no reference to the overall sweep of the history of redemption. Where is this spoken? Within what framework of God's dealing? And we simply cannot handle the Word of God in that cavalier way, as though it's just a bunch of principles and precepts and promises all thrown together and mixed up, and you can dip down anywhere at any time and take something out and just... run off half-cocked with it and teach a doctrine and claim a blessing, and this is not the way to handle the Word of God.

Anticipating the Explanation of Crisis Experiences

55:51 And yet, alas, this is so often the way it's handled, and it's very interesting. And on this note, we'll have to close, because our time is gone. We won't take up today the question, how do we explain, then, the crisis experiences that people do have? We'll take that up, God willing, next week. But often, often, some of the most, shall I say, forceful teachings about this business of a crisis experience is not based upon explicit passages in which the Christian life is being expounded, particularly in the New Testament, but from so-called types taken out of the Old Testament by crossing over Jordan. Many a deeper life sermon has been preached on the fact you've wandered around in the wilderness of defeat all these years, aren't you tired of it? You need to pass over Jordan into victory, see? Well, passing over Jordan was a once-for-all crisis.

56:44 They didn't pass over two, three, six times, and when they came over the Jordan into the Promised Land, it was the land of blessing and all the rest. Well, often, you know, it isn't long before the great conquest of the city of Jericho is followed by the defeat of Ai. Well, then you've got this poor character that's entered once-for-all into a state of blessing who's in a state of defeat. Now what do we do? Get him back to the other side of Jordan and bring him over again?

57:12 But you see, you'll find this kind of teaching often based on a very, very arbitrary, a truly arbitrary interpretation of Old Testament passages that are supposed to be types and symbols of this great crisis experience, because there is precious little that can even be forced into anything of the semblance of a justification of it in the clear teaching of the New Testament. Well, with that, we're going to have to close, and perhaps as you have opportunity, do in your wash, and combing your hair, and driving to work, and whatever else you do in your legitimate pursuit of the will of God, maybe you'll think about the question, what do we say regarding crises, experiences that people have had which have indeed resulted in transformed lives? Do we just stick our head in the sand and say they're liars? Well, that wouldn't be kind or Christian. What do we do?

Prayer for Understanding and Appreciation of Inheritance in Christ

58:10 Well, you think about that, will you, and come prepared intelligently to deceive God. We'll discuss it next week, God willing. Let's pray together. Our Father, we are thankful again this morning that we have the scriptures in our hands.

58:29 We thank you that we have your word translated into our own tongue. We thank you that we're able to meet unmolested here in this building this morning, and we pray that you will help us so to understand your word and to walk in its light, that we may be immunized against the many errors that are propagated in our day. And our Father, we ask that we may come to a renewed appreciation of our inheritance in Christ. We thank you that in Christ we have been chosen, in Christ we have been called, in Christ we have been sealed with the Spirit.

59:13 We thank you that you've blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Him. Oh, help us that our lives may reflect more and more that we are indeed complete in Him. Seal then your word to our hearts and continue to give us understanding in that word, we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.