(Acts 1: 4-5) “Do not leave Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptised with water but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.”
In our last study we discovered what the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is and what it does yet it is equally important that we also see the necessity and possibility of this experience. The purpose of this study is to show just how important it is that every believer comes to know this work of the Holy Spirit in his or her Christian experience.
The Necessity of the Possibility of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit.
(Acts 1: 4-5) “Do not leave Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptised with water but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.”
Just before He left his disciples to go back to his Father in heaven Jesus strictly charged them not to undertake the work to which He had called them until they had been baptized with the Holy Spirit.
1. The disciples themselves needed to be baptised with the Holy Spirit for their ministry.
The disciples had spent three years with Jesus and had been enrolled in the best Bible School ever. They had been taught by the master of all teachers and had received the best in on the job training. They had been eyewitnesses to His life, His preaching, His miracles, His death and His resurrection. He had commanded them to go into the entire world and to make disciples of all men everywhere. They felt the urgency to do what He said yet we find Him telling them to wait in Jerusalem until they had been clothed with power from on high. In other words He told them not to attempt anything for God until they had been baptised with the Holy Spirit. He said to them; “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Luke also records what the Lord Jesus said to His followers on that occasion; “You are my witnesses of these things. And behold I send the promise of My Father upon you; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:48-49).
The disciples would need more than just their spiritual and theological training. They would need more than just human wisdom or human methods of persuasion. They would need to be armed with spiritual power from on high. The word used for “power” is the same word from which we get the word “dynamite” i.e. “explosive spiritual power.” Without being clothed with “explosive” power from on high they would never be able to succeed in what they the Lord had called them to do.
2. The Lord Jesus Himself was anointed with the Holy Spirit for His ministry.
(Luke 4:18-19) “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because Me has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
The Lord Jesus embraced the power of the Holy Spirit and walked in the Spirit as a man even though He was God in the flesh. He never laid aside His divinity but laid aside His Divine right to use that power. He could have performed miracles, healings and deliverance by virtue of being God’s Son but He chose to operate as an ordinary man controlled and empowered by the Holy Spirit. After His baptism in water the Holy Spirit came upon Him in power for his ministry. Luke records this event; “Jesus was baptised too, and as He was praying the heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove” (Luke 3: 21-22). From that moment on everything He said and did was done in the Spirit’s power as an ordinary man and not by virtue of His Divinity. Luke also tells us this in his second book; “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with Him” (Acts 10:38).
3. As believers in Christ we need to be baptised with the Holy Spirit for witnessing and Christian service.
If the Lord Jesus needed the Spirit’s power for His ministry and if the apostles themselves needed the power of the Holy Spirit for their ministry who are we to attempt anything for God until we like them have been clothed with power from on high. Many Christians are graduating from Bible school, gaining degrees in theology, going to the mission field or entering the ministry or full-time work that have never been baptised with the Holy Spirit for the ministry to which God has called them. The tragedy of this fact can be seen in established churches and denominations everywhere.
Many churches are cold, legalistic and bogged down in ritual and form because they have never been exposed to the Holy Spirit’s ministry. Others are dedicated, active, perfectly orthodox in doctrine and practice, preaching the gospel and even getting some results but are still acting and working in the zeal of human wisdom and strength and not in the power of God.
Our carefully planned programs may gain some results and even impact society to some degree and we may even see some conversions but without the Power of the Spirit resting on our efforts we will not achieve a great deal in the long term. If the churches in this land were really empowered by the Holy Spirit we would see people being saved everyday. This was happening in the first century church. We read about this; “And the Lord added daily to their number those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). It is rash presumption to encourage Christians to enter any form of Christian service or ministry without making sure that they have been equipped for the task by the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, it is futile to encourage Christians to witness without having been baptised with the Holy Spirit.
There are 5 basic reasons why many ministers, missionaries, full-time workers and Christians find real spiritual power lacking in their service for the Lord Jesus Christ. Firstly, they have never been called to the work that they are involved in and they do not have the gifts needed for the task. Secondly, they have already chosen their own ministry instead of the one that the Holy Spirit has chosen for them. Thirdly, they have been called and even trained but have never been baptised with the Holy Spirit. Fourthly, they have a doctrine that does away with such an experience and go struggling on in their own strength. Fifthly, they once had the power of the Holy Spirit but have lost it through pride, disobedience, and sin or simply through neglecting prayer and Bible study. If you have known the power of the Spirit but have lost it then you need to find out what it is that’s hindering God’s power in your life. Once you know what it is you need to get rid of it and asked God to refill you with the Spirit. So then, it is absolutely necessary that we be baptised with the Holy Spirit for witnessing, ministry and service.
The Possibility of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit.
(Acts 2:39) “The promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are afar off, for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Now this verse asks two questions. Firstly, what is “’The Promise” mentioned here? And secondly, to whom is “The Promise” made?
Firstly: what is ‘The Promise’ mentioned here?
(Acts 2:33) “Therefore being by the right hand of God exulted, and having received from the Father (Jesus at his own baptism) the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has shed forth this which you now see and hear.” “The promise” in verse 39 is the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter 1 confirms this; “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard me speak about, for John baptizes with water but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.” So then the promise of the Father is the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and Jesus is the one who gives it” (Acts 1:4-5).
Secondly: To whom is “The Promise of the Father” made?
On the Day of Pentecost after Peter had preached his sermon he told the listeners that they could also receive the promised Holy Spirit. “The promise is for you (The Jews present) and to your children (Their children) and to all who are afar off (The Gentiles) and for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Every believer in every age.) (Acts 2:39). So then, the same Baptism with the Holy Spirit that Jesus and the apostles received is also available to every believer today, right now in fact! We don’t have to wait any longer because the Holy Spirit has been given. His power is available to us right now. Our responsibility before the Lord is to make ourselves totally available to the Holy Spirit to use us anyhow, anywhere and in anyway He chooses. He has a specific task for us as believers and will give us the gifts we need to complete that task.
The Baptism with the Holy Spirit will bring us joy and peace but it isn’t primarily for our enjoyment but to bring honour to Jesus and to lift him up before others. If we want the Baptism with the Holy Spirit to merely gratify some selfish desire or to have certain gifts then we will not receive the real experience. The Holy Spirit is sovereign in this whole matter of spiritual power and will only give us those gifts that are in line with his will for our lives and ministry. (1 Corinthians 12:11) So then, the Bible is absolutely clear and remarkably definite that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is a necessity and possibility for every Christian in every age.
