study on the Church of Jesus
Christ or the Ecclesia of Jesus Christ. We began that many many
months ago and in that study we've had some subdivisions or
subheadings and currently we've been talking about the ordinances
of the church and we just finished up talking about the ordinance
of water baptism And at the end of that study,
I promised that we would take a look at Holy Spirit baptism
because there is much confusion in churches today over not only
baptism in general, water baptism, there are segments of quote unquote
Christianity that believe that water baptism has gone away,
that you don't water baptize anymore at all. That was just
for a short period of time. There are some that believe that
water baptism is still in effect today, but it doesn't really
matter how you baptize anybody. Okay? You just, you know, it
can be anything, sprinkling, pouring, dipping, immersion. And then, of course, there's
also the erroneous view that children should be baptized.
Infants should be baptized as part of a covenant thing. which
we also reject and we believe that the Bible is very clear
about that as well. But in all of this talk about
baptism, there is a baptism that many people talk about and they
always downplay water baptism and say the most important baptism
is Holy Spirit baptism. It doesn't matter if you're water
baptized as long as you're Holy Spirit baptized, if you're baptized
in the Holy Spirit. or if you're baptized with the
Holy Spirit, okay? And so whenever you look at what
the Bible teaches about Holy Spirit baptism, there's a lot
of misconceptions about that. And I would probably say there's
two prevailing understandings of that, as we've seen last time
we were together. There were two prevailing systems
of thought. One is the Pentecostal view,
That Holy Spirit baptism is this second work of blessing or something
that a Christian gets when the Holy Spirit comes upon them and
gives them the supernatural ability to speak in tongues, to prophesy,
to in some instances be what they call slain in the spirit
where they fall down and kind of go into this hypnotic type
state or whatever. The Holy Spirit baptism is the
second blessing that the Christian receives, a fuller blessing that
this Christian receives. While on the other hand, the
majority of evangelicalism, or what I would call Protestantism,
and again, we're not Protestants. We don't believe that we come
from the Protestant Reformation. We believe that the Lord's churches
has existed ever since he began them in his earthly ministry
and that there's been a witness of those local churches throughout
all of history that never conformed to Rome, that never went away
from the doctrines and the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. If
you don't understand what I'm saying about that, go back and
begin at the very beginning of our videos and sermons on the
church, the Ecclesy of Christ, We speak about that in length
at the beginning of this. But anyway, the Protestants,
we're not Protestants, but the Protestant view of Holy Spirit
baptism is that this is what is another name for being born
again, regeneration, quickening. Those are some of the terms that
are thrown around about Holy Spirit baptism. They believe
that Holy Spirit baptism is whenever the Holy Spirit quickens you
or brings you to life or regenerates you and then puts you into Christ,
okay? That you're put into Christ's
body by regeneration or by quickening. Sorry, I've got a sneeze coming
on and it won't commit and it won't stay down, so bear with
me. However, the belief that Holy
Spirit baptism is regeneration is also erroneous. And that's
what we began to look at last week. What is Holy Spirit baptism? And as we began to look last
week, we seen that all four Gospels and Acts made very clear that
Holy Spirit baptism is something that had not happened in the
Old Testament, that it still had not happened during the earthly
ministry of Jesus, but was told was about to happen And of course,
we saw it does happen, and it hasn't happened since. The day
of Pentecost, Holy Spirit baptism, baptism in or by the Holy Spirit,
with the Holy Spirit, this was a one-time event. A one-time event. And I say one-time
event, of course, there's the caveat of the two places with
the Greek churches that this happened to, but again, that
is easily explained by being conformed to the whole pattern,
that Jews and Gentiles were now being merged whenever the veil
of the temple was ripped in two, that now Jews and Gentiles were
being included into this new tabernacle or temple of God,
the place of Christ or God's dwelling. And so, the Jews, it
happened upon the Jews, but even with the happening upon the Jews,
whenever that took place, it was referenced to what had happened
at the beginning, meaning that they hadn't seen any of that
taking place after the day of Pentecost, and that what happened
with the Gentiles was just as special and unique as what had
happened at the very beginning, so nothing in between those two
occurrences. And afterwards, we have no record
of that ever happening ever again. And so, the Holy Spirit baptism,
we found, is a one-time thing. Now, again, I'll point out, Matthew
chapter 3, 11, John says that he baptizes with water, but there's
one that's coming. He shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost and with fire. Mark 1.8, we read the same account. Christ is gonna be baptizing
you with Holy Ghost and fire. Luke 3.16, again, the same account
with John saying that they're baptizing with water, but there's
one whose shoes that he cannot unloose. He shall baptize you
with the Holy Ghost and with fire. In John 1.26-34, the same
account is given. where John says that he baptizes
with water, but Jesus is gonna come and he's gonna baptize you
with the Holy Ghost. And then in Acts chapter one,
verse four, we read, being assembled together with him, commanded
them, Jesus commanded them, saying that they should not depart from
Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith, which
ye have heard of me." Now, we found out last time, and I won't
go through it again this week, we won't turn to the verses,
but we found out last week that this promise of the Father, whenever
we looked at that, that pointed back to the promises that was
made by John about the coming of the baptizer with the Holy
Spirit, Jesus. And this event that would be
taking place, and this was the promise that was being made. And so we've seen that. Matter
of fact, that was, if I'm not mistaken, that was in Luke 20,
yeah, back in Luke 24, verse 43. And I think that was also,
I'm trying to remember now, John 14, I think it was. John
14. Anyway, you can check me out
on that. But for some reason, it just slipped my mind. But
anyway, this promise of the Father was the promise of the baptism
of the Holy Spirit. And we see here in Acts that
it was going to happen in Jerusalem. We also see in other places that
it had not happened yet. Now, we take into account that
This cannot mean to be regenerated or to be quickened. We know that
the Old Testament saints were all born again. We know that
they were all quickened by the Holy Spirit. The Bible is very
emphatic in that it teaches that unless you have the Holy Spirit,
you're none of His, and that the Holy Ghost is the one who
quickens or brings to life so that people might understand
spiritual things, that they might, by faith, be able to believe
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And all those Old Testament saints
that looked forward and believed on Christ, Abraham, who looked
forward and believed on Christ, why? It was because he was already
born again. Yet the Bible is very clear that
this baptism of the Holy Spirit with the Holy Spirit had not
yet happened, that it was something that was gonna take place in
the future from the time John was saying it, okay? So it hadn't happened before
John. And at the time John was preaching,
he said that it was something that was yet in the future. Jesus said that it was something
yet in the future. And so here we see in Acts chapter
one, Jesus, again, reiterating that fact that John had truly
baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost,
not many days hence. Okay? So it had not happened
yet. but it was gonna happen in just
a few days in Jerusalem. So we see that the promise of
the Father, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, what John was talking
about is the event of Pentecost. It's the event of Pentecost. Look at Acts chapter two, verse
one. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all
with one accord in one place. Now I want you to pay close attention.
Remember back in our earlier studies when we were talking
about who these people were, about the church as a gathered
assembly, okay? The church is a local, visible,
gathered assembly. These group of people that was
there at Pentecost that this happened to was the 120 that
was on the mountain that Jesus gave the commission to. It's
the 120 that came down from that mountain after the ascension
of Jesus and went into that upper room and all deliberated on and
voted upon the replacement of Judas and Matthias became the
12th Apostle. It's the same 120 that in that
upper room who the Bible says, whose names and numbers were
120, that the Holy Spirit fell upon, that Christ baptized them
with the Holy Spirit, and the Bible says this, and suddenly
there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,
and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there
appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it said
upon each of them. Now let's think, has that ever
happened since that day? We do not have, other than the
two places of the Greek church, We have not seen any other time
that that has ever happened in history. The Bible has not made
that clear. We don't see that anywhere in
history books. No man has ever written that
they've ever experienced that in any church from the time of
Jesus on down, other than the occurrence at Pentecost here
that we're reading about, and the two places where those Greek
believers that form a Greek church came in and began to experience
this as they did at the beginning, okay? So nowhere else. We don't have any account, no
experiences written about, no evidence anywhere that that was
an ongoing, that was a one-time event. Now to say that what happened
there is what's still happening today, you would need to have
that evidence. Number one, it's not told that
it was gonna happen anymore. Second of all, we don't see any
evidence that it ever happened anymore. And for all we know,
from what the Bible clearly says, is that baptism with the Holy
Spirit was mighty rushing wind, cloven tongues of fire resting
upon the heads of those who were in there. That was a one-time
event. Now, today I'm gonna show you
from the Old Testament why that was a one-time event and what
it signifies for the future churches of Jesus Christ, okay? That it
signifies something, it's in line with what had occurred in
the Old Testament. It is a symbol from God, a statement
from God, and that that one-time event carries on through all
the ages, yet not what people think. It's not the regeneration
or the quickening. It's not the putting one into
the body of Christ as far as some mystical body, okay? That's
not what is taking place. But look what it says there.
They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak
with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And they
were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men out of every nation
under heaven, Now, when this was noise abroad, the multitude
came together and were confounded because that every man heard
them speaking in his own language. And they were amazed and marveled,
saying one to another, behold, are not all these which speak
Galileans? And how here we every man in
our own tongue wherein we were born." Now, as you read down
through there, we see that one of the things that happened is
they began to speak in tongues again. The tongues that they
spoke was actual languages that people knew. Actual languages
that people knew. They didn't have to have an interpreter
to interpret because people understood those languages. They were actual
real languages. That would be like me today speaking
in Chinese to you. Chinese isn't gibberish. It may
sound like gibberish to somebody who doesn't know it, but it's
not gibberish. It is an actual language. What
goes on in Pentecostal churches is gibberish. It is not actual
language. It is babble, okay? It is babble. The gift of speaking
in tongues was something that nobody had to be taught. It was
a gift given by the Holy Spirit to enable men to preach the word
of God in languages that they had not currently learned for
the propelling of the Word of God, for the promulgating of
the Word of God, okay? And so, what we see in Pentecostal
realms of this baptism of the Holy Spirit is something devoid
of what happened even at Pentecost when there actually were biblical
tongues being used, okay? What's happening today is a false
work of the Holy Spirit. It's not a work of the Holy Spirit.
Okay, it's not a work of the Holy Spirit at all. It's an emotional
thing. It's a mind thing. It can even
be a demonic thing, okay? And so we gotta be very careful
of these things. And I know there's a lot of people
out there that are in these churches and they're loving people, they're
blessed, you know, blessings to us in friendships and kind
people that may be your neighbors, they may be family or friends.
But listen, brethren, don't be deceived. Okay, just because
something looks religious and actually just doesn't mean that
it is genuine Okay, I know those are harsh words to say and I
know that that causes a lot of division and and stuff But that's
what's true is true that there are sheep Our wolves in sheep's
clothing Preachers that are out there preaching and you think
that they're great preachers, but they're not because they're
preaching false doctrine They're using false practices. There
are congregations out there that look religious, but they're no
different than any other world religion, even though they may
use the term Jesus, God, Trinity, baptism, things such as that. Listen, just because they use
those terms don't mean anything. Doesn't the Bible say that whenever
Satan comes, he's gonna come as an angel of light? He's not
gonna come as a, you know, just what we see around. Is there
devil worshippers? Yeah, there is devil worshippers.
Is there the Church of Satan? Yes, there is. Was Anton LaVey
not a devil worshipper that tried to lead people into worship?
Absolutely. Is there a satanic Bible? Yes,
there is. But listen, the weapon of Satan
isn't something that is so obviously opposite of Christ, but taking
what is Christ and making it just a slightly bit different.
just like he did in the garden whenever he told Eve. You know,
oh, did God really say that? Well, he didn't say that. This
is actually what's gonna happen. He's just gonna twist the truth
just a little bit. And that's what we see today. A lot of Christianity, quote
unquote Christianity, is just a lie of Satan and it's a twist. That's why Jesus instituted a
body of people that gathers together and has given them a specific
doctrine with specific ordinances. And the service of that worship
is from generation to generation passed down by faithful preaching
and teaching of God's word. It's by faithful ministering
of God's word. It's by faithful adherence to
the ordinances of God that is given in God's word. And through
those things, the service of God perpetuates the things of
God, the truth of God. That's why the Bible says that
the church is the pillar and the ground of truth. When it
says the church, it's not talking about all the elect everywhere.
It's talking about those gathered assemblies who hold the doctrine
of Jesus Christ. Jesus gave the commission and
said, this is what you're, you're to teach them all things whatsoever
I've commanded you. So if there's somebody out there
that's not teaching what Jesus has commanded, then they're not
a church of Jesus Christ. And I know a lot of people think
that, you know, well, you're just out there pointing fingers
and, you know, saying that you're the only church, you're the only
one to be trusted. That's not what I'm saying. There
are lots of churches out there who are the Lord's churches.
Yeah, there are fewer than the others, You're gonna find more
non-churches out there than you are true churches, but they're
out there and they're scattered around. And I know a lot of people
say it's hard to find those things. They're there if you look, they're
there. You may have to drive a little, you may have to move,
but they're there. And these churches are important
because that is the pillar and the ground of truth. If they
are faithfully holding to the doctrine of Christ, if they are
faithfully holding to the commission of Jesus Christ. If they are
faithfully holy to the ordinances of Christ, that church is there
and it is an important thing to be a part of. And that is
what Jesus gave the commission to. That is who Jesus give this
promise to. And we've seen that last week,
that the one, we've seen three things. Matter of fact, I went
ahead and wrote them down. Here, can you see that on the thing
there for anybody that's watching? We've seen last week that there's
three things that's part of this Holy Spirit baptism. There's
an administrator, there's the subject, and then there's the
agent. The administrator we see is Jesus. Jesus is the one who is baptizing.
So anybody that talks about the Holy Spirit baptizing them, they're
erroneous. That's erroneous. The Holy Spirit
has never once baptized anybody. Nobody has ever been baptized
by the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the administrator. Matthew
3, 11 again. The one whose shoes I'm not worthy
to bear, he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. Mark 8,
1, I baptize you with water, but he, Jesus, shall baptize
you with the Holy Ghost. Luke 3, 16, the one whose shoes
I'm not worthy to unloose, he shall baptize you with the Holy
Ghost. John 1, 26. I'm sorry, I didn't
turn there. John 1 in verse 26, John answered
him saying, I baptize you with water, but there standeth one
among you whom ye know not. He it is who is coming after
me, is preferred before me, whose shoe latchet I'm not worthy to
unloose. These things were done in Beth
Bar, beyond Jordan, where John was baptized. The next day, John
seeth Jesus coming unto him and says, behold the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom
I said, after me cometh the man which is preferred before me,
for he was before me. And I knew him not, but that
he should be made manifest to Israel. Therefore, am I come
baptizing with water. And John Bear Records saying,
I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode
upon him. And I knew him not, but he that
sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom
thou shalt see the spirit descending and remaining on him, the same
as he which baptizeth with the Holy Spirit. Ghost. Jesus is the baptizer, not the
Holy Spirit. Who's the subject? Well, we've
seen in every one of those, who is John talking to? The ones
whom he had baptized. The ones whom he had, who had
repented of their sin, who had been baptized, and when Jesus
was baptized, came up out of the water, began that earthly
ministry, what did he do? He began to gather those people
into a congregation, and that congregation followed him from
the baptism of John until his ascension. They accompanied Jesus
Christ for teaching throughout that whole entire period of time.
Who was it that is the subject of this baptism? The one that
Jesus gave the commission to upon the mount. that He said,
you will be my disciples. You. Matter of fact, turn with
me if you would to Acts chapter 1 again. Acts chapter 1. Verse 4, being assembled together
with them, commanded them. Who's the them? Remember, who
is the them? Look at verse two, until the
day in which he was taken up after that through the Holy Ghost,
he had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen
to whom he also showed himself after the passion by many infallible
proofs being seen of them 40 days and speaking of things pertaining
to the kingdom of God and being assembled together with them.
Well, who is the them? Well, the them was the ones who
were on the mountain, not just the apostles, but also the rest
of the church that was gathered there. with them. But it says here, And he commanded
them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for
the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me.
For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized
with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore
were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou
at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel? And he said
unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons
which the Father hath put in his own power, but ye shall receive
power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall
be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria,
and unto the uttermost parts of the world." So the subject
of this was those who were prepared by John the Baptist who had repented
who had been baptized by water and who had been gathered together
in that assembly being taught by Jesus, instructed by Jesus,
indoctrinated by Jesus, and once indoctrinated, was given the
commission to now take everything that I've taught you and go to
the world. But he said, but go to Jerusalem
and wait because the promise of the Father is about to come
upon you. Who? The apostles? No, the whole church.
The local gathered assembly. Those 120, whose names and numbers
were 120, those people were to go to Jerusalem and wait. Not to work anything up, not
to do anything, not to throw a tent revival. Okay? They were to go and wait. And
that's what they did. They went and they waited. And
the Holy Spirit did just exactly what Jesus said would happen.
Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, Jesus being the administrator, sent
the Holy Spirit and baptized those same people, the 120, in
that upper room for the purpose of empowering them to be witnesses in all Judea, Samaria, the other
most parts of the world. To equip them, to empower them,
to show the world this is where the house of God is. This is
where the truth is. This is where my words are kept
and taught. It was ratifying the fact that
what these men had been preaching, Jesus specifically, what Jesus
had been preaching and now what these men would be preaching
is the words of God. And so we see that there's an
administrator, there's the subject, and then the agent of that is
the Holy Spirit. Jesus baptized with the Holy
Spirit that 120 people that was gathered in the upper room. Now,
we see that this is similar, and I mentioned this the last
time we met together, that I never did really put this together
like as in a parallel with water baptism. Brother Hal Brunson,
a Facebook friend of mine, a preacher, used to be a preacher down at
First Baptist Church Park in Texas, who is now living up,
I believe, in Montana, had written a book called The World Turned
Upside Down. And I read that, and he shows
this parallel between John the Baptist, who the first place
that Holy Spirit baptism is talked about the first place where baptism
is talked about. We see baptism, water baptism,
as a type, and Holy Spirit baptism as a prototype, okay? But we see the same thing. Within
baptism, there is an administrator, there is a subject, and there
is an agent. There is someone who does the
baptizing, and that is the authorized church that Christ is given the
authority to baptize people with water. There is the subject,
those who have repented and been baptized, and then there's the
agent, which is water. They were baptized in water. So Jesus, or excuse me, the church
baptizes converts in water. The same Jesus baptizes believers
or excuse me the church in the Holy Spirit so if it doesn't
meet that same criteria it can't be Holy Spirit baptism now remember that because we
are going to not this week and maybe not next week but we'll
see how quick we get through things today I am going to visit
all the questionable verses that everybody brings up, 1 Corinthians
12, all those verses like that, that talk about Holy Spirit baptism,
okay? And all these verses are ones
that people use to talk about that is regeneration. And I am
gonna address that, so if we don't get to it today, come back
for it next week. Okay, so that right there is
kind of the recap. Holy Spirit baptism has, Jesus
as the administrator, the local church as the recipient, or the
one being the subject of the baptism, and the Holy Spirit
being the agent of the baptism. I believe Brother Howe, in his
book, he put it that it was the baptizer, the baptizee, and the
baptistry, the place where, or into what are you baptized, and
you're baptized are in the Holy Spirit. But anyway, that's kind of the
recap that we see from last week. We've seen that the baptizer
was Jesus, not the Holy Spirit. We see that the ones being baptized
were the you, which was the people who had repented and baptized
and had been gathered together. In Matthew chapter 23, turn if
you would to Matthew chapter 23. Let's see, what time is it?
You may need to take it. I tell you what, let's take a
quick five minute break, 10 minute break, and we'll come back and
we'll start this next section. What I'm gonna start in this
next section is talking about the Old Testament picture of
this and how we see what is happening today. But anyway, we'll take
about 5 or 10 minutes.