Acts chapter one, let's read
verse five and we'll kind of recap some of what we've been
talking about over the last few weeks. The scriptures say, I'm sorry,
let's start in verse four. And being assembled together
with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem,
but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have
heard of me. For John truly 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 him 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 has come upon you and ye shall be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and
unto the uttermost part of the earth. Now we've been looking
at the, of course again, we're in a series on the Ecclesia of
Christ or the Ecclesia of Jesus, Christ Church, Church of Jesus
Christ, however you wanna put that. We've been looking at a
series on the church And we are in the ordinances of the church
and we finished up a series on baptism. And we are now in a
kind of a little addendum to the baptism talk. And we're seeing
what the Bible teaches about spirit baptism. And the reason
why I've added this addendum to the ordinance of water baptism
is because there's much confusion about baptism in the spirit,
the baptism of the Holy Spirit. There is a lot of misunderstanding
when it comes to this, and as I've said, there are some who
erroneously believe that water baptism has gone away, that we
no longer do that, and that Holy Spirit baptism is the one baptism
that is remaining until the end of the age. There are some that
believe that water baptism is still active today, but that
the main thing is the Holy Spirit baptism, and that's what we should
be more interested in, is Holy Spirit baptism. And they say
that this Holy Spirit baptism is the time whenever the Holy
Spirit regenerates or quickens the sinner and brings him to
spiritual life, and that that is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And of course, as we've seen
in our study, that is also as erroneous as the believing that
water baptism has gone away. Holy Spirit baptism has nothing
to do with, as the Pentecostals hold to, a second work of grace. And it is also erroneous to view
Holy Spirit baptism in the Protestant view, which is, the placing of
one into spiritual union with Christ or into the universal
invisible body of Christ, which is actually non-existent. There is the Pentecostal view,
there is the Protestant view, and then there is the biblical
view of Holy Spirit baptism. And we've been looking and expounding
on the biblical view of Holy Spirit baptism. Again, I want
to reiterate, The Pentecostal view of a second work of grace
that is accompanied by static speech and any kind of phenomenon
that the Holy Spirit might bring upon you is not the baptism of
the Holy Spirit. And the Protestant view of the
Spirit quickening the sinner and putting them into a spiritual
union with Christ and this mystical, invisible body of Christ These
two views are erroneous. We cannot find that anywhere
in the scriptures whatsoever. These are things that have been
placed upon men's thoughts and understanding by human tradition,
by men's wisdom, by theologians of the past, by creeds and confessions
that have been erroneously interpreted in the scriptures. we need to repudiate these things
whenever we see that the Bible teaches differently. We believe
that the biblical baptism in the Holy Spirit is a one-time
event that took place, and it was a baptism that was on the
local church, and that after that occurrence took place, it
has not happened since, And we have seen in the scriptures that
that is the case. Just a little recap of what we've
learned. We have learned that in Acts
and in all the Gospels, we find that the baptism in the Holy
Spirit is something that had not taken place with those disciples
up to that point in time John was preaching and saying that
this is an event that is about to take place in the future,
okay? So it wasn't something that was
going on right there with John. When these people were believing
and coming to John and being baptized, that belief and baptism
of water wasn't being equated with some sort of a spiritual
quickening and a baptism in the Holy Spirit. John was saying
that he was baptizing with water, but there was one who was gonna
come who would baptize them with the Holy Spirit or in the Holy
Spirit. The word in Greek there is in,
E-N, and that's best translated in the Holy Spirit, baptism in
the Holy Spirit. And so we see that John and Jesus'
baptism is running in parallels, we see that John was a man sent
of God to baptize those who repented and believed in water, okay? So you had someone who baptized,
someone who was being baptized, and the agent in which that person
was baptized in, okay? And so you have a baptizer, you
have a baptizee, and a baptistry, as Brother Hal Brunson has put
it in his study on this, you have those three things. And
then with Jesus, we see the same thing. You have a baptizer, and
the Bible says, and we've seen that in Matthew 3.11, we see
Mark 1.8, Luke 3.16, John 1.33, and here in Acts 1.5, we see
that the baptizer is Jesus, not the Holy Spirit. For those who think the Holy
Spirit baptizes anybody, they need to go to scripture and they
need to reread and study that again because they are off base
thinking that the Holy Spirit does any baptizing of anybody
because it is Jesus who baptizes. John said it very specifically.
There is one who is coming whose shoelaces I'm not worthy to tie,
He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire, okay? It's Jesus who is gonna be doing
the baptizing. And then the baptistry or what
the agent was, was the Holy Spirit. Jesus baptized somebody with
the Holy Spirit. And we've seen in all those accounts,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and in Acts, that the baptizee
is the local church. Jesus here was speaking, John
was speaking, whenever he was baptizing those people. They
were the ones who repented and was baptized, and who Jesus gathered
into the first church. That same group of people, from
the baptism of John until the ascension of Jesus Christ, the
Bible says here in Acts, accompanied them all that period of time,
and the names and numbers were 120. These were the ones who
were in the Mount when Jesus gave the Great Commission. These
were the ones who, after they left the Mount, went down into
the upper room and waited until, as Jesus told them in our passages
here, to wait for the promise of the Father. We also look and
see that the promise of the Father is the same things that was talked
about by John. What John spoke of, of this baptism,
in the Holy Spirit by Jesus Christ is the promise of the Father. And so we see that on the day
of Pentecost, whenever the day of Pentecost was fully come,
that the Holy Spirit came down and immersed that church, those
believers that was in that upper room gathering in church capacity,
immersed them in the Holy Spirit, There was a mighty rushing wind. There was tongue, cloven tongues
as a fire upon their heads. And they all began to speak in
known languages, but not their own language. They began to speak
in other languages. And so we've seen this phenomenon
that took place here as Jesus ascended heaven and left to the
church, his gathered assembly, the place where he had placed
the doctrine and the ordinances to be carried out, the place
where worship was to be carried out, that he placed all authority
in under his direction, that that church was immersed and
accredited that day with that Holy Spirit phenomenon, that
baptism in the Holy Spirit. And we see that immediately after
this, we see that the very commission that Jesus had given them to
do was carried out. Peter got up, he preached to
them, disciples were made. Whenever the disciples were made,
they were immediately water baptized and then they were added to the
church and met with the church and continued in the apostles
doctrine, the breaking of bread and in fellowship. And so we
see that that reciprocity began immediately upon the work of
the Holy Spirit and it's coming down and immersing that local church. Then we see that that phenomenon
does not take place. We see that the Holy Spirit doesn't
have that phenomenon take place anymore until later when the
gospel goes out to the Gentiles and we see those Gentiles, that
that happens with the Gentiles and as we've seen, that after
that, that never happened again. And so, Holy Spirit baptism is
not an ongoing thing. We also learned last week that
this Holy Spirit baptism followed in the pattern that we've seen
all throughout the Old Testament. Whenever God give Moses the dimensions
and the specifications for building the tabernacle, once Moses built
the tabernacle and it was completed, then God came down, the Holy
Spirit of God and the glory of God came down upon that tent
of meeting, upon that tabernacle, and filled that tabernacle, and
God deemed that as the place where He would dwell with His
people, and where the acts of worship would be carried out.
We've seen that that happened another time, whenever the actual
temple was being built, with Solomon, and then a third time,
after the temple had been destroyed, and then it was rebuilt by Zerubbabel,
we've seen that that was rebuilt, and again, the Holy Spirit of
God came down, just like He did in the first prior two times,
and that the glory of God rested upon that place. It was called
the house of God. It was called the habitation
of God. And it was a one-time thing. It happened at the very
beginning, and then it didn't happen after that. And so we
see this phenomenon continue with the New Testament. And so
we see these New Testament indicators. All the scriptures and the Gospels
pointed forward to Pentecost. This baptism in the Holy Spirit
pointed forward to Pentecost. Acts chapter 1 verse 5 explicitly
states that it was something that was going to happen not
many days hence. All of the scripture after Pentecost points back to
at the beginning, like in Acts chapter 11 verse 15, we've seen
that. The nearest reference point that
Peter could associate with what happened to those Gentiles was
Pentecost. So obviously it was not an ongoing
thing between Pentecost and Acts chapter 11. If this was an ongoing repetitive
act, then every child of God would have encountered that,
and then the Protestant theory would be correct, but that didn't
happen. If this was something that was
happening with all the people of God in this amazing way with a mighty rushing
wind and cloven tongues of fire and speaking in tongues and stuff
like that, then the Pentecostals would be right, but that hasn't
happened ever since. And so we see that those two
theories are incorrect. We see that in Ephesians chapter
four and verse five, which was written after Pentecost, that there is a limit of only one
baptism. We're gonna look at Ephesians
4 and 5 later, but there is only one baptism. The Bible says that
there is only one continual baptism. Matthew chapter 28, verse 19
and 20 gives us that one baptism. If you remember in the commission,
Jesus said, go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Now, that was his command to
the local church in church capacity. And we've seen that immediately
happened in Acts. They went and made disciples
and immediately they water baptized those disciples. So we see that
the command to baptize is given to the local church and that
is a water baptism ordinance. It's not a Holy Spirit ordinance.
It's not a Holy Spirit thing, okay? It's not baptism in the
Holy Spirit. He didn't command the church
to go baptize in the Holy Spirit. We know that's true, right? Why
is that true? Well, because we've been told
in five places in scripture, every gospel and acts, that the
baptizer was gonna be Jesus, not the church. Jesus was gonna
be the baptizer. Okay, not the church, not a pastor,
you know, it was gonna be Jesus who's doing the baptizing, okay? And that it was gonna be baptism
with the Holy Spirit. But yet here we see that water
baptism is commanded and that water baptism was followed by
the early church from the day of Pentecost forward. It was
happening before Pentecost, but as the command of the commission,
the New Testament church under that direction and guidance given
by Jesus, was doing what Jesus had commanded them to do, to
continue water baptism. And so water baptism is seen
to be the baptism that, read the passage here, teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo,
I am with you always, even to the end of the world. This commission
is to be carried out unto the end of the world. Now, some may
say, well, baptism isn't to be carried out to the end of the
world. preaching of the gospel is. I don't see any place here
that there is a break in that. There's three aspects to the
commission. There's making disciples, there's
baptizing, and there is indoctrinating or teaching them, okay? So there's
three aspects to the commission. And Jesus has promised that his
presence would be with that group of people and any group of people
gathered together in his name with that commission being enacted
and carried out. And so the church's command is
to water baptize. And so whenever we get into other
passages of scripture and we start talking about the one baptism,
it has to be water baptism. It can't be anything else. Especially
when we see that spirit baptism was a one time at the beginning
of the ordination or the dedication of the dwelling place of God. So no text in scripture commands
us or exhorts us to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now, in the Old Testament passages
that we looked at, we saw that there was several references
to the house of God. And we can see that we can compare
that phraseology to things that we see in the New Testament. Matter of fact, if you would
turn with me over to Acts chapter two, Acts chapter two, and look down
at verse 47. It said, praising God and having
favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church
daily such as should be saved. Okay, and so we see that the
church is what people are added to whenever they are converted
and they come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. that it is the
church that the people are added to. We see in 1 Timothy chapter
three in verse 15. Turn with me if you would to
that. 1 Timothy three. Verse 15. Now remember, not only
in Acts there, but in the passage we just read chapter two, but
also in chapter one, and also in chapter two, we see that there
were 3,000 people that were baptized and they were added to, the Bible
says that they were added to the church, okay? And as we've
seen in our past studies, the word church or ecclesia does
not mean a spiritual body, an invisible body. It doesn't mean
a mystic body or all the elect everywhere that are saved. the
word Ekklesia in biblical definition and in following of every place
that Ekklesia is found throughout all of Scripture in every verse,
the word Ekklesia means a gathered assembly, a called out, gathered,
assembled congregation of people, okay? So if we keep the biblical
definition of Ekklesia and see that it's Translation is into
the word church in our English Bible. We find that we see here
in 1 Timothy 3, in verse 15, it says, but if I tarry long,
thou mayest know thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house
of God. Now let's just pause there. The
house of God. This is a term that was used
throughout the Old Testament in those other three places where
the meeting of God came, or whenever the, excuse me, the presence
and the glory of God came down in a visible form. The glory was a visible thing
that they could see come down and filled the house of God. And he said that that was his
dwelling place. This is where I will dwell with
my people. He said that this is where I
have placed my name. Okay, and so those three places,
the tabernacle in the wilderness, when it was first built, it was
dedicated. Boom, the glory of God came down.
That second tabernacle, that wasn't just a tent tabernacle,
but a actual physical, hard structure tabernacle that was built in
Jerusalem. Whenever it was completed, the
glory of God came down. Boom, filled the whole house
of God. And he said, this is a place
where I'm gonna dwell and my name will be. When it got destroyed
and they came back and rebuilt it on that third time, boom,
the Holy Spirit of God came down, filled that place. And he said,
this is the place of my dwelling and this is where I'm gonna put
my name. It was the house of God. It was his habitation. Now look here in verse 15 of
1 Timothy 3. But if I tarry long, that thou
mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house
of God, which is the church of the living God." So here, the
Bible is specifically telling us that the house of God is the
church of God. The house of God, His habitation,
where His glory, where His name dwells, is in the New Testament
church, okay? That's not talking about the
elect everywhere, a mystical body. The word church means a
gathered congregation, a gathered assembly, a group of people. And the prerequisites to that
gathering is people who have believed and have been baptized
scripturally. They believe the true gospel
and they've been scripturally baptized They are the ones who
were added to the church and they make up the church whenever
it's in gathered form. And so the church of the living
God is the place where God has placed his glory, put his name,
and look what it says here, the pillar and the ground of truth. The church is the pillar and
the ground of truth. Now, I looked up that word pillar
and that word ground to see what that meant, and the word pillar
basically means what it says. It's a pillar. It's a structure
that holds something up. It's a column that holds something
up. If you've ever been around, of
course, you see columns all over the place, but if you've ever
been down in the south and you go to a lot of these plantation
homes and things like that, You'll see out in the front that they
may have a porch and they'll have these big columns that come
up that hold these porches up. That column is a structure that
holds something up. The word ground there also meant
the same thing. It was a foundation or a supporting
structure. So the Bible here is saying that
the house of God is the church of God and that the church of
God is the foundation and structure of the truth. And so we see that
there is that parallel again with those things of the Old
Testament. The baptism in the Holy Spirit
at Pentecost was the place where God dedicated the house of God,
the church, as the authorized public institution for worship,
for the administrator of the ordinances by the qualified ministry. And it was a one-time event at
the beginning, just as it was in the three occurrences in the
Old Testament. It came down, boom, it said stamp or seal upon
the work to be done by whom, okay? Now, we also seen those
parallels. in the fact that in the Old Testament,
there was a designated builder. There was a divine blueprint, or there was a divine
design to how it was to be built, okay? And so we saw all that. And just like in the New Testament,
we have those same exact things. Now, Let me go on from there
today. The promise of the Holy Spirit has a multifaceted, has a multifaceted
build to it. It's something that happens and
there's a lot that takes place in the promise of the Spirit. Now, we see baptism in the spirit
as a dedication or identification of the house of God or the administrator,
which is the church, okay? That's in Matthew chapter 18,
17 and 18 and Acts chapter one, four through five. We also see that the Holy Spirit
is given as a promise of empowerment of that apostolic office. Look with me if you would back
at Isaiah chapter 8. Isaiah chapter 8. Look down at verse 16, if you
would. Says, bind up the testimony, seal the
law among my disciples, and I will wait upon the Lord that hideth
his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. Behold,
I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and
for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts which dwelleth
in Mount Zion. And when they shall say unto
you, seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto wizards
that peep and that mutter, should not a people seek unto their
God for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony
If they speak not according to this word, it is because there
is no light in them. So God here is already beginning
to foretell about a time where he is gonna dwell in Mount Zion,
a time that the children that the Lord has given him is gonna
come for signs and wonders whenever he gathers them together, is
gonna be for signs and wonders in Israel and that there is going
to be to the law and to the testimony, a speaking that if they don't
speak according to what God says, then it shows that there is no
light in them. Okay? Now keep that in mind and
turn with me to Hebrews chapter two. Hebrews chapter two. And let's say, let's dip in about
verse nine. It says, but we see Jesus who
was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death, crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace
of God should taste death for every man. For it became him
for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing
many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifyeth
and them who are sanctified, or set apart, are all of one,
for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Saying
I, here it is, verse 12, saying I will declare thy name unto
my brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. Okay, so he's going to declare
his name unto the brethren. Where? In the midst of the church
will I sing praise unto thee. The declaration of the name of
God, the preaching of God and Christ and who he is, is to be
done in the midst of the brethren, and that is a gathered assembly,
the church. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. I will declare thy name unto
my brethren. Christ is speaking. Where is
his thoughts of where his brethren are gonna be at so he can speak
his name to them? In the church. Why? Because that's where he designed
for the worship of God to be carried out, is in the church.
That's where he placed the doctrines to be taught is in the church.
That's where he placed the ordinances to be administered is in the
church. That's where he appointed the
gifts of the spirit to be exercised is in the church. That is where
he has told us to fellowship together for the edifying of
one another is in the church. See, you cannot have Christianity
apart from The church, not saying that you can't have salvation.
I'm talking about anybody who is saved is called to enjoin
themselves to a local gathered assembly and that they should
be there to worship. It's there that God has placed
these things. It's there where he has set the blessing. It is
there where he has set the promises. It is there where he has placed
his presence, is there. Now look, if you would, verse
13, And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold,
I and the children which God hath given me." So God has given
Christ a people, and that people, he has said, is his brethren. And those brethren, once that transition from that
old covenant to the new covenant began, began to gather, not in
the tabernacle for worship, but began to gather in the assembly,
the congregation. The people of God began to congregate
in congregations as Christ had designed. Just like in the Old
Testament, there was a divine builder. Who is the divine builder?
Jesus Christ. It was built after a divine pattern. OK, and so we have with us the
same things that we're seeing all throughout scripture. So
the promise of the Holy Spirit was for a people that would be
told or given the name of Jesus Christ, the teaching about who
he is. The Bible says that they were
going to be given a comforter and that comforter was going
to come and was going to lead them into truth. Look, if you
will, at 1 John chapter 4 and verse 6. 1 John chapter 4 and verse 6, it
says, we are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth
us. He that is not of God, heareth
not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. So we're going to know the spirit
of truth and the spirit of error. The Holy Spirit is going to lead
us into those things of the truth. Look at John chapter 14. That's
one of the reasons that the Spirit is given to us. John chapter 14, look with me,
if you would, at verse 16. It says, and I will pray the
father and he shall give you another comforter that he may
abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth whom
the world cannot receive. The world cannot receive the
spirit of truth. Who are the ones that can receive
the spirit of truth? The brethren, the ones who have
been given to Christ. It says, who cannot receive because
it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him for he dwelleth
with you and shall be in you. OK, so we have the Holy Spirit
dwelling with us as a local church and he's dwelling in us as the
individual believer. We have the Holy Spirit with
us when we are in church capacity. to lead us in our worship, to
guide us in our worship, to enable us in our worship, but we also
have the Holy Spirit in us, directing us in those very things. Teaching us, giving us understanding,
helping us with the spiritual gift, the edifying. Look at chapter 16 and verse
13. Jesus says to the Holy Spirit,
how be it when he, the spirit of truth has come, he will guide
you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak and he will
come, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me
for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. Now, a few things to look here.
Again, we see that there is going to be truth, there is going to
be the teachings of Christ that is going to be given to the people
and declared among the people. It's gonna be declared in that
corporate capacity. It's going to be, the Holy Spirit
is promised to comfort and to be an aid in that, not only filling
them, corporately, but filling them individually. And we see
that one of the activities of the Holy Spirit is he's going
to lead them into truth. He says the Holy Spirit of truth
has come. He will guide you into all truth. But also look what he says here.
He shall not speak of himself. Now you look at the Pentecostal
view of baptism in the Holy Spirit. You look at all their broadcast.
You look at their signs. You look at their billboards.
You look at their stationary. You look at all these things
and what do you always see? They are always exemplifying
the Holy Spirit, right? They always have a little dove
as their symbol. You look at what they teach and
it's always talking about the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Spirit. They're always talking about
and magnifying the Holy Spirit. Now, I just wanna say, I'm not
delegating the Holy Spirit as some junior partner within the
Godhead, okay? The Holy Spirit is the Spirit
of Christ sent to his people as a comforter and a helper,
okay? And it is important. But listen,
the Holy Spirit is never gonna lead people to magnify the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit, if it is at
work, The Holy Spirit, if it has come, and if you're in a
church capacity, in a New Testament church, under the doctrine of
Christ, the ordinances of Christ, if you are following those things,
the Spirit comes and He's there to lead us in the truth. He's
not gonna lead us to magnify Him. He's gonna lead us to magnify
the Lord Jesus. And so if you see any of these
churches out there that all they do is magnify the Holy Spirit,
then we can see that that's not of Christ. It's not a church
of Christ. Because the Holy Spirit is going
to come and lead us into the truth of Christ. Because Jesus
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. The Bible says
that we are to preach Christ and Him crucified. Jesus himself
said, the Holy Spirit is going to glorify me. So if the Holy
Spirit is here, leading us to do anything, whether it be preaching,
praying, singing, fellowshipping, using our spiritual gifts in
whatever capacity he has given us to give it, it's all gonna
be for the glory of Jesus Christ, not for the exaltation of the
Holy Spirit. And so the Holy Spirit was given
to lead us into truth. And he specifically led these
disciples specifically the apostles, into that truth, gave them that
truth and they wrote that truth down and now we have that truth
in the Word of God and are able to teach that. We also see the
Holy Spirit works in sign gifts in regard to the nation of Israel
and confirming the Messiah and the destruction of Jerusalem.
Look at Isaiah chapter 28. starting in verse one. Woe to
the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty
is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys
of them that are overcome with wine. Behold, the Lord hath a
mighty and strong one, which has a tempest of hail and a destroying
storm as a flood of mighty waters overflowing shall cast down to
the earth with the hand. The crown of pride, the drunkards
of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet. The glorious beauty which
is on the head of the fat valley shall be a fading flower, and
as the hasty fruit before the summer, which when he that looketh
upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand, he eateth it up. In that day shall the Lord of
hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto
the residue of his people, and for a spirit of judgment to him
that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn
the battle to the gate. And they also have erred through
wine and through strong drink are out of the way. The priest
and the prophet have erred through strong drink. They are swallowed
up of wine. They are out of the way through
strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble
in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit
and filthiness, so that there is no place clean. Whom shall
he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand
doctrine? Them that are weaned from the
milk and drawn from the breast. For precept must be upon precept,
precept upon precept, line upon line, and here a little and there
a little. For with stammering lips and
other tongue, Will he speak to this people? Okay, so this is
talking about something's gonna happen. There's gonna be with
stammering lips and another tongue. That word stammering lips literally
translated as a stammering of lips. For with stammering lips and
another tongue, will he speak to this people? To whom he said,
this is the rest, wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest,
and this is the refreshing, yet they would not hear. But the
word of the Lord was unto them, precept upon precept, precept
upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little
and there a little, that they might go and fall backward and
be broken and snared and taken. Wherefore, hear the word of the
Lord, ye scornful men that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
Because ye have said, we have made a covenant with death and
with hell, are we at agreement? When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it shall not come unto us, for we have
made lies our refuge. And under falsehood have we hid
ourselves." Now think about that, brethren. In the days of Jesus,
what had happened? Those religious leaders, those
priests, those prophets, those Pharisees, Sadducees, all those
religious leaders have been steering the people in the wrong direction.
Instead of pointing people to the coming Messiah as their hope,
they kept pointing them back to Moses and the law. That that
was their hope of salvation. And that their tie to Abraham,
being Abraham's fleshly children, was what was going to gain them
entrance into the kingdom of God. and that they had Moses
in the law and Abraham, and that those were the things, they were
the children of David, and that all these things was gonna be
what was gonna be their righteousness before God. And here, the scriptures
say, they shall say, this shall not come to pass. Didn't they
also say that whenever Jesus started talking about judgment?
to those people and they say, well, hey, we have Abraham as
our father. We're not in any danger of hellfire. We're not in any danger of judgment.
We have Abraham as our father. See, they believed that they
had a pass-through. We have made lies our refuge.
They had a refuge, but that refuge was in something that was all
lies. They had not kept the law. They were not of the lineage
of Abraham, because the lineage of Abraham was those who believed. And under falsehood have we hid
ourselves. Verse 16, therefore, thus saith
the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion a foundation for a foundation
of stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. Judgment also will I lay to the
line, and righteousness to the plummet. And the hail shall sweep
away the refuge of lies, and the water shall overflow the
hiding place. And your covenant with death
shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not
stand. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. From the
time that it goeth forth, it shall take you, for morning by
morning shall it pass over, day by day, excuse me, by day and
by night, and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on,
and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.
For the Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perizim. He shall be
wrought as in the valley of Gibeon, and he shall do his work, his
strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act. Now,
therefore, be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong. For I have heard from the Lord
God of hosts a consumption even determined upon the whole earth.
Give ye ear and hear my voice, hearken and hear my speech. Doth
the plowman plow all day to sow? Doth he open and break the clods
of his ground? When he hath made plain the face
thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches and scatter the cumin,
and cast in the principal wheat, and the appointed barley, and
the rye in their place? For his God doth instruct him
to discretion, and doth teach him. For the fitches are not
threshed with the threshing instrument, neither is a carp wheel turned
about upon the cooman, but the fitches are beaten out with the
staff and the cooman with the rod. Bread corn is bruised because
he will not forever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel
of his cart, nor bruise it with his horseman. This also cometh
forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel
and excellent in working." So we see there a a prophecy
of the coming judgment upon Israel. Look with me if you would in
1 Corinthians chapter 14. 1 Corinthians chapter 14. So we've
seen that one of the things that was going to happen is there
were going to be these signs that was going to be given to
Israel that their judgment had come. 1 Corinthians chapter 14, look
with me, starting in verse 19. It says, yet in the church I
had rather speak five words with my understanding that by my voice
I might teach others also than 10,000 words in an unknown tongue.
Brethren, be not children in understanding. How be it in malice
be ye children, but in understanding be men. In the law it is written,
with men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto
this people. And yet for all that will they,
and for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore, tongues are for a
sign, not to them that believe. See, the Pentecostals want to
say that this baptism in the Holy Spirit is an outpouring
of the Holy Spirit, and it is accompanied by speaking in tongues,
and that speaking in tongues is proof that you have been given
a second blessing of the Holy Spirit, and it's to show forth
who are believers and who are not believers. But here, what
does it say? That tongues are for a sign not
to them that believe, but to them that believe not. But prophesying serveth not for
them that believe not, but for them that would believe. We've
got things so opposite in today's time. We've got Pentecostals
saying that tongues are to prove who are believers to believers. But yet the Bible says that tongues
are for a sign to the unbeliever. Then we also have churches out
there who are trying to preach and to evangelize those who cannot
hear. What does it say there? That
believe not, They think that, you know, we should just have
all these unbelievers as part of our worship and that we ought
to bring them all to church, you know, get them all to church.
But it says here that the prophesied serve not for them that believe
not, but for them which believe. The preaching of the gospel are
for those who have been born again and believe, have been
given faith to believe. That's what the preaching of
the gospel and specifically the worship together is for them
to believe. Now, are we going to be upset
if somebody comes in and they're not converted? I mean, of course,
we don't know when somebody walks in whether that's like that or
not. No, we're not going to mind that. But listen, we're not to
set our churches to cater to them. And that's what so many
modern churches are doing today with their music, with their
flashiness, with all that stuff, you know, the purpose driven
church. All that was to cater to the unbelievers. But here we see that the gift
of tongues was given as a sign to unbelieving Israel to remind
them of what was said back in the law about their coming judgment. Look in Acts chapter 2 again. Acts chapter 2 verse 6. Now when this was noise
abroad the multitude came together and were confounded because that
every man heard them speak in his own language. Look at verse
8. And how hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we
were Look at verse 11. Cretes and Arabians, we do hear
them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. Look at verse 39. For the promise is unto you and
to your children and to all that are far off, even as many as
the Lord our God shall call. So we see the sign gift here
was actual languages, which coincided with what was being said in the
Old Testament, that would be a judgment upon Israel. But if you remember in that prophecy,
the Bible said that there would be a residue of Israel that would
be retained. Who was that residue? That was
those who were the elect of God that was called out, who was
converted, and then they were baptized, and then they were
added to the church, and that residue is who received the promise. The church of God, the house
of God, the habitation of God, they are the ones who are given
this promise. This promise is not only to them,
but to all their children and to all that are far off, even
as many as the Lord our God shall call. Now you can look at this
as individuals, but you can also look at this as churches. We also see that the promise
of the Holy Spirit is given. to empower salvation, the witness
of the gospel, to the world. And it was changed from Israel
to the Gentiles. Look with me, if you would, Romans
chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. Starting in verse 1. I say then, hath God
cast away his people God forbid, for I also am an Israelite of
the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast
away his people, which he foreknew. What ye not what the scripture
saith of Elias, how he maketh intercession to God against Israel,
saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets and dig down thine
altars, and I am left alone, and they cede my life. But what
saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself
7,000 men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Even so, then, at this present time, also there is a remnant
according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then
it is no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
But if it be of works, then it is no more of grace. Otherwise,
work is no more work. What then? Israel have not obtained
that which he seeketh for. but the election hath obtained
it, and the rest were blinded." So you see, the prophecy said
that Israel, there was gonna be judgment come upon Israel,
but out of Israel, there was gonna be a residue that would
be kept from that judgment. And here we see exactly what
has taken place here. Israel hadn't obtained that which
it seeketh for, but the election has obtained it. According as
it is written, God hath given them Spirit of slumber, eyes
that they should not see, ears that they should not hear unto
this day. This is just a side note, and
actually, this just came to my mind, something to look at for
further study, but it just came to my mind reading this. In Isaiah
chapter six, you remember whenever Isaiah saw Christ upon the throne,
high and lifted up, and His train filling the temple, and all the
angels were crying, holy, holy, holy unto the Lord God? And then
it said, you know, whom shall we send? And Isaiah said, you
know, here I am, send me. And Christ said, I am going to
send you to a people and you're going to speak to those people
and they're not going to hear you. They're not going to understand
you. They're going to reject what you say. Okay. Now we think he's talking about
at that time, which it actually, that happened at that time. but
also the same thing happened in this time. Isaiah was speaking
to this people here during Christ's time. And those people were hearing
what Isaiah was saying about this coming judgment and about
turning away from their false refuge and turning to the Messiah. They weren't listening to it.
And just as it says here, they were given a spirit of slumber,
eyes that should not see and ears that should not hear. So
Isaiah, even though he physically spoke to those people back in
the Old Testament, but by his writings was speaking to the
people of Jesus' day and those people weren't listening just
like the people of old wasn't listening. Look at verse nine. And David
saith, let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling
block and a recompense unto them. Let their eyes be darkened that
they may not see and bow down their back always. I say then,
have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid, but
rather through their fall, salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for
to provoke them to jealousy. Now, if the fall of them be riches
of the world and the diminishing of them, the riches of the Gentiles,
how much more their fullness. For I speak to you Gentiles in
as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine
office. If by any means I may provoke
to emulation them which are of my flesh, and might save some
of them. And if the casting away of them
be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them
be but life from the dead? And if the first fruit be holy,
the lump is also holy, and if the root be holy, So are the
branches, and if some of the branches be broken off, and thou,
being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with
them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree, boast
not against the branches, but if thou boast, thou bearest not
the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, the branches
were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well, because
of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith,
Be not high-minded, but feared, for if God spared not the natural
branches, take heed, lest he also spare not thee. Behold,
therefore, the goodness and severity of God on them which fell, severity,
but toward thee goodness. If thou continue in his goodness,
otherwise thou shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide
not, still in unbelief, shall be grafted in, for God is able
to graft them in again. For if thou wert cut off out
of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary
to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these, which
be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? For
I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery,
lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness
in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles
become in. And so all Israel shall be saved,
as it is written, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer
and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant
unto them, when I shall take away their sins, as concerning
the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes, but as touching
the election, they are beloved for the Father's sakes. For the
gifts and callings of God are without repentance, for as ye
in times past have not believed God, yet now have obtained mercy
through their unbelief, even so have these also now not believed
that through your mercy they also might obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all
in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all. Oh, the depth
of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God How unsearchable
are His judgments and His ways past finding out, for who hath
known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His counselor,
or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto
Him again. For of Him and through Him and
to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever." What's Paul
writing about in here? He's writing about the judgment
has come on the house of Israel as prophesied so that the inclusion
of the Gentiles might take place as also prophesied." You remember, whenever they were at the Jerusalem
Council, and where they made reference to Peter, and then
were talking about how the Gentiles were being included, and they
said that this is what Joel had prophesied, that this was, or
excuse me, Amos had prophesied. And so we see that this is talking
about the Gentile inclusion. And so what's going on here?
Israel is being cut off. Jesus said, your house shall
be left unto you desolate. No more is it going to take place
there. But now it's going to be in the house of God, which
is the church, the pillar on the ground, the truth. That's
the house of God. And so now the house of God,
which is, made up of mostly Gentiles are preaching and holding the
ordinance of God that once Israel had to bring them to jealousy,
which basically is saying to preach and to teach to them so
that in God's time that they too will be saved. And then there
will be a unity among Jew and Gentile, because the Bible said
that God has removed the dividing wall of partition or separation
and that there is no more Jew or Gentile, there is no more
Greek, that we're all one because there is a one spiritual people
of God. There is one family of God. And
the Jew and the Gentile will be no more. And so verse 11 is
saying that God has now went to the Jews and the Jews are
gonna be carrying the things of God as the house of God. and
they will be turning around and bringing these teachings to the
Jews. And then eventually the Israelites
will begin to believe, I believe all the elect of Israel will
be saved. And then once they begin saying
at the end of all time, then all of Israel, spiritual Israel
shall be saved. Jew and Gentile alike. So there was an empowering to,
preach to the Gentiles and to go into the world. We also see
that in, if you would, turn to Galatians chapter three. Verse 14 says that the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit to the Gentiles. Look at Ephesians chapter three
in verse five. Ephesians chapter three, I'll
start in verse one. For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner
of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation
of the grace of God which is given me to youward, how that
by revelation he made known unto me the mystery as I wrote afore
in few words, whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge
in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known
unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto the holy apostles
and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow
heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ
by the gospel. So here the Gentiles are being
made partakers and brought into the same body, the church. Now, so we've seen here that
the promise of the Holy Spirit is given for that first initial
identification. As the house of God, it was given
to bring into all truth and the completion of the word of God.
It was given as signs for unbelieving Israel, and it was given to empower
the preaching into the Gentile world. And so those are the different
multifacets of works of the Holy Spirit, but we don't need to
get them confused with each other. The baptism in the spirit that
John talked about, that Jesus would do, It's not the same as
all those other things. So what is the problem with the
Pentecostal interpretation? Well, they confuse the sign of
gifts and its design with the design of baptism in the Holy
Spirit. They, in Acts chapter 11, verse
6, It demonstrates to us that it is not a repetitive thing,
so their viewpoint can't be right. It doesn't repeat. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12,
29 through 30, the scriptures demonstrate that signed gifts
have no individual salvation or sanctification value. Look
with me if you would. I want you to read that. I don't
want you to think that I'm just saying that. 1 Corinthians chapter
12. Look with me in verse 29. Look at verse 27. Now, ye are the body of Christ
and members in particular. Who's he talking to? He's talking
to the Corinthian church, okay? The gathered assembly. This letter
is to the church in Corinth, not to believers everywhere in
some mystic body. but to the church. Can it apply
to every church? Absolutely. He says, now ye are
the body of Christ and members in particular. So he's speaking
to them as the congregation and to each person that makes up
that congregation. And God has set some in the church. First apostles. Again, that tells us that the
church didn't exist in the Old Testament because there were
not apostles in the Old Testament. And God has sent some in the
church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after
that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, government, diversities
of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers
of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing?
Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? Now those are
rhetorical questions, right? Paul's asking, because he just
started going through in chapter 12, he started laying out the
fact that the gifts are given into the body as the Spirit gives
them. Each person individually receiving
of the Spirit, a specific gift that is to be used in the edifying
of the body, not their selves. The Holy Spirit never gives the
gift for inward edification. but for outward edification.
And that all these gifts are to work together for the unifying
and the edifying of the body, not the individual, but for the
body. And so here he's saying, are
all apostles? Well, no, we know that's not
true. God only had 13 apostles, 12
to Israel and one to the Gentiles. Are all prophets? Well, we know
that's not true either. Not everybody was given prophecy.
Are all teachers? No. Are all the workers of miracles? No. We see, matter of fact, that
it was only the apostles that was given those abilities. Have all the gifts of healing?
Do all speak with tongues? No. Do all interpret? No. Now, what did we learn about
the baptism of the Holy Spirit? It happened to all of them, right?
There was a mighty rushing wind, cloven tongues of fire came down
and rested upon each one of them, and each one of them began to
speak in another language the wonderful things of God. But
yet here, and that's what the Pentecostals are trying to say,
is that everybody who is born again and has a second blessing,
is going to start speaking in tongues and is going to exemplify
this Pentecostal experience. But here the Bible says that
those gifts, the gifts of tongues, the gift of interpretation, the
gift of healing, the gift of miracles and all that kind of
stuff, that not everybody's going to have those same gifts. But yet the baptism of the Holy
Spirit happened to everybody. It was all included in that.
And it didn't happen ever since. And so the baptism of the Holy
Spirit with the mighty Russian wind and cloven tongues of fire
has not happened to anybody since then. But yet they say that it's something
that is an ongoing thing. So they have a fallacy in their
understanding of baptism in the Holy Spirit. The Pentecostal tongues have
no relationship to biblical tongues at all. The Pentecostal gifts
of prophecy Do not come under the scrutiny of the biblical
test for a prophet. In 2 Thessalonians, if you would. Chapter 2, verse 9. Second Thessalonians chapter
two. Let's jump up to verse eight. And then shall the wicked be
revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his
mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.
Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all
power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness and
unrighteousness and them that perish because they received
not the love of the truth that they might be saved. For this
cause, God shall send them a strong delusion that they should believe
a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth,
but have pleasure in unrighteousness." Okay, so we see here that there
is a false power, false signs, and lying wonders. Is that true
today? Do we have people that claim
to have these powers, signs and wonders among themselves, but
yet we see that the Bible says there is a category of those
things that they are deceitful, that they are those under the
power of Satan. A good example is what's going
on right here now, brethren, with this coronavirus going around.
Where are the Kenneth Copelands and the Benny Hens? and the Oral
Roberts and men like that who claim to have these healing powers,
why ain't they going to these drive-thru lines and everybody
just drive through and we'll heal you? You see their deceit? They're all for vain glory, aren't
they? And you think, I mean, you watch
those guys, it's all about them. their ministry and how they pump
themselves up about how powerful they are in the word of God and
in the spirit of God and in the gifts of God and all that kind
of stuff. And how they are braggarts about
their many thousands of people in their churches and in their
millions of dollars and all this kind of stuff. But listen, if
they really wanted to be front and center, And with all the
attention in the world given to them, they could be standing
at these drive-through medical places where they're giving people
these tests. And they could just be, oh, you
got the symptom? Well, here, be healed. Benny Hinn could be
out there just waving his coat at everybody, you know? But that's
not happening. They're in hiding. They're in
hiding over all this. Matter of fact, I bet you every
one of them's churches are dismissed today. Probably not a single person
in one of those big old giant megachurches where all these
healers are. Why would they be afraid to gather
together if they've got a healer there on the premises? See, that's
when we start seeing the fallacy of this stuff. But here we see
that there is a false lying, or false of power, signs, and
wonders. In 1 John chapter 4, 1 John 4, and in verse 1, we read
this. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many
false prophets are gone out into the world. So is there such thing
as a false prophet? Absolutely. Is there false signs
and wonders and supposed miracles? Yes, there is. 1 Timothy chapter
4, verse 1. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly
that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking
lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot
iron. forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meat
which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of
them which believe and know the truth. So here again, we see
that there's gonna be false preachers, false teachers, false doctrines,
seducing spirits, speaking lies, hypocrisy. They're gonna be given
these laws that are not God's laws for people to follow after. Are we to be aware of these things?
Absolutely we are. Back in Deuteronomy chapter 13,
you don't need to turn there if you don't want to, I'll turn
over there real quick. Deuteronomy 13, one through five,
the Bible says, if there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer
of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or
the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, let
us go after other gods which thou hast not known, and let
us serve them, Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that
prophet or the dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God proved
with you to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the Lord
your God and fear Him, keep His commandments and obey His voice,
and ye shall serve Him and cleave unto Him. And that prophet or
that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death because he hath
spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought
you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house
of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy
God commanded thee to walk in, so shalt thou put the evil away
from the midst of thee." So here it's saying, hey, if
there's anybody that starts speaking to you and telling you whether,
even though they may be dreaming dreams, giving a sign or a wonder,
to tell you to do something that's outside of what God has said,
you're turning them out. Matter of fact, back in the Old
Testament, God said that you're to put them to death. That's
how serious God is about listening and following after false teachers.
You wanna know why we're so serious about not fellowshipping with
Arminian churches? It's because they're pointing
to you a different Jesus and a different salvation. The reason
that we look at all these churches, even though they are quote-unquote
Christian type churches, if they are pointing to another gospel,
they're pointing to another Jesus, they're doing exactly what this
thing is saying. And it doesn't matter how big their churches
are. It doesn't matter the mighty works that might be going on
in their church. Oh, the people are just wonderful
here and we all get along and get together. Oh, we've done
so much good for the community and doing this and doing that.
And oh, we had a tent revival and 957 people were saved and
433 rededicated their lives to Jesus and 121 surrendered to the ministry.
And then we had a whole bunch that were baptized and though they may be signs and
wonders, miraculous things, Good things. If they are pointing
you to another Jesus, another gospel, then those are false
prophets. And it says that we are not to
listen to them, that we are not to follow after them. I shouldn't have turned out of
Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 18, verses
19 and 20, it says, and it shall come to pass that whosoever will
not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I
will require of him. But the prophet which shall presume
to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak,
or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet
shall die." So God is serious about people
getting up there saying, hey, I'm a man of God who really wasn't
called to God to do it. That's why it's a serious thing. This that I'm doing here in this
pulpit is a serious thing. I mean, it weighs on my mind
and heart all the time that whenever I stand here and say this is
what God says, I pray that this is what God says. Because God
said if he doesn't speak what I say, that's a serious thing. In 1 Corinthians chapter 14,
I'm just about done. 1 Corinthians chapter 14, 37. It says, if any man think himself
to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the
things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. Wherefore, brethren,
covet to prophesy and forbid not to speak with tongues Let
all things be done decently and in order. Now, at one point in
time, we'll eventually talk about this, let all men, or forbid
not to speak with tongues. We'll talk about that, is that
still have precedence today, okay? We'll talk about that at
a later date. But here we see that if a man
be a prophet or say spiritual, let him acknowledge the things
that he writes. So we need to be preaching what
we see in the word of God. So, everything that the Pentecostals
teach about this baptism in the Holy Spirit does not meet the
scrutiny of the Word of God. Now, the Protestant interpretation
doesn't meet the scrutiny of the Word of God either. In 1
Corinthians chapter 12, look at verse 13, 1 Corinthians 12
and verse 13, It says, for by one spirit are
we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles,
whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into
one spirit. The Protestant takes this verse
here, and they apply that this, or imply that this is where the
believers are brought into spiritual union with Christ, into this
universal body. But brethren, there's no salvation
outside of Christ or any of God's elect before or after Pentecost. Right? Am I right in that? Even the Old Testament saints
had to be saved in Christ, right? There had to be union in Christ.
So if the baptism of the Holy Spirit is then being united in
Christ, to being united to Christ and then also united into or
put into Christ and put into this mystical body, then what
about the Old Testament saints? Were they not put into Christ?
Because we're told that this baptism was something that had
not happened during this period of time that John was preaching.
It had not happened, but it was something that was gonna happen
in the future to them. He was telling those believers,
this is something that's gonna happen to you by Jesus. So, what about the Old Testament
saints? Was the mighty rushing wind enclosing
tons of fire upon all them? No. Okay, so then it wasn't that. What about in the Old Testament?
Was there ever a person that was ununited to Christ? Well,
if so, then they weren't of Christ, because the Bible says that those
who are in Christ or those who are His have the Spirit of God. See, all mankind are either in
Adam or in Christ. Spiritual union and position
in Christ has nothing to do with the baptism in the Spirit. Spiritual
union and position in Christ has nothing to do with baptism
in the Spirit. Election, redemption, quickening,
sanctification, glorification, all those things are in Christ
for all of God's love before and after Pentecost. So we cannot interpret 1 Corinthians
12 and verse 13 as baptism in the Spirit, or to be in spiritual
union or position in Christ. Are all the saints previous to
Acts 2 who are in spiritual union still in Adam or with Satan? Now, I am going to come back
to 1 Corinthians 12 verse 13 and teach what this does say,
but what it doesn't say is that by one spirit are we baptized
into one body and that is the baptism in the Holy Spirit and
that that baptism in the Holy Spirit is putting us into Christ. Or into the invisible mystical
body. There's no such thing. There's no foundation or building
of the church previous to the earthly ministry of Jesus. The
Bible says that this baptism in the Holy Spirit was gonna
come upon the church. It came upon the church. It was
only for the house of God, the pillar and the ground of truth.
That's who received that baptism. And yet we're told that there
was no building of this church prior to the earthly ministry
of Jesus. Jesus said, I will build my church. Jesus said that
that church, that the foundation was laid with the apostles because
he laid them first in the church. The foundation was laid in the
New Testament, not in the Old Testament. Anything that is being built
begins with a foundation, right? You don't start building a house
with a roof. You don't start building a house with the walls. What do you start with? You start
with the foundation. You gotta dig a foundation, you
gotta lay that foundation, and then that foundation becomes
the support of everything that's laid upon it. And the Bible says
that the apostles was laid first in the church. Jesus Christ being
the cornerstone, but they are the ones that he laid in first
and he give them the doctrine. And they in turn turned and took
that doctrine into the church and began to apply that doctrine
and those ordinances in the church. That church became indoctrinated
with those things. And then every church that has
come from that ministry has been taught the same doctrine, given
the same ordinances to carry out the same polity within their
churches, and they follow those things as Christ has commanded.
But that didn't happen in the Old Testament. So the baptism
with the Holy Spirit couldn't have happened as in the New Testament. So spiritual union and positioning
Christ in regard to salvation has nothing to do with the church
or with the baptism in the Spirit, because both of these, precede
the building of the church and Pentecost. There has only been
one gospel salvation for all the elect in all ages. Now, whenever
I was growing up and was younger, I used to believe that the Jews
were saved in a different way than the people in the New Testament,
that the Old Testament saints didn't have the indwelling spirit
in them. that they only have the Spirit
that came upon them to enable them for certain things and the
Spirit left them, but they didn't have the Spirit residing in them,
that that didn't happen until Pentecost. And they say that
that's, you know, I believed and taught that what happened
at Pentecost was the day that the Spirit came down and indwelt
all the believers, and from that day forward, all the Christians
have the Spirit inside them, not outside influencing them,
but inside them influencing them. But see, that's incorrect. That's
incorrect. There's only been one gospel
salvation for all the elect in all ages. And any other gospel that teaches
you any other way is an accursed gospel, by the way. So, since
neither the church or the baptism in the Spirit existed in the
Old Testament, they cannot be part of gospel salvation, and
to add them to gospel salvation is another gospel. So the Protestant
theory contradicts the biblical terminology. The Protestant theory
says baptism, the baptism of the Holy Spirit or being baptized is done by the Holy Spirit. But
the Bible says the administrator is Christ, not the Holy Spirit. They say that we are the hope
that baptism of the Holy Spirit is where we are baptized into
Christ. But the Bible says that the element
in which they are baptized is the Holy Spirit, not Christ.
They are baptized in the Holy Spirit, not into Christ. The Protestant says that the that the baptism of the Holy
Spirit happens upon singular, unbaptized believers. Okay, that the Holy Spirit is quickening each person and putting
them into Christ. But the Bible teaches that the
baptism of the Holy Spirit was for a plurality, the ye. Ye. So it's baptized believers in
church capacity that was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Now, turn with me to Romans chapter
eight. There are only two alternatives
presented by Paul in regard to the individual indwelling of
the Holy Spirit. And I'm doing this to solidify
the fact that the Protestant view is erroneous, again. Any human being without the indwelling
Spirit of God is none of His, according to verse nine, look
at verse nine, Romans chapter eight, verse nine. But ye are
not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit
of God dwell in you." So the only way that someone can be
in the Spirit is if the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if
any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. So any human being without the
indwelling Spirit of God is not his. So if anyone believes that
the Spirit did not indwell people in the Old Testament, then no
one in the Old Testament was saved. All without the indwelling Spirit
of God are in the flesh and lost. So if there is no Holy Spirit
of God indwelling anybody, then they are still lost and in the
flesh. Okay? So if the Protestant thinks
that Old Testament saints are saved, But yet, and that's because
they've been baptized with the Holy Spirit. We find that that hadn't taken
place in the Old Testament. That the baptism of the Holy
Spirit never talked about quickening, never talked about regeneration,
never talked about being put into Christ. So the baptism of
the Spirit is biblically restricted to the house of God at its initial
dedication. The phrase house of God always
has to do with divine, accredited, thus divinely identified and
authorized institution for public worship, characterized by a qualified
ministry and the public administration of the ordinances. That's what
a church is. The house of God has always consisted
of three aspects. and out of court, a holy place
and a holy of holies. In the New Testament church,
we find this is inclusive of Jewish baptized believers, half
Jew, half Gentile baptized believers and Gentile believers. So that's
why in Acts chapter 11. Peter points back to the beginning. As it was in the beginning, with
those Gentiles. In the New Testament period,
there is a mixture of all aspects of the promise of the Spirit
with New Testament churches because the apostolic ministry was at
that point functioning. The canonization of the scripture
was in progress and movement away from Israel to the Gentiles
was in progress and therefore sign gifts were still applicable
to Israel and all of this was solely in the hands of churches
of like faith and order as no other denominations of Christians
existed at that time. The baptism of the Holy Spirit,
a one-time event, and it is not regeneration, it is not union
into Christ, and it is not a second work of grace. We'll stop right
there. Lord willing, next week, I'll
go into those problematic verses that I thought I was gonna get
to this week, but had some more things that I wanted to clarify
from last week. Does anybody have any questions
or any comments this morning? All right, well, Lord willing,
we'll, let's see. Is there next week? No, it's not next week. All right, Lord
willing, next week, we will continue in this study, and I will look
at those controversial passages that speaks of baptism in the
Holy Spirit, and how the Prophets use those for their viewpoint,
but I will teach what it does mean, not what it doesn't mean.
Talk about that today. All right, let's bow and have
a word of prayer. Father, again we...