Nik Godshall - Baptism of the Holy Spirit

Jesus had a habit of subtly referencing the Old Testament when he was teaching. He did this to show his listeners and us that he fulfills every hope and promise written there. And one of the most important promises that God made to his people in the Old Testament was the coming of the Holy Spirit. The reason why this promise was so central for God's people was because the coming of the Spirit would mean the coming of God's power upon them. Let's look at some of those promises and what they mean, and then we'll look at what Jesus had to say about the Holy Spirit. Ezekiel 39, 29 says, And I will never again turn my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit upon the people of Israel. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. Here God says that the coming of the Spirit is a sign of never-ending love and favor toward his people. He will give his Spirit to them to assure them that he will never leave them and never forsake them. Another verse in Ezekiel, chapter 36, verse 27 says, I will put my Spirit in you, so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. So, not only would the Holy Spirit be a sign of God's everlasting love, he would also bring the power to defeat sin and to live a holy life. Let's look at one more. I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on servants, men and women alike. That's Joel chapter 2, verses 28 through 29. There are other passages, but with just these three alone, we can see that the coming of the Holy Spirit would mean three things.

Number one, God will lavish his people with everlasting favor. Two, God will strengthen his people against sin. And three, God will empower his people for supernatural ministry. I'm sure you can see why the Spirit's coming was such an important promise. And just like every other promise in the Bible, this too is fulfilled by Jesus. His victorious work on the cross is what made it possible for God's own Spirit to come and live within fallen people like us. That's why Jesus is often referred to as the Spirit Baptizer. In the Bible, baptism has to do with initiation, and Jesus initiates us into life with the Holy Spirit. He comes and lives inside of us the moment we become born again. Ephesians 1.13 calls the Holy Spirit the seal of our salvation, meaning he's the proof that we're genuine believers and truly do belong to Jesus. In Christian theology, this is referred to as the Spirit's indwelling. It's the word we use to describe the reality of him dwelling within the Christian. Now, wondering where exactly in your body the Holy Spirit's hiding is kind of missing the point. God transcends space and time, so when we talk about him living within us, it's not the same as how we live in, say, a house. We hang out in the living room, then eat in the kitchen, we sleep in the bedroom. The Holy Spirit living inside of you isn't quite so limited. He permeates your whole being and makes you into his living abode. But that's not all there is to say about the Holy Spirit's work in us. He is an ocean of possibility that we're called to plunge ourselves into as we grow in our Christian faith. God certainly wants us to know the constant indwelling of his Spirit and the strength that it brings, but he also wants us to seek the baptism, or filling, of his Holy Spirit. Now, I know we just said that Jesus is the Spirit baptizer who initiates us into life with the Spirit, but baptism wasn't just about initiation. It was also about immersion.

And Jesus doesn't just initiate us into life with the Spirit. He immerses us in the Spirit's power. Here we're not talking about what the Holy Spirit does at conversion. We're talking about what he does after it. If we're going to thrive as Christians and accomplish the mission that Jesus gave us to preach his gospel, we need to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit's power. And this is actually where one of Jesus' teachings on the Holy Spirit becomes very relevant for us. John chapter 7, verses 37-39 say this, On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, Anyone who is thirsty may come to me. Anyone who believes in me may come and drink. For the scriptures declare, Rivers of living water will flow for you. from his heart. When he said living water, he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory. A very important question for us to ask is, to where in the Old Testament was Jesus referring? When he said the Scriptures declare, he could only have been referring to the Old Testament because the New Testament hadn't been written yet. And the answer to that question is that he was referencing a very important vision given to the prophet Ezekiel. It's recorded in Ezekiel chapter 47, and it describes a river that came flowing out from under God's temple in Jerusalem. Ezekiel is led by an angel into the river, which gets deeper and deeper the further he goes. Now the most remarkable quality of this river is that it's bringing life to everything it touches. Treeless areas now have dense foliage, the river itself is teeming with fish, and most astonishingly, the Dead Sea, a body of water with no marine life in it at all, is healed and made fresh by the waters of this river. Jesus is shouting to the crowd that he is the fulfillment of Ezekiel's vision. But how, and what does it mean for us? Well, we know from verse 39 that Jesus identified the river from Ezekiel's vision as symbolic of the Holy Spirit. What we don't know from the verses in John that we read is the backdrop to what's going on. Jesus was attending the Feast of Tabernacles. This was, and is today,

a holiday celebrating God's miraculous provision for Israel when they were in the desert for 40 years. Every year, on the last day of that feast, the Jews of Jesus' day would gather in Jerusalem and pour water on the altar in the temple as an expression of hope. They believed that one day the altar would crack open and water would pour out from under it, flow over the earth, and heal the nations. So when Jesus stands up on the last day of the feast and declares that he is the source of the river of living water, he's saying something about himself. He's saying, it's not the altar that's going to break, it's my body. And the breaking of my body for you will be the giving of the Spirit to you. Because you are a Christian, you already have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. You are standing in the river from the temple just like Ezekiel was, but it's time to go deeper. You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You need him to take you out to where you can't feel the bottom anymore and your life is surrendered to the current of his power. But Jesus' teaching tells us something else about what your life in the Spirit should be like. It should certainly be ever-deepening. You should constantly seek to go further and further in God, but it also tells us that your life is meant to give life. The river in Ezekiel's vision revived everything it touched. It made dead places come to life, and that's what you're meant to do. The power of the Holy Spirit is meant to flow out of you and into others around you so Jesus can be glorified and his kingdom can advance in the world. And this power is always available to you in greater and greater supply. This is why we said earlier that we need to be continually filled with the Spirit's power. Sometimes the baptism of the Holy Spirit is talked about like an event, but it's really about a lifestyle. This is explicit in the book of Acts. In chapter 2 of that book, 120 of Jesus' disciples were praying in an upper room because he told them they had to wait until the coming of the Spirit to start telling people about him. And did he come. A powerful wind swept through the room. Tongues of fire hovered above each of their heads, and they all began to speak in languages they'd never learned. It was incredible, but it didn't stop there. Later, in chapter 4, the apostle Peter, who was filled with the Holy Spirit in chapter 2, is filled with the Holy Spirit again when he's standing before the Jewish high court. Then at the end of chapter 4, the whole group of disciples, including Peter, is again filled with the Holy Spirit during a prayer meeting. When we seek the baptism

of the Holy Spirit, we're not seeking a one-time event that just serves as the apex of Christian experience. We're embarking on a lifelong journey of empowerment that's marked by many baptisms of the Holy Spirit. And our experiences of his power are meant to deepen. we mature in the faith. Now, from what we can see in the Bible, the Spirit's baptism always brings with it manifestations of the Spirit's power. One of the most emblematic of these manifestations is the gift of tongues. When the Holy Spirit first came on the disciples in Acts chapter 2, he gave all of them the ability to speak in languages they had never learned. They then went out into the crowded streets of Jerusalem and proclaimed the greatness of God in these new languages to native speakers of those languages. And thousands came to Christ as a result. And what you and I have to understand is that this specific sign was not random. There is a reason why God chose tongues as the sign of his Holy Spirit coming upon the church. Genesis chapter 11 tells the story of the Tower of Babel. This was when humanity arrogantly tried to domesticate God by building a tower that would reach to heaven. Rather than glorify God's rule over his world, they tried to magnify their own rule and built the tower in hopes of manipulating God into coming down and dwelling in their city on their terms. But since God can't really be manipulated, he put the brakes on the whole endeavor to put humanity back in its place. The way he did this was by changing everyone's language. So communication and unity were no longer possible. The whole project fell apart and the tower was abandoned. Now, how does that connect with Acts chapter 2? Well, in both stories, God uses language to accomplish his purpose. In Genesis chapter 11, God used language to scatter the nations in judgment. But in Acts chapter 2, God used language to gather the nations in mercy. The gift of tongues reminds us that because of Jesus's sacrificial death on the cross, God's judgment against mankind has been reversed. Rather than being cut off from God by sin, people can now have God living inside of them by his Holy Spirit. Rather than facing God's righteous judgment for trying to be their own masters, people can know God as Father and Friend when they surrender to him. But the gift of tongues is just one

manifestation of the Spirit among many. After Acts chapter 2, we see the Holy Spirit filling the disciples with courage in the face of persecution. He enables them to prophesy. He gives them power over sorcerers and evil spirits. They heal the sick and raise the dead. It's pretty exciting stuff. And the excitement didn't stop with the book of Acts. The Holy Spirit still gives these spiritual gifts to Christians today. And we need to seek them and operate in them because they build up our faith and serve as evidence to non-Christians that our message about Jesus is true. But there's something else we need to remember about the Holy Spirit's power. It's not just about manifestations and experiences. It's about daily life. And there's a really potent example of this that we should consider from 1st Corinthians chapter 6 verses 19 through 20. It says don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you and was given to you by God. You do not belong to yourself for God bought you with a high price so you must honor God with your body. Those verses have a very important context. They were written to correct a group of Christians for deviating from God's standards for human sexuality. And it's critical for us to understand this because it shows that even the most spiritual sounding doctrines have the most practical implications. The presence of the Holy Spirit within the Christian shows us that God regards the human body as sacred. God created humanity to reflect his beauty and that includes the way we use our bodies. The reason Christians hold to such a strong sexual ethic is because God has declared the body beautiful. So beautiful that he fills it with his own Holy Spirit. Now that's a very specific example. In a more general sense we need to see that having the Holy Spirit means being responsible for living a life that pleases God. But let's be clear the Holy Spirit does not to us as an obligation. He comes upon us as a helper. Jesus was the first to call the Holy Spirit our helper and Jesus was so excited about the help the Spirit would give that he told his disciples it was good that he was leaving them. I don't think they agreed but that's because they didn't understand what the Holy Spirit would do. The Bible teaches us that the Holy Spirit gives us the

power to please God not just in terms of bodily purity But, in every outward and inward sense, Romans 8-9 says, but you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. A few verses later it says this, Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. In other words, the Holy Spirit is committed to filling you with his sin-defeating power so that you can become the man or woman that God has called you to be. He will teach you how to overcome temptation, how to pray, how to trust God more deeply, and most importantly, he will constantly assure you that you belong to God. Romans chapter 8 verses 15 and 16 say this, You have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him Abba, Father, for his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children. So does having the Holy Spirit mean we have a responsibility to live holy lives? Absolutely. But that responsibility is coupled with power and assurance that are greater than anything we'll face in this life. Let's consider one final example from the New Testament that will help us see that the Spirit's baptism is truly meant for every part of our lives. There's a very important passage in Ephesians chapter 5 that commands Christians to continually be filled with the Holy Spirit. After the command is given, it goes on to list the intended effects of being filled, and they aren't what we might expect. It says, Be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves and making music to the Lord in your hearts, and give thanks for everything

to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For husbands, this means love your wives just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her. Here's what we need to take away from that. As a whole, the New Testament teaches that being filled with the Holy Spirit means empowerment for both ministry and daily living. The same power that enables you to speak in tongues and worship in the power of God is also meant to enable your marriage and your family to thrive. The same power that enables you to heal the sick is also meant to enable gratitude in your heart. We are the Holy Spirit's temple, and every part of our lives is meant to be saturated with his powerful presence. From the most thrilling to the most mundane, he is with you and he's in you. So what do you do now? Well, ask Jesus to do for you what the angel did in Ezekiel's vision. Ask to be taken deeper in the river. Ask God to saturate every part of your life with his power so you can be everything he's called you to be. And when you ask, specifically identify areas of your life that seem the weakest. Whether it's an area of fear, temptation, conflict, grief, or a lack of vision, the Spirit of God will fill you where you're empty and carry you into new places you never thought you could go. You are meant to be full of the Holy Spirit.