The Baptism and Filling of the Holy Spirit

Okay, guys, tonight we're going to continue in lesson six, the baptism and the filling of the Spirit. David asked me a while back which one of these I wanted to teach. And the reason I think I picked this one is because before I found this church, this is an abused doctrine, right? You hear all kinds of nonsense outside of a sound church, and I've heard most of it.

Okay, so let's begin. We'll go with point number one.

At Pentecost, the Spirit formed the church. So church is the first blank. The body of whom Christ is the exalted head. The whole body was empowered and gifted. Gifted is your second. For ministry by Christ's Spirit. This gifting is the sharing of His own — own is your last blank — anointing with His body.

Ephesians 1:22-23: "And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." Ephesians 4:7-8: "But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore He says, when He ascended on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men."

Point number one: when it says Christ's Spirit formed and filled His church, you've heard Casey say, you know, God will build the church. Well, God builds believers too, and it's through the Spirit and it's the gifts. And the gifts He gives to men aren't for that man, right? He gives you the gifts for the body. It's to edify the people around you, to edify others. Your gifts are for other people.

Christ did not ascend into heaven to take rest. He ascended to reign, to rule, and to distribute power to His redeemed. Ephesians 4 says, when He ascended on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. The Spirit was poured out not to produce chaos, but to form the church, the body of Christ on earth. You are not a rogue limb. You are not a spiritual orphan. You are joined to a living head and His anointing flows through every regenerated member.

You don't get like gradual doses of — I've heard this doctrine in charismatic churches — well, he has more of the Spirit or she has more of the Spirit. When you're regenerated and saved, you have all of the Spirit, right? It isn't a portioning out. Exactly. He's not giving you like, okay, you can have a small portion, you can have a little bit more. It's all of it. When you're regenerated and saved, you're indwelt by the Spirit. It's all of the Spirit. It isn't rationed out.

So I did, because I like the Greek. Pleroma is the Greek word for fullness. It's used in Ephesians 1:23 referring to the church as the fullness of Christ who fills all. Christ is the authoritative head of the church, Ephesians 1:22. Gift, which is Doria in the Greek — the free sovereign giving of the Spirit to equip the church, Ephesians 4:7.

The application for point number one is trust that Christ shares His power — power is the blank — with His people. And that's why when I said, you know, no regenerated believer is a spiritual orphan. They're all joined to the head of Jesus through the Spirit.

Every believer has the Spirit. You see now the casting out of demons — the demon slayer crowd that say that a believer can be indwelt with a Jezebel spirit, and I saw one the other day said a marine spirit. The only spirit that a regenerated person has in them is the Holy Spirit, and He doesn't share space with any demons. You don't need to have a demon exorcised if you're regenerated. If you have a demon, then you probably ain't regenerated.

I did some application points just because I like it. And I put for number one, I put: are you functioning in the body or are you a numb limb? Right. If you feel powerless in the church, it says He gave gifts to men. Right. Everyone in here is gifted to do something. Right. And we all serve one another. Trust that the Spirit has gifted you because your head, Jesus, lacks nothing, and neither should His body.

Point number two: the subsequent outpourings of the Spirit in the book of Acts follow Christ's directive of Acts 1:8. The church grew to include Samaritans, Acts 8; the Gentile God-fearers, Acts 10; and John's disciples at Ephesus, Acts 19. These outpourings demonstrated that the Spirit had made all nations — that's the next blank — to be in Christ, to receive the blessing promised to Abraham.

Acts 1:8: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." Acts 10:47: "Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?"

The Spirit was not restricted to a racial group, to Jerusalem, or to the apostles. He burst through boundaries — Samaria, Caesarea, Ephesus. The Jewish Messiah has poured out His Spirit on Gentile hearts. Every outpouring in Acts was tethered to witnessing, not wilderness. The Spirit didn't descend so people could roll on the floor, but so they could stand and proclaim Christ crucified to sinners under wrath.

Calvary Church in Orlando — big building, really pretty place, it's got a bunch of mirrored front on it. Well, I know a guy that used to go there with his wife, and when the guy left, the wife and the daughter stayed behind, and they said that people were crawling around on the floor like snakes and rolling over each other. And you see it with, in Tampa, Rodney Howard Brown. They call him the Holy Ghost bartender. So he walks around the audience and touches people, and they burst into laughter — laughing uncontrollably, it's ridiculous. They fall on the ground. They're laughing like crazy. That is not the Holy Spirit. Whatever it is, it's not that. Those aren't fruits of the Spirit. Self-control is one of them. That's not controlled.

It's out of control. And the Pentecostal movement's really bad about it. The outpouring of the Spirit — they think that should have bought a Honda, saying that really fast like 12 times, and that's a signal of the Holy Spirit. But it's just nonsense. It isn't an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Dynamis is the Greek word for power. In Acts 1:8, the divine ability and might to witness boldly. If you look back through history, look at the guy he just talked about, John MacArthur. Right? Fifty-five years of faithful, and he stood against a lot of cultural resistance, and he never compromised. But it wasn't under his own strength. Right? It's because the Holy Spirit had indwelt him. That's the power.

And every believer has it. Right? And a fearful thing sometimes — when I go to evangelize, it's scary. Because you know you're standing in front of a crowd that is largely resistant to the message that you have to give them. You may feel that way at work, with people, family and friends, loved ones that don't want to hear about it. But the power isn't from you. Right? You're indwelt with the power, and that is the power to witness boldly to the truth, to stand in the face of relativism and the LGBTQ+ movement. And it isn't an arrogance that you stand against those things — it's in love, but it is boldly. It's not compromising.

Witnesses — those who testify under divine authority, even to death. He says, you will be My witnesses. And you look at the disciples and martyrs, right? All of them killed for their faith, except for John. But even he was punished and they stood. And you've got Bonhoeffer. I don't know if you guys ever heard of him. The German minister went back to Nazi Germany, became part of the resistance, and was hanged by the Third Reich. But he went back voluntarily to witness to people who were trapped in darkness. Right? That is impossible on a man's strength.

Luther — when they told him to recant under penalty of punishment, and they were killing most people back then — he said, "Here I stand, I can do no other." That's not courage that is generated from men. Men have — most men, even bold men, if they rely on their own strength, have a point where it's not them anymore. And regenerated believers are indwelt with the Holy Spirit, which is power beyond any other's strength.

The application for number two is: how can you share the gospel locally and abroad? And because evangelism is my thing, I stopped right here for a second. And I just, I have to say it — I wasn't gonna, I thought about it, I went back and forth with it. I'm gonna tell you, and I think it is important to come to a local church, right? This is where we come to be edified.

But this is the locker room, right? This is the field where you learn the plays, right? We come here, we're edified, we're strengthened, we're sanctified, we learn doctrine. But we don't do all that for this, right? It's out there. The lost are out there. That's where the mission field is — it's out there. It's your uncle, your brother, your sister, your cousin who's lost.

This is where it really matters. If you don't share what you know, then really you're in a theology club, right? You come here and you learn it, but if it stays with you, that's not what it was intended for. Jesus taught His disciples, the apostles followed Him, and He sent them. He said go, and they went — they went and witnessed. Paul was the ultimate missionary, went everywhere. But he was doing that to share what he learned and what he witnessed. He didn't keep it to himself. It's like having a cure for cancer and just sitting in the living room with it and never sharing it with anybody. You have the cure for spiritual cancer, cancer of the soul. But for anybody to experience what you have, you have to share it with them. And that's why witnesses — you know, they go, you testify for Him — and you don't do it on your own strength. Like I said, I know it isn't easy. It wasn't easy for me.

I was scared to death. I just got up there and read Scripture because I was petrified. But if that's all you can do — and I had Wayne do this last week — the word has its own built-in power. It isn't dependent on you anyway, right? I'm not out there and people are receptive to me. It's the word that they're receptive to. That's what draws men. That's how God draws men to Himself.

The application for number two was: how can you share the gospel locally and abroad? And I came up with two questions of my own. The first is: who are you witnessing to? The Spirit was not given so we could stay safe in pews, but so we could burn on street corners and across oceans. Right.

It's important to go overseas and witness and do missions trips. Casey's done them, but it's equally important — you can't be willing to travel across an ocean and witness to people and not be willing to drive five blocks and do the same thing. Right. You can't do that. The lost are here too. They're your neighbors and your friends and people you love and care about.

And then the second one I asked was — and these are questions, guys, I say this in my Bible study, these are things I ask myself, so I just write them down because I asked myself these questions — is: have you gone to your Samaria?

Point three. The Holy Spirit is described by Jesus as being given by the Father — first blank — His Father, to those who ask. Luke 11:13. Likewise, the Holy Spirit is described by Paul as being received through faith, Galatians 3. The Holy Spirit is received through believing into Christ. Believing into Christ is inseparable from receiving the Holy Spirit. The normal pattern of experience laid out in the epistles is: the Holy Spirit is received at the moment — that's your next blank — of our conversion.

And this is, I think, the biggest thing I thought about here. I have a friend who thinks that once you're saved, the indwelling comes in the water. He thinks that when you're dunked in the water, then at that moment you're saved, right? But the water is not magic. I've watched Sean fill it up. It's just hose water. Right? There's nobody standing over there blessing the tank. He's not in there.

It's the outward expression of the inward work that's already done. It's a baptism in the Holy Spirit. And when you're regenerated — because it's the Holy Spirit that does the regeneration — you know that you're indwelt by the Holy Spirit. It's not an external work. Ezekiel 36:26: "I will give you a new heart. I will remove the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."

So when you're regenerated, you are indwelt. Luke 11:13: "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?" Galatians 3:2: "This only I want to learn from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?"

For this section I called it "not earned but received." Paul ridiculed any thought that the Spirit comes by law or merit. "Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?" The Spirit is not for sale.

You do not twist God's arm with your performance. You bow your knee in helpless faith and receive what only grace can provide. The moment one believes into Christ, they receive the fullness of the Spirit. No delay. No second tier. You're not getting less of the Spirit than the pastor has. John MacArthur — the same Spirit that indwells John is the same Spirit that indwelt you and saved you. People — you see the charismatic movement, they're always after the signs and wonders as evidence of the Spirit. But there's a whole room here full of signs and wonders. A room full of dead people who are alive. Right. My son is a miracle to me. It's the craziest thing ever. Right. If you knew him before we came here you would understand what I'm trying to convey.

He was deader than dead — like he was dead and rotting, gone — and we got here and Casey says, I'll let the word do the work. And through that, now he's alive. That is a miracle. That is the power of the Holy Spirit. You want to see signs and wonders? There's a whole room full of them right here at these tables. You don't need people to grow legs or speak in tongues or gibberish or whatever they call it. We are the miracle. We are the visual proof that God still does miracles and the Holy Spirit still works.

Pistis — faith, trusting reliance, not human effort. The Catholic Church is really bad about this. Right. If it's a works-based salvation, then how much work is enough? Right. How much — if the Bible says that our works are like filthy rags, then how much work do you have to do to be saved? And if it's on your works, not only how much work, but when is enough?

It says you received. This is a completed action, not a future promise. It doesn't say you will receive. It says you received. It's past tense. You're already indwelt. Pneuma Spirit. And we've talked about this before, but He's not an impersonal force. He's the divine — a divine person of the Godhead.

Application for point three: can you merit — that's the blank — the reception of the Holy Spirit?

Point four. Baptism in the Spirit is the shared reality of every believer who has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Spirit baptism is indeed our union — at your first blank — with Christ. God imparts Himself — that's the next blank — to us in Christ, filling and blessing us with His Spirit and forever possessing us as His own chosen and beloved people. The Holy Spirit unites us to Christ, filling us with the fullness — that's your next blank — of God.

All of the divine favor, rewards, and inheritance of Christ our head are shared with believers who are made one spirit with Him. 1 Corinthians 6:17: "But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." 1 John 4:13: "By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit."

John 14:16-20: "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you" — and this is a beautiful word, and you can underline it if you have your Bibles open — "forever. The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see Me no more. But you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you."

The application is: you have the full love and pleasure of God in Jesus Christ. You are not just forgiven. You are fused to the very life of Jesus Christ. "He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." 1 Corinthians 6:17.

This is not emotional hype. It is ontological union. Spirit baptism isn't a second blessing. It's the essential blessing of regeneration. God has imparted Himself. You are not just near Christ. You are in Christ and Christ is in you.

So I looked up the Greek word for "join," and I don't know if I'm pronouncing it right, but it's kollomenos. And it means literally "glued to the Lord." 1 Corinthians 6:17. One — and I like this one too, I think it's hen — it's indivisible unity, not just similarity. And "abide" — I like this one too — a continual dwelling.

Right. You don't just get, okay, he's regenerated, let me go to the next guy. He's always with you, lives in you. And this — I think it was lost on me when I first got saved — but it's the same power that raised Him from the dead. And that's what dwells in you. So if you wonder, I don't think I can do this, I don't think I can witness — you can certainly witness. You just can't rely on yourself to do it.

We had here applications. You have — that's the blank — the full love and pleasure of God in Jesus Christ. You have it. And what we read earlier — it's forever. Right. And the people who say, well you can do enough to lose your salvation. Right. If your salvation wasn't dependent on you to begin with, you can't lose something that was given to you. It's not your grip on Christ that keeps you saved, that gives you perseverance. It's His grip on you. The Bible says no one will snatch them out of My hand. Right. And when He said no one, that's a universal negative — it means no one.

So here's the questions I asked myself at point four. Do you live like you're detached from Christ? Do you rest in the divine love that will never abandon those baptized in the Spirit?

Point five. The words "baptism in, with, by the Spirit" are found — seven is your blank — seven times in the New Testament. Four of these are the gospel accounts of John the Baptist prophesying that Jesus would baptize with the Spirit: Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, and John 1:33. Jesus uses these very words in reference to John's prophecy in Acts 1:5. Peter also cites Jesus quoting John in Acts 11:16.

These six instances all refer to Pentecost — that's your next blank. 1 Corinthians 12:13 is the only instance that baptism in the Spirit isn't directly referred to Pentecost. Some have asserted that this refers to a second blessing experience that only some believers experience after conversion. This is erroneous, as Paul simply states that all — that's your next blank — believers have been combined into one body. This is actually a reference to Pentecost, as it was there that the Spirit was poured out in fullness of cooperation.

Mark 1:6-8: "Now John was clothed with camel's hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, 'There comes one after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.'"

There are no second-class citizens in the kingdom of God. By one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. The Charismatics speak of a second baptism, but that divides what God has united. He calls us one body baptized through one Spirit. To say that there's a second tier separates the church.

The Spirit does not portion Himself out like medicine in a clinic. He was poured out in full at Pentecost and every believer since drinks of that same Spirit. And I like this — speaking of Spirit baptism, it says we were baptized. It's passive divine action at conversion. It's not something you do to yourself. It's something done to you. One body, indivisible church, joined to one head.

Christ doesn't have a first tier of His body and a second tier of His body. It's one body. We are that body.

Baptism — total immersion and the internalization of the Spirit. It's the Spirit that regenerates. We talked about that earlier. It's not the water. The water is not magic. It's an outward expression of what's already taken place in the heart.

1 Corinthians 12:12-13: "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free — and have all been made to drink into one Spirit."

One regeneration, one Spirit, one body.

The application: God holds back no blessing at your conversion. And we've talked about that as well — how the charismatic churches, and some of the ones I've been in, will talk about, well, he's been gifted more by the Spirit, he has more of the Spirit than you have, or he has more of the Spirit than she has. There is none of that. There is no second tier, no second blessing. There's none of that. It's regenerated, blessed, and indwelt. That's it.

Point six: being filled — that's the first blank — with the Holy Spirit means being under His influence — that's your second blank. Unlike drunkenness that makes us out of control, the Holy Spirit gives us self-control. Unlike drunkenness that depresses, the Holy Spirit stimulates — that's the next blank — us to love and good works. Unlike drunkenness that leads to wickedness, the Holy Spirit leads us to Christlikeness. Being filled with the Spirit empowers saints for boldness, wisdom, faith, and joy. Being filled with the Spirit leads to edifying fellowship with the body of Christ, the heart of worship and devotion to our Lord, expressing gratitude in triune communion, and humble submission displayed in rightly ordered relationships to the glory of God.

Right. And if you guys haven't seen them — when I speak about a rightly ordered relationship, right, it isn't flopping on a floor, rolling over people, talking about "I should have bought a Honda, should have bought a Honda." It's all of that chaos. It says the Spirit gives self-control. I told you about Rodney Howard Brown, the guy that calls himself the Holy Ghost bartender — he touches people, they flop around, they're laughing like they're rolling on the floor, laughing out of control. All that is is entertainment for goats. That is not the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit gives us self-control. Joy. The fruits of the Spirit.

It isn't going to take you "drunk, drunk in the spirit" — that's where they get that Holy Ghost bartender nonsense from. But those things aren't — because if you're ever visiting a church and somebody gets up there and taps someone and they start laughing really loud and flopping around on the floor, that's your cue. You should leave.

Ephesians 5:18 — and here's where they get it: "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit." So they take that verse, twist it around, and say, "Oh no, I'm not drunk as you suppose — I'm drunk in the Spirit." Run. And if they start saying speak in tongues and it's that gibberish — run faster.

Application: do you have the fruits of the Spirit? Galatians 5:22-23 is where you can find them.

Ephesians 1:22-23: "And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." Ephesians 3:16-19: "That He would grant you" — a couple of things — "according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened" — again, that's a passive word, to be strengthened, not to strengthen yourself, not to do all you can, not to pull yourself up by the bootstraps, it's to be strengthened — "with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and the length and the depth and height — to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

Be filled. This is what I called this section: be filled, not frantic. The command is clear: be filled with the Spirit. This is not a call to frenzy but to fruit. You are not filled by shouting but by surrender. You are not filled through signs but through sanctification. A Spirit-filled man is a singing man, a submitting man, a thankful man, a man who looks like Christ in the home, in the workplace, and in the church.

The Greek word for "be filled" is a present passive imperative. It's an ongoing command done by another. It's not you filling yourself — it says be filled. Self-control — that's a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:23. Debauchery — the contrast of self-control in Ephesians 5:18.

And here's the questions I asked myself. Do you equate spiritual fullness with emotion or obedience? The Spirit-filled walk looks like humility and submission, not noise and clamor.

Point seven. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is a divine command — that's your first blank. We are not filled with the Spirit by supernatural experiences, signs and wonders, but through submission and yielding of our hearts in love to our gracious God. A vessel dedicated through faith — which is the first one — and purged through repentance will be surely filled and used.

This one I called "cleansed, consecrated, and controlled." You are either a vessel of honor or a tool of defilement. Being filled with the Spirit is not optional. It is commanded, and it comes through crucified living, yielding your body as a living sacrifice. This is not mystical. It's moral. You must put off the flesh to walk in the Spirit.

You cannot fill a vessel already overflowing with sin. Repent. Present yourself afresh. The Spirit is ready to fill. To present a once-for-all consecration to God — in Romans 12:1, "be transformed" — the Greek word is an inward spiritual metamorphosis, a change. "I will give you a new heart. I will remove the heart of stone, give you a heart of flesh." Renewing — and this one was interesting when I looked it up, I think it's anakainosis — it's the Spirit's ongoing work in the mind.

And again, it's not a one-and-done. He stays with you, He's always with you, forever. Right. That's how you get the new heart. Sanctification is a process. It is not a flash in the pan or a quick fix. It's an ongoing work of the Spirit, but it's not the ongoing work of effort on your part.

It's — how again, the Catholic Church, and there's even charismatic churches that will tell you — it's what's the famous one? "Sow a seed." Right. Sow a seed — you want that car? Sow a seed. Sow a seed. Sow a seed for this. See how — plant the seed in the ground, see it come back to you. None of that stuff — it's all nonsense. Right. It isn't based on things that we do. If it was based on works, we would all be in hell. No one would make it.

The Bible is clear on our works being like filthy rags. T.D. Jakes said one time — I haven't forgotten this because it was shocking — he said, "I give enough to God and do enough that I put God in debt to me." And those are — that's what he said. You can look it up on YouTube. Find it. Don't take my word for it. That's what he said. And sadly, his church has thousands of people in there on Sunday and they weren't gasping like you were. They were cheering and clapping.

But that kind of thinking short-sells the Spirit. Right. If we could work our way to God, then why did Christ get sacrificed? Why did we need a redemptive sacrifice? Why do we need the Holy Spirit? If it's just us doing our thing, if we can sow a seed — you know, you sow enough seeds and you're in — then it makes His cross meaningless. His sacrifice was for nothing. All God had to do was say, look, here's a list of things you need to do, get them done and you'll be in there. But that's not what the Bible says. But that's the message they indirectly preach when they talk about these works-based faiths.

2 Timothy 2:21: "Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the master, prepared for every good work." 2 Corinthians 7:1: "Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." Colossians 3:12-17: "Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do."

"But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called" — and here it is again — "in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."

The application for number seven is: have you crucified the flesh? And that is — you know, that's easy to say but it isn't always easy to practice. I still struggle with the flesh. I think it's an ongoing battle. But if you take away one thing from this evening, don't let people tell you that you're in a body and you're a numb limb. Right. The Spirit doesn't portion Himself out based on who you are. He portions Himself out based on whose you are. He regenerates, He gifts, and He's with you forever. Thank you, guys.