1042. Spirit Baptism

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University a study series entitled Breath of Life, which is a study of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Today's message will be preached by Dr. Dan Olinger of the Bob Jones University Seminary. Today we're honored to have one of our favorite speakers, Dr. Dan Olinger, who will come and speak today, and I think you'll be blessed as he brings God's Word about the Holy Spirit and his baptism. So, Dr. Olinger, would you come and welcome today to Bob Jones University?

Thank you so much. Thank you, Dr. Pettit. Well, I'd say it's good to see you, but I can't see you. I'm glad you're here.

We know you are here. Do you remember Bible Conference? Seems like about 147 years ago, doesn't it? At Bible Conference, we saw something happen on this campus that was just remarkable. In an effort initiated by our students, we raised a whole lot of money to buy and outfit a van, a bus, that was filled with medical equipment and capable of providing ultrasounds and other tests and other medical help for women who were considering whether to carry their babies to term. It was a remarkable thing for me and for lots of others around here to see our students take on that task, exercise their usual creativity, and energize that effort to meet that need.

That was delightful. And I suppose one of the key concepts we took away from that effort was how energizing it is to be involved in a cause that's greater than yourself and to know that you're involved in a cause greater than yourself. This is human nature, isn't it? It's a universal desire.

There are a few people in the world who give the impression that the only person they think about is themselves, but we don't admire those people and most of us don't really share their egotism. We want to be involved in something that's bigger than ourselves, and you see that in street gangs in large cities, young people who perhaps don't have a strong family structure, but want to be in something bigger than themselves. You see that in political parties, and our culture right now has essentially rejected in the mainstream religion and has replaced it with the worship of political power and the advancement of that power by any means necessary. You see it among social activists who take up some great cause. Poverty, or disease, or stewardship of the environment. And they give themselves to that cause, and they delight themselves in seeing the difference that they can make.

I have just finished reading a biography of Mohandas Gandhi, otherwise known as Mahatma Gandhi, and particularly of his work in South Africa for 20 years before he returned to his home country of India and took up the same causes that he had worked for in South Africa. And what a story that is of someone who is wearing a simple handmade loincloth, naked to the waist, and has no possessions of any account, and devotes himself to the cause of an entire nation. Now, the Bible tells us that God is devoted to the cause of gathering to himself a people for his glory and for the fulfillment of his good and great will.

That is the greatest possible cause. There is no greater cause. And today we're going to look at the fact that God has given us the opportunity to be devoted to a cause that is infinitely greater than ourselves. The topic that has fallen to me in this series on the Holy Spirit is spirit baptism. Spirit baptism. There are several biblical references to this concept.

Not many, but a few. In each of the gospels, the synoptic gospels, the writer tells us that John the Baptist predicted that there was one coming after him whose sandals he wasn't worthy to tie or untie, but who would baptize with the spirit and with fire. John's gospel notes that shortly after that prediction, when Jesus came to John for baptism, John related that this was the one that would baptize with the spirit and with fire. So Jesus is the fulfillment of that prophecy. In Acts, just before his ascension, Jesus says, you're going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now.

Not many days hence, the King James says. That's in Acts chapter 1, and of course we all know what happens in Acts chapter 2. That's Pentecost. And pretty much everybody says, Pentecost is the fulfillment of that prophecy. The baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire. And we see that there were tongues of fire at Pentecost, and it fits very nicely. A little bit later in Acts, in chapter 11, Peter is relating to the church back in Jerusalem what has happened with the conversion of the first Gentile, Cornelius, the centurion. And he describes how something happened while he was preaching that looked pretty much exactly like Pentecost. And he says, I recalled that Jesus said that he would baptize with the Holy Spirit. Well, there are six of the seven biblical occurrences, and they're all predictions. None of them actually tell us what spirit baptism is, or what it means, or what we should think about it, or what we should do about it.

What difference does this work make? Well, the seventh biblical reference is in 1 Corinthians, one of Paul's statements. And it says that by one's spirit, we are all baptized into one body, whether Jew or Gentile, whether bond or free, we've been all made to drink into one spirit. Now, I need to deal with a little wording issue here.

By one's spirit. In the prediction verses, they all say with one's spirit. And there is some discussion among believers as to whether these are the same thing. Well, let me observe that in the Greek, the wording is the same throughout. In all of these occurrences, the Greek word is en, or in. It's a preposition. Now, those who study Greek will tell you, Greek prepositions can mean pretty much anything. Anybody, it's a truism in Greek studies, that anybody who bases his theology on a Greek preposition is out of his mind, because they're very flexible. And this word en is often translated in, in the English versions, it's often translated with, as it is in the prediction verses about spirit baptism. And it's often translated by, we call that the instrumental use of the preposition. So, all of these translations in the King James are fine, they're perfectly legitimate translations. And I find it interesting that you consult the other English translations, and they're pretty much unanimous. That the predictive verses say with, and this verse says by. But I would just observe that since it's the same everywhere, I just call it spirit baptism. That's what I've been referring to it as this morning. And that avoids the preposition and gets us out of trouble.

Okay? Spirit baptism. Is it the Spirit is baptizing us by the Spirit? Or is it Jesus is baptizing us and the Spirit is, I don't know, the water with the Spirit? Well, on the basis of all those predictions, I'm inclined to say that Jesus is baptizing us in or with the Holy Spirit. Now, this verse then is the only biblical data we have on the significance, the meaning of spirit baptism. And it is the only basis we have for making applications about our response to the fact that we have been baptized in, with, or by the Holy Spirit. Let me draw a couple of obvious conclusions from the wording of this verse.

And then we'll think about those two concepts for a few minutes. Number one, the verse clearly says that spirit baptism happens to every believer. By one spirit, we have all been baptized.

And Paul is not soft peddling that. Every believer has experienced this event. And when it happens, we are placed as a consequence into one body.

We are united in that event. Now, I presume, and I think this is well-based, that the body here is the body of Christ, the church. So I would conclude that spirit baptism is the event at our conversion when we are placed into the body of Christ.

When we are united with him and with his body. Now, I would contrast that with another view that's very common in American culture in particular. And particularly among Pentecostals and Charismatics. That spirit baptism is some kind of highly emotional and powerful experience that some Christians have later. All Christians ought to have it.

But only some really do. Only some get the baptism. I think it's really hard to square that idea with this verse. Which I recall is the only verse in the Bible that tells us anything substantive about spirit baptism. It happens to all believers. That means there is no believer who hasn't got it. And that means that it had to happen at the moment of conversion. Otherwise, for a few seconds or a few months or a few years, there would be believers who haven't yet received the baptism. So you, my friend, have received spirit baptism. Now, what difference does that make?

Let me draw two applications. First, we are in Christ. We are placed in him. What does that mean? It means several things. It means that when the Father sees you, he sees his Son. You are in Christ.

Right? I like to say the Father looks at us through Christ-colored glasses. When I come to him and confess my sins as 1 John 1-9 says I'm supposed to, I have this little mental image in my head. It is inaccurate, but I find it helpful.

I'll tell you why it's inaccurate in a minute. But I have this picture that I'm confessing my sins to the Father, and he's sitting there on his throne. And he's looking at me like, what are you talking about? What sin? I don't see any sin.

I see nothing but righteousness in you. Now, I know that's inaccurate because the Father is never puzzled. He's omniscient, and he knows.

He knows. He will not think on our sins. But the Bible never says that he literally cannot or has forgotten in the sense that we use the word of not being able to remember something. God is able to do anything. But in you, my friend, because you are in Christ, the Father is well pleased.

And when you come to him, he delights to welcome you into his presence. Many of us, in our ongoing struggle with sin, forget about propitiation. And we forget about the fact that the wrath of God has been satisfied. God is not angry at you. If you're a believer, he's not angry at you when you sin today.

The angry problem has been dealt with. Christ propitiated the wrath of the Father. Now, when you sin, he is grieved, and we need to come to him and confess our sins, sure.

But he is propitiated. Further than that, he sees in you, as I said a moment ago, the righteousness of Christ. When he looks at you, he sees righteousness. He sees Christ's perfect obedience to the law. Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, the last verse of that chapter, verse 21, that God has made him who knew no sin to be sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, the righteousness of God. Because you are in Christ, you are righteous regardless of what it looks like to you.

That's a remarkable truth. So, the Father sees the Son when he looks at you. A second concept. You have a share in the work of Christ. Now, I wouldn't say that unless I had biblical basis for it. Where does the Bible say that we have a share in the work of Christ? Well, in Romans 6, Paul says that we have died with Christ, that we are buried with him and raised again with him. He says in Ephesians 2 that we're raised to walk in newness of life. We are raised with Christ. When he rose from the dead, we rose from the dead.

That's astonishing. And then in the next verse in Ephesians 2, verse 6, he says that we have ascended with him and we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies, in heavenly places, as the King James puts it. You share in his death, his burial, his resurrection, his ascension, and his session, his seatedness at the right hand of the Father. You share in his sufferings, as Paul says in Romans 8. We suffer with him so that we may be glorified with him. We share in that work. And Paul tells Timothy in his last epistle, just before his death, that we will reign with him. We will reign with him. We share in his work.

What an astonishing concept. We're a bunch of losers. We are failures. We are broken.

We are unfaithful. And we share in all of the central works of the Son of God. You are in Christ. You share in his work. I'm going to step it up a notch here with the next one. I'm going to say that we share in the person of Christ.

Now, I need to be really careful with this. Let me be clear. Jesus Christ is God the Son. He is equal with the Father and the Spirit. He is one with the Father and the Spirit.

We are not. We're in the image of God, but that does not include deity. It does not include equality with God. So what do I mean by this idea that we share in Christ's person? Well, Paul tells us that we have the mind of Christ. I think that's more than just we have access to the mind of Christ in the Scripture. Through the work of the Spirit, we're able to think like him a little, to a degree.

We're able to share in his thinking. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6 that we are one spirit with him. And he says in 2 Corinthians 5, in a passage you know well, that we are his ambassadors. Wherever we go, we're the representative of Christ. We carry his portfolio, and people are supposed to hear us as they would hear Christ. Remarkable, remarkable statements.

Now this is really serious business. The words you say, and the choices you make, and the things you do, all reflect on Jesus Christ himself. And we see in our world, Christians who behave themselves in ways that cause the enemies of God to blaspheme. May we never be one of those.

It astonishes me that Jesus has entrusted his reputation to people that he knows are unfaithful. What a trust that is, and how carefully we should carry it. There's a second concept that I'll deal with quickly. And that is, we're one with his body, we're one with his people. You and I are united with all other believers in a single organism, a single body that functions together. We're on the same team. All of us. Furthermore, the spirit through spiritual gifts, as Paul calls them, has given us particular abilities. Some of us are feet, some of us are hands, some of us are noses, some of you are hair.

I'm not. But you have a role in the body. You have a part to play. You are designed for that part, and if you don't exercise your gift in the body, the body suffers.

The body needs you. Now, we've all been given a great gift in these days. We've all gone home. We've all been sent home.

And most of our students now are home in their local churches. What a gift that is. What an opportunity. You now are available to your local body of believers to exercise your gift or gifts, and to be a body part in that church that makes a difference to the whole body.

Take that and run with it, will you? Take that as a divine providential direction. But the fact that we're united with Christ's people in his body also means that we need them too.

We need them. And some of us are really feeling that these days. My church hasn't met for a service in a couple of weeks now.

We watch it on TV, on our computers. And we're not gathering. And the great majority of churches in this country now are not gathering.

And I would say they shouldn't. They should love their neighbors and not gather. But you need those people. That means you need to interact with them in ways that are beyond watching the preacher on the TV screen or on your computer screen. You need to be in touch. And God has graciously given us all kinds of technological resources in these days to stay in touch. You can stay in touch by walking by the house on the street and waving. You can leave notes on the porch.

You can obviously send emails and so on. Avail yourself of the opportunity to be ministered to by the body of Christ. So where do we go from here?

I would suggest we take with us three ideas. Joy. We live in the joy of union with Christ. What a privilege. The Father is well pleased with us.

Second, unity. We are in the body of Christ. Don't ride alone, cowboy. You work with the other people of God. You carry their ministry in your heart.

And you minister to them. And third, confidence. It's very clear that we win. That God is working his plan. This cause that is greater than all of us put together and that he wins.

And this is going to be awesome. And in these days of uncertainty and a certain amount of stress and a little bit of being off balance, you keep your eye on the prize. And you run the race with confidence in the work of our good Father in us. Let's pray. Our Father, we are so grateful that by the work of your Son, we have been baptized in the Spirit into the body of your Son, the Church, and into your Son himself. May we live today with the joy and with the unity and with the confidence that comes from these truths. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You've been listening to a sermon preached by Dr. Dan Olinger of the Bob Jones University Seminary. Thanks for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue the study of the Holy Spirit here on The Daily Platform.