Baptism by One Spirit into One Body

Transcript

GR 1346
03-04-07
1 Corinthians 12:13-14
Baptism by One Spirit into One Body
Gil Rugh

We've been talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12-14 are about the gifts of the Spirit and that unique and wonderful ministry of the Spirit of God who was bestowed upon the church at its beginning. And we are down in I Corinthians 12:12-14 and have been talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Let me read for you beginning with verse 12. For even as the body is one and yet has many members and all the members of the body, though they are 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 we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. And even in these three short verses you'll note that continual emphasis on one body, many parts. And the analogy is the human body. One body, but many parts—fingers, hands, arms, ears, eyes, so on. That's the picture he is drawing so we understand something of the spiritual body of Christ.

So when you've placed your faith in Christ, you become part of His spiritual body, of which He is the head. And each of us will have a different role to fill, a part to fulfill, but all the parts together make one body. And even though there is only one body, there are a variety of parts. And that stress to keep both in perspective is important in understanding Paul here.

Verse 13 is where we were focusing, for by one Spirit we have been all baptized into one body. And that's true whether you are Jew or Greek, slave or free. In other words, there is only one way to become part of the body of Christ. It's the same, no matter what your nationality, no matter what your social status. You become part of the body of Christ through the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit. It is also at that time that the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your life. Look at the last part of verse 13, we were all made to drink of one Spirit. That refers to the time when the Spirit comes into your life to dwell in you. Remember in a previous study we looked at the fact that the Spirit was with the disciples, but He would be in them, in John 14-16. In John 7 Jesus said that the one who believed in Him, out of his innermost being would flow rivers of living water. This He spoke of the Holy Spirit who had not yet been given because Christ was not yet glorified. And the giving of the Holy Spirit depended on the finished work of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit has always been present in the world. Remember we looked, He brooded over the face of the waters at the creation in Genesis 1. But He has come in a unique and special way to place those who believe into the body of Christ, which is the church, and to permanently indwell them. The two are inseparable. Keep that in mind. When the Spirit comes, He dwells in you. If He doesn't dwell in you, Romans 8 says, then you don't belong to Christ. And the baptism of the Spirit places you into Christ.

I want to review just a couple of concepts. We mentioned, and I want to reinforce to you, this is one of the major difference between those we might call covenantal or reformed and those that we call dispensational such as we are. We understand there is a distinction between Israel and the church. And we noted to become part of the nation of Israel, the normal way, was you were born. If you were born to Jewish parents you are part of the nation. And male babies at 8 days old were circumcised, because that identified them as part of the covenant community, the nation Israel. That nation was comprised of believers and unbelievers, because being physically born into the nation and experiencing physical circumcision didn't save you. You had to experience the circumcision of the heart, the spiritual change on the inside that came through faith. But when you come to the church, the only way to get into the church, the body of Christ is through faith in Christ and the baptism of the Spirit, which comes when you believe in Christ. So you cannot be born into the church physically, you do not become part of the church because your parents are church members. That is why we do not practice baptism of infants. Those who do not see and understand the distinctions that exist between Israel and the church try to compare baptism to circumcision. And babies were circumcised in Israel, so now we don't circumcise, but we baptize babies. Because they become part of the covenant community, the church. That sounds logical, but it's not biblical. The church is not Israel, the church is not the continuation of Israel in a spiritual form. The church is a totally new entity. You became part of the nation Israel by physical birth, you can only become part of the church by a spiritual birth brought about by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which occurs when you hear, understand and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I just want you to understand. Some of you come from backgrounds in major denominations like Lutheran, Presbyterian, Catholic and so on. And I'm often asked, why don't we baptize babies? We have family members, my parents are upset. We're going to have a baby and they believe we must have it baptized. Sometimes that's connected with the washing away of original sin, some kind of statement that this baby is really now part of the church. That's a misunderstanding of what the scripture teaches on the church. 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, it is by the baptism of the Holy Spirit that you become part of the church. And that necessitates hearing and believing the gospel. So you can't compare the church and Israel in that sense.

There is another area I want to be sure we're clear on. Come back to John 17. Always in church history there has been an emphasis on unity. And not new, I was reading church history from the early centuries this past week and some of the conflict that came about because some wanted to proclaim unity and the unity of the church, and they did that at the expense of the doctrine. This could get into issues we could talk about more fully that relate to what we just talked about even on the view of the church and understanding of the makeup of the church. But we have movements like in our own area and our own city, they talk about the city church. There is only one overall church in the city and then there are just different parts of it, the local churches. A lot of this comes from John 17. And after explaining to the disciples about His departure and the coming of the Holy Spirit, John 17, Jesus turns to pray to His Father and then the betrayal and crucifixion will occur in the subsequent chapters.

But chapter 17 opens and Jesus prays, Father, the hour is come. Glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you. Verse 3, this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent, and so on. We have come now for the culmination of His work on earth, His death on the cross. For the wages of sin is death, and He is going to pay the penalty. You come down to verse 13, I come to you and these things I speak in the world so that they might have my joy made full in themselves. I have given them your Word. The world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask you to take them out of the world but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth, your Word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they may be sanctified in truth. Now note, I do not ask on behalf of these alone, these that were with Him. They've become His disciples, His followers, believers in Him during His earthly ministry, and now were there. But for those who believe in Me through their word. And that would include you and me, all those who have become believers down through the 2000 years since the death and resurrection of Christ. We have believed through the Word, have we not, their word, as it's been recorded for us in the New Testament.

Now note, that they may all be one, even as you, Father, in Me, and I in you, that they may be in us. So that the world may believe that you sent Me. The glory which you have given Me, I have given to them that they may be one, just as we are one. It is mutual oneness. Christ is in us, we are in Him; He abides in us, we abide in Him. This emphasis that they may be one. And you know we constantly hear, it's a tragedy that we have different denominations or different churches, there ought to be one and we ought to emphasize unity and our oneness. And you often hear John 17 quoted. I just want you to note, John 17 has already been fulfilled.

Come over to Galatians 3:26, you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. And we looked at the details of Romans 6. What does it mean to be baptized into Christ? Well 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, for by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. We were baptized into Christ by the Holy Spirit, not by water baptism. Note verse 28, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. The fulfillment of Jesus' high priestly prayer in John 17 was the coming of the Spirit in Acts 2 and the creating of the body of Christ, the church. And you become a member of that body through the work of the Holy Spirit in placing you into Christ. That's different. In the Old Testament it was all about the nation Israel. A Gentile could be saved, but what did you do? You converted to Judaism, you became a proselyte. It was all about Israel. It mattered whether you were a Jew or a Gentile, because salvation was of the Jews. But now your nationality is not an issue. That's the point here, doesn't matter whether you're a Jew or a Greek, whether you're a slave or a free, whether you're a man or a woman. Doesn't matter because all are brought into a relationship of oneness in Christ. _____________________, that's fulfilled, that has taken place, that was the answer to Jesus' prayer. Now the Holy Spirit dwells in us, Christ dwells in us. We dwell in Him, we are one.

Keep going past Galatians to Ephesians 2. Absolutely important. We are the church of Jesus Christ. If we don't understand what the church is, we'll be confused on what it is to do, how it is to function. We don't build our doctrine as a church on the tradition of men, we have to build our doctrine of the church on the Word of God. In Ephesians 2 we have to break into the subject here, but he's told us we are saved by grace through faith. Verse 8, by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. We're not saved by good works, but as a result of being saved and now being the work of Christ, you do the works that please Him.

Verse 11, therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, you non-Jews were called the uncircumcision. You see you don't have the sign of the covenant, you don't belong to the chosen nation. Remember at that time you were separated from Christ, verse 12, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, all the covenants which were given to Israel. Verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall. The dividing wall was the law of the commandments. You know, it's all about Israel, it's all about their law. I mean, where is the center of worship in the world while the nation Israel is God's focal point? It's at Jerusalem, the tabernacle, the temple then. Where does God manifest His presence? In the Holy of Holies. I mean, what do Gentiles do? You're far off, have to come to Israel, the God of Israel. There were Gentiles who became converts, but it's all about Israel. Now we've done away with that whole system. Why?

Verse 15, by abolishing in its flesh the enmity which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace. And might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross. And on it goes. So you see that emphasis. We have been made one in Christ. It's not about become one, it's not doing something to fulfill John 17. John 17 has been fulfilled. We have to be careful. Sometimes we use a scripture and we think, I guess that's what it says. And the worst thing is that there not be unity in all the church, in all the city, or all the state, or all the country. There is unity. It's manifested in each local church. Then as we've noted repeatedly, and I note again, no where is there any instruction for the churches to get together in the New Testament, even when they are in the same area. Christ writes to the seven churches of Asia in Revelation 2-3, and all the things He says to them, and all the things He rebukes them for, He never says anything like you ought to be doing things together, you ought to be working together, you ought to have a unified stand. They will have a unified stand when this church functions biblically. We'll find that there are a number of churches functioning biblically. It's not all about we have to do something together and so let's not emphasize doctrine because that would divide us. Let's just emphasize unity, let's just emphasize the fact that Christ did what had to be done and it has been done.

You come to chapter 3 Paul tells us that this is a new and unique truth, the church. Remember we talked about you can't see a continuity that Israel now just flows into the church. This is all new stuff, new material, new revelation. And Paul says, if you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you, that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery. A mystery, remember, in the New Testament is something not revealed before. It's not something hard to understand, not something puzzling, it is something that would not be known if God did not choose to make it known. A mystery is something that hadn't been revealed before but is now being made known.

Verse 4, by referring to this when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. I want you to know why I know this new material. Well, verse 3, by revelation it was made known to me, God has made known to me something He has not made known before. Verse 5, the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men. That's what a mystery is, something that hadn't been made known before to mankind. It has now been revealed to His holy apostles and the prophets in the Spirit. Now the Spirit is revealing this new material to me, to the other apostles and the prophets. To be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. That's it. Here God has revealed now that He is making a new entity, the body of Christ, the church. And it includes Jews and Gentiles alike, totally different. For the nation Israel it was an earthly nation, a physical people. And even Gentiles who might experience salvation did it through converting and becoming converts to that particular physical people and their worship and their practices.

Come down to verse 8, to me the very least of all saints this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery. I don't know why some people have a hard time understanding what the mystery is, but he explained it in verse 5. It's something that in other generations was not made known to the sons of men. Down in verse 9 he says the administration of the mystery, what is the mystery? He says, that which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things. It's not new material to God, it's new material to us, because He had chosen not to reveal it. So when you read somebody and they talk about the church in the New Testament, you ought to close that book and get another one, because there is nothing about the church in the Old Testament. That's a mystery not revealed until the New Testament, and remember the New Testament in the context we're talking about, the church does not begin until Acts 2. So even the gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—are lived under the Mosaic Law.

I was talking to someone in the last week or two and they remarked that this is in the New Testament. Yes it is in the New Testament, but you understand Jesus lived under the Mosaic Law, and that law did not come to conclusion until Christ died on the cross. The church is not established for another 50 days until the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. And that's what we're talking about here, it's a new entity. In fact, the angels didn't even know about it. Look at verse 10, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies. That's angelic beings. You see God had never provided redemption, the angels don't know redemption, they only observe it, because there has never been a saved angel. There has never been a Savior for angels. So here now in the death and resurrection of Christ and in the work He is doing in the church, they see unfolding the marvelous plan of God that enables redemption to occur, even for Old Testament saints. But now the making of a new thing.

And you'll note verse 10, that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities. You see this multifaceted grace of God that brings salvation to such diversity of people. We don't want to start churches for this group of people, and this group, and this group maybe in one place and another place. We want to be careful. The beauty of the church is its diversity. You don't have to be of a certain social status, you don't have to be of a certain age group, you don't have to be of a certain nationality. No, this is the multifaceted wisdom of God being demonstrated to the angelic realm, to show God's marvelous redemption and salvation.

All right come back to 1 Corinthians 12. Now don't get confused. The church was never prophesied in the Old Testament, the coming of the Holy Spirit was prophesied in the Old Testament. Repeatedly the Old Testament prophets prophesied of the time when the Messiah would come and He would pour out His Spirit on mankind. When John the Baptist came, and we looked at this in Matthew 3, he said, I baptize with water, but there's one coming after me who will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and with fire. Now the coming of the Messiah in Old Testament prophecy would bring salvation and redemption to the nation and He would establish a kingdom, and His Spirit would be poured out on all those who had believed in Him. But they rejected the Messiah, the nation Israel did, so now we have unfolded that which God had kept secret. It had been known only to God, and that is Israel is going to be set aside for a time. No longer will God's salvation work center in the nation Israel, it will now center in the church, which is comprised of all kinds of people, from all kinds of nationalities, all kinds of languages, and so on. And through faith in the Jewish Messiah who suffered and died and was raised from the death, they will experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, His baptism. And that work of the Spirit will place them into a new entity, the church, the body of Christ. The nation Israel hasn't ceased to exist, they are, if you will, on a sidetrack. God's main line of work now centers in the church. When the rapture of the church occurs and it is removed, God will complete His program with the nation Israel. The nation Israel and the church are never mixed in scripture.

Don't get confused here. Gentiles who were proselytes to Judaism, they would be part of the nation Israel. There are Jews who are saved, some of you perhaps, and you are part of the church. But God's work in redemption now, focuses in the church, not in the nation Israel. But in the coming 7-year tribulation we will be back to His work focusing in Israel.

All right. What about the baptism of the Spirit and its manifestation, or the manifestations accompanying the baptism of the Spirit, particularly speaking in tongues? What about the pattern found in the book of Acts? Let's go to Acts 2. Here we have as we have noted in previous study, the baptism of the Spirit occurs for the first time. Jesus had told them in chapter 1, remember, you wait here in Jerusalem and you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Chapter 2 begins, when the Day of Pentecost had come. Major Jewish feast, one of the three feasts that required all males in Israel to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast, if it was at all possible. You had to have a valid reason not to show up here to observe this feast. When the Day of Pentecost had come they were all together in one place. Suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind. It filled the whole house where they were sitting. So here you have the disciples, the apostles gathered together, and now you have this violent, rushing wind. There appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves and they rested on each one of them and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred the crowd came together and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. So here they are and now with this sound of the rushing wind, attention is drawn. You have this multitude of people here and there is a great crowd assembled. And they gather there from all parts because Jews who had been dispersed in various parts of the empire have come back together to stay in Jerusalem for this feast, the Feast of Pentecost. And now they are drawn by this special sound, the sound of a mighty rushing wind and when they come together they hear the apostles standing up and they're talking in all kinds of different languages. And they are amazed because they recognize these men as Galileans, men who are from the region of Galilee, the north part of Israel from Jerusalem.

And they said, verse 7, they're astonished, why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? And then you get all these different languages that are being spoken in verses 9-10. Now let me say something here about this phenomenon. It's clear, I think, to almost everyone that in Acts 2 this involves speaking in earthly languages. In verse 4 as they were filled with the Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, and that word glossa, we get glossalalia, two words—glossa, tongue; laleo, to speak; to speak in tongues, compound with this word. It's used many times in the New Testament and its general use is to speak in another language. For example, the book of Revelation 5 it talks about there will be people from every tribe and people and tongue and nation in heaven. Well what are you talking about? There will be all kinds of people, all kinds of nationalities, all kinds of languages. We do the same thing. We'll say to someone, what's your native tongue? We start to talk to someone, maybe they're talking in English but they have an accent. So you wonder, what was the language they were born to, so you say, what was your native tongue? What are you asking? What was the language you were born to speak? So we use it the same way today. So that's the use of tongues in the New Testament, the overwhelming use. You can get a concordance and check that out.

Secondly, down in verse 6, the crowd was bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. And the word there is dialectos. We know the English word we get from it, dialect. Each of them was hearing them in his own dialect, his own language. Same word down in verse 8, we hear them in our own language, our own dialect. It always means a language or a native language. Up in Acts 1:19, it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem that in their own language, their own dialect, that field was called Hakeldama, which is the Field of Blood. So he just translates from one language to another. That word language, dialectos. Then you have laid out what they were speaking in verses 9-10. And this is important we understand, they were talking in earthly languages. Now some have said, maybe it's a gift of hearing, because verse 9 says, how is it that we each hear in our own language to which we were born. Well then what's the miracle? Why are you surprised that the Galileans are speaking, but you're hearing? That would mean the Holy Spirit is come upon these unbelieving hearers to enable them to have supernatural translations of it and it would be a gift of hearing, not a gift of speaking. I mean, that would be really turning the cart upside down, and now the manifestation of the Spirit is in the lives of those who haven't been regenerated yet. We know they haven't been regenerated yet because Peter hasn't preached the gospel yet. We'll be told later in chapter 2 that they believe and are baptized. So to say it was a gift of hearing is really to try to stretch to impose on the passage something you've already determined ought to be the theology of the passage. You don't get your theology out of the passage, you try to read your theology into the passage.

This is a gift of speaking, this is something these Galileans, apostles, are doing. And the amazing thing is, how did they learn to speak the language of the Partheans, the Medes, the Elamites, people of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and on we go. That's what amazes the people. This is a demonstration that the Spirit has come upon and into the lives of the apostles. They're the ones who are going to receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them. Can't translate that, twist this around to say it was a gift of hearing and not a gift of speaking. That's not a very popular view, but some who have to try to fit their theology into here have said that.

Now I'm not going to expand this and talk about the gift of tongues. I want to leave this connected right now to what we're talking about in connection with the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. We'll talk more fully about the gift of tongues and how that relates, and what about prayer language and so on. We'll have to wait until we get to chapter 14 because chapter 14 is all about the gift of tongues and prophecy. And so we'll wait and do that at its proper time. But we do need to resolve how does the gift of tongues relate to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Well in Acts 2 it was the ability to speak in other languages, given to the apostles. And it wasn't primarily even the giving of them in these languages so they could preach the gospel to them. How do we know that? Because Peter is going to get up and preach the gospel beginning in verse 14. So how did they understand it if they all have this different native tongue? Well you understand people in this day were bilingual and Greek is the common language of the day that everyone could speak. This is true, maybe more so in other countries than our own where people have their own dialect, their own language, but there is also a universal language that enables them to communicate. We are living in the Roman Empire and Greek is the language that pervades that empire as a result of the conquest of Alexander the Great, basically. So Peter gets up and preaches the gospel in a language that everybody understands. One of the reasons you have these multifaceted languages, it simply displays what the Spirit is doing now. It's not just for the Jews. Even though these are all Jews, we are reminded, this is going to be for people of all languages. They don't know it's for all nationalities, but there is the indication here because Jesus told them in chapter 1, you will be my witnesses to the uttermost parts of the world when the Spirit comes upon you, chapter 1. And here you get a little indication that what Christ has done is going to be for people of all languages. But in Acts 2 it's just the Jews.

Come over to Acts 8. Persecution has come. Saul, before his conversion, is a major persecutor of the church. Persecution is so intense that believers from Jerusalem are scattered out to other places. The apostles by and large remain in Jerusalem as their home base, and that becomes, if you will, the mother church. Philip moves on to Samaria and he goes to Samaria and preaches the gospel in Samaria. Samaria is to the north of Jerusalem, that region to the north. If you were going to travel north to the region of Galilee, you would generally go through Samaria. But the Jews, unless there was a special reason or they weren't in an exceptional hurry, they went the long way around so they wouldn't have to go through the territory of the Samaritans.

Come back to John 4. Jesus in His earthly ministry meets the woman at the well in Samaria. Verse 7, there came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink. His disciples had gone into the city to buy some food. Verse 9, therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, how is it that you being a Jew ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman? And you'll note the explanation—for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

Now you come back to Acts 8, this is the setting, Jews and Samaritans, no dealings, no interaction. Samaritans were mixed blood. Back in the days when the northern kingdom had been carried into captivity, way back in 722 B.C., the Assyrians deported many of the Jews out of the land to other places and other countries. And they brought people from other countries and repopulated that area. That was to keep down rebellion, get people out of their home area. Now these Gentile people imported into Israel ended up intermarrying and intermixing with Jews who had been left in the land, and you end up over time with a mixed breed. They even developed their own worship system. The Jews didn't count them as Jews, even though they would have some Jewish blood in them. They were a perverted race as far as they were concerned. Peter comes and preaches in Samaria and he's doing miracles, we'll talk about miracle gifts in future studies, validating the truthfulness of his ministry in verse 12. When they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, men and women alike. Verse 14, now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Now wait, I thought the Holy Spirit came in Acts 2. But these people believed and got baptized, but they didn't have the Spirit, didn't get the Spirit until Peter and John come from Jerusalem.

Verse 16, for He had not yet fallen on any of them, for they had simply been baptized in the name of Jesus. They began laying hands on them and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. Some say see, this is an indication you receive the Spirit sometime after salvation and often you receive it by a special act, people lay hands on you. Keep in mind what the book of Acts is doing, it's unfolding the history of the early church. So this is a time of transition in the thinking of people, particularly the Jews. Now the Samaritans have believed in the preaching of Philip and now Peter and John come and they receive the Spirit. What would have happened if Peter and John didn't come and they just received the Spirit? Well the Jews and the Samaritans don't have any dealings with each other, we would have ended up with a Jewish church and we would have ended up with a Samaritan church. Because the Jews still wouldn't have accepted the Samaritans. But now you have Peter and John come and they received the Spirit through the laying on of hands of Peter and John, what does that guarantee? There is only one church, it's under the authority of the apostles, its under the teaching of the apostles and the revelation given to them. There is no doubt that both Jews and Samaritans now are part of the church. I would assume they spoke in tongues. We're not told, but the Jews wouldn't have accepted any other evidence as valid. We'll see that in a moment.

Come over to Acts 10, you're familiar with the account in Acts 10. Peter taking a nap and the Lord lowers a sheet from heaven and it has all kinds of unclean animals in it, animals that the Jews were not allowed to eat. And the voice from heaven tells Peter to get up and eat. And Peter refuses and says, I've never eaten unclean food and I won't do it now. Then God ultimately tells him, don't you call unclean what I call clean. In other words, God is the one who determines what's clean and unclean, not you, Peter. And I've declared this food clean. Well then the representative from the Gentile, Cornelius, comes knocking on the door. We received a message from God, you are to come with me. Peter goes and he says he has learned, verse 28, God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean. You realize you're in Acts 10. For the first time Peter realizes that Gentiles may not be unclean. He could have contact with Gentiles and even eat with Gentiles. So when you go from Acts 2 to Acts 10, now Peter realizes that about the Samaritans but that was a special case. At least they have some Jewish blood. But now in Acts 10 he realizes that sheet from heaven, that wasn't just about animals, that was about people.

So I came here without raising an objection, in other words, without that vision from heaven I wouldn't have come. So now we're all here, we want to hear the message. So Peter now begins to present to them the gospel and he talks about Jesus Christ, His earthly life, His rejection, His crucifixion. The end of verse 39, they put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross, God raised Him on the third day. He became visible to me and to others who were selectively chosen to be eye witnesses of His resurrection. Verse 42, He ordered us to preach to the people, to solemnly testify, this is the one who has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins. While Peter was still speaking these words the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. They believed it. He has told them, have you believed this? While they were sitting there, they believed it, it's true. The Lord opened their eyes and they believed.

The Holy Spirit fell on them. How do you know? Verse 45, all the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also, for they were hearing and speaking with tongues and exalting God. These Jews with Peter are dumbfounded—Gentiles can get saved, Gentiles can get the Spirit. Can you believe it? You'd think after getting the Spirit back in Acts 2, then seeing the Samaritans they'd be ready for this. They're not, they're amazed. But what happened is a visible evidence—they spoke in tongues. Why was that necessary? Well how would you know the Spirit came? The Spirit is a spirit, you don't see the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus at His baptism at the hands of John the Baptist, He came in the form of a dove. How else would John the Baptist have seen the Spirit? The Spirit of God is present in this room, you do not see Him. So here is a manifestation of His presence. Why? So these Jews will know for sure. Now what kind of languages do you think that these Gentiles had to speak? Do you think they could just get by with just ecstatic speech, babbling, putting together a series of sounds? Do you think the Jews would have not looked at that as a counterfeit? You understand to all kinds of pagan religions even before New Testament times, ecstatic speech, babbled speech was practiced. That's not a new concept, what we call ecstatic or babbling speech, just speaking with sounds and syllables not in a clear, earthly language. They've never been acceptable. Jews would have seen that, they would have said, the pagans do that. These Gentiles are still pagans. So it would have to be the same kind of language as Acts 2 to be accepted by the Jews.

How do we know that? Further confirmation. You get to chapter 11 and when Peter comes back to Jerusalem word has preceded that Peter went and was in the house of a Gentile, ate food there and he preached there. What in the world are you doing? Because you understand the apostles still in Jerusalem still don't think this message is going beyond the bounds of Judaism. So they took issue with Peter for what he did, Peter explains the circumstances. Back you go again with explaining the vision, the sheet coming from heaven, the different kinds of animals, then going to the house of Cornelius according to the instructions of God. Verse 15, as I began to speak the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as He did upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the Word of the Lord how He used to say, John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God's way? In other words, what can I do? You remember what happened to us when we received the Spirit in Acts 2? We began to speak in other languages. You know what they did? These Gentiles began to speak in other languages when they believed the message. God gave them the same gift as He gave us, what could I do?

Verse 18, when they heard this they quieted down and glorified God and said, well, then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life. I mean, it's amazing, this is getting bigger than I ever thought. So you have to have the presence of tongues to establish the unity of the church. Now the Gentiles are united. They've received the Spirit of God under the preaching of Peter. Doesn't say he laid his hands on them, it said He fell on them as he preached the gospel to them, because he is present, he's the preacher. So the Gentiles now recognize apostolic authority over them, which is crucial for apostolic teaching. Because it's through the apostles and prophets that truth is going to be revealed, what we have as our New Testament. You have to have a church united under the apostles. So now we've had Jews in Acts 2, Samaritans in Acts 8, Gentiles in Acts 10. And they received the baptism of the Spirit and they manifest it by speaking in tongues.

One more time and this will be as far as we can go. Acts 19, this is the last case in the book of Acts where this occurs. Paul is traveling now, he has been saved and he comes to Ephesus. And he found some disciples and he said to them in verse 2, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? King James says, have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed? You have to be careful about taking your doctrinal practice from the book of Acts because remember we are in that transition. The response here helps us understand. They said to him, no, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit. Well these are disciples of John the Baptist. That means they are Jews who believe the Old Testament. In a previous study we looked at just some of the passages in the Old Testament that talk about the Holy Spirit, the promise of God to pour out the Holy Spirit. When they say we have not yet heard whether there is a Holy Spirit, they don't mean we don't know about the existence of the Holy Spirit. They are disciples of John the Baptist. What did John the Baptist preach? I baptize in water, when the Messiah comes He'll baptize you in the Holy Spirit. They know all about the Holy Spirit, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, when the Messiah comes He'll baptize in the Holy Spirit. They just don't know that the Holy Spirit has been given. Evidently they were in Palestine when John the Baptist was doing his ministry, sometime subsequent to that they moved to Ephesus. But they never heard about the suffering and death of Christ on the cross. They've gone to Ephesus, so they're living there, still believing what John taught from the Old Testament and evidently telling others about that.

But Paul explains it then. You were baptized into John's baptism, that the Messiah has come. Now you need to be identified with Him, because John said you have to believe in the One who is to follow me, verse 4. So then they're baptized in the name of Jesus, and when Paul laid his hands upon them the Holy Spirit came on them. They began speaking with tongues and prophesying. There were about 12 men. Now again, we pull this together. Another major group in Israel that could be a faction in the new church that has recently started. The disciples of John could be a break-off group. No, we don't follow that. But now they receive the Spirit, its confirming evidence, they agree the ministry of John is complete, fulfilled, the Messiah is come.

So in each of these cases where speaking in tongues accompanies the baptism of the Spirit, it is with a new, special group that unites the church now as one under apostolic authority and apostolic teaching. That will not be the pattern for everyone. In fact when we look further in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul will say not everyone speaks in tongues. But in 1 Corinthians 12:13 he says, by one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body. But not everyone who is in the one body has spoken in tongues. We'll get to that toward the end of chapter 12, and we'll look more fully then, what about speaking in tongues as a prayer language and so on when we get to chapter 14. But it's taken a step at a time. Speaking in tongues in the book of Acts was speaking in an earthly language. That was not something they had studied or learned. It was a supernatural manifestation of the Spirit of God, demonstrating that the Spirit would be reaching out to people of other languages, other nationalities. It has become associated with our language. Because we talk about our native tongue we were born to speak even if we were multilingual. So it is a demonstration of that work of the Spirit.

The church is comprised of those who are baptized in the Spirit. Until a person believes in Christ and experiences that baptism, he is not part of the church. He may attend meetings of the church like this when we come together. This church is only made up of true believers in Jesus Christ. That's different than Israel that was a mixture. What about the parable of the wheat and the tares? Didn't He say they'll grow together? They will in the world, not as a church. The church is not the world in Matthew 13. Sometimes one error in theology leads you to another. Some of the reformers talked about the wheat and the tares growing together in the church, trying to make it like Israel, comprised of believers and unbelievers. That's why you have some churches baptize the babies, then they confirm them when they get to be 12 or 13, which is a confirmation of the baptism that occurred. And we just all bring everybody in. We fail to understand the uniqueness, the church is only made up of baptized believers. How do you get baptized by the Spirit? Believers who are baptized by the Spirit, you place your faith in Jesus Christ as Peter explained in Acts 11. They received the Spirit, having believed in Christ, and that placed them into the church.

So by the time we get through the book of Acts here in these passages we’ve looked at, there is one united body and that will be under apostolic authority. That continues today. This church is under apostolic authority, not because I'm in the line of the apostles but because we submit ourselves to apostolic doctrine—the truth of the Word of God. We pass this on to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. That's the ministry of the church, and each local church needs to conduct itself in the same exact way.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the work of your Spirit that has brought us together in a relationship of oneness, oneness with you and oneness with one another. We are one in Christ. Awesome to consider that you dwell in us, the Son dwells in us, the Spirit dwells in us. We dwell in you, we are the body of Christ, we have a spiritual oneness with one another. Thank you for that glorious work of the Spirit, His work now to enable, to empower, to use us as effective servants, as your body accomplishing your work in this place, where your truth will be our nourishment and we will function in the exercising of the gifts you have given us so that the body might bring glory to you. We pray in Christ's name, amen.