Subject 12 : The Faith of the Apostles Creed
● Sermon on the Holy Spirit 2 : “Did You Receive the Holy Spirit When You Believed?”
( Acts 19:1-7 )
“And
it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed
through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples
he said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ So
they said to him, ‘We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy
Spirit.’ And he said to them, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’ So
they said, ‘Into John's baptism.’ Then Paul said, ‘John indeed baptized
with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should
believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.’ When
they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And
when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and
they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Now the men were about twelve in
all.”
“Did
you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” Even for Christians,
this question is very unfamiliar. The Apostle Paul asked the above
believers in Jesus whether they received the Holy Spirit when they first
believed, and then testified to them how they, who had believed in
Jesus without receiving the Holy Spirit, could receive the Spirit. In
the above passage, by once again bearing witness to the power of the
baptism of Jesus, Paul renewed their faith.
While
Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper region of
the Asia Minor, came to Ephesus, and finding some disciples, he said to
them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” The
congregation of the Ephesian Church had been completely ignorant of the
truth that they receive the Holy Spirit when they believe in Jesus. Paul
then asked them, “Into what then were you baptized?” They answered that
they were baptized into John’s baptism.
Paul,
in other words, asked the congregation, “Did you receive the Holy
Spirit when you believed in Jesus?” This is the difference between Paul
and ordinary Christians, and it is also the very difference between
those who know the mystery of the baptism of Jesus and those who do not.
On the Holy Spirit that one receives when he/she believes in Jesus, the
believers at the Church of Ephesus said, “We have not so much as heard
whether there is a Holy Spirit.” By this, they meant, “How could we have
received the Holy Spirit when we haven’t even heard about Him at all?”
To them, who did not know the mystery of the baptism that Jesus
received, the truth of receiving the Holy Spirit was completely new.
They Should Have Known And Believed in the Baptism That Jesus Received
Hearing
that they were only baptized into John’s baptism alone, Paul then
explained the relationship between the baptism of Jesus and the Holy
Spirit. They therefore believed again in the meaning of the baptism that
Jesus Christ received. Like this, there is a huge difference between
believing in Him while knowing the meaning of the baptism that Jesus
received from John and just believing in Him without this knowledge.
What,
then, is the baptism that John gave to people? John told people to
repent. This means that he told them to turn away from their sins and
return to God. The baptism that John gave was only a baptism of
repentance that made people repent. But the baptism that Jesus received
from John in Matthew 3:13-17 was received to fulfill all the
righteousness of God, and therefore this was different from John’s
baptism of repentance. The baptism that Jesus received from John was the
baptism to take upon all the sins of mankind. Like this, their faith
was different from the faith of Paul, for the baptism that they received
was of not knowing the whole picture of the truth.
What,
then, does the baptism that fulfilled all the righteousness of God
mean? It means that by being baptized, Jesus took upon all the sins of
mankind, from the sins of Adam to the sins of the very last people of
the end of humanity.
Matthew
3:15 says, “But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so
now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then
he allowed Him.”
God’s
righteousness could be attained in the baptism that Jesus received and
within the faith that believes in the blood of the Cross.
Why,
then, must we be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ? It is because we
believe in our hearts that Jesus took all the sins of the world upon
His own body by being baptized by John. Therefore, those whose hearts
have been forgiven of all their sins by believing in the baptism of
Jesus Christ and the blood of the Cross must receive the water baptism
again by faith. Why? Because by the faith in His baptism, all the sins
in their hearts are now blotted out perfectly, and thus become sinless.
This is why Paul explained Jesus’ baptism again to those who had not
received the Holy Spirit.
The Gospel of Power, of the Holy Spirit, and of Much Assurance
Jesus
did not just say in words, “Just believe in me. I am the Savior. If you
believe, all your sins will then disappear.” Rather, by being baptized,
Jesus actually accepted everyone’s sins of the world once and for all,
and took them all upon Himself. Jesus actually received the baptism from
John, and by doing so He actually accepted the sins of the world passed
onto Him, went to the Cross, and bore the punishment of sin. His
suffering on the Cross made Him shed all the blood that was in His
heart. And He rose from the dead again in three days. With His baptism
and blood, He has made all the sins of the world disappear, and He has
given the Holy Spirit to those who believe as a gift. Jesus is the
Savior who has blotted out the sins of the world, and He has given us
the gospel of the water and the Spirit that enables us to receive the
remission of sin. The baptism of Jesus Christ and the blood of the
Cross, in other words, have enabled those who believe to receive the
Holy Spirit.
To
save sinners from their sins, Jesus was actually born unto this earth
through the body of a woman. When He turned 30, He did in fact take all
the sins of mankind upon Himself by being baptized. It is because of
this that He could be crucified while carrying all these sins of the
world and shed all His blood onto the ground. And by rising from the
dead again, Jesus has become the actual Savior for those of us who
believe in Him. Do you believe in this truth? Isn’t this truth somewhat
different from what you had believed before? There is a clear
difference, and this is why you must believe in the water and the Spirit
from now on. This small difference is what enables and disables people
to receive the remission of sin and the Holy Spirit.
The
gospel of the water and the Spirit did not just come in words, but it
actual came with power. What more can we say? When Jesus accepted the
sins of the world passed onto Him through His baptism, was condemned on
the Cross, and rose from the dead, we cannot but believe in this. When
the Almighty Jesus blotted out all the sins of the entire world with His
baptism once and for all, and when He shed His blood, do we then become
righteous only by following the Doctrine of Incremental Sanctification?
We do not! The true gospel is the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
Before
I met the gospel of the water and the Spirit, that is, when I believed
only in the blood of Jesus, so-called the gospel was merely an empty
story. However, when I believed in the true gospel of the water and the
Spirit, and from then on, the gospel in my heart have given me great
conviction and power. Paul also states, “Our gospel did not come to you
in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much
assurance” (1 Thessalonians 1:5). “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when
you believed?” When you believe in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit, you will receive the Holy Spirit.
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