The Holy Spirit In Acts

Welcome! Today’s message is on the Holy Spirit as revealed in the Book of Acts. This is part of a two-month series on the Holy Spirit. Previous messages were on the Holy Spirit as revealed in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit in the Gospels, and Jesus’ Teachings on the Holy Spirit. Audio and text transcripts for these messages are available on our website if you missed them and would like to hear or read them.

I will start today right with the beginning of Acts. Luke explains that Jesus died and was resurrected, and then Jesus over multiple occasions presented Himself to the disciples teaching them.

On one occasion, while He was eating with them, He gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." – Acts 1:4-5

John’s baptism with water and this baptism with the Holy Spirit are, to use a literary analysis term, “compared and contrasted” here. They are both baptisms (that’s the compare part) but the passage uses the word “but” (that’s the contrast part). Do you know who else besides Jesus compared and contrasted these two baptisms?

John the Baptist! Here is what he said:

After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." – Mark 1:7-8

I just find it fascinating that at the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry John compares and contrasts these two baptisms, and at the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry Jesus also compares and contrasts them.

Now the word for baptize is baptizo. A Bible dictionary gives three definitions, all of which I think are relevant: First is to immerse or submerge. Outside of the Bible baptize has been used in this form to speak of a ship being sunk. Second is to cleanse, by dipping or submerging. Outside of the Bible it has been used to describe bathing, or cleaning something with water, scrubbing it clean. And the third definition is simply to overwhelm, to suffer great unbearable calamity. Jesus used it in this way when He said He had a baptism to undergo, meaning His coming appointment with the cross. As we will soon see, the baptism of the Holy Spirit resonates with all three of these definitions.

Back to our passage in Acts – the very next verses say this:

So when they met together, they asked Him, "Lord, are You at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." – Acts 1:6-8

We are all very familiar with the second part of this verse – we even sing a song based on it. But we tend to miss the context. The disciples have just asked Jesus if at this time He is going to lead, powerfully restoring the kingdom much like one of the judges in Old Testament times or, by way of an even better comparison, like mighty King David, who fought and re-established the rightful boundaries of the kingdom of Israel. If I were to emphasize a phrase in the disciples’ question, it would be the words “You at this time.” Jesus’ answer is a response to this question. What is His answer? In response to the “at this time” part, His answer seems to be “I’m not going to tell you, because that is not for you to know.” But His answer to the “You” part seems to be, “Am I going to go out in power and establish the kingdom? No, you will receive power and you will be My witnesses.” In other words, they are going to establish a kingdom, not just a kingdom in Israel, but in the entire world! And how could they possibly do such a thing – a handful of uneducated fishermen and other misfits? Jesus tells them this, too: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

That word, power, in Greek is dynamis. This is the word from which we get dynamite. The Bible dictionary definition for this word includes the idea of power for performing miracles and moral power for resisting temptation and doing good. More generally, the word also describes the power of an army, one with overwhelming numbers and strength. You shall receive dynamite-type power, explosive power, when the Holy Spirit comes on you.

So in these two passages we see the idea of baptism of the Holy Spirit (flooding, cleansing, overwhelming presence) and the idea of power in the Holy Spirit (miracle-making, moral-inducing, overwhelming strength power).

And so you know what happened. The disciples gathered together in Jerusalem, as they had been told to do, and they prayed and they waited. Then…

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. – Acts 2:1-4

Just look at the adjectives and adverbs in this passage. They are strong words: it came suddenly, like a violent wind, filling the whole house. And they were suddenly filled with the Holy Spirit. It wasn’t a gradual process, like getting gas for your car. I think of our earlier adjectives: power, flooding, overwhelming. That is exactly what this was.

What happened next? The Jews in Jerusalem at this time were from “every nation” and they heard in their own language the disciples “declaring the wonders of God in [their] own tongues.” (Acts 2:11) This is very similar to the way in the Old Testament that the Spirit would come on a prophet and they would prophecy while praising God. So the Jews asked one another what it all meant, but some joked that the disciples were drunk. Why would they say this? Probably because they acted at least somewhat like they were drunk. Can you picture this? I can. These guys are giddy with excitement. They open their mouths and foreign languages come out! They don’t even know these languages! This is hilarious! (Some have suggested that it only sounded like these languages in the hearer’s ears, but I don’t think this is the plain meaning of the text.)

Now, I don’t know if this is how it worked, but how I imagine this is that whoever a disciple comes face to face with, the Spirit immediately gives him words of praise in that language. If this is how it actually worked, I would be hunting for the most exotic people there. If this happened today, I would want to find someone from Asia – China, especially, because I know how difficult this language is for an American to learn. I would love to find someone from France, because I want to make those weird nasal vowel sounds that the French make. And if I could find someone who speaks one of those languages where some of their consonants are clicking noises – how cool would that be! The bottom line is that the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, and therefore, they were filled with joy; the two go together. And they were experiencing something so crazy it was just hilarious. So sure, they looked kind of drunk!

Now I know that many missionaries to places where they are not native speakers of the language wish this would happen to them. But I should point out something here – these people were all Jews. It is highly likely that they all knew multiple languages – Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek for starters, in addition to their native tongue. Was it necessary for God to speak to them in their native tongues so that they could hear the gospel? Absolutely not! In fact, when Peter addressed the crowd, it was not spoken in a bunch of languages, but likely in one of these three languages (we don’t know which), and the crowd understood him. The point of this miracle was not to enable communication but to reveal God’s power. It was to validate the message Peter was giving, a message of the gospel, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and how turning to Him would bring eternal life. Led by the Holy Spirit, Peter began by explaining what they had just seen by pointing out that it was a fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy about the Holy Spirit:

No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: "'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. – Acts 2:16-18

Peter explained about the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, and ended by saying that God had made Jesus, whom they had crucified, both Lord and Christ.

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call." – Acts 2:37-39

How did Peter know that they too would receive the Holy Spirit? Well, in part, Jesus had said as much – we saw this last week. But also, I am sure that the Holy Spirit confirmed it in Peter’s heart. The Holy Spirit, as we saw last week, as Jesus explained, is the parakletos, the one who helps explain things, guides us, navigates us through life. The Holy Spirit was helping Peter understand all this and gave him the boldness to explain it to the crowd. And the result was that thousands came to faith in Christ that day.

Let us continue on in our survey of Acts from the point of view of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 4, Peter and John were arrested after Peter healed a cripple who was a beggar by the power of God.

They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?" Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. – Acts 4:7-10

Peter continued on, and the passage says that when they saw Peter and John’s courage, and realized they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished. Later in Acts 4, they were released, and they prayed for boldness and for God to perform miracles.

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. – Acts 4:31

So God immediately answered the prayer! Note that they were filled again. We will talk more about this later in the series, but filling and refilling is supposed to be part of the normal Christian life.

Now in Acts 6, we are introduced to Stephen. When he was selected as one of those who took over the day-to-day distribution of food, he was qualified on the basis of being “full of the Spirit and wisdom.” Stephen being a man filled with the Holy Spirit is mentioned repeatedly: in verse 5, verse 10, and indirectly in vs. 15 (his face was like that of an angel while being persecuted). (The only other person described like this was Barnabas in Acts 11:24.) And once again, right before becoming martyred, we see this:

But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. – Acts 7:35-38

Just so we are clear, being filled with the Holy Spirit doesn’t protect you from the world. We talked about this last week. The Spirit helps protect your heart, and it protects your soul. But your body is another matter. We may inwardly rebel at this because we want to keep on living in this world. We give lip service to Phil. 1:21: For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But it really is true! It is only the weakness of our faith that makes us think otherwise.

In Acts 8, people in Samaria, of all places, start to come to Christ. (Of course, Jesus said that would happen – in Judea, Samaria, and then even to the remotest part of the earth.)

When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. – Acts 8:14-17

Notice what this does from the point of view of the disciples – it confirms to them that these guys are really a part of the kingdom of God now, despite all their formerly crazy ideas. Samaritans and Jews didn’t get along because the Jews viewed the Samaritans as having twisted and mangled the Jewish faith beyond all recognition. (And there was certainly a degree of truth to this!) But now they were forgiven, a part of the kingdom of believers, equal with the other Jewish believers – not for what they used to believe, but because they had put their faith in Christ to save them just as the Jewish believers had.

In Acts 9, we come to the conversion of Saul (to be called Paul). He had overseen Stephen’s death and was actively persecuting the disciples. On the road to Damascus, Jesus appeared to him in a vision, speaking audibly so that his companions could hear, and also blinding him. The Lord called Ananias, a Jewish believer to help him.

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. – Acts 9:16-18

Again, the being filled with the Holy Spirit (and presumably, the signs that went along with it – for this is really what Luke meant when he used the phrase) served a purpose similar to that of the Samaritans. It was hard enough for the Jewish believers to believe that the Samaritans had become fully accepted by God, but Paul? He had scattered the church in Jerusalem. (By the way, God even used that, because it only made the gospel spread throughout the region and even into other countries as these people from all nations went back home.) Paul’s showing the signs of being filled showed Ananias and the other believers that Paul, even Paul, was forgiven and accepted because he had turned his life over to Christ. After seeing this with Paul, one had to conclude that nobody was too sinful to be saved by the gospel.

In Acts 10, we see the gospel spreading not just to Jews, not just to the Samaritans, and not just to Paul, but now to Gentiles. Peter was given a vision from God where he was told to eat unclean foods (based on the Old Testament law) and was told not to call anything impure that God has made clean.

While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Simon, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them." Peter went down and said to the men, "I'm the one you're looking for. Why have you come?" – Acts 10:19-21

Peter went to a Gentile home and began sharing the gospel there.

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, "Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have." So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. – Acts 10:44-48

I cannot communicate to you how “outside the comfort zone” this was for Jewish believers, including Peter. The Holy Spirit’s work here as well as Peter’s vision were all to prepare him for this astounding event. Peter and the other disciples had to learn not to call unclean anything that God made clean. By the blood of Christ, all are made clean, Jew or Gentile, who turn to Him.

In Acts 11, Peter explains the experience to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem. What is his proof that God accepts these people? The fact that they too showed the signs that came with being filled with the Spirit.

As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' So if God gave them the same gift as He gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?" When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life." – Acts 11:15-18

Do you see the big picture of the work of the Holy Spirit? It is making Acts 1:8 come true! At each critical step, the Holy Spirit makes things happen. What was the next step? Sending out missionaries to go “to the ends of the earth.”

In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. – Acts 13:1-4

Almost immediately in this journey, they are confronted with a sorcerer named Elymas who tried to turn new believers from the faith. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Paul confronted him and pronounced blindness on him, and that is exactly what happened. This sign of the power of the Spirit only brought more people to faith.

The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. – Acts 13:49-52

I love the contrast. From a worldly perspective, bad news! They were kicked out! But the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. They were seeing the gospel spreading, lives being saved. They knew that the new disciples could continue to spread the gospel without them; Christ’s kingdom would continue to grow.

Now in Acts 15, a council was called in Jerusalem because some of the believers felt that the Gentiles should be circumcised and obey the law of Moses. After much discussion, Peter spoke.

"Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that He accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for He purified their hearts by faith." – Acts 15:7-9

What is the proof of what Peter is saying? The Holy Spirit! Again, it was the outward signs that helped them to make this terribly important decision about what to “do with” the Gentiles. One thing that is fascinating about this passage is that there is no sign that the Holy Spirit intervened during the meeting in any way. What had already happened was sufficient. God knew that they would make the right decision, applying what they had already learned and seen and using wisdom. And that is what happened. They did not make the Gentiles be circumcised or keep the law. And it was the seeds for Paul’s later letters where he clarified that even the Jews were no longer under the Law – it had been fulfilled in Christ. Instead all believers were to consider themselves as loving bondservants to Christ, seeking to fulfill not the Law, but His desires. People should live under the law of love, seeking to bring God joy.

There are three more significant events in Acts where you see the activity of the Holy Spirit. The first is in Acts 16.

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. – Acts 16:6-10

This is an interesting passage. Here we see the Holy Spirit blocking one activity so that they would go on a different path. The million dollar question is “how”? Unfortunately, the passage doesn’t say. Whatever happened, I don’t think it was some mild kind of feeling or impression. They wanted to go into Bithynia. They tried to enter. Something powerful had to overcome that desire. Was it something external, such as closed doors, immediate persecution? This is what I suspect, but it just doesn’t say. But then the Spirit showed Paul through a vision that they were instead to go to Macedonia. And that is what they did.

The second event is in Ephesus. Paul found some people who called themselves disciples. But what did they actually believe? Paul spoke to them.

"Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" "John's baptism," they replied. Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. – Acts 19:1-6

I have heard many people misuse this passage to try to prove things that just aren’t there. Just what did these disciples believe? It seems that they only had heard teachings from John the Baptist. This meant that they knew Christ was to come, but they didn’t know the gospel. They didn’t know that Jesus was the sinless son of God, God Himself, come to earth to die for people’s sins, that He rose from the dead, proving He was who He said He was. All they knew is that they had been sinners, and needed to repent. They then were told this, came to faith, and the Holy Spirit again verified that their conversion was true.

The final event I want to look at is spread out over several passages. It involves prophecy about the future. By the way, in Acts 11:27-30, we also see the Spirit enable a prophet to predict famine. But here, in these passages, we see the Holy Spirit speaking again and again about Paul’s future.

"And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. – Acts 20:22-24

Finding the disciples there, we stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. – Acts 21:4

After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, "The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'" – Acts 21:10-11

It may seem strange to us that the Spirit warns Paul repeatedly about what will come ahead. Is Paul supposed to go or not? We also know the result; Paul does end up in prison. But I believe it is clear that Paul was supposed to go – in the first of these three passages he says he is compelled by the Spirit to go. So why does the Spirit keep on warning Paul? The one reason I see is to prepare him. I am reminded how the Spirit also led Jesus into the desert. Jesus had a task to complete – He needed to experience the worst temptation man has ever faced so that Scripture could truthfully say He was tempted but did not sin. It was also necessary so that we could see that He understands any temptation that we may have to go through.

So what about Paul? I think Paul was warned so that His faith would be strengthened for what was to come. It would have been easy to give in to despair. But Paul was needed. God still had a very special task for him to do, one that could only be done right when Paul was undistracted, uninterrupted, when Paul reached the end of his own strength and instead literally depended on the Lord for every word as he wrote some of the most foundational books of the entire Bible. The Holy Spirit will do what is best for us, not necessarily what is most comfortable. Paul had his own baptism – and by this I mean the third meaning, an overwhelming trial – to undergo. But Paul was faithful; indeed his life meant nothing to him, and he did finish the race. He did complete the task in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now as we have gone through the book of Acts from the perspective of the Holy Spirit, there are two questions that naturally arise, and I want to spend a little time on each of them.

First, is the work of the Holy Spirit we see in Acts normative today? That is, should we expect the Holy Spirit to do with regularity all the kinds of miracles and works we saw in Acts? I believe the answer to this is no. Does every believer become sealed with the Holy Spirit? Yes, at salvation. Should every believer be filled and refilled with the Holy Spirit? Yes, and we will talk about this more later in the series. Should there be signs of the Holy Spirit at work in every believer’s life? Yes, and we will also talk about this.

But should every new believer speak in tongues? No. I don’t think this was even true in Acts. Acts is highlighting the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing to fruition the task given the disciples in Acts 1:8. The Holy Spirit had a critical role in this process, enlarging the disciples’ understanding of who the gospel was for, in understanding who Christ died for. Not just the Jews in Jerusalem. Not just them and the Samaritans. Not just them and horrible persecutors like Paul. Everyone! Even Gentiles! And in I Cor. 12 Paul makes it clear that tongues is just one of many different gifts of the Holy Spirit, and no gift of the Holy Spirit is given to everyone.

I don’t think the work of the Holy Spirit in Acts was even normative in Acts. Was laying of hands always required? No. The Gentiles showed signs of being filled just while Peter spoke to them. Was water baptism required to precede it? No. Again, the Gentiles had not been baptized with water (although they were afterwards – water baptism is something every believer should do as a step of obedience. It is not necessary for salvation or the accompanying experience of the Holy Spirit, but it is what you are supposed to do.)

The work of the Holy Spirit is not normative, because the Holy Spirit is like the wind. Even the name conveys this. But in Acts we see the Holy Spirit working with a single devoted purpose – to help spread the gospel. Jesus said this would happen, that the Holy Spirit would be a witness, just as the disciples were to be a witness. And this leads to my second question.

Is the work of the Holy Spirit seen in Acts absent today? That is, can we say that the Holy Spirit no longer does the kinds of miracles and works we saw in Acts? I think this answer to this is as absolutely NO as the answer to the first question. In the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, I have read of Christian believers staying outdoors, because their homes were not safe, coming together, sharing all they had, sharing the gospel, and singing songs praising God through the night. If that is not the work of the Holy Spirit, I don’t know what is. These guys have lost family members and friends. They have lost not only all their possessions, but they have lost their entire city. And yet some of them are filled with joy, praising God. That is an Acts-type work of the Spirit.

Talking with my friends who are missionaries, most from non-Charismatic backgrounds, I hear again and again stories of the Holy Spirit at work in ways similar to that in Acts. Again, it doesn’t happen to everyone; it isn’t normative, but it certainly isn’t absent. One of my friends was involved in an exorcism. Several have testimonies of local believers having dreams or visions of Jesus before coming to faith. Healings, and other works of the Holy Spirit are going on today.

I cannot tell you whether the Holy Spirit will work in these precise ways in your life. In future weeks we will talk about how the Holy Spirit is working and will work in your life if you are a believer. But as for these Acts-type experiences, I can tell you this: If you are not involved in spreading the gospel, you are not going to see the Spirit at work in this way. In Acts we see a single-mindedness of the Spirit to assist in spreading the gospel; first in Judea, then Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth. The gospel is everything! It is why Christ came to earth. It is why He allowed Himself to be crucified. It is why the Holy Spirit did all He did in Acts and why He does similar things today. Be about the gospel, and you can be assured that in one way or another, the very same Spirit who did all those things in Acts will be at work with you, helping you to continue to expand Christ’s kingdom.