P.M. Sermon
Spring Hill, TN
3/11/07 p.m.
Series: “Discovering the Holy Spirit” (Pt. 8)
Text: Acts 8:5-24
Summary: In PART 8, we explore the different measures of the Holy Spirit that have been “poured out” with special emphasis on the miraculous gifts associated with the Holy Spirit. (A helpful resource from which I gained considerable insight in this sermon was Jack Cottrell’s book The Faith Once for All pages 297-304).
“The Holy Spirit and Miraculous Gifts (Part 1)”
Introduction:
A. The Holy Spirit in Prophesy:
1. Old Testament prophesy had predicted that God would pour out His Spirit upon “all mankind” as a gift of regeneration and sanctification within man’s soul.
2. Jesus spoke of this gift in terms of being like “rivers of living water” flowing within a follower’s innermost being (John 7:37-39).
3. But this “gift” of the Spirit that would be promised to all believers (cf. Acts 2:38-39) would be accompanied by a visible manifestation of the Spirit’s presence confirming that reality (Joel 2:28; Acts 1:4-8; 2:3-4).
B. The Holy Spirit and Pentecost:
1. This visible manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s presence engulfed (“baptized”) the Apostles and they received a miraculous measure of the Spirit enabling them to perform supernatural acts (Acts 2:4). Cornelius’ household received a similar “baptism” at their own “Gentile Pentecost” (Acts 11:15).
2. The audience of Peter’s sermon were promised the “gift of the Holy Spirit” upon their obedience (Acts 2:38).
3. Three-thousand people responded to the sermon and thus received the promised gift of the Spirit’s presence within their innermost beings, yet we do not read of these converts possessing any miraculous abilities (see Acts 2:39-47). These new converts received the normal (non-miraculous) measure of the Spirit’s presence in their lives.
4. Peter explains in his sermon (Acts 2:14-39) that the tongues and prophesy received by the Apostles (and predicted by Joel) were merely visible proof of a much more wonderful gift.
5. The miraculous measure of the Spirit received by the Apostles was merely the “wrapping on the package” of a much more wondrous “gift” to be received by all who obey—that of the Spirit’s continual presence within the obedient Christian’s life (Cottrell 299).
6. In this lesson we are going to focus upon the miraculous measure of the Holy Spirit received by the Apostles and how these abilities were transferred to others.
I. VARIOUS MEASURES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
A. Unlimited Measure (Christ Only)
1. When Jesus left heaven to come to earth and be born of woman, he “emptied himself” of certain rights and privileges of being divine (Philippians 2:6-7).
2. As Jesus grew as a little boy in Nazareth, he knew the limitations of being human and had to “grow in wisdom” (Luke 2:52).
3. But around the age of thirty (cf. Luke 3:23), Jesus was baptized by John and the Holy Spirit came upon him (Luke 2:22).
4. At this point, Jesus apparently receives the Spirit “without measure” (cf. John 3:34).
5. Having been given the “Spirit without measure” by the Father, Jesus is now able to perform the first of many miracles (John 2:11).
6. Jesus seems to be the only person that is given the unlimited measure of the Holy Spirit.
B. Immersion in the Spirit (Apostles, Cornelius’ House)
1. As we discussed at length in the previous lesson, there are only two instances of individuals being “baptized (immersed) with the Holy Spirit” in Scripture: (1) the Apostles at Pentecost (Acts 2), and (2) Cornelius’ household (Acts 10).
2. The context of the event in Cornelius’ house (Acts 10-11) demonstrates that the purpose of the baptism of the Spirit here was to establish the fact that the Gentiles were to be a part of the church (Acts 11:17-18).
3. But the immersion into the Spirit of the Apostles, (Acts 2) was to provide the means by which the Apostles could build the foundation of the church (Eph. 2:20).
4. The Apostles were endowed with miraculous abilities with their baptism into the Spirit, abilities that would confirm the legitimacy of their message to all those that would hear (cf. Mark 16:20).
C. Apostolic Measure (Those Upon Whom Apostles Laid Hands)
1. It is important to notice that when the Apostles were immersed into the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, the result was miraculous abilities (Acts 2:4).
2. Yet, even though Peter’s audience was promised the “gift of the Holy Spirit” upon their obedience (Acts 2:38), none of those who responded are described as exercising miraculous abilities.
3. Apparently, the “gift of the Holy Spirit” promised to all converts is a non-miraculous measure of the Spirit, which differs from the “immersion” into the Spirit that the Apostles received.
4. In fact, the first that we read of a non-Apostle performing any miraculous acts after Pentecost is Stephen who “was performing wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:8).
5. It is important to note, however, that Stephen only received this power after the apostles had “laid their hands” on him (Acts 6:6).
6. There will be more said of this “Apostolic Measure” of the Spirit in the third point.
D. Normal Baptismal Measure (Received by All Converts)
1. Though non-miraculous, there is a “normal measure” of the Holy Spirit that is promised to the Pentecost audience (Acts 2:38).
2. Not only is this promise of the “gift of the Holy Spirit” made to the immediate audience, but Peter states that it is a promise, “for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself” (Acts 2:39).
3. It is this normal measure of the Spirit dwelling within the Christian that Paul spoke of, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own” (1 Cor. 6:19).
4. We will have an entire lesson in this series devoted to this measure of the Holy Spirit.
Next, we will move to the purpose of miracles. By a careful study of the text of the Bible, we discover that miracles had the specific purpose of confirming the identity of God’s messengers and the legitimacy of their message.
II. THE PURPOSE OF MIRACLES
A. Prove Christ’s Divinity (John 20:30-31)
1. Jesus did not come to earth on a humanitarian mission to feed the hungry of the world and preach a social gospel.
2. Although Jesus did heal many who were sick and infirmed (Mark 1:34), this was not the primary focus of his work (cf. Luke 19:10).
3. Neither did Jesus perform miracles for the purpose of soliciting belief in him, per say. At times Jesus refused to perform miracles precisely because people did not believe in him (Matt. 16:1ff).
4. The purpose of Jesus miracles was to prove his identity as God’s spokesman and to confirm that his message was from the Father.
5. The Apostle John states that this was the purpose of Jesus’ signs (John 20:30-31).
6. Additionally, this passage indicates that a record of these signs were “written” as a final proof of Jesus’ identity—implying that no further miraculous proofs would be given.
B. Verify a True Apostle (2 Cor. 12:12)
1. With their immersion into the Holy Spirit (Acts 2), the Apostles were given miraculous abilities for the same purpose.
2. Miraculous signs and wonders would be performed by the Apostles to demonstrate their true identity as Apostles of Christ and the authenticity of their message.
3. Paul states that this is the purpose of the Apostles ability to perform miracles, “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles” (2 Cor. 12:12).
4. Miraculous abilities were the “calling card” of a true Apostle, as they went about building the “foundation” of the church (Eph. 2:20).
5. Once the foundation was laid, the Apostles would have no successors (1 Cor. 4:9).
6. Once the church was firmly established in the first century, the message would be passed forward by faithful men (2 Tim. 2:2).
7. There would be no further need for miracles to confirm Apostles once the Apostles’ work was complete.
C. Confirm God’s Word (Hebrews 2:1-4; cf. Mark 16:20)
1. The Hebrew writer affirms that the message of salvation was “confirmed” by those who first heard it. Once a message has been confirmed, it does not need further confirmation.
2. The Hebrew writer states, “After it (the great salvation) was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will” (Heb. 2:3-4).
3. The purpose of miraculous signs and wonders was ultimately to confirm that the message preached was actually the message of God.
4. Once the truthfulness of God’s Word had been firmly established, there would be no further need for confirmation of it by miracles.
In the final point, we will focus upon the Apostolic Measure of the Holy Spirit and how that miraculous abilities were passed from the Apostles to others within the Early Church.
III. TRANSFERENCE OF THE MIRACULOUS MEASURE
A. Converts Do Not Receive Miraculous Measure
1. In Acts 8, Philip goes down to the city of Samaria and begins preaching the word of God (Acts 8:5).
2. The crowds listen attentively to his message knowing it is a message from God because of the “signs which he was performing” (Acts 8:6).
3. A man of Samaria named Simon had been misleading the people with cheap parlor tricks, but everyone realized how different Philips’s real signs were compared with Simon’s tricks (Acts 8:9-12).
4. Even Simon himself was convinced by the authenticity of Philip’s message and the miracles that accompanied it (Acts 8:13).
5. Apparently, those that believed in Samaria received the normal baptismal measure of the Spirit at their baptism, but the focus of this entire chapter is clearly upon the miraculous measure of the Holy Spirit.
B. Miraculous Gifts Only Received by Hands of an Apostle
1. The Holy Spirit (in a miraculous measure) had not yet come upon any of the believers (Acts 8:16).
2. Although Philip had the ability to perform miracles, he was apparently unable to pass the gift on to anyone in Samaria.
3. As a result, it was necessary for two apostles (Peter and John) to come down from Jerusalem and lay their hands upon them so that they would receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:17).
4. Simon observed this event and came to realize that the Spirit (miraculous abilities) was bestowed upon others by the laying on of the apostles’ hands (Acts 8:18).
5. Simon then requested that he be given the authority that upon whomever he laid his hands they might receive the Spirit (Acts 8:19).
6. Simon is harshly rebuked for this request. This role was one that not even Philip possessed; it was the exclusive role of the Apostles.
7. From our study thus far we have discovered that miraculous abilities were only given to people either by (1) baptism of the Holy Spirit (apostles, and Cornelius’ house) or (2) by the laying on of an Apostle’s hand.
8. In the first place, immersion into the Spirit only occurred in two instances for specific purposes, and in the second there are no living Apostles’ today that may continue to transfer miraculous abilities.
C. Miraculous Gifts in the Early Church
1. Yet, in the early church miraculous abilities were often transferred to Christians within local churches by the traveling Apostles.
2. Paul gave Timothy miraculous gifts to confirm his preaching (2 Tim. 1:6). When Paul gave Timothy this ability it was bestowed through prophetic utterance and was accompanied by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery in some type of confirmation (1 Tim. 4:14).
3. Christians within local congregations were given miraculous abilities by Apostles such as: miraculous wisdom, miraculous knowledge, miraculous faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, different types of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues (1 Cor. 12:7-10).
4. These were not given simply for an individuals use, but were given “for the common good” of the early church (1 Cor. 12:7).
5. Still in its infancy, the church needed direct help from God to develop into a maturity (Eph. 4:11-16).
6. Paul affirms that when the church became mature, there would no longer be a need for these miraculous gifts (1 Cor. 13:8-13) [More detail on this in the next lesson].
Conclusion:
A. In summary, the Holy Spirit has been given throughout the Christian age in various measures.
B. Miracles had a specific purpose in God’s plan: to confirm his spokesmen and his message.
C. The miraculous apostolic measure of the Spirit was only transferred by the laying on of the Apostles hands to other people and was done so to help establish the growing church in its infancy.
D. We will continue this same discussion in the next lesson: “The Holy Spirit and Miraculous Gifts, Part 2.”
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