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May 25, 2025

Holy Spirit Homecoming

Passage: Acts 1:1-8

Preacher: John Repsold

Series: Holy Spirit in Acts

Keywords: holy spirit, baptism, filling, gifting, kingdom of david

Summary:

The book of Acts has more references to the Holy Spirit than any other New Testament book...by a wide margin. This new short series seeks to unpack why that is and what Acts has to teach us about the Holy Spirit and our relationship to Him. This message looks at the role of Israel in the Holy Spirit age now and what the difference is between baptism, filling and gifting in the Holy Spirit.

Detail:

Holy Spirit Homecoming

Acts 1:1-8—Series on The Holy Spirit & the Church

May 25, 2025

Fellowship Question:  Tell someone about one prophecy or promise of Scripture that you are still looking forward to God fulfilling.

INTRO: With Memorial Day upon us, the whole country is aware that summer is about to begin.  Millions of students are already counting the days until school is out for the summer.  Most of us can well remember the anticipation we had as children for the arrival of summer.  Summer meant sleeping in, or no homework, or perhaps the anticipation of hitting the road with the family for a special summer vacation. 

            There is something special about anticipation.  Being able to look forward to an event that’s been promised, knowing that it is going to be better than the regular routine we’ve been experiencing, is one of life’s sweet joys.  It’s as if God has wired into the rhythm of life regular reminders that there are divine promises yet to be fulfilled that God wants us to keep longing for. 

            Last week we finished up our study of the Gospel of Mark.  The Disciples were in the midst of the 40-days post-resurrection but pre-ascension when Jesus was confirming his victory over sin, death and the grave to hundreds of people. 

            Put yourself in the sandals of those hundreds of followers of Jesus who now coming to grips with the fact that God’s plan for history obviously held things they had not anticipated or understood. They had clearly believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah.  They had been convinced by his teachings and miracles that God had sent their Savior, as promised, and that the Kingdom was clearly at hand.  And they were coming to grips with the fact that it had not exactly unfolded as they had anticipated.  The rejection of Jesus by the national leaders, his failure/unwillingness to take charge nationally, his crucifixion, death and now surprising resurrection had all been completely unexpected. 

            It was as if they had been anticipating a national summer vacation to Disneyland and instead found themselves driving down the freeway in the opposite direction…towards Alaska! 

            It’s in this in-between time that all of Jesus followers now found themselves.  This is precisely where the story of the book of Acts picks up.  Jesus’ followers are still trying to figure out what all this means.  They are trying to make sense of the promises of God they all knew from their youth about a triumphant Messiah with the reality of their crucified-and-now-resurrected Messiah.  The anticipated “summer vacation” was definitely not unfolding as they had envisioned. 

            So, let’s pick it up in the first 8 verses of Acts. For the next few weeks, I want us to take a look at what God is doing in the church, specifically in the 3rd Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. 

            There is no book in the N.T. that has more references to the person and work of the Holy Spirit than the book of Acts. Of the nearly 100 references to the Holy Spirit in the N.T., more than 40% of them occur in Acts.  That clearly has a lot to tell us about what God is up to during the church age in which you and I still find ourselves living.  To be ignorant or even disinterested about what the Holy Spirit has been and is up to in the church for the past 2,000 years is to miss so much of what God wants us to experience right now. 

Acts 1:1-8—Dr. Luke writes this continuation of the Gospel of Luke:

 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 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. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 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.”

While I’ll work in reverse on what this passage teaches, there are 2 main issues Luke brings up in these verses about the Holy Spirit:

  1. The teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit.
  2. The baptism/gift of the Holy Spirit.

We’ll only get to #2—the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  But first I want us to see the importance of the little question Jesus’ disciples ask Jesus in the context of Jesus preparing them for a whole new experience of life together in the Holy Spirit.  It has to do with the Kingdom that is yet to be restored to Israel…and why it matters.

For today, let’s start with the question the apostles still have rolling around in their heads about “the kingdom” promised to Israel.  They are experiencing the resurrected Lord Jesus.  They have had multiple encounters with Him.  They know that much has changed:

  • Jesus comes and goes as he chooses.
  • He appears in locked rooms out of the blue…and disappears in the blink of an eye while sharing dinner.
  • His body still carries the wounds of the crucifixion…yet he is completely healthy, whole and powerful.
  • He can be present yet virtually unrecognizable…
  • Or he can be recognizable to hundreds of people.

If you were still hoping, as you had been for the past 3+ years, that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the deliverer the prophets of old had foretold, wouldn’t NOW be the best time you had ever seen in your lifetime for God to reestablish the kingdom promised to Israel?  After all, a Messiah that has just conquered death as no one in human history had done, who couldn’t be silenced by a crucifixion, who couldn’t be kept locked in a tomb guarded even by Roman soldiers—surely this person was the frequently promised and long-awaited Messiah that would finally bring in the promised Kingdom. 

            While Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit, they are still thinking about those 12 thrones Jesus had promised not long ago that they would sit on and judge the world (Mt. 19:28):

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

So they ask, 6 “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”

The Apostles are asking about the multiple prophetic promises in the Old Testament about a restored national kingdom that will never end and dominate the whole earth.  So for those of you who are interested in biblical prophecy, you should love what Jesus says here. 

First, the Apostles do not believe (rightly or wrongly) that the resurrection of Jesus and the promise of the Holy Spirit to come in any way undermines the O.T. prophetic promises about a world-wide, dominant, Jewish kingdom. 

Someone might contend that they simply still had it all wrong by not understanding that Jesus was now instituting a world-wide kingdom through this new thing called “the Church”, a spiritual kingdom set up in the hearts of people that would take the place of Israel.  BUT, there are multiple problems with that idea.  Let me point out a few and tell you WHY it matters. 

IF the Apostles were still completely missing the boat on the plan of God for history, this question was the perfect time to educate and set straight His disciples.  But that is not what Jesus does at all.  Instead, he affirms their belief in the Kingdom yet to be restored “to Israel.”  He doesn’t say, “Oh, let me tell you how that idea of a national kingdom is being replaced by a new plan for an international kingdom called the Church.”  No, he affirms that, in fact, there will be “times or dates” when the Father will, by His authority, do just what they are still hoping for.  They will not know in their lifetimes when that is.  But the Father has, by his authority, set a day when it will happen. 

Before we look at why that matters, let me simply refer you to a couple of the O.T. promises/prophecies the Apostle’s based their question on.  All of this rests solidly on the covenant promises made to David and his offspring in places like 2 Samuel 7 & 1 Chronicles 17.  (You can also find them in Psalm 89, Isaiah 9:6,9; Jeremiah 23:5-8; 30:8-10; 33:14-17; Ezekiel 37:22-25; Hosea 3:4,5; & Amos 9:11, 15.)  Let’s just look at 2 of those passages for now. 

1 Chronicles 17—In response to David’s desire to build the Lord a Temple in Jerusalem, God gives a message to Nathan the prophet to tell David.  Here is the part that promises not just a Temple but a kingdom, a land and a reign that, even to this day, has not yet been completely fulfilled. 

Now I will make your name like the names of the greatest men on earth. 9 And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning 10 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also subdue all your enemies.

“‘I declare to you that the Lord will build a house for you: 11 When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor. 14 I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.’”

God reaffirms this promise through Jeremiah some 400 years later, when the nation is facing captivity and expulsion from the very land God had promised. 

Jeremiah 23:5 “I, the Lord, promise that a new time will certainly come when I will raise up for them a righteous branch, a descendant of David.  He will rule over them with wisdom and understanding and will do what is just and right in the land. 6 Under his rule Judah will enjoy safety and Israel will live in security. This is the name he will go by: ‘The Lord has provided us with justice.’ 7 “So I, the Lord, say: ‘A new time will certainly come. People now affirm their oaths with, “I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.” 8 But at that time they will affirm them with, “I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the descendants of the former nation of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them.” At that time they will live in their own land.’” 

30:8 When the time for them to be rescued comes,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will rescue you from foreign subjugation. I will deliver you from captivity. Foreigners will then no longer subjugate them. 9 But they will be subject to the Lord their God and to the Davidic ruler whom I will raise up as king over them. 10 So I, the Lord, tell you not to be afraid, you descendants of Jacob, my servants. Do not be terrified, people of Israel. For I will rescue you and your descendants from a faraway land where you are captives. The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace. They will be secure, and no one will terrify them. 

33:14 “I, the Lord, affirm: ‘The time will certainly come when I will fulfill my gracious promise concerning the nations of Israel and Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will raise up for them a righteous descendant of David. “‘He will do what is just and right in the land. 16 Under his rule Judah will enjoy safety and Jerusalem will live in security. At that time Jerusalem will be called “The Lord has provided us with justice.” 17 For I, the Lord, promise: “David will never lack a successor to occupy the throne over the nation of Israel. [NET Bible]

            We could spend the rest of the morning looking at the N.T. passages that confirm these promises and assure us that, in fact, there is still a future reestablishment of the Davidic kingdom and rule that will bless the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in a measure never yet fulfilled in history. 

New Testament confirmation is found in such major passages as Luke 1:30-33; Matthew 19:28; 20:20-23; Luke 22:29, 30; Acts 1:6; 15:14-18; and the climactic prophecy of Revelation 20.

All of this depends upon a literal interpretation of these promises, both Old and New Testament.  I will tell you that large swaths of Christendom reject not only a literal fulfillment of these promises but consequently any idea of a restored Israel and future actual messianic kingdom rule over the earth.  These are what are known as the amillennial and post-millennial beliefs about the end times and reign of Jesus. 

How do they do that?  In my opinion, by abandoning a consistent grammatical, historical, literal interpretation.  While they normally demand that of most passages of Scripture, when it comes to these and many other passages about Israel and David’s throne yet unfulfilled, they simply choose to see them as fulfilled spiritually or figuratively, not literally. 

While we don’t have time today to examine the massive arguments for literal interpretation of these promises, they form a proper basis for the fulfillment of this covenant in the future. One of the classes that we will be offering come next fall/year will tackle why this literal understanding of these prophetic passages is to be preferred.  That plan of God still promises a future program for Israel that involves a restored nation, a restored Davidic kingdom, a time of great tribulation, all to be followed by blessing in the millennial reign of Christ and ultimate enjoyment of the eternal state in the New Jerusalem. 

So, why am I talking such pains today to point this out?  Three really important reasons:

  • The anti-Semitic, even murderous and racist attacks against Jewish people and the modern state of Israel that is going on all over our own country and the world right now is a Satanic attack against these promises of God and the plan of God for both Jews and Gentiles alike. While all Christians may and should stand against murder and genocide anywhere, the theology called “Replacement Theology” that sees the Church as spiritually and figuratively replacing these promises made to the Jewish people, allows for the destruction of the nation-state of Israel and, by extension, the subjugation and possible elimination of the Jewish people.  The Church must not be silent about this.  But too many churches are today.  And most of them are churches that have abandoned the belief in a literal fulfillment of these promises and passages I’ve cited. 

NOTE:  That doesn’t mean that everything Israel today does is right or good.  We are free to argue about how Israel is prosecuting the war against those who have been calling for their annihilation for the past 75 years.  What we are not free to do biblically is be silent or even supportive of those who want their annihilation.  If that offends you, lets sit down and study these Scriptures and why they should be taken very literally.  If I’m wrong in doing that, I need to be shown.  If those who reject that literal understanding are wrong, they also need to be shown.  IF we are both wrong to some degree, that kind of dialogue and study should benefit us both. 

  • There is a danger in moving away from the most literal interpretation of God’s word possible. I’m not saying that every passage or genre of literature in the Bible must be interpreted literally.  Some of them should not be.  If you take the 10-week course we’ll be offering annually, you will see why and how. 

But if we start spiritualizing away promises His people have held onto for centuries, it potentially undermines other large swaths of God’s promises in our lives.  And it robs us of the grandeur of the miraculous future God has promised to us, a future that is utterly impossible apart from a miracle-working God.  And that is precisely the nature of the Holy Spirit which we are called to believe in and surrender to in the book of Acts.

  • The promise of the Holy Spirit to the church is directly linked to the not-yet fulfillment of the promised Kingdom the Apostles were asking about. So this has everything to do with our study of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s end today with the 2nd mention of the Holy Spirit in this passage, what Jesus called “the baptism or gift of the Holy Spirit” in vss. 4-5.   4 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. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

If I haven’t offended enough of you today with my comments about the nation of Israel, I’m going to run and even greater risk of offending some of you in this discussion of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  I’m not doing this because I’m in an offensive mood today.  I’m doing it because I care about fidelity and accuracy in handling the Word of God.  

The term “baptism of the Holy Spirit” has come to be used synonymously in the 20th century church with speaking in tongues. And speaking in tongues has also been confused with “being filled with the Holy Spirit.”  Biblically speaking, those two things (baptism and filling) are demonstrably different.  I would contend that both of them are also different than “speaking in tongues.”  Before you write me off as a heretic, hear me out and look diligently at a couple of passages.  Then we can see why this matters too. 

Biblical passages about being “baptized in/with the Holy Spirit”:

  • Acts 1:5--For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
  • Acts 10: 44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.  Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.”
  • Acts 11:16—[Peter explains what happened at Cornelius’ house, the Gentiles.] Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
  • 1 Corinthians 12:13--For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

The traditional historical position of the church has been, for nineteen centuries, that Spirit baptism refers to salvation when Christ, through the agency of God’s Spirit, places believer into the body of Christ.  In it, we become part of the body of believers called the church and Christ becomes our head. 

            The Pentecostal position that began essentially in the 20th century, sees Spirit baptism as a second experience after salvation.  It is taken directly from essentially two examples in the Acts narrative when the Spirit fell on believers and they spoke in tongues.  That happened both at Pentecost (Acts 2:4) and later with Cornelius & household in Acts 10-11 and 12 people in Ephesus in Acts 19:6. 

            There are, in my opinion, several problems with that position.  Many of them, again, relate directly to correctly handling or interpreting God’s word.  Here are a couple of examples.

  • The book of Acts is what we call “narrative literature.” Narratives are not meant to be prescriptive but descriptive. They are meant to tell us what happened, not tell us how things should be or even what they mean.

When doctrines are made out of narratives, it’s a dangerous way to study the Bible. Professing Christians who believe in polygamy—a husband having multiple wives—take their proof from historical narratives, like the stories of Abraham, Jacob, and David. However, the authors of those narratives meant for them to be descriptive of what happened, not of what should have happened or what should be modeled.

  • From a hermeneutical standpoint, doctrinal books like the Epistles are meant for forming doctrines. In 1 Corinthians 12:13, Paul explains what happened at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell on believers. God, through the Holy Spirit, was forming the body of Christ. Paul said to the Corinthians that “all” of them had been baptized in the Spirit (12:13), yet he also shared that not all of them spoke in tongues, which historical Pentecostals believe is the enduring sign of the baptism (12:30).
  • The Pentecostal view actually teaches the opposite of what happens in the baptism in the Spirit. The baptism unifies all believers into one body. The classic Pentecostal view divides the body into baptized and non-baptized believers (or “filled” and “unfilled” believers, as some call them).
  • Finally, if the Pentecostal view is correct—that believers need to seek a second baptism—there would certainly be at least one command in Scripture to seek the baptism of the Spirit? But there isn’t. Believers are called to be “filled with the Spirit” (Eph 5:18). However, the verb for “filled” is present tense. It’s a continual experience we must pursue of being empowered and controlled by God. 

I think the more biblical position is that baptism in/with the Holy Spirit happens to every true believer at conversion.  If you are “in Christ” you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit by Jesus himself. 

So, let’s end with 4 (of many) BLESSINGS baptism in the Holy Spirit brings to us.

  • Baptism in the Holy Spirit has given us a new identity.
    1. Because of this baptism, Paul refers to the new identity of believers as “a new creation” “in Christ.” In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul said, “So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away—look, what is new has come!” Immersion in and identity with the Holy Spirit puts us “in Christ” in ways that impact every part of our lives.
    2. Because we are in Christ, we’re no longer condemned sinners but adopted sons and daughters. Colossians 1: 21 “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.”   
  • Baptism in the Holy Spirit has given us a new position and authority. Ephesians 1:3 says, “Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ.” And, according to Ephesians 2:6, because we are “in Christ,” we have every blessing in heavenly places.  “And he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.” 

This is what we talked about last week—this authority given us to push back the gates of hell, to share the life-changing power and words of God that bring healing of all kinds, to speak their language in ways that expose them to the wonders of God at work in us. 

  • Baptism in the Holy Spirit has given us a new family unity. Galatians 3:28 says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female—for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”  Despite are very different histories, educations, ethnicities, cultures, experiences, socio-economic positions, our baptism in the Holy Spirit is the glue that brings us, binds us and holds us together. When we are walking in the Spirit, there is not division, tension or discord.  There is one amazing, godly, blessed family.
  • Baptism in the Holy Spirit has given us new abilities and capacities. 1 Corinthians 12-14 and Romans 12 (vs. 6) and 1 Peter 4 (vs. 10) all remind us that our baptism in the Holy Spirit has also give to every one of us gifts that make us something we never were before.  Those gifts enable every one of us to be a blessing to each other in ways we couldn’t before.  Those gifts actually change who we are and what we have to give to each other. 

QUESTIONS?

Q:  Have you been baptized with the Holy Spirit, i.e. believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord?  (Call to faith in Jesus.)

Next week we’ll spend more time talking about why the Holy Spirit in Acts is so often mentioned in conjunction with POWER.  We’ll look at what that power really is…and isn’t…and how God wants us to experience the Holy Spirit’s power.