Mark Chapter 1 Verse 8

• So as we looked at last week, Mark comes rushing out of the gates, almost excited to finally tell the story, to share the Gospel, the Good news of Jesus Christ and immediately he lands on a theological mystery. A fundamental of the faith. A subject that is eternally important yet many times spiritually misunderstood and misapplied.
• Mark writes here that John the Baptist came baptizing with water but Jesus would baptize folks with the Holy Spirit. And so the thought here, the mind picture if you will, think of water baptism. You stand there in the water and then you are fully immersed. Water all over you man. Every centimeter of your body, covered…in water. So what is Mark saying? Just as in water baptism you are covered…fully immersed in water, in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you are drenched man…fully immersed as the Spirit comes upon you.
• So is that the same as when the Holy Spirit enters your heart? When you open your heart to Him and to the truth of Jesus Christ? The truth about reality, existence, sin, eternity, salvation? Not the same. Is that a second salvation experience then? Do you have to be saved twice? Nope. You may be a little confused. It’s ok. Welcome to Christianity 101. Let me show you. I want to walk you through what the Bible teaches regarding the three-fold ministry of the Holy Spirit.
• Turn over to John Chapter 14. Jesus is comforting His crew. They are there together in the upper room at the final Passover Feast for Jesus, also known as the Last Supper. He’s just washed their feet, He’s just led them in communion. He’s just given them the new commandment to love…the greatest and only commandment that actually was ever given. And He’s telling them what is about to happen and they are messed up. They are concerned and so Jesus comforts them.
• So pick it up with me in verse 12. (Read to verse 16) So here we see a clear separation of the Father, the Son, and the Helper, or the Holy Spirit. Another subject that we will cover as we walk through the theological fundamentals of the faith, the Trinity, one God in three Persons. (Read verse 17)
• Jesus speaks here in the present tense and says, (back in verse 12), “I go to My Father, but at My request, My prayer, you will not be left alone, Another shows up as soon as I go.” (Which would be almost immediately. The next morning, Jesus would be dead, and so what Jesus says here, He says as if it’s right now, in the present tense because virtually…before anything else happens in the lives and ministries of the disciples, the Holy Spirit would be given.)
• So Jesus says that “the world” does not receive Him…not “it” but “Him.” Folks (wrongly) believe that the Holy Spirit is just that, a spirit that moves, that influences, that fills us with spiritual knowledge and feeling…and true-that but that’s not all…the Holy Spirit is a Person. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit, “Him.” See that? More on that later.
• Jesus says, “But you know Him, for He dwells with you (present tense) and will be in you (future tense).” See that? Here we have the first two ministries of the Holy Spirit. The first, we see it here, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit, He dwells with you. “Para” in the Greek. And you see the Holy Spirit is with us all. Not in us all. We haven’t gotten there yet. You gotta know this…you gotta see this…God doesn’t just love the saved man…those that love Him back…His heart is desperate for everyone! All of His children!
• From the most sinful, the most murderous, the most heinous, the most ridiculous…all the way to the most obedient, He loves each no differently…He shows no partiality the Bible teaches us…and so take the most precious and humble of saints and most malicious and evil of sinners and arrive at this truth…God the Father loves them the same. The variation is in man, not in God. God does not change and that is one primary reason why limited atonement and irresistible grace must be rejected as false doctrine. This thought that God only died for those that would love Him and oh by the way, man has no capacity for variation because grace cannot be resisted…false doctrine.
• God died for the sins of the world…saved and unsaved. The problem is that some men simply cling to their sin like their prized possession and disallow God to cleanse them. The debt is paid, yet they hold onto the promissory note. Grace is resisted all the time man…and yet the Holy Spirit is with all men…para…always pointing them to the truth, always pleading with them to wake up and come to Jesus…using people like you to come alongside them and tell them what Jesus has done…tell them how much they are loved man…
• And the Holy Spirit is always with…para…the believer. Strengthening, teaching, correcting, rebuking, assuring and reminding us of who we are…we are other…man not of this world…something else…saved, redeemed, washed clean and empowering us to do the “greater works” that Jesus spoke about in John 12.
• God said twice in Deuteronomy 31 that He would NEVER leave us or forsake us. God said it again and again in Joshua 1, 1 Kings 8, 1 Chronicles 28, Psalms 37 and 94, Isaiah 41 and 42 and Hebrews 13…Jesus said, “behold, I am with you until the end of the age…” You know what, He meant it. The first ministry of the Holy Spirit is to dwell with men…all men…even though the world cannot receive Him, He still dwells with them…why? Because the Father loves them man…
• Well does that mean that all men are saved? No. Now we get to the second ministry of the Holy Spirit. Jesus described it in the future tense there in John Chapter 14…look again with me at verse 17…
• “…and will be in you.” So we’ve gone from para in the Greek, or “with you,” to en in the Greek or “in you.” If you’re a Christian this morning, prior to your conversion, the Holy Spirit was with you. It was the Holy Spirit who convicted you of your sin. It was the Holy Spirit who revealed Jesus Christ to you as the One who could take care of your sins. It was the Holy Spirit that convinced you to accept Jesus as your Lord. And the minute you accepted Jesus as the Lord of your life, the Holy Spirit came into you and began to indwell you. No longer with, no longer para, but now inside, en.
• “Ok so when He was with me, He pointed me to truth, showed me my sin, pleaded with me to choose Jesus…now what’s He up to?” Now He’s doing something about it! Still pointing you to truth, still revealing sin, still pleading moment to moment for you to choose Jesus in every aspect of your life man but He has utterly up-rooted the seed of sin in your very essence, your heart, and you are something new! Once you open your heart to truth then the Bible says that you are in Christ and He is in you! 2 Cor 5:17! You’re a new creation. All things have passed away, all things have become new!
• The Holy Spirit within begins to clean up shop man. Prepare you for every good work. Show you and teach you reality from a behind the eyes perspective…knowledge fused with wisdom and faith…and ultimately preparing you for the Groom, Jesus Christ!
• No longer ears faintly hearing truth, but now eyes open man…(real – eyes, homonym with realize!)…heart filled with the presence of God…a spirit in comms with the Commander man…and hope, joy and reality as the very bedrock of your being! Being saved is the junx man! No longer tossed to and fro by the winds of the day…no longer ruled by your emotions and lusts…closeness with and consciousness of Jesus Christ, God on High all of the time…not perfect, by any means...but…home.
• Think of home for a minute. Nice lawn maybe, nice front door maybe. Got that home smell. Now, take away your family. Still home? Not at all! Now I hate the place! It is a place of pain. It is a place of powerful sorrow. Why? Because that building was never home in the first place! April was always home man! She is my home. If I am with her in in Texas…I’m home. If I am with her in Virginia, I’m home…and she happens to live in the same building as me and so that is my home. Has nothing to do with the construction of the materials and everything to do with the construction of the hands of the King. The Holy Spirit, once inside of you, brings you home. Back to Dad…where you belong and where every person longs to be….
• We see this literally in John Chapter 20. Turn over to John 20 and look with me at verses 21 and 22. Jesus is resurrected. Just a week prior the Disciples were strolling through the middle streets of the city, taking donkeys and stuff man…bold. Why? The Leader was with them! And now look at them. All huddled up hiding…verse 19 there in John 20 says that they were assembled behind closed doors scared…
• Jesus shows up…breathes on them and we see the Holy Spirit received! That word received in the Greek also means to apprehend, to obtain, to catch it man…and so the Holy Spirit, now He enters into them and look…now they are able to operate with wisdom…this bit about forgiving and retaining…doesn’t make them a special breed of sin forgiverers…only God is able to forgive sin! That's why folks got all up in arms when Jesus forgave sins because they knew He was making Himself equal with God! Duh, He is God!!! Second Person of the Trinity…which we’ll cover next week…
• No this statement by Jesus is a statement of wisdom man…”from here on out you will see things as they are...you will know when one has repented and their sin has been forgiven and you will know when sin remains…how? You’ll see it man (real-eyes)! The Holy Spirit in your heart will uncover it like washed hands on a kid.
• You ever have your kid run in the bathroom and 12 seconds later they run out? And what do you yell? “Hey, did you wash your hands?” Which means, “Hey, sinner…you didn’t wash your hands!!” HA! How did you know? Duh. 12 seconds ain’t enough time…2+2=4…see your spiritual math is a mess when you’re not saved…you can’t even pronounce numbers…but with the wisdom of God residing, dwelling, thriving in your heart…man spiritual calculus is child’s play!? If there is love, patience, kindness, service, worship, gentleness, humility, brokenness…2+2=4…receive that one for they have received forgiveness. If there is self-seeking and emotions raging and lust for themselves and well, the inverse of all the other stuff…even a hint man…then look, retain their sins and work with them towards repentance…
• Jesus is speaking of wisdom here. Why? The very Spirit of God, God Himself has entered their hearts. Receive the Holy Spirit. The first ministry is para…He is always with us…will never leave us nor forsake us…the second ministry is en…He comes inside of us at the moment of salvation…as we become clean, washed, new and absolutely enlightened to eternity and communication, communion and relationship with the Father is restored through the sufficient and atoning and precious blood of Jesus Christ Who’s sacrifice made a way for my sin to be forgiven…but yet there remains one ministry to cover…because notice, what then happened to the disciples?
• Verse 26 of John 20. After eight days His disciples again…inside, doors locked…eight days not worthy to be spoken of…eight days of hearts enlightened, eyes open…yet eight days possibly wasted…and then verse 3 of Chapter 21…Peter goes fishing and takes the others with him and what do they catch? NADA! Wasted time, wasted time, wasted time! What’s missing?
• Turn over to Acts, Chapter 1. There in verse 4. Jesus says wait…do not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the Promise of the Father? What dat do dat, Jesus? We have already received the Holy Spirit, see Jesus its right here in John 20…what is this promise?   Or maybe better stated…Who is this promise? Jesus answers…look at verse 5…
• Zinger! Mark talks about it! (Mark Chapter 1 Verse 8) Matthew talks about it! (Matthew Chapter 3 Verse 11) John talks about it! (John Chapter 1 Verse 33) Luke talks about it! (Luke Chapter 3 Verse 16) About what? The baptism of the Holy Spirit! And what does Jesus do here? Props up His homies…quotes ‘em all! And yet, Jesus explains. Look at verse 8.
• UPON! New word! Epi in the Greek. Now we have para, with, en, in and now epi, upon! And notice…what tense? FUTURE! Jesus says, “you shall, you shall!” Awesome! It’s so clear! The third ministry of the Holy Spirit is that He comes upon believers! And then….POWER! WITNESSES! The world can’t contain us man! It knows nothing of this home-people!!! (Home boys and girls!) This word, power is dynamis in the Greek, where we get the word Dynamite from…BOOM! The promise delivered…not just wisdom, joy, peace, stillness…that could leave us locked in a room with 8 wasted days, 8 wasted years, 8 wasted church families, 8 wasted jobs, 8 wasted opportunities…but BOOM, power and then life, your life…witnesses to Jesus man…
• Shortly after this we find the corporate church born in Acts Chapter 2. The disciples alone now comprise the church but man it’s about to spread like I Am Legend…and as the Holy Spirit falls on all of them…there is a major change in them. Peter becomes bolder than ever…preaching in front of thousands and appearing remarkably powerful in front of the Sanhedrin…when just a few weeks ago…a little peasant girl freaked him out. The disciples flourish…thousands are saved…why? The Power has arrived….
• Not a second salvation experience. Not at all. There are many out there saved and shut up into their upper rooms…for fear of the Jews…But man God wants to use you, He wants to bless you, He wants to show forth His power, love, and glory through you, but first…you must be a willing vessel. How do you bring about the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Simple, you ask. Pray for Him to fall upon you…to unleash you…to free you man…to give you a NEED for the Word….a NEED to share your faith….a NEED to deny yourself and minister man…a NEED to serve…a NEED to be lesser than others…
• Some of you just said…hold up…I’m not really wanting to ask for that…precisely! Many will ask, few will have hearts that are not conflicted man…and the best way to prepare your own heart is to walk in faith. Do the things that honor and please God. Serve in the tough spots. Go to the hospitals. You’re your tongue from speaking evil of those who are even worthy of slander…Talk to your friends about their need for Jesus and not about their need to recount the Broncos game…and watch your heart be made ready…and then BOOM…Power. Epi. Not para, not en, epi.
• And so if you don’t know, now you know. The threefold ministry of the Holy Spirit…cliff notes style…Christianity 101 style…in Jesus name!