No Second-Class Christians

Acts 10 and the Question of Second-Class Christians

I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and open them with me to Acts chapter 10, and find your way there to verse 44. If you've been with us the last few weeks, you know that in our message last Sunday, I concluded our exposition of Acts chapter 10, at least I thought I had, and I felt pretty confident that today I would be moving on to chapter 11.

And we've been doing, not a verse-by-verse study, but we've been looking sort of chapter-by-chapter at the book of Acts, and some of the passages which are relevant to evangelism. The series that we're in, the larger series, is called Beyond Our Borders, the goal of taking the gospel outside the church, into the community, and ultimately into the world.

And as I concluded last week's message, I mentioned toward the end, I said, well, I have more to say on this, but it was time to conclude the message, so I concluded it. And as I was leaving, one of our elders, Brother Byron, who I am sorely going to miss in the weeks to come when he and his family move to Knoxville, he caught me and he said, well, why don't you just tell us next week what you didn't get to say today?

And I said, well, you know, I think I'll just move on to chapter 11. He said, no, you need to give us the rest. So I thought about it, prayed about it, and I said, well, he ain't wrong. So there are some things that need to be said, and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do it all today.

This may end up being today and next week as well, because as I began to meditate on this passage, as I began to read other authors and read the scripture, of course, and listen to Dr. Sproul and others speaking on this subject this week, I just became very engrossed in the idea that we have become fooled.

At least a lot of people in a lot of churches have become fooled into the idea of believing that there are two classes of Christians. And it's rampant and more rampant than you think. Within the Pentecostal community, you have those who are baptized in the Spirit and those who are not.

And usually those who are baptized in the Spirit are designated by tongue speaking, which we probably won't get to that today because that's in the second part of the sermon. But you have the two classes.

You have the Spirit-born and the Spirit-baptized and the not-Spirit-baptized. But it's not limited there. It's also seen in the Campus Crusade, which teaches the carnal Christian and the spiritual Christian.

So there's two classes of believers. And thus throughout the community of Christianity, we have this idea that there's... Well, there's just two types. There's the serious and the not serious. There's the spiritual and the not spiritual.

And really, there's no biblical foundation for that. And so the title of today's message is simple. There is no second-class Christianity. And there are no second-class Christians. So what I want to spend time with is I want to spend time looking at the subject of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit of God.

And I want to say from the outset that this particular subject is hugely controversial within the church. This is not some little thing. The gifts and ministry of the Holy Spirit of God are amongst the most debated subjects within the church, especially since the early 1900s.

I think it was 1906, I could be wrong, but I think in 1906 is when the Azusa Street Mission had their revival, which produced what is commonly referred to today as Pentecostalism. And since that movement began, there's a whole lot of discussion and debate as to the work of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of the church.

And it's become very confusing. And because God is not the author of confusion, I feel like the church should understand the ministry of the Holy Spirit, that we shouldn't just sit satisfied in confusion, but we should seek to know what the Word of God says about this very important subject.

The gifts and ministry of the Holy Spirit, as I said, are very debated. There is disagreement. There's disagreement about the person and nature of the Holy Spirit. There's disagreement about when the Spirit indwells the believer.

There's disagreement about what the Spirit does when He indwells the believer. There's just disagreement all the way across the board. And what we've seen is churches become hugely imbalanced. There was a time in church history where Trinitarianism...

The Trinity and the Work of the Holy Spirit

By the way, that's what we are. We are Trinitarian, because we believe that God is one in essence, but three in person. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all co-equal and co-eternal. Within the ontology or the nature of God, He is one in essence and three in persons.

Within the economy of God, each person fulfills a distinct role in redemptive history. The Father elects. The Son redeems. The Spirit regenerates. So we see each of their working role within the ministry of redemption.

And so when we say the Spirit regenerates and the Spirit indwells, He baptizes us as it will. He does come to live within us. We should understand what that means. But what happens is a huge imbalance has taken place within the body of Christ.

We have those who only talk about God, but rarely about Jesus or the Holy Spirit. You'll hear them all the time talk about God. Turn on your television. Tune in to the most popular television preachers.

You'll hear very little about Jesus. You'll hear very little about the Spirit. You'll hear a lot about God. And why is that? Because the term God is innocuous. It's inoffensive. Everyone has a God. For some people, their God is their belly.

For some people, their God is their television. For some people, their God is their hobby. So God is an innocuous term. Not a big deal. So some preachers just talk about God. Other people only talk about Jesus to the exclusion of the Father or the Spirit.

And then we have those who are only talking about the Holy Spirit to the exclusion of God the Son and God the Father. So what we see among Christianity is a huge imbalance in the understanding of the work of the Trinity and how the economics of the Trinity are to be worked out within the Church.

And how we are to understand that when we worship, we practice Trinitarian worship. We don't just worship the Father or just the Son or just the Spirit. We don't just address the Father or the Son or the Spirit.

But we address all three as one God in three persons. And we do so by understanding their unique roles within redemptive history. And all of this is hugely important. And it is doctrine. And for some people, doctrine is a turn-off.

And it should not be. Paul says there would come a day when men will not endure sound doctrine. I pray that would not be you. I pray that you would not only endure sound doctrine, but that you would hunger for sound doctrine.

For it is sound doctrine which separates the pagan from the Christian. So do not hate doctrine. My desire today, and likely on into next week, is to give an answer to some of the questions and address one issue in particularly.

And this is the issue, I've already mentioned it, but just to give you the thing that we're addressing. Among some believers, there is a belief that a person can be saved and not possess the Holy Spirit.

That you can be saved, but not possess the Spirit. That is believed by some. This has led to two classes of Christianity. Those who have and those who have not. The with's and the without's. And I submit to you, there are not two classes of Christians.

Every believer in Christ is a member of the New Covenant. And every member of the New Covenant is a recipient of the Holy Spirit of God. That is my thesis for the message. That is what I will seek to prove from the text of Scripture.

Based upon what we've started to read here in the story of Cornelius. But we will be examining other passages as well. And this assertion, I tell you, is based on the prophetic promise of God from Joel chapter 2.

So that's how it's going to come together in our message today. So as we begin our study, I want us to stand and read our opening text, which is Acts 10. And it's 44 -48, just the last four verses. Or five verses here of Acts chapter 10.

While Peter was still saying these things, remember he had been preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.

For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Then they asked him to remain for some days. Father in heaven, I thank you for your word. I thank you for the truth of the word. I pray that as I seek to preach the truth, that you would keep me from error.

And I pray, O Lord, as this message focuses so much on the person of the Holy Spirit, that he would reside among us today with power. That he would empower my preaching. That he would empower the congregation's understanding.

And ultimately, that through all of this, that we would glorify you. And in the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. In the 14th chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus gives his disciples, his followers, and by extension, all of us, a promise.

And I want us to read that promise together. If you'll turn to John 14. Hold your place and ask, because we'll be going back. But just very quickly, turn to John 14. And go with me to verse 16. Many of you know this passage.

Some of you probably could quote it from memory. John 14, 16. Jesus is speaking. He said, And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper. Now that's how it reads in the ESV. If you are a person who, like me, grew up reading more of the King James, or at least hearing the King James read more, you probably remember that passage something like this.

And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter. You all are familiar with that term, right? Comforter, that's often the term which is used to describe the Holy Spirit of God. The word here in the Greek language is important.

And even though Jesus did not speak Greek, and often times I have to remind people of this, Jesus spoke Aramaic. So this is a translation of what Jesus said into Greek. But I believe it's an appropriate Holy Spirit-inspired translation.

So I believe it's accurate to what Jesus was saying. But what we have to understand, what I'm getting around to is simply saying, don't ever say, Jesus said, I will pray the Father. Because that's what the word here is.

Actually, alon perikleton is the Greek. Jesus didn't say that. But what He said was certainly in accordance with that. So because this is what we have, this is Holy Spirit-inspired literature, that's the word that we use.

So I do want us to understand it. Because Jesus said, I will pray the Father, or I will seek the Father, I will ask the Father, and He will give to you another alos or alon, perikleton. Perikleton is a combination of two, you probably grew up at some point hearing the word periklet.

You've probably, if you've been in church for most of your life, you've heard somebody talk about the periklet. Well that's just the way, sort of the southern version of the periklet. You know, that's the southern version of perikleton or perikletos.

That's sort of our way of saying it. That word is a combination of two words. Para means to be alongside of something. If you think about a parallel line, that means one line beside another line. One line aside another line.

Kaleo is the Greek term for call or to call. So, parakaleo is to call alongside. That's what the two words, the compound word means, to call alongside. The use of the term, particularly in the Greek language, was for an advocate, or a counselor, or we might even, in our own language today, use the term attorney.

Because if you're standing in court, and you've been accused of something, you want someone standing in your defense. Well, at least I would. What does it say? Was it Lincoln who said, only a fool would defend himself?

Or something like that, something to that effect. You need a person to stand there and be your advocate. You need someone to be the person who stands for you. I remember back whenever we were going through the classes to get the kids.

Our kids came through foster care, as most of you know. When we were going through the classes, they had an advocate that they would assign to the kids. Because the children were not old enough to speak for themselves.

So they would take a person, who that person had to go through classes, that person had to be registered and certified to do that. So that when the children came to live with us as foster parents, that advocate would come to the house on a regular basis, and he would check on the kids, and he would talk to them and make sure that everything that was supposed to be going on in the home was going on in the home.

He stood for them. He stood with them. That was his role. He was their advocate. And so Jesus says, I'm going to ask the Father, and He is going to send you another advocate or another percolator. Now in your King James Bible, it says comforter.

And here's where English has changed. Because the King James Bible is written in 1611. It's gone through various editions. Most of you have a 1769 Blaney revision if you have a King James Bible that you're reading.

But it still says the word comforter. The word comforter to us in modern language, what do we think of as comforter? Someone who comes along to soothe. Someone who comes along to make us feel better. If I said I was coming beside you to comfort you, I mean, I do funerals a lot.

And I tell the family, my words, I'm seeking to try to bring some comfort to you in your time of distress. We're talking about encouragement, comfort, you know, help is what we think about with comfort.

But in Elizabethan English, remember that's what King James is, the word comfort is much more tied to the Latin expression of comfort. And the Latin term there come forte, with strength, is what the word means.

So even in the King James, it's not so much referencing his coddling of you, or even his comforting of you in an emotional way, what he is saying even in Elizabethan English is that when the Spirit comes, He comes to give you strength.

He comes and empowers you. He comes to stand beside you as your advocate and your strength and your power. And you know the most precious thing about John 14 ,16 is not the word paracleton. Because even though that word is precious, do you know what the most important word there is?

Alos, another. What does another indicate? That there was already one. What is Jesus saying? He said when I go away, I'll pray the Father and what's He going to do? He's going to send you another one just like me.

And in fact, that's what alos means. It means another of the same kind. You know, if you hand me something and I say I want another, in English you can use the word interchangeably. If I say another, like if you hand me a hamburger and I wanted a cheeseburger, I'd say no, give me another.

Right? I want something different. But if you hand me a hamburger and I eat it, and I say give me another of the same kind, I always want another one. Right? Well, in the Greek, there is a differentiation here.

And the alos here is speaking of the same kind. This is referencing again what the Spirit does in the life of the believer. He comes in to indwell the believer standing with us as Christ physically stood with His apostles.

The Spirit spiritually stands with us. Oh, come on guys. That's an amen moment. I don't normally ask for it, but that's truth. That's power. The Holy Spirit of God comes to live within us and it's promised to us by Christ that there will be one like me.

Another one. And He will come and be with you. He will come as your advocate. He will come as your legal representative. In fact, 1 John 2 .1 says this. It says, My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin.

But if anyone does sin, we have what with the Father? An advocate with the Father. Who? Jesus Christ the Righteous. That's 1 John 2 .1. And in 1 John 2 .1, guess what word John chooses to use for Jesus when he says he's our advocate?

Pericleton. 1 John. Same word. So Jesus said, there's coming one like me. The other comforter is the Spirit. We're still in John 14, right? He says this. He says, I will ask the Father, He will give you another pericleton, another comforter, another helper to be with you how long?

Forever. By the way, that's a little bit of verse for that eternal security we're often arguing about. The people who argue that you can get saved, get unsaved, get saved, get unsaved. It's sort of like the Holy Spirit yo-yo.

He comes in. He goes out. He comes in. He goes out. It depends on how you're acting and whether or not you're saved. I remember having that conversation one time. I talked to a guy. He said, well, I can lose my salvation.

I said, if you could, you would. You already have. If you could lose it, you already did because you don't maintain it. You can't maintain it. The Holy Spirit of God is the one who maintains you in Him.

You don't maintain Him in you. So just keep that in mind. But He says in verse 17, He says, He'll be with you forever. Verse 17, even the Spirit of Truth. You see, He tells us who this Comforter is. He tells us who the Parakletos is.

He is the Spirit of Truth. It's the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus said, I'm going away, but I will not leave you alone. I will send to you another Comforter. He will come to live within you forever. Amen.

That's what the Holy Spirit comes to do. He is our present Paraklete. He is our indwelling Helper. He is our Counselor. He is our Comforter. And since Christ has gone to the right hand of the Father, the Spirit lives forever within us.

Now in the book of Acts, so we're going to go back to Acts now. In the book of Acts, there's a great deal of history regarding the work of the Holy Spirit. In fact, some have even said that we shouldn't call it the Acts of the Apostles.

By the way, if you read your Bible, often times you just call it Acts, but if you look at the title, it's called the Acts of the Apostles. Some people say that shouldn't be the title of the book because the book is not about the Acts of the Apostles.

This is about the Acts of the Holy Spirit. This is a narrative of the work of the Holy Spirit of God beginning in Jerusalem when He fell there in the upper room and He went out and the ministry of the Gospel went out into all the world from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth and we see that throughout Acts and that's the work of the Holy Spirit.

The Apostles were the vessels. The Spirit was the power. And as the Gospels testify to the work of Christ, Acts testifies to the work of the Spirit. And there are four main outpourings in Acts. Three we've looked at, one we haven't yet.

The first one was in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. We saw that when the Spirit fell, they began to speak in languages that they didn't know but people around them knew because it said that the men did what?

They heard each one in His own language. So He was able to discern that this was a miracle from God because God for a moment lifted the veil which was put down at Babel. Babel had created where men could not talk to each other in large groups because of the separation of languages.

God lifted the veil of Babel and for a moment they were able to hear each one in His own language with understanding. So we see the miracle there in Acts 2. Later, in Acts chapter 8, the Gospel goes to the Samaritans.

They believe and are baptized and then they are confirmed by the Apostles and the Spirit is given to them. There's a little bit of a time of transition there between the time that they believe and are baptized and the time of the giving of the Spirit but the reason for that transition is very simple.

The reason for the transition is because at that moment they needed to be confirmed by the Apostles and the confirmation was the falling of the Spirit on the person. You'll notice when they get to the house of Cornelius there's no transitional period.

Why? Because the Apostle's there. Peter's there to give his confirmation. There's no need for a transition in time. And later we see in Acts 19 the falling of the Spirit on the Ephesians. Why are there four different fallings of the Spirit?

Because there's four different types of people all of which demonstrating that they're all receiving the Spirit of God. One, Acts chapter 2 was Jews. Acts chapter 8 was Samaritans which are half Jew, half Gentile.

Acts chapter 10 God-fearing Gentiles. Remember Cornelius was called a God-fearer. He was one who had converted to Judaism with everything except his circumcision. And in Acts 19 when we finally get there we'll see that they're the Ephesian Christians the ones who were fully Gentiles had not converted to Judaism anyway and still received the same Holy Spirit as did all the rest.

So what we've been examining is the situation in Acts chapter 10. And what's important to recognize is that here there's a simultaneous regeneration and indwelling of the Spirit. It is accompanied by the miracle of speaking in tongues to prove that it was legitimate and it stands as a testimony to the universality of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

This gift of the Holy Spirit would not just be for the Jews. This gift of the Holy Spirit would not just be for the clergy. As we see in the Old Testament the ministry of the Holy Spirit was on certain individuals at certain times.

For ministry this would not be anymore. The gift would not just be for the super spiritual. But the gift would go to all. It would be for every person not just the Jew not just the clergy not just the super spiritual but every person hearing the preaching of Peter received the Holy Spirit of God.

They were regenerated and indwelled by the Spirit in an instant. And it all happened at that one time. So, all that was introduction. Let me, I told you we're not going to get to all of it today but I do want to get to my first point.

You'll notice in your outline there's two points and under those are sub points. I want to look at the first point. The promise regarding the Spirit and next week we'll get to the incorrect understandings because there are a lot of them.

And I may add some. You may come in next week and there's more sub points. But we're going to look at least at those three next week. But we'll start today with just the promise. The promise regarding the Spirit.

We've already read it from John 14, 16 but John 14, 16 is actually the beginning of the fulfillment of the promise. Because the promise was made all the way back by the prophet Joel. So turn with me to Joel chapter 2.

In the Old Testament God said there was a time coming when all believers would be given the Spirit. In Joel chapter 2 we see this promise. And go to verse 28. Joel 2 verse 28. And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh.

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out My Spirit and I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.

The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape as the Lord has said and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

Now that's the paragraph there in Joel chapter 2. This indicates that prior to this event it says that it shall come to pass afterward it shall come to pass in the future that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh.

That indicates to us that there was a time wherein there was a different administration of the Holy Spirit of God. This is very important theologically. This is why I have some debate among my brothers and sisters in Presbyterian churches because there is a belief among some, not all and I'm not seeking to impugn anyone but there's a belief in some that the Holy Spirit administration in the Old Testament was the same as it was in the New Testament.

It's the same covenant because they believe in a unified covenant and because it's the same covenant it's the same administration of the Spirit. And this tells us that there's coming a time when there will be a different administration of the Spirit.

And again, I'm not seeking to make a fuss or anything but I want to say this. The Old Testament in the Old Testament the Spirit was active in a different way than He is in the New Testament. Now, in the Old Testament the Spirit was still involved in bringing a person to faith because a person cannot come to faith a totally depraved person cannot come to faith on their own.

Because it's necessary that the Spirit would open the heart to believe. That's absolutely sure. But the indwelling, the empowerment for ministry among all believers would not come until this prophecy is fulfilled.

Remember back during the time of Moses. He prayed, I wish all people had the Spirit. You know, he wanted that. He was praying for this. He was praying for us now because we all have the Spirit. There was a time when that indwelling was not universal among believers.

Okay? In the New Testament that has changed. At penny cost and this is my second sub-point. At penny cost the fulfillment of Joel 2 occurred. How do we know that? Because Peter tells us go to Acts 2.

It's not like we have to guess. It's not like this is Keith Foskey's private interpretation you know, the KSV the Keith Standard Version. It's not like I came up with this. It's right here. Acts chapter 2.

It says in verse 14,. But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give ear to my words. And he goes on to talk about the fact that they're not drunk because they've heard them speak with tongues and to some it may have sounded as gibberish as a person who speaks as a person who is drunk.

And he said, Don't think that anyone is drunk as you suppose since it's only the third hour of the day. It's only 9 a .m. Ain't nobody drunk. I know that some people could prove him wrong, but at this time, you know, nobody's drunk.

But this is what was uttered through who? The prophet Joel. So first of all, Peter gives us a Holy Spirit inspired interpretation of Joel's passage. And what passage does he read? And in those last days it shall be God declares that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.

He quotes the very same passage we just read. And he said, This is what you're seeing. You're seeing a fulfillment of this promise. You're seeing a fulfillment of what God has promised through Joel. Joel promised the Spirit, and here He is!

He has come! And as I already said, my third sub-point, in the early church, there was a transition period where some believed and later received the Spirit, and we saw that in Acts 8. We saw that transition period.

Why was the transition period there? For the confirmation of the apostles so that the Jews would not believe for a second that there was any second class believers. That there would be a confirmation that the people who were receiving faith were also receiving the same Spirit.

And then the fourth sub-point. Sub-point D. By the time the writing of Romans and Ephesians comes along. Remember, this is many years later. Because Acts is written later, but the events of Acts are very early.

This is right after Jesus ascends. So we're in the 30's and the 40's. The first epistle of the New Testament is either in... We don't know for sure, but dating puts them... It's either 1 Corinthians or James is the first one that's written.

So, Acts is written later than this, but the time period is early. Okay? Got to kind of keep that in your mind. The time period's early, but later we have the writings of Romans and Ephesians. Who wrote Romans and Ephesians?

Paul. Paul wrote Romans and Ephesians. Let's see what Paul has to say about the Spirit. Turn with me very quickly. We're just going to look at these fast. Romans 8 verse 9. And I love what Romans 8 and 9 does because it calls the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ.

Interestingly enough. Kind of unifying the Trinity here. It says in Romans 8 verse 9, You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. Who's he talking to? He's talking to believers. You are not in the flesh, but you are in the Spirit.

If, in fact, what? The Spirit of God dwells in you. What's the argument there? If the Spirit ain't in you, you're in the flesh. You're not a believer. He said you are not in the flesh if, in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ is what? Doesn't belong to Him. So by the time of the writing of Romans, what is Paul's assumption? Every believer will have the Spirit. So would he assume that to the point that he's willing to say if you don't have the Spirit, you are not a Christian.

Very simple. The time period has passed where there would be any transitional point where there would be any transition between the time of regeneration and indwelling. That time is over. The time of confirmation by the apostles is done.

Now, when you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, when you receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, you receive the Holy Spirit of God as His promised Comforter. You say, where do you see that in Scripture?

Turn with me to Ephesians 1. It's almost exactly what I just said is what we see in Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1, go to verse 13. Speaking of Christ, it says in verse 13... I hear pages turn. Can I give you a second?

In verse 13, it says, "...in Him, speaking of Christ, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.". Who is the guarantee?

That translation can also be down payment of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory. The Holy Spirit in you is God's promise to you that you are His and that He will fulfill what He started in you in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That He who began the good work in you will fulfill it in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. That promise has been guaranteed to you by a down payment from God within you who is the Holy Spirit of God.

So my last sub-point, and this will be where I bring everything to a close, to say that a person can be a Christian and not have the Spirit is to say that the prophecy given by Joel was not fulfilled at Pentecost.

Or that if it was fulfilled, it was ineffective. The promise was that the Spirit would come to all believers. Peter said the Spirit has come to all believers. And now for a person to say some people have the Spirit and some people don't is to say that God's promise was wrong.

I ain't going there with you if that's where you are. All genuine believers in the Lord Jesus Christ have the Spirit of God indwelling in them. And you don't just have a little bit of Him. Because guess what?

He's a Him, not an It. And don't ever talk to me and refer to the Holy Spirit as It. I will correct you lovingly. But I will correct you. He is a He, not an It. I talk to my Jehovah Witness people that come to my door.