Peter Barnes: Acts 19:1-1: NO AUDIO
(3 March 2019)
SERMON NOTES: BAPTISM IN WATER AND THE SPIRIT (Acts 19:1-7)
On Paul’s third missionary journey the great apostle stayed for three years at Ephesus – Acts 20:31. Ephesus was the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire, behind Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch in Syria.
1. What ordinarily entails being a Christian.
(a) Repentance.
– 19:1-4. John Stott does not see them as Christians at all, but F. F. Bruce and John Calvin view them as pre-Pentecost believers. John the Baptist and Jesus both preached for repentance in their hearers – Matt.3:1-2; 4:17.
Spurgeon: ‘Sin and hell are married unless repentance proclaims the divorce.’ Matt.5:29-30; Col.3:5.
(b) Faith in Christ.
– 19:4-5; see Matt.3:11; John 1:26-27. Note Matthew 11:11.
(c) Water baptism.
– 19:3-5. John’s baptism was not Christian baptism, but preparatory for it. Verse 5 is was probably a shorthand way of referring to Trinitarian baptism (Acts 2:38; 10:48, despite 8:16).
– Matt.28:19; 1 Peter 1:2; Acts 10:48 (commanded).
(d) Spirit baptism.
– 19:2. This is odd – see Luke 3:15-16. To believe in Jesus is to receive the Spirit – John 7:37-39; Rom.8:9.
2. What may extraordinarily be involved in being a Christian.
– 19:6. See Acts 2:4, 17; 10:46; Acts 8:13-17? Is speaking in tongues an ordinary or regular part of the Christian life or is it extraordinary?