The Have and Have Nots Acts 10:44-48

Overview

The Have and Have Nots: Acts 10:44–48

The closing scene of Acts 10 brings to a climax the great theme of the chapter: God's salvation in Jesus Christ is for Gentiles as well as Jews. While Peter was still preaching, "the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word" Acts 10:44. The circumcised believers with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God Acts 10:45-46. This is rightly called the "Gentile Pentecost," paralleling what happened to Jewish believers in Acts 2:4. Throughout the New Testament, the gift of tongues is the ability to speak a known foreign language one has not studied—not ecstatic or unintelligible speech. Recognizing that God had clearly received these Gentiles, Peter asks, "Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people?" Acts 10:47-48, and they are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

These verses are also among the most misinterpreted in Scripture, often pressed into service for what can be called "two-stage Christianity." This teaching claims that a believer in Jesus is forgiven at conversion but still lacks power and the fullness of the Holy Spirit until a second experience—variously described as entire sanctification (Wesley), emotional revival (Finney), or Spirit-baptism evidenced by ecstatic tongues (Parham and the later charismatic movement). The result is a church divided into "haves" and "have-nots": those supposedly empowered for the victorious Christian life and those still struggling. It plants the cruel suspicion that God loves some of His children more than others.

Scripture knows no such division. In Holy Baptism, joined to the Word, you have already received everything: forgiveness of sins, life eternal, faith, membership in Christ's body, and the Holy Spirit in His fullness. "In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…and all were made to drink of one Spirit" 1 Corinthians 12:13, and "you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority" Colossians 2:10. God does distribute different gifts—teaching, wisdom, and others—but there is no higher tier of Christian, no secret deposit of the Spirit reserved for an inner circle. Luther reminds us that this side of heaven we remain simultaneously saint and sinner; the struggle continues until the Lord welcomes us into paradise.

Pastorally, this means you do not need to chase a carrot that someone else dangles. Stop searching for what you already possess. If you are baptized into Christ, the Spirit dwells in you completely and is daily conforming you, through the Word, into the image of Jesus. Among the baptized there are no haves and have-nots—there are only haves.

Transcript

Let's open our Bible's, please, to the 10th chapter of the Book of Acts. 0s

We come to the conclusion of this great, great chapter. And we have been spending several weeks 5s

in this chapter. It is one of the most important chapters in the entire Bible. 11s

And when you come to the concluding verses of this chapter, it contains some of the 21s

verses that are the most misinterpreted in the entire Bible. And that's where we focus today. 28s

Remember the main point of this chapter, that indeed, God's salvation in Jesus Christ is not 39s

only just for the Jew. It is also for the Gentile. Remember Gentiles are non-Jews. 46s

And as we have been studying, God brought together this people and now Peter was preaching last week. 52s

And Peter's sermon was about one minute in length before it was interrupted. 59s

Remember we talked about the six essentials of the witness to Christ. That's what Peter was 65s

highlighting. The fact that we need peace with God, that we have peace through the Messiah, 70s

it comes through the cross, it comes through the resurrection, there will be judgment, 75s

and there is forgiveness in Jesus Christ. It took Peter about a minute to cover those six 80s

essentials and then it is preaching. He's interrupted. That's where we pick up. 89s

Look at me, please, at verse 44 of chapter 10. Well, Peter was still speaking, 97s

the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The falling of the Holy Spirit upon those 105s

who heard the word indicates to us. That indeed, the hearts have been transformed. 116s

Remember, we can only believe by the operation of the Holy Spirit in our lives. 123s

As the Holy Spirit transforms, our hearts of no into the hearts of yes. 129s

And so as the Holy Spirit falls upon those, as Peter is preaching, we see here then, 137s

that there is conversion that occurs and a special gift is also given. Next verse, please, 144s

verse 45. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded. That the gift of the 152s

Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For, they heard them speaking in tongues 162s

and extoling. God, they heard them speaking in tongues and extoling. God, have we heard this before? 171s

Here at this before? Yep, back in Acts 2nd chapter. Remember, back there, the scripture tells us, 181s

all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit 189s

gave them ability. This section in the 10th chapter of Acts is sometimes referred to as the Gentile 196s

pentacost, the Gentile pentacost. Because who had been given the special ability to speak in 206s

known foreign languages that they hadn't studied in the 2nd chapter of Acts, who had been given 213s

that special ability, it was the Jews. And now in the 10th chapter, who is given the special ability. 220s

It's the Gentiles. So that's why the 10th chapter is so often referred to as the Gentile 228s

pentacost. What was the speaking in tongues? In fact, what is speaking in tongues throughout the 237s

New Testament? Speaking in tongues, as you look at the usage of the Greek throughout the entire 246s

New Testament, speaking in tongues is speaking in known foreign language that you hadn't studied. 254s

In other words, you are just gifted. It is the speaking of a known foreign language you haven't 266s

studied. Is it ecstatic speech? No. Is it an untenteligible speech? No. Giffy tongues, the scripture 275s

gift, is the speaking in a known foreign language that you haven't studied. Well, that seems pretty 287s

straightforward, doesn't it? So where does the misinterpretation come in? Where does the misinterpretation 299s

come in? There is a very pervasive prevalent belief. It is so appealing to people. 313s

It is what you can term it, two stage Christianity, two stage Christianity. It's the belief that the 328s

believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus died for our sins. He was raised from the dead. The 340s

sacrifice for sin has been accepted. And so in this belief system, this two stage Christianity, 346s

it is believed that the first stage is when one becomes a believer in Jesus Christ. But those 353s

that hold to this say, while you may believe in Jesus Christ, you lack power. You lack power to live 361s

of victorious Christian life. You lack blessings of the Holy Spirit. And so this two stage 373s

Christianity says that you need to move out of stage one into stage two because you lack power. 385s

You lack blessings of the Holy Spirit. That's a very tantalizing carrot to have out there, isn't it? 395s

Would it tantalizing carrot to say that while there's forgiveness of sins and life eternal, 408s

there are those that are filled with the Holy Spirit. There are those that are baptized in the Holy 420s

Spirit that then are in a second stage that can live the victorious Christian life that 427s

experience these blessings of the Holy Spirit. That is a tantalizing carrot to put out there. 438s

And people flock to churches, to preachers, they gobble up books that hold and espouse this 452s

two stage Christianity, little history. Fill it by the name of John Wesley, 1700s. He introduced 468s

two stage Christianity. Wesley said, you are forgiven through the Lord. Jesus Christ, you have 482s

more. And Wesley said that what we need to return to is the original state. What's the original state? 497s

Wesley said the original state is the pre-fall of our first parents at a minute. 505s

So Wesley said that we need to return back to that. In other words, what God wants to do is God wants 514s

us to live the perfect sinless life and the baptism in the Holy Spirit enables you and moves you 521s

to do that, to stages. Fast forward, a hundred years. A guy by the name of Charles Finney 535s

comes along. Finney was a revivalist preacher. Finney took Wesley's theology and he added to it. 545s

He added to it this emotionalism and this excitability. He said, you know you're filled with the 557s

Holy Spirit when he's just feeling, when you're really excited, then you know you're filled 565s

with the Holy Spirit. And so to be filled with the Holy Spirit, you get really excited. It's a 573s

very emotional experience and he said that excitability helps people to obey God. Fast forward, 580s

1901, guy by the name of Charles Parham. He says, he's two stages, you know, but he 595s

associated being filled with the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues. But it wasn't the biblical 608s

gift of tongues speaking. Remember the biblical gift? Study the words. It's, it's, you study the 617s

Greek. They're the biblical gift of speaking in tongues is speaking a known foreign language 625s

that you haven't studied. Parham said, no, no, you need proof that your sins are forgiven. 632s

And he said the proof is speaking in tongues and for Parham. Parham said that tongue speaking is 644s

ecstatic speech. It's an unintelligible language that if you have that, then you know. 653s

That you're in the second stage that you've been filled with the Holy Spirit, that your deficiency 665s

in the Spirit is no longer. Fast forward, 1960s, charismatic movement. The charismatic movement 671s

took panacostalism and mainline it. So an infiltrated denominations across the line. 685s

And the charismatic movement said, there's a renewal that the Holy Spirit wants to do in us, 696s

and usually they connected it with the speaking in tongues, not the biblical gift of speaking 704s

in tongues. But the ecstatic speech, this unintelligible language, what was the result? 712s

The result was that there were the halves and the half-nots. There were those that 726s

supposedly now because of the empowerment of the Holy Spirit could live the victorious Christian life 740s

and those that could, you know those that were just continuing to struggle in their sin. 750s

There were those that had been blessed by the Holy Spirit and could speak in this unintelligible 760s

ecstatic language and those that could. So there were the halves and the half-nots. 768s

Well what did they have not say? Well I don't know if you have not. 784s

How do I get that? How do I get that? Where it seems like people can be empowered to 791s

live the victorious Christian life and how can I get that? Well blessings of the Holy Spirit 797s

and so the have nots saw the carrot. I said I like that. How do I become a half? 804s

I don't want to be. I have not. 817s

Manitava orthodox Lutheran pastor is named as Clement Proyce. 828s

Tells the story about his wife. His wife grew up in a family in which there were five kids. 833s

They were all girls. So his wife was one of five daughters there in the family. 842s

And he said his wife always held inside of her that she felt that she was her mother's favorite. 851s

She never told her sister's name. 861s

And Poise Esther, why do you feel like you were the favorite? She says well. 864s

It just seemed like when Christmas rolled around. My gift was just a little bit better than my sisters. 871s

Or my mother used to take us one by one out to lunch for special kind of lunches and it just 880s

seemed she said that the restaurant that she would take me to was just a little fancier. 887s

Little cut above my sisters. They came, mother died. Sisters were gathered together and they were 894s

remembering their mother. And the eldest daughter turned her sisters in set. 905s

I need to tell you something. Need to tell you something. 915s

Growing up I always felt that she said I always felt that mom loved me more. 923s

Well there's a little bit of silence in the room and then one by one each of the sisters said 934s

you felt that? That's how I felt. I felt that mom loved me the most that I was her favorite. 943s

He reversed that story. When the daughters were getting together and they were remembering their mother 961s

what if they said I always felt like like mom loved you more than me. 970s

That you were her favorite. Well that'd be terrible wouldn't it be terrible. 982s

Apply that to God. Apply it to God. What if you hear this two stage theology? 992s

If you hear these teachers saying, well why indeed you can get more power to live the 1007s

rest life and there's more blessings of the Holy Spirit? What if the person says, 1015s

seems like God loves them more than me. Seems like God loves them more than me. 1025s

That'd be terrible wouldn't it be terrible. 1038s

Look when they place it at verse 47. Then Peter said, 1045s

can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? 1055s

Peter looks at what occurs that they have been brought to faith that God had gifted them with 1066s

ability to speak languages that they had never studied before and Peter looks at the situation 1071s

and says, how can we deny them the greater gift of baptism in water and the word if they have this 1079s

lesser gift. And so notice what he says verse 48. So he ordered them to be baptized in the name 1090s

of Jesus Christ, then they invited him to stay for several days such a gift, the sacrament 1100s

of holy baptism to be baptized by water and the word. Beloved, 1112s

there is no such thing as two stage Christianity. There is no such thing as two stage Christianity. 1127s

I don't care how many stadiums they fill or how big their airplanes are. 1149s

There is no such thing as two stage Christianity. Does God gift each one of us differently? 1164s

Of course you did. In the text here in biblical times here in the early parts of the new 1179s

testament he gave that gift of the ability to speak and known foreign languages without having studied it. 1187s

God gives some to be teachers. God gives some the gift of wisdom. You can go on down the list of the 1195s

biblical gifts in holy scripture. But there is not some special outpouring of the Holy Spirit 1201s

whereby you can live the victorious Christian life. Or all of a sudden you'll overcome sin 1212s

perfectly this side of heaven. That struggle is going to exist. Luther said we are at the same time 1222s

saint and we're sinner and the sinner part doesn't drop off until the Lord says welcome to paradise. 1228s

There is no special outpouring of the Holy Spirit that is given to some to live the victorious 1236s

Christian life. There is no special outpouring of the Holy Spirit that lifts someone up to a higher 1246s

clean than the normal Christian. There is no special outpouring of the Holy Spirit 1253s

that makes up for some deficit in the Holy Spirit to where one could then say my I must be really 1262s

one of his favorite ones. No. 1272s

Beloved in your baptism when you were baptized by water and the word you received 1280s

everything in full. Everything in full. 1295s

When Jesus is victory on the cross where He bore our sin death, when Jesus's victory of the 1305s

empty tomb that the sacrifice had been accepted and that death had been overcome. When Jesus's 1313s

victory that word was put together with the ordinary water and you were washed in that you were 1320s

given everything. God gave you the forgiveness of sins. God gave you life eternal. God made a 1330s

believer out of you. God gave you the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit's fullness. God made you a 1341s

member of the family. Your baptism was the personal application of the victory of Christ, 1348s

crucified and risen. I love what Luther says. Luther talking about the gifts of baptism. He said this. 1361s

In baptism you receive victory over death and the devil. Forgiveness of sins. God's grace. 1374s

The entire Christ and the Holy Spirit with his gifts. In short, the blessings of baptism are so 1382s

boundless that if our timid nature considered them it may well doubt whether they could be true at all. 1392s

Scripture tells us in 1 Corinthians 12 chapter it says, for in the one spirit we were all baptized 1404s

into one body. Jews or Greeks slaves or free and we were all made to drink of one spirit. 1414s

Colossians 2 chapter says, and you have come to fullness, fullness in him who is the head of every 1427s

ruler and authority. The love it you don't have part of the Holy Spirit dwelling in you. 1441s

Baptized child you've got all the Holy Spirit dwelling in you and that spirit is at work. 1451s

Day after day through the word conforming us and transforming us to be more and more 1463s

like Jesus Christ. There is no carrot you need to snatch. You have it all in baptism. 1475s

Baptized child there is no need to seek. What you already have. Baptized child. 1494s

For those baptized there no have and have nots. There's just haves. There's just haves. 1514s