Salvation is a totally complete gift of grace (charis), paid fully and secured by Christ’s finished work on the cross and delivered by the Holy Spirit. A common teaching of a “second blessing” or a separate baptism in the Holy Spirit on top of being converted to Christ is a grave misunderstanding of careful reading of the New Testament that pictures God’s salvation as bringing to us all that we need. The mistake is not to realise there is no need for a second blessing when the first is so complete. This one blessing was first available on the day of Pentecost. The earlier moment of Jesus breathing on His gathered disciples in the upper room – a teaching method that pictured how the Holy Spirit would be sent by Jesus from Heaven – was ultimately brought to pass when people responded to the Gospel message announced by Peter on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was not given until then after Jesus had been glorified in Heaven. (See John 7:37-39; Acts 2:36-41.) This event was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. There is only one blessing that brings salvation, even though our application of it often needs us time to step into all that it is involved. Our faith needs to acknowledge the total act of the provision of God’s grace that the believer receives in responding to Christ. Salvation is the one total blessing Christ provides both in terms of atonement and forgiveness but also in the provision of power from the Holy Spirit to live the Christian life. We need to learn to rest fully in both His finished cross work of atonement, and also on the ongoing power from the Holy Spirit as we walk in Him. Salvation also includes our ultimate transfer to the glory in Heaven. All these are parts of our salvation provided by the first blessing of Christ.

Automatically Generated Transcript

[00:00:00] You know there’s some very good theology in that song and part of why I see it as excellent is that it’s really stressing the completed action that Jesus accomplished when on the cross he worked our atonement. I’ve said that a little bit of an unusual way. We’re used to hearing how he died on the cross, he bore our sins. But to use the word atonement is to recognise that when something’s been done against the holiness of God, against the justice of God, against the authority of God, then because he is a just God and a holy God, there needs to be some putting of that right, some payment made, which we do not have the capacity to achieve and the human race will be doomed forever if that were the finish of the discussion. But Jesus came and by taking on him the full

[00:01:05] punishment for all our sin, he atoned for the lot of us. He was a representative of the entire human race and he took on him the punishment for our failure and rebellion. With that atonement paid, God is in the position to offer to us the forgiveness of sins. That’s not to say that he wants to say it doesn’t really matter, they’re there, everybody fails now and then. No, what God is saying is it was so much a need to be done that it cost the blood of my son on the cross. And that now being paid, there’s nothing for you to need to add to that payment but to simply come and be forgiven and continue in that understanding of walking with me knowing that you are someone forgiven totally because of Jesus and his atonement, his death. On top of that, not only do we receive the forgiveness

[00:02:12] of sins when we come to Christ because of how he has atoned for them, but also we’re offered that he will give us not only the gift of forgiveness but he’ll give us the gift of the Holy Spirit. And the giving of the Holy Spirit is the final thing that Peter announces for the first public announcement that is on offer on that day of Pentecost when he preached to the crowds and said some of the similar things I’ve just said of Jesus and his success. And Jesus has not only died but he’s risen again and he’s returned to heaven. And the Father has passed to him, Jesus, to be the one to send the Spirit and to lead by the Spirit on earth. And Jesus and the Father sent the Holy Spirit down on that day of Pentecost to be available as a gift. So not only is the atonement a gift

[00:03:12] but as a consequence of coming back to God you’ll have a gift, the gift of the Holy Spirit in your life who will be able to lead you and bless you. And so that is the promise of the Gospel and it was something that the teaching of the Gospels teach all the way through in bit by bit but eventually is climaxed in the coming of the moment of the New Covenant being offered as prophesied in the Old Testament where people would receive this gift of the Holy Spirit not in a way that could be temporary as was the case in the Old Testament times but permanently given of God because someone else has paid the price. Jesus has paid the price and atoned for our sins and we’re able to freely receive the Holy Spirit. That’s the day of Pentecost and the Sermon of Peter that finishes up on that day

[00:04:12] says there are a lot of people who came and asked them what to do and he said repent and receive the Holy Spirit and repent and, he actually said repent and be baptised and you can receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit to that effect. Now, it is a wonderful thing that we can recognise the way that we’re able to walk with God as atoned for, not because of our performance, because of what Christ has done. And why then do we think we would get anything from God if we can do nothing to earn it? The answer is it’s all coming by grace. One of the things that is the teaching of the New Testament is the fact that God is a God of grace and he loves to give and to give again. He loves to bequeath on us all of his blessings as he would want to.

[00:05:15] If we get in the right position of trust and faith and walking with him, that’s how we experience what happens, for he is a God of grace. And one of the things we learn in our Thursday, alternate Thursday nights, we’ve been looking at the facts that the word that’s translated as grace or translated as gift is the word, their word for grace in the Greek. And it’s charis, C-H-A-R-I-S. And that’s where we get the word charismatic. There has been something come into the history of Western Christianity, sometimes influenced people in other parts of the world, but Western Christianity influenced to think of the charismatic movement to be a certain description. I want to bring a sermon tonight and my sermon’s title is about the ointment of the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit in his ministry to us

[00:06:21] is like a spiritual ointment indeed. But the sermon actually I crafted, not that my sermon wording is necessarily perfect, but it is the flies in the ointment of the charismatic movement. The flies in the ointment of the charismatic movement is what I want to talk about this evening because the charismatic movement exists of people getting some of the truth of the word charisma, that which comes by grace, correct, and some understandings added on that are not correct. and those things that are added on actually provide the flies in the ointment of the Holy Spirit I think that it’s a wonderful thing for people to be encouraged to seek the power of the Holy Spirit that’s very biblical and it’s very needed so I don’t want to be speaking against the Holy Spirit that would be a very dangerous and stupid thing to do

[00:07:24] and so along with the line of so saying And let me point out to us tonight that one of the places which speaks about the charisma or the gift of God is a verse that says about the gift of God. And it says basically that that’s what a Christian is, someone who’s received the gift of God. And the Bible speaks of that gift of God being salvation. Salvation is the major gift of God. and what that means is salvation is something that you can only receive when you receive it recognising that it comes by grace Now to say it comes by grace doesn’t mean that there may not be conditions and there sometimes are put by God I won’t forgive you unless with your repentance you recognise the truth recognise and ask and say you know you’re a sinner Sometimes when we have sins that we won’t let go of,

[00:08:28] nor will God listen to our prayers. And in the morning I quoted the verse, morning service, that says along the lines, when a man regards iniquity in his heart, the Lord will not hear him. God doesn’t sort of say, I’ll bless you no matter how bad you are. He says, I’ll bless you even though you’re very bad. When you’re prepared to repent, when you’re prepared to recognize my standards, when you’re prepared to come and ask for the forgiveness in humility, then you can receive the Holy Spirit. And so this receiving the Holy Spirit, though it is a gift come by grace, is something where there is a statement by God as to how you can receive that grace of forgiveness. And that statement has got a name and this morning our message was about the fact of the name that is given to this grace message and I thought

[00:09:31] to ask the people of the evening service if any of them knew what that word is what’s the name of the grace message by which you can receive the Holy Spirit? Some of you will know it straight away anybody want to call out? What’s the name of the message that lets you receive the grace of the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of God and the grace of the Holy Spirit. I can see you’re eager. Yes? No? Not sure. He’s not sure. What about over here? Someone over here? What’s the name of the message? Oh, amazing. Thank you very much. If you come to this church, you’re going to hear a lot about the gospel, right? And I’m not ashamed of that. But the gospel is a message that is about what God gives you. It’s called a good message, or it’s actually called good news. But it’s not good news you’ve done very well.

[00:10:28] I’ll give you a pat on the back. It’s good news. I love you. And I want to redeem you. And I’ve done something to make it possible. You don’t deserve it. You never could. But my son has paid the price in full for you to have something come by grace. That’s why it’s come by grace. In our Thursday nights and the second Thursday, every alternate Thursday, we’ve been discussing a little bit about this. And one of the things that we had long discussions about was whether this was a spiritual blessing or a natural blessing. The truth of the matter is that anything that comes by grace would fit into that word, charisma, or matters that come by grace is charismata. Anything that’s in the ministry that is operating with things that have come by grace, grace gifts, includes all sorts of things about people

[00:11:31] that you couldn’t be deserving yourself. They’re things that God gives in the natural. There are other spots, though, that do talk about the charismatic gifts that use not only the word charisma at times, but they use another word which means spirituals. And in those spots, it’s clear that it’s talking about spiritual gifts. But it is true, I think, that the church, which is the body of Christ, has scattered amongst us things that God has given by grace, which all of which can be used. Thankfully, we’ve got electrically minded people in our church who learn how to turn the knobs down the back or who know how to design these things and who help us do things to go over the airwaves for other people to listen in. And they’re people who often use engineering skills or electrical knowledge skills.

[00:12:28] Sometimes we have people who operate on all those things over there in the corner. And I do think some people have got spiritual gifts in the arena of the performing arts, if you want to call them that. But they’re not just spiritual. They have to do with some grace of God to give them musical abilities or acting abilities. Coming up soon is going to be that SMAD meetings, song, music, dance and drama. I think you should put drama and dance. Anyway, but anyway, those letters stand for what the performing arts are given training in and people go to SMAD to practice. And that’s happening in a couple of weeks. So in your own personal prayers, you may not be one who’s got time to go there to that camp, but pray for that, that God may have his hands on it. But what I’m trying to say is that gifts that God gives can be in the natural

[00:13:34] and they can be spiritual. And the Bible documents things that would cover both. And theologians often argue as to whether they’re spiritual or natural. The truth is that both can be something that comes by grace. And when it comes to preaching, I know that it’s the case that there are some people who God really uses in preaching, but they’re very poor at it. I had a lecturer who’s my lecturer at Theological College on Evangelism, and he wasn’t a very good talker at all in some senses. In fact, he used to be a logger, and then he went in the army, and when he de-mobbed out of the army, he became into the ministry, but he was very effective at preaching the gospel and people getting converted. But his gift of grace that was spiritual really stood out because he wasn’t someone who was that eloquent.

[00:14:32] But then I know also other people. I had an internship from Wheaton College with Leighton Ford and Billy Graham, and Leighton Ford, I went to four of his reach-outs, and he is an exceptionally eloquent man and an ability to speak and have people listening, and you couldn’t help marvel at that capacity for someone to have, and yet he also had some gifts that while he was giving the gospel, people heard from God and came to Christ. So it was a bit of a mixture in his case. So on this business about being charismatics, I didn’t want you, by my announcing of the topic, flies in the, what was it again? Flies in the ointment, the charismatic ointment, to think that I’m being anti-charismatic because the truth of the matter is that I’m not. And anti-being charismatic, it’s just that I’m wanting to leave open

[00:15:34] for you to understand that God uses all our gifts if you’ll give them to him. So if there’s someone here tonight and you’re a person who’s held back from really volunteering to serve the Lord in some way, when he calls you to do something, don’t worry about what gifts you have or don’t have. Let him bless what you do have that’s being given to you by grace. Does that make sense? And there are people in the ministry, I’ve discovered them. We went in Tasmania, Michelle and I were there, and while we ministered, there was a man at one of the Brethren chapels who saw me after a meeting and he says, the Lord has spoken to me and told me I’m to carry your bags. I didn’t understand him at first, but he meant to help me get around to the different places I had to go and preach.

[00:16:28] And he meant to carry my bags and have them in the boot. And he went to Melbourne and bought, he sold his farm, put the money in the bank, went to Melbourne and bought himself a second hand Mercedes, a big one with a big V8 motor and he used to drive me and he was a very good driver and he was like luxury and speed both mixed in and that man was blessed because he had some he was a very good driver, that was a skill. I don’t know whether I could call that a charismatic gift, oh I should do because the word charisma means come by grace and then it’s the natural, he was a farmer but he was very good at things like trucks and cars and driving and he used that to bless the work of the gospel as he would take me to all my crusades down there. And I think that’s something to

[00:17:25] keep in mind. So I am a charismatic person or believing in the charismas but I’m not one that believes as happened at one occasion I had to speak at was at the Kuma music seminar which was held at Kuma down there in one of those southern states and young people came from all over Australasia and there were people interested in the performing arts and so they had seminars on I was a speaker of the general seminars but they also gave me to have to work in the seminar that was on worship or the organisers had their smile on their faces when they chose that because I am known to be a conservative preacher but they chose someone who was quite in the charismatic stream and he had a smoke machine and he would teach, you know, we shared the talkings to the seminar

[00:18:19] and he shared in his times about how you use the smoke machine. Now I couldn’t think of anything more dreadful because you don’t need a smoke machine when the Holy Spirit works and there are times when people pray sometimes things happen where you really know you’re in the presence of the Holy Spirit because of what happens. You don’t have to have a smoke machine in fact to me I consider that a bit of a slight on God that you’ve got to produce a smoke machine because he can’t do it. No, I don’t like smoke machines. at all but he had some other things and some of the songs that he’d written and all were very beautiful and some of our people from the church that I was at actually taught him one of our songs of worship him it’s an old one you probably know it if I could remember its words holy, holy, holy

[00:19:14] or something or other anyway but he wrote another version thereof that all the charismatic people and now people think it’s meant to be a charismatic song goodness they didn’t know it came from the old conservative Christians who sang a song about holiness and I hope I’m quoting the right opening words. Anyway, so by the title I’m not meaning there’s anything wrong with being charismatic because as I mentioned earlier one of the places the Bible says that we should be charismatic when it says the gift of God is salvation for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord and that word gift of God is charisma so don’t be not charismatic because the gift of God now is also true that how God gives you that eternal life

[00:20:11] is by when you receive the Holy Spirit. We have up in the screen at the moment a verse which is one of the ones which mentions the word of receiving the Holy Spirit and one of the differences between people who would be in the classification of charismatics are ones who have a special way of interpreting and not all people who are interested in spiritual gifts really fit into such a definition of a charismatic but the one I’m thinking of is one that says there are two blessings that you need to have received along the way to get it all One is that you need to get saved. And the second one is not that. It is that you need to have the second blessing. And the second blessing is when you have the baptism in the Holy Spirit. What is wrong with having salvation as one thing,

[00:21:05] and the baptism in the Spirit as something is a second blessing, is not the fact that you should consider the salvation of momentary happening and it’s over because sometimes God does those conversion moments with people instantaneously and sometimes they do happen across time. A good example, the Apostle Paul who fell off his camel when the light shone on him. Was it a camel or a horse? I don’t remember. But he certainly fell off it onto the ground and Jesus spoke to him and spoke to him and he asked who this is and he says, I’m the one you’re persecuting. And he becomes a Christian but he’s told what to do and he goes to a place and then he’s been blinded by the light that shone and something happens that he gets back his sight and he gets more instructions and the instructions are to get baptised

[00:21:57] which is what you do when you’ve come to God and got right with him, the Atonement has applied to you, you’re forgiven. But also what happens to you is not only is the Atonement applied to you but your Holy Spirit has given to you. That’s what the Gospel says. Peter in the day of Pentecost proclaimed the Gospel, repent, believe in Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit. I think Peter included get baptised to show all this as well. So that’s a conversion moment. But the conversion moment is not anything separate from becoming a Christian. It is what becoming a Christian involves. There are not two separate operations of God. One is when you’re made a Christian and another one is when you get the super-duper power from a baptism in the Holy Spirit and do funny things. That’s all manufactured by the schemes of man.

[00:22:57] The Scriptures don’t teach that. There is one Scripture, though. There’s a bit of a fly in the ointment on even understanding my way of reading it. It’s the verse right in front of you, staring at you. And why it is a bit of a fly in the ointment is because it’s misunderstood. Due to not knowing how Greek is written, it’s a verse written in Greek in the Gospel, John 20, 21 to 22. Jesus says, As the Father sent me, even so I’m sending you. This is a lead-up to the Great Commission. And you’re being sent by Jesus in the Great Commission is because of the Gospel having been given to you and you being converted. You don’t need a second blessing to be sent as he’s speaking. As the Father sent me, even so I’m sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said, he didn’t have a microphone,

[00:24:00] and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. Now, it’s a clause. Receive the Holy Spirit. Do you know your grammar enough to know that a clause has got to have a verb in it? If it only doesn’t have a verb, you call it a phrase. But it’s actually, there are different styles of verbs, and this one in the word receive is one that is in the command mode. It’s called the imperative mood. Imperative. Can I do it? It is receive the Holy Spirit. But one thing about the Greek, when you learn Greek, is that you learn that it’s not necessarily said in a way that’s dictating to do it later or dictating to do it now, it simply says, I’m putting it in the passive to make the point, but the Holy Spirit’s to be received. It’s actually, you know, positive, active, receive the Holy Spirit, but it’s not underlining

[00:25:01] that it’s happening immediately then. Oh, you say, well, what’s the business about him breathing on them and then said to them? It’s because in the prophetic tradition which Jesus lay behind right back through the Old Testament days, the spirit of Jesus at least, and the tradition in which he was was that they often gave ways of picturing the commands that the spirit was leading them to say with a prophetic gesture. And they would do something. There was one prophet who had to lie on his side for a certain amount of time and another prophet who did other funny things, and it demonstrated it was God that’s speaking. And Jesus breathed on them because the very word breath in the Old Testament revelation was when God breathed on us, he created us. The very word breath is the same word.

[00:25:57] There’s not a different word for spirit. Breath and spirit would be translated by the same word, the same action, because in their Hebrew minds they didn’t distinguish between and the Holy Spirit coming. The breath of God is the Spirit of God in their lingo and their representation thereof. And when Jesus breathed on them, he was doing a prophetic gesture as to where the Spirit would come from and to them. From Jesus to you. And the gospel actually included the fact that in Jesus doing everything necessary for people to receive the Spirit, it included the fact that not only did he have to die, he had to go into death and conquer it by rising again. He had to ascend to heaven whereby the Father gave to him to be the one who’d send the Spirit. And then from heaven as Lord of lords and King of kings,

[00:26:50] he would rescind the Holy Spirit to his believing disciples. And that was the day of Pentecost. Jesus was giving a demonstration that the Holy Spirit will come from him to them. Oh, you say, Jim, you’re sort of bringing an extra idea to make your interpretation look right. No, I’m not bringing it because it’s elsewhere in the Gospel of John. John chapter 7, verses 37 to 39 is a verse that has Jesus speaking to the crowds and he cries out and says, he who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. But then the commentary of the Bible, the Gospel, goes on to say, this spake he, oh, you found it pretty quick, this spake he of the Holy Spirit, I’m looking in the middle there, whom those who believed in him were to receive. And the were to receive means future.

[00:27:44] For as yet the Spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. And at that moment in the upper room when Jesus breathed on them, he was not yet glorified. He had risen, but he was yet to be glorified. and when he was glorified it was the Holy Spirit was put under his direction power in the Trinity management things I don’t understand that terribly well but he was the one who sent the spirit from heaven. Or you say Jim you’re bringing another one of your interpretations to make your one look right. No. There is other scriptures that talk about the fact that Jesus is the person to whom God gave the spirit and then he sent and the scripture records that he sent forth this later on when talking about the Holy Spirit the teaching of the apostle is that Jesus having received the spirit

[00:28:43] he sent forth the spirit. That’s why the day of Pentecost happens after Jesus has ascended and been crowned king of kings and lord of lords. And so this moment in here is after his resurrection, it might even be after he’s gone to heaven, I can’t quite remember on the spot, but he’s not yet glorified and so John 7, 37 to 39 for as yet the spirit, the last couple of lines, had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. Clinched, alright, there’s no way that John chapter 20 where Jesus breathes in them is the moment when he actually was able to do it and it’s because the language is to say the spirit is to be received, it keeps it in the active and not passive as I just was using, but it’s to happen and they were to await the appropriate moment but it shows don’t try and go out

[00:29:38] there and win the lost and do the great commission and preach to every creature or do any of that until you’ve received the Holy Spirit till that moment’s come when you’re going to go on behalf of Christ because his spirit is going to give you the grace power to do it. So, putting all these verses together, it’s clear that it is a charismatic fly in the ointment when people try and make a case for this is when Jesus gave the spirit. You know the reason why they do it is because they want to make what happened on the day of Pentecost a second blessing. It’s not a second blessing, it’s the blessing. There’s only one work of God bringing your salvation and it’s not split up and to get forgiven here and get the spirit there or get the spirit due to some further work of Christ.

[00:30:32] No, when he has finished his work and the whole of heaven has cheered, the whole of heaven is recognised as he’s been glorified, then he sheds forth the Holy Spirit to those who are his believing disciples. So you’ve learned here not to just take the way the English had it worded to make you think that they got the spirit there when Jesus breathed in them Now I mentioned in the title the flies in the ointment The ointment is what’s good for you I’m not wanting to pour cold water on getting the spirit to help you live the Christian life But the flies in the ointment is certain things that shows that this verse might have misled you. And there are some more things that you can point out because something happens in this passage because there’s somebody who’s absent. It’s on one of those Sunday evenings

[00:31:27] where the rest of them have gathered together and there’s a person who’s not present. Put your hand up if you know who’s not present. Anybody? Okay, yes. Thomas, that’s right. but I pity people have the name Thomas because he got named later on as Doubting Thomas and at the end of the storyline he’s believing the poor fellow gets a reputation for his lowest moment. But anyway, Thomas is not there but the next Sunday they’re using Sundays to meet and it became a habit for the whole church because Jesus rose on a Sunday but they’re meeting again. When Jesus comes back, he turns up straight walking through the door, you know, he doesn’t have to open it. But that’d be a pretty good thing, wouldn’t it? Anyway, and Jesus arrives and he comes to correct Thomas. Now, had it been that Jesus had breathed on the others

[00:32:21] and they received the spirit but Thomas missed out, then what Jesus would need to do is say, Thomas, come over here to the corner. Just sit down a bit lower and breathe on him and let him receive the spirit too. It’d be awful if the others all got the spirit and he happened to be missing. And he missed out. Well Jesus doesn’t want him to miss out but he wants him to get the teaching that he gave that day and he wants to get him to be a believer because Thomas is saying I’m not going to believe anything unless I can put my finger in the nails in his hands or thrust it in the hole in his side. And Jesus shows him his hands in his side but he doesn’t have to do anything, he just believes. And he says, my Lord and my God. This is in, as you read it, John 7.

[00:33:11] I know that’s the verse in John 7 about Jesus saying about the rivers of living water. But it is in the spot in, I think it’s John 20. And I can’t remember the verse. But at home, look up John 20 and read it with the understanding that as Jesus explaining, the Spirit will come from him to them. And that happened at the day of Pentecost. And when you put all these verses together, you see that you can’t believe that they receive the Spirit now. One fly is, Thomas didn’t have Jesus give him the adequate second breathing or the breathing another time. What did he do was correct his not believing, his lack of faith. But it’s not the only thing that’s a bit of a fly in the ointment here. There’s another one who has to do with the life of Peter. And Peter’s a person who had failed the Lord and denied him.

[00:34:05] He denied him three times as Jesus was being tried and Peter was put on the spot. Aren’t you one of them? And no, no, no. And he cursed and swore. And he had boasted so much as to how he’d never forsake the Lord. But he really caused a big failure. And he’s really sorrowing about the failure that he was. And he says to the others, he’s quite a strong leader in the natural. And he’s someone that the others follow. He says, well, I’m going fishing. You read the rest of it. I won’t find you the verses now. But you read the rest of it in the Gospel of John. He says, I’m going fishing. And I hope it’s the Gospel of John that that bit’s said. But anyway, it’s certainly talked about in the rest of John. and they go down to the beach and they go fishing and they catch nothing and they notice that there’s a stranger

[00:34:52] someone they’re not sure who it is who’s made a fire and he’s cooking fish and he’s on the beach and it’s Jesus one of his appearances and they recognise him and he calls out and says put the net on the other side of the boat you’ll catch lots of fish and they did and the whole crowd of fish swam into the net and they were so heavy they scarcely could drag it into the boat and they eventually bring it down into the shore and then Jesus deals with Peter. He demonstrated now a pretty big prophetic gesture, you can’t do anything without me. You need me to tell you where to catch the fish. A bit of a lesson to anybody who’s going to be called to go and catch people for Christ. And so Jesus deals with Peter. Along the way he said to him, When you’re converted, strengthen the brethren.

[00:35:49] That word converted, we often fill it out with lots of meanings but it basically means turned around. He’s being a backslider, he was being cynical, he was running away because of his failure and when you get turned around, strengthen the others. Now if Peter was in that state and he was there that first time Jesus appeared in the upper room, if he’s in that state of being a derelict failure of a Christian and feeling sorrowful and ready to lead others off the track as well and then he’d receive the Spirit wouldn’t you expect that that would turn him around? How strong is this receiving of the Spirit? What does it do to you? Is it so weak that he’d go on being someone that still needed Jesus to say when you’re converted strengthen the others? No, his unconverted nature

[00:36:42] and how he was really under stress mentally because of how he’d failed the Lord that was not yet fixed and it’s a funny thing to picture him as there getting breathed on by Jesus which imparts the Spirit and it doesn’t do anything to him No, it’s another fly in the ointment of the charismatics who think this is a moment when receiving the Spirit was done I can add a few more too by the way one is that in this passage in John 20 it tells of some of the things that they’re to do some of those things has to do that they’re to go on to preach and announce the forgiveness of sins and Jesus talks about if you forgive the sins of any they’re forgiven if you give them the opportunity about the forgiveness of sins He’s actually empowering the disciples when they eventually do obey Him to be able to give to people

[00:37:40] the offer of the forgiveness of sins. But they don’t run out the door and do anything. As a matter of fact, why don’t we look up when they did not run out of the door, but run out of the country and start doing it? It’s the day of Pentecost. And they’re given the power of the Holy Spirit to speak to the crowds and some of those apostles to be, those disciples, they find themselves speaking in other tongues that they’d never learned. And the people who’d come to be there because of the Jewish feasts, they listened to these disciples and they’re speaking in their home language. And they recognize and they say, these are like Galileans, these country bunching types who don’t know too many languages but they’re speaking in my language. How did they have the power to speak in the other languages

[00:38:30] is because of the Holy Spirit and them being able to is what alerted the attention of the listeners. Now that didn’t happen when Jesus breathed on them. They had to wait to the day of Pentecost when it was the moment when the Spirit is finally given. Jesus has been glorified. The gospel has been pronounced and the Spirit is given and they, all those people, by the fact that they do what Jesus told them to do when the Spirit came. That demonstrates that this moment at Pentecost is when the Spirit came. That’s another fly in the ointment of the charismatics who think that you receive Jesus one day, but if you’ve had a good time and you’ve become a Christian, you need to have the special happening of you having a second blessing. I wouldn’t mind it so much if it was the one blessing

[00:39:24] just happening slowly and God takes his time. I don’t know how. I don’t know what to say about Saul’s conversion being run over three days, if you look it up. But I know that there’s only one conversion. There’s only one acts as a consequence of Jesus’ atonement success. For when the Gospel is announced, there’s only one miracle that happens. It’s your conversion. It’s not like there’s a second type of blessing and this type, you’ve got to fill in a different form. Well, you’ve got to, you know, you’ve got to, no, you’ve got the other one, but now you get the high-powered one up. Step number two, because that really is, you’ve no idea how, what was the word, annoying. That idea is that there’s a lower-class Christians, they’ve received the Spirit, and there’s a higher-class Christians,

[00:40:18] they’ve been baptised in the Spirit. You know how annoying that is to the whole idea of the Gospel. How contrary to the fact of the very idea of the Church is how we are all on one equal level. At the foot of the cross there’s no specialties, no special persons. We’re all equal when we come to the forgiveness that Jesus earned and bore. And when you recognize your equality with the other Christians because you’re all on the same ground as forgiven by grace. Your forgiveness is charisma, received, eternal life. And that one blessing of the outcome of the atonement, not two, not two different blessings, and you get one this way and you’ve got something else to do, you get the second and there’ll be a special signs for the special people. There’s nothing more abhorrent, I believe, to God

[00:41:14] than to have a doctrine that has some people who’ve only just been saved and other people who’ve also been baptised in the Spirit. Can you see how that’s not a doctrine to accept? And it’s just a lack of understanding of the Scriptures, especially that one in John 7 which says, as yet the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. When you apply that through and take it back to that passage, although in the English it looks like when he breathed in them he was giving them the Spirit, that’s not what happened. The rest of the Scriptures and how they teach prove the point that I’m making. These are some of the flies in the ointment of the charismatics. Not because I want to talk you out of being a charismatic, but I want to let you know that there’s only one blessing

[00:42:07] that is the outflow of the atonement, the outflow of Jesus’ ascension, the outflow of his being coronated, crowned King of kings and Lord of lords. And it is your conversion to Christ when you get saved. Without that you’re not saved but with that you’ve got the lot because the lot is all that Jesus brings and all that the Spirit brings. It doesn’t mean that there aren’t times when God chooses in your Christian growth to have times where he comes on you and does more things but it’s only one salvation one act of grace one gift of grace that gets you to be a spiritual person it gets you to be a saved person it gets you to be a Jesus person all of that in one act of God it has either happened to you or it’s not happened if you’re summoned here tonight and you say I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about

[00:43:03] and you mean by that you’re not sure whether it’s happened to you. You need to do something about it. You need to read the scriptures, find some promises and say, Lord, I really want to be sure that I have been saved, that I have been cleansed, that the atonement when you said, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. Not only applies to the men nailing the nails, but applied to me because you bore my sin. Please forgive me for all that I’ve done. Please be my saviour. And when by the depth of your heart you cry out like that and you understand that salvation is what comes only by grace. It’s not because you deserved any of it, but that you put your faith in the promise of the gospel and you took Jesus as your own personal saviour, then you’ve got it and you’ve received the Spirit.

[00:43:59] And other times you may have spiritual things happen to you and you may have things that have God’s signature written across it because he leads us and he uses us and he trains us and he tells us things. But there’s only one salvation, one act of grace, one real charisma that you get when it means that which comes by grace. There are gifts of grace that you generally get by having become a Christian and it is possible that people discover those gifts later in their Christian life. It’s not impossible that God gives someone an extra grace, a spiritual gift. I’m not ruling that out either and I’m not suggesting that we try to step away from being charismatic in the full use of the word, meaning that the spirit is called, his gifts are gifts of grace.

[00:44:54] But I’m meaning that we only need to have one blessing that comes out of Calvary. Have you got it? Are you resting in it? Don’t leave behind your understanding that it’s something that comes by grace. Don’t let the devil treat you and make you think you’ve got to be so super obedient otherwise you’ll get kicked out. No, no, you stay in by his grace. You got blessed in the first place by his grace and he doesn’t waste his grace. When he forgives you, he forgives you. What he might do is give you a bit of a spanking if you wander off the track. What he might do is give you through some difficult circumstances to teach you how to be stronger. but even that grace teaching that grace treatment is what God does to his sons and his daughters like a father does to his son to help him to grow up properly

[00:45:54] God does that to us and sometimes the things that go wrong are because his grace is operating to give us a bit of a touch up we might need these are wonderful passages so please don’t get talked out of being a true charismatic because the true charismatic is the person who understands their situation with God is a grace-given one which he won’t take back from you and he won’t ask of you something else to deserve it or to be the doorway in when the doorway is the one who cried on the cross, it is finished. It is finished. His atonement for you was that he paid it in full and the word finished, as probably you’ve heard lots of sermons, it’s the word tetelestai. It’s in the perfect tense, a verb, something’s happened, it’s done. They used to, when you had a bill being paid off

[00:46:59] when you finally gave the last bit of money, they’d write on the bill, tetelestai, it is finished. The bill’s paid in full. And when you know it’s paid in full for you, rest. Rest in the fact that he will help you live out what it is to have that freedom, that come by grace paid in full. It’s one of the greatest lessons you can learn as a Christian, to rest in his grace. Let me have a prayer. Heavenly Father, I thank you in Jesus’ name for the true grace of God, this grace that is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who though he had no sin, took on board our sin. That was his grace, that we might be the forgiveness, to have the forgiveness and be the holiness of God. God, help us to stand on that and never let it go, even when we have our failures, even when we have our times of disorientation.

[00:48:03] Help us know that you’re not disoriented by having accepted his death on the cross or Jesus’ disorientation when he said, it is finished. It is totally finished. and the Christian life is what you go on with with the knowledge that the sin is gone. Like John Bunyan’s picture of Christian, the bloke who does the walking toward heaven, as he kneels before the cross, the bundle of sin falls off his back and he rises to be able to walk the Christian road with lightness of step. What a fantastic picture that is. Thank you for John Bunyan’s book, Pilgrim’s Progress. We thank you tonight for this in Jesus’ name. Amen.