Dr. Rodney Plunket

Stories of New Birth

Acts 2; 8:26-40; 22:1-21
November 8, 1998

Last week we began a four lesson series on Christian baptism. In that first lesson we looked at a connection made by all four of the NT’s Gospels. That connection is between the baptism from Jesus and the giving of the Holy Spirit. This morning I want us to build upon what we looked at in that previous lesson.

The way we will do that is by going to a NT book which is focused upon the Holy Spirit and which also has a great deal to report concerning the practice of baptism in the early Church. That book is the book of Acts.

Allow me to relate briefly a couple of facts about this fifth book of the NT. The Greek word for "spirit" is pneuma; it is used three hundred and seventy-nine times in the Greek NT, and seventy of those times it is found in the book of Acts. Acts uses this word more than any other NT book. This extensive use of that word is due to the fact that the book of Acts is focused upon the power of the Holy Spirit in the life of the early Church. Some have even said that the book of Acts should not be referred to as the Acts of the Apostles but as the Acts of the Holy Spirit.

Another relevant point to make relates to two other Greek words. Baptizo is a Greek verb that is brought into English as "baptize", and baptisma is a Greek noun translated as "baptism". The book of Acts uses these "baptism words" a combined total of twenty-seven times, which is more than any other NT book.

So to go to the book of Acts immediately after seeing the relationship between baptism and the Holy Spirit is a natural move. Let’s do it. Please take your Bibles and turn to Ax 2.

Before we look specifically at Ax 2, let me give you some relevant OT background to the events recorded there. Isaiah 42:9-20 look forward to a time when a great renewal of God’s kingdom would take place. An important sign of that coming renewal, according to Isa 42:15, is that "a spirit from on high [would be] poured out" on the people. Another similar passage is Isa 44:1-5; in v 3 of that passage God says that he "will pour out [his] spirit" on the people. The Lord in Eze 11:19 and in Eze 36:26 looks forward to a time when He will "put a new spirit within" His people. In Eze 37:14 the Lord makes a similar statement except there He says, "I will put my spirit within you". Two chapters later, in Eze 39:29, the Lord is again speaking and He says, "I will never again hide my face from them, when I pour out my spirit upon the house of Israel".

Acts 2 tells us that this outpouring of the Spirit of God began on the first day of Pentecost after the resurrection of Jesus. This outpouring of the Holy Spirit causes the disciples of Jesus to speak forth the mighty acts of God to a great crowd of people in a multitude of languages. As a result, the disciples are accused of being drunk. The apostle Peter’s defense of himself and the others is to quote from an OT passage that belongs with the other OT passages to which I have already referred. Peter takes them to the book of Joel which looks forward to a time when God "will pour out [his] Spirit upon all flesh"––male and female, slave and free. Peter’s point is clear; God has promised to pour out His Spirit, and on this day of Pentecost He has done it, and that is what all of these people are seeing and hearing.

Peter then preaches a sermon which connects all that the people are seeing and hearing to the power of Jesus. He shows them through additional OT passages that the Messiah/the Christ had to die and be raised. Peter tells his audience that he and the others with him are witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection. Then He drives home the point that the Jews are responsible for killing the very Messiah for whom they had longed for generations.

His sermon hits his listeners hearts. They cry out "Brothers, what should we do?"

Peter responds by saying, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit". In other words, Peter is urging his listeners to repent and be baptized so that their sins would be forgiven and so they would receive the same Holy Spirit that had been poured out upon Peter and the other disciples.

It seems to me that to emphasize only the first half of baptism’s promise is to leave people in an only slightly improved position. Their sins are forgiven, but they still must rely on their own power to make their way through life. God’s work in baptism is greater than that. Not only does He cleanse; He fills, and He fills with His own Spirit.

I want us to stop now and sing a song that emphasizes our need for the Holy Spirit. Please turn to song #791. This song encourages us to seek God humbly so that my life/your life will be "a holy sacrifice to [Him]". Notice especially the last few lines of the second verse: "Change my life, O Holy Spirit make me fresh and ever new; Make my life a holy sacrifice to You". John, come lead us.

One of my favorite stories of new birth in the book of Acts is the story of the baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch in Ax 8:26-40. In this story the emphasis is not upon the reception of the Spirit by the person who is baptized; instead, the emphasis is upon the Holy Spirit using Philip the evangelist to share the gospel with a rather unlikely recipient. The OT book of Deuteronomy, in ch 23 v 1, made clear that a eunuch was barred from full fellowship in the Jewish religion. In spite of that barrier this eunuch had come to Jerusalem to worship to the extent that he was allowed. In Ax 8:28 he is on his way back home to the county that we know today as the Sudan. As he is riding in the chariot he is reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asks him if he understands what he is reading. The eunuch makes clear that he does not, and he invites Philip to ride along with him. The eunuch is reading from Isa 53:32-33 which says,

"Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth".

Philip explains to the eunuch that the person to whom this passage applies is Jesus. In the course of Philip’s teaching they pass by a place where there is water; the eunuch asks to be baptized, and Philip baptizes him.

I want to place special emphasis on the reaction of the eunuch. Acts 8:39 says that he "went on his rejoicing". Why? Because he has been accepted fully into the kingdom of God. No longer is he held off at a distance. In him has been fulfilled the words of the prophet Isaiah in Isa 56:3-8. Please take your Bibles, turn to that passage, and follow along as I read. Isa 56:3-8:

Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, "The Lord will surely separate me from his people"; and do not let the eunuch say, "I am just a dry tree." For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant—these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.

This prophetic passage is a Jewish way of declaring that there would be a time when both eunuchs and foreigners would be accepted as full-fledged citizens of the kingdom of God. In this story of the baptism of a man whom it is most natural to assume was a black African, in this story we have the first exact fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.

And this passage has a great message for each one of us. No matter what makes us feel separated from God, Christ Jesus has overcome it; and, through the baptism that is from Jesus, we can experience the overcoming of every barrier; and we, like the eunuch, can come up out of the baptismal waters and go on our "way rejoicing".

Let’s sing another song, a song that brings home the overcoming power of Christ’s love; and please use this song to renew within your heart the wonder of Christ’s love. Let the joy build within you. Look inside your worship bulletin and sing the song, "Lord, Though The World Rejected Me". John, come lead us.

The final conversion story upon which we will focus is the one which the book of Acts tells three times. The conversion of Saul is reported in Ax 9:1-19, in Ax 22:3-16, and in Ax 26:9-18. However, only the first two of those accounts actually report Saul’s baptism. I want to focus upon the second account, the story of Saul’s conversion as it is reported in Ax 22:3-16.

The story told is of a bitter persecutor of the Church. Saul hated the Church. Immediately prior to his conversion he was traveling to Damascus in Syria to persecute the followers of Jesus who lived there. His animosity toward Christians was so strong that He was traveling outside of Jewish territory to terrorize Christians in another province.

But God brings him low. A bright light blinds him, and a voice says to him, "Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?" Saul responds by asking, "Who are you Lord?" The voice replies, "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting"; and then Jesus’ voice commands Saul to go on into Damascus where he would be told what to do.

How ironic that one of the very Christians whom Saul had set out to terrorize gave Saul back his sight and told Saul how to obey the will of the Jesus who spoke to Him on the road. That Christian’s name was Ananias, and what did he tell Saul to do? He said, "And now why do you delay? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name". Saul did as Ananias commanded, and Saul became possibly the most influential Christian missionary the world has ever known.

I want to focus upon just one item in this story. Ananias knew that baptism would wash away the sins of even a man as wicked and treacherous as Saul, the bitter terrorizer of the early church. Please turn to and read with me the words of this converted persecutor. Take your Bibles and follow along as I read some of the words of Saul who became Paul. Please turn to 1 Tm 1:12-17. There Paul says,

I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost. But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Paul says what Acts reveals. He was "a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence"; but God’s grace "overflowed" for this man who calls himself the "foremost" sinner.

Think about what we have seen this morning. Think about these three stories of new birth. In them we have seen that baptism forgives sins and is an occasion for God’s Holy Spirit to be poured out upon those who believe. We have seen a person who had known thick barriers between himself and God experience the joy of having all of those barriers fall because of God’s grace that overflowed when he was baptized. We have seen the foremost sinner experience the washing away of sins through baptism.

If you are here and need the new birth of Christ, His power and His grace are ever present. He wants you to come and experience the new birth of forgiveness, the new birth wrought by the Holy Spirit, the new birth that destroys barriers and gives great joy, the new birth that can wash away all of your sins. Please come asking Jesus to "wash [you] anew in the wine of [his] blood". Come now as we stand and sing.