Acts: Evidence of Salvation

Good morning, Church. I hope you're doing well this morning.

If you'll open up your bibles and turn to Acts

chapter nineteen. We're continuing in our study of Acts this morning.

I'm glad Jonathan decided to share a day of it

with me so I could be up here. It's a

privilege to be able to preach his word each time

I get to So this morning we're going to be

talking about the role of the Holy Spirit in salvation,

and this has been a good passage for me to study.

We're going to be at the beginning of chapter nineteen,

and as you turn there, I just want to ask you.

Have you ever been in a situation where you're eating

some food but maybe something doesn't seem quite right.

Maybe you're worried about.

It, you know, being spoiled, or worried about how clean

it is. Maybe the meat isn't tasting right, and so

you start asking questions about it. How long was it

defrosting on the counter, how warm is a refrigerator? All

of those questions. You're trying to rule out some suspicions

that you have, right, and we have these feelings from

time to time that things might not be quite right,

and those are meant to maybe keep us safe, or

they're meant to help us along the way, keep us

on the right path. And so in Acts chapter nineteen,

the apostle Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament,

is now on his third missionary journey. He returns to Ephesus,

and he finds some men who are called disciples. But

Paul must have noticed something in them that seems suspicious,

that something different about them, maybe something was missing.

And so we're going to see in.

This passage how Paul discerns their spiritual state. We're going

to see that the Holy Spirit is the evidence of salvation.

So if you'll stay with me and will read Acts

nineteen one through seven. And it happened that while Apaulos

was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and

came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples, and he

said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when

you believed? And they said, no, we have not even

heard that there is a Holy Spirit. And he said,

into what then were you baptized? They said, into John's baptism.

And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance,

telling the people to believe in the one who was

to come after him, that is Jesus. On hearing this,

they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the

Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in

tongues and prophesying. There were about twelve men in all.

Let's pray, Father, God, as we come to this scripture,

come to your word. Father, we pray that you would

help us.

Lord.

We pray that your Holy Spirit would help us to

understand your word and apply it to our hearts. Lord,

we pray that you would get rid of distractions in

our minds. Father, that we would be able to understand

your word, that we would pull truth from it.

Father, that we would be changed by.

Your word today, so that we can live lives of

more glory for you, more honor for you.

Lord.

I pray that you would be here among those who

might be doubting this morning of where they stand before you. Lord,

Let this passage and let these truths be a confirmation

for them, or Father, let it be a gentle prodding

in the direction of giving their lives to you. So, Father,

we pray that you would open our eyes to behold

wonderful things out of your word this morning, and Father,

pray that you would guard me from error.

In Jesus name, we pray amen.

So Verse one says that Paul came to Ephesus and

he found some disciples. They must have professed to be disciples,

but Paul doubted. We're not given any information as to

why he doubted or what reason Paul had to question

their faith. But it's clear that Paul was unsure about them.

We know this because he asks them about their salvation experience.

In verse two, he said, did you receive the Holy

Spirit when you believed? And they said no, we have

not even heard that.

There is a Holy Spirit.

So Paul investigates their faith their salvation because something seems off.

And how does he investigate their faith? How does he

try to discern that someone is a faithful believer. He

asks them about the Holy sa Spirit and specifically when

they believed, did they receive the Holy Spirit? Paul's question

reveals something to us that salvation requires the Holy Spirit.

You see, without the Holy Spirit, one cannot be saved.

Paul reveals that these disciples aren't believers. They're not Christians.

Because they don't have the Holy Spirit. They're even unaware

that the Holy Spirit exists. Right, And we're going to

see a little bit in just a second.

Why, But.

I wonder have you ever thought about or wondered about

the roles of the trinity.

Right?

We have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And we would often talk about the Father who was

so loving and so good and so faithful that he

sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for us.

And we often talk about how Jesus sacrificed himself on

the cross for us, he gave his life and substitute

for ours. Right as Baptists, we believe in that substitutionary atonement,

that it was Jesus who died on the cross in

my place when I should have been there. But I

think sometimes the Holy Spirit maybe takes a back seat.

And this morning, the Holy Spirit is going to shine

in this passage and we see that the Holy Spirit

is crucial or it provides evidence that we are Christians,

that there is no salvation without the Holy Spirit. You see,

it's the Holy Spirit who sets us free from death

and gives us life, gives us spiritual life. The Spirit

applies what Jesus has purchased look at when he says

in Romans eight. In Romans eight one through nine, it's

a very it's a good passage about what the spirit's doing.

It says, there is therefore now no condemnation for those

who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the

Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus

from the law of sin and death. For God has

done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do,

by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh,

and for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh in

order that the righteous requirement of the Law might be

fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh,

but according to the Spirit. For those who live according

to the flesh set their minds on the things of

the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit,

set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For

to set the mind on the flesh is death, but

to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

For the mind that is set on the flesh is

hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed,

it cannot Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however,

are not in the flesh but in the spirit. If

in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you. And

look at this last phrase. Anyone who does not have

the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. So,

according to Paul and Romans eight, I identified six aspects

of what it's like to live a life in the

Spirit of Christ. So one, the spirit frees the unbeliever

from sin and death. We saw that. We saw that

in verse two, the law of the Spirit of life

has set you free from the law of sin and

death has set us free. Number two, the spirit guides

the believer to walk in him. Verse four, we walk

not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

So the life of the believer is guided as he

lives and walks in life through the spirit. Number three,

the spirit guides the believer's mind. What we think about

is guided by the spirit and may be convicted by

the spirit. Number four, the spirit gives life and peace

to believers. Number five, the spirit dwells in believers. And

number six, Finally, the spirit demonstrates that one belongs to God.

And so, when Paul asks this question to these disciples,

did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed. He's

asking in his own mind, are they really believers if

they don't have the Holy Spirit?

They indeed are not believers.

Yet these so called disciples aren't even aware that there's

a spirit. But as Romans eight says, having the spirit

is absolutely crucial to new life. They might have told

people they were disciples or follower of the way, that's

the Christian term and acts that's used to the ones

who follow Jesus. They might even look like believers because

of what they do or what they sound like, but

that doesn't mean they know God personally. Paul was trying

to measure whether they possessed these benefits of the spirit.

Jesus actually tells us clearly that there will be people

in this world who say they believe. They might act

like they are Christians, but they do not know God.

Look in Matthew seven with Me in verses twenty one

through twenty three, Jesus says, not everyone who says to me,

Lord Lord, will enter the Kingdom of heaven. But the

one who does the will of my Father, who is

in heaven. On that day, many will say to me,

Lord Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and

cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty

works in your name. And then I will declare to them,

I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

So there will be.

Some that approached Jesus on the last Day and say, yeah,

we're disciples. We did all of these things in Jesus's name,

and he will say, I never knew you. The Spirit

of God did not dwell in you. Therefore depart from me,

you workers of lawlessness. There will be people who say,

we helped people in your name. We gave money to

the homeless in your name, we taught children about you

in your name.

But if they.

Don't know who Jesus is through the Holy Spirit, they

will not be with him forever. John six says it's

the spirit who gives life. The flesh is no help

at all. So all of scripture teaches that for us

to be a Christian, to have salvation, to know God,

one must have the spirit. It reminds me of one

time when Nicki and I were living in Guatemala. I

think we were actually on a short trip. At this point,

six weeks or so, she was living with this family

and this family had a job and so they one

day they took a trip to Belize, that was a

neighboring country of Guatemala. So she wanted to get some

souvenir from Belize because she'd never been there before. And

so she buys this little clutch that it's a zipperd clutch,

and on it it had a symbol or a little

a leather stamp that said Belize. And so she got

that and she brings it back and she's excited because

she has this souvenir. She can tell people she went

to Belize, and also, you know, she has something to

remember it by. Well, a few days later, maybe a

few weeks later, she pulls out her clutch and the

seal that said Belize on it now says Guatemala. And

she realizes that there was this fake seal that was

placed over the top of a Guatemalan seal on her clutch.

So this clutch was parading around as if it was

from Belize the whole time, when actually it was from Guatemala,

the place that she had been for a while and

had been, you know.

For a weeks.

So she was deceived for a while that this clutch

actually was from Belize and come to find out it

wasn't who it said it was right. In the same way,

there are people in this world who will say, yes,

I'm a Christian, Yes I go to church, Yes I'm

praying for you. But Scripture says that there will come

a time when it will be revealed who they really are.

If the Holy Spirit does not dwell in that person,

they do not know God.

That might be one of you this morning.

Maybe you've come to church for a long time, many

years of your life, because that's what good North Carolinia

Lineans do. Maybe that's what good people do they go

to church on Sundays. Maybe you assumed you were saved

because of the knowledge that you have or the tradition

that you've been a part of, rather than the Holy

Spirit's work in your life. Maybe your life feels more

like a religion that you have to keep up appearances

than a personal intimacy with the Lord through the Holy Spirit.

I'll remind you that salvation is more than just saying

the right words or getting dunked in water in the

church building. It's the work of the Spirit in our lives.

Your faith must not be based on what you've done,

but on your dependence on the one who has done

it and the Holy Spirit that dwells in our hearts.

So salvation requires the Holy Spirit. Also salvation requires Jesus.

Look at verses three through four, and he said, into

what then were you baptized? They said, into John's baptism?

And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance,

telling the people to believe in the one who was

to come after him, that is Jesus. So after Paul

asks them about the spirit, he digs even deeper about

their baptism, and so he asks, really like why were

you baptized or in whose baptism were you? So he

finds out that they were bad baptize as followers of

John the Baptist. Remember that John the Baptist was the

one who was sent before Jesus arrived to prepare the

way for Jesus to come. And he called many, especially

Jews or only Jews, to be baptized and repent of

your sin, for the Lamb of God is coming. So

they were preparing themselves for the coming of God's promised one.

But John the Baptist wasn't the savior. He only pointed

to the Savior. He even said of himself in John

three point thirty, he said, I must decrease and he

must increase. John wanted to fade into the background after

pushing people towards Jesus and pointing the way.

Of life to them.

So these disciples that Paul encounters evidently were taught by

John or received the message of John, and they didn't

receive any further instruction after that.

They repented of their.

Sin and they were baptized in John's teaching, but they

hadn't received the full news that Jesus had come and

the Holy Spirit now dwells in believers, And so.

John was trying.

Like Paul highlights that in verse four, John told people

to believe in the one to come, that is Jesus,

And you can almost hear Paul saying, yeah, it's great

that you listen to John's teaching, But he was only

pointing people and telling people.

Of the one to come.

Later he called people to ultimately trust in Jesus. In

an earlier episode in Acts, Peter and John were in

Jerusalem and they heal a man who is begging outside

the temple. The city authorities questioned them about what they're

doing about their teaching. And Peter and John proclaim boldly,

if we are being examined today concerning a good deed

done to a cripple man, by what means this man

has been healed? Verse ten, Let it be known to

all of you and to all the people of Israel,

that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom

you crucified, whom God raised from the dead by him,

this man is standing before you. Well, Peter and John

were unashamedly pointing to Jesus as the Savior, as the

one who would heal and then listen to this. This

Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders,

which has become the cornerstone. And verse twelve says, and

there is salvation and no one else, For there is

no other name under Heaven given among men by which

we must be saved. And so Paul, upon finding these disciples,

he wants them to know that he wants them to

know where real life is found. He wants to lead

them to Jesus, because salvation requires Jesus. Have you I

don't know if any of you have keys, like maybe

a big key ring or you've had one for a

job at some point. I remember at one of my

previous jobs, I you know, my first day of work,

I get there and my my manager hands me this bundle,

this bundle of keys. It's almost as big as mister

Talmadge's keys if you've seen them, right, everybody knows about those.

But they hit me, and I think he says, actually, like,

here's the one to your office.

And I said, what are these other keys? I don't know.

They go to some door in the whole place, right,

And so I did spend like a couple of weeks

when I first there figuring out which key went where.

And some of them look like they go into a door,

but they don't.

Right.

You might have the same design and they they might

go into the lock, but it doesn't turn at all, right,

the same style, but it just doesn't work. And so

much the same could be said about Jesus. There might

be many different ways that we might try to honor God.

There might be admitted different ways. The world says you

can get to God, but there's only one that will

actually unlock eternal life. People believe there are many ways

to get to God, but there's only one. Some people

think having enough knowledge or believing whatever feels right to

them is what's most honoring to God. They might say, well,

God gave me that desire, so it must glorify him

if he made me. But the truth is, just like

with a locked door, only one key actually works to

open up a door. Jesus himself said, I am the Way,

the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the

Father except through me. We can try all the other

keys we want, but without Jesus, the door to eternal

life remains locked. Are you still trying with different keys

to enter the Kingdom of heaven hoping that it might work,

or have you trusted in the only one who can

truly open the door of everlasting life. Maybe today God

is calling you to stop trying in many different ways

and to submit yourself to Jesus. Salvation requires the Holy Spirit.

Salvation requires Jesus. And lastly, this morning salvation produces evidence.

In our final section of this passage, we see evidence

that the disciples have received salvation. Look at verses five

through seven. On hearing this, they were baptized in the

name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul had laid

his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them,

and they begin speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were

about twelve men in all, and so the first sign

that we see that these men know Jesus they have

received salvation is baptism. Paul explained to them that salvation

is only found in Jesus. They hear the Gospel, which

is the Good News, and they believe, and then they

are baptized. The Bible shows this pattern over and over again,

that someone hears, they believe, and then they are baptized.

An inward transformation happens in their hearts through trust in

God's truth, in his word, and ultimately trust in his Son.

And then an outward demonstration is done through baptism to

show an inward reality. We call it believers baptism. Believer

is baptized to demonstrate their faith. An unsaved person is

not baptized to receive salvation. They just get wet. The

second evidence that they've received salvation was the coming of

the Holy Spirit. So upon their baptism, it says Verse

six says when Paul laid his hands on them, the

Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in

tongues and prophesying. So them speaking in tongues and prophesying

was the Holy Spirit giving evidence to Paul that these

disciples were saved and were dwelling with the Holy Spirit. Now,

I want you to remember that God gives. God gave

signs and wonders to authenticate his message or authenticate that

something or someone was sent from God. In Acts, too,

the Jews were critical of the Christians who were followers

of Jesus. They were skeptical of Jesus and his message.

So what did God use to authenticate to the Jews

who were in Jerusalem for Pentecost that Jesus was the Messiah,

that the message that Jesus died and rose again for

them to be forgiven was true. He used gift of

signs and wonders. He used speaking in tongues.

It reminds us of sorry, I got lost.

When the Jews received the Holy Spirit, they spoke in tongues.

When Cornelius, a gentile, receives salvation, what does God use

to show Peter and the Jews that he has saved

and has received the Holy Spirit?

He speaks in tongues.

In Acts, fifteen members of the Jewish Council were skeptical

about if the Gospel had gone to the Gentiles. This

is called the Jerusalem Council. And so Peter stands up

before the Jerusalem Council to help them understand that the

Gospel has gone to the Gentiles. And so he connects

this speaking of tongues.

Listen.

After there had been much debate, Peter stood up among

them and said, brothers, you know that in the early

days God made a choice among you that by my

mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of God and believe.

Look at verse eight. And God, who knows the heart,

bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit.

Just as he did to us. And so the.

Holy Spirit has confirmed that the Gospel has gone to

these people groups by these miracles, by these signs such

as speaking in the gift of tongues, right, and so

that's his authentication that God is working and that this

message is true. And so here for the last time

it acts, we see Paul, and he is looking for

whether they are saved, and God gives the signs of

tongues and prophecy to authenticate that they are saved and

have received the Holy Spirit. God is faithful to his

message and he wants to confirm it and validate it.

And so when someone believes and receives the Holy Spirit,

how then can we know that we have the Holy Spirit?

How do you discern that I have the Holy Spirit,

that my life is led by the Holy Spirit. Maybe

you're asking, how do I know if someone just like

Paul is evaluating these disciples, how do I know that

someone belongs to God is led by the Holy Spirit.

Paul gives several good ways to know again in Romans eight, says,

if you live according to the.

Flesh, you will die. But if by the.

Spirit you put to death deeds of the body, you

will live. Notice the Spirit's work in several of these verses.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God

are sons of God. For you did not receive the

spirit of slavery fall back into fear, but you have

received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we

cry abba Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our

spirit that we are children of God. And so to

put plainly, some of these ways that the Spirit shows

us evidence that someone is from God.

We see conviction of sin, we.

See that we are led by the Spirit, and we

see from that patches, specifically, the Spirit bears witness with

our spirit that we are children of God. We can

know that the Spirit is dwelling in us when we

hear that still small voice of guidance, of conviction of sin,

of saying that I have peace, that I will be

with my Father forever in heaven. Some other ways that

we can from the Bible that we can tell that

we know the Spirit. Are the fruits of the Spirit

present in our lives? Are we showing love and peace

and patience all the fruits of the Spirit towards people daily?

Do we love God and seek to know Him more

in his word? And lastly, do we know Jesus what He's.

Done for us?

Do we have a personal relation relationship with our Savior

who rescued us from sin? If you're doubting whether or

not you're a Christian this morning, these are some good

questions to ask yourself. Imagine you're walking through an apple

orchard and you're looking for the best to apples. I'm

not sure if you've gone to pick apples here in

North Carolina.

I haven't.

I've done peaches and things like that. But you're walking

through an orchard and you're looking for good fruit. You're

looking for good trees that bear good fruit. You're not

necessarily looking at the tree itself. You know the trunk

and the leaves and the branches. You can tell minimally

by those. But what is the best sign that this

is a good tree or the fruit that you're looking for.

It's that there's fruit on the branches. It has produced

something good. Much in the same way, if you were

to ask yourself, how do I know that I am

a believer? How do I know that God dwells in

me with his spirit? There should be fruit in your life.

That fruit bears witness that you are a child of God.

You desire to serve people and love people because of

what has been done for you and your life, and

you want to give that back. Jesus said in Matthew

seven point sixteen, you will recognize.

Them by their fruits.

Salvation produces evidence in our lives should be evident to all.

For the disciples in Acts nineteen, the evidence of their

salvation was now clear. They were baptized and God confirmed

their faith through signs of the Holy Spirit. Today we

may not see the same miraculous signs, but the Holy

Spirit still produces visible evidence in our lives, like a

transformed heart, conviction of sin, love for God, and the

fruit of the spirit. So the question is if someone

looked at your life, what fruit would they see? What

evidence would they see that you are a child of God?

Is there evidence that you belong to Christ? If salvation

is real, it always produces evidence. As I close this morning,

while the band comes up, I want you to see

one more thing. So I have this book here, and

I might walk around, you know, go to the coffee

shop or go to the grocery store, and like, what

if I had this book and I carried it with

me and the name of the book is on Preaching, Okay,

So I would want to like show everybody that this

is my book.

I'm reading it. It's a great book.

And you might think, wow, he's smart, he's intelligent, he's studious.

He must be a great pastor because he's you know,

learning how to preach better and not keep them over

to lunch. And so maybe somebody says, hey, can I

see that book a little closely, right? And so I

give him the book and they open it up and

the first thing.

They see is.

A seal inside and this seal says from the library

of Jonathan Barbie. And they say, are you Jonathan Barbie?

And I say no?

And they said, is this really your book? And I

say no, And I'm called out for who I'm not.

I'm representing something that I don't really have. I'm putting

on this show for all to see when my heart

is far from God. This seal is the evidence that

this book does not belong to me. The Holy Spirit

produces evidence in our lives of who we belong to.

What's the evidence in your life? If you're here in

this room this morning and you know Jesus is your savior,

you're one hundred percent confident of that, but you've fallen

away from serving Him, from having the joy that you

should have as a believer. Know that there's confirmation in

your life, if there's conviction, if there's repentance, if there's

that desire to grow and serve the Lord continually, and

maybe you just need to repent and come back to

the Lord and say, Lord, I've been far from you

and I need to come back. I need to trust

in Jesus for my salvation and not anything that I do,

because my works are filthy rags before you. I rest

in what Jesus has done for me. If you have

the Holy Spirit in your life, there will be evidence.

Father God, we thank you for working in our lives.

We thank you that you are good enough to set

us free from sin and death, and so follow this morning,

I pray that you would.

Help us to.

Trust only in Jesus, follow that the Holy Spirit would

bear witness in our lives that we are children of God,

that all may see, and that we would point others

to have life. We praise you, and we thank you

for Jesus and his name.

Amen. Jesus been all to