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14. Can Satan Steal The Holy Spirit?

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Chapter 14 Can Satan Steal The Holy Spirit? The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit Is The Mark (Or Seal) Of Permanent Ownership As we continue to study how Satan attacks the various doctrines about the Holy Spirit, we need to talk about ownership. The Bible says that when we believed in Christ, the Holy Spirit baptized us into Christ’s family and marked us as his very own.

Ephesians 1:13-14 says: “And you also wereincluded in Christwhen you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation.When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal,the promised Holy Spirit, who is adeposit guaranteeing our inheritanceuntil the redemption of those who are God’spossession...” When Did We Receive The Holy Spirit?

Ok, according to this verse, when exactly did we receive the Holy Spirit? This verse shows us that we received the Holy Spirit immediately when we believed the good news (vs. 13). The good news can be summarized as follows: Even though we are all sinners in God’s eyes and would be hopelessly lost, Jesus came to earth as a human being and died on the cross in our place to save us from the penalty of sin that we deserved. He was buried, but he triumphed over sin and death and rose again to give us new life. Verse 13 says that when we believed this good news and trusted in this work that Christ did on the cross on our behalf—right then and there the Holy Spirit placed us INTO CHRIST so that we are permanently joined with him. He includes us in Christ or united us with Christ by placing us into his family. This is called the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit Can’t Be Taken Away—He Seals Us Forever The Holy Spirit does many other things for us, but let’s look at one thing brought out in this verse. Verse 13 says that the Holy Spirit is a seal showing that we belong to him permanently. The word ‘seal’ here is talking about marking something with a promise or deposit. The word has the idea of security and ownership (Matthew 27:66; Ephesians 4:30). Let’s think about an example: If someone wants to buy something expensive, he can make a deposit or down payment as his claim to ownership, with a promise to come back later to collect it. This deposit is the mark (or seal) promising that he will return and get it later. In a similar way, Ephesians 1:14 says that the Holy Spirit is like that deposit. He is the seal of ownership, claiming us as his very own. He is the mark of the promise that God has made to us. We know that God doesn’t break his promises, so our inheritance is guaranteed, which means we are heirs—God’s very own children—forever!

2 Corinthians 1:22 says: (God) “has identified us as His own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything He has promised us.” (NLT) (2 Corinthians 5:5; Galatians 4:6) The Holy Spirit is God’s seal on us—the mark of his guarantee. God’s guarantee is trustworthy and permanent—we can’t lose this mark. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will remain in us forever until we go to heaven, so Satan can never steal the Holy Spirit from us. The Holy Spirit is God, and Satan can never remove God. The Spirit is a permanent seal or mark of ownership on us.

Satan Tries To Tell Us That The Holy Spirit Will Leave Us

We can rejoice in this promise God has given us in Ephesians 1! But unfortunately, many Christians don’t know about this promise concerning the Holy Spirit. They are afraid that the Holy Spirit will leave them and that they will be lost. But that’s not true. It’s just another one of Satan’s lies, who is the father of lies.

Satan doesn’t want us to believe this important promise because he knows that the Spirit is the One who leads and empowers us. Satan wants to confuse the truth with a bunch of lies so we will be afraid of losing the Holy Spirit and feel insecure. So we need to decide whether we want to believe God’s promise or Satan’s deceitful tricks. If you have heard this kind of false teaching, it’s time to believe God’s promise! Don’t fall for Satan’s deceitful tricks. The Holy Spirit Places Us Into Christ (Like Baptism) In the books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke we see how people were baptized with water. Many people went to the Jordan River and other places that had plenty of water (John 3:23) to be baptized by John. When John or someone else baptized people, he stood in the river and people went down into the water next to him (Mark 1:10; Acts 8:39). He then gently placed them down into the water to baptize them.

Water baptism is a good picture of what the Holy Spirit does to us as believers. The Spirit also baptizes us (the moment we believe in Christ)—but not into water. The Spirit puts us intoChrist—into his family—so we are totally joined with Christ as part of him. It’s like John when he put people down into the water so they were totally surrounded by the water. Even so, now, when we believe, the Spirit baptizes us—placing us into Christ—so we become totally one with Christ. We are IN HIM, like being in water. We are united with him so closely that we become part of him—part of his family. The church is the body of Christ (Ephesians 1:13; 1 Corinthians 12:13).

God Views Us And Accepts Us The Way He Views Christ The Spirit has placed us in Christ, so when God looks at us, he views us in the same way as he looks at Christ—because we are united with him. God the Father accepts us the same as he accepts his own Son (Ephesians 1). He loves us just like he loves his own Son, because in God’s eyes, we are IN CHRIST now! We have become one with him.

1 John 4:13 says: “This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.” The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit Unites Us With Christ’s Death And Resurrection

Romans 6:3-6 says: “Or don’t you know that all of us who werebaptized into Christ Jesuswerebaptized into his death?We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have beenunited with himin a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin…”

These verses give us another clear reason for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit baptized us, we were united with Christ’s death and resurrection. So, in God’s eyes, we were placed IN CHRIST. We were identified with Christ when he died. So, when Christ died, we also died with him. His death became our death. His burial became our burial, and his resurrection also became our resurrection, because the Holy Spirit placed us IN CHRIST and united us with him. He represented us on the cross and in the tomb and when he rose from the dead—to a brand-new life. We ourselves didn’t see this happening—we weren’t even born yet—but in God’s eyes the Holy Spirit did all this work on our behalf (1 Corinthians 12:13). Even though being baptized into the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is not something we can see, it is a very important part of what the Holy Spirit does for us. Without the baptism of the Holy Spirit we would not be joined with Christ. We would not be part of his family. Our sins would not be forgiven and we would not have new life in Christ. Without it we would still be lost!

Water Baptism Doesn’t Save Us. It Is Just A Symbol

We saw in Romans 6 that baptism is what unites us with Christ’s death. But obviously that’s not talking about water baptism, because we don’t die when we are baptized in water. This verse is talking about something that happened inside of us in the spiritual realm by the Holy Spirit. Only the unseen baptism of the Holy Spirit can unite us with Christ. Water baptism is just a symbol or a visual picture of what the Holy Spirit has already done inside of us.

Satan has deceived some people into thinking that water baptism actually cleanses them from sin and makes them a child of God. But, remember the time the Pharisees came to be baptized by John? If John had baptized them, would that have made them children of God? No way! They would still have been “children of the snake,” like John said. They would still be children of Satan. So let’s not be confused by Satan’s lies. Only the baptism of the Holy Spirit cleanses us on the inside. But we do know that water baptism is actually a good thing too, if used properly, because Jesus commanded it. Baptism is a physical symbol or sign that something has already happened inside a person. After people have believed the good news of Christ, and the Holy Spirit has united them to Christ’s death and resurrection, then it is good to be baptized in water. When they go down into the water it represents Christ’s death for them. When they are under the water, it represents Christ’s burial, and when they are raised up out of the water, it represents Christ’s resurrection from the grave for them. That way it is a true symbol showing what has happened to that person in their spirit. So, water baptism is an important thing as a testimony to others, but it’s not the most important thing, because it’s just a symbol (1 Corinthians 1:17). The critical thing here is that we believe in Christ’s death for us, so the Holy Spirit baptizes us into Christ. That’s a baptism that God alone can do.

There Is Only One Baptism Of The Holy Spirit Ephesians 4:4-5 says: “There is one body…one Spirit…one Lord, one faith,one baptism;” As we said earlier, there is only one true spiritual baptism:

Only the baptism of the Holy Spirit unites us with Christ—his death, burial and resurrection.
Only the baptism of the Spirit makes us a spiritually newperson in Christ (John 3:6).
Only one baptism unites us as one body—the body of Christ—the church (which is his family).

When Christ went to heaven, he asked the Father to send the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17), and when the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost, that was the beginning of the church. That was when the Spirit joined all believers everywhere into one body or family. And nowadays too—immediately as we believe the good news of Christ—it is the work of the Holy Spirit that baptizes us into Christ, and unites us with Christ and the church. So, it’s quite simple really: there is only one baptism of the Holy Spirit, and if someone doesn’t have that one baptism of the Spirit, he’s not a Christian. He is not joined to Christ and he is not part of God’s family, the church. The Bible says it very simply:

Romans 8:9 says: “…And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.”

We Are NOT Baptized Several Times By The Holy Spirit

You have read in the Bible what the true Baptism of the Holy Spirit is, but remember, Satan doesn’t want you to know that. And so Satan has planted seeds of confusion and fear in the church about this baptism of the Spirit. As a result, many people today are afraid or confused because they think they have to receive a second or third baptism of the Holy Spirit, or even more. Some call it the second blessing. But God’s word is clear that there’s only one baptism and we received that when we believed in Christ (Ephesians 1:13). So, if somebody doesn’t have the Holy Spirit living inside them, then they aren’t God’s child at all, because all believers have received that special baptism of the Holy Spirit as soon as they believed. They don’t need to receive the Spirit again and again because he will never leave them. He lives inside us forever, just as God promised (John 14:16-17; John 10:28-29), because now we are his new permanent home—his body, his family—in oneness with Christ. The Book Of Acts Talks About The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit And Many Other Major Changes

Much of the confusion in the church about the Holy Spirit today comes from reading the book of Acts. So, we need to study that book carefully so that we see what it actually says about the Holy Spirit. Acts is a very important book in God’s word, but we need to study it as a whole, and not just little parts of it. And we need to compare Acts with all of God’s word and not just use it by itself to teach doctrine, because the book of Acts is a history book and a book of great transitions or changes.

Acts shows some of the most major changes that ever happened in the history of Bible and the world:

A change from emphasis on Israel to Gentiles (and the church);
A change from Law to Grace;
A change from a physical temple to a spiritual one (church);
and many other changes like the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

We know that Satan is also a serious student of the Bible and he wants to use God’s word against us, just like he did with Adam and Eve, and also when he tempted Jesus. So, let’s look at Acts carefully to clear up some confusion. The Holy Spirit is the most important person in the Book of Acts, so it is full of stories about his work. These stories raise up a lot of questions about the Holy Spirit, like these:

Do Christians have to pray hard to receive the Holy Spirit?
Do the apostles have to lay their hands on people so they receive the Holy Spirit?
Do people receive the Holy Spirit when baptized in water?
Do Christians receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit once or several times?
Do Christians only receive the Holy Spirit during church services?
Did everyone who received the Holy Spirit speak in tongues?

We’ll look at all of those questions. But first we need to realize that there were three types of people that received the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts.

Comparison: Three Types Of People That Received The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit In The Book Of Acts When Jesus left the apostles, he told them to wait for the Holy Spirit to come and he also told them this:

Acts 1:8 “...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses inJerusalem, and in all JudeaandSamaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This verse is like a simple outline that shows the work and progress of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. Jesus mentions three areas or groups of people that the apostles were to go to in order to tell them the good news. Acts chapters 2, 8, and 10 show us that they actually did just that. The three different types of people that believed the good news and were baptized by the Holy Spirit were: Jews (Ch. 2), Samaritans (Ch. 8), and Gentiles (Ch. 10). The Jews—Acts 2:1-4

The Jews mentioned in chapter 2 lived mostly in Jerusalem and the surrounding district of Judea. These were the first believers in Christ to receive the Holy Spirit. (Note: Later, Acts 19:1-7 also talks about some other Jews who were not in the Jerusalem area. They were some of John the Baptist’s disciples but hadn’t yet heard or believed in Christ and so had not yet received the Holy Spirit.)

The Samaritans—Acts 8:4-17

Samaria was the home of the Samaritans. These people were a mixed race who came from Israelites that had intermarried with Gentiles. But the Jews in the apostles’ time rejected them and did not want to associate with them.

The Gentiles—Acts 10:33-48

The Gentiles: Everyone else in the world who isn’t a Jew is called a Gentile. (Ch. 10 talks about the story of Cornelius who was a Gentile. All of us that are not Jews are Gentiles.)

Now we’ll look at these three different groups of people and how they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Book Of Acts Uses These Three Groups Of People To Outline The New Changes Happening As we know, the book of Acts documents a time of great transition or change. Big changes began to happen when the Holy Spirit started the church, so these passages show us exactly how those changes happened step by step. These big changes started among the Jews. For centuries God had worked mostly with the Jews (Israel) only. But after Christ left the earth, God began working much more with other groups, like the Samaritans. And then later, as the Jews continued to reject Christ, the Holy Spirit began working more with the Gentiles too. The Holy Spirit was the one making these big changes happen and the book of Acts outlines how these major changes happened progressively:

Jews → Samaritans → Gentiles Some People Think That Acts Chapters 2 Or 8 Is The Pattern Which The Holy Spirit Operates Today

Some Christians think that the Holy Spirit did things in the same way all throughout the book of Acts and still does today. But actually he worked in different ways for each of these three groups of people. Some Christians only read one or two stories at the beginning of Acts and think that is the pattern of how the Holy Spirit operates for us today. They say that Acts Ch. 1 & 2 show us that we too need to wait for God and pray to receive the Holy Spirit like the Jews and Samaritans did in the book of Acts. And some people think we have to lay hands on Christians to receive the Holy Spirit like the apostles did to the Samaritans in Ch. 8. But if we want to see the overall picture of the transformation that God was making happen, we need to compare all the differences of all of these stories in Acts and it will become clear. And also, we can see how God is at work now among us who are Gentiles. The Bible lays this all out very nicely.

Some Questions To Help Compare Differences Of The 3 Groups In Acts:

We are going to look at these three types of people in Acts chapters 2, 8 and 10 and consider some questions that show some similarities, and also the differences between each. These questions will help us understand what God is trying to teach us with the three groups and the changes that happened in Acts: Did These People Receive The Holy Spirit When They Were Baptized In Water?

The Jews: No. The disciples were baptized in water long before they received the Holy Spirit.
The Samaritans: No. They didn’t receive the Holy Spirit when they were baptized in water.
The Gentiles: No. They received the Holy Spirit first, then later they were baptized in water.

Explanation: Some people think they will receive the Holy Spirit when they are baptized in water, but this is one of Satan’s lies. The Bible is clear about this. We’ve talked about it before, but here we see it again. People don’t receive the Holy Spirit when they are baptized in water. Water doesn’t have the power to do that. Water baptism is just a symbol. We shouldn’t listen to Satan’s lies about it. Did A Strong Wind And Tongues Of Fire Come Upon Those Who Received The Spirit?

The Jews: Yes, this happened to the Jews, but only on the Day of Pentecost. It never happened to Jews again.
The Samaritans: No. This didn’t happen when they received the Holy Spirit.
The Gentiles: No. This didn’t happen when they received the Holy Spirit.

Explanation: The wind and fire were a sign especially for the Jews. The Jews had the first temple in the Old Testament and God had previously marked his dwelling place in the temple with clouds and fire. So now in the New Testament this sign (of fire) was especially for Jews so they would know that God had chosen a different temple. His home was in people now, not a stone building. So we Gentiles today shouldn’t expect that the Holy Spirit will use this sign of wind and fire when the Spirit comes on new Gentile believers. Do Believers Need To Pray And Wait For The Holy Spirit?

The Jews: Jesus told his disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit and that’s what they did until the Day of Pentecost.
The Samaritans: The Samaritans didn’t pray to receive the Holy Spirit, but the apostles had to go to them first.
The Gentiles: They didn’t pray or wait for the Holy Spirit. They received the Holy Spirit as soon as they believed in Christ.

Explanation: The Jews had to wait for the Holy Spirit because Jesus had told them to wait for this special new event (Day of Pentecost) that would mark the beginning of the church age. Later the Samaritans also heard the good news and believed and were baptized, but they didn’t receive the Holy Spirit right away. So the apostles from Jerusalem were concerned and sent Peter and John to them and they laid hands on them and prayed for them. Then they received the Holy Spirit. So, why didn’t they receive him as soon as they believed? The Samaritans were a mixed ethnic group of Jews intermarried with Gentiles. So most Jews hated them for that. They didn’t often talk to them or worship with them (John 4:9). But Jesus wanted to change that. He wanted to join these two groups together in the church age, so he didn’t give them the Holy Spirit right away, but waited until the apostles came. He wanted to show them not to avoid each other. He showed the Samaritans they needed to submit to the Jewish apostles and their teaching and not avoid them. And also, God wanted to show the apostles and other Jews that the Holy Spirit loved the Samaritans just as much as the Jews and they shouldn’t look down on them or avoid them. They were to worship and pray together as one family. The Holy Spirit was the one who would unite them in one new body, the church. So God waited for the apostles to come to Samaria, and then he gave the Holy Spirit to the Samaritans too, just like he had done to the Jews. Later on, when other Samaritans believed, they didn’t have to wait to receive the Holy Spirit. They received him right away. Did The Apostles Have To Lay Their Hands On People To Receive The Holy Spirit?

The Jews: No. No one laid hands on them. The Holy Spirit just came.
The (Jewish) disciples of John (Acts 19:1-7): Yes. Paul laid hands on them first.
The Samaritans: Yes. The first Samaritan believers didn’t receive the Holy Spirit right away, so the Jews sent apostles to them.
The Gentiles: No. They received the Holy Spirit when they heard the good news and believed.

Explanation: The Jews in Acts 2 (in Jerusalem) didn’t have anyone lay hands on them to receive the Holy Spirit, but in Acts 19 we see that the apostle Paul laid his hands on some Jews and then they received the Holy Spirit. If both groups were Jews, then why was it different for them? Mainly because the Jews in Ch. 19 lived in Ephesus which is a long way from the temple in Jerusalem, and they were disciples of John and not Jesus. They had heard John’s teaching earlier, but they had not heard the good news that Jesus died to save them, and they had not heard that the Holy Spirit had come (19:3-4). So, Paul taught them about Jesus and they believed in him. Then Paul laid his hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. This was a similar situation to the Samaritans who needed to begin to learn from the apostles, and submit to their teaching. God didn’t want these disciples of John the Baptist to remain as a separate group. They needed to join the disciples of Jesus now. They were no longer disciples of John. He was dead and now they needed to come under the authority of Jesus and the apostles, and become part of the church of Jesus Christ. Jesus himself had chosen the apostles to be the first group of teachers in the church, to help the new believers when the church was still young. As a result of their new faith, these disciples of John were then baptized in water under a new name. Their first baptism was from John, but now when Paul came and taught them about Christ, they heard and believed and became disciples of Jesus under the authority of the apostles. And so they received another water baptism—in the name of Christ (19:5)—because Christ was their Savior now. So God waited until an apostle had laid hands on them and then God gave them the Holy Spirit. They were now part of the church under the leadership of the apostles of Christ.

What About Us Gentiles Today?

Now that we have heard about the Jews and the Samaritans, what about the Gentiles in Acts Ch. 10? The Holy Spirit came to the Gentiles differently. No one laid hands on them. Peter just told them the good news, and while he was still talking, the Holy Spirit came to them. They didn’t have to wait and they didn’t have to pray to receive the Spirit’s baptism. They just heard the good news and believed it, and right away the Holy Spirit came inside them. This is how it happens to us now too. We are Gentiles, so this is also how we receive the Holy Spirit—we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit as soon as we believe in Christ. This happens instantly to all Gentiles who believe in Christ. Re-read Ephesians 1:13 and 1 Corinthians 12:13. They show us clearly that there are not many different ways for Gentiles to receive the Holy Spirit. We Gentiles all receive the Holy Spirit the same way—as soon as we have believed.

Conclusions For Us

Ok, so we’ve looked at all these questions and have seen how the Holy Spirit worked with the Jews and then the Samaritans and finally the Gentiles. And we have seen from Acts and other scriptures that today we Gentiles don’t have to pray to receive the Holy Spirit. We don’t have to wait for him or have someone lay hands on us to receive the Holy Spirit. If we have truly believed the good news of Christ, then we can be assured that the Holy Spirit has already baptized us and placed us into the body of Christ, the church (1 Corinthians 12:13). The Spirit has placed all Jewish believers and Samaritan believers and Gentile believers into the church and we have become one family now IN CHRIST. The Holy Spirit also now lives inside our bodies as his new temple. He has been given to us as a seal and guarantee of his promise that we belong to him and we will never be lost (Ephesians 1:13-14). We received the Holy Spirit when we first believed in Christ and Satan can never steal the Spirit away from us! Never! These promises come straight from God’s word and so they are totally true, so they should encourage us deeply. We can rejoice that God has given us his very own Spirit. Think about it: If you are a child of God, Christ’s own Spirit lives right there inside your body! (Romans 8:9). Take a minute to thank God for this truly wonderful gift!

God's Servant Satan

A biblical examination of Satan's role and purpose, challenging common misconceptions about the devil. The author explores what Scripture actually teaches about Satan as an instrument who ultimately serves God's sovereign purposes.

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