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Acts 2:1-13, 22-24
2:1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested1 on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”
[1] 2:3
(ESV)
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—23 this Jesus,1 delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Good morning. It is a joy and a privilege to be with you and to be opening up God's word with you today. As Alan said, today is Pentecost Sunday. And, so our passage today, we are starting up a new series next Sunday. But our passage today, comes from the New Testament in the account of Pentecost in the book of Acts.
Jeffrey Heine:So, we will be in the book of Acts chapter 2 and we'll begin by reading verses 1 through 4. So look with me at Acts chapter 2 verses 1 through 4. And let us listen carefully because this is God's word. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly, there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind.
Jeffrey Heine:And it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues of as a fire appeared to them and rested on each of them. And they were all filled with the holy spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance. This is the word of the lord. Thanks be to God.
Jeffrey Heine:Let's pray together. Oh, Lord, we thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Help us this morning to hear the truth of your word and give us the faith both to trust you and to obey you. So we ask, would you speak, Lord, for your servants are listening? We pray these things in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit.
Jeffrey Heine:Amen. You know, I look forward to a time when we don't hear the word quarantine anymore. During the past 3 months, there's a good chance that you've either read or heard someone explain the the history of the word quarantine, its etymology. But but if you haven't, here it is. The word quarantine comes from Latin, and it it means 40 days.
Jeffrey Heine:And the word really came about in the 14th century and had to do with the amount of time that a ship had to remain docked in a port before the people or the animals could disembark, and that was to minimize the spread of diseases. And for us, it's been double that now, 80 days since quarantine began across America, though at times it can feel like it's been a lot longer than that. It's also been 50 days since Easter Sunday. And that 50 day period is marked by today's celebration of Pentecost Sunday. Now, if you don't know what Pentecost Sunday is, don't worry.
Jeffrey Heine:It's not a holiday that receives much attention culturally. But when it comes to the seasons of the church, the the calendared celebrations like Easter and Christmas that walks us through the story of Christ, Pentecost Sunday celebrates an essential moment in history. Pentecost is often referred to as the birthday of the church, and it marks when the Holy Spirit came to dwell in the followers of Jesus and enabling them to carry out the great commission and to live lives as disciples of Christ. But the celebration of Pentecost is much older than the New Testament. The initial celebration of Pentecost began long before, 1000 of years before the day the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem.
Jeffrey Heine:The name Pentecost means 50 days. It refers to the symbolic length of time between the feast of the Pass over and the giving of the law. The 50 days represent this time in between when Moses led the people out of slavery in Egypt into the freedom in the wilderness of Sinai and the time when Moses received the law from God and gave it to the people. 50th day after Passover came this celebration, this memorial celebration of God giving the law. These 50 days were not understood to be an exact timeline of leaving Egypt and receiving the law.
Jeffrey Heine:But still, it developed over the centuries into a memorial celebration of God giving the law to the people of Israel. After his crucifixion and resurrection, which occurred during the feast of the Passover, Jesus was with his disciples for 40 days. And just before His ascension, which we celebrated last Sunday, Jesus instructed His disciples to remain in Jerusalem and to wait. And we read in the book of Acts chapter 1 verse 4, and while staying with them, Jesus ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, you heard from me. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.' So what were the disciples waiting for?
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus told them to wait for the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit. And they did. After the ascension of Jesus, his disciples waited 10 days in Jerusalem. The coming of the Spirit, the birth of the church, and the countless implications of each, Pentecost is a treasure trove of truth and wonder. Today, I want us to focus on one particular aspect of Pentecost.
Jeffrey Heine:And then together, we will consider a few of the implications of this truth. And the aspect that I'd like for us to focus on is the connection between the original Pentecost celebration in the Old Testament and the greater Pentecost in the New Testament. So first, we will look at the Old Testament this initial celebration and the promises of Pentecost in Exodus. And then we will turn our attention to the fulfillment of those promises and the celebration of Pentecost in the New Testament in the book of Acts. In the Exodus, when Moses went to the pharaoh and demanded that the people of Israel be released from slavery, he explained that the people must be set free to go into the wilderness to worship the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:And so through plagues and through miracles, God brought his people out of bondage in Egypt. And once they had been led by God out of captivity and into freedom in the wilderness, the people needed to learn what it meant to worship the Lord. The objective of their liberation was not merely escaping bondage. The objective was them living as worshipers of God. Now by worship, I don't only mean the praise of God through songs or through prayers.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean a whole life of worship. A life pleasing to God, honoring to God, delighting in God. And to do this, the people needed direction. They needed the Lord to lead them in living lives of worship. So in his love and his mercy, the Lord gave the law to Moses for the people.
Jeffrey Heine:It is critical that we understand that the law was given by God out of his love and mercy. We can often have a distorted or negative view of the law. And I believe that this is not only unhelpful, it is unbiblical. If the law was not given out of love and mercy, how could the psalmist say things like, blessed is the one who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but their delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his law, they meditate day and night.
Jeffrey Heine:Or another psalmist who said, Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold. They understood that the law was a beautiful gift from God. The law was never intended to be their way of salvation.
Jeffrey Heine:No. The people did not think that they would be redeemed through their own righteousness. Rather than being their salvation, the law was first and foremost revelation. The law revealed the holiness of God, and it instructed the people in the way of righteous living. That is why the psalmist loves the law.
Jeffrey Heine:Because without the law, they would have no idea what goodness or righteousness really was. The Lord was taking the wild and rebellious people of God into the wild of Sinai to reveal to them his holiness and to teach them how to worship him in all of life. And built into the law itself was the provisional direction for how to repent and find forgiveness when they broke the law. From the very beginning of the giving of the law, there was grace. The way of salvation was always grace.
Jeffrey Heine:In Deuteronomy, the people were called to meditate on the commandments of God night and day, to consume it, to internalize it, to live in it. In Deuteronomy chapter 11, we read, You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise, you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. As good as the law was and try as the people might sometimes to meditate on them when they were sitting and walking and lying down and rising up again. This direction toward holiness and righteousness was still outside of the people.
Jeffrey Heine:The law was written on stone. So God made promises to the people. He made them through the prophets and repeated it for centuries. God spoke to the prophet Ezekiel saying, and I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove your heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.' And God spoke again through the prophet Jeremiah saying, 'For 'For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,' declares the Lord.
Jeffrey Heine:'I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. This new covenant promise, it meant that the Lord would make His people righteous through the life of the Son of God. And not only that, the Lord would make His people blameless through the death of the Son of God. But not only that, the Lord would make His people victorious through the resurrection of the Son of God.
Jeffrey Heine:And not only that, the Lord promised that through the Holy Spirit of God, He will write His law on the very hearts of His people. God promised to write his commands not on stone tablets, but on the rescued, redeemed, and recreated hearts of his people so that then his people would obey him not simply from their minds but from their hearts. The thread of these covenant promises lead us from the prophets in the Old Testament, through the centuries all the way to the city of Jerusalem, 10 days after the after the disciples watched the risen Jesus ascend to the heavens. After they had been there for 10 days waiting for the fulfillment of this ancient promise. And then it happened.
Jeffrey Heine:Look with me again at Acts chapter 2 verse 1. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house they were sitting. And divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Jeffrey Heine:The promise of the Father had come just as Jesus had told them. The disciples were filled with the Spirit. And the demonstration of the Spirit's presence was the proclamation of the gospel, the word of Christ spoken in many languages. The rest of the book of Acts, as we studied not that long ago, is a historical account of the spirit filled disciples being transformed by the Spirit, obeying His commands, and living lives of worship, not from a new law written in stone, but the truth of God written on their hearts. Our ultimate dependence upon the Holy Spirit cannot be over exaggerated.
Jeffrey Heine:And the prevalent negligence of his presence cannot be overlooked. Whether it is caused by our ignorance or by our fear, we must lay aside every hindrance that holds us back and restate our genuine dependence upon the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, in our homes, and in our church. We desperately need to be transformed by the spirit, strengthened for obedience to his commands, and living lives empowered by his presence to be worshipers of God wherever we might find ourselves. You know, this pandemic has really helped me to put into perspective many of the little things in life, life and community, that we so often take for granted. Like, do you still remember what a hug is?
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, it maybe you're still getting family hugs and and that kind of a thing, but just like hugs of friends and and maybe new friends or just hugging strangers, if that's something you do. But remember what it was like to just casually meet people for lunch or to go out to dinner like normal? Sitting and reading a book in a coffee shop, seeing relatives, walking into the grocery store instead of racing in and out like it's a bank heist, handshakes without immediately looking for hand sanitizer, planning things months or 2 months away. I think back to our regular Sunday services. Everyone packed into our little building here, rushing around and pulling out folding chairs.
Jeffrey Heine:And now it's empty and has been empty for months. Look out. This time has shown me that so many things are so easily taken for granted. One day, we will probably take them for granted again because we will get busy and distracted. We'll start to believe that things will always be around and be the same, and things will unfold as we expect.
Jeffrey Heine:So often, we do this with the spirit. We take his presence for granted. We neglect him. We ignore our true dependence upon him. This is yet another reason why life in the church community is so essential in the life of every believer because we must remind one another who we are.
Jeffrey Heine:We must remind one another that we are people created and redeemed by God to be led by the Holy Spirit day by day. We remind one another that we've been liberated from our captivity, our slavery to sin, and brought into the wilderness of God's church where we must learn how to worship him. But how? Where are the commandments on the stone tablets? Where are the rules and the regulations?
Jeffrey Heine:He's written them on our hearts. He's given us his spirit to lead us to truth, to reveal to us what is good and acceptable and perfect. The primary work of the Spirit is not to inform us, but to transform us, to change us, to create in us new and clean hearts, where in his kindness and grace, he writes the way of his holiness. Once the disciples had the spirit indwelling in them, what did they do? They proclaimed the gospel.
Jeffrey Heine:Peter preached the word of God. In Acts chapter 2 verse 36, it says, Let all of the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Christ both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Jeffrey Heine:For the promise is for you and for your children, for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.' There were many other words and he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, 'Save yourselves from this crooked generation.' So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls. The first thing we see from these disciples, now filled with the Holy Spirit, is bold and loving declaration of God's grace. Hear me. Our goal this morning is not to simply learn more about the Holy Spirit. Learning more about the Spirit is helpful, but it is limited.
Jeffrey Heine:Our goal is to be stirred by God, to desire more and more of the person of the Holy Spirit in our lives and to experience him personally and intimately. Our need is not to just be informed, but transformed by our God. When Jesus told his confused and bewildered disciples that it was better for him to go away, He meant that it was essential for him to ascend to his throne. And it was essential for the spirit to indwell in every believer. Christ on the throne and the Spirit in the disciples, it was essential and better for them.
Jeffrey Heine:And it is just as essential and good for us today. 50 days after the Passover feast, the people in Jerusalem were marking the coming of the law of God, which revealed to them in part the holiness and greatness of God. And what they did not know but had long been promised, was that one day the spirit would come and write the holiness and greatness of God upon the hearts of the disciples. You see, the law shows me how holy God is and how desperately unholy I am. The law of God shows me who I am not, and the spirit of God shows me who I am in Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:The Spirit shows me how great God is and how greatly redeemed I am. The law and the Spirit are not at odds because the spirit is the one who has revealed God to us, even and especially through the law. When Peter launched into his sermon, calling all who heard his voice to turn to the Lord in repentance. It was the spirit who awakened the hearts of the 3 1,000 that day. And today, as we declare and delight in the gospel of Christ, we trust not in the skill of our presentation, nor in the eloquence of our words or in human wisdom.
Jeffrey Heine:It is only the Spirit who breathes life into dry bones, who stirs hearts to joyful repentance, who emboldens the soul to the great commission, who comforts us in every affliction, who testifies in us of the trustworthiness of Christ and His gospel. Christ told his disciples that it was essential and best that he ascend to his throne and for the spirit to descend to them. And the spirit dwelling in believers is the fulfillment of centuries of promises from God to write his truth on the hearts of his children. So shouldn't we expect to see a difference between those who have the spirit and those who do not? Sins of hatred and pride, prejudice and racism, indifference and selfishness, shouldn't we expect a difference in the people who have the very spirit who raised Christ from the grave living inside of them?
Jeffrey Heine:If we've been given supernatural guidance, comfort, and direction to what is true and good and holy, shouldn't we not only desire, but expect patience and gentleness? Shouldn't we expect peace and self control? Shouldn't we expect love and joy and faithfulness? On an apple tree, the fruit of apples should not be surprising. Apples on the apple tree are not rare or unexpected.
Jeffrey Heine:And the fruit of the spirit cultivated and pursued should not be rare fruit for the people of God. Of course, there is conflict in every Christian, between the flesh and the spirit, conflict between what is in our flesh and where the spirit is leading us in His holiness. But maybe some of us need more of that conflict in our lives. I think I do. Maybe you need more struggle between your old ways of selfishness and sin and the new way of life in the spirit.
Jeffrey Heine:The philosopher and professor Esther Meek, she once said, Obedience is lived truth. The spirit leads us not to simply agree with the truth but to obey it. And there's a huge difference there. In fact, I think examining that difference is critical for each one of us, the difference between just agreeing with the truth versus obeying it. It's easy to agree with the truth, but to obey it is only possible through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God himself.
Jeffrey Heine:In Romans chapter 8, the Apostle Paul writes, For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons and daughters of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by whom we cry, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Paul is saying that the Spirit testifies in us to remind us, to confirm for us that we are truly children of God. One of the ways that he testifies to this truth is by leading us in obedience to the father, not only pointing out what obedience is, but leading us by empowering us for obedient living. When you face the conflict between the flesh and the spirit, between sin and holiness, and you are given the strength to live the truth, that is one way that the spirit is testifying to you that you indeed are a child of god.
Jeffrey Heine:Consider your own tendencies of the flesh, hatred, pride, prejudice and racism, indifference, selfishness. Consider the spirit's sanctifying work in bringing about patience, gentleness, peace and self control, love and joy and faithfulness. Because if the Spirit of God dwells in you, you are not in the flesh but in the spirit. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he will give you life. Yes.
Jeffrey Heine:In every Christian, there will be struggle and conflict between our flesh and the spirits leading. But that is why we have the holy spirit dwelling in us. We are not tasked with figuring out how to do this on our own. We are not charged by God to figure out our obedience in our own wisdom or our own strength. We have been given, gifted by God, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit so that the lifelong work of sanctification will occur.
Jeffrey Heine:And at every failure and success along the way, we are reminded and comforted to know that we indeed are the sons and daughters of God. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Now, these are but a few of the manifold treasures that we have in the gracious gift of the indwelling Spirit. It's my sincere prayer that we today would not simply know more about the spirit, but that we would, in humble and confident prayer, ask for more of his presence, more of his transformative work, and more of His strength to obey His truth in our lives as the worshipers of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Let's pray.
Jeffrey Heine:Oh, God, would you take your word by your spirit and pierce our hearts? Spirit, forgive us when we have ignored you, when we've been afraid, when we've been confused. Lord, help us to walk in your truth. Spirit, lead us away from error and towards an obedience to your truth. I pray for everyone listening and watching that you would awaken in our church family a new season of living by the spirit.
Jeffrey Heine:Not just being informed in our minds, but transformed to trust you, to obey you, to love you, to make much of Jesus and his gospel in every moment of our lives. We pray these things in your holy name, oh, Lord. The name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit. Amen.