Sunday, June 09, 2019

SERMON: THE DAY OF PENTECOST





I.  Introduction
            -- turn in Bibles to Acts 2:1-4

Acts 2:1-4 (NIV)
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

            -- today is Pentecost Sunday -- the day we recognize the pouring out of the Holy Spirit to the church by the risen and ascended Christ -- to give you the context of this passage, remember that after Jesus rose from the dead, the Bible tells us that He spent a period of forty days with His disciples, teaching them from the scriptures about Himself and about the kingdom of God -- and on the fortieth day, He ascended into Heaven from the Mount of Olives -- but before He left, He told His disciples to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the gift from the Father -- the coming of the Holy Spirit
            -- the disciples left the Mount of Olives and we see them in this passage, gathered together on the Day of Pentecost, actively waiting as Christ commanded -- before we go much further, let me make a couple of points

            -- first, you need to know that the Day of Pentecost is not just a Christian holiday -- it is actually a traditional Jewish celebration that was prescribed in the Law of Moses as one of the major feasts for the Israelites -- Pentecost occurs 50 days after the Passover, which is how it derives its name -- “Pente” meaning “50”
            -- real quick history lesson -- if you remember, God sent Moses to lead His people out of captivity in Egypt -- but when Moses went to Pharaoh and said that God demanded Pharaoh let His people go, Pharaoh refused -- and so God sent a series of plagues on the Egyptians -- from the Nile River turning to blood -- to invasions by flies and frogs to the sun being darkened for a day -- but Pharaoh was steadfast, and refused to let the Israelites go -- so God sent His final plague -- He sent forth the angel of death to sweep across the land and kill the firstborn of all Egypt, both man and animal -- but, God had the angel of death pass over the homes of the Israelites, which were marked by the blood of the Passover lamb on the lintel of the doors
            -- this slaying of the firstborn finally broke Pharaoh, and he allowed the Israelites to leave -- and fifty days later -- after the parting of the Red Sea by God and the destruction of the Egyptian army -- the Israelites arrived at Mt. Sinai, the place where Moses had first experienced God’s presence in a burning bush
            -- on this day, Moses went up on the mountain and God gave the Law to the people of Israel -- Pentecost commemorated the giving of the Law to the people, which was seen as the moment of their rebirth as a freed nation, as the chosen people of God
            -- so, Pentecost was an established Jewish holiday that occurred 50 days after the Passover -- and people had gathered in Jerusalem from all over the known world to celebrate it

            -- which brings up my second point on this passage -- Peter and the other disciples were all together in one place, worshiping God, on this day -- it is only 50 days after the death of Jesus -- just 10 days after His ascension on the Mount of Olives that we talked about last week
            -- but here’s what I want you to understand -- the disciples did not know that this would be the day that the promised Holy Spirit would come -- Jesus didn’t tell them when the gift would come -- He only told them to go to Jerusalem and wait -- and that’s what we find them doing in this passage
            -- for them, it was just another day -- yes, it was the day of Pentecost, and as good Jews, I am sure they were celebrating this day just like all the other Jews in Jerusalem -- but it was just another day -- just another Pentecost -- nothing really special about it -- nothing that made it different from any of the other Pentecosts these men and women had celebrated in their lives -- they had no idea that this would be the day that the Holy Spirit would come
            -- the lesson there for us is that God’s promises and His presence come about in His timing -- we are told to expect them -- to wait for them -- to be faithful in our belief -- but we need to realize that He may come at any moment -- that the second coming of Christ or His hand in our lives or His miracle that we have been praying for may happen today or tomorrow or any other day -- we don’t know
            -- Jesus said He would come like a thief in the night -- at a time we didn’t expect -- that’s why we have to be faithful and wait in expectation for the presence of God to come at any time, just like the disciples who were gathered on the day of Pentecost -- they did not know that Jesus was going to pour out the Holy Spirit on that day -- but, in faith, they gathered and they prayed and they looked for God’s mighty move in their lives, trusting and believing it would come as Jesus had promised
            -- we need to do the same -- we need to keep the faith -- even when we get weary -- even when it seems like we’ve been in the storm for a long time -- even when we look up and see no light shining in the darkness -- even when we have started to lose hope -- especially, when we have started to lose hope
            -- we need to do what these disciples were doing that day of Pentecost -- trusting -- believing -- looking for Jesus to come -- just as He said He would

II.  The Meaning of Pentecost for the Church
            -- that’s where we find them as this Day of Pentecost dawns -- Luke tells us they were all together in one place -- the implication there is they were together in mind and heart and spirit -- they were together in the Lord -- they were together as God’s people, worshiping Him and waiting for His return
            -- when -- without warning -- they heard a sound like the blowing of a violent wind that filled the whole house where they were sitting -- they saw what looked like tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them -- and, at that moment, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
            -- this marks a new chapter in the relationship of people to God -- keep in mind that Pentecost is not the sending of the Holy Spirit for the first time -- the Holy Spirit has always been present on earth -- He is God and He was there from the beginning -- in fact, in Genesis 1:2, we read that the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters of the new-formed earth
            -- the Holy Spirit was here and active throughout the days of the Old Testament -- He came upon the rulers and the priests and the prophets and empowered them to do God’s will -- He called out to men and women to come to God through His prevenient grace -- the Holy Spirit has always been here -- it’s just that now He is here in a different way
            -- before, the Holy Spirit would just come upon a person for a season or for a time to accomplish a given purpose -- but the Holy Spirit could remove Himself from that person -- that’s why David cries out in Psalm 51:11, “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me” -- God had done that with King Saul, David’s predecessor -- God had removed the anointing of the Holy Spirit from him and given it to David
            -- but here in the Book of Acts, we see the Holy Spirit being given to believers in a new way -- He has come to live with us permanently -- to indwell us with His presence on a continuing basis -- to seal us and mark us as God’s own people -- as Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:14, the Holy Spirit has been given to us as a deposit to guarantee our redemption -- 1 John 3:23-24 says that we have assurance of our faith because of the presence of the Holy Spirit He gave us
            -- where before there was a separation between God and men that required an intermediary -- such as Moses or the High Priest -- to go into the presence of God on our behalf, this separation has been removed by the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus
            -- you can think of it like this -- the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple -- the veil that kept us from just walking into the presence of God -- has been torn and no longer exists -- because of Jesus, we now have access to the presence of God continually through His Holy Spirit
            -- so, what we see on Pentecost is the result of the tearing of the veil -- the giving of the Holy Spirit as a permanent, indwelling presence within -- God with us always and at all times
            -- quoting from the Book of Joel, Peter proclaims the fulfillment of prophecy to the people that have gathered to hear him -- in verses 17-21, Peter tells them that what they are witnessing is God pouring out His Spirit on all people -- men and women -- young and old -- and that from that moment on, everyone who turned to Jesus for the forgiveness of sins would now receive the Holy Spirit in their lives -- this gift of God was for everyone -- from the youngest Christian to the oldest saint -- all could receive and be filled with the presence of God in their lives
            -- and because of the coming of the promised Holy Spirit, the church would experience signs and wonders -- transformed lives and changed hearts -- because of the coming of the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to live holy and obedient lives, following Christ's commands and walking in His paths and not the paths of the world
            -- so, as the day of Pentecost for the Jew marks the giving of the Law to the people of Israel, the day of Pentecost for us marks the giving of the Spirit to the people of Christ -- the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus realized through His death, resurrection, and ascension -- that’s why we celebrate Pentecost today

            -- before we end, I want to make one more point about the giving of the Holy Spirit to believers -- Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples like a mighty rushing wind and in tongues of fire that rested on them
            -- this is not the normal way the Spirit comes upon us now -- we don't see the Spirit coming upon anyone else in the Bible in this way -- when’s the last time you say tongues of fire come down and rest on someone during a baptism or when they went to the altar to pray? -- that doesn’t mean these people haven’t received the Holy Spirit -- it just means the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples came in a special way because this was what the disciples needed at that moment
            -- think about what was going on with them -- put yourself in their place for a moment -- Jesus had ascended to heaven 10 days earlier -- and, for the first time, the disciples were truly physically alone -- Jesus had made it pretty clear on the Mount of Olives that when He ascended, He was not going to return in a bodily form again until the second coming -- they would not have Him with them physically as they had during the past three years
            -- they had come to depend on His physical presence with them -- even after the resurrection, Jesus walked with them and taught them and was there with them -- but now He’s gone, so they needed reassurance that it was going to be okay
            -- they needed to hear God's presence -- they needed to see God's presence -- they needed to know that He was with them in a real and tangible way -- remember that the disciples had already received the Spirit from Jesus -- in John 20:22, when Jesus first appeared to the disciples after His resurrection, it says, “He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” -- they had the Spirit within them, but they didn’t know what that meant -- they didn’t know how to live with the Spirit -- they didn’t understand the very presence of God they carried with them
            -- so, at Pentecost, the disciples did not receive the Holy Spirit for the first time, but we read that they were filled with the Holy Spirit -- they experienced His presence as a mighty rushing wind and as tongues of fire -- filling them and baptizing them with His power and presence, leading the to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them -- this visible manifestation of the Spirit through wind and fire happened so that the early church would know that God was with them
            -- His presence with them became the one defining characteristic of the early church
 -- everything that the Apostles and the early church accomplished -- everything we see recorded for us in the rest of the Book of Acts -- the miracles -- the rapid growth of the church -- the ability of the new believers to love their enemies and face trials and persecutions that we can only imagine -- all of it was only possible through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives

III.  CLOSING
            -- on this day of Pentecost, we need to recognize and realize who the Holy Spirit is and what He does for us -- what the pouring out and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit means to us

            -- the Holy Spirit gives us His power, that we might have the ability to walk with Jesus and obey Him in all things
            -- He gives us His counsel, so that we might be wise and discerning and know what direction we should go
            -- He gives us assurance of faith and reminds our hearts that we are saved by grace when we sometimes doubt
            -- He gives us the words to speak to others and helps us to witness for Christ with our lives
            -- and He intercedes on our behalf -- praying for us to the Father and advocating for us even when we don't know what to pray
            -- when I think of the Holy Spirit and what He does for the church, I like to say that what the Holy Spirit has done for us is to open our eyes to a new life and a new reality

            -- J. B. Phillips wrote in, "Plain Christianity," "Every time we say, "I believe in the Holy Spirit," we mean that we believe that there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it"
            -- the reason God gave us the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was to change us -- to make us alive -- to make us like Christ -- to lead us into the full and abundant life that Jesus said He had come to give us -- and to make us better able to serve those around us
            -- as we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we become more aware of God's presence in our lives -- more aware of those around us who need His touch and who need to hear the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ
            -- and we become empowered to be His witnesses and to be Christ's hands and feet in this world -- changing it and changing those around us as we seek to follow Christ in all our ways

            -- it is the Holy Spirit working in the life of the believer who energizes and changes the church -- and it is the Holy Spirit working through the church who changes and transforms the world
            -- every revival that has ever been seen -- every outpouring of the presence of God leading to repentance and salvation and life-transforming power has been through the direct work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of God's people
            -- if you want to be truly alive -- if you want to experience revival in your life and in the life of this church -- then you must be filled with God's Holy Spirit -- this is what the Day of Pentecost is all about
            -- as we close, let me encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with His presence -- to empower you to do more than you could do alone -- to be who He has called you to be -- and go forth in His power to change the world for Jesus
            -- let us pray

No comments: