Peters Pentecost Sermon

On the day of Pentecost, the prophecy of Joel was fulfilled, but not completed. Peter rightly saw that this was a remarkable outpouring of the Spirit of God, given freely upon all who believe and receive, as was promised in the new covenant. The book of Ezekiel speaks of the new covenant promise in detail. Lets take a short detour and look at what Ezekiel says about the New Covenant. Until you understand what Ezekiel prophesied you can’t truly understand the gravity of Pentecost.

Ezekiel 11:19 CSB

I will give them integrity of heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone from their bodies and give them a heart of flesh,

In the provisions of the New Covenant God will put in the new spirit and take out the stony heart. Moral renewal comes through the expulsive power of a new affection. Sanctification is both positive and negative. God gives a new affection as he takes out self-love: I will put … within … I will take … out. When God renews the inner niches of the soul, man will be enabled to walk in the divine way and will be privileged to enjoy the divine fellowship. Maturity grows out of purity. Promised by the prophets and established in Jesus Christ, the Wesleyan message of heart purity is rooted in the New Covenant. Ezekiel 11:24-28 says

‘For I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. 25 I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances. 28 You will live in the land that I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.

The work of grace comes through four great acts of God: (1) restoration (v. 24); (2) regeneration (v. 25); (3) sanctification (v. 26); and (4) purification. These correspond to the great works of grace in Christian salvation. Restoration is closely related to conversion. Israel is to be taken from among the nations, and brought into your own land. In the same way, the Christian is taken from the world and brought into Christ. He lives in the new realm of the Spirit Gal 5:24

Galatians 5:24 CSB

Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Regeneration is the new birth. The promise, I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean, recalls the ceremonial washings of the law, especially purification by sprinkling with water mixed with the ashes of a red heifer. The New Covenant fulfills this in “the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” spoken of by Paul

Titus 3:5–6 CSB

he saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. He poured out his Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior

The new birth is a cleansing from the sins of the past, from all your filthiness, and from all your idols

1 Thessalonians 1:9–10 CSB

for they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Sanctification is the work of God in the depths of the heart, spoken of by the prophet as, A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. Sanctification is both negative and positive. Negatively it is the elimination of the old: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh. Positively it is the addition of the new: and I will give you a heart of flesh. Adam Clarke comments:

Here is the salvation that God promises to give to restored Israel; and here is the salvation that is the birthright of every Christian believer; the complete destruction of all sin in the soul, and the complete renewal of the heart; no sin having any place within, and no unrighteousness having any place without.

Purification, says the prophet, is the work of the Holy Spirit: And I will put my Spirit within you. In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit empowered believers; in the New Testament age the Holy Spirit purifies believers from sins and from sin

1 John 1:9 CSB

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 Thessalonians 4:3–8 CSB

For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality, that each of you knows how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not with lustful passions, like the Gentiles, who don’t know God. This means one must not transgress against and take advantage of a brother or sister in this manner, because the Lord is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you. For God has not called us to impurity but to live in holiness. Consequently, anyone who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

The purity and power of the Spirit enable the believer to walk in the statutes of God: and cause you to walk in my statutes. The Hebrew for cause you to walk is a strong word meaning, “I myself will bring it about that you will be enabled to walk.…”

The believer’s walk is sustained by three gracious promises: (1) I will be your God (v. 28); (2) I will save you from all your uncleanness (v. 29); and (3) I will multiply the fruit of the tree (v. 30). Fellowship, purity, and fruitfulness are the divine blessings of restoration, whether it is the restoration of Israel from the land of captivity, or the restoration of the sinner from the captivity of sin.

Man’s response to the gracious salvation of God is expressed in verse 31: then shall ye remember your evil ways. God’s saving activity for the believer results in a life of humility lived in the spirit of repentance. The divine initiative in salvation is met by the irrepressible gratitude of man. One who is truly forgiven can never forget the depths from which he was delivered. Can you see how deep this Bible is yet? We are studying Acts but I've preached it from something written hundreds of years prior to the book of Joel which then lead us to Ezekiel that was written at least 70 years before but its speaking in detail about whats taking place on the day of Pentecost.

The prophecy of Joel was also especially appropriate because the day of Pentecost ushered in the last days, with the beginning of the church as understood by the New Testament. Since that time, the church has not been rushing towards a distant edge that represents the consummation of all things. Instead, on Pentecost the church came to the edge – and has run parallel to the brink for some 2,000 years. Its so so important that we understand what happened on the day of Pentecost. It's important for us to know that the coming of Jesus Christ could happen at any second of any day of any month of any year. We've got to understand how important the spirit of God living inside of us making us the temple is we have to understand that God in the Old Testament reserved that spirit for kings and priests and prophets and he took that same spirit and put it in each one of us wanting us to do something miraculous and amazing with it and the amazing thing to me is how we can have people who have and claim the spirit of God living inside of them but have no power have no boldness have no authority that God has given them they don't use it they don't understand it but yet God continues to pour it out and it's up to us to take hold and tell others!