The Gift of the Spirit
Notes
Transcript
In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,
until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.
He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
And while staying with them he 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.”
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 where they were sitting.
And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
I’m going to start off my sermon with something that I think you probably already know about me… I hate heresy. I’m sure I didn’t need to tell you that, but I hope you’re also glad to hear it.
“I view the Holy Spirit like the genie from Aladdin… and he’s blue… and he’s funny… and he’s sneaky… and he’s courageous… and he’s everywhere. That’s just who he is to me.”
I don’t really have time to unpack why all of those things are wrong. But we cannot just make up things about God because we feel a certain way. That’s not how God works - he is not a relative being that matched however we feel about him. And yet far too many people are satisfied for God to be whoever they think he is. But God has revealed himself to us - and that is how we know him.
So today we are going to spend a little time speaking about the Holy Spirit. And the reason I am doing this is not to be disconnected from the our series in Luke, but as a continuation of it. While this isn’t from the book of Luke think of it like when movies have post credit scenes - which are far too overused these days.
Just to be clear, in addressing Pentecost we need to be careful, and we need to be biblical. Yet, in many cases, when someone in a baptist church mentions the Holy Spirit we often find ourselves with one eyebrow raised in skepticism. We cant allow those with nonbiblical theology to steal good and beautiful doctrines of the church.
I’m going to speak of the Holy Spirit without getting weird. I say it that way because many times in our modern era, we think of the Holy Spirit in ways that are grandiose, and fantastical and yet when we look at the Scriptures, and when we look at historical theology, the work of the Holy Spirit is often more plain than some describe. But before we get there let’s look at how the scriptures speak of the Holy Spirit.
But through the lens of this text, and with some consideration of how Luke has spoke of the Holy Spirit we will see the Holy Spirit as a promise, we see the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, And we see the Holy Spirit’s role in the Proclamation of the Gospel.
From our study in Luke we see that the Spirit is promised to use from Jesus.
The Promise
The Promise
Acts is the companion book to Luke’s gospel. The story doesn’t end with Jesus’ ascension, but rather continues through how the Holy Spirit advanced the church through the ministries of Paul and Peter. So while last week we technically finished the book of Luke as far as content, I wanted to make sure to point all of you to the book of Luke to see that the story continues. As I mentioned last week the disciples didn’t just stare at the sun until the Lord Jesus returned. But before Jesus ascends into heaven he makes a promise to his disciples. In Luke 24:49 we read that Jesus tells them:
And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
But that is far from the first time that Luke mentions the Holy Spirit in his gospel. And as far as teachings about the Holy Spirit in the Bible Luke is filled with statements about the Holy Spirit. The angel in Luke 1 tells Zechariah that his son John, the Baptist, would be filled with the Spirit. Then Gabriel in foretelling of the birth of Jesus tells Mary that the Holy Spirit will stir in her womb to conceive the Christ Child.
Luke builds upon his theology of the Holy Spirit significantly in the book of Acts. If you want to have a better understanding of the Holy Spirit read the book of Acts.
In Acts 1:4-5 we read an expanded statement from Jesus concerning the promise of the Spirit:
And while staying with them he 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.”
This is turn shows Jesus fulfilling what John the Baptist told his followers when they asked if he was the Christ. In Luke 3:16...
John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
In addition to this Peter uses this same language of the Spirit as the promise in his sermon in Acts 2:33
Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.
And the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is certainly not unique to Luke, or the New Testament, the opening of the Bible tells us that the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. However, when we look at the writings of Luke, his gospel and the book of Acts, we see clearly how the Holy Spirit is active in growing the Church. Convicting of sin, inspiring Scripture, comforting, performing miracles, guiding and speaking to and through the saints. When we look at how the Holy Spirit works in the book of Acts, while he moves in a supernatural manner, his actions are often more seemingly normal rather than paranormal. While there are resurrections of the dead in Acts, more often he is speaking to them, guiding their actions, and directing their steps.
I mention this because what we see in our text today, I would argue is not the norm for how the Holy Spirit works - though many in our world today seek to state that it is. One of the biggest issues that we see in the modern church today is a poor doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
In verses 3-4, we read that the Holy Spirit descends upon the believers there and they begin to speak in tongues. But they speak in tongues as the Spirit gives them utterance - they communicate what they are told. But take note of what the speaking in tongues communicates in Acts…
Yet as we continue on down the narrative we read that Galileans speak in their own language and those who are from these various regions that he describes in verse 9-10 are all hearing if their own native language - even though it is Galileans who are speaking. The first thing that this shows us that the gospel is not merely for Galileans, nor is it merely for people who think, talk, and act like the disciples… and the same for us… we don’t gate-keep the church, or the gospel, from those who are different than us - but rather we are to seek for every tribe tongue and nation to confess that Jesus is Lord.
We proclaim the gospel to everyone with the hope that they repent and believe. While we are comforted to know that all of God’s elect, who were chosen in Christ before the foundations of the earth (Eph 1:4), will profess faith in Christ Jesus, we don’t know who those are, so we proclaim the gospel to all who will listen.
But there’s more going on than that here. This is an undoing of the events of Genesis 11. In Genesis 11 men are building a tower up into the sky, they want to be known for this marvelous tower that they build. They want to make a name for themselves. Yet, the tower isn’t that impressive because God has to come down to see it. They are seeking to go up, rather that out. So the Lord disperses them by confusing their language - thus call Babel.
Pentecost is the opposite of Babel. The giving of the Holy Spirit here enables the saints - by un-confusing their language, empowering them to go out to proclaim the gospel to every tribe tongue and nation, and to make the name of Jesus great among the nations. This is further demonstrated in Acts 8 as the Spirit descends upon those who believed in Samaria and in Acts 10 as the Spirit descends upon the believing Gentiles.
So here in the book of Acts we see the promised fulfilled.
But the Spirit is not merely just a promise fulfilled, but a promise of salvation. In Ephesians 1:13-14 we read
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
He is a seal, and the guarantee of our inheritance. We know that eternity is awaiting us because of the Holy Spirit.
However, Pentecost as the reversal of the Tower of Babel in Gen 11 is not the only OT connection. In the very name of the day, and reason of the gathering we have an OT connection.
Pentecost
Pentecost
Pentecost… What is Pentecost? In a sense, we have to back track here. Pentecost is mentioned in verse 1.
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.
Generally speaking when we think of Pentecost we immediately draw our attention to this text in Acts 2. But Pentecost is a Jewish feast that was prescribed in Leviticus 23:15-22.
Pentecost is also know as the Feast of Weeks. Specifically, 7 weeks. Yet the name Pentecost comes from Greek meaning 50. It was 50 days after the Sabbath following Passover. Remember that Jesus was crucified on passover and raised on the first day of the feast of firstfruits - this is the firstfruits of the barley harvest.
So Jesus ascends into heaven 40 days after his resurrection. And then 10 days later, for a total of 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit.
But Pentecost is not just an arbitrary day. Pentecost is the celebration of the firstfruits of the wheat harvest. Jesus rose from the day on the feast of firstfruits - the first fruits of the barley harvest - and now here the Spirit is sent on the firstfruits of the wheat harvest.
And while the text as we see it says that the day of pentecost arrived, it would also be acceptable, and I think intended to read it as when the day of Pentecost was fulfilled.
In Christ we have received the firstfruits from the dead in fulfillment of Passover, and in the sending of the Holy Spirit Pentecost finds its fulfillment.
And the apostle Paul helps us out here as he makes connections to both the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit as firstfruits.
And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Now this isn’t all just boring history that describes the day, that this happened - but rather this feast is important to the events that are occuring here.
Pentecost, like Passover, was a pilgrimage feast - meaning that all able bodied jews were expected to travel to Jerusalem. This explains why so many so many different Jews and proselytes from so many different nations are present in Jerusalem here. But the harvest of wheat is not the only harvest going on here.
Following Jesus ascension he sends a helper, an advocate, The Holy Spirit. And If we think back to Old Testament that sending of the Holy Spirit has been foreshadowed and prophesied from early on.
In Sunday school a few weeks ago, we looked at how Moses faced conflict and 70 elders were presented to aid him - and some of the Spirit that laid upon Moses was distributed among them.
Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it.
But in Joshua becomes jealous for Moses sake- and Moses’ response to Joshua is one where he desires that all of God’s people would have his Spirit.
But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”
He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
The most remarkable thing that happens at Pentecost is not that men were speaking in tongues. I would argue that there are two things much more significant than that. First, that God’s Holy Spirit comes down and fills the believers in Jesus and dwells among them. As a note, not every time that the Spirit descends upon a group of people in the New Testament do they speak in tongues.
The second thing that I would argue that Peter stands up and beautiful proclaims the Gospel and three thousand souls were added to that number that day. There is a harvest of believers at Pentecost.
Proclamation
Proclamation
Now the final thing that happens at this Pentecost event is that Peter stands up and makes a beautiful proclamation of the gospel. And while I don’t have the time to exhaust that wonderful sermon from Peter this evening. He responds to the claim that these men are intoxicated with new wine. And he quotes Joel 2:28-32
“ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;
even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
So Peter in this sermon explains to them that what they have witnesses is the Lord fulfilling his promise of pouring his Spirit on all flesh. Now all flesh here does not mean every living being, but rather all kinds of people. We see that in this very text with Jews and Gentiles and all those listed in verse 9 receiving the Spirit and delighting in the Lord Jesus.
But he also reveals to them that in the core the sermon that of everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved refers to the Lord Jesus. And he says this plainly in a following sermon in Acts 4:12
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Application
Application
To boil this all down to a few take aways for today...
We cannot believe whatever we want to about the Holy Spirit. This has become commonplace today. We must cling to what the Scriptures communicate to us about the Scriptures. There’s unfortunately a large number of Christians who have come to believe whatever they feel is right about the Spirit and that defined their belief. But the Scripture is clear about who the Holy Spirit is. The Holy Spirit is a person, not a force. The Spirit is He not it. The Spirit is sent as a seal, an advocate, a comforter.
The Spirit comes to glorify the son. John 14:26-27, 16:14. This is why the heart of the sermon that Peter delivers makes much of Jesus. Peter explains what the Spirit is doing, and where the Spirit has come from but the core of his message at Pentecost is Jesus Christ who was crucified and rose again is both Lord and Christ.
Thus the appropriate conclusion that we must draw from all of this is that if someone declares something to you and says it is of the Spirit but it doesn’t glorify Christ, and if it isn’t in line with the Scriptures it must be rejected. This might sound elementary but just because someone tells you that something is of the Spirit doesn’t mean that it actually is - and unfortunately, I have heard and read of a lot of instances of people making things up about the Holy Spirit.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
While God’s Spirit dwells in his elect now comforting them, guarding them, and convicting them of sin, there will be a day when we will dwell with God in an ever closer way. We won’t need comfort as there will be no more pain, we won’t need to be convicted of sin because it will be destroyed. We will see him as he is. We will dwell eternally with God - but until then we are given the Holy Spirit as a seal, and a promise of new life.