The Spark! part 1 of 4

The Spark

Acts 1:1-2:13

By Pastor Jordan Hines

Good morning. Can you go back? Chorus of the previous song there of ancient of days. This is something that is beautiful, that the ancient of days, the one who made the sun, the moon and the stars, comes to meet with us.

And that song is just a beautiful way of getting our hearts in the right place. We're going to be in the Book of Acts today. A few weeks ago, Doctor Athman preached on acts chapter one, and he talked about the resurrection, and he talked about the hope of the future for the church.

Over the next three weeks, I'd like to tackle the Book of Acts chapter two here. We're going to do three sections. The first section is just going to be Pentecost, essentially the event of Pentecost.

And then we're going to go over Peter's sermon at Pentecost, and then sort of the growth that came as a result of that sermon. And the purpose of this is, I want us to look back and see what is the spark of the church, or what is the thing that ignited the church, the fire that is the church, the spreading church of God. And today we're going to see the Holy spirit coming down upon the apostles and speaking into the lives of people all across the regions.

We don't have that same experience today in the same sense, but we do have the word of God, and we do have God speaking to us in our own language, which is what these people experienced. We're coming to a text that is used by many different denominations, different belief systems, and people point to it and they interpret it different ways, which is why at the end of the service, instead of general application, we'll be doing a little bit of apologetics. If you don't know what that word means, basically it means defending your faith, because many people, especially our pentecostal friends, will go to this text and they will say that speaking in tongues is going to be happening at every service.

We understand as Christians, as, as conservative Baptists, as believers who fundamentally believe that the word of God has come is the perfect revelation of God in Jesus Christ. And as we have seen what God has desired for us to see in the word of God, we understand how to live the christian life. This book is not just a how to get saved book, it's how to live book.

And as believers, we have to understand that God also deals with different people at different times and different ways. And God does use miracles. So we're never going to say in this sermon that God doesn't use speaking in tongues, that God doesn't use prophecy, that God doesn't use these signed gifts, but I think it's important to note at the beginning that we're coming to this passage, knowing that God is powerful, knowing that God is great, and yet understanding that God works differently in this age.

Join me in acts, chapter two, as I read verses one to 13. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing, mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.

And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and were confused because everyone heard them speaking in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear each in our own language, in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and those who dwell in Mesopotamia, Judah, Judea and Cappadocia. Pontius.

In Asia, Perga, Pamphylia, Egypt, and parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene. Visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretians and Arabs, we hear them speaking in our own tongues, the wonderful works of God. So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, whatever could this mean? Others mocked, saying, they are full of new wine.

We're going to need spiritual discipline and spiritual understanding. So let's ask the Lord for his help and understanding this text. God, I pray that you would work in our hearts today.

I pray that you would work in us to know what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit, what it means to walk with the spirit. Help us to know that you are powerful and that you are mighty, and that you in your greatness showed us your glory. And yet you showed us your glory in the greatest way, giving us Jesus Christ, dying for us, dying for our sins on the cross.

Help us to understand and learn and grow as Christians and be empowered by this passage. In your son's name we pray. Amen.

Many of you have been around a campfire, or you have been the one starting the campfire. If you get a group of people together, there's always going to be the pyromaniac who wants to spark the fire. They're going to be the one building the fire.

If they want the TP or the other method, the stacking method, and that person is trying to make sure the spark lasts, make sure the fire continues. What we're talking about today is just that sparkle. The fire is the church that's going to spread.

And in fact, if you read the Book of Acts, you see the spread of the church. But the spark of the church is right here as God pours out the Holy Spirit on these apostles. And if you think of another example, maybe the Olympic flame, as it is lit, it's supposed to continue to be lit, the entire entirety of the Olympics.

But once it's lit, it goes and goes and goes and goes. It's supposed to be eternal to represent the eternal generational passing of this tradition. Well, like the eternal flame of the Olympics, when it's lit, it goes forward.

So we will see the lighting of a fire today. We'll see that God lit the fire of the church at Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit on his people first, we'll see that in just a very basic idea of what is the setting. Where are we at? We talk about this word, Pentecost.

What does this word actually mean? The day of Pentecost. If you want to study this idea more, you go back to Leviticus 20, 315, and 16 when it was instituted. The word literally means the 50th day.

It's a grain offering. It's an offering that is seven sabbaths. That's seven weeks.

So seven times seven is 49 plus one. The next day is the 50th day. It's the second of the three festivals that every jewish man was required to attend.

So first, Passover Pentecost, the feast of unleavened bread. The Pentecost we're talking about in this passage is 50 days after the resurrection of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. And the apostles here are the ones leading worship.

And you can see later in the text that they are proclaiming the mighty works of God, the amazing works of God. It says in verse one that they are of one accord. It's not saying that they all had hondas.

It's saying that they had the same purpose. It's saying that they're there for the same reason. They're there because they're united around their belief in Jesus Christ, their belief in the teachings and the person and work of Jesus Christ.

This is not just the standard jewish crowd. This is the crowd who believes in their messiah, who was risen for them. And they are in Jerusalem, this central location where they're commanded to be.

This setting is important because this is a sacred setting. This is a place where people were coming and they were devoted to learning and worshiping God. It's also an intimate setting.

Anytime someone is fellowshiping with you, it's an intimate setting because we are careful with who we fellowship with. We're not going to fellowship with just anyone who happens to have some common ground, especially if it's intimate setting like worship. We want to know this person believes in the same God I believe in.

They believe jesus did the exact same things that he said he did in scripture. We want to know that we're of the same mind, united in the same one accord. That's where we find ourselves today.

We find ourselves in a position where these people are devoted to worship on this day of Pentecost. That's the whole point, and the first of major point is the spirit's arrival. Verses two through four.

This is the big event. This is what we're all waiting for. Verses two through four says this.

And the first couple words are very, very impactful here. And suddenly there came a mighty sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. And it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance. This is the highlight, right? This is what people came here, and this is what they're going to remember the most. This is the event that changes the story.

This event that came from where? Heaven. It's not from man. It's from heaven.

It is a mighty wind. This is a clear and obvious sign from God that God is moving. This wind, much, much like a large event in our life, would have garnered much attention.

This isn't just a breeze. This isn't just something. Oh, well, it's windy today.

No, this is like a tornado of the spirit coming down. A rushing, mighty sound from heaven and a wind. This is something that is moving them literally and physically.

If you think back to the prophets, Ezekiel had a similar experience. Ezekiel 37 914 talks about how Ezekiel had prophesied of the breath of God blowing over dry bones in a valley of his vision and filling them with new life. The breath of God moving.

Another example of how God is Lord over creation. God is not afraid of getting a hold of his people through his creation. And it filled the whole house.

It filled the whole house where they were sitting. Now, maybe there was just a window open, or maybe God was working. I tend to believe that God was working here that the house was full of wind.

And it was probably very disturbing. It was like, this isn't right. This isn't normal.

This is a big rush of wind. And they were together. They were meeting already.

They were around the truth of the word of God, the truth of the testimony of Jesus Christ. And what happened here? It was the filling of the spirit. Jonathan read for us chapter one, verses four through eight, which was the promise that the spirit would come, that it would come upon them and empower them.

This is the fulfillment of that promise. This is how God changed their lives forever. Verses three and four talk about this.

Then there appeared to them divided tongues. Divided tongues. These are several different languages, not irrelevant babblings or misunderstood babblings or utterances.

This is different languages. As the people who would gather in Jerusalem for this celebration, for this festival, they heard it in their own language. This looked like a magnificent sight of fire.

Verse three says fire specifically. Fire was a well known indicator of the presence of God in another way that God chooses to get ahold of his people. There are several verses that we can track, especially in the book of Exodus.

So if you want to travel with me back to the book of Exodus, chapter three, to begin with, it will be on the screen as well, I believe. Exodus three, two, five. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him.

This is AbrAHAM in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, a bush was burning with fire, and the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight.

Why the bush does not burn. So when the Lord saw that, he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, moses or Moses? Sorry, not Abraham. Moses.

And he said, here I am. Then he said, do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

The next text in Exodus is chapter 13, verse 21. Chapter 13, verse 21. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud and led the way by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.

So as he is leading these Israelites through the wilderness, he's leading them with fire. The presence of God is moving with them through the wilderness. Next in chapter 24, verse 17.

Exodus 20 417. This is the context of Israel confirming the covenant. The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel, a consuming fire on top of the mountain.

As the covenant is confirmed and affirmed. And then Exodus 40 38, the end of the book, for the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. So the cloud and the glory here rest upon the tabernacle at the end of the Exodus.

And if you want a New Testament example, a very strong, powerful example to believers, you can look to Hebrews 1229, where it talks about our God being a consuming fire. So what does this mean? This means that our God is powerful. This means that our God is not afraid of getting a hold of us and getting our attention through nature.

And he's using nature here, he's using wind to get people's attention at this very important time. And this fire that we're talking about, it sat upon these men, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, this must have been a crazy experience for them.

Like, I'm sure that as they're teaching, as they're talking and fellowshiping, they're probably not expecting this to be exactly the way it happened. And then tongues of fire are above them, and now they're speaking in different languages that they don't understand. It is a life altering, life changing event that you can't walk away from unchanged.

You can't walk away from this thinking, oh, God's just okay. No, God is amazing. They began to teach to speak with other tongues.

How did they do this? Verse four. The end of verse four says, as the spirit gave them utterance, this is again the source. The spirit is the one who did this.

The spirit of God is affecting them. It's changing them in this moment to be used in this amazing, transforming event that brings in the church, that brings in God's program for this present age, which is just amazing. Let's look at the spirit's effect.

What does this event do for us, do for the church? This is verses five through 13, acts, chapter two, verses five through 13. Let's read a couple verses of that. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem devout men from every nation under heaven.

When the sound occurred, the multitude came together and were confused because everyone heard, heard them speak in their own language. Verse seven. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And then we go through the confused United nations, as it were, in this next part of the passage, we have a really confused group of people now because they haven't experienced anything like this, because I'm sure as they're coming through Jerusalem as they're celebrating Pentecost.

They're not expecting to be able to speak their own home language. There's something to this where in your heart language, your home language, you tend to listen and pay attention more. Unlike if you're like, if I were to travel to Mexico and I were to hear a message in Spanish, it's not going to mean as much as if I hear it in English.

Or if someone's from Mexico and they're here and they don't know English and someone is able to speak to them the gospel in their home heart language, it means something to them. Language means something. Language is important because language has to do with our culture.

It's a reflection of what our culture values and what our culture knows and understands. God is using the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is being used here to effectively communicate the marvelous works of God to all nations, sparking the church.

It's shocking them. It's making them marvel. These devout men.

Now, these are devout men. They're foreigners. They're travelers.

They're believers from every nation under heaven. There is a map I'd like to present there for you that shows you just how widespread. I'm not sure if you can see that very well.

But all the red writing is the regions that are mentioned in the passage that are in Jerusalem. And as they're being spoken to in their home language, they're wondering, how can someone so far away from my home know this language, and how can this impact me so much? Those little red regions are impacted with the gospel. They're impacted with the truth of God's word.

And much of the book of acts is a reflection of God sparking the church, jumpstarting the church, but then developing and discipling and growing the church in those regions, especially in Asia Minor and in Rome, what God is doing here is he's spreading the gospel in an unorthodox way, in a different kind of way, so that when Paul and when Peter and when John and when the other apostles go out and preach the gospel, they have these churches that are already established, that are already kind of united around the truth, and it shows the sovereignty of God. It says in verse six that when this sound occurred, the multitude came together. They came together before they were dispersed.

One event that kind of has become a part of our culture recently is the full eclipse. In the last couple weeks, we've been building in anticipation for the eclipse. And then as you see the eclipse happen, people are gathering in large groups.

The multitudes gathered for this event, the multitudes gathered for this event as well. And we're talking about the sovereignty of God. What I find amazing here is that God is using this centralized event in Jerusalem.

But then what is the next thing that happens in Jerusalem that we know of in the book of acts? Somebody can answer. You can answer. It's okay.

Think of the stoning of Stephen. Persecution. Right? God is using a united, formal event that jewish men are required to attend, to bring people together, and then he's using persecution to scatter them.

God is working here. God is doing great things as a part of his plan. And then we see a list of these united nations, these people who have been confused by this event.

The Parthians, the Medes, the Elamites, those who dwell in Mesopotamia, the Judeans, the Cappadocian, Pontius, in Asia, Perga, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya joining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretians and Arabs. And if we had all day, we could go through each and every one of those and look at whatever historical documentation there is of a church in that region. And we could see that God was in the details of planting those churches in those regions.

But verse twelve says they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, whatever could this mean? It means that God is working, and God wants to spread his message, and he's going to use the church. And yet, just as in our day, some mocked, some did not believe, some thought, they're full of new wine, they're drunk, some did not believe. I would submit that this is further evidence, or some evidence that even people who want these miracles sign gifts, miraculous things, to happen on a regular basis, maybe don't have as much ground to stand on as they think.

Because some of these people saw this great work that God was doing and mocked. Even think back to when Jesus did his miracles. Some people didn't believe.

They were just there for the food. They didn't get the point. So I want to leave you with an apologetics lesson today.

I want to leave you with the understanding that what we have just studied in acts chapter two is impactful for this church today. But I want you to be able to think through this text on your own and think through how would I defend this text from a biblical perspective? Apologetics is basically the defense of our faith. You can look at one, Peter 315, to look more into that idea, or hermeneutics is another idea that's in the outline.

That's a big fancy word that you may not understand. Basically, it's, how do you interpret the Bible? How do you understand or read the Bible? We need to understand a couple things about our response. First, we need to be a good listener.

When we're in conversation with someone who we disagree with on this theological issue of the Holy Spirit and of gifts. We need to be a good listener, because I promise you, the more you understand about their position, the more you'll be able to defend your own. You need to ask good questions and know that you can't ask good questions without being a good listener.

And also ask good questions. So you force that person to think through. Why do I believe this? So let me leave you with a few guiding principles.

Number one, there is a difference between descriptive and prescriptive texts in the Bible. There are times in scripture where we have a positive example that we're not supposed to follow. Think of Abraham sacrificing Isaac.

Is the Bible commanding Lynn to sacrifice Lemuel on an altar today? I don't think so. Or is God asking Sean to sacrifice Thomas on an altar? They're saying, yes. Okay, this is an example of when it's a descriptive passage, where this is what God told these people to do at this time for this purpose.

And God had a purpose very clearly displayed in that passage in Genesis. And there are other times where there are negative examples, right? Where there are sinful things that we shouldn't do. In Abraham as well, he had multiple wives.

Many other men that we love and respect and we appreciate from scripture have multiple wives. The Bible never teaches that it's okay to have multiple wives. The Bible actually teaches the opposite, that it's good to be a one woman kind of man, to be focused on loving that one woman.

And that's not how God designed marriage. And yet it is in the Bible. You think of all the baby names that you can't have because baby Jezebel would not sound very good.

Right? There are plenty of examples of things that are described in scripture that are not prescribed. Secondly, God deals supernaturally through miracles to verify or to make valid for people a message. Jesus did miracles to verify who he was, but never wanted people to follow him because of the miracles.

Go with me to John. Actually, we won't take the time to go through that passage. But John, chapter six, verse 26 to 35.

If you want to do this at home this week, John 626 35 talks about how Jesus taught that he didn't want people to follow him for the miracles. He wanted them to follow him for who he was. Pentecost marked a turning point in God's program for ministry, and God is marking this with a miracle.

Think about the other turning points in history. Scripturally, how was Jesus born from a virgin birth? It was a miracle. Angels came and celebrated and proclaimed his name.

It was a miracle. God did those things. He verified the message even in the early church.

Paul wrote to the corinthian church saying that the signs and gifts will cease. I do want to turn to this passage. First Corinthians, chapter 13, verse eight to ten.

In fact, if you think about gifts, think about first Corinthians, verses twelve to 14, as Paul talks about spiritual gifts in the life of the church at Corinth. First Corinthians, chapter 13, verses eight through ten. This is the love chapter, as it's called.

But it's talking really about spiritual gifts. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail.

Whether there are tongues, they will cease. Whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For if we know in part, we prophesy in part.

But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away with. Most people in our circles, and this is my conviction, the conviction of this church, that the perfect here would be the word of God, the revelation of God. And when the perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away with.

We don't need to ask for more revelation from God. We don't need to ask for more information from God. I was speaking with one of my coworkers a few years ago about this, and he had claimed to have an experience speaking in tongues.

And I asked him, what did he speak? What message did he communicate? He had no idea. He couldn't remember. And then I asked him, did someone interpret what you said? He said, no.

And I asked, was the body of Christ edified? Did anybody learn or grow in their walk in Christ? His answer was something along the lines of, everybody felt more spiritual. So I think the problem with that is that the purpose of this sign was to communicate a message in acts. Chapter two.

These people are hearing their own language from foreigners. They're interpreting what that person is saying, even though what that person is saying is something they don't even understand. God is using these signed gifts for a purpose.

Another principle that we have here is that we have a more perfect form of revelation in Jesus Christ. I just read one corinthians 1310. It talks about scripture.

It talks about the perfect coming and the partial passing away. Know that it is possible to be a genuine believer. It is possible to be going to heaven.

Disagree on this. It's possible to disagree on the gifts and signed gifts of the Holy Spirit and be a saved member of a church. However, scripture clearly teaches that these signed gifts are partial and they have passed away.

And it is important to separate on doctrinal issues when they are important. And this is an important thing. When it comes to fellowship, there are different levels we can fellowship closely.

Like with someone who you would go to church with or you would do events with or someone who you would endorse, you would allow them to use your facility, your building, and there are people who you would say, praise the Lord, I'm glad you're saved, probably not going to your church, even though I'm glad that you're saved. And I'm glad that you believe in Jesus Christ as your lord and savior. And that's when you get to have the really fun conversation of this is what the Bible says, let's study what this means and don't be afraid to have that conversation.

This church must be full of people who are willing and able to have those conversations. This church's foundation is the gospel and that is the most important, the most key, the most central doctrine that we hold. But do not mistake that key, central doctrine for saying the other doctrines don't matter.

That is why it is important for us to know what we believe, why we believe it. And we believe as this church that we are to walk with the spirit. Galatians talks about us walking in step with the spirit and allowing the spirit to work in us.

I pray that as a church, as we look on this miraculous event, the spark of the church, we would look back and reflect and think we are blessed. But we're also responsible for going to the world, for being a part of God's program. We're going to see later in a couple weeks that God did mighty things through this event.

3000 souls were saved at this event. And I would pray that we see even just one in this community. Just pray that that person that's in your life who needs the gospel would be saved because the gospel is powerful.

Let's thank the Lord for his word. Let's pray that God would empower us to be. Gospel testimonies this week.

God, I thank you for this testimony of you starting the church, you pouring out your spirit on this church. I thank you for your work in our lives, in the lives of this church. I thank you that we can know you, that we can understand your truth, that we can walk with you help us to have the conviction and the power to clearly communicate the message of the word of God to our neighbors and friends and coworkers this week.

In your son's name we pray this amen.