The Promise Arrives

What is Christian Pentecost all about?

Is it important for our faith?

Well, it’s up there with the death, resurection and ascension of Christ for essential things that had to happen in redemption (salvation histroy).

John Stott writes:

The Message of Acts Chapter 2. The Day of Pentecost (2:1–47)

Without the Holy Spirit,

Christian discipleship would be inconceivable,

even impossible.

There can be no life without the life-giver,

no understanding without the Spirit of truth,

no fellowship without the unity of the Spirit,

no Christlikeness of character apart from his fruit,

and no effective witness without his power.

As a body without breath is a corpse,

so the church without the Spirit is dead.

SO it’s pretty important we understand Pentecost.

Pentecost is a once-for-all redemptive or saving act in history that marks the beginning of the church's mission to the nations under the exalted Christ, in the power of the in-dwelt Holy Spirit.

The passage will show us how God keeps His promises, inaugurates (meaning begins a new era) the age of the Spirit, and calls all to turn to Christ before the coming day of judgment.

Pray

1 - The Spirit Poured Out, v1-4

Acts 2:1 NIVUK

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

The day of Pentecost was not chosen randomly by God.

Pentecost was already one of the major Jewish feasts—also known as the Feast of Weeks, which can be read about in (Leviticus 23:15-21)

Pentecost is more of a nickname, it literally means fiftieth,

and has it’s name becasue the feast of weeks was celebrated 50 days after Passover.

It was a celebration of the first fruits of the harvest

- Produce and sacrificial animals would be brought to God as a sign of thankfulness and trusting in God for all their needs throughout the year.

Some Jews still celebrate it apparently though now with cheesecake!

At this NEW Pentecost, Acts 2

God brings the first-fruits,

not of physical food or cheescake, but of the gospel harvest

- the first time the gospel will be unleashed to the ends of the earth..

So, without this event - you and I would have never heard the gospel.

And not only that, but we could never believe the Gospel if we did hear it.

becasue we need the HS’s work in our hearts to open our eyes to sin, humble us to repentance, and give us faith in Jesus.

SO the chosen day of Pentecost has significance,

And then we read in v1 still

"They were all together in one place."

That’s the 120 believers from Acts 1:15.

v1 then, is like a loaded spring.

Hold on to your hats - something big is about to happen.

Pentecost is here, you’re all together:

Acts 2:2–3 NIVUK

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

The language here is rich in Old Testament imagery.

The 'sound like a violent wind'

echoes the OT theophanies, meaning the appearances, of God’s presence—

think Ezekiel 1 and 37 and his vision of the Spirit as the ruach (wind, breath, spirit) of God.

Or Moses on Mt. Sinai, the Lord descended with fire and wind Exodus 19.

But notice the big difference:

here the Spirit is not coming and bringing terror for those that see Him descend,

but to ‘empower’ the church for mission.

‘Now’ the penalty of Sin has been once for all paid by the death of Jesus in their place,

The curtain has been torn between us and God.

they in Christ,

are able to receive the HS as an empowering gift,

not a condemnation in their sin before a holy God.

God hasn’t changed. He is holy.

We in and of ourselves haven’t changed - We are dead in our sin.

But Jesus has given us new life, regenerated us,

dealing with our sin on the cross

and in giving us his righteousness before God.

pause

The 'tongues of fire' that divide and rest on the heads of each person,

represent God's purifying, empowering and indwelling

God will work now not through special prophets, priests, or kings, as under the Old Covenant.

He will now work through the priesthood of all believers. Every one of them, and us.

And what is the work they are to do for the Lord?

We’ve seen it right through Acts 1 as a promise, now it is here:

Acts 2:4 NIVUK

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

This is the fulfilment of Christ's promise in 1v8

Acts 1:8 NIVUK

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’

The 'filling ‘of the HS’ here is not a second blessing

or an ecstatic experience to be sought later in life,

but the historic, initiating of the Spirit to the church,

enabling them to WITNESS to the nations.

pause

The speaking in tongues here is clearly the miraculous ability to speak real, known human languages,

as will be confirmed in the following verses.

This is not the ecstatic, unintelligible toungues associated and claimed by the charismatic movement today.

Rather, it is real languages speaking the Gospel to those who have not heard it before.

it is a sign that the gospel is now going global,

It is the great reversal of the curse of Babel in (Gen. 11) where God confused the worlds’ languages to stop humanity seeking to be God themselevse.

Now, the Gospel is to unite every language, in Christ.

The Gospel is about to begin it’s journey through geography and time, to the ends of the earth.

And that is dramatically now demonstrated as we see:

2 - The First Fruits of Pentecost, v5-13

Acts 2:5–6 NIVUK

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.

Luke draws our attention to the universality of the audience.

‘God-fearing Jews from every nation' is a way of saying the Jewish diaspora

—faithful Jews scattered throughout the known world.

And they are all here in Jeruslaemn for The festival of Weeks.

God's timing ensures a global audience for this inaugural event.

And they are:

Acts 2:7 NIVUK

Utterly amazed, they asked: ‘Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?

The list of nations in v9-10 echoes the table of nations in Genesis 10-11.

From the east (Parthians, Medes) to the west (Rome), from Africa (Egypt, Libya) to Asia (Phrygia, Pamphylia)—all regions are represented.

The gospel is now for all peoples, languages, and cultures.

All people united in Christ Jesus.

The first-fruits offering of the global harvest to come.

WE are to be thankful and trusting for God to complete his work through his church.

Just as they were thankful and trusting God for the first fruits that represented His year long provision.

But as with the claims of Christiantity in every age,

some are amazed and interested, while others mock:

Acts 2:12–13 NIVUK

Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, ‘What does this mean?’ Some, however, made fun of them and said, ‘They have had too much wine.’

Miracles do not convince people of truth.

Their only hope,

the preaching of Christ as King and Saviour,

And the work of the Spirit rebirthing their hearts.

And so Peter now does just that,

he does what the HS has now empowered him to do:

3 - The Witness Declares the Age of the Gospel, v14-21

Acts 2:14–15 NIVUK

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: ‘Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!

This is the same Peter who denied Jesus 3 times in fear and shame,

now ‘transformed’ by the Spirit into the church's first preacher of the Gospel.

And notice what preaching is?

?He has the HS, so is it what many people think today, that the HS will give him personal, fresh, revelation from God to share with the church??

No, He reads God’s word, the bible, and explains it.

Acts 2:16–18 NIVUK

No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘ “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

Peter anchors the entire event in the Scriptures.

He declares: This is what was spoken... There is no guesswork, no emotionalism.

The church must always explain its life and experience by the Word of God, not extra biblical revelation.

Joel prophesied an outpouring of the Spirit upon 'all people’,

or better translated, all flesh,

—meaning not every single person,

but all kinds of people/flesh without distinction:

sons, daughters, old, young, male, female, slave, free.

John Calvin writes that the Spirit 'makes no distinction of sex, age, or rank... the Spirit is common to all.'

These 120 men and women before you who you think are drunk,

are actually the first-fruit signs that the age of Gospel witness

through the empowering of the HS is now here.

They’re not drunk, they are empowered.

Listen to them as they speak your language, reveal the secrets of your hearts, prophesy and have visions.

They will teach you things from God’s Word that you had never believed before.

We today, aren’t there to know exactly what was going on,

but this is what we are going to see through the rest of the book of Acts

as the church is established and rolls out it’s mission.

This is an awesome,

miraculous,

time of word centered revelation and inauguration of the HS upon the hearts of His people!

continuing in Joel:

Acts 2:19–20 NIVUK

I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.

These apocalyptic images, common in the OT prophets,

symbolize the cataclysmic shift in redemptive salvation history.

The coming of Christ,

His death,

resurrection,

and ascension

mark the decisive turning point that is being capped off by Pentecost.

Perhaps some of this blood and fire and darkness, is literal and we will see it at the end of time when Christ returns.

perhaps it’s also symbolic for the beginnning of this new age.

The point is clear - don’t ignore this move of God to bring the gospel witness of Jesus to you.

To your language,

you don’t want to mess with this awesome and powerful God. rather:

Acts 2:21 NIVUK

And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

This is the glorious gospel offer of this new era.

This is the heart of Peter's message:

in these last days,

salvation is open to all,

but only through faith in Christ.

Pause

Having seen the meaning of Pentecost as the once-for-all historical

inauguration of the age of the Spirit and the gospel to the nations: The LAst Days, 

how should we be:

4 - Living in the Age of the Spirit and Gospel

1. We Are Empowered

Pentecost, as Peter preaches,

is the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy—it marks the dawn of the 'last days' (v. 17).

In which we now live.

The Spirit was poured out as a sign at Pentecost

that the HS now dwells in the heart of every believer from the moment of conversion.

We’ll see this through Acts.

We are not waiting for repeated Pentecosts to empower us, we are empowered.

We are not commanded to seek fresh outpourings of the Spirit in the way some churches claim.

The Spirit is already present and fully active in the church because of Pentecost.

If you believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, then you have the Spirit.

This means we rejoice and treasure the age we live in, and see it as the age of fulfilment, not frustration.

We do not live as if we are spiritually impoverished or waiting for something more dramatic to happen.

2 Peter 1:3 NIVUK

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

We GC, are full of the HS, We are empowered.

2. We Simply Witness to Christ

Peter does not call the crowd to ‘experience the Spirit’ through ecstatic feelings

- even though the 120 are experiencing miraculous power in speaking languages,.

Instead He preaches Christ crucified and risen. He expounds Scripture.

Therefore we do the same.

We must embrace the ordinary, God-ordained means of grace:

becasue that is where His Power is.

The preaching of the Word.

The sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper).

Prayer.

The gathered worship of the saints.

We can be tempted to think the ordinary ministry of Word and sacrament is weak,

boring, or insufficient in an age of entertainment, noise, and spectacle.

But Acts 2 shows us that the Spirit works powerfully through the preached Word

—Peter opens Scripture, explains Joel, and calls people to Christ.

Therefore:

We do not look for God in extraordinary signs, but in His ordinary Word preached.

Do not chase personal mystical highs; but cherish the public gathering where Christ is proclaimed.

Parents, we do not despise the slow, patient work of teaching your children the Scriptures day by day.

Pastors and elders, do not abandon the ordinary ministry of preaching and prayer for the sake of novelty or programs.

This is the Spirit’s age, His work is not chaotic or sensational—it is Word-centered, Christ-centered, and church-centered.

And this is liberating for us in our evangelism too.

You may not think that inviting your friend along to Sunday church is worthwhile.

Surely they need a big evangelistic event,

or an engaging social activity.

No - this is where the Power of the HS resides.

In our hearts individually yes,

but especially as we gather together,

and hear God himself speak in His word,

As Christ our saviour is declared,

This is when the HS will open peoples hearts.

Let us want visitors, friends, neighbours here each week.

Let us welcome them, love them,

INVITE THEM,

For it is only hearing the Word through the Spirit that they might v21

‘call on the name of the Lord and be saved’

And SO related,

3. We Must Witness, it’s urgent

The Spirit was specifically sent to empower us to witness.

We have everything we need.

We don’t need eloquence, or all the answers,

We need the HS.

And you have him.

I’m going to pray this week that I can say to at least 1 person,

something about Jesus.

Perhaps something simple, like telling them I went to church and when they ask what or why

‘Well I go to church because I follow Jesus.’

Maybe from that, some of us will get the chance to invite some along to join us next week?

Often we put these things off because we think there’s always next time,

BUt what if there’s not.

The other thing we have seen in this passage is that Jesus is coming back.

And it wont go well for those who have not called on Jesus.

These last days will not last forever (v. 19-20).

They will end with the 'great and glorious day of the Lord'

—the day of Christ’s return in judgment.

Therefore:

We live with urgency—knowing the time is short, and the window of gospel invitation is limited.

We do not waste our lives chasing comfort, success, or security, but live with gospel priority.

We do not shy away from warning others of the coming day of judgment, while also offering the free invitation of Christ.

We do not live as if this age will continue forever, but with hearts in heaven, longing for Christ’s return.

Pray