The Holy Spirit at Work to Bring the World to Christ
On the Holy Spirit • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 5 viewsThis message covers what some call the third Pentecost, as Peter observes the Holy Spirit being given to Gentiles in Cornelius' home.
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“Before refrigerators, people used icehouses to preserve their food. Icehouses had thick walls, no windows and a tightly fitted door. In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the icehouses and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the summer.
One man lost a valuable watch while working in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn’t find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile.
A small boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the icehouse during the noon hour and soon emerged with the watch.
Amazed, the men asked him how he found it.
‘I closed the door,’ the boy replied, ‘lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking.’”
Often, we do not hear God speak to us because we do not listen well enough.
Today’s message is about the Holy Spirit. He was called the Helper, by our Lord Jesus, no less than three times in His upper room discourse. In 14:26, the Father will send the Spirit in Jesus’ name and will teach the disciples all things. In 15:26, He is called the Spirit of truth and will bear witness of Jesus. And finally in
7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
Outside the forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit is one of, if not the greatest gift given to us by God. He is the third person of the Trinity; the One who inhabits the believer and enables him to live out faith and obedience towards God. He was foretold in the Old Testament in places like Ezekiel 36:24-28
24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
This is one of just many Old Testament Scriptures that foretell the coming of God’s Spirit.
In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit resided in and rested upon prophets, priests and kings. In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is given to every believer. Today, we will hear about such things in Acts 10.
Things changed at Pentecost.
Things changed at Pentecost.
The Day of Pentecost, told of in Acts 2, is the story of the miracle of the Holy Spirit coming. Many Jews were in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost, also known as the Feast of Weeks. It was at the end of the Barley Harvest. Jesus told the disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait.
While they were gathered in a room, holding a prayer meeting, something miraculous happened. With a sound like a mighty wind, cloven tongues of fire rested upon each disciple and they spoke in tongues (known languages at that time). And those present heard the gospel in their native languages.
Then Peter, preaches a message that not only explains what this miracle was about, but also further clarifies the necessity of faith and repentance in Jesus. And 3,000 people were baptized.
Today, I want to talk about another event, similar to that day called Pentecost. In fact, it is sometimes called a third Pentecost, as there are four events throughout Acts that show the gift of the Spirit to people that believed in Jesus. Acts 9:31 tells us:
31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.
More and more people are being converted because of the signs and wonders being done through the apostles. Two of those miracles are done through Peter: the healing of Aeneas at Lydda and the raising of Tabitha (aka Dorcas) from the dead. As a result, many put their faith in Jesus, as recorded in Acts 9:35
35 And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
And Acts 9:42
42 And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.
God was going to change Peter.
God was going to change Peter.
But now the Spirit is about to do something extraordinary in Peter’s life.
He is in Joppa and is hungry, awaiting his meal being prepared by his host. He goes up on the roof, where it is cool, to pray. While there, he falls into a trance and sees a vision, consisting of a great blanket coming down from the sky, containing all kinds of animals, birds and other creatures.
The voice says: “Peter, arise, kill and eat! But in the dream, Peter says in Acts 10:14-16
“By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.
Donald Barnhouse, states:
“...in our lives, God always prepares and equips us for whatever H emay be planning for our futures. So, with Peter. He had to be brought down quite a bit from his lofty bigoted attitude against Gentiles. They were ‘unclean’ and ‘common’ in his sight, and with that type of attitude, he could never be of any help to Cornelius.” (Barnhouse, 90).
In Acts 10:19, the Spirit tells Peter that the men who are downstairs have been sent from God. An invitation by Cornelius, a Roman centurion, who is also a god-fearer (a believer in Judaisim without circumcision), is extended to Peter.
In verse 26, Peter journeys with a group to Caesarea and enters Cornelius’ home.
Peter interprets his dream as having less to do with food and more to do with the Spirit calling Gentiles to trust Jesus as Lord.
In Acts 10:34-43, Peter preaches the gospel, which consists of who Jesus is, what He did and what it means. In every sermon given in the book of Acts, Jesus’ identity as the Son of God, his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead is elaborated on.
At that time, the Holy Spirit falls. The people present speak in tongues, exalting God. Those in attendance were baptized with a view to the forgiveness of sins.
This took place in 39-41 A.D., some 6-8 years after the Day of Pentecost.
What are we to make of such things? I think the following can be deduced.
God is drawing all kinds of people to Himself.
God is drawing all kinds of people to Himself.
There is no partiality with God. He has been at work in the lives of all kinds of people since the first century.
We are told in Revelation 7:9-10
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
So how does this play out?
For one, just like God, we must have a love for all people, for all people are created in the image of God. Every person is deserving of dignity. You do not have to agree with them or affirm them or their behavior. But you hold that all people are of the highest value.
Secondly, my neighbor is anyone I come across. And the greatest commandment to put to a daily test: To love your neighbor as yourself. That means to the person you feel road rage towards. Or the annoying neighbor next door. Or the family member invited to the barbeque.
Thirdly, this reminds us that the church is not a club, but an outpost of God’s grace. We are not to be exclusive for the sake of exclusivity, but to be a light for others to come to faith in Christ.
Israel was supposed to be a light to the nations. But they failed in that task. Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 5:14-16:
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Fourthly, there must be no racism even hinted at among Christians. Among the different people groups, there is the struggle with pride. But the Scripture tells us that we are not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to. I’m a man that is from Missouri. I’m of Scotch-Irish descent. I’m no better than someone from another part of the world, or from another part of the U.S. I can appreciate who I am and where I came from. But I’m no better than someone who is different in race, language or background.
18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
Fifthly, the gospel is God’s invitation for us to find our value and identity in Him.
And people will know of our Christian faith by the way that we live our lives AND our verbal witness.
A father and son arrived in a small western town looking for an uncle whom they had never seen. Suddenly, the father, pointing across the square to a man who was walking away from them, exclaimed, “There goes my uncle!”
His son asked, “How do you know when you have not seen him before?”
“Son, I know him because he walks exactly like my father.”
If we walk in the Spirit, the world should know us by our walk.
