The Sound of the Spirit

Introduction

When I was saved at seven years of age, the next morning I went into my second-grade classroom with my mom. I’m not sure why she was there, but I wanted to tell Mrs. Delequadry what had happened. When the time came, I was a bit shy, but my mom said, “Go ahead; tell her.” So I said to her, “I got saved last night.” That’s it. I was excited and wanted her to know. My mom had to explain what I meant. But I was excited.

I know that many of have had similar experiences. We get saved, and we want to tell others. That’s a natural, and maybe even a supernatural, response to the gospel! But then something happens. We become less excited and more fearful. We actually become the opposite of Peter who went from being scared of a servant girl to standing before crowds and kings and proclaiming that Jesus saves.

We move from the power of the Spirit to the fear of man, while he went from the fear of man to the power of the Spirit, and it leaves me wondering why.

Recently, I have seen memes that say, “If I win the lottery I won’t tell anyone, but there will be signs.” And then there are pictures of a hundred jars of peanut butter or a TIE Fighter from Star Wars. Beloved, don’t you think that, if we have Christ and the Spirit has been given to us, there would be indication? Shouldn’t there be some evidence of his changing our lives?

This morning is Pentecost Sunday, and we see what happened on that first Pentecost Sunday: ordinary men saved by the blood of Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit to proclaim his gospel. In fact, we see three evidences of this happening:

The Placement of the Power

The Perplexity of the People

The Preaching of Peter

The Placement of the Power

The first evidence of the Spirit is when he comes upon the apostles, but it isn’t simply that the Spirit came upon them, but I think there is good reason to look at the placement of his power.

Acts 2:1–3 ESV

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.

Having read it, we could easily see that there is a point in which the Holy Spirit came, but there is a place where he came, and then there is the placement upon which he came. So let’s quickly look at these together.

First there is the point in which he came. That was the day of Pentecost. Pentecost does not mean a whole lot to us today. In fact, many of us simply know of Pentecost as the day that the Spirit descended. But Pentecost was much more than that. Pentecost was called Pentecost because in Greek, Pentecost means fiftieth—it is the fiftieth day after Passover. It’s Old Testament name was The Feast of Weeks.

About a hundred years or so before the birth of Christ, the Jewish people had begun associating The Feast of Weeks with that of the giving of the Law and the covenant given at Mount Sinai. It had been fifty days since the Israelite slaves left Egypt and arrived at Mt. Sinai. And so, it is no surprise that the Church would view this day as the point in time when the New Covenant was consummated through the power of Holy Spirit.

Just as it was fifty days from the Passover sacrifice, so it was fifty days from the death of Jesus. Just as God came upon Mt. Sinai with fire and noise, so the Spirit came down with fire and noise.

But beyond that, it was the Feast of Weeks, a time when the Jewish people celebrated the spring harvest. We may think mainly in terms of a fall harvest, but if you lived in a warmer climate, even like Florida or the Southwest, you’d see there are spring harvests as well. It was the first harvest of the year, which was required celebration for all men to attend, and so we find the first fruits of the Spirit coming on that day as well. Thus, the point of time for this to all happen was no mere accident.

Secondly there was a place; in fact, there are two places: the broader idea and the narrower one. The broader idea is that this took place in Jerusalem, where the heart of Israel’s religious life was. That was because God had told the people that there would be a place that he would pick to put his name. You may recall in David’s day, the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem where eventually the temple of God was built by Solomon. But before then, the tabernacle had many cities it had called home. However, God’s had chosen a place for his name to dwell—Jerusalem. So while Bethlehem would be the birthplace of the King, Jerusalem would be the birthplace of the Kingdom.

The more narrower sense is the upper room, where the disciples were meeting. You’ll remember that by this time, there were 120 disciples staying together and praying together. It was in this place that the Spirit showed himself powerful, fulfilling the promise that Jesus had made just ten days prior. It must not be lost on us that the Spirit came as the people stayed and prayed together.

But I also want us to see the placement of the power of the Spirit. He came down manifested in a form that looked like fire and dispersed himself upon the people, and the power of the Spirit then came through their tongues—their mouths.

Solomon wrote that life and death are in the power of the tongue, and it is no surprise that the Spirit chose the tongue to hold the place of his power.

Pastor Drew spoke about St. Francis’s statement that said, “Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words.” I agree that is a dumb statement. There is no other way to preach the gospel than with words.

Romans 10:14 ESV

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

The proclamation of the gospel message must come through our mouths, that is where the Spirit chose to put his power. He did it then; he will do it now. Let us not forget what Jesus told his disciples when he said that they’d be dragged into courts:

Matthew 10:19–20 ESV

When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Let us not forget the promise that Jesus made about how the Spirit will be our helper: He will teach you all truth. And so, we proclaim that truth. Jesus prayed for that in his High Priestly prayer:

John 17:20 ESV

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

It is the tongue that the Spirit has placed his power; why do we not use it more? Isn’t it interesting that the fear we feel is not in our actions? We’re not afraid to act as Christians; we’re only afraid to talk as Christians—to talk of Christ. Could it be that our tongues are tied because Satan is all too aware that this is where the Spirit places his power? Or perhaps we simply allow our own inhibitions to close off the very place the Spirit desires to work most?

The Perplexity of the People

This takes us to the second evidence of the Spirit’s coming: The Perplexity of the People. Let’s take a look at how Luke described the situation in some of the following verses.

Acts 2:5–8 ESV

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?

Acts 2:13 ESV

But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

Did you notice the responses: bewildered, amazed, astonished, and then some of them were mocking. They jeered at them. It is safe to say that the people were perplexed. They didn’t know what to make of what was going on.

Luke tells us that they heard the sound—the sound of the Spirit. When the Spirit arrived, he could not be ignored, even if the people didn’t know what to make of the situation. They even ask at the end of verse 12, “What does this all mean?” Is this portending of something good or bad? And Peter will eventually proclaim the answer when he speaks to the people.

But before then, we need to take a look at the redemptive side of this. To do so, we need to go back some two-thousand years before this day. It was then that the world had gathered into one place, the land of Shinar. In fact, in the Septuagint, the word is the same as what Luke uses for these men from all over the world gathering into Jerusalem.

In Shinar, the people all spoke one language and built a tower to make a name for themselves, but God confused their languages and then scattered the people into the world in judgment. That word “confused” in the Septuagint is the same word Luke used to describe the people when they heard the various tongues being spoken. But the difference is that, on Pentecost, God was not scattering a unified people in judgment, but was unifying a scattered people in grace.

These men and women had come to Shinar to make a name for themselves by building a tower that displayed their power, but were thwarted by God. God had come down at Pentecost to make a name for himself by building a kingdom that displayed his power of which no one, not even the gates of hell, could thwart.

You see, what looked confusing in the moment that the Spirit came was actually God’s fulfillment of hundreds of years of redemptive promise. We can see this from Isaiah:

Isaiah 43:5–11 ESV

Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes, who are deaf, yet have ears! All the nations gather together, and the peoples assemble. Who among them can declare this, and show us the former things? Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right, and let them hear and say, It is true. “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior.

But it wasn’t that God was erasing languages or nations. He was redeeming that which had once been a curse, to the point that, ultimately, because of Pentecost, John had a vision of heaven,

Revelation 7:9–10 ESV

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, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

At Christ’s death and resurrection, God conquered sin that separated us from him. But at Pentecost, God tore down barriers of nationality, ethnicity, sex, language, and social status that had separated us from each other. Certainly made possible by Christ’s blood, but made reality by the Spirit’s power. It is because of Pentecost that Paul could rightly say to the Galatians

Galatians 3:28–29 ESV

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Brothers and sisters, do we see why Pentecost—the coming of the Holy Spirit—is so important to our redemptive story? If the coming of the second Person of the Holy Trinity is to be celebrated and remembered, why not the third Person as well?

You may answer that is because Jesus is our Savior. He is our Savior! But can a person be saved unless the Spirit regenerates him? Can a person be saved unless the Spirit indwells her? Can people be saved unless the Spirit sanctifies and seals them for heaven? We need the Holy Spirit for he is the one who brings us to Christ. He unites us to Christ! He conforms us to the image of Christ!

The Preaching of Peter

This takes us to the third evidence of the Spirit: the Preaching of Peter. We’re not going to look at the entire sermon that Luke recorded for us. We’ll take a look at that next week, along with the reaction of the people. But for now, we can make note of four critical observations. Let’s take a look at

Acts 2:14–21 ESV

But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: “ ‘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.’

The first observation about Peter’s preaching is that it was to a particular people at a particular time with a particular theme. That isn’t to say that sermons cannot be timeless in some respects, but there ought always be a sense of timeliness to them. This was to the men of Judea (in other words those who were from the area) and those dwelling in Jerusalem (those from the nations) who were there to celebrate the spring harvest in the Feast of Weeks and the giving of the covenant. It was these people at this moment that were perplexed about what they had seen and heard. And it was to that he would speak.

So the first observation is that he spoke to a particular people at a particular time with a particular theme. The second observation is that Peter corrected the misunderstandings of those who were jeering. It wasn’t that these men were drunk on new wine. It was only 9:00 in the morning. To us, we might assume that this is a fairly week argument, but not the devout Jews. There was a custom by which the devout lived. There was no eating or drinking before the first hour of prayer, which was the third hour of the day. In other words, the first prayer was at 9:00 in the morning, and devout Jews would not eat or drink before then, therefore these men who were heard praising God in tongues not their own, would not be drunk as some assumed.

You see, good preaching will seek to answer questions and correct misunderstandings as the Word is proclaimed. Certainly there will be times when questions and misunderstandings arise, but that’s hopefully more because of the text of Scripture is unfamiliar to the listener rather than the shortcomings of the preacher.

There is a particular people at a particular time with a particular theme, and there is a particular misunderstanding that has been corrected. But there is a third observation that we need to make: Peter expounds the Scriptures. This doesn’t fit with the “particular” motif like the others, because as we can see simply by looking at our Bibles, Peter expounds on many different texts and not only one particular passage. Still though, he is not taking a text and using it as an onramp to preach whatever he wants to preach. He is expounding his texts. He’s explaining them and exposing their meaning for the people. And the text he chose to begin his sermon was Joel 2:28-32.

This text was the answer to the people’s question. This was what Joel had foretold would happen. The Holy Spirit would come and when he did, there would be signs. This is the main thrust of the the text. These people were seeing Joel’s prophetic words on display!

If you read the Old Testament, you’ll see that the Spirit of the Lord came upon some of the people—usually leaders and/or prophets like Moses, Samson, Saul, David, Ezekiel, and so on. But the Spirit upon the leadership was not enough to change the hearts of the people. Thus, a time was coming, God proclaimed through Joel, that his Spirit would come upon common, everyday people. That’s what the people were seeing. This was no time to jeer! This was a time to be in holy awe. It was a time to put one’s hand over his mouth and listen to what God was saying and what what God was doing.

So, there was a particular people, time, theme, and misunderstanding that Peter addressed. There was an exposition of texts that Peter preached from. But the last observation is that there was a particular gospel message that he included.

Acts 2:21 ESV

And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

And what we will see next week is that Peter and the other eleven made it clear that the Lord in verse 21 was no other than Jesus himself. I can’t say that I have always proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ in every message I’ve preached, but I can say that the people that God has called by his name—whether they are already believers or not—need to hear the gospel message as often as they can. And good sermons and good preachers never tire of proclaiming the good news that Jesus saves.

You know, every day we battle with our sin nature and with our fleshly desires. Every single day. And every single day, we need the Spirit to help us overcome those desires and the blood of Christ to cleanse us from them when we fail. That means that every single day, we need to call the mind the saving grace of the good news of Christ.

Conclusion

As we close this section of Acts, we have seen three evidences of the coming of the Holy Spirit: the placement of the power, the perplexity of the people, and the preaching of Peter. And we have seen that the power of the Spirit comes through most dramatically through the tongue. We’ve seen that the coming of the Spirit can be confusing to many people because they do not understand his (or their) role in redemption. And we have seen what it means to preach well by answering instead of causing questions, explaining a text well, and reminding the people of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There is, of course, more evidence of the Spirit than these three. We know that there is the fruit of the Spirit, there are the gifts of the Spirit, there is unity of the Spirit, and so many more, but, as we observe Pentecost this morning, let me ask you: is there evidence of the Holy Spirit in your life?