What Does This Mean?

Introduction

We are weak people, aren’t we? I think Paul summarizes our weakness perfectly in when he says, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing that I hate.” I don’t know about you, but I can relate to that on basically every area of my life. I want to eat well and try to take care of this body that God has given me, but I find myself instead always falling back into fried chicken. I want to be more disciplined with my time and use it for God’s glory and for the betterment of my family, but I, too often, find myself staring at social media or reruns on the box in my living room. I will resolve in one minute to boldly share my faith and cower down in the next when I see my neighbor in his yard. If I am certain about anything, I am certain about how weak I am.

This has always been the case for God’s people. Book after book in the Bible we read how God’s people, even the mightiest among them, collapse in failure as they seek to be who God has called them to be. The only saving grace is that, as weak as we are, our God is all-the-more mighty.

And, that is what Pentecost is about. Today is the day in which the church has traditionally celebrated as Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost is the greek word for 50, and we celebrate it 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection, because it is on this day that Holy Spirit descended to take residence in the hearts of the followers of Jesus. Pentecost was, in fact, one of the three major Jewish feasts, known in the OT as the Feast of Harvest or the Feast of the Firstfruits. Many Jews refer to it as the Feast of Weeks because it comes a weeks worth of weeks (that is, 7 weeks) after the passover, when they would bring in the wheat harvest. It celebrates that God has provided already and that the firstfruits of the harvest give assurance that God is yet to do far greater things. So, they would bring their firstfruits to the temple as an offering of faith to God that they knew He would do far greater things. And, this is what God promises us in with the sending of the Spirit: There is much more to come! God is building his Kingdom and the Spirit is the firstfruits of that glorious Kingdom!

God’s Word

Read

“A Mighty Rushing Wind”

“and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind” Can you imagine what it must have been like that day? I mean, what an emotional roller coaster these disciples have been on. Jesus told them He was going to suffer and die and the disciples swore their allegiance to him. But, as Jesus suffered and died, the disciples cowered away from him showing that their words were nothing more than empty bravado. But, then Jesus had risen and the disciples were restored and they celebrated Jesus and fellowshipped with Jesus and sang to Jesus until Jesus leaves them again. In leaving, Jesus tells his disciples to wait patiently together on the Spirit to come. And so, there they are 120 of Jesus’ disciples together in a single location, no doubt emotionally weary and left in anticipation of the Helper that Jesus was to send. And then, it happened. With the sound of a wind like that of hurricane or a tornado, something that would have no doubt have reminded us of a freight train, the Spirit of God swept across the house. And what appeared to be tongues made from fire appeared above the heads of each of Jesus’ disciples. God’s presence had long been confined to only the Holy of Holies within the Temple, but now He was pleased to baptize every single disciple with the fire of his Spirit as John the Baptist had foretold. It was the very disciples themselves that were now the temple in whom God’s Spirit dwelled. Gathered together in Jerusalem for the great feast of Pentecost were Jews from what seemed like every nation, all of whom spoke languages that were unique to the places from which they came.

And so these disciples began to speak and every person heard them testify to the glory of Christ and the goodness of Christ and the offer of Christ in his or her own language. Whether you were from Asia or Egypt, whether you spoke Greek or Swahili, the gospel had come to you so that you might hear and believe in the Lord Jesus as Savior. Everyone was perplexed and awestruck. Critics were apparently so confused that they began to say that these disciples of Jesus were apparently drunk, even though it was only 9 in the morning! In amazement everyone began to ask, “What does this mean?”

“What Does This Mean?”

“What does this mean?” And, that’s the question that I want us to consider this morning. What does this really mean? What does it meant that the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in the hearts of every, single one of Jesus’ disciples? I want us to talk about two specific meanings this morning. There is so much we could say, but I just want to focus on these two.

Pentecost means that you can live the Christian life.

“a sound like a rushing wind” It’s no accident that the Holy Spirit here is presented as a wind that swept across the house. Both the OT Hebrew word ‘ruah’ and the NT Greek word ‘pneuma’ that are used to refer to the Holy Spirit at the same time can be used to refer to wind. There is here, I believe, an illusion all the way back to creation. It is the Spirit of God, or the Wind of God that hovers over the deep, formless creation in . And, of course, we know that sin comes and by the time of , it’s almost as though the creation is formless in comparison with its Eden glory. But, just as the Spirit was there to bring about the creation, so He will be to bring about the re-creation of the world which bears God’s curse. You see, you should not think of this wind as a gentle breeze that blows gently through your hair. This is a wind that contains the power of a million hurricanes! It is a wind that would cause the greatest tornado to tremble! It is a wind so mighty that it can even turn an enemy of God, a sinner by nature into one that reflects the character of God and loves the glory of God. This is not a gentle breeze, but a violent hurricane which manifests the very power of the Almighty within his creation!

“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” You see, the reason the Holy Spirit came to live inside of Jesus’ disciples was because it was impossible for Jesus’ disciples to live a life that pleased God any other way. God does not simply forgive his children; He transforms them. He transforms them from something wicked into someone holy, from someone self-centered to someone God-centered, from someone incapable of faithfulness to someone who delights in faithfulness. Way back in , God had promised to send his Spirit to live in the hearts of his people. When Jesus promises the Spirit to us in and , He is only reiterating a promise made by his Father long ago. The problem with the people of God was not primarily that they were not keeping the Law of God. The more fundamental problem with the people of God was that they were incapable of keeping the Law of God! And so, God promised that in the New Covenant all this would be different. He promise that in the New Covenant he would make them faithful. He would not simply call them to holiness; He himself would make them holy and He would do it by filling them with his Spirit.

The Impossible Life

In other words, God would give his people the ability to do the impossible: to live a life that was holy and pleasing to him. Understand something this morning: The life that you are being called to live, the life that the Bible expects from you, the life of discipleship that we are constantly calling you to live is an impossible life. You are incapable of living it. But God! But, God has sent his Spirit to fill you and transform you and make the impossible possible! The greatest Power in the universe has filled you so that you can live an impossible life. That's why I've started each point with "Pentecost is why you can..." These are all things that you could not before, cannot do on your own, but through his Spirit now you can! You can be holy! You can please God! You can change the world! All of these are possible because God has filled you with his manifest power through his Spirit! This is the testimony of Acts after all! Stephen. Peter and John. Paul.

APPLICATION: One of the most glorious parts of this passage is that it says that ‘they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.’ That's all 120. Not just Peter. Not just John. Not just the apostles. Not just those that had hands laid on them. Not just those that asked to be divinely filled. Every, single follower of Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit! Brothers and sisters, you have the same Holy Spirit as Paul and Peter, Lottie Moon and William Carrey, Jonathan Edwards and Charles Spurgeon, Adniram Judson and Dietrich Bonhoeffer! You have the same Spirit of God living in the same proportion as Billy Graham and any pastor you’ve ever loved and admired. Every saved man and women, child and teenager receives the Holy Spirit just as truly and just as fully as any other Christian. There’s no Holy Spirit junior for children and there’s no Holy Spirit lite for ‘regular’ Christians or Holy Spirit 2.0 for pastors and missionaries. We have the same Spirit, and we are each called to the same impossible life. What are you doing right now in your life that is unexplainable without the Spirit of God? What is impossible about your life right now? I pray that when the membership of Iron City Baptist Church stands at the judgement that we stand at the judgement as missionaries and church planters, orphan savers and widow lovers, world changers and disciple-makers. May we be a living testament to the hurricane like power of God’s Holy Spirit! May we praise God through impossible lives!

The greatest Power in the universe has filled you so that you can live an impossible life.

Pentecost Means That You Can Take Part in Building God’s Kingdom.

“devout men from every nation under heaven” Throughout the OT, God promised a day of salvation that was to come. In fact, just a few verses after our text, Peter will stand a preach a sermon on Pentecost in which He will quote from . Let’s read those verses together in . Do you see what it says? Do you see what Pentecost promises? Do you see what the Holy Spirit proves? “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!” The Day of Salvation has come! The Kingdom has come! Pentecost is the public announcement that the old has gone and the new has come! The Old Covenant is now obsolete and the New Covenant has now been established! Jesus has been enthroned and exalted in heaven and at the very same time has come to take residence in the heart of every, single one of his disciples to carry out his mission through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus’ Inheritance From Jesus’ Disciples

And so, the day of salvation has come for everyone Joel says. Jesus’ Kingdom will be built by people from everywhere who will call on the Name of the Lord. It doesn’t matter where your from and what language you speak or what your sin is. If you call upon the name of the Lord, God is pleased to build Jesus’ Kingdom with you. And, how is He going to do this? Through his disciples who have his Spirit. Don’t miss this because I think we’re fixing to get excited up in here! The Holy Spirit has come to secure Jesus’ inheritance through us. says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth.” That is, you are receiving the power of the Holy Spirit to dwell in you so that you can go to every nation on earth and build Jesus’ Kingdom. In , Jesus says: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Go how? Go with my authority! Go with the authority of heaven! Go with the authority of Go! And, how will this be? “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” And, how is Jesus with us always? Through the Holy Spirit. You were given the Holy Spirit to build the Kingdom of God!

The Father Will Give the Son an Inheritance

The Holy Spirit has come to secure Jesus’ inheritance through us.

“And how is it that we hear, each of us in our own native language?” What we’re seeing in is the reversal of the curse of Babel. The tongues were scattered under the judgement of God but the Holy Spirit has come that every tribe and tongue might hear the gospel in their own language so that ultimately they will be reunited at the Messiah's table. You see, this is the firstfruits of God the Father making good on a promise made to God the Son. Now, this is some trinitarian glory here: “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” Jesus’ inheritance is the nations gathering together for the purpose of his glory. There can’t just be an American church and there can’t just be a white church and there can’t just be a Roman church. God has promised his Son the nations! God has promised his Son that the choir of heaven will filled with every tongue, tribe, and nation!

Give Jesus His Inheritance!

And, how will the Father give this inheritance of the nations to his Son? Through us! Through us! Through you and me! Through Iron City Baptist Church! By the power of the Spirit, you and I have a role to play in the Father's giving of the nations to the Son. Yo! When we talk about our motivations for evangelism, we talk too little of our love for Christ and his glory. We talk of the souls of men and the suffering of men and the condemnation of men, and well we should. But, let us not lose sight that we go so that we might present Jesus with a gift -- his church of many colors -- by the Spirit's power in us. God himself is using you to fulfill his promise to his Son! The Holy Spirit uses you to give Jesus the precious gift of many tribes and tongues loving him and adoring him and praising his name. If that is our only motivation, it is enough! You can give Jesus a gift! Not by your good works, but by the Spirit's power coming to bear in you as you make disciples to the ends of the earth!

APPLICATION: Iron City, give Jesus his inheritance! Go to your husband and go to your children and go to your co-workers and go to your neighbors and go to Lott’s Creek and Mexico and Swaziland and Salt Lake so that you might give Jesus his inheritance! Don’t you love Christ? Don’t you want to give a gift to your beloved? Go in the Spirit’s might and take part of the building of this Kingdom! You can build it because God has made it so!

Landing

Pentecost

Landing

Iron City, I want us to be known as Pentecostal Baptists. I don’t mean that I want us to invent a new denomination, and I don’t mean that I want us to jump over pews. I mean that I want us to stop living as though God is not in us! I want us to stop pursuing the ordinary and to start living impossible lives! Let us live our lives with Pentecostal power and Pentecostal passion so that we might take part in giving Christ his inheritance! May God break the dams of unbelief that we’ve built with our cold logic and passionless religion so that we might experience an outpouring of his Spirit on us! May God awaken our hearts with Pentecostal power for a Pentecostal mission.