Acts 2 - The Promise Realized

The Promise Realized

God at work

Verses 1-2

Pentecost was the 2nd of 3 major festivals in the Jewish calendar

Between Passover & Tabernacles

It was also known as the Festival of Weeks or the Festival of Firstfruits

So, Jerusalem was hopping during this period

Like Heritage Days times a million

And what do we see the disciples and the other believers doing?

They were again together in one place, just like we saw last week.

There were now 12 apostles, and they were possibly still in the upper room, waiting, as they were told to do.

But look at the beginning of verse 2 with me

And.......what?

SUDDENLY!

You know, there are other suddenly’s found in the Bible, and it’s always accompanied with God showing up:

, “ 3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus.....”

, “And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them”

Do you know what else often accompanied God showing up? Some type of natural element

For example, remember when God was at Mt. Sinai, and there was great thunder and lightning while Moses was up on the mountain, and the people were terrified?

Elijah and the prophets of Baal where fire comes down from Heaven and consumes the offering

WIND & FIRE

If that wasn’t enough, how did God show up?

Read verses 2-3

With a mighty rushing wind

And with divided tongues as of fire

These two symbols are often in play when God is present on earth

- How did God lead the Israelites, how was His presence with them?

By pillar of fire

- When the Lord spoke

Suddenly, God showed up, and God showed the disciples that He was at work

He was doing this work, He was showing His power

This was nothing they earned or prayed hard enough for, this was a gracious gift from God. This was God doing what He said that He would do

We have to remember that our salvation, our receiving of the Holy Spirit, was nothing we earned or could ever earn. In our lives, it is only because of God’s grace that we aren’t destined to Hell.

We have to remember this! Because when we remember this, it gives us an adequate picture of who we are, who God is, and why we want to serve Him!

A LOT OF PEOPLE GET HUNG UP ON THE TONGUES HERE.

God doing the work

Verse 4 - “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance”

Don’t get hung up on the tongues here. Don’t miss what’s really happening

Explain it

Instead, what I want you to see and understand, is that God was doing the work here, through the disciples

As the Spirit gave them utterance, that’s what that means.....God was empowering them, God was doing the work

Let’s look at Verses 5-11 - Picture it with me, people everywhere, the believers have received the Holy Spirit, and they go out and start doing what the Holy Spirit was given for, witnessing

What they didn’t do was sit in the upper room, wind and fire happens, they look at each other and say, “Oh cool, now we know we’re Christians”, and then just stay there.

They would have been missing the point drastically!

But can’t that be said of us? We almost view the Holy Spirit as “proof” that we are believers, with no intention of using the Holy Spirit for what it was intended for.

And as they are witnessing, these people from 15 different countries, are hearing them speak in their own language!

Here are common, hard working, uneducated (for the most part Galileans) speaking in Latin & Greek & etc....

And they are telling the people about God

Example: So let’s say Olivia is from Russia, and I’m up here talking, and all of the sudden I’m able to talk in Russian, and she can understand me.....that’s essentially what is happening here.

This is God at work through the believers. They didn’t know all of these different languages, they didn’t know where everyone was from, but Luke points out these 15 different places and the fact that they are understanding

Do you guys remember what Jesus told the disciples?

Someone read

Hmm.....do you see what God is doing here?

He’s:

Brought people from “the ends of the earth” to the disciples and early believers to prove to them that He is going to do His work through them

He’s carrying out His plan in a way that can only glorify Him

Don’t miss how awesome what is happening here is. The believers, if they didn’t believe it when Jesus said it, they believe it now.

They received power from the receiving of the Holy Spirit, and they would have been emboldened at this.

God was doing the work!

Verse 12-13 tells us the people who heard them were amazed, and wanted to know what it meant. And others mocked them saying they had had a little bit too much to drink

And we’ll cover this next week when we look at the message that Peter delivers

God completing the work

But I want to look a little farther ahead to close out tonight

Look at verses 16-21

READ

Peter quotes Joel

Remember when Jesus taught them about the kingdom of God, and how He fulfilled the prophecies, Peter could be recollecting this Scripture from that time

But Peter quotes Joel to prove to the people, to answer their questions “What does this mean” and to give credence to what just happened

The first part of Joel deals with what just happened with the Holy Spirit coming upon God’s people

And the fact that they will then prophecy, speak inspired words from God (ie....Scriptures)

But don’t miss the second part of Joel here, proof to Peter, and proof to us, that God will complete the work that He has started.

That we’re in the days of the Holy Spirit, where all believers receive the spirit upon salvation

But, that the end days are coming as well, where God will win, where Jesus will return, and where everyone who has called upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

Will receive glorification

Will have eternal life with Him!

See, God started the work, God was and is doing the work through the disciples, and through us if we are His, and He will complete the work

This gives us a couple things to realize:

We are not responsible for becoming believers, we are a product of the grace of God

Secondly, God will use us in ways unimaginable if we will yield to Him! Why don’t we see God using us as He used the apostles?

Maybe our lack of belief or faith or recognition of the Holy Spirit in our lives is part of the problem

Third, we have hope. Hope that rests in the fact that God has already won. That if Joel can prophecy that the Holy Spirit would come up on believers 1500 years before it happens, then we can have confidence that the second part of his prophecy will come true as well!

Wind & Fire