Acts 02_1-13
Acts 2
Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
1. Pentecost means “fiftieth” because this feast was held fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits (Lev. 23:15–22).
a. The calendar of Jewish feasts in Leviticus 23 is an outline of the work of Jesus Christ.
b. Passover pictures His death as the Lamb of God (John 1:29; 1 Cor. 5:7),
c. and the Feast of Firstfruits pictures His resurrection from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20-23 "20But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.")
d. Fifty days after Firstfruits is the Feast of Pentecost, which pictures the empowering of church by the Holy Spirit.
2. The Feast of Firstfruits took place on the day after the Sabbath following Passover, which means it was always on the first day of the week. (The Sabbath is the seventh day.)
a. Jesus arose from the dead on the first day of the week and “became the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Cor. 15:20).
b. Now, if Pentecost was fifty days later—seven weeks plus one day—then Pentecost also took place on the first day of the week.
c. Christians assemble and worship on Sunday, the first day of the week, because on that day our Lord arose from the dead, but it was also the day on which the Holy Spirit was given to the church.
3. On the Feast of Firstfruits, the priest waved a sheaf of grain before the Lord; but on Pentecost, he presented two loaves of bread. Why?
a. Because at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit baptized the believers and united them into one body.
b. The Jewish believers received this baptism at Pentecost, and the Gentile believers in the home of Cornelius (Acts 10).
c. This explains the presence of two loaves of bread (see 1 Corinthians 10:17 "17For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.").
d. The fact that there was leaven (yeast) in the loaves indicates the presence of sin in the church on earth. The church will not be perfect until it gets to heaven.
4. Like our Lord’s death at Calvary, Pentecost was a once-for-all event that will not be repeated. The church may experience new fillings of the Spirit, and certainly patient prayer is an essential element to spiritual power, but we would not ask for another Pentecost any more than we would ask for another Calvary.
Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
1. Fill all the house
a. Acts 1:13 "13And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James."
b. The Holy Spirit purposely leaves out the details here. It is obviously near the temple.
c. Was it the upper room where the last supper was observed? Who knows?
i. God does not want us to setup a shrine to any building or temporal institution
ii. Well this Seminary is meeting in the same upper room that Jesus… and the disciples assembled.
iii. Matthew 24:1-2 "1And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. 2And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."
d. Our allegiance is not to temporal structures and the empires of man. It is about the called out assembly of the Living God.
i. Thank God for those churches, schools, missions agencies, who are doing the will of God.
ii. We are not building little kingdoms. When our individual church, school, etc. demand more loyalty than the God that blessed us with them, we are on the wrong tract.
iii. Men swear allegiance to other men.
1. Keith Harrison: First Baptist Church, Survey “100% for Hyles”
2. Banner at Orange Park, FL: “What this country needs is Jack Hyles”
3. Corinth: Paul, Apollis
iv. Men give their allegiance to institutions
1. “For the good of the school, for the good of the church…we’ll murder and bury judgment, justice, equity and holiness so that God’s truth can go on.”
2. The Maginot Line (named after French minister of defence André Maginot) was a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defenses, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy.
3. This failed. When the church is more interested in establishing their name and programs that reaching the world for Christ…it leads to apostacy.
4. Well if we don’t entertain and cater to the whims of man, we’ll never reach them.
5. When a real walk is replaced by good performances and appearances…we’ve missed the mark. Many churches have gone into the entertainment business at the cost of doctrine, purity and true Spirit filled power.
6. If you want to be in the entertainment business, get a job at Disney World.
v. General George Patton "Permanent fortifications are monuments to man’s stupidity."
vi. Loyalty to Christ!
1. He alone is why these believers we’re assembled.
2. He is the one who is exalted. The Spirit came and bear witness.
3. It is His good news that frees the soul and liberates the captive.
2. Movement: “as of a mighty rushing wind”
a. Movement: life
b. The word Spirit is the same as “wind” in both the Hebrew and the Greek (John 3:8).
i. John 3:6-8 "6That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."
ii. Dead things don’t move
1. Let’s not be stagnate. God’s charge is still “GO”.
2. Survey: 50% of pastors had not personally witnessed to anyone in last 6 months.
iii. The early church soon learned that God meant for them to move on.
iv. Jesus was always on the move.
c. We are pilgrims and strangers. 1 Peter 2:11 "11Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;"
i. The Spirit is seen moving and leading through the book of Acts.
ii. Sending at times and forbidding at other times.
iii. Philip, Peter, Paul were all specifically sent to specific places to according to God’s will.
d. The church is to be constantly reaching out. As important as meeting the needs of our brethren in Christ, inreach should never replace outreach.
e. The Spirit did not come to freeze us, but to fire us up. Fire has movement.
Acts 2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
1. There was a visible manifestation of the Spirit. Just as there was one at the baptism of Jesus.
2. The Holy Spirit had been active prior to Pentecost and had worked in Creation (Gen. 1:1–2), in Old Testament history (Jud. 6:34; 1 Sam. 16:13), and in the life and ministry of Jesus (Luke 1:30–37; 4:1, 14; Acts 10:38).
a. However, now there would be two changes:
i. the Spirit would dwell in people and not just come on them, and His presence would be permanent, not temporary (John 14:16-17 "16And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.").
ii. The Spirit could not have come sooner, for it was essential that Jesus die, be raised from the dead, and return to heaven before the Spirit could be given (John 7:37–39; 16:7ff).
1. John 7:37-39 "37In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)"
2. John 16:7 "7Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you."
3. Remember the Jewish calendar in Leviticus 23: Passover, Firstfruits, and then Pentecost.
3. There were three startling signs that accompanied the coming of the Spirit:
a. the sound of a rushing wind,
b. tongues of fire
c. the believers praising God in various languages. The tongues of fire symbolized the powerful witness of the church to the people.
i. Tongues can be set on fire either by heaven or by hell!
ii. James 3:5-6 "5Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! 6And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell."
iii. Combine wind and fire and you have—a blaze!
Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
1. Filled with the spirit
a. The filling of the Spirit has to do with power for witness and service (Acts 1:8).
b. We are not exhorted to be baptized by the Spirit, for this is something God does once and for all when we trust His Son.
c. But we are commanded to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), for we need His power constantly if we are to serve God effectively
d. At Pentecost, the Christians were filled with the Spirit and experienced the baptism of the Spirit;
i. but after that, they experienced many fillings (Acts 4:8, 31; 9:17; 13:9) but no more baptisms.
e. “What difference does it make what words we use? The important thing is that we have the experience!”
i. I doubt that they would apply that same approach to any other area of life such as
ii. Medicine
iii. Cooking
iv. Mechanics.
f. The Holy Spirit has revealed God’s truth to us in words (1 Corinthians 2:12-13 "12Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.")
g. These words have definite meanings that must not be changed.
i. Regeneration must not be confused with justification,
ii. nor propitiation with adoption.
iii. Each of these words is important in God’s plan of salvation and must be defined accurately and used carefully.
h. The baptism of the Spirit means that I belong to His body; the fullness of the Spirit means that my body belongs to Him.
i. The baptism is final; the fullness is repeated as we trust God for new power to witness.
ii. The baptism makes us one in the body of Christ (Eph. 4:1–6); while the fullness is personal and individual. These are two distinct experiences and they must not be confused.
2. began to speak with other tongues
a. Not that they spoke in their own language and everyone heard it in their own.
b. Acts 2:8 “And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?”
c. Also, they did not understand the other languages. Acts 2:14 "14But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:"
d. Languages, not some meaningless babble to exalt the individual.
e. Result of this was souls being saved.
Acts 2:5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
Acts 2:6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
Acts 2:7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
1. Why did God do this?
2. For one thing, Pentecost was a reversal of the judgment at the Tower of Babel when God confused man’s language (Gen. 11:1–9).
3. God’s judgment at Babel scattered the people, but God’s blessing at Pentecost united the believers in the Spirit.
4. At Babel, the people were unable to understand each other; but at Pentecost, men heard God’s praises and understood what was said.
5. The Tower of Babel was a scheme designed to praise men and make a name for men, but Pentecost brought praise to God.
6. The building of Babel was an act of rebellion, but Pentecost was a ministry of humble submission to God. What a contrast!
7. God does not seek to bring about confusion.
Acts 2:8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
Acts 2:9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
Acts 2:10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
Acts 2:11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
1. They were not bragging on themselves or preoccupied with their gifts
2. The wonderful works of God.
a. Psalms 40:5 “Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.”
b. Psalms 78:4 “We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.”
c. Psalms 107:8, 15, 21, 31 “Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!”
d. Psalm 111 " 1Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation. 2The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. 3His work is honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever. 4He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion. 5He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant. 6He hath shewed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen. 7The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure. 8They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness. 9He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name. 10The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever."
e. Matthew 7:22 “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?”
f. Acts 2:11 “Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.”
Acts 2:12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?
Acts 2:13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
· Ephesians 5:18 "18And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;"