PENTECOST: PROMISES KEPT!
Acts 1:1-8, 2:1-47
Big idea: Pentecost is more than just the historical birthday for the church; it is the source of joy, presence, and power for us today.
INTRO
Today is “Pentecost Sunday.”
In the Old Testament, Pentecost ("the Fiftieth [day]") is a prominent feast celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai. It was celebrated 50 days after Passover and is known as “The Festival of Weeks.”
In the New Testament, it was at Pentecost (50 days after Jesus’ resurrection) that the Holy Spirit descended upon the followers of Christ. This, of course, is more than coincidence. Giving the Holy Spirit to indwell His people is a sign from God that there has been a clear break – a fulfillment / completion of the old covenant and the beginning of a new covenant (relationship) with his people. The Spirit’s descent is a sign that Jesus’ work was satisfactory and that we are not obligated or expected to honor the old covenant any longer. It has served its purpose – it is completed and in the past. The New Testament writers make this clear.
• John’s Gospel says, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (Gospel of John 1:17)
• Paul says, “You are not under law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:14)
• Peter’s sermon on Pentecost proclaims that God has poured Himself out of all flesh – men and women, and that Jesus is the promised messiah. He tells his listeners that they are witnessing the beginning of the messianic age!
• It is Luke who gives us the account of Pentecost (Acts 1-2) and there is much in this event that looks back to the Old Testament.
The very decent of the life-giving Spirit (the word “Spirit” means literally “breath” or “wind”) may itself be a allusion to God breathing life into us at creation. It is, after all, through the Spirit that we are born again and made new creations.
The tongues of fire may be an allusion to the burning bush experience of Moses where he was called, equipped and commissioned.
In the Old Testament God’s visitation was sometimes accompanied by signs of wind and fire (1 Kings 18:38; 19:11-13; Ezekiel 37:9-14).
The many foreign languages spoken that day may be a hint that God is indeed going to fulfill His promise to make his people “priests to the nations.”
Since the earliest days Pentecost has been described as the “Birthday of the Church.” Pentecost, you see, is a shift in relationship. It’s a big deal – it makes everything different. The church has always taken time in worship to reflect upon the Pentecost’s gift of the Spirit. Sermons, prayers, readings, even some composers have helped us understand its importance. Composers like Johann Sebastian Bach, for example, have composed several works specifically for the celebration of Pentecost.
Something new and wonderful happened in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost didn’t it? Cowardly men were transformed into articulate men of conviction, purpose, courage, and power. They were enabled to proclaim the Gospel and expand the church rapidly once the Spirit came. In just a few decades Jesus’ Church could be found in every major city in the Roman Empire.
Pentecost, you see, marks a shift of emphasis by God away from just the descendents of Abraham (Israel) to “all nations” (Matthew 24:14).
Pentecost shapes our identity. The presence of the Holy Spirit is a core element of how we understand ourselves as the people of God. God created a people that He calls His Church and the Holy Spirit is His gift to the Church assuring that He will keep His promises to us.
What I want to do this morning is submit four ways in which Pentecost fulfills God’s promises to His people. In Acts 1:4 we are told to “wait for the gift my Father promised.” In many ways, the Holy Spirit is like an engagement ring; He is the guarantee of God’s promise. In fact, He is also the fulfillment of God’s promises (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4; Acts 2:33).
1. The Holy Spirit is the Fulfillment of God’s Promise to Dwell With His Church
Have you ever been in a relationship where you felt the commitment of the other party was fickle or even conditional? In such relationships you fear that if you do not “please” the other person or cater to their whims they will leave you for another. You fear you will hear the words “I don’t love you anymore.” God is not a fickle friend. God is the more trustworthy partner is this relationship and He has given us His Spirit as a guarantee of His commitment. Ephesians 1:13-14 says “Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”
In Jeremiah 30 God promises a messiah and a new covenant. In his summary He says “So you will be my people, and I will be your God.” (Jeremiah 30:22)
In the New Testament God is quoted as saying “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5)
These, coupled with promises from the lips of Jesus like, “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20) find their fulfillment in Pentecost.
One of my favorite author’s, N. T. Wright, explains what it means for God’s Spirit to dwell within His Church:
Despite what you might think from some excitement in the previous generation about new spiritual experiences, God doesn’t give people the Holy Spirit in order to let them enjoy the spiritual equivalent of a day at Disney Land. Of course, if you’re downcast and gloomy, the fresh wind of the God’s Spirit can and often does give a new perspective on everything and, above all, grants a sense of God’s presence, love, comfort, and even joy. But the point of the Spirit is to enable those who follow Jesus to take into all the world the news that he is Lord, and that he has won the victory over the forces of evil, that a new world has opened up, and that we are to make it happen. (N. T. Wright, “Simply Christian,” P. 122)
1. The Holy Spirit is the Fulfillment of God’s Promise to Dwell With His Church
2. The Holy Spirit is the Fulfillment of God’s Promise to Empower His Church
The “promise of the Father” gives us His presence 24/7. He abides with us through His Spirit. It also empowers us to serve Him and His world.
Acts 1:8 Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Some have misunderstood the power of the Spirit. They do this to their own demise. Some, like Simon the Sorcerer in Acts 8, thought it was a commodity or a toy or something to be used for personal well-being. But God makes it clear over and over in Acts why He gives His people the Spirit’s power.
Listen to Acts 4:33 as an example: “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.”
One of the great preachers in U.S. history is D. L. Moody. He pastored in Chicago and there is still a wonderful Bible College there that bears his name and values. Mr. Moody was a successful minister but by his own admission, he lacked the power in his ministry. One day two women came up to him after a service. They said,
"We have been praying for you."
"Why don't you pray for the people?" he asked.
"Because you need the power of the Spirit," they said.
"I need the power! Why?" said Mr. Moody
In relating the incident years after he writes, "I thought I had power. I had the largest congregation in Chicago, and there were many conversions.”
Moody also said that in a sense, he was satisfied. He was in a comfort zone. But these two praying women rocked the boat. They told him that they were praying for an anointing by the Holy Spirit. Mr. Moody could not get this off his mind and he wrote, “There came a great hunger in my soul. I did not know what it was and I began to cry out to God as never before. I felt I did not want to live if I could not have this power for service”.
Rev. Moody began crying out for God to fill him. He withdrew, prayed, and sought it over a period of time. He writes the following: “Well, one day, in the city of New York -- oh, what a day! -- I cannot describe it, I seldom refer to it; it is almost too sacred an experience to name. Paul had an experience of which he never spoke for fourteen years. I can only say that God revealed Himself to me, and I had such an experience of His love that I had to ask Him to stay His hand. I went to preaching again. The sermons were not different; I did not present any new truths, and yet hundreds were converted. I would not now be placed back where I was before that blessed experience if you should give me all the world.”
We can talk until we are blue in the face but only God can change our loved ones and neighbors from the inside out. We need the power of God’s Spirit and Pentecost makes that possible.
1. The Holy Spirit is the Fulfillment of God’s Promise to Dwell With His Church
2. The Holy Spirit is the Fulfillment of God’s Promise to Empower His Church
3. The Holy Spirit is the Fulfillment of God’s Promise to Purify His Church
Well, Pentecost gave us the abiding presence of God’s Spirit and it makes it possible for God’s power to flow through us but it does even more … it purifies us with His fire too.
1 Corinthians 6:11 says, “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
Romans 8:13 says, “For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live,”
There has been a lot of confusion over the years regarding what the “Evidence” of the Spirit is. I contend it is settled rather easily. His name says it all … He is called the “Holy” Spirit and if the Bible teaches anything it teaches that those who are filled with His Spirit and who walk in His Spirit will be holy even as God is holy (Leviticus 11:44-45; 1 Peter 1:16). The Bible clearly teaches that “without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14) and it is the Spirit of God that equips us for that encounter.
Pentecost is God’s way of preparing us to be in his presence. If you live like the devil but think you can live with the Lord you are mistaken. God has sent His Spirit to refine you – to purify you – to make you like His Daughters and Sons and qualify you for Heaven.
1. The Holy Spirit is the Fulfillment of God’s Promise to Dwell With His Church
2. The Holy Spirit is the Fulfillment of God’s Promise to Empower His Church
3. The Holy Spirit is the Fulfillment of God’s Promise to Purify His Church
4. The Holy Spirit is the Fulfillment of God’s Promise to Nourish His Church
The “promise of the Father” not only gives us the Spirit’s presence, power, and purity, it also nurtures our soul like nothing else can.
In John 14:15-31 Jesus makes many promises to His disciples regarding the coming of the Spirit. He will be a comforter, a counselor, a guide, and a source of strength. Jesus is telling his followers, in no uncertain terms, that the Holy Spirit will do for them what Jesus himself did for them while he walked among them.
Throughout the centuries the church has testified to the veracity of Jesus’ promises. Indeed we have found God’s Spirit be “an ever present help in our time of trouble” (Psalm 46:1) haven’t we?
Isaiah speaks of the messianic age often in His writings. In 44:3 he gives us a promise from God; “I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.”
The American evangelist, R. A. Torrey gives his testimony: about the nourishment of the Holy Spirit. He writes:
After I had been a Christian for some years, and after I had been in the ministry for some years, my attention was strongly attracted to certain phrases found in the Gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles, and in the Epistles, such as "baptized with the Holy Spirit," "filled with the Spirit," "the Holy Spirit fell upon them," "the gift of the Holy Spirit," "endued with power from on high," and other closely allied phrases. As I studied these various phrases in their context, it became clear to me that they all stood for essentially the same experience; and it also became clear to me that God has provided for each child of His in this present dispensation that they should be thus "baptized with the Spirit," or, "filled with the Spirit."
As I studied the subject still further, I became convinced that they described an experience which I did not myself possess, and I went to work to secure for myself the experience thus described. I sought earnestly that I might "be baptized with the Holy Spirit." I went at it very ignorantly. I have often wondered if anyone ever went at it any more ignorantly than I did. But while I was ignorant, I was thoroughly sincere and in earnest, and God met me, as He always meets the sincere and earnest soul, no matter how ignorant he may be; and God gave me what I sought, I was "baptized with the Holy Spirit." And the result was a transformed Christian life and a transformed ministry.
God does not reserve “special blessings” for some. He does not withhold Himself from anyone. We, too, can have the blessing and nourishment of the Spirit when we seek it. The Bible says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Deuteronomy 4:29; Jeremiah 29:13).
WRAP-UP
1. The Holy Spirit is the Fulfillment of God’s Promise to Dwell With His Church
2. The Holy Spirit is the Fulfillment of God’s Promise to Empower His Church
3. The Holy Spirit is the Fulfillment of God’s Promise to Purify His Church
4. The Holy Spirit is the Fulfillment of God’s Promise to Nourish His Church
Friends, I have said all I have said up to this point to convince you that God keeps his promises! In one grand act – the visitation of the Holy Spirit ... God, Himself, kept His promise to His people.
The Holy Spirit is not a “perk.” The Holy Spirit is God Himself abiding within, empowering, nourishing, purifying, and blessing His church.
And that leads to me ask some questions:
What if …
• What if God wanted to pour out His Spirit on you again?
• What if God wanted to fill you with His power for ministry?
• What if God wanted to purify you?
• What if God wanted to give you “a time of refreshing” (Acts 3:19)?
• How would your life be different if you prayed “Come Holy Spirit” … if you sought a visitation?
I contend that everything you are seeking in life would be found. All those cravings that manifest themselves in materialism, prestige, lust, addiction, anger, jealousy, fear, and so forth would be satisfied.
What if God made that offer to you today?
He does!
Ephesians 5:18 says “Be filled with the Spirit.”
The famous radio minister, Stephen Olford (who died in 2004), tells of the time that he checked into a motel and committed to stay and pray until he was baptized by the Holy Spirit. God answered and gave him a powerful ministry reaching the world through radio during the golden radio years and he continued his ministry by teaching ministers at Union University. Billy Graham said that Stephen Olford was "the man who most influenced my ministry.” Stephen prayed with Billy until he was baptized with the Spirit and afterward God blessed Billy Graham’s evangelistic ministry like never before.
I have told you today about a few famous evangelists who discovered the power of the Spirit. But listen – its not just for “professional preachers.” The world is full of men and women on whom God has poured out His Spirit – who are this day prophesying in His name and seeing lives changed because they have surrendered themselves as vessels for His use.
We have settled for counterfeits, sensationalism, and rationalism. These distract us and direct us away from the true power God desires for every believer.
Pentecost is more than a historical birthday for the church; it is the source of joy, presence, and power for us today. If you wish to see your life transformed by the power of God it begins by earnestly seeking to be filled with the Spirit.
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This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene
Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
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RESPONSIVE PRAYER:
Leader: Spirit of the living God, visit us again on this day of Pentecost.
People: Come, Holy Spirit.
Leader: Like a rushing wind that sweeps away all barriers,
People: Come, Holy Spirit.
Leader: Like tongues of fire that set our hearts aflame,
People: Come, Holy Spirit.
Leader: With speech that unites the Babel of our tongues,
People: Come, Holy Spirit.
Leader: With love that overlaps the boundaries of race and nation,
People: Come, Holy Spirit.
Leader: With power from above to make our weakness strong,
People: Come, Holy Spirit. AMEN.
