The Holy Spirit is Our Helper. As we noted last week, the Book of Acts is the record of the ministry and work of the Risen Lord through those He saves by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Jesus, in JOHN 16:7-11, refers to the Holy Spirit as the Helper because that name describes His ministry in us as His people as well as in the world. Today we are going to hear about how the Holy Spirit arrives and how He helps both the disciples who were waiting for Him as well as those who were hearing the Gospel for the first time.
Acts 2:1-5(41)
Acts 2:1-5: The Helper Arrives.
THE SETTING: “Pentecost.” The Helper came on a great day.
• Pente-cost: Literally means 50. The Day of Pentecost/Feast of Weeks (7 Weeks) occurs 50 days after Passover.
• First Fruit Offerings: During the celebration the Jews were to offer up to the Lord an offering of the first fruits of the wheat harvest.
• When the Jews, under the Old Covenant, were bringing their first fruit offerings of the ground, God was about to bring forth the first fruits of salvation when these 3000 were saved. Jesus planted the seed of salvation with His life, death, burial and resurrection and now God was about to begin the process of bringing in the harvest.
THE SOUND: “might rushing wind.” There was a great sound when the Helper came.
• Hurricane Ike. In 2010, for about 2-3 hours, we experienced hurricane force winds. Many of us remember that day for many different reasons. I remember it being noisy because the wind.
• Jesus, the Spirit and the Wind. “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8).
• The Crowd Gathers At The Sound Of The Wind. One of the questions that we often deal with as a church is, “How can we encourage people to show up?” Here is a lesson for us to learn. When we see the Lord doing great things in and among us, others will be lured by His work!
THE SIGHT: “tongues as of fire.” There was a great sight when the Helper came.
Again it comes to us who know the story well as no surprise that the Spirit manifested Himself in both tongues and fire because when He filled the disciples their tongues were set aflame to proclaim with boldness the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Acts 2:5-13: Helping to Bring Clarity.
The crowd does not know what to make of all that they are seeing and hearing. There are two responses from the gathered crowd and both flow from confusion. One group was wondering what all this must mean. The could not deny the fact that something big was taking place and reasoned that this must certainly mean something. The other group, having had the same experience as the others, begins to mock the disciples and spews forth their accusations and derogatory comments saying that they were just a bunch of crazy drunks. Peter makes clear that their accusations were illogical and irrational but some people are so determined in their unbelief that they will accept the illogical and irrational conclusions of their minds rather than believe in the Person and work of God.
The Holy Spirit helps Peter respond to the critics and brings the prophecy of Joel is brought to Peter’s heart and mind to give explanation as to what is taking place in their midst. Peter quotes JOEL 2:28-32 and shows how what they are experiencing at this very moment is the fulfillment of God’s promise many years ago to pour out His Spirit on them. Previously the Holy Spirit was given to select people for a unique purpose. Now, however, the Holy Spirit has come upon the whole group of early believers to help them live out the call to which they have been saved. The last verse of Peter’s quote leads in to the sermon because in the day when the Holy Spirit is poured out salvation has come for all who call on the name of the Lord.
Acts 2:14-36: Helping the Preacher: The Gospel is Proclaimed.
The Holy Spirit helped the disciples in general to speak in the native languages and then helps Peter specifically to address the irrational accusations that have been made and to preach the first Gospel message recorded outside of the Gospels. Peter’s sermon goes as such: 1)Jesus was attested to them by His works which God did through Him; 2)It was God’s plan that He be handed over into the hands of His enemies; 3)YOU KILLED HIM!; 4)God raised Him back to life; 5)The great David prophesied about Jesus and His resurrection.
As we hear Peter’s response and sermon there are some lessons that we can learn as we seek to be used by the Holy Spirit to share Jesus with our world whether it be in preaching, teaching or one-on-one witnessing.
• Biblically Based. Peter connects the dots of the Old Testament to show that it was all pointing toward Jesus. We are about what God has said not what we want Him to say or what we “think” about spiritual matters.
• Culturally Relevant. Peter was speaking to Jewish people with a Jewish heritage steeped in the Jewish religious system. Peter knew his crowd and was empowered to speak to this particular crowd. If we are going to be effective witnesses for Jesus in our preaching, teaching and one-on-one witnessing then we must actually know who we are talking to and talk to them where they are. No Church Lingo.
• Contemporarily Applicable. Peter addresses the events of the day. He was not answering the questions that were not being asked. They were asking questions about what was taking place that day.
o The Church really struggles here. We have allowed several generations to come up that were asking questions about sex and rather than addressing them biblically and in a healthy way we made the topic taboo and/or told them that is was sinful and dirty. It is no wonder that we are a nation that is in the middle of a sexual crisis both inside and outside of marriage. We haven’t been answering the questions that people are asking.
• Christ Centered. It is clear what Peter’s point in preaching was. It was to present Jesus as the Promised Messiah who had come to bring about salvation and forgiveness of sins. He begins his message by saying “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth…”
• Response Driven. They did not have to like what was said but a response was called for. They could reject it. They could ignore it. They could pervert it. They could dissect it. Or they could wrestle with it and allow the truth of the message to penetrate their hearts and when that happens the response, “What shall we do?” is natural and sets the stage for instruction from the Lord.
Acts 2:37-41: Helping the Hearer: Salvation Comes to 3000+…
CUT TO THE HEART? This phrase is loaded with meaning. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit is the Helper. We saw last week that He is the Helper in the sense that He would empower (help) the disciples to be the witnesses they have been saved to be. Jesus also said, in JOHN 16:7-11, that the Helper would convict the world of sin, judgment and righteousness. If any would be saved then it is absolutely necessary that the Holy Spirit do the work that we see here in Acts 2 in and among those who would be saved. The Holy Spirit “cut the hearts” of these men in the sense that He was removing the diseased portion of their heart that kept them from dealing with the conviction of their own sin, lack of righteousness and coming judgment. The Holy Spirit was performing a surgery in the hearts of those in the crowd that day to HELP THEM HEAR and BELIEVE the message that Peter was preaching.
Not only was the Holy Spirit helping these people in that He was convicting them of their sin, lack of righteousness and the judgment to come but He was actually cutting away from their hearts all that would prevent them from believing the message that they were hearing. This is called the Circumcision of the Heart and this work was done in both the Old and New Testament by God.
• CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART. The work of the Holy Spirit in cutting away from our hearts what keeps us from loving, believing and obeying Jesus.
• ROMANS 2:29—When the Holy Spirit circumcises our hearts he is taking away that which sick and diseased by sin which results in rebellion and unbelief and opens us up to be made new whereby we can believe and obey.
• DEUTERONOMY 30:6—All of this should come as no surprise as God said clearly that a circumcision of the heart was required if any were to love Him and obey His commands.
THIS IS HOW SALVATION WORKS: What we see here is the beautiful picture of how our salvation works itself out. The Father ORDAINED the plan of salvation meaning that He determined what must take place in order for any to be saved. The Son ACCOMPLISHED all that was required for the salvation of man. The Holy Spirit APPLIES all that Jesus accomplished to those who are saved and SUSTAINS them in their salvation. The crowd that was hearing this message was no stranger to Jesus and His ministry. Jesus ministered among them showing all the signs and wonders and when He stood trial they choose Barabbas over Him but now, upon the arrival of the Holy Spirit, their hearts are being changed so that their unbelief and rejection can become belief and acceptance.
WHAT SHALL WE DO? For the very first time many in the crowd are dealing with the reality that Jesus died, not only by their hands, but because of their sin. For the very first time many in the crowd are dealing with the reality that Jesus indeed rose from the grave which validates His all the claims He made both to being God in the Flesh and Savior of the world. For the very first time many in the crowd are asking with sincere hearts, “What shall we do?” Peter’s response is two-fold:
1. REPENT. The Holy Spirit has operated on their hearts and now the full weight of conviction is setting squarely upon them and the natural response has come forth. Peter instructs the crowd to repent of their sin. Repent of their murdering of Jesus. Repent of their sin that demanded Jesus to die. Repent of their rebellion, hypocrisy, apathy, immorality, idolatry, etc… Peter was calling on them to turn from their sinful ways and to Jesus. Repentance is something that takes place inside our hearts. We may change our minds from time to time but that will only be temporary. Repentance happens in the heart and produces real, permanent change.
2. BE BAPTIZED. Baptism is the outward profession of the inward working of salvation. Many have looked at this text and somehow conclude that this text is teaching that baptism is required for salvation because somehow the water has power to save. This is not what is being said at all. Remember John the Baptist came and preached a message calling for repentance and those who were repenting of their sins were identifying themselves as the repentant ones by being baptized by John in the Jordan River. There has never been any biblical evidence that baptism has salvific power. Baptism, however, is important as it is 1)a step of obedience to the Lord because Jesus said to; and 2)a step of faith that communicates to the world that we have repented and are now identifying ourselves with Jesus as our Savior and Lord.
What Are You Waiting For?
To the Redeemed: WE HAVE NO FEAR; NO DOUBT; and NO CHANCE OF LOSING OUR SALVAITON. THEREFORE, LOVE HIM. ADORE HIM. GLORIFY HIM! The work that God was doing in Acts 2 has been repeated millions of times over ever since then. The salvation that came to the 3000+ that day had nothing to do with their seeking for God. Their salvation was the result of God’s seeking of them. The response that the crowd had was the result of God’s work in their lives to open their ears to hear, their eyes to see and their hearts to believe.
• This is what it being said in John 6:44 when Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws Him.” and Ephesians 2:4-5 when Paul, after clearly stating that we were dead in our sin, says that, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…“
This is clearly good news to us because we know that the salvation with which we have been saved is not of ourselves but is fully and completely of the Lord. Because our salvation begins and ends with Him there is no threat of ever losing it. Because our salvation begins and ends with Him there is no doubt to be had in the promises He has made to His own. Because our salvation begins and ends with Him there is no fear of man even when they oppose, reject and persecute us because of Him. Therefore, what are you waiting for? Love Him fully. Obey Him completely. Witness for Him courageously. I am speaking to those how have been saved.
To the Lost: Maybe there are others here today who are experiencing the work of the Holy Spirit in your life to open your heart to the reality of your sin, lack of righteousness and the coming judgment and in so doing He is drawing you to Jesus for salvation. If that is you hear the words of Hebrews 3:15—“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the days of rebellion.”
