"This Promise is Still for You"
Acts 2:39
The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.
Intro:
The promise of the Holy Spirit is for today. Scripture presents the promise of a personal Pentecost, not only as valid for today, but as the normal, almost expected, experience for all believers under the New Covenant. My sermon is simply, The promise is still for you...
I chose this verse because of the way it brings the Pentecostal experience to my address. I am glad to report to you to that Jesus still baptizes believers in the Holy Spirit!
The people in Acts 2 were eager to know more about this marvelous gift of God’s Spirit as they witnessed it’s manifestation. They asked Peter and the rest, "Brothers, what shall we do?" There was a longing for this gift, a yearning in their hearts. Peter stood before them and proclaimed, "the promise is for you." And if I may add one word for our time, "the promise is still for you."
Afar Off
Peter said, The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call. When he says ... for all who are far off ... Peter was not referring to just distance of miles, as if speaking to those God-fearing Jews from all nations. (v:5) He is saying more than, "the promise is also for people in Egypt, Lybia, and Rome." Jesus addressed the issue of distance in Acts 1:8 when He said, we would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, .. Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
By saying the promise is for those who are far off, Peter is speaking to those who live in far off, non-Jewish lands. He is saying the full-gospel is for the Gentiles in distant lands. BUT he is also talking about a time-line. The word for far off means both "‘far off’ in space and ‘long’ in time." (TDNT, emph. mine) In making this point Peter says the promise is for the descendants of those listening. He says, "The promise is for you AND YOUR CHILDREN and for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call."
It is a contradiction for non-Pentecostal groups to sing, "Give me that old-time religion..." and then when it comes to the baptism in the Holy Spirit to say, "Oh God doesn’t do that any more." It is wrong to tell a Sunday School class they can be saved just like Peter and Paul, but they can only have part of their experience.
Dispensationalists claim God does not do the same things today that He did in the days of the apostles, but Church history tells a different story.
1. Acts 2:4 speaks for the first century Church: All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
2. In his History of the Apostolic Church, Dr. Philip Schaff wrote, "The speaking in tongues, ... was not confined to the day of Pentecost. ... We find traces of it still in the second and third centuries." (Brumm, What Meaneth This?, p. 90)
3. 115-202 A.D. - Ireneus, a student of Polycarp the disciple of the apostle John, wrote, "In like manner do we also hear many brethern in the church who possess prophetic gifts, ..." (Ibid.)
4. Augustine, 4th century - "We still do what the apostles did when they laid hands on the Samaritans and called down the Holy Spirit on them by the laying on of hands. It is expected that converts should speak with new tongues." (Ibid., p. 91)
5. "The Encyclopedia Brittanica states that the glossalalia was present ‘among the mendicant friars of the 13th century.’" (Ibid. p. 92)
6. "The Encyclopedia Brittanica tells of tongues ‘among the Jensenites and early Quakers, the converts of Wesley and Whitfield, ...’" (Ibid.)
7. One opponent, Dr. Middleton wrote, "After the apostolic times, there is not, in all history, one instance either well attested, or even so much as mentioned, of any particular person who had ever experienced ...(tongues), or pretended to exercise it in any age or country whatever." John Wesley wrote in protest: ‘Sir, your memory fails you again. ... It has been heard of more than once, no further off than the valleys of Dauphin." (Ibid., p. 93)
8. The Rev. R. Boyd (Baptist) a very close friend of D. L. Moody, wrote of attending a YMCA meeting: "I found the meeting ‘on fire.’ The young men were speaking with tongues, prophesying. What did it mean? Only that Moody had been addressing them that afternoon!..." (Ibid., p. 94)
9. It again became the common experience at the turn of the last century (1900-06).
It is wrong to say "Pentecost" is not for today’s Christian. Peter says in our text, it is to "you and your children and to all that are afar off - even as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself." (TAB, NIV) The promise is still for you!
The Promise
To establish that we are claiming the same promise as Peter, let’s look at the promise he referred to. You will remember it was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which brought this crowd together. As they heard the 120 glorifying God in languages the Galileans did not know, the crowd asks, "What does this mean?" So Peter preached. He first referred to this promise in Acts 2:16, from the prophesy of Joel, "this is what was spoken of by the prophet Joel..."
John the Baptizer prophesied Christ would "baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." (Mt. 3:11) Jesus said He would send "the promise of the Father" and in Acts 1:5, "you will receive the Holy Spirit very soon." In Ephesians 1:13 Paul calls the Holy Spirit, "the Holy Spirit of promise." (NIV) That title makes it clear that the experience of the apostles was not drunkenness or deviltry, but it was God’s Spirit at work among them. This was a fulfillment of God’s promise.
At the turn of the century, when large numbers of Christians again began to experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, some opponents said it was the work of the devil. That kind of talk brought a stern rebuke from Jesus. ... (Mk.3) ...
The Bible never indicates that the Spirit-filled experience would cease before the return of Christ. The Bible tells us when covenants change. 1 Corinthians 13 does say "tongues will cease..." "... when perfection comes." (1 Cor. 13:8-10) Today we are told there are more Pentecostal and Charismatic believers in the world than in all the past centuries put together. (This) promise is for you!
For You
Notice how Peter looks the 3,000 right in the eye and says, "this promise is for you." Aren’t you glad it is also for you?!
A.W. Tozer wrote, "The Spirit indwelt life is not a special deluxe edition of Christianity to be enjoyed by a certain rare and privileged few who happen to be made of finer stuff than the rest. Rather it is the normal state of every redeemed man and woman the world over." (The Divine Conquest, p. 128)
Andrew Murray wrote, "‘Full of the Holy Spirit’ is not set forth in Scripture as the privilege of a particular time, or a certain people, but is plainly represented as the privilege of every believer who surrenders Himself to live wholly for, and in fellowship with, Jesus. Pentecost is not just a remembrance of something that once happened and then passed away, but it is the celebration of the opening of a fountain which ever flows. It is the promise of that which is always right, and the characteristic of those who belong to the Lord. We ought to be, and we must be, filled with the Holy Spirit." (The Book of the Cross, p. 20)
Dr. A. B. Simpson spoke kindly of Pentecostals and their experience. "We believe there can be no doubt that in many cases remarkable outpourings of the Holy Spirit have been accompanied with genuine instances of the gift of tongues and many extraordinary manifestations. This has occurred both in our own land and in some of our foreign missions. Many of these experiences appear not only to be genuine, but accompanied by a spirit of deep humility and soberness, and free from extravagance and error. And it is admitted that in many of the branches and States where this movement has been strongly developed and wisely directed, there has been a marked deepening of spiritual life of our members, and an encouraging increase in their missionary zeal and liberality. It would therefore be a serious matter for any candid Christian to pass wholesale criticism or condemnation upon such movements, or presume to limit the Holy One of Israel." (What Meaneth This?, p. 101-02)
Back in 1987 one of our Sunday School lessons had as its central truth, "The baptism in the Holy Spirit is available to all believers." The seventh of our Sixteen Fundamental Truths states, "All believers are entitled to and should ardently expect and earnestly seek the baptism in the Holy Ghost and fire according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ."
What are Tozer, Murray, the Sunday School lesson, and the A/G doctrinal statement all saying? The same thing the Bible records Peter as saying "This promise is still for you."!
Close:
The Baptism in the Spirit does not end all our troubles. It is not the Pentecostal equivalent to "entire sanctification." It doesn’t mean we will never sin again. And although it is given to empower us to witness, it doesn’t mean we will never have any more trouble witnessing. But it does add a new dimension to our worship of God. It does give full vent for our spirit to worship God. And it does better equip us for ministry in the service of God. It does more readily avail us to the gifts of the Spirit.
This morning, "the promise is still for you." The Lord still offers us the privilege of sharing in the earnest of the Spirit.
Wouldn’t you like to experience your own personal Pentecost - today?
If you have never been baptized in the Holy Spirit, come now and let Jesus baptize you today.
If you have been baptized in the Spirit, but it has been a while since you spoke in tongues, come today for a refilling. Come for a refreshing.
