Strathalbyn Church of Christ

“Pentecost” - the event, the explanation, the effects.

Over a number of Sundays since Easter day we have been thinking about the resurrection of Jesus, and last Sunday we thought about his ascension to heaven, to the right hand of his Father. Ten days after his ascension, the disciples of Jesus “were all filled with the Holy Spirit…” Acts 2:4

Today in many churches is known as ‘Pentecost Sunday.’

It is a term or title taken from the Bible, for it was on the Jewish day of Pentecost that the promised gift of the Holy Spirit was given. “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place, and suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind….” Acts 2:1,2.

And so, I’d like us to think more about what happened on that Day of Pentecost long ago, and some of what it can mean for us today. Let’s take 3 things -

the event, the explanation, the effects.

The Event

Pentecost was in the month of June back then in the time of those first disciples. June was apparently a fairly easy time of the year to travel to Jerusalem for this festival, and thousands would be there for it.

Pentecost - ‘Pente’ - 50 days. It happened 50 days after the Passover, and we know Jesus was crucified at Passover; he is ‘the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’ John 1:29

Jesus fulfilled the sacrifices God had given to the Jews by his ‘once and for all’ sacrifice. Heb. 9:26.

This lies at the heart of God’s way of salvation.

Pentecost was a harvest festival, and they brought the first loaves of bread from the barley harvest and offered them to God - the ‘first fruits’.

On this day when Peter preached, 3,000 responded! That was the first fruits of Christian mission, a harvest of 3,000 souls!

Pentecost also commemorated God giving the ten commandments to Moses for the people.

Alas, within a short time the law of God was broken, and about 3,000 lost their lives way back then. Exodus 32:28. But when God gave the Spirit 3,000 were saved!

_‘For the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life’ 2Cor 3:6

We need more than a list of rules to keep; we need the Spirit within us!.

The Christian faith is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ in the Spirit. Eph 2:l8

On this day of Pentecost those first disciples were together in one place, about 120 of them. It was Sunday, the first working day of the week for them.

Jesus had told the apostles to wait in Jerusalem ‘for the promise of the Father’. Acts 1:4 - ‘before many days you will be baptised with/in the Holy Spirit.’ Acts 1:5.

So they did what Jesus said, and they prayed . ‘All these apostles, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers with one accord devoted themselves to prayer’ . Acts 1:l4.

And on the day of pentecost, on the ‘third hour of the day’, Acts 2:l5, that is, 9am, when they (120) of them were all together, ‘suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting’.

Acts 2.2

In the Old Testament scriptures the word ‘Spirit’ had the idea of a gale force wind. This was the wind or breath of God blowing on them!

Not only did they hear the coming of the Spirit, they also saw something - ‘and there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them.’ Acts 2:3.

Fire in the Old Testament had been a sign of God’s presence, such as the pillar of fire which had led the Israelites in their wilderness wanderings after their exodus from slavery in Egypt. Ex. 13:21,22

‘And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance’. Acts 2:4

Now at that time in Jerusalem there were ‘devout Jews from every nation under heaven’. ‘At this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.’ Acts 2:6.

These people were from many different places, but heard them ‘telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God’. A person filled with the Spirit wants to tell of the mighty works of God.

Was this a reversal of Babel? Way back God had come down and confused the languages of people so they couldn’t understand each other (Gen 11) but now they could!

In Genesis 10 we have a list of places, and in Acts 2 we have a similar list of places from which people came and who were present on this day of Pentecost. This was an international crowd of God-fearing Jews, and represented the various nations.

And God’s plan is to unite all things in Christ, ‘a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him…’ Eph 1:10.

Paul also teaches ‘here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.’ Col 3:11.

In Jerusalem on this day of Pentecost when the Spirit came, the language barrier was supernaturally overcome, as a sign that the nations would now be gathered together inJesus Christ, pre-figuring the great day when from ‘every nation, from all tribes, and peoples, and tongues’. Rev 7 there will be God’s saved people.

There was a double reaction to this event. ‘All were amazed and perplexed…But others mocking said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’ But Peter, as spokesman for the others says to them, ‘the pubs aren’t open yet’. So what is the explanation?

They were not intoxicated with wine, but with God! They were not filled with wine, but with the Spirit of God!

The explanation

And so, having looked at the event, we now consider the explanation given by Peter of that event.

Peter quotes from the Old Testament prophet Joel - ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.' And so, God had given them a hope, a dream, a promise, that one day the Holy Spirit would come to not just a few people for a limited time, but to everyone who belonged to God’s people, regardless of sex, age, class.

‘all people’ - everyone irrespective of gender - ‘your sons and daughters’ , or age - ‘your young men, your old men’, or rank - ‘menservants, maidservants’, ‘And they will all prophesy’.

This would happen ‘in the last days’ according to the prophet Joel. We are in the last days, for they are the days between the first giving of the Spirit at Pentecost and the Lord’s second coming. The promise is that in these days _‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord (Jesus) shall be saved.’ Acts 2:21

Now is the day of salvation. God is patient and is offering people his salvation in his Son Jesus. Anybody who calls on the name of the Lord can be saved. Millions since then have - many, many, in today’s world, are. Have you ‘called on the name of the Lord “?

Peter then went on to preach about a particular person. This person is the only one through whom we can know salvation - namely, Jesus! What did Peter say about him and what do people still need to know about Jesus?

‘Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him…’ Acts 2:22

Jesus was a real man, who did amazing things, miracles. How? - God was in this man, worked through him. People still need to know that Jesus was ‘attested by God’ with those miracles.

‘This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.’ Acts 2:23.

His death on that cross was no accident! God was responsible for the cross - and so were men.

God was doing something good; men were doing something

bad!

We weren’t literally there when they put him on that cross - but ‘Christ died for our sins.' And so we were involved!

Would we too have cried out ‘crucify him!'?

‘But God raised him up’. Acts 2:4. They had in effect said of Jesus ‘he’s too bad to live’ - claiming to be the Son of God and Christ (Messiah King). But God reversed their verdict by raising him up, so declaring Jesus to in fact be his Son and Christ! He was too good to remain in the tomb - ‘for thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let thy Holy One see corruption.’ Acts 2:27. David had said this, but it couldn’t be about himself, David, for his tomb was still there! No it was about the Messiah Jesus! Peter and the others were witnesses that he had been raised!

To be saved, people still need to know Jesus has been raised.

‘Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God…’ Acts 2:33.

This is another most important thing about Jesus that Peter preached, and which people need to know today. Peter again quotes from the Old Testament, this time from Psalm 110 where David said ‘The Lord (God) said to my Lord ( David’s ‘Lord’), Sit at my right hand, till I make thy enemies a stool for thfeet.’ Ps 110.1. Who is ‘Lord’ of David? - ‘my Lord’ - Jesus is!

Jesus ascended into the heavens and is at the right hand of God.

The Jewish people believed that when the Messiah or Christ came then the promise God had made through the prophet Joel, ('I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh’) would come true.

Peter says it has now happened!

Jesus having been exalted ‘received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, has poured out this which you hear and see.’ Acts 2:33

Then Peter comes to the ‘punch - line’!

‘Let all the house of Israel therefore, know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.’ Acts 2:36.

How do you think hearers might have felt when they heard that they had in effect murdered God’s own Son and their Messiah?!

Maybe they felt they couldn’t be forgiven? In fact they were ‘cut to the heart’. Acts 2:37. So they believed what they had heard about Jesus and were convicted of their sinfulness. ‘Brethren, what shall we do?' they asked. There’s hope of salvation for anyone, when he/she gets to that point.

Peter reassures them that they could be forgiven, and receive the Holy Spirit too. ‘Repent, and be baptised everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.’ Acts 20:38,39

Maybe someone thinks - I’ve done some bad things, how can I be forgiven? Peter’s reply reassures us of God’s mercy - if there was mercy for those who killed the Son of God, then there is mercy for us too!

Forgiveness of sins - that’s freedom - freedom to live and love rightly! When God forgives us he says ‘I will remember their sins and misdeeds no more.’ Hebrews 10:17.

I might remember, but God says he won’t!

Forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit are available through Jesus Christ, because he died for our sins, was raised, and taken up, exalted to God’s right hand. ‘This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you see and hear.’ Acts 2:32,33.

The Holy Spirit means God’s strength for my weakness, God in me ‘to will and to do for his good pleasure,’ Philips 2:l3 - that is, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him; energising our will and mobilising our doing!

A mother was out in a public situation and her young child was mis-behaving and being awkward, and so she told him to ‘sit down!’ - but he wouldn’t. She repeated her words, with a little more emphasis! Again he refused. Again she said it, even more firmly!

This time he did what she said; but after he sat down, she heard him mumbling under his breath, ‘the inside of me is still standing up!’

And that’s the basic human condition isn’t it? God has told people what he wants but on their inside they don’t want to do it!

Way back in the Old Testament God spoke through a prophet called Ezekiel, and said that one day he would put things right.

He said ‘And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances’. Ezek. 36:27. In other words God will incline our hearts to keep his law by his Spirit put within us. This means that we are not just told how to live, but are given a desire to live that way, want to live right, want to obey God and do what he says. ‘I will put my law within them’. Jer 31:33.

But when and how, would God give us his Holy Spirit? - when he would send his only begotten Son who would die for our sins on the cross, be raised and exalted to his right hand. This had to happen for the Spirit to come. Jesus told his disciples, ‘if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.’ John 16:7.

And again, ‘If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, “Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.” Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.’ John 7:37,39.

But now Jesus has been exalted, glorified, and the Spirit can now be received.

A minister, William Temple, once said, “It’s no use giving me a play like King Lear or Hamlet, and telling me to write a new play like it. Shakespeare could do it, but I can’t!

And it’s no good showing me a life like Jesus’ and telling me to live like him. Jesus cold do it, but I can’t!

But if the genius of Shakespeare could come and live inside me, then I could begin to write plays like Shakespeare. And if the Spirit of Jesus could come and live inside me, then I could begin to live like him.”

Jesus told his disciples ‘And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.’ John l4:17

‘and will be in you’ And later Paul could teach ‘he has given us his Spirit in our hearts…’ 2 Cor 1:22.

Now Jesus had told his disciples ‘Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.’ John l6:7

There are two main advantages for us that Jesus has gone into heaven.

One is that the Spirit can be with us all the time, in all places.

But if Jesus was still in the flesh on earth, he couldn’t be with all believers everywhere. But now you can be in touch with Jesus whether you are home alone in this Covid 19 situation, or in residential care, or wherever you are, and at all times, Monday to Sunday.

A second advantage in having Jesus in heaven and not on earth, is that the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, can be in us as - ‘he will be in you’ John 14:l7.

Suppose his body was on earth, he couldn’t be inside us, but he would always be outside us, and so there would be a limit to how close we could be to him.

After Jesus was raised from the dead, Mary Magdalene tried to cling to him, but in effect he told her ‘Mary don’t do on clinging to me’. John 20:17.

Jesus knew that when the Spirit came, then she could cling as closely as she liked.

the effects

And now to close, let’s just notice the effects of the coming of the Holy Spirit for the church back then.

We find this in Acts 2: 41-47. At Pentecost the believers became the Spirit - filled body of Christ. What evidence did it give of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit? I draw attention to four marks or characteristics in particular.

It was a learning church.

‘they continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine…’ Acts 2:42. A spirit-filled church studies and accepts the apostles’ doctrine/teaching given to us now in the New Testament.

The Spirit of God still leads the people of God to trust and obey the word of God, to believe and obey what Jesus and his apostles taught.

It was a loving church.

‘Fellowship’ is mentioned. ‘Fellowship’ from ‘koinonia’, ‘koinos’ - common - the common life of the church, what we share in together, and what we share out. We share in God together - ‘our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.’ 1 John 1:3.

And sharing out together, ‘they had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need.’ Acts 2:44,45.

This was a voluntary sharing and caring, a real community.

It was a worshipping and praying church.

They worshipped both in the temple and in their homes. 2:46.

They broke bread in their homes. Did this include the Lord’s Supper?

They praised God, v 47, and they were a reverent church ‘fear came upon every soul’, v 43 ‘and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.'

And they were a growing, gospel-sharing church.

‘And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.’ Acts 2:47.

We notice it was the Lord who did the adding. The Holy Spirit is a missionary Spirit who creates a missionary church. The praise and proclamation of the believers were the natural overflow of hearts full of the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray.

Series: Acts

Topics: #Acts