We will be reading Acts chapter 2 verses 1 to 41. Feel free to read in your own Bibles, follow along in the bulletin, or follow along on the screen above.
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
And divided tongues as a fire appeared to them, and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.
And they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language?
Perithians and Medes, Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians.
We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean? But others, mocking, said, They are filled with new wine.
But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, Let this be known to you, and give ear to my words.
For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, Since it is only the third hour of the day, But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel.
And in the last days it shall be, God declares, That I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams, Even on my male servants and female servants.
In those days I will pour out my Spirit, And their sons and their sons and their sons and their sons and their sons.
And I will show wonders in the heavens above, And signs on the earth below, Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
The sun shall be turned to darkness, And the moon to blood, Before the day of the Lord comes, The great and magnificent day.
And it shall come to pass That everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord Shall be saved.
Men of Israel, Hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, A man attested to you by God, With mighty works and wonders, And signs that God did through him in your midst, As you yourselves know.
This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan And foreknowledge of God, You crucified and killed By the hands of lawless men.
God raised him up, Losing the pangs of death, Because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
For David says concerning him,
I saw the Lord always before me, For he is at my right hand, That I may not be shaken.
Therefore my heart was glad, And my tongue rejoiced, My flesh also will dwell in hope.
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, But let your holy one see corruption.
You have made known to me the paths of life, And you will make me full of gladness with your presence.
Brothers, I may say to you with confidence About the patriarch David That he both died and was buried,
And his tomb is with us to this day.
Being therefore a prophet, And knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him,
That he would set one of his descendants on his throne,
He foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ,
That he was not abandoned to Hades, Nor did his flesh see corruption.
This Jesus God raised up, And of that we 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, That you yourselves are seeing and hearing.
For David did not ascend into the heavens, But he himself says,
The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, Until I make your enemies your footstool.
Let all the house of Israel therefore know, For certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ,
This Jesus whom you crucified.
Now when they heard this, They were cut to the heart,
And said to Peter and the rest of the apostles,
Brothers, what shall we do?
And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized,
Every one of you, In the name of Jesus Christ,
For the forgiveness of your sins,
And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is for you,
And for your children,
And for all who are far off,
Everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.
And with many other words,
He bore witness,
And continued to exhort them,
Saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation.
So those who received the word were baptized,
And there were added that day about three thousand souls.
This is the word of God.
Okay, thank you so much, Zoe and Iris.
God, thank you for your word.
Come and speak to us, we pray through your word.
I meant to say earlier, if you don't know me,
My name is Kevin,
I'm one of the leaders here,
And please, if it's your first time,
Come and introduce yourself afterwards.
I'd love to get to know you,
And to meet you.
It's great to have you with us.
Now we, as a church,
Are working through the book of Acts.
The book of Acts is one of the most wonderful books in the Bible.
If you are new to church,
And you've kind of wondered,
Where does this Christianity thing come from?
This thing called the church,
Where did it ever start?
How did this thing called the church,
Become this worldwide movement?
If you've ever wondered about the church,
A place to start is the book of Acts.
You want to read and study the book of Acts,
Which is what we're doing on Sundays,
For a couple of weeks.
And we want to see something of the passion,
That took hold of the early church.
I must confess,
It's very easy in a modern city like Hong Kong,
With so many that's going on,
For our faith to be somewhat pedestrian,
Somewhat apathetic.
And when we read the book of Acts,
We see a group of men and women,
That were taken a hold of by God,
In a profound and a wonderful way,
And we want to learn from them.
And so we're looking at this book.
Now two weeks ago we learned that,
Acts was written by a doctor,
Luke the physician,
And it was written in order to record,
The historical account,
Of how the work of Jesus Christ,
Continued in the decades following,
His death and resurrection and ascension.
Jesus died and rose again,
And why did this movement not just peter out?
Well Luke wants to tell us.
And we saw that Jesus said to his disciples,
That he's passing on the baton,
He's passing on the mission to his followers,
And he commissions them to continue his ministry.
And then we saw last week,
That before they are to go and do this,
Jesus has something to do,
The apostolic witness,
The team,
And needs to be completed,
They are missing a member,
And so God completes the apostolic witness,
And now they are ready to go out.
But there's just one thing missing.
One author put it like this,
The place left vacant by Judas,
Has been filled by Matthias,
But the place left vacant by Jesus,
Has not yet been filled by the Spirit.
Jesus is sending them,
He says I'm with you,
But then he goes to heaven,
They are waiting for the Spirit.
And so ten days later,
They are in prayer,
And the day arrives.
And it's a day that changes,
Not only the course of their lives,
But literally the history of the world.
And still today,
Here in Hong Kong,
Many, many miles away from Jerusalem,
We are witnessing and experiencing,
The effects of that day.
What happened?
Well God pours out his Spirit upon the church,
In a wonderful and a profound way.
And so in our passage today,
What we're going to see,
Is that God pouring out his Holy Spirit in the church,
On his followers,
Is not an unusual fringe event,
That happens to just a few unusual and fringe Christians,
It's not just a once off event in history,
Kind of like a volcanic eruption,
That it erupts,
And there's lights,
And there's noise,
And there's a lot of excitement,
And then it just dwindles down,
And life continues.
God pouring out his Spirit in the church,
Is like having a child,
It's like giving birth,
It's like a marriage,
It's a cataclysmic event,
That it's a once off event,
But it changes your life forever,
And what we see is that God's plan,
To rescue and save the world,
Takes a dramatic turn on this day,
But it's a day that changes the church's existence forever,
So,
In our passage today,
If you've got your Bible,
Your bulletin,
You'll see there are three very clear sections,
And we're going to look at them together,
Verses 1 to 13,
Talks about the Spirit comes,
Verses 14 to 36,
The apostles explain,
Or Peter explains what happens,
And verse 37 to 41,
The people respond,
So,
Let's dive in and look at it together,
Firstly,
The Spirit comes,
So,
Luke tells us that it was the day of Pentecost,
What does Pentecost mean?
Pentecost doesn't actually mean anything spiritual,
It just means the word 50th,
Because every year,
50 days after Passover,
Jewish people would celebrate the harvest coming in,
And so,
They would all come to,
People from all of Israel would come towards Jerusalem,
They would bring their tithes and their offerings,
Their first fruits of their harvest,
And they would offer offerings to God,
And make sacrifices,
And celebrate God's goodness to their fields,
Their harvest,
And this happened 7 weeks,
50 days after Passover,
And so,
That was the celebration of Pentecost,
So,
The disciples are gathered,
As people would be around that time,
And they are waiting,
As Jesus tells them what to do,
And suddenly something very unusual happens,
There's a dramatic sound in the room,
It sounds like a T10 typhoon is tearing the place apart,
And yet nothing is moving,
Everything is dead still,
And they open their eyes to see what's going on,
And it seems like on top of everyone,
There are about 120 people in the room,
There's kind of like little flames of fire,
It looks to be dancing above their heads,
It's a very unusual sign,
But nobody is burning up,
Nobody is catching a light,
And as they open their mouths,
To say what's going on,
And to praise God,
And to pray,
They find themselves speaking in all sorts of languages,
Not their native languages,
Other languages from the surrounding countries around them,
What on earth is going on?
Well they're experiencing what Jesus had clearly said would happen,
Jesus said that the coming of the Holy Spirit,
Would come upon them in a new and a dramatic way,
Now in one sense throughout the Old Testament,
God's people have always had the Holy Spirit,
The Holy Spirit was there in Genesis chapter 1,
Hovering over creation,
He was there as he led God's people,
Through the wilderness to the promised land,
But what's unique about this is,
Though God had by his spirit led his people corporately,
As a nation,
Here God almost rested on each one individually,
You remember in the Old Testament,
How God leads his people through the wilderness,
At night time there's a big pillar of fire,
That goes in front of them,
Here it says that a flame of fire,
Appeared to rest on each one of them,
It's like God is saying,
Each one of you is going to be filled with my spirit,
Just as I led my people corporately,
Each one of you is going to know me,
In a personal and a deep way,
But what does this mean?
Well think about the symbolism,
Think about the sound of wind,
In both Greek and Hebrew,
Which the New Testament and the Old Testament languages,
That the Bible is written in,
The word for wind,
Is almost the same word as spirit or breath,
What is breath in our lungs?
Breath is that life giving force,
Without which you cannot exist,
Go a couple of hours without liquid,
A couple of days without food,
Go a couple of minutes without breath in your lungs,
And you die,
Without breath in your lungs,
You cannot exist,
You die,
God is saying here,
That his missionary movement,
Called his church,
Absolutely needs,
His breath in their lungs,
His spirit,
His wind in their lungs,
Without which they will die,
They cannot exist,
And God is saying,
I,
My spirit will keep this missionary movement,
Called the church,
Alive,
And what about the tongues of fire?
Well in the Old Testament,
Fire is constantly a picture of purity,
Of holiness,
Think of how,
One stage in Exodus chapter 3,
Moses,
He's walking,
And God reveals himself to Moses,
He makes himself known,
How does he do that?
There's a bush,
A tree,
That's on fire,
And Moses goes near,
To find out what's going on,
And God says,
Moses,
Don't come any closer,
Take the sandals off your feet,
For the place where you stand,
Is holy ground,
Well think about how,
In Isaiah chapter 6,
Isaiah sees a vision of God,
And around the throne,
There are these cherubim,
What are cherubim?
They're not just cute little angels,
They are gigantic balls of fire,
Around the throne of God,
And they're crying out,
Holy,
Is the Lord God Almighty,
And then Isaiah falls on his knees,
And he says,
Woe is me,
I'm a man of unclean lips,
I'm a sinner,
And I live amongst the people of sin,
And God brings a coal of fire,
And he comes and drives,
And he touches Isaiah's lips,
And he purifies him,
And he says,
Your sin has been atoned for,
Your guilt has been removed,
What's God saying?
When God's spirit comes in our lives,
God's spirit is not just a,
A cuddly,
Teddy bear,
To make us feel good,
He is nothing less than the sovereign,
Holy,
Majestic,
Lord of all,
And when he comes,
He must,
And he will,
Purify our lives,
God is the spirit,
Or think of Acts chapter 5,
We're going to look at this in a few weeks time,
There are two disciples in the early church,
Followers of Jesus,
But they're kind of,
They're not really following Jesus,
There's a bit of dodginess,
Just going on the side,
And they,
They pretend to follow Jesus,
But actually,
They're living for themselves,
And Peter comes and he says to them,
Ananias and Sapphira,
Why is it that the Holy Spirit,
Led you to think you could lie to the Holy,
Why is it that Satan,
Led you to think you could lie to the Holy Spirit,
And they fall down dead,
Boom,
God's spirit is his holiness,
It's his purity,
It's his,
It's his purifying fire,
And then of course,
There's the other languages,
Which,
In some ways,
Is a reversal,
Of what happened at the Tower of Babel,
Now there's more going on here,
But remember Genesis 11,
The Tower of Babel,
And people come together,
And they gather,
And they say,
Let's build a great tower up to heaven,
And we will make a name for ourselves,
We will reach up to God,
We don't need God,
We can do it on our own,
And God says,
That's a very foolish thing to do,
And so he confuses their languages,
And he scatters them across the earth,
In some ways,
This is a prototype reversal of that,
God is giving his disciples,
Various languages,
Here it's just for the Jews,
Later on it will be for all nations,
But he's bringing back these people,
That are scattered,
He's giving them one,
He's allowing them to all speak together,
And to glorify God,
And worship God,
And that's what we see in verse 5,
Look at what happens in verse 5 here,
God's spirit comes upon this group,
And what happens,
It says,
Now they were dwelling in Jerusalem,
Jews,
Devout men from every nation,
Under heaven,
And at the sound,
The multitude came together,
They were bewildered,
Because each one was hearing them,
Speak in his own language,
They were amazed,
They astonished,
They said,
Are not all these,
Who are speaking Galileans,
How is it that we hear each of us,
In our own native language,
And then there's a long list of countries,
Okay,
We hear them telling in our own tongue,
The mighty works of God,
So God's people have been spread,
All across the world,
And God is bringing them back together,
To hear of the wonder of Jesus,
And the cross,
And what God has done,
For them,
So,
That's what happens,
So what should we make of this,
What does this all mean,
Well that's a good question,
It's the question the crowds ask,
Look at verse 12,
It says,
And all were amazed,
And perplexed,
And said to one another,
What does this mean,
In fact actually,
The crowds here,
Ask two questions,
In verse 12,
They say,
What does this mean,
In verse 37,
They ask,
What should we do,
And those are two great questions,
To ask whenever you read the Bible,
Or listen to a sermon,
What does this mean,
What should we do,
Well Peter's going to give us the answer,
So let's look at what Peter says,
Peter explains what's going on here,
So look at verse 14,
Peter stands up,
And he says this,
Men of Judea,
And all who dwell in Jerusalem,
Let this be known to you,
And give ear to my words,
These people are not drunk,
As you suppose,
It's only the third hour of the day,
In other words,
It's nine o'clock in the morning,
Okay,
So why are they acting like this,
They haven't been drinking,
It's,
Don't worry about that,
And Peter then gives two explanations,
For what's happening,
The first one he says is this,
This is what God promised,
Would happen in the Old Testament,
And he quotes Joel chapter 2,
He says this is what is uttered,
By the prophet Joel,
In the last days it shall be,
He says God,
I will pour out my spirit,
On all flesh,
On your sons,
And your daughters,
Shall prophesy,
Young men will see visions,
Old men will dream dreams,
Even on my male servants,
My female servants,
In those days I will pour out my spirit,
They will prophesy,
Verse 21,
And it shall come to pass,
That everyone who calls on the name of the Lord,
Will be saved,
Now,
Peter could have gone to lots of places,
In the Old Testament,
Isaiah,
Jeremiah,
Ezekiel,
But he goes to Joel,
And what he's saying is this,
This is what God said would happen,
These Christians haven't lost their minds,
They haven't been drinking,
This shouldn't surprise you,
Your own prophets,
Your own people have said,
That this is what's going to happen,
When the Messiah comes,
In the messianic age,
When Israel's true king comes to save,
And rescue,
And restore his eternal kingdom,
He will pour out his spirit,
As you are seeing today,
He will do through the power of his presence,
On all people,
On men,
And women,
Young,
And not so young,
And masters,
And servants,
All people,
Doesn't matter what your background,
God will bring you into,
His kingdom,
And they will,
Tell people about God,
And call people to,
Turn to him,
They will prophesy,
That means,
Calling people to turn back to God,
So Peter's saying,
This shouldn't surprise you,
This is what your own Bible has said,
But then Peter gives a second reason,
A second explanation,
And this is what he says,
He says,
This is what must happen,
As a result of Jesus,
Rising from the dead,
And ascending to heaven,
Look at what he says here,
Verse 22,
It says,
Men of Israel,
Jesus of Nazareth,
A man attested to you,
That means confirmed to be the Messiah,
By God,
With mighty signs,
And works,
And wonders,
That God did through him in your midst,
As you yourselves know,
This Jesus,
Who was delivered up,
According to the definite plan,
And foreknowledge of God,
You crucified,
And you had him killed,
By the hands of lawless men,
But,
God raised him up,
Loosing the pangs of death,
Because it was not possible,
For him to be held by it,
So Peter stands up,
And he tells them,
About the death,
And the resurrection of Jesus,
And he says,
This is what,
According to God's deliberate plan,
That God would send his son Jesus,
To die on the cross,
For the sins of all those,
Who would hope in him,
And trust in him,
Put their confidence in him,
And then he wouldn't stay dead,
He would rise again,
And he would ascend into heaven,
Just as you saw,
He says,
You saw him die,
Just six weeks ago,
You know that we saw him,
Raised from the dead,
We felt him,
We touched him,
We spoke with him,
And now he's ascended into heaven,
But Peter says,
That Jesus' ascension into heaven,
Wasn't his escaping,
All the horrors of this dirty world,
Jesus ascending into heaven,
Wasn't Jesus getting away,
Unless they killed him,
Good and proper the second time,
Jesus' ascension into heaven,
Was in a sense,
His coronation,
His inauguration ceremony,
It was his kingly exaltation,
Jesus says,
I'm the king,
And I'll prove it to you,
I'll die,
And I'll rise again,
And he does,
And then he ascends into heaven,
And now Jesus is seated,
On the throne of the universe,
In glory,
Where he rules,
And he reigns over everything,
Jesus' ascension is his,
His coronation,
His kingly exaltation,
And how is Jesus going to rule,
From heaven,
Over all the kingdoms of the world,
Through his spirit,
And his spirit empowered church,
And so Peter says,
This is what must happen,
Jesus said he was going to die,
And rise and ascend,
And give his spirit,
Well he died,
And he rose again,
And he ascended,
This is the next stage,
In God's development plan,
And Peter then quotes,
Two psalms by King David,
And he says,
Listen,
Even David a thousand years before,
Said this was going to happen,
That when Israel's true king comes,
He won't die,
He will overcome death,
And he will reign forever and ever,
And so look at verse 30,
He says,
Therefore being a prophet,
He,
That's David,
Forsaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ,
This Jesus God raised up,
Of that we are all witnesses,
Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God,
Seated on the throne,
Having received from the Father the Holy Spirit,
He has now poured out his spirit,
That you yourselves are seeing and hearing,
See what Peter's saying,
He's saying,
The outpouring of the spirit is the proof,
That Jesus really is,
The one who died and rose again,
As he said he would,
And he's ascended into heaven,
He's the proof,
He's the Messiah,
The king,
And the fact that he died and rose again,
Is the proof that he's the promised one,
The one that we've all been waiting for,
And so look at verse 36,
He says,
Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain,
That God has made him Lord and King,
This Jesus whom you crucified,
Friends,
The work of the Holy Spirit in the church,
Is the way that the risen Lord Jesus,
On the throne of the universe,
Is ruling and reigning in the world,
And so,
Jesus says that this is what must happen,
Peter says this is what must happen,
This is God's plan,
God sent Jesus to die and rise again,
God said he'd send the spirit,
Why are you so surprised?
And remember,
In John chapter 7,
Jesus actually spoke about this,
One said Jesus says this,
He says,
If anyone thirsts,
He's not talking about physical,
He's talking about existential soul thirst,
If you have a feeling like,
There must be more to life than this,
Jesus says then you're thirsty,
If anyone thirsts,
Let him come to me,
And drink of me,
For whoever believes in me,
As the scripture said,
Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water,
Jesus says,
I will quench the longing of your heart,
And then John writes and says,
This he said about the Holy Spirit,
Whom those who were to believe in him were received,
For as yet the spirit had not been given,
Because Jesus had not been glorified,
So John's saying,
There's coming a time when Jesus will be glorified,
Then he'll give you the spirit,
Well now Jesus is glorified,
He's died,
He's risen,
He's on the throne of the universe,
He's glorified,
And what is he doing?
He's pouring out his spirit,
On all those who will trust in him,
And hope in him,
So that they can know him,
And encounter him,
Now,
What does this mean for us?
Okay,
Thank you Peter for your explanation,
But we live in Hong Kong,
In the 21st century,
What does this actually mean for us?
Well,
Two things,
Okay,
Two things I want us to think about,
Firstly,
The spirit and the Christian life,
Okay,
Here's a question for us to think about,
If you're,
If you're new to church,
This language may be a bit strange,
But if you're familiar with church,
I want you to think about this,
Is the day of Pentecost,
A once off event,
Okay,
That we shouldn't expect,
Just we read about in history,
And say,
Wow,
That was a good day,
Or,
Is it an ongoing event,
That we should expect,
Every Sunday,
When we come to church,
Okay,
You see the question?
Is it a,
Is this the normal pattern,
Of the Christian life?
Or,
Is this,
Just a once off event?
And the answer is,
Yes,
Okay,
The answer is in a sense,
Both,
Let me explain what I mean,
In one sense,
The outpouring of the spirit,
In the day of Pentecost,
Was a once off,
Unique event,
That's never going to happen again,
The Bible says that,
God's salvation plan,
Through Jesus,
Has these many chapters in it,
That Jesus lived the life,
We should have lived,
But we didn't,
He died the death,
We should have died,
But didn't,
He rose again from dead,
Because he's the Messiah,
He ascended into heaven,
And the fifth stage,
Of his salvation work,
Is giving of the spirit,
So,
Jesus is never going to die,
On the cross again,
That's happened once off,
Right?
He's never going to rise again,
From the cross,
He's already done that,
Jesus is not going to give,
The spirit again,
Like he did on Pentecost,
That's already happened,
So in one sense,
The giving of the spirit,
At the day of Pentecost,
Is a once off event,
Never to happen again,
It's a dawning,
It's a dawning of a new age,
A new era,
What Joel calls,
The last days,
But in another sense,
The giving of the spirit,
Is something that we should live in,
All the time,
Ongoingly,
It's not,
Like I said earlier,
A volcanic eruption,
That explodes,
And there's lights,
And excitement,
And then quietens down,
And life just goes back to normal,
No,
Actually,
The day of Pentecost,
Is like a marriage,
Right?
Think of it,
If you get married,
It's a watershed event,
That'll change your life,
So if you got married,
In the last couple of years,
What do you do on your anniversary,
You don't go and send out invites,
Okay?
Book a venue,
Get a church,
Get dressed up,
Invite your friends and family,
Take a thousand photos,
Go to the marriage registry,
Sign the documents,
Say your vows again,
And then have a banquet,
No,
You're married,
For better or for worse,
You're married,
Once off,
It's done,
But,
You say your vows once,
But you now got to live out your vows,
A hundred times a day,
In all the big and small moments of life,
It'll change your life forever,
You also don't just get married,
And say,
Well that was fun,
Let's just go back to how life was,
No,
It's a watershed moment,
That will change your life forever,
In some of the same ways,
It's the same with the giving of the spirit,
Pentecost is never going to happen again,
The giving of the spirit has happened,
If you're a follower of Jesus,
The day you became a Christian,
You got filled with God's spirit,
Christ now lives inside of you,
But it's a watershed event,
That will change your life forever,
And now you live out,
The reality of walking with the spirit of Jesus,
In the up and down moments of life,
A hundred times a day,
As God calls you to,
Be his witnesses to the ends of the earth,
So John Stott said it like this,
John Stott,
Very wonderful theologian and pastor,
He's talking about the uniqueness of Pentecost,
And this is what he said,
We must be careful however,
Not to use the uniqueness of Pentecost,
As an excuse to lower our expectations,
Or to relegate to the category of the exceptional,
What God may intend to be the normal church's experience,
The wind and the fire,
They were abnormal,
Okay,
Not to be repeated,
But the new life,
The joy,
The fellowship,
The worship,
The freedom,
The boldness,
The power,
No,
Those were not unusual at all,
See what he's saying,
There's some elements that are not going to happen again,
But we shouldn't just say,
Well that was fun,
Let's go back to life,
Actually God now calls us,
Full of his spirit,
To live out his missionary mandate,
In the power,
The joy,
The freedom,
The authority of the spirit,
So what does this mean for us,
Individually,
As a church,
We shouldn't expect Pentecost to happen,
But day by day,
We should say,
God,
Come fill me with your spirit afresh,
Jesus,
Come have your way,
God,
I want to depend on you,
I need you,
I can't live the life you've called me to without you,
God,
I need your breath in my lungs,
I need your fire to purify me,
Make me holy,
God,
Come help me to speak your words,
And to proclaim your gospel,
We need the spirit,
Okay,
Here's a second application,
The spirit and the gospel,
What does this mean for us,
Well,
One of the fascinating things,
When Peter stands up to explain,
This unusual appalling of the spirit,
He does two things,
On the one hand he says,
This is what the Old Testament said,
Was going to happen,
Okay,
Don't be surprised,
But the other thing he does,
Is he gives the world's greatest sermon,
Okay,
And it's a great,
Great sermon,
But one of the things you might notice,
Peter stands up to explain,
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit,
And then he actually says,
Very little about the Holy Spirit,
And he quotes Joel,
And he says,
This is what would happen,
But then what does he talk about,
He talks about Jesus,
He talks about the gospel,
He talks about the fact,
That Jesus died,
And rose again,
And is now on the throne,
And ruling and reigning,
He's the promised Messiah,
Most of Peter's sermon,
Is actually about Jesus,
And the gospel,
What does that tell us,
Well actually in fact,
This is something we see,
Throughout the book of Acts,
We see,
The work of the spirit,
And the work of the gospel,
And the worship of Jesus,
Are very,
Very closely aligned,
When they're preaching about Jesus,
The Holy Spirit is right there,
When the Holy Spirit comes down upon them,
What do they do,
They talk about Jesus,
So we see this in Acts chapter 2,
We see the same thing in Acts chapter 10,
But it's the other way around,
Acts chapter 10,
Peter is going speaking to Cornelius,
He's a Gentile,
He's not a Jewish man,
And he's telling him all about Jesus,
And the fact that he died,
And he rose again,
And he's going to come back,
And he's going to judge the living and the dead,
And he's telling him the gospel,
And look at what Acts 10 says,
While Peter was still saying these very things,
The Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word,
And the believers,
Those who would come with Peter,
Were amazed,
Because the gift of the Spirit was poured out,
Even on the Gentiles,
What happens?
The Spirit is poured out,
And they're given to them,
So they now rejoice even more deeply in the gospel,
So what does this tell us?
Friends,
Some Christians,
Maybe some churches,
It's very easy to fall on either side,
Right?
It's like,
It's like riding a bicycle,
And you fall on one side,
And then you get back up,
And then you fall on the other side,
Actually,
It's hard to keep the middle path,
Sometimes we tend to think,
All we've got to do is just explain the Bible,
And just explain how every page points to Jesus,
And talk about Jesus,
But we think that just our explanation,
Our reading of the Bible,
Our studying of the Bible,
Is enough,
And we kind of don't,
We don't give enough credit to the fact,
That we need the Holy Spirit,
To make this alive in our hearts,
And to open our eyes to worship Jesus,
And sometimes the Bible can become academic,
And we can see the connections to Jesus,
And understand the gospel in our head,
But it's not in our hearts,
And then other people,
Other churches,
Other people,
Are all about the Holy Spirit,
And just worship sessions,
And weekends with just the Holy Spirit,
But they don't,
They forget that the Spirit is meant to cause us,
To love Jesus in the gospel,
And to realize our identity,
And our security,
And our hope in Jesus,
And meant to lead us out,
To proclaim that Jesus is Lord and King,
And so we've got to be a church,
That is desperately dependent on the Spirit,
And the Spirit is helping us to worship Jesus,
And proclaim Jesus,
And as we proclaim Jesus,
And love Jesus,
We need the Holy Spirit to help us do that,
And that's what we see in the book of Acts,
And what we see here,
Peter shows us,
That the Spirit is given to open our hearts,
To love and worship Jesus,
And to open our mouths,
To proclaim that Jesus is Lord,
So,
What should we do?
Okay,
So the crowds ask these two questions,
What does that mean?
It means that Jesus is ascended into heaven,
He's ruling and reigning,
One day He's going to come back again,
And now is the time for you to know Him,
God is pouring out His Spirit,
And what,
And then the second question,
What should we do?
Well that's a great question to ask,
And so as we close off our sermon today,
Let's ask that same question,
And so look at verse 37,
It says,
Friends,
What should we do?
We should give ourselves wholeheartedly to Jesus Christ,
As Lord and King,
All of us should give ourselves to Jesus,
As Lord and King,
And Peter uses this interesting word,
He says,
We should repent,
Repent means,
Turning away from the life,
Where I live for myself,
Where I'm the center of my world,
I live for me,
And I trust me,
And I try and save myself,
We turn away from that life,
To the life where now Jesus is center,
And I live for Jesus,
And I trust Jesus,
And I hope in Jesus,
And the natural disposition of every one of us,
The natural tendency of every human heart,
Is to live for me,
For me to be Lord and King,
And to try and please myself,
And Jesus says that that way leads to death,
Leads to death in our life,
But also death forever and ever,
All eternity,
That way is never,
Never going to produce life,
There is a better way,
To turn away from that,
To turn to Jesus,
To say,
Jesus,
You died on the cross,
To take my sin,
To take my shame,
Jesus,
You died,
So I can be saved,
And raised to life again,
Jesus,
Peter says,
The one thing we need,
Is to turn from self,
And to live for Jesus,
And trust in Jesus alone,
And,
And he says that,
You should do this with baptism,
And that's what baptism is,
Right,
Baptism is a visible picture,
That our old life,
The me-centered life,
This life has died,
And it's like buried,
It's gone,
It's in the grave,
And now we are raised,
To new life with Jesus,
Just as Jesus died,
To sin,
And raised to new life,
We die to our old,
Me-centered way of life,
And we are raised,
To new life again,
Baptism is a visible picture,
Of an invisible reality,
That happens in our hearts,
And that's why we got some people,
Getting baptized today,
Ron,
And Celine,
And Marilyn,
And Mac,
And Damien,
As they,
They've become followers of Jesus,
In the last few months,
Or years,
And today they're showing us,
What that was like,
That their old life is dead,
And now they are living to Jesus,
But friends,
It's not just them,
All of us,
Need to choose to,
Follow Jesus as Lord and King,
And they've made that decision,
Today they're showing that,
But it's not just a once off decision,
It's actually something you live out,
The whole of the rest of your life,
And so all of us in the room,
Whether you're a follower of Jesus,
And maybe you need to do it again,
Or you're not a follower of Jesus,
And you need to do it for the first time,
All of us need to,
Follow,
Give ourselves wholeheartedly,
To him as King,
And Lord,
So friends,
As we come to a close,
Let me ask you,
Does that describe you?
Are you a follower of Jesus?
Have you given your life to him?
Have you turned from the me-centered way of life,
To Christ-centered?
Have you put your hope in,
In Jesus alone,
And what he did on the cross for you?
Friends,
Are you still trying to live for your own kingdom,
And your own glory?
Friends,
Jesus went to the cross,
And he died for your sin,
And your shame,
Jesus gave up his life,
So that you can find life in his name,
And the amazing thing,
The Bible says,
There is no sin,
That is too big,
To disqualify you,
But there's no sin,
That's too small,
That doesn't need to be brought,
Before God in repentance,
And that means all of us,
And Peter actually says that,
He says,
God made a promise here,
For you,
And for all who are far off,
For all,
Anyone,
Who calls on the name of the Lord,
So friends,
What about you?
Have you followed Jesus?
Have you trusted in him?
Or are you still trusting yourself?
Jesus came to earth for you,
To die,
So that you can know him,
So that your old life of death can die,
And you can be raised to new life,
In this world,
And forever and ever,
And on that day,
3,000 people put their faith in Jesus,
And trusted him,
And they became new people,
If you're not a follower of Jesus,
I would love you to join those 3,000,
And join the 150 or so of us here today,
That have done that sometime in our lifetime,
And become a follower of Jesus,
And let him change you forever,
Why don't we do that now,
As we come to him in prayer,
Let me pray for us,
Lord Jesus,
Thank you so much for your amazing grace,
Thank you for the gift of the spirit,
The life giving breath of God,
In our hearts,
Jesus we could never ever,
Live the life that you've called us to,
Without your death and resurrection,
And without your ascension,
And without your spirit,
So God we love you,
We thank you,
We need you,
Lord Jesus if there are,
For those of us in the room,
That aren't followers of Jesus,
Won't you open the eyes of our hearts,
To see you,
And to know you,
And to follow you,
To become Christians Lord,
And to love you,
And to live with you,
As Lord and King,
In this world,
And forever and ever,
God give us faith,
We pray in your great name,
Amen.