WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:23.379 We are in our evening series on the Holy Spirit. 00:00:23.379 --> 00:00:27.960 Looking at passages about the Holy Spirit all throughout the Bible, we just read one 00:00:27.960 --> 00:00:29.280 of them. 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:34.560 So far we've seen that the Holy Spirit is the giver of life, the creator of the world, 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:38.799 that the Holy Spirit is the guide across all of world history, that the Holy Spirit is 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:43.280 the author of Scripture, that the Holy Spirit is the giver of new life, that the Holy Spirit 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:45.640 is the comforter and advocate. 00:00:45.640 --> 00:00:52.400 And tonight we see that the Spirit is the inaugurator of the new covenant, the bringer 00:00:52.400 --> 00:00:53.400 of a new age. 00:00:53.400 --> 00:00:57.640 That's what we read about here in Acts chapter 2. 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:03.719 And here in Acts 2 we learn that we do live all of us now, and in 2022 we live in the 00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:05.040 age of the Spirit. 00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:12.079 That's the age that we live in, and it starts right here at Pentecost in the New Testament. 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:13.879 And so what does that mean? 00:01:13.879 --> 00:01:19.200 Well, when you look at the Spirit in the Old Testament and the New Testament, and if you 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:24.680 do a really careful reading of all the times that we're told about the Spirit of God, Old 00:01:24.680 --> 00:01:26.159 Testament and the New Testament. 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:29.599 One of the things you'll see is that there's a difference. 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:32.920 And that difference is not in who the Spirit is. 00:01:32.920 --> 00:01:38.039 It's not in the fact of the Spirit coming down, but there is a difference between Old 00:01:38.039 --> 00:01:42.199 Testament and New Testament and who has the Spirit. 00:01:42.199 --> 00:01:48.840 And so you can go through a bunch of Old Testament texts like Numbers 27 where it says that Joshua, 00:01:48.840 --> 00:01:53.400 God says to Moses, Joshua is a man who has the Spirit. 00:01:53.400 --> 00:01:56.120 Not everybody does, but Joshua has the Spirit. 00:01:56.120 --> 00:02:02.960 Or Judges 13, Samson pulls down the Philistine temple by the power of the Spirit, but the 00:02:02.960 --> 00:02:05.480 Spirit comes to him and then the Spirit leaves him. 00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:07.800 It's temporary. 00:02:07.800 --> 00:02:11.319 Or King Saul, a great example, 1 Samuel 10. 00:02:11.319 --> 00:02:16.560 King Saul, the first king of Israel and the king that was ultimately cursed, it's that 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:21.159 he has the Spirit, but then the Spirit leaves. 00:02:21.159 --> 00:02:22.159 It's temporary. 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:26.439 So you come through those passages and you get to the prophets. 00:02:26.439 --> 00:02:33.400 Isaiah 44, verse 3, all of a sudden God says, one day it will come to pass that I will pour 00:02:33.400 --> 00:02:39.240 out my Spirit on all flesh, on all the peoples of the world. 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:45.639 And that means that in the Old Testament, the gift of the Spirit is partial, temporary, 00:02:45.639 --> 00:02:48.159 and selective. 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:54.199 And when you come to the New Testament, well, the day was coming according to Isaiah 44 00:02:54.199 --> 00:03:00.719 where the Spirit would be poured out on all flesh, on all peoples in fullness. 00:03:00.719 --> 00:03:03.000 That's what we're told is the difference. 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:08.879 And that means that Acts chapter 2 is the hinge of history. 00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:10.960 It's the hinge that the door swings on. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:12.680 It's the age of the Spirit. 00:03:12.680 --> 00:03:15.759 Right here is come in Acts chapter 2. 00:03:15.759 --> 00:03:20.079 And some would even say this moment is the beginning of the New Covenant. 00:03:20.079 --> 00:03:23.719 This is when the New Covenant really comes into the world in full, the era of the New 00:03:23.719 --> 00:03:25.399 Covenant. 00:03:25.399 --> 00:03:28.959 And one of the theologians, I really like to read, he asked this question. 00:03:28.959 --> 00:03:35.000 He says, the question for the Christian is always, do you know what time it is? 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:37.319 And that means, do you know what age you live in? 00:03:37.319 --> 00:03:39.719 Do you know the season that you're in? 00:03:39.719 --> 00:03:43.879 And the season that you're in that we're in is the age of the Spirit. 00:03:43.879 --> 00:03:45.079 That's what time it is. 00:03:45.080 --> 00:03:47.160 That's the time that we're living in. 00:03:47.160 --> 00:03:52.520 And so we've got to do tonight what they did at the end of this passage in chapter 2 verse 00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:53.520 12. 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:57.120 It says that everybody was amazed and perplexed. 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:00.920 And then they looked at one another and said, what does this mean? 00:04:00.920 --> 00:04:02.320 And so that's the question. 00:04:02.320 --> 00:04:03.640 What does this mean? 00:04:03.640 --> 00:04:04.640 What does it mean? 00:04:04.640 --> 00:04:06.280 What does Pentecost mean? 00:04:06.280 --> 00:04:07.760 What's the age of the Spirit really mean? 00:04:07.760 --> 00:04:11.120 We don't want to ask it the way that they asked it in verse 13. 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:12.200 Some said, what does this mean? 00:04:12.200 --> 00:04:14.760 The other people said, it mean they're just drunk. 00:04:14.759 --> 00:04:15.759 We don't think they're drunk. 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:17.519 We think it means something. 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:21.120 And so let's ask the question of verse 12 here. 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:22.120 What does it mean? 00:04:22.120 --> 00:04:24.599 Here's what it means, three things. 00:04:24.599 --> 00:04:32.159 The age of the Spirit means this, that in this age God turns ordinary people into mountaintop 00:04:32.159 --> 00:04:33.639 temples. 00:04:33.639 --> 00:04:38.039 Secondly, He creates powerful prophets. 00:04:38.039 --> 00:04:42.920 And finally, He makes God's people truly Catholic. 00:04:42.920 --> 00:04:49.400 Another way to say it is that the Spirit creates mountains, ministries, and a new city. 00:04:49.400 --> 00:04:50.400 All right? 00:04:50.400 --> 00:04:51.960 So let's look at that together. 00:04:51.960 --> 00:04:58.360 First, in the age of the Spirit, God is turning ordinary people into mountaintop temples. 00:04:58.360 --> 00:05:01.480 God creates mountains. 00:05:01.480 --> 00:05:03.319 Luke wrote this book, Acts. 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:07.120 He wrote the Gospel of Luke and then also this book as well. 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:13.040 And at the beginning of Luke, the Gospel, you've got Luke chapter 4, and Jesus steps 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:17.280 into the synagogue at the beginning of His ministry and He reads from the scroll in Isaiah 00:05:17.280 --> 00:05:22.959 61, and He says this, the Spirit of God has anointed me. 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:27.759 And He says that on Him has fallen the fullness of the Spirit. 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:31.360 And so when you say, Jesus, how did you perform the miracles? 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:35.360 How did you live in the desert for 40 days without food and water? 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:38.240 How did you do everything in your ministry on earth? 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:41.360 And the answer is He did it by the Spirit. 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:43.560 He had the fullness of the Spirit of God come upon Him. 00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:46.480 Now you flip over to Acts chapter 2. 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:47.920 Remember Luke wrote Luke? 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:51.240 The beginning of Luke is the beginning of Jesus' ministry. 00:05:51.240 --> 00:05:55.879 Luke wrote Acts, and the beginning of Acts is the ministry of the church. 00:05:55.879 --> 00:06:00.040 And at the very beginning of the ministry of the church, we see that the church is going 00:06:00.040 --> 00:06:05.760 to do everything, its ministry, by the fullness of the Spirit coming down. 00:06:05.760 --> 00:06:10.120 Jesus read from Isaiah 61 and says the Spirit's come on me. 00:06:10.120 --> 00:06:14.360 And then Peter, if you just cast your eyes down, if you have a Bible you can see down 00:06:14.360 --> 00:06:20.200 in verse 17, a little bit past where we read, Peter's going to explain Pentecost and say, 00:06:20.200 --> 00:06:22.960 this all comes from Joel chapter 2. 00:06:22.960 --> 00:06:27.759 And in Joel chapter 2, it says, I'm going to pour my Spirit upon every single people 00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:33.959 group, upon all the sons and all the daughters, men and women, everybody, just like the beginning 00:06:33.959 --> 00:06:39.719 of Jesus' ministry, so the ministry of the church begins with the pouring of the fullness 00:06:39.719 --> 00:06:40.719 of the Spirit. 00:06:40.719 --> 00:06:48.120 Now, the context here means everything, and the context is that it's Pentecost. 00:06:48.120 --> 00:06:52.680 And you can see in verse 1 of this chapter, the day of Pentecost arrived. 00:06:52.680 --> 00:06:56.719 That's when all of this goes down, all of this happens. 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:04.200 And Pentecost comes, it's named according to the prefix of the word Pentecost, you know, 00:07:04.200 --> 00:07:10.560 you all know the Pentagon and the US are, you can think of other words that start with 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:11.560 pent. 00:07:11.560 --> 00:07:12.560 They all mean five, right? 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:14.160 It's the number five, Pentecost. 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:23.280 Pentecost is named Pentecost because it comes 50 days after the Passover feast. 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:28.679 So the Passover feast is the feast that they celebrated in the leaving of Egypt as slaves, 00:07:28.679 --> 00:07:31.039 the crossing of the Red Sea. 00:07:31.039 --> 00:07:32.719 50 days later is Pentecost. 00:07:32.719 --> 00:07:39.319 And Pentecost, for Israel, you see it in Leviticus 23, numbers five, it has two meanings, and 00:07:39.319 --> 00:07:40.839 they're so important. 00:07:40.839 --> 00:07:44.719 First, Pentecost was simply the beginning of the harvest. 00:07:44.719 --> 00:07:49.799 So the Pentecost feast was the first fruits coming in from the grain and the wheat. 00:07:49.800 --> 00:07:54.319 So at Pentecost, the farmers would go out, gather the grain, gather the wheat, and then 00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:59.160 they would pilgrimage to Jerusalem to take an offering of the very first harvest that 00:07:59.160 --> 00:08:00.660 had come in. 00:08:00.660 --> 00:08:04.939 So it has the meaning of the harvest has come, the first fruits have come. 00:08:04.939 --> 00:08:08.639 But over time, it developed a second meaning. 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:14.280 And by the time of Jesus' day, when everybody's here in Jerusalem, it's not just about the 00:08:14.280 --> 00:08:17.080 harvest, but it's about something else. 00:08:17.079 --> 00:08:23.319 And that's that Israel just so happened to arrive at Mount Sinai after they crossed over 00:08:23.319 --> 00:08:27.959 the Red Sea 50 days after they crossed the Red Sea. 00:08:27.959 --> 00:08:32.199 So 50 days after Israel crosses to the Red Sea, they come to Mount Sinai. 00:08:32.199 --> 00:08:36.600 And did you know they get there in Exodus 18? 00:08:36.600 --> 00:08:43.000 And they don't leave Mount Sinai until Numbers 14? 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:50.799 Now Genesis Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy covers thousands of years of history. 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:57.399 And 67 of the books, all the way from Exodus 19, all the way to the end of Exodus, all 00:08:57.399 --> 00:09:02.240 the way through Leviticus, most of the way through Numbers, is all at Sinai. 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:04.120 They're at Mount Sinai. 00:09:04.120 --> 00:09:08.360 And that only covers less than one year of Israel's history. 00:09:08.360 --> 00:09:11.559 And that means that Mount Sinai is important. 00:09:11.559 --> 00:09:16.359 We can at least say that if it devotes that many chapters, it's very important. 00:09:16.359 --> 00:09:18.599 And what happens when they get to Sinai? 00:09:18.599 --> 00:09:25.079 50 days, the day of Pentecost, right after they leave the Exodus lands, the lands of 00:09:25.079 --> 00:09:26.079 Egypt. 00:09:26.079 --> 00:09:31.279 Exodus 18, right when they get there, God comes to the mountain. 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:33.639 It says, how? 00:09:33.639 --> 00:09:35.079 You could read Exodus 2, you could guess. 00:09:35.079 --> 00:09:40.919 God comes to the mountain in a mighty wind and fire. 00:09:40.919 --> 00:09:42.719 And they get to Mount Sinai. 00:09:42.719 --> 00:09:48.759 They see God come down in the mighty rushing wind and fire. 00:09:48.759 --> 00:09:52.199 And if you read Acts chapter 2, you see that on the day of Pentecost, when they were all 00:09:52.199 --> 00:09:58.479 together, suddenly from heaven there came the mighty rushing wind and the fire into 00:09:58.479 --> 00:10:01.159 the place that they were gathered. 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:02.519 Now why? 00:10:02.519 --> 00:10:08.240 Because God comes down and he says, I present myself in fire. 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:12.639 And I think that God is saying there that I am light. 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:14.080 The Bible says that over and over. 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:15.480 He's light. 00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:18.519 He is everything that is good and pure. 00:10:18.519 --> 00:10:21.320 Fire has this element of purification. 00:10:21.320 --> 00:10:22.480 He lights up the world. 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:24.080 He gives light and life. 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:25.200 Fire gives us life. 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:26.200 It heats us. 00:10:26.200 --> 00:10:27.680 It keeps us alive. 00:10:27.680 --> 00:10:32.879 But one of the most powerful things about fire is not only that it's life giving, but 00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:36.000 that it's dangerous. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:39.120 And at Mount Sinai, God is dangerous. 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:44.919 The people in Exodus 18 and 19, they won't go near the mountain. 00:10:44.919 --> 00:10:47.480 They're shaking in their boots. 00:10:47.480 --> 00:10:53.000 And only Moses, Moses, he's invited by God to come up the mountain and he goes and he 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:55.720 sees God face to face. 00:10:55.720 --> 00:10:59.539 God appears to Moses there on top of the mountain. 00:10:59.539 --> 00:11:05.480 And by the time you get to Jeremiah 31, the new covenant promise. 00:11:05.480 --> 00:11:09.680 You see, Moses went up that he was the only one that could go into the fire to see the 00:11:09.680 --> 00:11:13.279 fire, to dwell with the living God on the mountain of God. 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:15.320 And what does he do when he comes down? 00:11:15.320 --> 00:11:16.320 What did he come down to carry? 00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:19.519 He came down carrying the law of God. 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:24.000 And you get to the new covenant promise in Jeremiah 31, 33, and there are two things 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:25.800 we're told. 00:11:25.800 --> 00:11:33.759 One day my spirit, the fire, will come upon all of you and I will write the law on your 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:35.759 heart. 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:40.759 Moses was the only one that could go up and see the living God and hear the law of God. 00:11:40.759 --> 00:11:45.439 And then the new covenant promise is one day you will have the fire yourself. 00:11:45.439 --> 00:11:47.360 You will see it. 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:49.559 And the law will be written on your heart. 00:11:49.559 --> 00:11:50.919 It won't just be through Moses. 00:11:50.919 --> 00:11:54.799 It'll come straight into your life, into your heart. 00:11:54.799 --> 00:12:02.799 You see, the fire would consume anybody in the Old Testament but the mediator himself. 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:08.759 But one day the age, the age was coming when you could stand in the presence of the fiery 00:12:08.759 --> 00:12:11.559 God and not be consumed. 00:12:11.559 --> 00:12:16.919 Now when you come to Acts chapter two again in verse one and two, we know that the people 00:12:16.919 --> 00:12:20.519 that are gathered there that day are ordinary people. 00:12:20.519 --> 00:12:22.199 It's not just the 12 disciples. 00:12:22.199 --> 00:12:27.079 If you were to read back in Acts one, you'll learn that it's actually 120 people gathered 00:12:27.079 --> 00:12:28.799 in that house together. 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:35.679 And all of a sudden the mighty wind comes in, the rushing wind, and the fire comes down. 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:38.359 And not just that, oh boy. 00:12:38.359 --> 00:12:39.359 You see what it's saying? 00:12:39.359 --> 00:12:42.959 It's saying, where's Mount Sinai now? 00:12:42.959 --> 00:12:47.479 Mount Sinai's come into the very presence of this ordinary group of 120 people who are 00:12:47.479 --> 00:12:53.679 mixed race, mixed socioeconomic background, all sorts, Jews and Gentiles. 00:12:53.679 --> 00:12:55.919 And the fire of God has come. 00:12:55.919 --> 00:12:58.439 That there's a new Mount Sinai. 00:12:58.440 --> 00:13:02.240 And then when you look at it carefully, you see that the fire, and notice this in verse 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:06.760 two, it says that the fire, verse three, sorry, differentiates itself. 00:13:06.760 --> 00:13:09.280 It says, and divided tongues. 00:13:09.280 --> 00:13:15.520 Not the most, one of the more helpful ways of saying it would be, and the fire divided 00:13:15.520 --> 00:13:21.400 itself, differentiated itself, and spread and came upon each of them. 00:13:21.400 --> 00:13:27.640 And that means that at Pentecost, at Pentecost, it's saying that the love of God, the presence 00:13:27.639 --> 00:13:35.559 of God, comes down on ordinary people individually, personally. 00:13:35.559 --> 00:13:42.080 And that God establishes a personal relationship with every single person that is in his church, 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:45.559 and makes them into a fiery mountain. 00:13:45.559 --> 00:13:49.279 He makes them into a mountain-top temple. 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:53.679 God loves in the Old Testament to come down on the tops of mountains and fire. 00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:54.679 We see that in Eden. 00:13:54.679 --> 00:13:56.480 We see that on Mount Sinai. 00:13:56.480 --> 00:14:00.480 You burn over again, and you come to the New Testament, and it says that the Spirit of God 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:08.440 comes down and turns Christians into mountain-top temples, that you are Sinai itself in the 00:14:08.440 --> 00:14:10.360 New Covenant. 00:14:10.360 --> 00:14:14.440 And that means that you've got, like Jesus, the fullness of the Spirit coming alongside 00:14:14.440 --> 00:14:17.560 you, coming along to be with you. 00:14:17.560 --> 00:14:23.120 Now, Christian friends tonight, you are, if you're a believer tonight, you're a mountain-top 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:25.860 temple of the living God. 00:14:25.860 --> 00:14:32.919 And let me say three applications for you, why this matters. 00:14:32.919 --> 00:14:38.879 The first thing is for those, maybe, who are coming tonight that don't yet confess to being 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:44.000 a Christian, or maybe you're coming tonight and you're exploring the claims of faith, 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:47.960 the claims of Christianity, you're curious, or you're upset with it. 00:14:47.960 --> 00:14:49.240 You're not sure what to think about it. 00:14:49.240 --> 00:14:51.120 Let me say this. 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:56.320 This is it, just here at least the Christian claim, what we're saying here. 00:14:56.320 --> 00:15:03.960 When the world looks at the church, and the articles are written, and the tweets are tweeted, 00:15:03.960 --> 00:15:08.639 whatever it may be, the world looks at the church and is constantly drawing false conclusions 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:11.200 about what the church is. 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:17.799 And people will say that the church is a 2,000-year-old power play, a 2,000-year-old abuse of power, 00:15:17.799 --> 00:15:18.799 whatever it might be. 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:21.159 It's a 2,000-year-old state religion. 00:15:21.159 --> 00:15:23.120 And let me say what Pentecost says. 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:26.079 This is the Christian claim, at least. 00:15:26.079 --> 00:15:29.759 And I'm not going to defend it, I'm going to say it's here. 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:36.359 That claim, that critique will always fail because we must see tonight that the church 00:15:36.359 --> 00:15:41.159 is entirely the product of the Spirit of God. 00:15:41.159 --> 00:15:49.480 The church is born and bred throughout all of human history by the power of the Spirit 00:15:49.480 --> 00:15:51.279 of God. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:54.839 That God does it all. 00:15:54.839 --> 00:16:01.559 That the living God makes the church by making people into mountaintop temples, by bringing 00:16:01.559 --> 00:16:03.480 the fire down into people's lives. 00:16:03.480 --> 00:16:09.799 Now, that means, if that's true, that Christianity is not a dead religion, it's not an old state 00:16:09.799 --> 00:16:13.719 religion, it's not a social group, it's not a 2,000-year-old power play. 00:16:13.719 --> 00:16:15.439 It's the product of the living God. 00:16:15.439 --> 00:16:17.439 And His presence come down into the world. 00:16:17.439 --> 00:16:22.599 And Martin Lloyd-Jones, he says something, I think, that many of us will feel. 00:16:22.599 --> 00:16:23.599 This is what he says. 00:16:23.599 --> 00:16:24.879 He says, look, it's true. 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:31.599 Large numbers of people have gone to church all their lives out of a sense of duty, hoping 00:16:31.599 --> 00:16:35.719 each week that the service will not be too long. 00:16:35.719 --> 00:16:38.679 Each week they felt nothing at all. 00:16:38.679 --> 00:16:44.519 The service has been absolutely lifeless, the singing miserable, the intoning of the 00:16:44.519 --> 00:16:45.519 scriptures boring. 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:46.959 He's not talking about you guys. 00:16:46.959 --> 00:16:48.079 Don't worry. 00:16:48.079 --> 00:16:51.759 The intoning of the scriptures boring, that's preaching. 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:52.759 Sometimes that's very true. 00:16:52.759 --> 00:16:58.319 There has been no power, no vigor, and because they've thought that is Christianity, they've 00:16:58.319 --> 00:17:00.399 turned their backs to it. 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:05.399 Now, look, don't miss the truth. 00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:10.160 Even if you come away tonight and say, what a boring sermon, maybe you will, that's okay. 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:17.160 The truth, however, is that Christianity happens whenever the activity of God comes down. 00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:20.920 Whenever God the Spirit comes into the room. 00:17:20.920 --> 00:17:28.840 And we hear here, suddenly there came a sound from heaven, a mighty rushing wind. 00:17:28.840 --> 00:17:34.280 And that's what Christianity is, the very presence of God in the world. 00:17:34.279 --> 00:17:40.680 Now secondly, application is if you're to be a Christian tonight, to have this, we learn 00:17:40.680 --> 00:17:46.279 here that you've got to have the wind and the fire in your life. 00:17:46.279 --> 00:17:49.720 You know, you've got to become a mountaintop temple. 00:17:49.720 --> 00:17:51.639 You've got to have the spirit. 00:17:51.639 --> 00:17:56.359 The age of the spirit means to be a Christian, you've got to have the spirit. 00:17:56.359 --> 00:18:00.839 And I'm not going to spend much time on this, but what I want to say is this, if you're 00:18:00.839 --> 00:18:04.879 here tonight and you don't know, you say, you know, I read about Pentecost and about 00:18:04.879 --> 00:18:10.119 the fire that comes down and boy, of course I want to have that fire in my life, but I 00:18:10.119 --> 00:18:11.119 just don't know. 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:12.199 Look, here's what I'd say to you. 00:18:12.199 --> 00:18:16.959 If you're curious tonight about the gospel, about Christianity, don't stop seeking the 00:18:16.959 --> 00:18:19.119 living God. 00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:23.599 Because God says to you, when you seek Him, you will find Him. 00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:29.439 Don't stop seeking after the truth and looking for the living God. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:32.039 Because He will show up in your life. 00:18:32.039 --> 00:18:33.039 Don't stop. 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:37.960 Don't settle for little inspirations. 00:18:37.960 --> 00:18:40.600 Don't settle for moments of beautiful sunsets. 00:18:40.600 --> 00:18:44.920 That's great, but keep looking for the living God. 00:18:44.920 --> 00:18:48.759 And the Bible says He will come to you and He will show up in your life. 00:18:48.759 --> 00:18:53.680 Now finally, before we move on, and this is the long point, Christian friends, those of 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:58.680 you tonight who say, I'm a believer, I'm all in, I trust the Lord. 00:18:58.680 --> 00:19:03.759 I know the spirit, but you come tonight and you say, look, I read about Pentecost and I 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:07.480 don't necessarily feel like Pentecost. 00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:14.039 You know, I, oh boy, if I could have been there, if I could, if tonight the mighty rushing 00:19:14.039 --> 00:19:20.720 wind and the fire could come down and differentiate itself and fall upon me, then I would really 00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:23.200 know the power. 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:26.600 And we feel that way so often in our Christian life. 00:19:26.600 --> 00:19:27.640 You say, I want the wind. 00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:28.640 I want the fire. 00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:32.160 Here's, here's the word. 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:37.640 Jesus Christ had the fullness of the spirit like no other person in human history. 00:19:37.640 --> 00:19:41.400 And you know, he didn't walk around with a fireball above his head. 00:19:41.400 --> 00:19:42.400 Not at all. 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:47.560 And, you know, that's cheeky, but let me say it the real way. 00:19:47.560 --> 00:19:56.960 He was tired and he was weary very often and he at times had to go away and just pray. 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:01.319 And he had the fullness of the spirit in his life. 00:20:01.319 --> 00:20:08.559 And in verse three, if you notice, it says, in divided tongues appeared, quote, as of 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:09.559 fire. 00:20:09.559 --> 00:20:11.720 Now don't miss that little preposition. 00:20:11.720 --> 00:20:14.519 It doesn't say merely that fire appeared. 00:20:14.519 --> 00:20:18.240 It said divided tongues as of fire. 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:24.519 And that means that what showed up was both like fire and unlike fire at the same time. 00:20:24.519 --> 00:20:28.160 It's a very literal translation of the Greek preposition there. 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:31.359 It says as of fire. 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:34.920 And what's that saying is that you don't need fire to come down. 00:20:34.920 --> 00:20:37.639 You need the real thing. 00:20:37.639 --> 00:20:39.319 You know, it's as of fire. 00:20:39.319 --> 00:20:40.839 Fire is one thing, but you don't need fire. 00:20:40.839 --> 00:20:42.920 You need the real thing. 00:20:42.920 --> 00:20:46.559 That which was as of fire is what you need. 00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:51.400 And here I'll leave it in the words of Ambrose of Milan. 00:20:51.400 --> 00:20:54.400 Everybody is, we're always listening to Ambrose, you know. 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:59.160 Now, Ambrose of Milan, he was a preacher in the 300s, late 300s, and this is what he says 00:20:59.160 --> 00:21:00.160 about this passage. 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:03.280 He says, what is the fire? 00:21:03.280 --> 00:21:04.640 He noticed the little preposition. 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:06.519 He says, it says as of fire. 00:21:06.519 --> 00:21:08.160 What is the fire then? 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:09.800 What is the fire that has come upon you? 00:21:09.800 --> 00:21:15.560 He asks, not certainly something made up of twigs, or roaring with the burning of the 00:21:15.560 --> 00:21:19.440 reeds, or something from hot coals. 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:25.039 He says, this is undoubtedly the Holy Spirit who is called the fire and the light of the 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:27.279 countenance of God. 00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:28.279 And this is what he says. 00:21:28.279 --> 00:21:29.279 Here's three things. 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:30.960 Do you have the Spirit? 00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:33.759 Three things, Ambrose says, you know, if you have the Spirit. 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:37.960 One, you've got the seal of the Spirit tonight. 00:21:37.960 --> 00:21:39.160 That's how you know this has happened to you. 00:21:39.160 --> 00:21:40.400 The seal of the Spirit. 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:41.400 What's that? 00:21:41.400 --> 00:21:44.120 It's not the marine animal that claps its hands and stuff. 00:21:44.120 --> 00:21:49.160 It's instead more like a wax seal on a letter, a binding seal. 00:21:49.160 --> 00:21:50.960 And that closes. 00:21:50.960 --> 00:21:53.240 The seal of the Spirit is Romans 8. 00:21:53.240 --> 00:22:02.200 It's when the Spirit says to your Spirit, your consciousness, I, you are a child of God. 00:22:02.200 --> 00:22:05.680 Do you say tonight, I'm a child of God? 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:10.160 I'm a son of the King, a daughter of the King. 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:11.800 Through Jesus, by the Spirit. 00:22:11.800 --> 00:22:14.279 If you say that tonight, you've got the Spirit. 00:22:14.279 --> 00:22:15.360 You're a mountaintop temple. 00:22:15.360 --> 00:22:16.360 That's the first thing. 00:22:16.360 --> 00:22:18.680 The second thing he says is, then in second and third come together. 00:22:18.680 --> 00:22:27.720 He says, then the fire improves good deeds like gold and consumes sin like stubble. 00:22:27.720 --> 00:22:30.279 Do you say tonight that you're a child of God? 00:22:30.279 --> 00:22:31.799 And do you see change? 00:22:31.799 --> 00:22:32.960 Any change? 00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:37.560 A change of desire, a change of action, a change of love. 00:22:37.560 --> 00:22:38.560 Any of it? 00:22:38.560 --> 00:22:43.039 Is there any way in which the Spirit has come into your life and developed a heart of love 00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:47.759 in you, a different direction in your life and started to consume your little sins like 00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:48.759 stubble? 00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:51.400 Then Ambrose says, then that's the seal. 00:22:51.400 --> 00:22:53.200 You know that you have the Spirit. 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:56.759 He's working in your life. 00:22:56.759 --> 00:23:00.599 The power of the Spirit is to make ordinary people into the temple of God. 00:23:00.599 --> 00:23:01.799 Mountaintop temples, that's the first. 00:23:01.799 --> 00:23:02.799 That's our long point. 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:04.799 A couple brief points here. 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:11.000 Secondly, the age of the Spirit also creates a ministry. 00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:13.039 It makes people into powerful prophets. 00:23:13.039 --> 00:23:17.400 And we can say this briefly, but look, we've already seen that if you have the Spirit in 00:23:17.400 --> 00:23:20.759 your life, you become like a little Moses. 00:23:20.759 --> 00:23:21.920 You can go up the mountain. 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:23.860 You can have the fire of God in your life. 00:23:23.860 --> 00:23:28.400 You can approach and not be consumed. 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:29.680 And remember what Moses did? 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:31.360 It's not only that he went up. 00:23:31.360 --> 00:23:36.519 It's not only that he saw God in the mountain, but it's also that he was given the law to 00:23:36.519 --> 00:23:38.280 go down. 00:23:38.280 --> 00:23:39.280 So he had the law. 00:23:39.280 --> 00:23:40.720 He took the law of God. 00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:44.840 He went back down the mountain and he spoke the law. 00:23:44.839 --> 00:23:48.199 And that's the second meaning of this passage. 00:23:48.199 --> 00:23:52.759 The twofold meaning of Sinai in your life is not only that you get to see the fire of 00:23:52.759 --> 00:23:58.599 God, that you have him with you by the Spirit, but that you also walk down the mountain with 00:23:58.599 --> 00:24:00.639 something to say. 00:24:00.639 --> 00:24:02.199 Moses came down the mountain with the law. 00:24:02.199 --> 00:24:05.399 And here we read in verse four that they came down. 00:24:05.399 --> 00:24:12.439 They, the mountains themselves, like Moses, that they spoke in tongues. 00:24:12.440 --> 00:24:18.000 And everybody comes to this as soon as I say that and says, what does tongues mean? 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:19.000 That's the next question. 00:24:19.000 --> 00:24:20.120 I know. 00:24:20.120 --> 00:24:21.320 What is the tongues here? 00:24:21.320 --> 00:24:25.000 Well, we're not going to spend any time on this because we're going to have two sermons 00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:27.580 about the gifts of the Spirit later. 00:24:27.580 --> 00:24:29.680 But the tongues here are very obvious. 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:31.000 You can't miss it. 00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:36.600 They were able to speak in languages, native languages, that they did not know prior. 00:24:36.600 --> 00:24:39.039 Very clearly here it says that. 00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:41.000 But the point is not to focus on the mirror. 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:42.519 It is a miracle what God did there. 00:24:42.519 --> 00:24:47.279 The point is to see the thing that God does by Pentecost throughout all of history. 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:51.920 And that's, he makes you into a mountaintop temple and then he sends you out with something 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:53.960 to say. 00:24:53.960 --> 00:24:59.559 And that means that like Moses, you go out with a message, you become a powerful prophet. 00:24:59.559 --> 00:25:01.119 And that's the real meaning of the text. 00:25:01.119 --> 00:25:07.079 The age of the Spirit is when the Spirit gives you power and inspiration in your life to speak 00:25:07.079 --> 00:25:09.079 the very message of God. 00:25:09.079 --> 00:25:12.079 Now, very quickly, who spoke it here? 00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:13.919 It's not just the apostles, right? 00:25:13.919 --> 00:25:18.839 Actually, you learn when they start to speak, it says, quote, all of them were able to do 00:25:18.839 --> 00:25:20.039 this. 00:25:20.039 --> 00:25:26.519 All 120, it's referring to all sorts of people that fits with Joel too, because Peter comes 00:25:26.519 --> 00:25:31.679 later and says, in that day, every son, every daughter, every man, every woman will be given 00:25:31.679 --> 00:25:38.199 the power to speak the word of God to people in the world will be given that ministry every 00:25:38.200 --> 00:25:42.759 son by the power of the Spirit that the age of the Spirit means you become an instrument 00:25:42.759 --> 00:25:45.080 of the word like Moses was. 00:25:45.080 --> 00:25:51.000 Now, the power itself, listen to what John Stott says about the power. 00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:56.840 You say tonight, I don't feel the power to speak the message. 00:25:56.840 --> 00:25:57.920 This is what Stott points out. 00:25:57.920 --> 00:26:03.200 He says the speakers here were known to be Galileans. 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:04.680 Verse seven points that out. 00:26:04.680 --> 00:26:07.680 They had a reputation for being uncultured. 00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:11.880 They had difficulty pronouncing the gutter rules and had the habit of swallowing their 00:26:11.880 --> 00:26:13.840 syllables when speaking. 00:26:13.840 --> 00:26:20.320 They were looked down upon by the people of Jerusalem as being uncultured and provincial. 00:26:20.320 --> 00:26:26.000 It's not surprising, therefore, that the crowds reaction in verse six was bewilderment. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:28.320 Aren't these all Galileans? 00:26:28.320 --> 00:26:31.240 They don't even know how to speak proper Hebrew. 00:26:31.240 --> 00:26:33.480 You might say that about me tonight. 00:26:33.480 --> 00:26:34.880 Isn't he an American? 00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:35.880 Right? 00:26:35.880 --> 00:26:41.000 Here's what the text says, that the Spirit comes in and gives you the ability to speak 00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:42.840 even when you're a bad speaker. 00:26:42.840 --> 00:26:43.840 That's what it's talking about here. 00:26:43.840 --> 00:26:45.360 It says, aren't these guys just Galileans? 00:26:45.360 --> 00:26:48.560 They don't even know how to speak proper Hebrew and Aramaic. 00:26:48.560 --> 00:26:53.640 Yet now, they're speaking all these different languages and they're speaking a message of 00:26:53.640 --> 00:26:56.440 power and the point is where does the power come from? 00:26:56.440 --> 00:26:59.600 The power comes from the fire, the Spirit. 00:26:59.600 --> 00:27:04.040 The power comes through you by the way of the Spirit. 00:27:04.040 --> 00:27:05.040 One more time. 00:27:05.039 --> 00:27:07.119 This is what John's, this is what he says about it. 00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:12.759 It seems to me to be simply ludicrous to suggest that such men without any learning, without 00:27:12.759 --> 00:27:17.720 any influence of authority, without money, with none of the means of propaganda, that 00:27:17.720 --> 00:27:22.359 such men by their own efforts and abilities could succeed in doing what we read in the 00:27:22.359 --> 00:27:25.480 pages of Acts, the book of Acts. 00:27:25.480 --> 00:27:27.079 How did it come about? 00:27:27.079 --> 00:27:28.799 There's only one answer. 00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:34.200 The world was turned upside down not because of what they did, but because of what God 00:27:34.200 --> 00:27:38.480 did to them, in them, by means of them. 00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:43.039 That is the essential message concerning the Christian church, her meaning, her function, 00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:45.039 and her purpose. 00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:48.080 How are these uncultured, uneducated people able to flip the world up? 00:27:48.080 --> 00:27:55.319 The Greco-Roman Empire upside down in a generation because the Spirit of God gave them a message. 00:27:55.319 --> 00:27:56.559 They became like Moses. 00:27:56.559 --> 00:27:59.279 They came down from the mountain with a word. 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:04.559 That word we're told very clearly in the next passage is that young men, old men, sons, 00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:08.480 and daughters would all come with the same word. 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:13.359 In the first Pentecost, Moses comes down and speaks the law. 00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:19.160 The law says, thou shalt not covet, thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt 00:28:19.160 --> 00:28:21.759 not commit adultery, thou shalt not make an idol. 00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:27.559 Oh boy, when Jesus opens up the Ten Commandments to us, he says, that's every one of us. 00:28:27.559 --> 00:28:31.519 The law condemns, and that's the word that Moses spoke. 00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:35.960 But here Peter tells us in the next passage that at the second Pentecost, the word that 00:28:35.960 --> 00:28:40.200 we bring is no longer the law, but the gospel. 00:28:40.200 --> 00:28:44.119 That the way to God is not through obedience, but by grace. 00:28:44.119 --> 00:28:49.279 That he who knew no sin, Jesus Christ, became sin for us. 00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:50.919 And that's the very message that we bring. 00:28:50.919 --> 00:28:57.159 Verse 11 calls it, they preached in the tongues the mighty works of God. 00:28:57.160 --> 00:29:03.960 The mighty work of God to save sinners by grace and Christ, not by the law. 00:29:03.960 --> 00:29:06.600 The first Pentecost, Moses brings the law. 00:29:06.600 --> 00:29:11.279 The second Pentecost, the people, God, the mountaintop temples that we've become, we 00:29:11.279 --> 00:29:13.320 bring the gospel. 00:29:13.320 --> 00:29:18.840 Now do you feel the lack of power and courage in your life tonight to do that? 00:29:18.840 --> 00:29:26.840 Listen, I'm just gonna say, I'm just gonna assert the fact, the spirit has made you into 00:29:26.839 --> 00:29:28.559 the prophet of God. 00:29:28.559 --> 00:29:31.039 That's what we learn here. 00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:37.599 God shows the ineliquent Galileans, and so he chooses us to speak the message. 00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:40.519 And so here's a diagnostic question for you. 00:29:40.519 --> 00:29:45.240 Who are you sharing the gospel with in your life right now? 00:29:45.240 --> 00:29:52.879 And who are you praying for to come to faith in your life right now? 00:29:52.880 --> 00:29:59.680 And ask the spirit tonight for firepower, you know, ask the spirit to show you someone, 00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:04.840 to help you, to change your heart, to move you towards people. 00:30:04.840 --> 00:30:07.520 Ask the spirit to show you and to show up. 00:30:07.520 --> 00:30:15.440 Augustine says at the end of his commentary on this passage, he says, now run you little 00:30:15.440 --> 00:30:17.880 fires and make him known. 00:30:17.880 --> 00:30:18.880 All right. 00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:24.840 Thirdly and finally, in the age of the spirit, God not only makes people into mountains, 00:30:24.840 --> 00:30:30.480 he not only makes them powerful prophets, gives them a ministry, but lastly, he also 00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:34.080 makes us truly Catholic. 00:30:34.080 --> 00:30:35.720 He makes us into a city. 00:30:35.720 --> 00:30:38.080 That's another way of saying it. 00:30:38.080 --> 00:30:44.800 Now what we've said, Pentecost is two things, the harvest and Sinai. 00:30:44.800 --> 00:30:47.480 And we've really only talked about Sinai so far. 00:30:47.480 --> 00:30:49.039 But here we also see the harvest. 00:30:49.039 --> 00:30:53.960 We see that later on, 3,000 people come to faith that day. 00:30:53.960 --> 00:30:58.480 And if the original Pentecost was about bringing the first fruits of your actual grain, oh, 00:30:58.480 --> 00:31:03.920 boy, the second Pentecost is about bringing 3,000 souls, the new harvest, the first fruits 00:31:03.920 --> 00:31:07.000 of the church on that day. 00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:10.799 There's one more thing that it's about from the Old Testament, one more way of reading 00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:11.799 it. 00:31:11.799 --> 00:31:14.480 That's not as obvious. 00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:21.120 Next week on October 24, the kids here in Edinburgh have another holiday, an extra couple days 00:31:21.120 --> 00:31:24.079 for the Queen's funeral because it was on a bank holiday. 00:31:24.079 --> 00:31:26.400 We have a new holiday next week. 00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:32.279 Here next to God declares Pentecost is a new holiday in a way that you might not see at 00:31:32.279 --> 00:31:33.519 first. 00:31:33.519 --> 00:31:38.039 And that's that it is the holiday, the day of the mark of the coming of the city of 00:31:38.039 --> 00:31:40.799 God. 00:31:40.799 --> 00:31:43.400 And you see it in verse four, they all speak in tongues. 00:31:43.400 --> 00:31:45.320 We know that those tongues are native languages. 00:31:45.320 --> 00:31:50.560 And then in verse five, they speak to people from every nation under heaven. 00:31:50.560 --> 00:31:55.280 That's every nation under the sky in the known world that they live in. 00:31:55.280 --> 00:31:58.240 And then we're told exactly who those people were. 00:31:58.240 --> 00:32:03.360 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia. 00:32:03.360 --> 00:32:05.280 That's everybody in the East. 00:32:05.280 --> 00:32:07.640 So that's Iran. 00:32:07.640 --> 00:32:08.720 That's Iraq. 00:32:08.720 --> 00:32:10.600 That's that sort of area. 00:32:10.599 --> 00:32:16.759 And then it moves to the five areas of Asia Minor, Capodosia, Pontus, Asia, Frisia, Pamphylia. 00:32:16.759 --> 00:32:19.000 That's Turkey and Greece. 00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:20.000 That's where it's talking about. 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:23.879 And then it moves all the way to Rome and the Cretans. 00:32:23.879 --> 00:32:25.000 And so you see it moves. 00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:27.000 He's moving on a map there from east to west. 00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:29.359 I guess that would be this way to this way for you guys. 00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:31.199 That's right. 00:32:31.199 --> 00:32:35.279 He's moving from Iran all the way to Rome there and saying there are people in this space 00:32:35.279 --> 00:32:42.000 right now because of the festival all the way from Iran to Rome present day to Italy. 00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:47.319 And all of a sudden they're speaking Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and the commentators 00:32:47.319 --> 00:32:51.079 estimate probably about 30 other languages. 00:32:51.079 --> 00:32:55.079 So these 120 are speaking about 30 different languages and everybody's hearing the gospel 00:32:55.079 --> 00:32:57.039 in their own native tongue. 00:32:57.039 --> 00:33:00.319 Now, Christians for centuries have said it. 00:33:00.319 --> 00:33:03.240 The age of the spirit makes ordinary people into Moses. 00:33:03.240 --> 00:33:11.480 It puts the gospel into our mouths, but it also flips the disunity of ethnicities and 00:33:11.480 --> 00:33:15.200 the separation of people groups on its head. 00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:23.440 And here we see that God is making a new people, a new city from all the lands, all the nations, 00:33:23.440 --> 00:33:28.599 and all the languages into one people again. 00:33:28.599 --> 00:33:34.679 And that means that this is the reversal of the Tower of Babel. 00:33:34.679 --> 00:33:41.279 In the Tower of Babel, I grew up saying Babel, but I know we say Babel here, so I'm trying. 00:33:41.279 --> 00:33:46.000 Babel, at the Tower of Babel, this is the great picture of what we call the city of man. 00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:47.000 That's what Augustine called it. 00:33:47.000 --> 00:33:51.799 He said it's the city where human beings find their ultimate meaning apart from God the 00:33:51.799 --> 00:33:55.119 Creator where they try to build their life without God. 00:33:55.119 --> 00:33:59.639 They build their own religious temple and they do it to cast God out of the heavenly 00:33:59.639 --> 00:34:01.119 place. 00:34:01.119 --> 00:34:02.319 And that's the city of man. 00:34:02.319 --> 00:34:09.000 It says that whenever people come together, they have collective power, and in their sin, 00:34:09.000 --> 00:34:14.559 they use that collective power to compound evil upon evil upon evil until they destroy 00:34:14.559 --> 00:34:16.039 the world. 00:34:16.039 --> 00:34:17.199 That's the flood. 00:34:17.199 --> 00:34:18.199 That's the Tower of Babel. 00:34:18.199 --> 00:34:22.519 What happens over and over again in Israelite history and the Bible says it's the city 00:34:22.519 --> 00:34:23.920 of man. 00:34:23.920 --> 00:34:29.159 It's the city that we build by ourselves, the city of evil, the one that wants to cast 00:34:29.159 --> 00:34:30.680 God out of the heavenly place. 00:34:30.680 --> 00:34:33.400 And God does a mercy to them. 00:34:33.400 --> 00:34:36.760 He scatters them by confusing their speech. 00:34:36.760 --> 00:34:42.320 He forces the development of difference so that they might not sin against God and be 00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:44.079 lost forever. 00:34:44.079 --> 00:34:45.880 And it's a mercy. 00:34:45.880 --> 00:34:48.119 And Pentecost comes in the middle of history. 00:34:48.119 --> 00:34:50.480 The age of the spirit begins. 00:34:50.480 --> 00:34:56.199 In Babel, there was one language, but all of a sudden they couldn't understand one another. 00:34:56.199 --> 00:34:57.840 And so they separate. 00:34:57.840 --> 00:35:02.920 And at Pentecost, there's many languages, but all of a sudden they can understand one 00:35:02.920 --> 00:35:05.639 another and they come together again. 00:35:05.639 --> 00:35:06.800 And it's true unity. 00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:14.159 Now this is, you might still be upset that I said Pentecost makes us true Catholics. 00:35:14.159 --> 00:35:22.639 Look, the word Catholic means the universal church gathered from all time, all spaces, 00:35:22.639 --> 00:35:27.359 all countries, all nations, all people groups, all languages. 00:35:27.359 --> 00:35:29.759 Catholic isn't something that Rome owns, not at all. 00:35:29.759 --> 00:35:36.199 The true Catholic church is when every single nation gathers together around Jesus Christ 00:35:36.199 --> 00:35:38.639 underneath the banner of the gospel. 00:35:38.639 --> 00:35:40.480 That's Catholicity. 00:35:40.480 --> 00:35:41.920 And that's the city of God. 00:35:41.920 --> 00:35:44.639 It's revelation chapter seven. 00:35:44.639 --> 00:35:50.400 The entire multitude of all peoples from every nation in all of history will gather together 00:35:50.400 --> 00:35:52.240 and they will worship the living Christ. 00:35:52.240 --> 00:35:54.119 The gospel makes us truly Catholic. 00:35:54.119 --> 00:35:56.240 The gospel creates the city of God. 00:35:56.240 --> 00:36:03.840 The gospel creates a unity that was once only diversity, but now it's true unity again. 00:36:03.840 --> 00:36:11.000 And that means as we close simply this, that Christians can now be ethnically distinct. 00:36:11.000 --> 00:36:14.360 We can be distinct in language and culture. 00:36:14.360 --> 00:36:18.480 And we can say to someone next to us that speaks another language that has a totally 00:36:18.480 --> 00:36:19.760 different culture. 00:36:19.760 --> 00:36:21.599 We don't like the way a person dresses. 00:36:21.599 --> 00:36:22.599 We think it looks silly. 00:36:22.599 --> 00:36:28.119 They think we look silly and we can turn and say, brother and sister, and I love you. 00:36:28.119 --> 00:36:31.440 And you are my family in Jesus Christ. 00:36:31.440 --> 00:36:32.679 The gospel gives you that power. 00:36:32.679 --> 00:36:36.639 The gospel gives the power to come and look at every single people group, every single 00:36:36.639 --> 00:36:43.759 ethnicity, every single culture and not approach it from the spirit of racism, of ethnic partiality 00:36:43.759 --> 00:36:44.759 or anything like it. 00:36:44.759 --> 00:36:51.039 No, the spirit has flooded into the world, into all people groups and God takes the separation 00:36:51.039 --> 00:36:57.119 that we caused and he uses it in the diversity of language and ethnicities to create the 00:36:57.119 --> 00:37:00.000 beauty of the bride of Christ. 00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:06.159 He uses that diversity to create the ultimate unity, the beauty of the bride of Christ. 00:37:06.159 --> 00:37:11.079 And so Craig Keener says this, nothing could have demonstrated more clearly than this, 00:37:11.079 --> 00:37:17.159 the multiracial, multinational, multilingual nature of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. 00:37:17.159 --> 00:37:22.399 Christ unifies and keeps diversity in the midst of it. 00:37:22.399 --> 00:37:25.199 Now in the age of the spirit, look, remember the promise? 00:37:25.199 --> 00:37:26.199 Last word here. 00:37:26.199 --> 00:37:28.279 Remember the promise. 00:37:28.279 --> 00:37:30.960 God said all the way back at the beginning. 00:37:30.960 --> 00:37:39.360 I will make you Abraham, a great nation like the sand on the seaside. 00:37:39.360 --> 00:37:42.639 The sand, that's a lot. 00:37:42.639 --> 00:37:44.760 There's a lot of sand. 00:37:44.760 --> 00:37:49.760 And here it is, Pentecost, the fulfillment of the covenant, the new covenant comes into 00:37:49.760 --> 00:37:50.760 the world. 00:37:50.760 --> 00:37:54.599 The age of the spirit means that you are a mountaintop temple. 00:37:54.599 --> 00:37:59.679 It means that you are sent tonight from this place as a powerful prophet with a new ministry 00:37:59.679 --> 00:38:04.319 and it means that God is building the city of God. 00:38:04.319 --> 00:38:10.519 True unity in the midst of diversity gathered around Christ the King. 00:38:10.519 --> 00:38:12.839 Christianity is the message for all people. 00:38:12.839 --> 00:38:16.679 Whoever shall call in the name of the Lord, whoever shall be saved. 00:38:16.679 --> 00:38:18.440 Let's pray together. 00:38:18.440 --> 00:38:24.359 Father, we give thanks for this word and for the beauty of Pentecost and for the beauty 00:38:24.360 --> 00:38:30.360 of the church in the midst of her death.