Acts 2:1- 21
On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. 2 Suddenly, there was a sound from Heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. 3 Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4 And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
5 At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. 6 When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.
7 They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, 8 and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! 9 Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, 10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!” 12 They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other.
13 But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, “They’re just drunk, that’s all!”
14 Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. 15 These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that. 16 No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel:
17 ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out My Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 18 In those days I will pour out My Spirit even on My servants—men and women alike—and they will prophesy. 19 And I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below—blood and fire and clouds of smoke. 20 The sun will become dark, and the moon will turn blood red before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives. 21 But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Sermon
The person and work of the Holy Spirit are filled and surrounded by much controversy. But we need to get past the controversy and into a place of receiving this blessing that Jesus Christ has offered us to prepare us for being His witnesses.
The night Jesus was raised from the dead, after showing Himself alive to His disciples, opening the Scriptures to them, and proving to them that He was indeed alive, He told them, “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as My Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from Heaven.” (Luke 24:49) Another time, during the forty days the Lord spent with the disciples before He ascended into Heaven, when He was eating with them, Jesus commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift He promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:4-5) And once when they were asking Him about God the Father’s plans for restoring His Kingdom to the Earth, Jesus responded, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be My witnesses, telling people about Me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth.” (Acts 1:7-8)
Nobody knew Jesus better than those first disciples: They’d all lived together with Him for three years! Yet Jesus told them, “Wait until you receive power from Heaven.” Their love for Him, knowing Him, trusting Him, all that was excellent, but according to Jesus, it was not enough. They would need God’s Spirit to be His disciples and to make disciples of others.
Christians can be so surface and emotional these days when talking about the Spirit of God. After attending a Worship Service where worshipers raised their hands and where tongues were spoken you might hear someone say, “It was a real Spirit-filled church!” But does that mean that a more staid and reserved Service where the gospel is rightly preached and taught and where people are merely quietly moved towards greater Christ-likeness isn’t Spirit-filled?
The Scriptures demonstrate two very different but complimentary expressions of the Holy Spirit’s work with human beings. One is an “outside” work, and the Bible talks about the Holy Spirit coming upon someone. In its context, this work of God’s Spirit is seen to equip and empower believers towards advancing the Kingdom of God around them and around the world. Some aspect of power is required, some type of activity needs doing, so the Holy Spirit comes upon the Christian.
But there is another expression of the Holy Spirit’s work with people that is more “inside” and gets spoken of using words and images that show the Holy Spirit living within a believer in Christ. This work begins with justification when the sins of the new Christian are forgiven and washed away on account of their faith and trust in Jesus. In justification, their sinfulness is exchanged for His righteousness and He stops being someone they’ve heard about and becomes someone that they know. It is now when the new Christian has entered into a personal relationship with the Lord. That Holy Spirit working within a person for forgiveness and washing leads to the Spirit’s inner work of sanctification where changes begin to take place in the person’s character and morality and relationships with others and the world around them. Their hearts soften in some ways and strengthen in others to correspond with Jesus’ Own meekness and strength over time. In the person of the Holy Spirit the person of Jesus dwells inside every true Christian’s soul!
What we see happening that first Christian Pentecost is born-again believers being empowered for Christian ministry. That is, disciples who had already been inwardly-filled with the Holy Spirit to trust in Christ being outwardly-filled with the Holy Spirit for the very first time to equip and empower them for the ministry God wanted done: And that day it was Peter and the others preaching and teaching the crowd resulting in 3,000 persons becoming Christians that day! Only God could do that! And so He sent the Holy Spirit upon – to equip and empower for the work He wanted done – those He’d already filled – having brought them to faith in Jesus and growing them into greater Christ-likeness by producing the fruits of the Holy Spirit through them.
So every true Christian is inwardly-filled with the Holy Spirit (nobody can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit!), but not every true Christian is necessarily outwardly-filled with the Holy Spirit to equip and empower them for sharing Jesus with those around us. Yet we need both!
We all need to grow in Jesus’ character, and for our relationships to exhibit His forgiveness and love, etc… And we all need to grow in seeking and receiving God’s empowerment so that we might do Jesus’ works and change the world so that His Kingdom might come and His will be done here on Earth as it is in Heaven! And when the (outward) power and the (inward) love are both exhibited, those around us notice, and believe, and come to Him, and the church grows. “More love, more power, more of You in my life!”
We need to get past the controversy and into a place of receiving this blessing that Jesus Christ has offered us to prepare us for being His witnesses!
Are you facing the challenge of doing impossible work for Jesus Christ? Are you burned out in ministry or discouraged with having so little lasting fruit in your life? Are you tired of depending on your own strength to follow Jesus? If your answer to any of these questions is “yes”, then it is time to move beyond all the questions and doubts concerning the Holy Spirit. Now is the time to pray to receive this promise the Lord Jesus has made to all His disciples: The equipping for missions and ministry that Jesus Christ has promised all of us in the person and work of the Holy Spirit!