“The Church’s Birthday”
(Acts 2:1-36)
Series: The Church on Fire!
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
First Baptist Church Henderson, KY
(7-1-07) (AM)
- Take God’s Word and open to Acts, chapter 2.
We are continuing our series of messages through the book of Acts. Chapter 2 describes what I’m calling “The Church’s Birthday” and I’m calling it that because the church is really born at the event known as Pentecost. We’re going to be reading about that this morning.
- Please stand in honor of the reading; just the first few verses to get us started.
1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
- Pray.
Introduction:
Some years ago Evangelist Billy Graham was speaking with reporters after one of his preaching events. There was one reporter there who told Billy Graham about a negative statement one church leader made about his preaching and the reporter wanted Billy Graham’s response. The reporter told him that the man had said, “I’m afraid Mr. Graham’s preaching has set the church back 200 years.” Billy Graham replied, “Well, if I’ve set the church back 200 years then I have failed . . . I meant to set the church back 2,000 years.”
This morning we go back 2,000 years to the birthday of the church at Pentecost. There are roughly three main events in the history of Christianity: Bethlehem, Calvary, and Pentecost. Bethlehem is “God with us.” Calvary is “God for us.” And Pentecost is “God in us.” So I want to speak to you this morning on “The Church’s Birthday” and we’re going to see together some “birthday gifts for Christians.” Number one:
I. God Gives an Empowering Presence (1-4)
I said a moment ago that Pentecost is “God in us.” Pentecost describes the indwelling of God in the believer by way of the Holy Spirit. God gives the believer an empowering presence.
Now Pentecost is the name for the Old Testament one-day festival known as “The Feast of Weeks.” Pentecost literally means “50th” because the feast occurs 50 days after the Passover celebration. So the Bible says in verse 1 that the apostles are all gathered together, probably in the upper room, when, verse, 2:
2 . . . suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
We can only imagine what this must have looked like. Luke uses analogous language to describe the event. He says there was a sound from heaven “as” of a rushing wind and there appeared these divided tongues “as” of fire. It’s hard to imagine exactly what this must have looked like, but it is unmistakable that this is a vision of tongues appearing over the apostles because verse 4 says that “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
More about their speaking in tongues in a moment. What I want to focus-in on now is that God is giving His empowering presence to the apostles here at Pentecost. This gift is in fulfillment of our Lord’s promise back in 1:4-5 where Jesus says He will send the Holy Spirit to them. God indwelt the believers in a supernatural way, living within them by way of the Holy Spirit. The first believers were indwelled with the Spirit at Pentecost. Believers since Paul’s writings are indwelled with the Spirit at the moment of conversion. There is a sense in which any person today who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior has a personal kind of Pentecost experience. God gives the gift of His empowering presence.
I love the way Jesus describes this in John 14:16-17 where He says, “[The Father] will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
Again, Bethlehem is “God with us.” Calvary is “God for us.” Pentecost is “God in us.” Man, I’m telling you, nothing excites me more than to know that God is in me, dwelling within me, empowering me with His awesome presence. That’s the real miracle here in chapter 2: the empowering presence of God. That Jesus sends “another Comforter,” that He Himself indwells us by way of the Spirit. Christian, you are never alone! The Spirit of God indwells you. He is with you to comfort you, to guide you, to bless you, to never leave you. Pentecost: God in us. That’s the first gift God gives believers. Number two:
II. God Gives an Evangelistic Purpose (5-21)
Typically, when someone says, “Pentecost,” the first thing that comes to the minds of many is a kind of Christian, someone who is “a Pentecostal,” or maybe “speaking in tongues” comes to mind. But we just said that the point here is that God indwells the believer, God gives an empowering presence and that empowering presence has an evangelistic purpose. Look at verse 5:
5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.
This Old Testament festival known as “The Feast of Weeks” was one of three Jewish celebrations that called for all the Jews from all over the known world to be present in the city of Jerusalem. So it is providential that God sends His Holy Spirit when all these different people are gathered together from all over the place. Watch it now:
6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.
7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?
8 “And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?
9 “Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
10 “Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
11 “Cretans and Arabs — we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”
12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”
13 Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”
These Jews from all over the world hear the apostles speaking in their languages. Note that here. The apostles are speaking in known human languages. See it there in verses 6,8, and 11: “our own tongue,” or “our own language.” Whatever kind of tongue-speaking that is going on later in Corinth, which Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians 12-14, in the Book of Acts, speaking in tongues is the speaking in a known language that one has never studied. It is a miraculous result of the empowering presence of God. It caused some to erroneously conclude that the apostles were drunk as verse 13 indicates, “others mocking said, ‘They are full of new wine.’” But Peter explains that what they are witnessing is a fulfillment of prophecy. Verse 14 and following:
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words.
15 “For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day [that would be about 9 o’clock in the morning].
16 “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
21 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved.’
So Peter teaches that what everyone is witnessing here is a partial fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Peter sees Joel’s prophecy is Joel, chapter 2 as beginning to be fulfilled in the events of Pentecost. Some of Joel’s prophecy will not be fulfilled until Jesus returns, but other parts of his prophecy are now being fulfilled.
Now remember the context of what is happening here. What is the key-verse of the book of Acts? Remember? Acts 1:8, where Jesus says, “You will be my witnesses beginning where? Jerusalem. Then where? All Judea and Samaria, and then to the end of the earth.” So the people are gathered here, the Bible says, “from every nation under heaven” and God gives the apostles His empowering presence for His evangelistic purpose. He supernaturally equips the believers to share the Good News of the Gospel with people from other lands. God gives the apostles the gift of the Holy Spirit so that they can tell others about the Lord Jesus Christ so that they, in turn, will go back to their homes in other countries and spread the Good News they had witnessed and heard in Jerusalem. There is an evangelistic purpose in mind here in God’s giving the Holy Spirit. God gives an empowering presence for an evangelistic purpose.
So rather than associating the word “Pentecost” with a particular kind of Christian or a particular “gift of the Spirit,” we ought to associate the word “Pentecost” with world evangelism. That is the main reason why God supernaturally empowered the apostles on the church’s birthday and that is the main reason why God supernaturally empowers you. God gives us the ability to tell our family members about Jesus Christ by way of indwelling us Himself! God says, “I’ll help you speak if you’ll just yield to My presence within you. Just remember I’m there, guiding your words, and you’ll do just fine.” You can tell your friends about Jesus, your co-workers about Jesus, your loved ones about Jesus, when you allow God’s Spirit within you to guide.
Peter demonstrates this ability in verses 22 and following. What gifts does God give to believers? He gives an empowering presence, an evangelistic purpose, and:
III. God Gives an Exalted Person (22-36)
These verses really do not require any explanation. They are the words of a wonderful sermon that Peter preaches to the thousands gathered there in Jerusalem. We’ll see next week that at the end of Peter’s sermon 3,000 people come to Christ, trusting Jesus as their personal Savior. 3,000! What’s the main point of Peter’s sermon? “God gives an exalted person.” God gives the gift of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to his sermon, verse 22 and following:
22 ” Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know —
23 “Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;
By the way, note there the weaving-together of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. Peter says the Jews and Romans put Jesus to death but that this was all according to “the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God.” Jesus lay down His life for us. His death was no surprise to Him. The Bible says in Matthew 26:53 He could have called down 12 legions of angels and stopped everything, but He didn’t. He died for our sins. And death couldn’t keep Him in the grave. Verse 24:
24 “whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.
25 “For David says concerning Him:[and here Peter quotes from Psalm 16] ‘I foresaw the LORD always before my face, For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.
27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’
And Peter points-out that David is not talking about himself in Psalm 16, but he’s talking about Jesus. Verse 29 and following:
29 “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
30 “Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,
31 “he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.
32 “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.
33 “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
So Peter says that the pouring-out of the Holy Spirit attests to the truth of Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Christ gives the Holy Spirit from the exalted position of the right-hand of the Heavenly Father. Verse 34:
34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself [speaking prophetically of Christ in Psalm 110:1]: ‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand,
35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ‘
36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
And Peter’s sermon concludes with this powerful statement that Jesus of Nazareth is the Lord, the Christ, the Messiah. God came to us in the flesh at Bethlehem, “God with us.” He died for us on the cross at Calvary, “God for us.” And Peter says He rises and ascends to the right-hand of the Father to pour out His Spirit at Pentecost; “God in us.”
Now we’ll see next week that 3,000 of those present hear Peter’s words and fall under conviction for sin. They recognize that it is their sins for which Christ died and they repent from their sins and turn to Jesus, receiving His forgiveness.
And that is the same response required from each of us. We must turn from our sin and turn to the Savior.
- Stand for prayer.
Invitation…
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