The Coming Of The Spirit - Acts 1:8 & 2:1-13

So I'm going to read from Acts 1, verse 8, and

Acts 1:8

then I'm going to jump over to Acts 2 and start

reading in verse 1. So Acts 1, verse 8 reads,

Acts 1:8

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit

has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses

both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria

and even to the remotest parts. part of the earth.

Starting in chapter 2, verse 1. When the day

of Pentecost had come, they were all together

in one place. And suddenly, there came from heaven

a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled

the whole house where they were sitting. And

there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing

themselves, and they rested on each one of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit

and began to speak with other tongues as the

Spirit was giving them utterance. Now there were

Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every

nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred,

The crowd came together and were bewildered because

each of them was hearing them speak in his own

language. They were amazed and astonished, saying,

Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans?

And how is it that we each hear them in our own

language to which we were born? Parthians and

Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia,

Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia

and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya,

around Cyrene and visitors from Rome, both Jews

and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them

in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds

of God. And they all continued in amazement and

great perplexity, saying to one another, what

does this mean? But others were mocking and saying,

they're full of sweet wine. Let's pray. Father,

I come before you and I thank you so much for

your word. I thank you for what we've been instructed

in already in this service. Father, I thank you

for the work that Christ has accomplished. Lord,

I thank you that before the world came into existence,

before foundations were set, you delighted in

the Son, as Proverbs taught us today, that he

delights in the sons of men. Lord, I ask and

I pray that that reality would sink in. Lord,

I thank you for what we learned in our catechism,

that the Spirit of God... imparts and gives to

us freely faith by which we believe and by which

we are justified. It's not faith which we muster

up, it is faith which is given from outside of

ourselves so that we can be justified by our

righteousness which is outside of ourselves,

which is from Christ. Father, I ask and I pray

today that your power would go forth and work

in our hearts and our minds in a supernatural

way in our souls and in our lives. I ask that

your spirit would be present and bless the reading

and the preaching of your word and the hearing

of your word this morning. In Jesus' name I pray,

amen. So in coming to this text, in coming to

Acts chapter 1, We see that Jesus gives this

Acts 1 · chapter mention

promise that the Spirit of God was going to come

and that they were to wait for the Spirit. They

were to wait for the promise. So coming up to

chapter 2 through chapter 1, we really see this

leading up to the Spirit coming. We see that

Jesus makes the promise that He says that the

Spirit's going to come and give you power and

you're going to be witnesses. We see that Christ

goes so that the Spirit can be sent. In His absence,

His physical absence, we see the disciples and

the apostles being obedient and going to the

city and waiting for the arrival of the Spirit

of God. We see them making preparations leading

up to the arrival of the Spirit of God and reorganizing

the apostles and preparing the Twelve, the foundation

of the church. And then we see the day of Pentecost

arrive and we see great power. And we see the

presence of God upon these people. I want to

ask you a few questions. When you think of the

church today as a whole, in our area... and nationally

and universally, when you think of the church

as a whole, as a majority, what are some defining

characteristics that come to your mind? I mean,

we probably think of buildings, big buildings.

We probably think of flashy, cool communicators.

We probably think of hip teachers. fancy churches.

We probably think of entertainment to an extent.

When we consider church as a whole and we think

of the big churches and evangelicalism today,

when we think of celebrity pastors in the world

today, we probably think of entertainment to

an extent. We think of emotional driven services.

We think of comfort. We think of All these different

things. We think of big churches and we think

of the church as a whole. We think of outreaches.

We think of really nifty, really nifty sermon

titles and sermon series titles. We think of

also, we think of little churches, many of which

I've been a part of and I've pastored. Little

churches who seemingly are on the brink. Of extinction.

I mean, they're on the edge. They're just holding

their doors open. They're there. They exist.

They don't seem to reach out much. They're there.

We think of that. What do those churches need?

What does the church as a whole and the big churches

in evangelicalism, what do they need? What comes

to your mind? Let me ask you this. Is what comes

to your mind when you think of church today,

in our area, and as a whole, power? Do you think

of power when you think of the church? The little

church that is about to die, it needs the presence

of God and it needs the power of God. But big

churches as a whole and evangelicalism, they

need the presence of God and the power of God

just as much as other churches. God's power cannot

be replaced. It cannot be manufactured. It cannot

be substituted. It cannot be created. It cannot

be built up. It cannot be grabbed. Church needs

power. The early church in the book of Acts,

one of the defining characteristics was power.

Power in the proclamation of the gospel and power

in the life of the body and power in the life

of the individual personally. So when we come

to a text like... This and Acts and Pentecost,

we have to look at it in two different ways,

really. We have to look at it in the historical

redemptive context, meaning these are things,

these were events which occurred in history throughout

redemption. They took place in a time and a period.

But then we also have to look at them through

a lens of personal and experiential, these things

which can still They experience these things

which are normal in the ministry and the work

of the Spirit of God even to this day. Because

we know that the Spirit of God is God and He

is unchanging. And He still works just as powerfully

today as He did then. So we have to think of

Pentecost when we come to this text in those

two ways. historical, redemptive things that

have occurred and things that cannot and will

not be repeated, things that cannot be manufactured

and done over, and we have to think of them in

terms of personal, experiential things that the

Spirit of God still does and that Christians

today still experience. So one principle in this

text on Pentecost is power. Power. That God provides

the power for His people from outside of them

to complete and to do the mission which He Himself

has given to His people. So just as Dustin talked

about how God gives us faith to believe and trust

in Christ, God gives us power to fulfill and

to complete and to bring about His mission in

this world as well. It's not something that we

have in and of ourselves. Really, if we think

about it, men and women and children and people

in general do not innately have power in themselves.

As it was already stated, we have no power to

change the created order. God is creator. He

is maker. We don't have power in and of ourselves

to affect spiritual realities. I cannot and you

cannot. We do not have the power to reach into

somebody's soul and to regenerate that soul and

to cause it to be born again. You and I, we do

not have the ability to sanctify ourselves because

of our sin nature. We cannot make ourselves grow

spiritually by ourselves. I can't do it. You

can't do it. We need power from outside of ourselves

to do that. We do not have the ability to keep

ourselves. We do not have the ability to effectually

call anybody. Just as Jesus, Called Lazarus back

from the dead. We have no power to do that, so

we have no power to raise people spiritually.

Only Christ has the ability, the authority. God

has the power, and He supplies the church with

that power. We have no power in and of ourselves.

So I want to start with a very basic, very obvious

point regarding this text in the early church.

And that is the source and the nature of the

church's power. The source and the nature of

the church's power. This seems obvious as we

read this text, that this text is telling us

that the power the church has to complete the

mission that God has given to them is from outside

of themselves. It comes externally. From without

them. It's not from within them. We see that

the Spirit of God comes upon them at Pentecost.

We see that the Spirit of God actively comes

upon them and they passively experience and receive

the Spirit of God in His fullness on that day.

He's referred to as wind and fire. We see that

in verses 2, 3, and 4. We see that the source

of this power is referred to as from heaven.

From heaven. So the Spirit of God, here in this

text, when He talks about the noise and the wind,

when He talks about the fire, where did it come

from? It comes from heaven. It comes from the

throne of God. So it's not from us. It's not

from ourselves. It's from God himself. And it's

supernatural in its nature and character. It's

not power which we wield as authoritative leaders

today wield. They make demands and it happens.

This is supernatural power which God imparts.

to His church, through His Spirit, and works

effectively in the hearts and the minds and the

souls of people. Now we will see in a minute

this power and the presence of the Spirit is

manifest in this text, but it's a supernatural

and a spiritual power, primarily which works

in the hearts and the minds of individuals in

the early church. The early church in its most

infant stage, in its purest stage right here,

was defined and marked by power. By the power

of God at work and from himself. It came from

outside of them and it came upon them. They passively

receive that which the Spirit actively accomplished

in and among them. So why do I emphasize this

really obvious, this really simple point? Why

do I start out with the source and nature of

this divine power which a church has? Well, I

start out with it because I think each and every

one of us, and I think, the reason that Jesus

emphasized that they needed to wait and they

needed to wait and wait and wait was because

we have a tendency to think that we do things

and we accomplish things in our own strength

and our own power. The power that the church

has, the power that the early church had here

at Pentecost and it came upon them. It was not

the people. The power was not the people that

made up the church. The power was not in the

followers. The power was not in their gathering

among themselves. Their power was not in their

intellect or their personalities. The power came

from the Spirit of God. The power came from God

Himself. It's important for us to realize this.

Because if we look at the church as a whole today,

where is it looking to get its power? It's looking

to the world to get its power. It's looking to

the secular culture and the world to get its

power. Folks, we cannot replace the power which

comes from the Spirit of God. We cannot manufacture

it. through methodologies and strategies and

marketing schemes and all these different ways.

There is no power in methods for the gospel of

the Lord Jesus. There is no power in a preacher's

personality. There is no power in my personality.

There's only power from and in the person of

the Spirit of God, and we must look to the Spirit

of God for that power. The Spirit of God is the

one who gives the church its power. The church

does not get its power from within, but from

outside. of itself from God himself. So not only

does the Spirit come and impart this power and

does the Spirit give this power himself, but

the Spirit comes in this text and makes manifest

this power to the church. We see this when we

read this text in Acts 2, in verses 1 -4 in particular,

we're like, wow. That is a sign. There was something

going on. This was a big deal. And that's exactly

the point. This was significant. This was important,

which was taking place. So secondly, we see the

manifestation of the Spirit's power and presence

among the early church. Now you say, well, what

are the manifestations? There's two manifestations

which we see in this text. The Spirit of God

manifests His power to the early church through

audible, through noise of rushing wind, violent

rushing wind, not just a breeze, but violent

rushing wind. A strong, powerful, disturbing,

hard, rushing, violent wind is the noise which

they audibly hear. So that's the first symbol.

The second symbol is fire. And then we see that

that's tongues of fire. So these two symbols

are how the Spirit of God manifests His presence

and His power among the early church. So why

in the world did the Spirit of God on the day

of Pentecost when He came and manifested His

power among the people of God, why did He choose

a noise as violent rushing wind? Why? Well, throughout

Scripture, we see that wind and we see that breath

and we see that air is a symbol for the presence

and the power of God among His people. If we

think about the fact that God spoke to Job out

of a mighty and a powerful, dangerous whirlwind.

If we think about the reality that in John chapter

John 3 · chapter mention

3, that Jesus said when he talked about the new

birth, regeneration, when he spoke of that, he

said, unless you're born again, you cannot see

the kingdom of God and you cannot enter the kingdom

of God. What does he refer to the Spirit as?

Wind. You don't see it, but you see the results

of it. You can't control the wind. You can't

grab the wind. You can't nail it down to a tree.

It's free to do as it pleases. It's uncontainable.

It's uncontrollable. Just as it is in the new

birth. We see in Ezekiel's vision, and this is

probably the closest image which we have that

I think this text is referring to, Ezekiel's

image of the valley of dry bones. God shows Ezekiel

a valley full of dry, dry bones. So if bones

are dry, that means that they have no flesh,

they have no life in them, they are dead. So

when Ezekiel prophesies, the wind, who is the

Spirit of God, goes out and gives life to the

dry bones. And later we're told that this is

a picture of the new covenant, of how God would

send the Spirit of God and work in the life of

God's people through His Spirit. And so we see

that there's wind, there's air. We see in John

John 20 · chapter mention

chapter 20 that Jesus breathed on the disciples

air out of his mouth and the Spirit of God came

upon them. So in this text, wind is the image

which is given to the Spirit of God. For what

reason? Why is this text emphasizing the reality

that... in comparing the Spirit of God to the

wind, this loud noise, because the Spirit of

God is at work in the life of the church in a

powerful, sovereign, uncontrollable, rapid, forceful,

violent, unstoppable manner. It's free as the

wind to do as it pleases in the life of the church.

It saddens me in today's world with so many people

who claim to control the Spirit of God. The Spirit

of God is not a force or an energy which is contained

in which we wield and which is manipulated and

which is controlled. The Spirit of God is all

-powerful God Himself. The Spirit of God is sovereign

and providential. Yes, working within the bounds

of the redemptive plan, but He is still God.

The Spirit of God is referred to as wind here

in a powerful way. Just think about this text

and the events which are occurring. Just think

about the events. The Spirit of God came upon

them. They did not go and get the Spirit of God.

They had to wait for Him. They had to wait. Because

the Spirit of God hadn't come yet. And they couldn't

make Him come. We see that He came forcefully,

suddenly, abruptly. But also we see that the

Spirit of God came upon the early church. And

I choose this word wisely, I think, intrusively.

He came and He intruded and He invaded their

lives in a godly way. In a God -glorifying manner.

He came and he intruded their souls with holiness.

He blew upon them in a way which knocked them

flat on their face, we could say. In a powerful,

powerful way. The second symbol that we see is

fire. Now, fire has a rich history. And imagery

throughout Scripture. I know some of you are

already thinking through the Old Testament. Well,

where was it referred to? A lot of you are thinking

of Moses and the burning bush. That's good. What

was the burning bush? It was the presence of

God which would not burn out. It was holiness.

Why did Moses have to take off his sandals? Because

it was holy ground. God's presence was present

in a holy and a righteous and a powerful and

a pure manner. We also see that the tabernacle,

there was a fire in the center that could not

be burnt out. It had to be lit all the time.

Who started the fire? God started the fire in

the tabernacle. Because it symbolized God's presence

among His people in the midst of His people where

they worshipped Him. We see when Solomon finished

his first temple, he made sacrifices to the Lord.

What happened? He prayed and fire from heaven

came down and swallowed it up and the glory of

the Lord dwelt in the temple and filled it. God

was among His people in a powerful way. His presence

was among men. His presence was there with them.

We see after the great exodus or during the great

exodus of God's people out of bondage and out

of slavery for 400 years and God leaves them

out. How does he do that? A pillar of fire by

night and a cloud by day. His presence was among

His people leading them and guiding them and

freeing them from their bondage. We also know

that Hebrews tells us that God Himself is a consuming

fire. God in His being, in His person, is a consuming

fire. So we have to ask ourselves, Why in the

world does the Spirit of God manifest His power

and His presence to the people of God and the

early church in that day, in that age, as fire?

Because it shows them and it signifies His divine,

pure, consuming, powerful power. presence among

them. That he was actually with his people. And

he wasn't just with them, but he was with them

in power. He was with them in might. He was there

as a consuming fire which would burn up the wheat

and the chaff. He was there as a consuming fire

which would consume The hearts and minds of the

disciples. And we see that. So what was the purpose

of these manifestations? Why did the Spirit of

God, when He came upon the people of God in power,

why did He manifest Himself to them? And I was

thinking about this question, and I think it's

important. This instance, the fire and the sound

of rushing violent wind, it's not repeated throughout

Scripture. It's not repeated from this point

forward. Now, at momentous events throughout

Scripture, we have loud noises and we have thunder

and we have lightning. We have other manifestations

of God's glory and presence and power. So I think

that is definitely one of the things that's taking

place here. But why? Did God in the spirit manifest

himself to the people of God like this? And only

to the people of God. The outside world did not

see or hear what was taking place. He manifest

himself to the people of God whom he was going

to work in and through. I think he did this because

he burned in their mind's eye his divine presence

and his divine power, which was going to get

them through the days ahead, the things they

were going to deal with in the future, the things

they were going to face, but also so their minds

could wrap around the extent of God's power and

his presence because... It wouldn't just remain

manifest and outside of them where they could

physically see it and physically hear it. But

we'll see in a moment that the power and presence

with the Spirit of God manifest, He then fills

the people of God with. He puts the power and

the presence of God in the people of God by indwelling

them and filling them with Himself. So he wants

them to grasp his presence and his power. It

was for their benefit. It was for their benefit.

And for their edification and for their strengthening

and for their encouragement. Now the fire was

not simply a big flame. We are told from the

text that it had a particular shape to it. that

it had a particular form to it. So the fire,

which was God's presence and God's power with

and among his people, did it serve a purpose?

Was there a specific reason which God gave his

power to them? And just keep that in the back

of your mind. What was the purpose of God's power

and God's presence with and among his people?

And we'll see the answer to that here in just

a few minutes. The third thing we see in this

text, and we see from this text in Acts 2, is

the Spirit of God filling the people of God with

God's power. It doesn't just remain a manifestation

outside of them, but the Spirit of God indwells

them and fills them with the power and the presence.

himself he dwells within his people in a sense

we can say the spirit who is wind in his power

and his strength and his boldness and his fierceness

and the violence of his rushing wind And the

purity and the essence of God's presence and

the heat and the intensity of fire, those things

in the person of the Spirit of God and power

were placed within the people of God. So the

Spirit of God is given to the people of God and

dwells within them. Now this is a unique situation

with the apostles and with many of the disciples,

I believe. Because we know that they still had

the Spirit prior to this event. They had the

Spirit of God prior to this event at Pentecost.

So what was unique and what was special about

Pentecost and the filling of the Spirit at this

time? Well, before, if you remember, they were

with Jesus. They heard Jesus' words. They saw

Jesus physically and visibly in front of them.

They walked with Him. They talked with Him. They

were instructed by Him. They were encouraged

and rebuked and convicted by Him. But there were

times where they went out by themselves, and

we know that they did have the Spirit of God,

but what is different now than then? Well, now

they had received a fullness. They did not have

before. A filling to the brink with God's power

for the purpose of the advancement and the spread

of the gospel in this world. As Jesus told them

in Acts chapter 1, He said, you will be baptized

Acts 1 · chapter mention

with the Holy Spirit. You will be fully and completely

and totally immersed. and the presence and the

power of the Spirit of God. The baptism of the

Spirit of God will come upon you in a special

way. Now in the Old Testament, not everybody

received special gifts from the Spirit. And a

lot of times we see in the Old Testament, in

the Old Covenant, that the Spirit of God was

with the people of God almost in a corporate

manner with the nation of Israel. We see that,

though we know there were individuals who had

the Spirit. I mean, Moses, the Spirit of God

was upon him. And we see, and I believe in Exodus

Exodus 19 · chapter mention

chapter 19 or Exodus 12, where God takes the

Spirit which was upon Moses and gives it to the

70 elders which would help him to lead the nation,

help him to lead the people. So the Spirit of

God dwelled among the people. But in this text,

we are told that the fire went and rested upon

each individual. And then we're told in verse

4, and they were all, all filled with the Holy

Spirit and began to speak with other tongues

as the Spirit was giving them utterance. One

of the blessings of the new covenant, one of

the blessings of living in the age in which we

live under the new covenant is that if you are

in Christ, you have a fullness of the Spirit.

The Spirit indwells you permanently and powerfully

under the new covenant. I also love the... that

in the new covenant, the Spirit of God applies

all that Christ accomplished to the life of the

believer. So the Spirit of God is not just some

throwaway or side note doctrine. The Spirit of

God is vitally important for Christians to understand

because they are living in union. daily, hourly,

secondly, with the Spirit of God filling them

and dwelling them. One of the most practical

doctrines that we can understand and we can study

and we can try to grasp is the reality that the

Spirit of God will fill you with His power and

with His strength. How does that happen? What

does that look like? What does the Bible say

about it? We must look into these things. We

must study these things. We must devote ourselves

to these things. It's so practical for the life

of the believer. It's so practical for the life

of the Christian. So every single believer is

filled with the Spirit of God. The book of Acts

shows us that really there's a special filling,

a special empowerment. When it comes to the proclamation

or the speaking the gospel, when a person proclaims

and talks about the work of the Lord Jesus, what

was the purpose of the power in this text? Why

did Jesus say in Acts chapter 1, they would receive

Acts 1 · chapter mention

the power? What was the purpose of the power?

The purpose, he says, you will receive power

and the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you

shall be my witnesses. To proclaim the Lord Jesus,

to proclaim the gospel, to proclaim what the

Lord Jesus, or as later we will see, to speak

and to proclaim about the mighty deeds of God.

The mighty deeds of God. So what does it mean

to be filled with the Spirit? It means that the

Spirit of God comes into your life and dwells

within you. He comes into union with you. He

begins to renew your nature and your person,

your mind. He dwells within you. He begins to

renew your affections, your thoughts. your mind,

your heart, your desires, the things you want

in life. He begins to change those things. He

takes your eyes off the world and yourself, and

He begins to convict you of sin and to give you

repentance and to put your eyes upon the Lord

Jesus, His accomplished work, and bringing glory

to God as you live this life. This is not a term.

where the Spirit of God comes in and just helps

assist you and kind of supports you from underneath

what you're doing. This term refers to one where

the Spirit of God comes in and dominates your

life and takes control of your life. He fills

you with His power and His presence in your life,

which shows us Our desires, our affections, our

wants, our goals in life, they must be soaked

and they must be covered in the things of God.

They must be covered in the things of God. So

we see that the disciples, when they were filled,

something immediately took place. Something happened

as a result of their filling with the power and

the presence. We see, and this is where we come

to the purpose of the Spirit's presence and power

in our life. We've seen that the source and the

nature of the power. We've seen the manifestation

of that power. We've seen the filling of God's

people with that power and with that presence.

And now we see the purpose. of God's presence

and God's power among his people. It's almost

a cycle that we see take place. We see spirit

come and impart power. We see the spirit manifest

his power. We see the spirit fill the people.

Well, what comes next? What's next in that order?

Should it just stop there? The spirit fills you

with power and... It's done? No, something else

comes as a result of the power and of the presence

of the Spirit of God dwelling within your life.

It doesn't come to a screeching halt. There's

more to the process than simply the filling.

We see that the symbol of the tongue of fire

which rested upon the people in the room. That

gives us a hint. that the power had a purpose

in the life of the early church. And the symbol

shows us that purpose. What do we use our tongue

for? To speak, to talk, to proclaim, to tell

others of, to witness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Charles Spurgeon said of this text, and I love

this. I was reading this last night right before

I went to bed. He said that God has raised up

his church not with a sword in their hand, but

with a sword coming out of their mouth that pierces

the hearts and the souls of the minds of people.

God has ordained that His church be a church

which speaks and proclaims and talks. Not a church

which is quiet and silent and in the corner.

But a church which proclaims boldly the gospel

of the Lord Jesus. In power. And He's provided

the power for it. So I want to talk just two

points briefly. about the purpose of his presence

and his power. So two things. First, the power

which the Spirit of God gives to the people of

God is meant to be pointed outward. Is meant

to be pointed outward. The power is not primarily

to be pointed inward at the body or the church.

Repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly in the book

of Acts, we see the power of the Spirit of God

at work in the life of the early church, and

they're bumping into outsiders. They're bumping

into the culture. They're bumping into the world

around them. What do we see in verses 5 through

13 of this text? We see the nations. We see a

great diversity of people who need to hear the

gospel, not simply the people in that room. At

some time between verse 4 and verse 5 in Acts

Acts 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, they have moved from the upper room

where they were, or the house where they were,

they've moved from that location into a public

location. They've moved from where they were

gathered out into earshot of the community where

they are praising God and others hear them in

their own native tongue. They don't remain there.

They move. It's meant to be pointed outward.

The gospel is meant to be a gospel on the move.

The gospel is not meant To be a gospel which

is stale and stagnant and static and unmoving.

The gospel must be pointed outward at the world

which does not know the Lord Jesus. Yes, the

Spirit of God empowers the Christian to live

a holy life, to grow in likeness and conformity

to the Lord Jesus. He gives us grace. He helps

us to grow in our passion for the Lord. He helps

us to grow in our understanding and our knowledge

of the Word of God. He helps us to grow in our

spiritual progression and maturity in this life.

The Spirit absolutely, without a shadow of doubt,

that is one of the purposes for the Spirit of

God. And that is one of the purposes for the

power of the Spirit of God. But in regards to

the mission of God in this world, the power of

the Spirit of God is for the purpose of going

into the world with the gospel of the Lord Jesus.

Now, how does that power manifest itself when

it's out there? Well, the power manifests itself

in the people of God through their speech. Through

their speech. Through what they say. Through

their verbal communication. God takes his spirit.

The spirit of God comes upon us. He fills us

with his power and his presence. He dwells and

he fills us. Now, does that stay there? No, it

comes out of our mouth. Verbally. We talk about

it. One of the greatest evidences, one of the

greatest evidences, I just felt like John Piper

there with my hands. So one of the greatest evidences

that a person is filled with the Spirit of God

is that they talk about the Lord Jesus. They

talk about the Lord Jesus. Now is that in and

of itself? A guaranteed evidence of regeneration,

the new birth? No. But I will tell you one thing

that is. And Jonathan Edwards, when he wrote

his book on the affections and on our desires

and the results of the new birth, he had this

column which was basically, one side was guaranteed

marks and one side was not guaranteed marks of

the new birth. So on one of those columns, he

has speaking about the Lord Jesus. So that's

not a guaranteed. That's under the not guaranteed

section. That doesn't guarantee that you're a

born again believer. But what is the root of

a person's speech and why they're talking? The

desire and the love and the passion and the affections

within their soul, within their heart, within

their mind for the thing which they're speaking

about. So if you as an individual, because you

think about in your soul, in your mind, in your

heart, you consider the things of God. You consider

what Christ has done. You think about the work

of Christ on the cross. You think about His resurrection.

And because you're thinking about it and because

it's affecting your soul and it's affecting your

heart and it's making you passionate about what

He's done and then you talk about it, that is

a guaranteed mark that you are a born -again

believer. If you love the Lord Jesus and then

you talk about the Lord Jesus, it's a guaranteed

mark. That you're a Christian. If that continues.

And that remains. And it goes on. But. What's

the negative side of that? If you never. Ever.

Talk about. Or think about. Or consider. Spiritual

good things. And the Lord Jesus. The word of

God. The work. which God has done. And you never

talk about the Lord Jesus and what he's done

and who he is, the holiness and the power and

the might of God. If you never think of those

things, if you never consider those things, if

you never talk about those things, you must ask

yourself, do I really possess the Spirit of God

within me? If you never confess with your mouth

that the Lord Jesus is the head of the church

and is risen and ascended and sitting at the

right hand of God, if you never confess, if that

verbal proclamation never comes out of your mouth,

that the Lord Jesus died and he's a good master,

and then we must repent of our sins and believe

in the Lord Jesus. for eternal life? If you never

talk about that, if you never consider that,

if you never confess that, do you really possess

the faith which the Spirit of God gives us? It's

a serious question. How often do you talk about

the Lord Jesus? How often do you think about

spiritually good and edifying things? How often

do you think about the Word of God? We see in

this text in verse 11 that the disciples, when

they had been filled with the power and the presence

of God in their life, in their soul, what did

they do? They were speaking of the mighty deeds

of God. When a person is born again and filled

with the Spirit of God and His power and His

presence, they will speak of the mighty deeds

of God. Consider your life. Do you have the power

and the presence of the Spirit of God in your

soul, in your heart, in your life? How long can

you go? before you say the name Jesus? Was the

last time you spoke of anything spiritually good

last Sunday? Was the last time that you considered

the gospel last Sunday? It's a hard, difficult,

good question to wrestle with. If those are true

and you haven't, or you haven't considered, you

haven't thought, I would encourage you to think

about what you're called to do and repent and

turn from your sin and trust in the Lord Jesus

so that the Spirit of God can fill you with His

power and His presence.