The Baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Gifted Series)

Last two weeks, we have looked at the person of the Holy Spirit and the Trinity.

Last week we looked at the promises of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.

This week, we will look at the baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

And I just want to let you know, we'll be in the book of Acts.

Acts is part two of two works written by Luke, the gospel writer, to a man named Theophilus.

Theophilus was most likely a Roman official that had a kind of a crisis of faith and needed certainty concerning the things he was taught about Jesus.

So what Luke does is he writes a historical account of Jesus and then a historical account of what Jesus continued to do now at the right hand of the Father through his church.

In fact, when you open up the gospel or the book of Luke, at the very beginning, you'll see that it reads, I began writing to you with all that Jesus began to do, and now I write to you, of course, about what Jesus is continuing to do by his Spirit through his church.

In Acts chapter 1, Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father, but he told his disciples, his messengers, his apostles, to wait and to wait for his Holy Spirit before they go and share the good news of what Jesus has accomplished.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

Well, they're waiting and praying in an upper room, and the time of Pentecost comes around.

Pentecost.

Pentecost was a time in the Jewish calendar to bring offering before the Lord, a harvest offering.

It was a time also to commemorate the giving of the law in the Old Testament.

It was one of three festivals where people, Jewish people from all over the known world, were encouraged by all reasons unless they couldn't to come to Jerusalem to take part.

Pentecost.

So at this moment, you have people from all nations, Rome, scattered abroad, coming to Jerusalem.

And of course, God sends his Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

I want you to look at a few verses in Acts 2 with me.

Verse 3, we see that what took place was divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of the apostles.

Verse 4, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues.

This means languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Verse 5, there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.

Again, this is a big festival.

Everyone's gathered.

Verse 6, at this sound, the multitude of people just came together.

A ton of people gathered to hear what's going on, and they were bewildered because see this, verse 6.

Each one, that is each of the apostles, were speaking in their own language, and each one, that is, all the people gathered around to hear, was hearing them speak in their own language.

Verse eleven.

They're hearing that in their own language.

Verse 12, and all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean?

But others, verse 13, mocking said, They are filled with new wine.

In other words, some who refused to listen to the gospel in their own language because of disbelief or former disbelief, instead focused on the languages they could not understand, and they said they're drunk.

They're drunk.

Now, I don't know about you, but I have been around at least a fair share of drunk people in my life.

I have never heard them speak in a different language they don't know.

Articulately.

Drunk people do not become smarter.

They slur their language, they don't speak in a new one.

I mean, if drinking wine gave you the ability to articulate a new language, I mean Rosetta Stone and Duolingo would certainly be out of business, right?

And instead, boxed wine sales would be off the charts.

You think about our missionaries.

If we sent missionaries overseas, we wouldn't require them to go through language training A and language training B, we would just, as a convention, buy, you know, pallets and pallets of wine.

So people would go overseas and share the gospel.

Now, you might think I'm making light of this, but this is what Peter has to respond to.

He responds to a bogus accusation.

They're drunk.

And Peter's response is like, have you not, have you not read the scriptures?

That's basically what he says.

He gives an explanation of the account for what's happening.

So in verses 14 through 21, he quotes from the prophet Joel in chapter 2, and he says, This is what's going on.

Do you not know that?

Verse 14, would you read it with me or follow with me?

Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and he addressed them.

Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words.

For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.

In other words, we've not had breakfast yet.

People aren't drunk yet.

But this, what is happening right now, verse 16, is what was uttered through the prophet Joel.

This is a prophecy we looked at last week.

And in the last days it shall be.

So Peter says, this is the last days that Joel was referring to.

Which, by the way, the rest of the apostles affirmed throughout the New Testament.

This is the last days.

God declares that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.

There's the promise.

And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

I would argue what Joel was speaking of was speaking the truth about what God had accomplished through Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the end to the prophecy that many prophets kind of pointed toward.

Not the end of all prophecy, but the end of that prophecy.

And your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.

You see that throughout the book of Acts.

Even on my male servants and my female servants, in those days I will pour out my spirit.

Again, there's the promise, and again, it's for servants, not just for priests or for prophets, or those who construct the temple in a particular place, in a particular time, particular people, but even on all my servants, I'll pour out my spirit.

And they shall prophesy.

What the things that have happened mean.

And I will show wonders in the heavens and above, and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke, the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.

I I think, hearing your pastor here, he is then referring to the future, what we read about in Revelation, pictures we see in Revelation, and of course that would be the great and awesome day of the Lord that they talk about in Revelation chapter six, where everything is at its culmination, its end, and the Lord returns.

The great day of the Lord in the Old Testament was a day of God's return in victory for those who follow after him, and in vengeance for those who disobey him and follow idols.

Verse 21, here's the conclusion, and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

So here is Peter's explanation for what's taking place.

This is the promise now kept, the promise made through Joel.

You see, God promised he would pour out his spirit on all his servants, so that they might declare the work of God accomplished in the gospel of Christ.

That he would dwell in them, his people, by his spirit, that he would direct them to truth, that he would declare his work amongst all people through them, so that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord would be saved.

Is that not what Peter is saying?

This is that day.

The Spirit has dwelt within God's people, empowering them for mission to go everywhere with the gospel.

He says, Today.

Today is the fulfillment of prophecy you've read about.

You've heard read in the synagogue.

You've prayed about.

Today is that day.

You know, every once in a while in our study of the scriptures and in my preaching, uh, you know, we walk through books slowly, we walk through 1 Peter very slowly, we walk through Luke very slowly.

Uh, this is a topical series where we're seeing God's plan over time come to fulfillment.

It is right and good, even in walking through the Bible slowly, to every once in a while back up and see what God's doing from 30,000 feet because he's given us Genesis to revelation.

Every once in a while it's good to see the forest and not just the sap on a given tree.

And this is what I want to do for just a moment.

I want to look at biblical theology for just a moment.

I want you to see what God's doing.

Before you try to draw application from God, I want you to stand in awe of God.

So here's what's going on in our passage as a part of God's big plan.

Are you ready?

God is building a final temple to dwell within.

God is building a final temple to dwell within.

That's what God's doing here.

God is building a final temple to dwell within.

This is a very significant moment in redemption history.

So I need to walk you through the Old Testament to Revelation and show you God's work by his spirit for his glory.

Let's start with the old covenant.

Well, in the old covenant, God dwelt with a people, but separate from them.

And with great fear, the great high priest would enter the presence of God one day a year to make atonement for sin.

We looked at this a little bit last week.

With great fear, one day a year, the great high priest would go into the presence, the place of the presence of God, the Holy of Holies, in the tabernacle.

God would dwell with his people in the old covenant.

It was a sign of his presence amongst them.

Well, in the arrival of the Messiah, follow with me here, in the new covenant, you see the very beginning of the New Testament, God came to his people to be among his people in Jesus, the God man, the very image of God, in whom the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

God dwelt among his people.

You know, the funny thing in John chapter 1, I say funny, it's a really cool thing in John chapter 1, is when it says that God, you know, Jesus dwelt among his people.

John 1 · chapter mention John 1 · chapter mention

The word was the Old Testament Septuagint word for tabernacle.

So Jesus tabernacled among his people.

Jesus, in whom the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, he dwelt among his people.

It's like a moving tabernacle.

The second person of the triune Godhead, Jesus the Christ.

You see, the Old Testament tabernacle is where God moved in and lived with his people.

But we see in Jesus that the whole purpose in the wilderness was to point people toward the true tabernacle, who was to come, the Son of God.

Colossians 2 9, for in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form.

But now, according to the Apostle Peter, filled with God's Spirit, proclaims Joel 2.28 his come to fulfillment.

In the new covenant, after the outpouring of God's Spirit, God dwells not just with his people, and not just among his people, but within his people.

We see that.

Number three, and his people and dwelt by his spirit can daily approach him with confidence, because the curtain that separated our access to God was torn upon a bloody cross two thousand years ago.

This is Ephesians chapter two.

Jesus came near and he preached peace to you who are far off, and peace to those who were near.

For through Christ we both have access in one spirit to the Father.

So we are no longer strangers and aliens, but are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

In him you are also being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

You know what's so unique in the Old Testament is, you know, when we get into the book of Acts and we see that Paul was accused of taking Trophimus over this dividing wall, this balustrade to enter into the inner more inner parts of the temple.

He's accused of taking a Gentile.

Well, what Ephesians chapter 2 teaches us here is that Jews and Gentiles have access to God through Christ.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

And not only do Gentiles have access to God, but where they formerly could not enter, they now are the temple.

We looked at last week.

In the New Testament, God no longer resides in a place he's made holy, but in a people he's made holy.

The tabernacle not only pointed to Jesus, but what God would do through Jesus for his church.

A people he's made no made holy, not by the sweat of men making a temple, but made by the Spirit of God making a new people.

We looked at 1 Peter chapter 2.

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

As you come to Jesus, you yourselves are like living stones being built up as a spiritual house.

Spiritual house in the Old Testament was the temple.

We are God's spiritual house, the special dwelling place of God.

To be a holy priesthood, to offer sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

So hear me closely.

In the new covenant, what is Peter telling us?

Well, there's no more priests, for that's who we are.

We represent God.

There's no more sacrifices, for that's what we do.

In view of his mercy, present yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to the Lord.

Romans 12.

There's no more going to a nation in one place, but going as a nation to every place.

You're a chosen nation.

No more is the temple a place to come and see God's work, but it is now a people going to share God's work.

That's what God's doing by his Spirit in the new covenant.

The Spirit of God indwelling believers everywhere, empowering them for mission so that God might be seen and known not just in Jerusalem, but everywhere.

What did Acts 1.8 teach us?

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

So that God's temple is everywhere the church gathers.

Peter is saying, We're not drunk.

God is here.

And he has kept his promise through his servant Joel.

This is a significant event in redemption history.

God has sent his spirit and he's dwelling in us.

Let me say it like this to summarize before I give you something else.

The promise of the Holy Spirit is God's presence in his people, not just among or around, in his people everywhere, not just a place in the world or in a part of the world, a people scattered throughout the world.

God is building his temple on earth.

And can I just show you how that relates to the end of all things?

You see, throughout this progression, you see kind of how though we turn our back against God, kind of God is coming near His people, Tabernacle, Jesus, Spirit and Dwelling.

Well, at the return of Christ, the end of all things, God will dwell with us finally in fullness.

If you were to turn and read the last two chapters of your Bible, what do you think it says?

Revelation twenty-one, beginning in verse one.

Listen closely.

About the day to come at the return of Christ and the end of all things, I saw a new heaven and a new earth.

For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.

Remember, Jerusalem, the holy city, where God dwells amongst his people, comes down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will dwell with them as their God.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more.

Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain, for the former things have passed away.

You scroll down to the end of chapter twenty-one.

This is what it says.

Verse 22.

I thought God was building his temple.

Well, hold on.

I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb.

And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb, by its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day, and there will be no night there.

They will bring into it the glory and honor of the nations, but nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

So what is the final promise?

Final promise is the temple is being built to cover the whole world.

What does that mean?

There will be no place the presence of God won't be.

It will be as if the central sanctuary of the temple will cover the surface of the earth.

The whole earth will be his sanctuary.

This is the promise of God in Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 14.

Habakkuk 2:14

Are you ready?

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Think about that phrasing.

Is there any part of the sea that's not covered by water?

No.

So it will be.

Will there be any part of the earth not covered in glory?

No.

God's special dwelling place will be with, among, within his people in a place made new, where there'll be no place outside the camp.

There will be no detestable things brought in.

The full and final sacrifice has already been accomplished.

We will dwell in the land of the living.

We will dwell without sin, sorrow, strife, sadness, syndromes.

We will dwell with Jesus.

All will be new, all will be perfect, all will be bright, all will be glorious, and it will be, if you say it, everything will be everywhere.

Biblical theology is good.

That's the promise.

How does that happen?

Well, Acts chapter 2 gives us a moment, a significant moment for how the Lord accomplishes his great plan.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Because God's plan to draw near to us by his presence happens over time, and it happens by the Holy Spirit.

Three main points in the message this morning as we look at Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Number one, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, clarifies the truth of God's work or God's plan through Jesus and the gospel.

A lot to say here.

Follow along.

This will be a longer message than normal.

If you look in verses 22 through 40, you see Peter's sermon.

He gave the explanation, verses 14 through and 21.

Now he's preaching.

And I just want to note it, I want you to notice that Peter's preaching this.

That's significant.

You know, Peter may have been the disciple's spokesperson, the one that would speak out out of the 12, sometimes with maybe out thinking.

First.

He may have been one of the closest disciples to Jesus, but Peter also tried to stop the crucifixion, at least in one way.

Stepping before Jesus on his way to Jerusalem, where he said he would die.

Peter got in front of Jesus and said, No.

And what did Jesus say?

Get behind me, Satan.

Peter also, when Jesus was crucified, Peter denied him three times.

I don't know him.

You're thinking, Peter, you saw all these miraculous things, and now you're going to deny it?

Peter was a guilty man.

He had sinned against God.

He had sinned against his friend.

He had been arrogant and self-confident.

I'll never deny you.

In fact, one would even say he didn't understand the scriptures.

Not totally, like Isaiah 53, which taught that the Messiah had to come and die.

And when the Messiah did come and die, die, Peter denied his Savior not once, not twice, but three times, fearing any association with Jesus because of his faith.

And yet, well, what takes place?

Well Jesus forgives him.

And not only forgives him, but preach but but sends his spirit so that he preaches, like you would say, probably the first spirit-empowered sermon.

Causes all these people to repent and turn to Christ.

Peter's past does not prohibit him from being used by God in a mighty way.

Not only did Jesus save Peter, but his spirit emboldened Peter.

You read the book of Luke and you learn that there's going to be moments in the lives of the disciples where they don't know what to say.

And Jesus says that don't fear what you're going to say when you're dragged into courts, for the spirit will speak through you.

Well, now Peter goes before a bunch of people who crucify the Messiah, and he speaks very audaciously, boldly.

In fact, what we're going to learn is he says, You killed Christ.

That's the Spirit emboldening him to preach.

And additionally, not only did the forgiveness of Jesus changed Peter's audacity, but the Spirit of God changed Peter's understanding of all the scriptures.

The Holy Spirit gave Peter understanding.

I mean, even as Peter goes and talks about God's plan, he's still arguing.

You know, James and John, who's going to be the greater one?

Peter didn't fully understand Jesus' death before it happened.

But now that the Spirit of God had been poured out on him, the same Spirit that Jesus said would lead him and other believers to all truth, Peter preached an articulate message of truth that transformed a number of people.

Think about John 14, 26.

But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and he will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

It was as if the Spirit of God illuminated Peter's mind to understand, oh, I understand what Jesus said, what it meant.

The Old Testament, I see with new eyes now.

The promises have been fulfilled.

This is the Spirit's doing.

For you not only to see Jesus, but to see who he is, what he's done, and what it means for you.

Peter understands and he preaches a spirit-empowered sermon that transforms lives, something Peter could not do himself.

That's why Jesus said, wait, so that you might both understand and be empowered for the mission I have for you.

Holy Spirit clarified the truth in Peter's mind.

And he preached a gospel-centered sermon from the Old Testament.

I want you to see that.

A gospel-centered sermon from the Old Testament.

What is gospel?

What does spirit-empowered preaching look like?

It looks like gospel-centered preaching, even from the Old Testament.

I won't be able to explain every verse line by line.

We have a lot to talk about this morning.

But you notice something about his sermon from verses 22 all the way through verse 40.

His sermon begins and ends.

You notice that's bookended by the same indictment you did wrong and instruction, repent and believe.

You see that in verse 22.

Men of Israel, hear these words.

Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, the miracles Jesus performed, as you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified, and he was killed by the hands of lawless men.

God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

There's much to say here.

For the sake of time, we will not be able to say it all.

But just notice here that by that the Bible, the Holy Spirit, as Peter preaches, finds no difficulty putting both God's sovereignty and man's responsibility right next to each other.

Acts 223 is one of the greatest pictures of this.

Jesus, delivered up according to the plan of God, according to his foreknowledge.

This is how God was going to accomplish salvation.

Jesus is going to be delivered up, but he was delivered up by the hands of lawless men.

So you are to blame for your sin, and yet God used the hands of sinful men to accomplish his perfect salvation plan.

Both are true.

God has no problem.

Peter has no problem saying both are true.

God is absolutely sovereign and men is still responsible for his sin.

This is only attention for creatures who are not like our Creator.

Who can't understand all the ends from the beginning.

Who cannot counsel God.

Our God sits in the heavens and does whatever he pleases.

Our God knows the end from the beginning.

And here's the best thing: here's what we see in this text what mankind intended for evil, God intended for good.

They wanted to stop Jesus, and yet their work actually accomplished the plan of Jesus for their salvation.

You hear about that in Caiaphas.

It's better that one man die than the whole nation.

Caiaphas was trying to save the nation, the Jewish people, by killing Jesus.

And through the killing of Jesus, all those who would come to him in faith would be saved.

It's almost as if God can do that sort of thing.

That God is sovereign, that God does save even by the hands of lawless men.

He is not surprised, he is not perplexed, he's not wringing his hands and and what do I do?

God accomplishes salvation.

How he wants, with who he wants, when he wants, for the glory of his name and for the good of people who would draw near to him in faith.

Peter says to his listeners, You killed Jesus, you crucified him.

This is good news, even for the evil planners.

Even for the conspirators.

Because he's talking to thousands who were there.

Thousands, which included those who jeered and mock it mocked Jesus as he took each step to Calvary.

Thousands for whom the death of Christ was accomplished for.

Thousands who God would that day do a work in their heart they couldn't to believe in Jesus and be safe from the punishment of their sin.

Peter, empowered by God's Spirit, pointed out their sin.

He pointed to Jesus, the one they sinned against, as the only solution.

Now, another part of his sermon that I just want to point to real quick, what does Peter do?

He looks back to the Old Testament, he picks out David.

The people in Jerusalem loved David.

And so he contextualizes a bit here.

He says, You know David?

You know what David said?

Here it is.

Brothers, may I say to you, this is verse 29, with confidence about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried.

And his tomb is with us to this day.

David being therefore a prophet, verse 30, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh seek corruption.

In other words, the grave could not hold him past three days.

This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses.

He said, David in the tomb.

Jesus alive.

And David talked about Jesus.

He points to an Old Testament figure they knew and loved, and said, Do you not see how David points us to the Messiah?

To the one who came, to the one who died, to the one who resurrected.

Not only is Jesus alive, but he's seated on the throne, immovable, with all authority in heaven and on earth.

And as he sits, all enemies will be made his footstool.

Verse 34, for David did not ascend to the heavens, but he himself says, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

He's quoting Psalm 100, verse 8.

Hear me, church.

What Peter preaches here?

He says, All of God's enemies and all of the bride's enemies, God's people's enemies, will meet God's feet.

Either bowing before them or breaking under them.

And it's a right weight because it's truth.

You will either bow before the king or be broken underneath him.

He has come to save.

Will you turn from your wicked way, repent of your sin, and believe in Jesus?

He continues.

You see that indictment toward the end of his sermon.

You know, there will be many who drink the cup of God's wrath in the future.

Many.

It will be poured out.

But in the past, one has already drunk the cup on a bloody tree, so that you and I and all those who draw near to Jesus with faith will not drink it ourselves.

The gospel confronts everyone with their sin and it demands a response.

So here's the second work we see of the Holy Spirit in this moment.

The Spirit convicts people of their sin once they're brought face to face with it.

And it converts, he sorry, he converts their heart to repent and believe the gospel.

Like those listening to Peter's message, maybe you hear the gospel and you remember maybe when you heard the gospel and you were cut to the heart.

Your heart was broken over your sin.

That spirit wrought conviction, that's a work of God's spirit.

A preacher cannot do it.

Yeah, there's maybe manipulation, they try, but conviction is a work of God.

I can't convince you into Christianity.

The Holy Spirit convicts you and converts your heart.

If so, if you've been made aware of your sin against God, if you've been made aware that Jesus took upon himself that wrath, if you've been made aware that he did so, so that everyone who believes in him would be forgiven in full, if you've been made aware that he sits upon his throne and will one day return to judge those that do not trust in him, that is the Spirit's doing.

And so you ask, What should I do?

As they did in that day, and here's how they respond.

Peter says, Repent, personally turning from your sin to Jesus for mercy.

And he says, Be baptized.

Publicly give your allegiance to Jesus, confessing your need for him.

And I just want to maybe pause here for a moment and speak outside of my notes for a second.

Jews did not get baptized.

Those who converted to Judaism were baptized.

And so what these Jews were doing when they heard the gospel and then walked in water was saying, they were saying, we don't really know God.

Because we didn't believe his son.

We did not see in the face of the Son of God the living and eternal Father that we have read about.

And if you deny the Son, you don't know the Father.

So when walking in the water, they're saying, We give our allegiance to Jesus, who is the Son of God.

We're following after him.

This was a work by God's Spirit.

It only could have been a work by God's Spirit.

They know that they're probably going to be persecuted for that.

They're making a public stand.

So I want you to see this on the screen.

The Holy Spirit's work, he regenerates our heart by first breaking it over our sin before replacing it, birthing within us a desire for Jesus that we never had before.

This is the work that we, theological word regeneration.

God giving us a new heart, replacing our heart of stone with a heart of flesh.

This is a work of God's Spirit, convicting us and converting us, breaking our heart over our sin, and birthing within us a desire for Jesus that we never had.

Well, after this takes place, Acts records a public sermon, a public response, and a public repentance.

Maybe you hear the words of the gospel today and you say, I want to follow after Jesus.

I encourage you even today, I plead with you even today, young kids in the room, turn to Jesus in faith.

He has paid for your sin.

You have sinned against a holy God.

You deserve the wrath of God.

And yet Jesus came to take upon himself the wrath of God, so you wouldn't have to.

If you place your faith and trust in Christ, then in Christ alone, you will experience intimacy or relationship with God fully, forever, finally, with the Lord in eternity.

You must believe upon the Lord.

You must seek his mercy and his forgiveness.

Lastly, I just want you to see something.

That's the third of three points.

Because the Spirit's conviction creates churches as the gospel goes out over the earth.

You notice that after those in Jerusalem trusted Jesus, they were counted, verse 42, and they were added to the church.

Counted and added.

It's on the screen.

The Holy Spirit not only draws people to Christ, but draws Christ's people to one another.

The Holy Spirit endears our hearts for one another.

As God makes his dwelling place on earth, dwelling with us, preparing us for glory to come, he gathers us in groups, giving us a desire to be together.

You see this.

This first spirit-empowered sermon led to spirit-led conviction, which created a spirit-filled church.

Now, two things that didn't happen.

They didn't disappear, now changed because they just were the church and kind of went on their way, separate from one another.

They didn't themselves all start speaking in tongues and utterances.

Surely there was emotional response, but it didn't lead to ecstatic utterances for weeks.

They were counted and they committed themselves to one another.

Read with me, verses 42 through 47.

You can see what happened.

Then they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.

And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

And all who believed were together and had all things in common.

And they were selling their possessions and their belongings, and they were distributing the proceeds to all as any had need.

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all people.

And the Lord added to their number day to day those who were being saved.

Those who had been convicted of their sin by the Holy Spirit had converted, God had changed their heart, now had a love for one another, brought by the Spirit of God, so that they were committed to four things, really four things.

They were committed to the gospel.

They devoted themselves to the truth of the apostles' teaching and learning about Jesus' words.

They committed themselves to the gathering.

Familiar faces now became family.

The Holy Spirit caused a new love and a real commitment between believers.

They were in each other's homes often.

They had all things in common.

They were breaking bread.

They physically gathered for worship.

They committed themselves not only to the gospel, to the gathering, but to giving.

They gave whatever access they had to those in need and to going out with the gospel as the Lord added day to day those who were being saved.

Even the servants went out, shared the gospel, and people were saved.

What did it look like as the church devoted itself to Christ and one another?

Ray Ortland says this.

When the early believers converted to Christ, it never occurred to them to fit him into the margins of their busy lives.

They redefined themselves around a new and movable center.

He was not an optional weekend activity along with the kids' soccer practices.

They put him and his church and his cause first in their hearts, first in their schedules, first in their budgets, first in their reputations, and first in their very lives.

So maybe you say, I want a spirit-filled church.

What does that look like?

It looks like a group of people committed to the gospel, to the gathering, to giving, and to going out with the message of Jesus.

Being fruitful and bearing fruit of the Spirit.

It doesn't look wild, it looks like self-control, along with patience and kindness and gentleness.

The epistles show us normal life and the spirit together.

So where does that leave us today?

A long sermon, and you've listened patiently.

I want us to genuinely pray for a move of God's Spirit through us for the world.

Not just in that ecstatic experience, but belief as we commit to share the gospel, commitment to the church and her mission as evidence of genuine belief, and fruit to be ever present in the church of God in keeping with repentance.

Church, Redeemer City, let's commit to one another as his Spirit makes us a dwelling place fit for our Father forever.

We are his people.

Let's witness to our Lord.

Would you pray with me?

God, we thank you that you saw fit to make us your dwelling place.

To dwell not just in a place we, under your instruction, create, but to create within us a new heart.

And create among us a new people.

And create in the last days at your coming a new heavens, a new earth where you'll dwell with us fully, finally, and forever.

Lord, help us to represent heaven.

That place in a war-torn world.

Giving evidence to what you have done.

And who you are.

Each one of us can look at Acts 2 and say that's true.

Someone clearly brought the gospel to me.

They clearly brought it to me because God's Spirit led them to the truth.

Help them speak the truth.

Every one of us can say, we heard that clear gospel message.

Every one of us who's a believer.

We were convicted of our sins by the work of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit converted our heart to believe in Jesus.

And what have you done for us?

The Holy Spirit gave us the heart of the shit.