Acts: You Will Be My Witnesses (2:1-14, 22-32)

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Our second lesson is taken from the Book of Acts, chapter 2, verses 1 to 14, and 22 to 32.

Acts 2:1–14

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.

And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting, and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

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

And at this sound the multitude came together and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.

And they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?

And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language?

Parthians and Medes and Elamites and the residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Capitocea, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene and visitors from Rome.

Both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.

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

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

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

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, as you yourselves know.

This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

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

For David says, concerning him, I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken.

Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced, my flesh also will dwell in hope.

For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your holy one see corruption.

You have made known to me the paths of life, you will make me full of gladness with your presence.

Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

Being therefore a prophet, 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 see corruption.

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

The word of the Lord.

Heavenly Father, um, this text that we're about to look at uh has been a divisive text through um many denominations over the centuries.

Father, we just pray that uh that those issues uh would just fall away, that this text would become food for our souls, um, that these wouldn't this wouldn't be a text that would divide us, but that we would come together and see um you, we'd hear you speaking through this text.

And I pray it's in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Now, anyone looking at this uh at this text we're about to look at, if they had no familiarity with the Bible, um, they would be confused, they would be bewilbewildered, and they'd probably be turned off by the text.

Um, Christians can also say the same thing that they're confused by this text.

Um it's a bit confusing because up until now in the Bible, the spirit, the Holy Spirit, is often described as soft.

He's a comforter, he's shy, he comforts those in need.

And then this moment, as Victoria read, happens.

If you were to, if you think about someone you know who's very shy, it'd be like if they all of a sudden just start like speaking really loud, being very animated, um, maybe like being very excited, moving all around, all over the place, it'd be very out of character for them.

And sometimes we may feel that in this text the spirit is being very out of character.

Now, what happens in this text that we're about to look at in Acts is a profound miracle.

It's and it's profoundly historical.

Um that is something that we can really hold on to.

And the fact that it is a profound miracle, there's no way to get around this, there's no way to explain um our way out of this.

Um, it is a profound miracle that happens in this text, and we have to look at that.

So please turn in your Bibles if you haven't already to Acts chapter 2, verses 1 to 14, and verses 22 to 32, and we'll have a look.

Acts 2:1–14

So, verse 1.

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.

Now just pause here for a second.

When it says Pentecost, it's talking about um these feasts that the Jewish people would have together.

And this is um one of the three three main feasts that they would have, and this is the feast of the harvest.

It's 50 days after Passover, and Jerusalem is packed with people.

You have to remember that when we look at this text, it is packed, just like how it was packed for Passover, it's just like thousands of people are here right now for this feast, and this is a comfort for us that there's thousands of people here because we can rest in that it is a very historical moment, that there's many, many people here.

And that's what something I find very comforting about the Bible.

All the key moments they happen publicly, they don't happen off somewhere in someone's room, and then he comes and gives these people and shows them this text.

Everything is public.

It is thousands of people are around this.

Um, Jesus' disciples are in a room, but then they go out, as we see into the text as it happens.

And that's something that's very, very comforting for me, and it should be comforting comforting for you.

That Jesus' resurrection was public, his death was public, his resurrection was public, his appearances to people were public, his ascension was public, and Pentecost is public.

It's a public miracle.

The evidence is staggering.

And just another thing, very briefly to talk about, it's kind of like a geek moment that I didn't realize in this text uh before looking at commentaries, is that there is much debate about if the disciples are in the upper room.

I was quite uh taken aback by how many people debated this.

Um this is there's not enough evidence for for us to say that they're in the upper room.

So this is kind of a sidetrack moment.

And this is a good thing for us to remember that we need to lean on things that have historical grounding, and we need to shy away from things that don't.

And this is one of those moments.

So, what happens next?

It's a miracle, there's no way around it, but it's a fourfold miracle.

Now, what do I mean by that?

Well, let's take a look at verse two.

And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

And I'll just pause here.

This is the first part of the miracle, the fourfold part.

And it is a miracle of the ear, and it is a miracle of sound.

It's very noisy.

They weren't off in the woods chanting to themselves with candles, in quietness, meditating, and then all of a sudden someone's like, I have the Holy Spirit has come upon me.

This was very dramatic, and they're in the noisy the noisy city of Jerusalem, and the spirit shows up out of nowhere.

It's kind of like um two years ago, I'm sure many of you remember that big storm, uh Dureco.

I feel like no one can pronounce it properly, that name.

But it's that big storm that happened and it swept through Ontario and the states and also into Quebec.

And just, I remember um me and Amy were um we're dropping off some things at our friend's house when we were moving from Perth, Ontario back to Ottawa for a year.

And we were driving in a cargo van, and then all of a sudden, this dramatic windstorm just comes out of nowhere, and we were hit directly in Ottawa where the most severe part of it hit.

And it was very dramatic.

Um, or if I could use another example, I could use a pop culture example.

I don't know how many people are familiar with Seinfeld, but the main character's name is Jerry, and he has a neighbor named Kramer.

And every time Kramer would enter the room, it'd be very dramatic.

Every time he was known for it.

It's kind of like that.

The spirit just shows up into the room.

Now you might be thinking, well, Matt, how can you explain the next part in this text?

It just gets weirder.

Well, let's look at verse 3.

Let's see what it says.

The miracle of the eye.

And divided tongues of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.

Now, in the original language, this isn't, it is just as it's not all of a sudden just raining fiery tongues in the room.

What is happening here in the original language is that it's the Spirit, the Holy Spirit is coming down into the room, it enters the room.

It's one fire, appearance of fire, that spreads into individual tongues on them, that gives them utterance.

It's an individual tongue resting on each person.

This is the third person of the Trinity coming into the room, entering into the scene, visibly, visibly into the scene.

It seems very odd, but this is what's happening.

This is a miracle.

Verse 4.

This is where we're gonna camp out for a while.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now, if this happened to one person, people would question it.

They would think, they would come up with ways how to think, oh, he probably studied the languages in his spare time.

But this happened to a group of people.

It's like um in when people they're in and they're in the desert and they're with a group of people and they start um becoming parched with water and they become really thirsty, they start seeing these things called mirages.

But this only happens normally to one person.

So you and it's in their mind, it's a it's their mind playing tricks with their eyes.

Only they see it.

But here, all of a sudden, they start speaking in different languages.

If this happened to us, if we all started speaking in different languages, people wouldn't be able to deny it.

What's happening?

Each person is speaking a different language.

This is a miracle.

People would hear it, and in this text, thousands of people are about to hear it.

In New Song Kids, right now, they're go they're starting the new semester talking about um the fruits of the spirit.

Now, one of the fruits of the spirit is self-control.

So you have to remember when this happens, they're not swinging off chandeliers, jumping around, rolling around.

They are they are speaking in a controlled speech.

And they're speaking with a firm boldness.

Up until now in the Bible, the spirit has come on people for seasons of a time, drinks on certain people, and then it leaves for certain times.

But this is the moment, the defining moment when in Pentecost, this is why Pentecost is celebrated every year in the church calendar, is when the Spirit stays on the followers of Jesus.

So the the gospel message is this that Jesus, God sent his son into the world to live a perfect life, to die the death that we deserved, and rise again from the dead and ascend into heaven.

But when you put your faith and trust in Jesus, the spirit enters in you and the spirit stays with you.

See, no one is so far gone that the spirit will not enter them when they put their faith and trust in Jesus.

And no one is so successful living the good life that they do not need to hear the gospel message.

Everyone needs to hear it.

And you might be thinking, well, Matt, I feel alone in this world.

Why does the Christian faith always say that I'll be fine, I'll have someone with me?

Well, there is someone with you.

Jesus is with you.

His spirit is within you.

You're not alone.

Now, anyone who doesn't call themselves a Jesus follower has reasons for not being one.

And it is our job to try and answer their objections.

We will need to we all have a requirement to study and read about the Bible, to study it.

And just I'm gonna put a little um little insert here.

In February, I'll be starting a thing called learner's exchange.

And this is where we're gonna talk about difficult topics that the culture has against Christianity, but we're gonna talk about it in a very relaxed space where everyone can ask questions and we can have a discussion about it.

The first one's in February.

But there's uh other reasons why people don't want, don't, can't believe in the Christian faith.

And it's a deep, deep reason within.

They don't want it to be true.

Anyone who who has come from has a faith background where they come to it later in life, can really um can really agree with this and relate to it.

I I can just talk about myself here.

That when when I did was not a believer, I and I heard about it, I did not want it to be true.

I didn't not believe in this claim at all.

And that could happen to many of us here in the room, even if you grew up your entire life with in the Christian faith, you sometimes don't want it to be true.

You hear these things and you don't want it to be true.

But if we break it more down, if we go deeper into it, we want God to come into our lives, to do his work, and then to leave and leave us alone.

But unless the Spirit comes into our lives and consumes us and we allow it, we'll always be living in fear.

See, we have a deep longing within ourselves that we battle with constantly, that we want to own ourselves.

But true love and commitment is self-sacrifice, self-sacrificial.

Your heart will be restless until you rest in God.

This is something we have to really work at, we have to really wrestle with.

That we have this, we have these two spirits within us.

We have the spirit of our flesh, and then we have the spirit, the Holy Spirit within us.

And they're constantly at in a battle together.

And we need to constantly come to Jesus and be like, Jesus, help me.

Help me battle against my flesh, because I believe your spirit is within me.

It's there within me, and I need your help.

So let's continue, let's look at what's next.

Let's look at verses five to thirteen.

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

And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.

And they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?

And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language, part Parthians, Emides, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judah and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phygia and Pamphyla, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene and visitors of Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God, and all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean?

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

So what's going on here is now they're start that now they're coming out of the room and they're going into the town of Jerusalem.

What's going on?

See, everyone is there's the city is full of devout Jews and devout people who have um become devoted to the Jewish faith.

So it's packed, and everyone hears this epic sound.

The spirit shows up and the place erupts.

But controlled speech.

It's very it's I think it's a very interesting juxtaposition that these two these two things are happening.

A very loud noise, chaotic sound, and then controlled speech happen right after.

Now, if we look at verse 7, we see something that we can all relate to.

It's uh there's a prejudice against the Galileans.

We in our s uh in our culture, there's these prejudices.

All over the world, there's prejudices.

And this is happening here.

See, what's happening here is that they're speaking other languages of these people that are in Jerusalem, but they're speaking it in a Galilean accent.

The thing with Galileans, why they're so astonished is that they were considered people from Galilee, they were considered uncultured, they were considered hillbilly or redneck, or slang, and they spoke in a slang.

It'd be it's kind of like um in the United States, there's the north and then there's the south, and there's this prejudice against them.

If you come to Canada, there's a prejudice with English-speaking people and French-speaking people.

And then if you zoom in on the French-speaking people, there's a prejudice between Quebec French and then Parisian French.

There's a prejudice.

It's all over the world.

You go if you go to England, it's the English, um, they have they think they speak the proper English, but North Americans don't.

There's it's all over the place.

This is what's going on here.

Is that they are so shocked that these people are speaking these their languages perfectly, but in their own accent.

How do they do it?

Now, a common critique of Christianity is if you lose your identity.

But here's the thing: all other religions require you to become more like it.

With Islam, you have to pray a certain way, you have to speak Arabic, you have to become more Arabic.

In Buddhism, you have to become more like Buddha, you have to become a monk, you have to live by Buddha's ways.

In Jewish, in Jewish religion, you have to become more Jewish and look more Jewish.

In spiritualist or secular culture, it's the same thing, you have to become more secular.

You have to get the crystals, you have to do yoga, you have to do all these things.

It tells you to do this.

But in Christianity, you don't lose your identity.

Here's the thing that's interesting about it.

You become more human.

It doesn't require you to look a certain way, speak a certain way, or worship a certain certain way.

Here we see God using these people for a miracle, but they kept their native accent.

They kept this deep, deep part of them, their heart language, and God used them.

This is something that I find very interesting here, is that they didn't have to assimilate to a certain way of being, or God didn't change their accents or anything.

He kept it.

See, when you become a Christian and you put your faith in Jesus Christ, that He that He is the Lord and Savior of the world, you don't become this other being.

You become more human.

You become more the way that God originally created humanity, that your flesh no longer dominates you.

You have this spirit within you that you become more human that God intentionally created you to be.

See, the same spirit that dwells in those Christians in China that speak Mandarin, that have underground churches, is the same spirit that dwells within those in Africa, often a far off village, that are probably right now meeting under a tree, praising God.

Is the same spirit that dwells in the people of Denmark in the remote islands.

Islands of Denmark is the same spirit that dwells in Jesus Christ right now, and it's the same spirit that dwells in you if you've put your faith and trust in Jesus.

Now you might be thinking, well, Matt, I've never experienced anything like this in my life, that what we're reading about here.

See, this is where the division comes from that I prayed about, that we wouldn't focus on it.

What has happened is that this text has become almost like an instruction manual on how to have the Spirit enter you.

But that's not the case.

This is the moment that God chose to use these people for a very defining moment.

It says in Romans, it's impossible for anyone to declare Jesus as Lord unless the Spirit dwells in them.

If you believe in Jesus as Lord as your Lord and Savior, that Spirit dwells in you already.

Now, just looking at the timer here right now, um it's at it's at around the 20-minute mark.

And I still have verses 22 to 32 to look at.

So I'm gonna need another 30 minutes, just so you know.

Just so buckle up.

No, I'm just joking.

The thing that that's so great about Acts is that we've been, as me and Creighton have been always we've been pushing up here for the past couple months that we gotta share, share our faith.

We've got to look to Jesus, and then we need to share our faith and bring it to the community.

But the thing that is so great about Acts is that it gives you examples about how to share your faith.

We see it firsthand, how the disciples and Jesus' followers began to share the faith in Jerusalem first and then out into the world, the Mediterranean world as they saw the world in that day.

But the thing is, it could be scary.

And it can leave, and you could be left wondering, well, how do I do this?

You tell me to do it, but how do I do it?

So just to summarize those next verses that I mentioned, there's three things that we can learn from them.

And this is one of the great things about Acts.

It gives you the application right in the text.

You don't have to come up with something.

Peter, as he speaks to the Jewish people, as he says the first sermon, is that he uses Scripture to speak of Jesus.

Scripture speaks of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection and his and the future mission of it, the gospel going out to all nations.

They just they just talk about Jesus.

It's not about them.

And this is something that we can just hold on to and really find a lot of confidence in.

We don't have to come up with this big, these big stories or these big examples.

We can just share what Jesus is doing in our life and what he's done in other people's lives.

We just share that.

We let people see the spirit that's in us, dwelling in us.

They get to see that in us, that we are set apart.

We're not set apart, that's why it sounds bad.

Um we're just, there's something different about us.

That God has come into our lives and changed us for the better.

And that that promise is to them too.

It's there for them to say yes to.

And then the third is that the same spirit that dwells in Jesus dwells in you.

That is such a great promise.

It's such a great fact to really meditate on.

That spirit, the Holy Spirit, is in you, dwelling in you.

So when Jesus says in chapter 1, verse 8, at the beginning of Acts, you will be my witnesses, that's the whole theme of this sermon.

It's the whole theme of the book of Acts.

We are Jesus' witnesses.

But we can have confidence in what we're saying because it's historical.

It happened.

The evidence is staggering.

There is more evidence for the resurrection of Jesus than there is for Plato being alive.

There's more evidence for it.

When you start to break it down and dig it up and read the books on it and the studies on it, it's quite staggering.

Um, I found that I remember that in seminary when we looked at in the Hermenukes class, just how much evidence there is for the resurrection is just, it's mind-blowing.

Yeah, I was quite taken aback by it.

And the Holy Spirit is in us.

The same spirit that is in Jesus dwells in you.

Now, if you're here or you're watching online and you're struggling in your faith, or you don't call yourself Christian, I would strongly encourage you to talk to us, to explore the Christian faith, to come to it without any biases, and really look at the evidence for the resurrection.

It's staggering.

And those who've put their those of you who have put your faith and trust in Jesus, we will be his witnesses.

That is his commandment to us that we need to go out into the community and tell people about Jesus.

Let us pray.

Um, Heavenly Father, um thank you that uh you've given us these profound texts to meditate on, to wrestle with, um, but also to have immense encouragement from.

That you have put this spirit within us, that you have not left us orphans, that uh you have given this spirit of power, that we don't have to rely on ourselves, that we can just rely on the spirit that's within us, that the spirit will give us the words to say.

So, Father, I just pray that as we go away from this service today, that we would be encouraged that you are with us.

And I praise in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you for listening today.

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