Pentecost Sunday

OK, would you, would you pray with me?

Father in Heaven, we ask that you would send your Spirit to be

our teacher today. That as we turn our attention

and our affections to Your word, that we would hear the voice of

Your Son, our Savior, and that hearing Him, we would believe in

Him and that we would be built up in our faith.

Father, would you do for us what you did for our brothers and our

sisters that very first Pentecost?

Would you draw near? And would you help us to see

that Christ has been the plan all along?

And would you help us to marvel at Him and to love Him and to

trust in Him? We ask it in his name.

Amen. OK, so you are in Acts chapter

Acts 2 · chapter mention

2. A couple of housekeeping things

before we dig in. First of all, man, it was glory

and fire to see you guys at Eli and Grace's wedding on Friday.

I just marvel at the community that God has built here and the

friends that we have in this church and and I was overwhelmed

with joy that my family who doesn't really get to live with

you guys like I do, just got to see all of you there and all of

you blessing our family and just being there and it was truly

heavenly. So thank you for thank you for

being there. Thank you for all of the all of

the work that you put into help care down and and all of the

kindnesses that you have given to Eli and grace.

We are humbled and really encouraged.

So we love you. We love you deeply and I don't

tell you that enough, but I do. I do so treasure you.

Thank you for that. Second thing I want to tell you

is that next Sunday, Lord willing, we're going to start a

study in the book of Joshua, just work our way through an Old

Testament book. And so if you want to prepare

for that, a good practice would be to to start reading the book

of Joshua. You can read it once a day this

week, or you can read it once throughout the week, or you can

read just chapter 1, whatever you want to do.

But that's what we're going to do.

And so just as a heads up, OK, so last Sunday was Ascension

Sunday when we remembered the anniversary where Christ who had

been crucified for our sin and risen from the dead or went into

heaven on our behalf. And we thought deeply about what

does that mean? How does that impact us?

What does it change? Does it change anything or is it

just an interesting story? Well, this Sunday is another one

of those Sundays that seems like an also ran holiday, and it's

the it's Ascension Sunday. It's the Sunday where we

remember, no, not Ascension, where we remember Pentecost,

where we remember that fifty days after the resurrection,

Christ poured out his Holy Spirit upon his people.

And So what we're going to do, what I want to do is it's not

going to be a strict exposition because we would be here forever

as I preached on a sermon, preach a sermon on the sermon.

What I'm going to do is I'm going to high point some of the

things that Peter's sermon that we can learn from it about the

about the reality of Pentecost. OK, the first thing I want to

show you about the about Pentecost and you heard Aaron

read this text to you is that in at Pentecost, Christ is really

and fully revealed to Israel. So the key to this entire text

is in in verse 32. If you look in verse 32, it's

towards the end of Peter's sermon to Israel and he says

this Jesus God raised up and of that we are all witnesses being

therefore exalted at the right hand of God.

Really it could be rendered exalted by the right hand of God

and having received want you to watch this received from the

Father the promise of the Holy Spirit that is the Father gave

Jesus the gift of the Holy Spirit.

He has Christ has poured out this that you yourselves are

seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into

the heavens, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord,

sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your

footstool. Let all the House of Israel

therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and

Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

That's the key phrase. Let all the House of Israel

therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and

Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

OK, one of the mega themes if you want to write in your

Bibles, I'll write I'll I'll say the addresses of these texts.

But when you read the Gospels and you look at the ministry of

John the Baptist, his ministry was to the nation of Israel to

preach not just that somebody was coming, but he would be the

one that identified who it was that was to be the Messiah.

And so if you read Matthew chapter 3 verses 7 through 12,

Matthew 3:7–12

Mark chapter 1 verses 4 through 8, Luke chapter 3 verses 7:00

Mark 1:4–8 Luke 3 · chapter mention

and 9:00, and then 15 through 17, and then John chapter 1

John 1:29–34

verses 29 through 34, what you see is this mega theme that John

is saying they, they believed there's so much power and

authority in John who came preaching in the spirit of

Elijah, that they mistook him that he might be the Messiah.

This might be the one that we're waiting for.

And John repeatedly testified and it shows it's it's face in

all of the gospels that after me comes one who I am not worthy to

untie his sandals. And he says repeatedly, I

baptize you with water, but there's coming a one who will

baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

And there's always a threat to the nation of Israel that when

Messiah comes, he's going to do 2 things.

He's going to put his spirit on you if you trust him, or he's

going to kill you by fire. The axe is laid at the root of

the tree. And if you do not repent, you're

going to perish. So John the Baptist came so that

the identity of Christ might be revealed to Israel.

And just like in the Old Testament, on the evidences of

one or two witnesses is a fact confirmed.

So Israel was given John the Baptist as the first witness,

that it was Christ who would be the Messiah.

And then the second witness came, and it was Christ himself

with all of his works and with all of his wonders and with all

of his signs that he did in their midst.

Right? Peter says those words, A man

attested to you by God. This is up in verse 22.

A man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders

and signs that he did through him in your midst.

You saw it. So the testimony of John, the

testimony of Christ with signs and wonders.

And lastly, they are now at Pentecost given the last

testimony that the nation of Israel would have, and it's the

testimony of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles of Christ.

As a witness. Listen to the way the book of

Hebrews describes this idea of you had the witness of of John,

you had the witness of Christ. You have the witness now of the

Holy Spirit through the apostles.

This is Hebrews 2 one through 4. He tells these Jewish Christians

who had, who had started to come into the church, and now we're

saying, man, there's persecution here, Let's just go back to the

sacrificial system. Let's let's renounce Christ, or

maybe not even renounce him. Let's just quietly retreat from

the cross, go back to the sacrificial system.

The author of Hebrews says. Therefore we must pay much

closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from

it. For since the message declared

by angels talking about the Old covenant proved reliable, and

every transgression or disobedience received a just

retribution, how will we escape if we neglect such a great

salvation? It was declared at first by the

Lord. That's our witness.

Christ himself came and said, the Kingdom of God is upon you.

Declared at first by the Lord, it was attested to us by those

who heard it, while God also bore witness by signs and

wonders and various miracles, by the gifts of the Holy Spirit

distributed according to His will.

Do you see that Christ? And then the apostles under the

inspiration of the Holy Spirit are testifying that to the House

of Israel that God has made him Lord in Christ, this Jesus whom

you crucified. Now the interesting thing is

they largely rejected that testimony.

And we're indeed just like John the Baptist said he would do.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Christ has baptized them at Pentecost with the Holy Spirit

and in 40 years those that did not repent of their sin and

trust in Christ, In 40 years He baptized them with fire exactly

40 years after the original Easter morning.

So first thing we need to know about Pentecost is that Christ

at Pentecost, Christ is revealed yet again to be the Christ, and

he's revealed that way to Israel.

The second thing we need to know, and this is super

important, is that the end times, because of Pentecost, the

end times have broken through. OK, Now our job as we come to

the Scriptures, it's really important is to let the

Scriptures interpret our theology, not the other way

around, not my system of theology teaching me to read a

text a particular way. That's that's, that's cart

before the horse, right? We want to come to the scripture

and say, what does the Scriptures say?

And then therefore, what kind of theology am I going to ascribe

to you? So what I would like to do is I

would like you to to use this verse in verses 1516 and 17 to

answer the following question. Use that text.

I'm going to read it to you to answer the following question.

According to Joel and according to Peter, what did God declare

to Old Testament Saints would be the sign of the eschaton of the

last day? Peter is going to preach at

Pentecost. He's going to quote Joel.

And so I'm asking you, what does the text say will be the mark of

the indication that God has indeed brought about the last

days? Look in verse 15 an answer from

the text, For these people are not drunk as you suppose, since

it is only the third hour of the day.

But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel verse

17. And in the last days, the

eschaton where we get our word for eschatology in the last days

at the end of the world it shall be God declares that I will pour

out my spirit on all flesh. And your sons and your daughters

shall prophecy, your young men shall see visions, your old men

shall dream dreams. So again use this text to answer

the question according to Joel, according to Peter, what did God

declare to Israel would be the sign of the last days answer.

I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.

Pentecost meant that God had indeed initiated the end of the

world as they knew it and that world.

When you read the rest of the New Testament, you get the sense

that the apostles think that the end of the world is eminently

upon them. Paul tells the Corinthian

church. Think about this tells the

Corinthian church. Hey, in light of the current

distress, the coming of the end, I would counsel you not to get

married. Just just stay single because

we're about to go through a really hard time.

The great tribulation that Christ promised would come to

the men of that generation. And so either the apostles were

wrong and the day of the great Tribulation is still in our

future, or they were right when they said this is the mark of

the last days, that the eschaton has broken into our right now

and that we're living in light of the end.

That world was ended when the temple was destroyed and it has

been remade in Christ. And I'll show you some more of

that in a little bit. Third thing, I have 7.

So we're almost halfway done. The third thing you need to know

about Pentecost is that Pentecost means Babel has been

undone. OK, Pentecost means Babel has

been undone. You guys, just just to remind

you, they're in dwelling in Jerusalem.

Jews and devout men from every nation under heaven.

At the sound the multitude came together.

They were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak

in his own language. And they were amazed and

astonished, saying, Are not all those who are speaking

Galileans? How is it that we each hear, and

each of us hear each of us in his own native language?

And then he lists all the places Parthians means.

Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia,

Pontius Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, Cyrene,

Rome, Jews, proselytes, Cretians, Arabians, we hear them

telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.

Now, if you know your Bible, you know that this is something very

significant that's related to a story in Genesis Chapter 11, the

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

Tower of Babel. So I just want you to listen to

some quotes from the story of the Tower of Babel.

This is this is what the men said when they were going to

build the Tower of Babel. Listen to these words.

It's a direct quote. Come, let us build ourselves a

city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a

name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the

whole earth. We want to build a tower into

the heavens to which we all sort of chuckle and say it's cute,

right? They're going to build a tower

into the heavens. Listen to how God responds.

He, he doesn't think it's cute. He doesn't chuckle.

He says, behold, they are one people and they all have one

language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do.

And nothing that they propose to do will be impossible for them.

Wait a second, God, I don't think you heard what they were

planning. They were planning to build a

building, a structure out of brick into the heavens.

And God says, yeah, I know. And they can do it because

they're created in my image, and I've given them power and

dominion and authority. When they have one language,

they can do it. Therefore God says, so they say,

come, let us build. God says, come, let us go down.

And they're confused their language so that they might not

understand one another's speech. So think about this, since God

confused language to impede the ability of man to successfully

rebel against God, making them unable to carry out all they

propose, then what would the unconfusing of language at

Pentecost mean for the Church of Christ?

What would that mean? If, if, whatever we purpose to

do, we can do? And so God confuses our language

so that we can't do it, and then Christ dies, rises, ascends,

pours out his Holy Spirit, and the first thing that happens is

there's no confusion of language anymore.

What is the logical conclusion of that?

He has now made things possible for His church to do anything

that they purpose to do. And so whatever we purpose to do

in the name of Christ, under His authority, by His word, is

possible for the people of God. And so let me ask you a

question, Christian. What might you propose that we

endeavor to do? What big work might we?

What might we undertake? I don't know.

Here's a good idea. How about we say things like

your Kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in

heaven. So what if we proposed not like

Babel, to make the heavens like the earth?

We're going to build from the earth into the heavens.

Rather, what if we endeavour to make the earth like the heavens,

the earth like the heavens? So we are a heavenly people

seated with Christ in glory, filled with his Spirit, building

towards the earth, and now he's given us the power through his

Spirit to do it. Christ said, make disciples of

all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of

the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe and

obey all that I've commanded you, and I'm with you always to

the end of the age. So brothers and sisters, in the

name of Pentecost Sunday, we got to we have to repent of this

idea of this like Christian hand wringing, stressed out counsel

of defeat. When the when the foundations

are destroyed, what can the righteous do?

Like they're, they're, you know, the help Lord for the godly man

ceases to be evil is on the rise and and righteousness dwindles.

What can the godly do? What?

How does the Psalmist answer that question?

The Lord is in His holy temple. That's the answer.

We can do anything. Our God does anything that He

pleases. So we need to, we need to

repudiate this tiresome and unbiblical idea that we just

suffer through and fail in this world.

Christ sent us on a winning mission, and Pentecost is proof

of that. He has poured out His Spirit

upon His people. What could possibly be too hard

for Him to accomplish through His church?

The fourth thing about Pentecost, it's very important

is that Christ has been the plan all along.

Look at what Peter tells him in verse 22.

It's marvelous. He says, 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 in your midst.

As you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to

the definite plan and for knowledge of God.

That that Greek word there is where we get our word for

prognosis. It's to know something

beforehand and decree it the definite plan and foreknowledge

of God. You crucified and killed by the

hands of lawless men. God raised him up losing the

pangs of death because it was not possible for death to hold

him. They thought the men of Christ

generation really did think that they were in control.

Let's kill him and let's take what's his.

We can do this. Nobody can stop us.

They thought they were in control.

They were doing whatever they wanted to do.

So this is not coercion. This is not predestination.

That is determinism. This is predestination where God

knows the end from the beginning and has decreed, but then allows

in this mysterious way allows them to do everything they want

to do. It's it's called giving someone

enough rope to hang themselves. So they did everything that they

wanted to do to Christ and God worked it for good.

So just like Joseph's brothers attempting to thwart the

prophetic dreams of his dominion over them, remember, let's,

let's, let's kill him. Let's throw him in the pit and

kill him. Let's sell him into slavery.

And then we'll see what becomes of his dreams.

Well, what became of all of their best laid plans?

It brought about the dominion of Joseph.

What became of the best laid plans of the Pharisees who said

in John 11, I believe when the whole world was following

Christ, I think it was Caiaphas that said you guys know nothing

at all. It's better that one man should

die for the nation, that the whole nation perish.

What he was saying is we're going to assassinate him so that

the Romans won't get upset and come and take take us out.

And so they intentionally lied about Christ to get him

crucified. And all that they did, they

intended for evil, but God intended for good.

It is not possible for Christ to be held by death because in him

was life and the life was the light of man.

He is the resurrection and the life.

He did lay down His life for the sheep.

One of my favorite teachers said to me one time, he said, he said

if you look in the Gospels, there's only three times that I

know of that. That Christ raised somebody from

the dead. There are other things that is

it is death. People rose from the dead.

But but as far as the gospels telling a story where he where

he calls someone back to life after death, there's only three

times. And this man quipped that

because Jesus is the resurrection, you never see him

going to funerals because a funeral cannot be a funeral.

When the resurrection himself comes to visit, it's like a dark

room and you walk in with a light.

It's not a dark room anymore by the just the sheer presence of

light in a dark room makes it a light room.

And the sheer presence of the resurrection himself, Yes, Lord,

I know that my brother's going to raise up in the last day.

And he said I am the resurrection in the life, I'm

him, I'm the resurrection. And so Lazarus could not stay

dead in the presence of Christ. It's a marvelous thing.

Fifth thing about Pentecost is that there is a mutual receiving

look in verse 29 and I want you to see something marvelous.

Verse 29 Peter says, brothers, I may say to you with confidence

about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried in

his tomb is with us to this day. So David said he he just quoted

from David saying you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let

your holy ones see corruption and Peter says what gives?

David is dead his he was buried. His tomb is with us to this day.

Verse 30 being there for a prophet, knowing that God had

sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his

descendants on his throne. He foresaw David foresaw and

spoke about the resurrection of the Christ that he was not

abandoned to Hades nor did his flesh seek corruption.

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

Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having

listened to these words, this is marvelous.

Having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit,

He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and

hearing. When Christ ascended and was

seated at the right hand, He received from the Father the

Holy Spirit, and having received him, He poured the Spirit out

upon His church. And so because we are in

covenant union with Christ, all that is His, all that has been

received by Christ becomes the property of His church.

This, by the way, has never happened before.

You see leaders in the Old Testament anointed by the Holy

Spirit and doing great work. Saul, David come to mind.

Elijah comes to mind. But the Spirit descends and

empowers one guy to go do things and lead the people.

But this has never happened. It's never happened that someone

would be anointed and so covenantally connected to his

people that so is everybody else.

So Christ receives the Spirit, pours the Spirit out upon his

people. And so you and I have the same

access to the same Spirit that Christ was given because he has

poured him out upon us. It's just a marvelous, A

marvelous thing. He indeed is the one who still

baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And so the Holy Spirit is the

daily presence of God, abiding with us, filling the lives of

the people of God. And so the question is, what

power do you need? What what work has God called

you to that you can't possibly do?

Pete just took a bunch of oaths that none of us are manful

enough for. Yeah.

Just just be a great perfect example all the days of why it's

life like I can't I can't do that.

But God has given you his Holy Spirit who will work in you all,

all of his good pleasure. Eli and Grace swore oaths on

Friday that they can't in their flesh they can't accomplish.

Christ has given us commands that we and ourselves cannot

accomplish. No big deal.

Just go win the nations for me. Let's go do it.

It's fine, you know, be done by Tuesday.

No, we can't do it unless and until God pours out His Holy

Spirit upon His church. And then, brothers and sisters,

we can do that which is required.

He will do it in US. So whatever power you need, ask

the Lord daily, Father, would you fill me with your Spirit in

the name of your Son Jesus? Would you equip me and empower

me for whatever work you have for me to carry out?

Paul says it this way. Work out your salvation with

fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both

to will and to work is good pleasure.

So God is in us to will and to work through his Holy Spirit.

Sixth thing is mutual authority. So there's mutual indwelling of

the Spirit. Christ receives the Spirit,

pours him out on his people, and then there's also mutual

authority. If you look in, in verse 36,

this is wild. Peter says to Israel, let all

the House of Israel therefore know for certain that God has

made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

Now when they heard this from Peter, they said, who the heck

are you? You're not our priest, you're

not our Pharisee, you're not our leader, you're not our pastor.

You're just some fisherman from Galilee.

That's not what they say. That's not what they say.

They said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles Brothers,

what do we do? You, you have been placed in an

authority over us. You're speaking to us

authoritatively in the name of Christ, and so you need to tell

us what to do. OK.

He goes on to say Peter. Peter tells them in verse 38.

Peter says I don't know, I'm not a priest.

Go ask the priest, go ask somebody else.

I don't know. I'm not a spiritual authority

over you. No, that's not what he says.

Peter said to them, well, I really think you ought to know.

He says a command, repent and be baptized everyone of you in the

name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and

you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promise is

for you and for your children. That's why we baptize our

children and for all those who are far off, everyone whom the

Lord our God will call to himself.

And just as an aside, with many other words, he bore witness and

continued to exhort them, saying, save yourself from this

crooked generation. And so those who received his

words were baptized and they were added that day about 3000

souls. OK, so Peter is exercising a

mutual authority, the authority he is ruling and reigning with

Christ. Christ has put him on a throne

over Israel. If you remember, every time

Jesus came and and taught authoritatively or did miracles

or cleanse the temple or broke their Sabbath traditions, they

would always say by what authority are you doing this?

Who are you? You don't have the right.

And he just assumed it because he is the son of David.

He is the king of Israel. And now Peter is doing the exact

same thing. This is a direct fulfillment of

Passion Week promise that Christ made to the ungodly Jewish

leaders. Listen to these words.

They're all red letters. During Passion Week, Peter,

Jesus said to the religious leaders in Israel, these words

quote, therefore I tell you, talking to the chief priests and

the Pharisees and the scribes who were days away from killing,

who they knew to be an innocent man.

He says, I tell you the Kingdom of God will be taken away from

you and given to a people producing its fruit.

To which we should all jump in and say, Jesus, that sounds like

a replacement theology, right? But it isn't.

It's fulfilment theology. Jesus also said he went on to

say the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces

and when it falls on anyone it will crush him.

Peter, we are watching him reign and rule in the name of Christ

on earth at Pentecost with King Jesus doesn't make him a Pope

because all of the apostles enjoy the same authority that

Christ has given them. But I just want you to see that

you need to reckon with that, that that Christ had really has

taken authority from an empty Jewish system that rejected the

life of itself and he's given it to those who are producing its

fruit. 7th And lastly, that Pentecost is the fulfillment of

a pattern of type and a promise. You have Babel undone in verse

6, right? This is this goes all the way

back to Genesis 11. You have a prophecy fulfilled in

verse in verse 17 where where an Old Testament prophecy Joel is

is prophesying about the end times.

You have a prophecy fulfilled in the Psalms in verse 25 through

328, a Davidic prophecy about about the coming Messiah.

You have another prophecy the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my

right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your

feet. You have patterns abounding the

pattern of, of just like Joseph rejected by the Jewish leaders

and he becomes the ruler of the Gentiles and therefore the ruler

of the Jews later on. You have all of these patterns,

all of these types, all of these things that are going on in

Christ is the fulfillment of all of them.

But there's one in particular that we really need to sit in

and I want you to try and follow me closely.

I'll, I'll try not to nerd out and I'll try and make it as as

clear as I can. Jesus is is being shown to be

the new and the better Moses that Moses was good.

He was, he was in God's house, faithful in God's house, but

Christ is the builder of God's house.

So Moses, think about this with me.

Moses was attested to be the deliverer of Israel to Israel by

signs and wonders. Remember he said, who do I say

sent me? God gives him his name.

What do I do if they don't follow me and he gives him a

magic wand, Throw it on the ground.

It'll become a snake. Put your hand in your coat, pull

it out. It's it'll be leprous that he

and Moses is given by God signs to attest to Israel and to

Pharaoh that he's the deliverer. And when Moses goes to them,

they see all of the signs and they reject him.

Like, no, this is not our guy. Well, Christ is the new and

better Moses who came with new and better signs attesting to

the fact that he was Israel's deliverer and they rejected him

too. Moses in in In Moses's day,

Pharaoh was killing babies and attacking God's Son in order to

in order to prevent any heroes rising up and striking down the

tyrant. Sirens always do that.

Christ, when he comes into the world as the new and better

deliverer, there is a more evil Pharaoh who's now the king of

the Jews inherit and he's attempting to kill the future

king of the Jews. Where is he who's been born king

of the Jews? The the wise men say.

And Pharaoh immediately pronounces, well after some time

pronounces a death sentence on all the baby boys injured in in

in Bethlehem in order to prevent doing the same thing that

Pharaoh had done. And when and when those babies

grew up, Pharaoh would falsely accuse and, and, and go after

Moses in the same way the new and the worst Pharaoh in Christ

today would falsely accuse and crucify an innocent man.

Moses and Israel were led through the baptism of the Red

Sea, right? They they were united together.

They were led through the the baptismal waters of the Red Sea

and they were brought out to salvation and all of God's

enemies drowned in the Red Sea. And now the new and better Moses

and his people have safely passed through the new and worse

baptism of the Red Sea, which is death itself.

And they came out on the other side in the resurrection of

Christ. We have been crucified with

Christ. We have been raised with Christ,

and so there's been a new and a better baptism.

Now think about this, exactly 50 days after that event, that the

event of the Exodus, they celebrated something called the

reason Pentecost existed was because fifty days after the

Exodus, Moses the man of God ascends on a mountain and God as

a representative of Israel and God meets with him on the

mountain and writes his law on 2 tablets of stone.

Well, fifty days after the resurrection, Christ has

ascended on our behalf into glory and is seated at the right

hand. And having ascended to the right

hand of the Father, he pours out his Spirit.

Who the Jeremiah told us and, and Hebrews quotes that when the

Spirit comes, he will take and the new covenant he will take

his Spirit and he will take his law.

And he won't write it on tablets of stone, but now he's going to

write it on our human hearts. And so 50 days after the exodus

you get the law. 50 days after the resurrection of Christ, you

get the law written on the Spirit, on the hearts of his

believers. Now think about this.

What happened when Moses was on Mount Sinai getting the law of

God written on tablets of stone? What was Israel doing at that

moment? They were following their Jewish

priest, their Jewish high priest, to make a golden calf,

to lead them into idolatry. And so when Moses comes down, he

throws the the tablets down, he breaks the covenant because they

had broken the covenant. And then something very

interesting happens. He tells the Levites, he says,

whoever's with the Lord to me, the Levites come and he says,

gird up your swords and go strike and slay those idolaters.

Do you know how many people died on that day?

When? When the the original Pentecost

3000 men of Israel were killed that day?

Does that number sound familiar? When in verse 40, with many

other words, He bore witness and continued to exhort them,

saying, save yourself from this crooked generation.

So those who received his word were baptized and they were

added that day about 3000 souls. This is just a recapitulation of

Old Testament, of Old Testament history, of Old Testament story.

But now instead of judgment, 3000 men die.

Now you have salvation, 3000 men get saved.

So I would ask you, do you mark that up as a coincidence that

the events of Christ directly parallel and dovetail the events

of Moses and the Exodus and the children of Israel?

Do you take that as a coincidence?

Or do you think God might be up to something a little bigger

than we can see at first glance? Well, of course he's up to

something. And so I want to continue to

read the story. Just give me 5 minutes.

The Exodus generation right in the Old Testament that failed to

believe the Lord and to rise up and take possession of the land

that they were given. They had a death sentence

pronounced upon them because of their unbelief.

This is numbers 13 and 14. God says you saw everything I

did in Egypt and then when you came to the promised land, you

said there are giants in there. We can't do it.

Remember the the 12-12 spies go in, they come back.

Caleb and Joshua say we can do it.

The rest of the 10 say we can't, and God swears to that

generation, the men 20 years old and upward, who saw my signs and

my salvation that I worked in in Egypt and then who disbelieved

me. I swear God swore in the Old

Testament they will not enter my rest.

So he pronounces a death sentence on them and a life

sentence on their children. When you die, I'm going to take

your children that you thought were going to be eaten by

giants, and I'm going to raise them up and conquer the land.

And we'll read about that when we read the book of, of Joshua.

And so listen to me, you had two parallel groups within the

covenant of God. You had one under a death

sentence that was they were not going to make it into the land

because of their unbelief. And you had one under a life

sentence that we're wandering with them until this generation

died off and then God took them up to inherit the land.

So those who had seen the Exodus but didn't believe were marked

to die. Those who were children would

rise up and take possession. This duality of the people of

God existed for exactly 40 years until the Exodus generation died

in the wilderness and their children rose up to take

possession of the land under Joshua.

In the same way, the generation that saw Christ failed to

believe in him largely when he came among them and he spoke,

he, he said he, he pronounced judgment on them.

He spoke a death sentence upon the men of his generation that

saw what what all of the law and the prophets longed to see,

namely God himself come in the form of a man as Israel's

Messiah. And this is the the sentence

that he pronounced on them. He said, this is Luke 12.

If you want to write this down, the blood of all the prophets

shed from the foundation of the world until now will be charged

against the men of this generation from Abel to

Zechariah. These are all red letters.

Yes, I tell you it will be required of this generation, the

generation that saw Christ and crucified him.

He says retroactively going back to Abel and Cain all the way up

to current Christ says I will require it of the men of this

generation. He says this in Matthew 24.

For then there will be a great tribulation such as has not been

from the beginning of the world until now.

No, and never will be. And truly I say to you, this

generation will not pass until all these things take place.

Christ pronounced a sentence of death on Israel for their

unbelief in Him and He also pronounced a sentence of life

and dominion over his church. And would you believe you can

guess it right that this duality of peoples both like the

apostles, you can read in the in the in the book of Acts.

They continue knowing Christ being filled with the Spirit.

They continue going to temple. They continue keeping Sabbath.

They continue in the dietary restrictions for a while.

Both of these peoples walk together keeping the Sabbath,

honoring the Lord, the Lordship of Christ.

One side is honoring Lordship of Christ, one has rejected him.

They walked together for exactly 40 years.

Just like the wilderness wanderings, the two together as

one people, the Christians seen as a sect of the the Jewish

religion, but but still very much part of it.

And they walked together for 40 years until Christ put an end to

the temple system once for all and gave his Kingdom and his

inheritance to his church. Who would bear its fruit.

Brothers and sisters, these meta patterns of redemptive history.

I don't know if that's the right word to call them or not, but

that's the word that came to my mind.

The meta, the meta patterns, all of these recapitulations that

Christ has over Old Testament stories, these are as binding as

chapter and verse. You cannot pretend like God is

not doing something here. Being slow or unwilling to

believe these things is what Christ rebuked the Emmaus

disciples for. Oh oh foolish ones.

And slow of heart to believe all that the law and the prophet

said. And then he said, was it not

necessary that the Christ must suffer and after three days rise

and enter into his glory? To which they should say, where

do we see that? It's these, it's these stories.

It's the, it's the continual pattern that we see in the Old

Testament of promise and a pattern of type.

And he rebuked them. And so let us therefore

acknowledge them and embrace them.

And yeah, let us rejoice in them, for they mean wonderful

things for us and for the world. And so let us know for certain

what Peter preached on the 1st Pentecost, that God has made him

both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

And when they crucified the Lord, they did not know that

they were providing manna for the world.

Jesus is bred from heaven that sustains his people.

Jesus is both. To take the Old Testament

picture of the wilderness wanderings, Jesus is both water

and the rock from which it poured.

But the water of the new covenant, like the water at

Cana, has been made into wine. And not just any wine, but the

best wine. Wine that intoxicates much more

than normal wine. But while intoxicating, this

wine never leaves us astray. This bread and this wine, they

feed us, they empower us, they guide us on the path of life.

For they testify of our covenant Head and of our union with Him,

of His manifold perfections becoming ours, of His love being

poured out upon His people, unstinted, full, measured and

totally free. Brothers and sisters, baptized

into union with the exalted Lord of the Ascension, filled with

the Spirit that he received from his Father, which He has poured

out upon you, I bid you come to the table in the name of King

Jesus. This is his body which was

broken for you. This is his bloodshed for the

forgiveness of your sins. The promise is for you.

The promise is for your children and for all who are far off,

everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself and He calls

you now. So come and welcome to King

Jesus. Let me pray for us, Lord Jesus,

we thank you for these things. We thank you for being in the

same way that you led your people, Jude tells us out of

Egypt and you fed them. You were the rock that followed

them. You gave them food.

You gave them water. Your presence never left them.

In the same way we come now to the to the to the aftermath of

your life and death and resurrection and ascension and

the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, and we come to your

table sustained just like them by the goodness and the grace

and the love of Almighty God. I pray Lord, as we come to this

table that you would send your Spirit new to minister the the

merits and the blessings of Christ to us.

Lord, I pray if there are any tender hearted souls here who

just can't believe that you have really purged their sin, you've

really pardoned them. You've really removed their sin

as far as the east is from the West.

Holy Spirit, would today be the day that those thoughts of

condemnation actually are silenced and that they hear the

voice of Christ saying that you forgive, you pardon, and you

welcome. So would you meet with us here

at your table? Lord, we ask it in Christ name,

Amen. Amen.