Acts 2:1-13 | Pentacost Fulfilled

Amen, church.

It's all for his glory.

Let's go to him in prayer.

We're gonna be coming out of Psalm 145 this morning.

Lord, we give you praise today because you are worthy to be greatly praised.

Your greatness is unsearchable.

Thank you, Lord, for the grace that you've poured upon us.

Lord, you are the King of Kings, the Lord of Lord, the Exalted One.

One generation shall commend your works to another, and they shall declare your mighty acts.

Well, here we are today, 2,000 years later, declaring your mighty works.

As it has been passed from generation to generation, now we have received it.

May we continue to be faithful in proclaiming your glory, proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, proclaiming the glorious splendor of your majesty.

Lord, you are gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

We praise you for your goodness.

Because, Lord, you are good to all.

Your mercy is over all that you have made.

And all creation declares your kingdom, the glory of your kingdom, because your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, your dominion endures throughout all generations.

Therefore, my mouth will speak the praise of the Lord.

So let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

Lord, as we read your word this morning, give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to receive it.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, church, I'd like to encourage you to remain standing if you're able to do so for the reading of God's Word.

Today we will be looking at Acts chapter 2, verses 1 to 13.

Acts 2:1–13

Acts 2, 1 to 13.

And if you don't have a Bible, we have the scripture up on the screen.

Also on either side of the worship center, some Bibles that you could grab and take as a gift.

We'll be reading Acts 2, 1 to 13.

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 of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.

And they were 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 residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytites, 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 a new wine.

Church, this is the word of the Lord for us this morning.

May God write his eternal truths on our hearts.

With that, you may be seated.

Well, good morning, Church.

My name is Tyler Masters.

I am the executive pastor of Mission and Teaching here at Doxa, and so glad that you've joined us for worship today.

If you are visiting with us and it's your first time in particular, as Phil had mentioned earlier, I will be out by the first time visitor desk in the lobby, and I would love to meet you and get to know you.

But know that you're coming in right now into a series that we started a few weeks ago on the book of Acts.

And we're gonna be going straight through Acts.

We already looked at Luke's gospel previously, took a couple years to go through that.

And uh now we're continuing with Luke Volume 2, essentially, uh also written by the same human author uh under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

And today uh I have the privilege of addressing mission to the church and how we should approach this, and in particular, how Pentecost impacts us today.

This is a subject that we're gonna go over actually for another three weeks.

This week and two more, we're gonna look at Pentecost and what it means for us as a church and how that impacts us now, today, looking back at this event that took place over 2,000 years ago.

Today I'm gonna be able to just give you a basic introduction to Pentecost, of what it was and what the significance was, and we're gonna go deeper into that next week as Pastor Scott, our lead pastor, will come back and then pick up where Peter is gonna be preaching through what's taking place at Pentecost.

But this is a huge event.

This is this is our history, the history of the church.

This is the account of the birth of the church here in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, the same church that all of us are a part of today.

And to know our history is to know our identity and it is to know our mission, who we are and why we exist.

And so as we look at this, we we need to understand the context we've already looked at, this context of the kingdom of God and what the kingdom of God is.

Now, the church is not the kingdom of God.

The church is an outpost of the kingdom of God, meaning if the world wants to see what the kingdom of God looks like, they should see that here in the church.

We proclaim the kingdom of God.

We also reflect the values and priorities of the kingdom of God.

But we are not, the church itself is not the kingdom of God.

We point to that, to that reality of God ruling over creation as Jesus Christ is seated on the throne.

The temptation is for us is not to proclaim that kingdom and to make that our focus.

Our temptation is to make our own little kingdoms our focus, and that we want to build our kingdoms and that we want to protect our kingdoms, and we're even a little intimidated or worried about thinking about world mission because we think if we focus on getting the gospel to the world, then all of our felt needs will be neglected and not met.

When in reality, you see the opposite happening in Scripture.

This we're faithful to proclaim the gospel, God is faithful to protect and build his church and bless this church, and we're gonna see that happening.

However, as we go forward in our mission, we have to acknowledge that we cannot accomplish the Great Commission in our own power, in our own wisdom, in our own ability.

We cannot do it.

We must be empowered by the one who has sent us.

And that's what we're looking at when we look here at Pentecost, of what took place 2,000 years ago.

And as we consider our mission, we also think through certain precious promises that God has given us.

And again, thinking individually and corporately, we have promises that God has given every individual and has given to the church as a whole.

So as we think through the fact that we have been, according to Colossians 1, 13 and 14, we have been delivered out of the kingdom of darkness, the domain of darkness, into the domain of his son, that's a promise we can hold on to as believers.

And also that we have redemption and forgiveness of sin in him.

That's a precious promise we can hold on to.

And the fact that he has promised that he will never leave us nor forsake us.

That's a promise given to us actually in conjunction with the mission that he says, Lo, I will be with you always, even until the end of the age, extending beyond the time of the apostles, to our time today, he's with us.

So the question is when we're claiming these promises of God and thinking through those kingdom promises, what gives us the right to claim them?

How can we have confidence that they apply to us?

And so, what I hope we'll see as we look through this passage is that all of those promises are guaranteed to us in Jesus Christ.

And what we're seeing at Pentecost is the evidence of those promises being fulfilled in us, his people, in his church.

And so, with that, here's the title of today's message: Pentecost fulfilled.

Pentecost fulfilled.

I want us to look here at the fulfillment of the promises given to us as believers and why we look back here at this day as such a significant event in church history.

This is the climax of the completed works of Christ.

So we think about what did Christ come to do?

Yes, he came to complete the law, he came to die and to be resurrected and then be exalted, but then we now see the evidence of that.

We see the result of it.

This is him now pouring out the promises of the Father because he was crucified, because he resurrected, because he is exalted.

We now see at Pentecost, Jesus is reigning as king now.

And he is actively restoring his covenant people.

And so as we come to this particular account in church history, that's what we're gonna look at.

And I'm gonna show you my cards up front.

I do not believe that Pentecost is a command to recreate this miraculous first century experience.

So we don't want to go off in a edition, we're gonna try to recreate that.

We don't try to recreate Pentecost any more than we try to recreate the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Christ.

Because they all go together.

But it does have long-lasting implications, and it does impact us today to consider what is going on at Pentecost as we look to Jesus, our King, who's ruling and reigning, and as we now go forth in his name and in the power of his Holy Spirit.

But it comes back to this idea of the kingdom and kingdom restoration.

His apostles and disciples, all of them, asked him when he was with him after the resurrection, before his ascension, in Acts 1.6, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

Now we've already addressed that their question had so many errors in it, so many, so much misunderstanding.

But the primary misunderstanding they had about the kingdom was the nature of the kingdom and how one enters into this kingdom or how one is is considered a part of the kingdom of God and what the kingdom looks like.

And so Jesus is gonna point back to himself.

He doesn't avoid their question, but he informs them how the kingdom is gonna spread, how the kingdom is gonna go forth from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

And what he's saying is the kingdom is found in him, and he is the doorway to that kingdom, and no one can claim kingdom promises unless they are in him.

And so then the question is not so much when will the kingdom be restored to Israel, but rather when will Israel be restored to the kingdom.

And so understanding the nature of the kingdom of God, that Jesus Christ as king is the entrance into that kingdom, that he has already inaugurated it, and that he is fulfilling it currently, and that those kingdom promises are found in him and in him alone.

And so, with that, we're gonna look today at the big idea being that the Father fulfills his kingdom promises in the Son through the Holy Spirit.

The Father fulfills his kingdom promises in the Son through the Holy Spirit.

This is what is happening at Pentecost.

We are seeing the fulfillment of this promise that the Father gave to his people, a kingdom promise, a covenant promise that he gave to his people to pour out his spirit on them.

Pentecost is the fulfillment of his promise to establish his kingdom, restore his people, dwell with them, and bring salvation to the ends of the earth, to all nations through the Messiah.

And what we see ultimately here at Pentecost is that Jesus is the main focus.

Again, remember, Jesus is still at work in his church.

The Holy Spirit, yes, plays a prominent part, and you're gonna see the Holy Spirit play a prominent part all throughout the book of Acts.

We have to realize the Holy Spirit, what is his ministry?

He testifies of Jesus Christ.

Why?

Because he proceeds from the Father and the Son.

We believe that.

And so as we see the work of the Holy Spirit, we are seeing the work of Jesus Christ in the church and in and through us.

So Jesus is the main character.

Jesus is the main person that we're looking to.

He is our focus and he is the foundation of our hope.

So the first thing we need to look at today here is the gift and the promises of God.

Verses 1 through 4.

The gift and promises of God.

Jesus gave a promise to his disciples.

In fact, he reiterated a promise that was already given to them.

He says in Luke 24, 49, he says, Behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.

A few things to notice about this, first of all, this is the promise of the Father.

But the Father, he the Father's not the one doing the sending.

Here he says, I am sending the promise of my Father.

So Jesus is the one actively fulfilling that promise.

And in what way?

Well, he says, You'll be clothed with power from on high.

He clarifies what that means when he says the same thing again in Acts 1, 4 through 5.

It says that, wait for the promise of the Father in verse 4, but wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, You heard from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

So he says, The Father has promised this.

He has promised to give you this power from on high.

But what is this power on high?

How will you be clothed with this power from on high?

Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

And that's what he's pointing to here.

In fact, he reflects back on John.

He says, This is what John foretold you.

John had already said, I baptize with water, but one who is mightier than I comes after me.

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

So he says, I'm baptizing as a symbol of the repentance and looking forward to the Messiah who is coming, but he then will baptize you not with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

You say, Well, is that is that what's happening?

Are they being baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire here in Acts in Acts 2 with Pentecost?

No, John is going on, he'll explain that that fire, the baptism of fire, is not a baptism of fiery tongues, it is a baptism of condemnation and judgment.

He goes on and says, The wind-winged fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

It's literally the next verse after John said, baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

And so what we're seeing with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and we're going to come back to this in a little bit, but we're seeing that it's it is it is an actual demonstration of judgment.

When we think of judgment, we almost exclusively think of negative judgment, which that baptism of fire is the negative judgment and condemnation for those who have rejected Jesus as their king.

But there's a positive judgment where the Lord is separating the goats and the sheep, where he's separating his people away from those who are not his people.

And so we see within this there's a positive judgment, him judging them to be righteous as his people, because they have passed through judgment with Jesus Christ.

And so we see that Pentecost is a fulfillment of that positive judgment of God on his covenant people.

And it points later to the negative judgment of those who will reject Christ.

And so, therefore, when we see this promise that Jesus gave early on in Acts, we see that this is the promise of the Holy Spirit.

That is the gift of the Father.

So we're going to see that this is fulfilled here at Pentecost.

Acts chapter 2, verse 1.

Acts 2:1

It says when the day of Pentecost arrived.

Pentecost.

We keep using that word, we use it a lot in the church today, but maybe you don't know the history of it.

What is Pentecost?

What is happening here?

Why are people coming into Jerusalem?

Pentecost in the Old Testament, Leviticus 23, has another name.

It's called the Feast of Weeks.

It actually is one of the big three holidays, three big festivals that all Jewish people had to come and present some offering to the Lord.

You have the Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths.

Those are the three big ones.

This one, everyone had to come in.

All those who were devout, all those who who love the Lord and worship the Lord would come from wherever they were in the world into Jerusalem and to worship him.

It was a festival recognizing God's provision for his people.

It was a harvest festival.

And that's one of the one of the names given to it is the festival of harvest, of the first fruits.

So it was to recognize that everything they were about to bring in in a harvest was given to them by God.

And so it was looking back at the provision of God in the way that he constantly is giving them everything they need, that he is their sustenance.

But over time, it also became associated within Jewish tradition to associate this day of the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost with the giving of the law to Moses.

And the reason for that is because if you look at when Passover takes place, they believed that it was roughly 50 days after the original Passover in Exodus that they were at Mount Sinai, where the Lord gave the commandments or gave the covenant to Moses.

In fact, that's what Pentecost means.

It's the Greek word that means 50th.

It's literally 50 days after Passover, in particular the first fruits, which is the Sunday after Passover.

And so it's 50 days afterward.

And so as they look at their Hishdah, remember back that 50 days after being freed from slavery in Egypt, they came to the mountain, and there Moses ascended, and then God, in a storm with wind and fire, spoke to Moses, gave this covenant to them.

And so it was a day for them not only looking back at God's provision for all they had materially, but it was also a day they looked back at the renewal of God's covenant and looking back at them being in covenant community with him.

And so as we're looking at Old Testament history and we're looking in particular at ceremonial laws and feasts and celebrations, we need to read them through the lens of what Jesus taught, and then later also what Paul taught.

Jesus taught his disciples, everything pointed to him.

And all of the law, all of the psalms, all the prophets, all of them pointed to him.

Paul says this about festivals in Colossians 2, 16 and 17, he says, Let no one pass judgment on you in question of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.

These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

You see, when you're looking at the Old Testament law in particular, the ceremonial law and the festivals, recognize none of those things were ends in and of themselves.

They all pointed to something that had a greater significance.

They were shadows of something to come.

And so when you see a shadow, you have a light shining on something that has substance, a body.

And the shadow is a reflection of that.

Now, I know a few, like, you know, shadow puppets, you know, I can do the bird and the swan and a couple other things that used to entertain my kids when they were little.

But when you're looking at those things, you're trying to figure out like what is it?

What is the thing casting that shadow on the wall?

Now, God is not playing shadow games with us in the Old Testament.

He's not trying to show you one thing and trick you and say, ah, it was something else.

No, the pictures are very, very clear in the Old Testament.

And then when Jesus comes, he shows that he is the fulfillment of them, that those shadows are only that, shadows of reality, but Jesus is the reality.

He said, I did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it.

Yes, he kept the whole law perfectly, the moral law, but he also fulfilled or completed all that the law pointed to, the ceremonial law in particular, pointed to him.

And so now when we look at that, he not only fulfills those those shadows or those laws and those ceremonies that pointed to him, but we also know that all of the promises contained within that covenant are now fulfilled in Christ as well.

And it is in him and in him alone that we have the right to claim them ourselves.

That's what 2 Corinthians 1 20 is saying.

It says, For all the promises of God find their yes in him.

That is why it is through him that we utter our amen to God for his glory.

You say, Well, how can I claim the precious promises of God?

It is through Jesus Christ.

And it is our union to Him that makes that possible.

And that is what we're looking at here at Pentecost.

It is a celebration of that union of many different sheaths of wheat being brought together into one body.

Because one of the ways they celebrated this, the Feast of Weeks, was that they were supposed to gather the first fruit of their grains, but they didn't bring in the sheaths in order for those sheaths to be offered as a sacrifice to God.

They had to first go make it into flour, and then bake it into bread.

They had to make two loaves of bread with leaven, which is kind of unusual for a Jewish celebration.

But leavened bread was what was to be brought in as an offering to the Lord.

And what we're seeing is that the many are now being brought into one unit, one body, giving glory to God.

And so we look at that now as we're seeing this being fulfilled in Jesus Christ and being fulfilled in his church.

We see the baptism of the Holy Spirit in this passage of Acts 1, verses, or Acts 2, verses 1 through 3.

Acts 2:1–3

It says 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.

In divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each of them.

This is that promise that Jesus Christ gave that they will be clothed with power.

It is a one-time historical event that has ongoing significance for us today.

Recognizing here what God is demonstrating to all of those who were in Jerusalem, all of those who were devout, who came in to worship, they were attracted to this, and they were seeing now that the many were being made one, that they were baptized in the Holy Spirit.

And we too now, as believers, are baptized into Christ by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is the one doing the baptizing.

And so what Pentecost is doing, it's the promise of the Father being fulfilled in Jesus Christ through his Holy Spirit.

It was proof that the kingdom of God had come in power and that the exalted Christ was now reigning from heaven.

So then what is the significance then?

And we're going to talk more about this next week because Peter will expound on what this baptism of the Holy Spirit is.

But the significance of this, thinking of the word even baptism, the Greek word baptizo, what that means is to be immersed into.

Right?

That it's specifically being saturated with or immersed into something.

And so what we're being immersed into here in the Holy Spirit is we are being immersed into the body of Christ.

And so this is an objective reality for every believer.

It's not that some Christians are baptized in the Holy Spirit and other Christians are not.

No, if you are in Christ, you have been baptized into Him.

That's what it says in 1 Corinthians 12, talking about many members but one body.

In 1 Corinthians 12, 13, he says, For in one spirit, we were all baptized into one body.

Jews are Greeks, slaves are free, and all were made to drink of one spirit.

He said, You came from many backgrounds, Jews and Greeks.

But now you are baptized into one body.

No longer individual grains of wheat out there.

He has gathered his harvest, he has brought them together, and now we are one unit, made to drink of the same spirit.

Galatians 3 27, he says the same thing.

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.

Now I know that people have asked this question when it comes to our communion liturgy.

There's a little phrase in there that bothers people, and I just want to address it real quickly, pastorally, as to why we say this.

There's a part in which we say who communion is for, for believers in right standing with their church who are walking in obedience.

And then there are those that should not be taking it, those who are unbelievers, or those who are walking in unrepentant sin, or those who are under church discipline.

What we would say is that we would encourage people first to be born again, to be baptized, and then come to this table.

You say, well, why does baptism come before communion?

It comes before communion because of what it symbolizes.

And we don't believe water baptism saves a person here.

That is not part of our doctrine.

But what we believe is that water baptism is a very significant sign pointing to this eternal reality.

Baptism points to our justification in Christ.

How is that?

Because if we are justified, if we are now in Christ, we are baptized into him.

And so by being baptized, yes, you identify with his death, burial, and resurrection, but you're also identifying as being baptized into him.

That there is a spiritual reality that you are demonstrating publicly, you're baptized into this one body that we call the church.

And so that then points to a one-time event.

You don't get baptized over and over and over.

You're baptized one time, pointing your justification, which happens one time.

Communion points to our fellowship or ongoing communion with the Lord and with one another.

And so we see then that the baptism precedes the communion.

The justification comes before the sanctification or the ongoing walking in the Lord.

They're related, but they're not the same.

And so, with as we're looking at this baptism here, pointing to our justification, this is what the Lord is declaring to all those who are present in Jerusalem.

These people have been justified.

And in fact, if you consider what's going on here, and in the idea of judgment, and this idea that there are these tongues like as of fire that are resting over of them, uh what's going on with that is most likely, and there's a lot of different interpretations of this, I grant that, but most likely what we're seeing here is it's a sign of God's presence, power, and justification of these people individually and collectively.

And so what we see is the fire is not consuming them, it's literally resting on top of them.

And so as as we're looking at what's going on with these apostles, it is God declaring, These are my people, this is my covenant people, this is the kingdom being restored, and they are going to show you the way to be restored into the covenant promises of God, into the kingdom of God.

And so, with that, then we see also other symbolism happening here.

It says in verse 2, there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind.

And so this, it's not actual wind coming in, but the sound like a mighty rushing wind, and they knew it came from heaven.

This is indicating to all those present, this is God working, and wind is the most common symbol, or it's even actually almost synonymous with the Spirit in the Old Testament in Hebrew.

And in the New Testament, you see Jesus saying the same thing: the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, is like the wind.

It blows where he wants.

And so, as we see this symbolism of wind, this is a clear picture of from above being baptized down onto the people of God.

The Spirit of God now has baptized them.

And with that, there's a sound like a mighty rushing wind, filled the entire house.

Divided tongues of fire appeared and rested on each of them.

And again, this should take our mind back to Sinai.

That's exactly the kind of imagery that was there.

When God came in his power to make his covenant with his people, as Moses has gone up there, there is a storm raging with mighty wind blowing, and then fire of God is being demonstrated there.

Now, this is bringing us back to that same imagery here with these people who have been justified in Jesus Christ, who have a message then about the kingdom of God.

And we see that fire not only consumes those who are outside of the covenant of God, but also fire purifies those who are gods, those who have been judged to be righteous, and they are judged righteous because they have already passed through judgment in Jesus Christ on the cross, his burial, and his resurrection.

Now there's justified, there remains no more condemnation.

And so the people are seeing this on a day that they come in and they're celebrating one, this festival of the harvest, and they're about to experience a harvest that they didn't expect.

Not a harvest they weren't looking for, but that they needed.

And they're gonna see that now as God renews his covenant, as God comes down with this covenant, the law is no longer written on tablets of stone.

It is written on the hearts of his people.

This new covenant that they are about to hear about.

But then we see right after this baptism of the Holy Spirit, we see the filling of the Holy Spirit.

It says in verse 4, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Here's the important thing to understand about this one initially is that baptism of the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit are two different things.

And if we try to make them the same thing, we're gonna be very confused when you read the rest of the New Testament.

Now they are related to one another, because there is no filling of the Holy Spirit unless there's a baptism of the Holy Spirit.

But we see the baptism of the Holy Spirit is objective.

We've talked about this before that the indicatives drive the imperatives.

Imperatives mean the commands.

Indicatives means the objective truths.

In other words, whenever you see a command given in Scripture, or often, almost always, when there's a command, what comes before that is the indicative, or because this is true about you, therefore this is how you should respond.

So what we see here is that because you as believers, you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, you have been united to Christ, therefore there is a command that is given throughout the New Testament, be filled with the Holy Spirit.

So we see baptism happens once, the filling of the Holy Spirit happens multiple times in a believer's life, and you can see that even in the New Testament.

Otherwise, we would not be commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

So what does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit?

To be baptized, objective, you are in Christ.

But to be filled with Him, what does that look like practically?

Well, Paul gives us an example in Ephesians 5, 18.

He says, and do not be drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.

He says, You want an analogy?

Think about someone who is filled with wine, someone who's drunk.

They're not gonna say you're gonna walk around and act all crazy and babble a bunch.

No, he's saying, what happens when someone is under the influence of alcohol?

That alcohol is controlling the way they think, the way that they see, the way that they hear, the way that they speak.

Everything they do is affected by the alcohol.

They're no longer in control of themselves, they're under the influence or control of the alcohol.

He says that's sin and that is wrong, and don't do that.

However, be filled with the Holy Spirit, meaning yield yourself to him so completely that he is controlling all of your thoughts, that he is controlling all of your words, and he's controlling all of your actions.

And so this is about submission to him.

And what we see, though the the believers here are baptized into him and they are fully submitted to him.

And as being fully submitted to him, they are filled with the Holy Spirit, and we're gonna see the evidence of that in just a second.

But we can we're not filled with the Holy Spirit if we're filling ourselves with other things that don't mesh with the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Pride and anger, jealousy and lust.

We're not being filled with the Holy Spirit in those moments when we allow those things to settle into control us.

But rather we yield to Him, we repent and turn to Him, yield our members to His glory, and allow Him to work in us and through us.

And so what we see here as it happens to these disciples, the 120, there's an extraordinary sign that comes along with it.

And that sign is that these believers begin speaking in other languages.

But why is that significant?

And so here's our second point the gathering of the people of God.

The gathering of the people of God.

It says, 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.

Parthians and Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, what is he doing?

He's given us this huge list of all these different people groups that are there, of these people from different nations.

Now they're all Jewish people or proselytes to Judaism, but they don't live in Jerusalem.

They're part of the exiled people.

They're scattered all throughout the world.

But because of Pentecost, they're all gathered together, and the Lord knew this.

This was his plan from the very beginning, to bring all those who were devout in him back to this place in Jerusalem to hear this message about the kingdom of God and found only in Jesus Christ.

And so it wasn't random that this took place here.

And what we see happening is that, first of all, this is a fulfillment of what Isaiah 43 said.

That the Lord said, I will bring my offspring from the east in the west and the north and the south.

And we have a map here just to kind of give you an idea of the areas that these people were coming from.

This is the names of all the regions that were just listed here and where they were during the time of the first century church.

And so what you see is people from the east and the west and the north and the south.

Isaiah said this would happen.

God is bringing them together.

It's actually very similar to the opposite of what was taking place at Babel.

If you remember Babel, I don't think this is a reversal of Babel.

I think this is a redemption of Babel.

And what you see happening at Babel is the people of the world are united against God to be self-sufficient, and so God in his grace scatters them with languages.

But we see here now all those who were scattered, God is now bringing back together, and the only way for them to be united truly is to be united in Jesus Christ.

But the interesting thing is he doesn't unite the language.

He actually keeps the diversity of the language so that as they hear this language, then they take it back in their dialects.

And that's the thing that's fascinating all the people present.

They are perplexed, they are bewildered.

Why?

Because all these Galileans are speaking in languages they obviously didn't study and learn.

The Galileans were not known for their education.

They were not known for their ability to speak languages.

They spoke with such a thick accent, evidently, that Peter couldn't even speak Latin or Greek without people saying, You ain't from around here, are you?

So he he just did not learn the language really well.

So the miracle here is that all these people, they could have spoken in Aramaic or in Greek and they would have understood.

But this is a sign from God that he's going out, he's gathering his people from the nations, and that he's gonna use their languages to reach them, and they're gonna use their own languages from all these different nations to go back out and proclaim the excellencies of God.

And then you see around the throne of God that every tongue and tribe and nation is there and praising God.

And so we see this diversity that gives God glory as we are united in Christ.

So that's the miracle.

The question is though, what were they proclaiming?

What was the point of them speaking all of these languages?

What are they pointing to?

And there's a little bit of confusion here.

So next week we're gonna see that Peter is gonna need to give them an extended message and explain to them exactly what's going on.

So we'll hear that next week.

But suffice it to say today, and this is our third point, that they were praising God, so they pointed to the glory and praise of God.

And so, as they had been baptized in the Holy Spirit, the reality of their union with Christ, they're submitted to the Lord, that they then are filled with the Holy Spirit, and the result of being controlled or filled by the Holy Spirit was just praise and worship.

It just flowed out of them.

And so they were proclaiming, it says here, they were that these people were amazed and astonished.

Aren't these all Galilean speaking?

How is it we hear each of this in his own native language?

We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.

So they're proclaiming the mighty works of God, probably connecting everything in the Old Testament to the New Testament.

They could have been singing and praising God from the Psalms, from the prophets.

They could have been pointing directly and proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and his exaltation.

All this combined is what was going on.

They weren't necessarily even doing any expositional preaching at this point.

They weren't doing any kind of evangelism.

What they were doing was just praising and worshiping God, so full of the Holy Spirit.

And God then is gonna take that witness and do with it what he wants.

God is then gonna bring in his harvest.

Bring in his people.

We're gonna see thousands of these people then will uh hear and understand and come into this union with Christ, being baptized by the Holy Spirit themselves.

And so, with this, I like how Patrick Schreiner in his book, The Mission of the Triune God, summarizes what's going on.

He says, the Father orchestrates his will in the Son, and through the Holy Spirit, he activates his word, regenerating individuals, baptizing them into the church, and consequently they become his witnesses to the ends of the earth.

And so we see here this the glorification of Jesus Christ.

That's what's coming out.

That's what's happening at Pentecost.

The promise of the Father has come.

Christ now has poured out the Spirit on his people.

We are made one in him.

And this is the way in which Christ is fulfilling his word when he says, Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.

And then he says, Lo, I am with you, or behold, I am with you even to the end of the age.

And now we have that promise through the Holy Spirit.

He is with us, he is empowering us, so we can go forward in that mission.

We proclaim his glories.

We see here in verse 12 and 13 the response of the crowd.

He says, All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean?

But others mocking said they're filled with new wine.

And so we see here is what we see today such a divided response.

In fact, this is part of that judgment.

That those then, as the Holy Spirit is directing them and as leading them, they want to know more.

They want to hear more.

And they're drawn to him, and those who have rejected him go further and further away and mocking.

And so the question is this is how are you receiving the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

How do you hear it when you come in and you listen to this?

Is this something that you you hear and say, I want to know more, I've got to know more?

Or is it you just feel numb?

Just checking your watch, and well, we gotta hopefully we get out before the football game is over.

Or maybe it's just a mock mockery and disbelief.

Say, this is my wife's thing, this is my kid's thing, this is this is other people's thing, this is not my thing.

This is this is the beginning of that act of that judgment, the positive judgment for those who are in Christ, and the negative judgment that will come for those who have rejected him as king.

Do not reject him.

So this offer of salvation is extended to you.

Will you hear it?

Will you receive it?

The church, for us today, as we look at this, we look at the birth of the church, the very beginning, the the cries of the newborn baby of the church.

What are they?

Praise to the God of heaven for his mighty works, for what he has done.

It is he who has redeemed us as his people.

It is he now who has given us the mission to proclaim his gospel to the ends of the earth.

May we be faithful in doing that, but not in our own power.

May we, as individuals and as a church, be submitted to the Holy Spirit and allow just the praise to go forth from us.

If you're in Christ, you have been baptized.

That's the indicative.

So now be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Allow him to work in you, yield to him.

Together, let us give thanks to the Father for the finished work of Jesus Christ and for giving us his Holy Spirit as a guarantee into the day we receive the inheritance.

Remember, the Holy Spirit is the one who empowers and enables us to accomplish the great commission given to us.

So let's boldly pursue that mission, the mission that God has given to us, his church, and proclaim his mighty works to all the nations.

Father, thank you for the glorious truth of your word.

We thank you, Lord, for Pentecost and what it means for us that you have not abandoned us, but that you are with us even to the end of the age.

Be glorified, I pray, as we receive this word and apply it to our lives.

We pray it in Jesus' name.

Amen.