Praise God. Go ahead and grab your seats and grab your Bibles. And can we turn to the book of Acts chapter 1 together? And we’re continuing on this journey into the book of Acts. What an awesome time worshiping Jesus together. I love when the people of God sing, and let’s not miss that the Spirit is on the move, the Spirit is moving among us. And what a powerful moment. Thanks Justin and the team for leading us this morning.
But as you turn there, today we’re going to focus our attention on a big portion of the book of Acts 1:12 all the way through chapter 2 verse 13. And so the book of Acts is really just getting started today. Everything that we read last week was sort of like when you turn on a new TV and the next episode says, “Previously on (blank).” That’s kind of what Luke gave us last week.
Previously in the gospel of Luke, we saw Jesus come out of the grave, appear to His disciples, give the Great Commission, ascend to heaven. And now it’s time for the disciples to get to work. Except before they get to work, Jesus says, hey, go and wait. And in verse 4 last week we recognized that what they were waiting for. Jesus said not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father.
And we talked about that promise being the Spirit of God. it says in verse 5, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now (Acts 1:5). Ten days to be exact from the time that Jesus went to heaven and when the Spirit of God came.
And today we’re going to look at the ten day waiting period of the disciples and then we’re going to see what God did on day 10. The title of today’s sermon is this: “When the Spirit Comes.” Because when the Spirit came, everything changed. When the Spirit came, the disciples received power to live sent in all of the world. When the Spirit came, the church was born. Because the Spirit came, all who are in Christ, we are family.
And so we’re going to get our eyes on a copy of God’s Word. I want everyone to be looking at chapter 1 verse 12. I’m going to read this large portion of Scripture all the way to verse 13. And just remember. Every time we read the Word of God together, it is a holy moment. It’s an act of worship. These are God’s breathed out words. And so when we allow His Word to speak to us, it should be a holy moment by the power of the Spirit of God illuminating the words on this page to our souls. So let’s worship together. Everyone’s eyes on Acts chapter 1 starting in verse 12.
Now hear the Word of the Lord. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) “For it is written in the Book of Psalms,“‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and “‘Let another take his office.’
So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
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[a] 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 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 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.” (Acts 1:12-2:13).
That’s the text we’re going to look at today. And I’ve got to tell you man, I’ve been pumped studying the book of Acts. It was my favorite class in college going through the book of Acts. And as we’ve been jumping into it again, it’s just re-stoking my passion for the Word of God.
But this is a big portion of Scripture today. And there’s really two main things happening. But I want you to catch the thread of God’s faithfulness that is woven throughout this entire portion of Scripture today. God is a faithful God. you’re going to see that. And so I’ve got two kind of main points, but I have a thread of points that run through it that show the faithfulness of God in our text today.
So we’re going to start here. Number one is this: God’s faithfulness is seen when the disciples wait for the Spirit. God’s faithfulness is seen in the waiting when the disciples wait for the Spirit. We pick it up in vest 12 of chapter 1. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath’s day’s journey away. So that’s about half a mile journey. It wasn’t a biblical law, but the Rabbis of the day said you couldn’t travel more than half a mile on the Sabbath. Jesus kept the disciples compliant that day, and so they were able to go a half a mile back to Jerusalem.
Verse 13. And when they had entered they went up to the upper room where they were staying. And then Luke tells us who was in this upper room. So first, let’s consider who was present in the upper room as the apostles start their waiting for the Spirit of God. It says that there were eleven disciples. That shouldn’t be a surprise. We know that Judas is no longer with them. We’ll talk about that in a few moments. But there were eleven disciples. It tells us that there were the women who traveled with Jeus, who were around Jesus’ ministry and the apostles. Luke does a great job at letting us know the women who were following Jesus and were around Jesus. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was present.
But there’s something that is really kind of cool and surprising that is present with the disciples. The four brothers of Jesus were there in the upper room. Jesus had four brothers- James, Joseph, Jude and Simon. And it’s very interesting to know that at one point Jesus’ four brothers didn’t believe that He was the Messiah. They didn’t believe in His ministry. They didn’t believe in Him as the Son of God.
In John 7:5 it says, For not even his brothers believed in him. And they shared a room with him. LIke they saw Jesus never mess up. They saw Jesus be sinless in His entire childhood. Could you imagine having a perfect brother? Imagine that. That would be kind of tough. That would mess with your head a little bit. But Jesus’ brothers didn’t even believe, and they saw that He was perfect. Not only that, but His parents, Mary and Joseph, they had angelic revelation from God saying that He was the Christ, the Son of God. And yet they still didn’t believe.
I think that’s where we have to stop and just say this is where we see God’s faithfulness first. God is faithful to save the lost. We find out later that Jesus appeared to His brothers after His resurrection and we start seeing that they believe. They believed here because they’re in the upper room at one accord with all the people.
Specifically in 1 Corinthians 15:7 Jesus appeared to James and he was converted. His brother James went on to be the leader of the church in Jerusalem. He went on to write the book of James in the New Testament. Jude went on to write the book of Jude in the New Testament. God is faithful to save the lost. And I just have to stop for a moment and say some of you have dear friends, dear children, people that have heard the good news, people that have been close to the things of God, close to the proximity of Jesus, seen the perfection of Jesus, seen Jesus working. And yet they’re not walking with Christ; they’re running headlong toward destruction and your heart hurts for that.
Imagine being Mary. Your one son is the Son of God; your four other sons don’t believe in Him. imagine that. She must have committed herself to prayer. She must have waited patiently, trusting that God has a plan. And Jesus, He is faithful to reveal Himself to the lost. He is faithful to open their eyes. Be encouraged this morning that God is faithful to save the lost. If He saved His brothers, man He can save those that you are praying for, that you are speaking to, that you are waiting for.
Now what were they doing while they were waiting? They weren’t bored, ok? They don’t go back and get bored. Boredom is man’s worst enemy. They weren’t twiddling their thumbs in the upper room. They weren’t allowing temptation to creep in. isn’t that so true that when we get bored or when we have to wait, that’s often when the devil attacks and we kind of fall into temptation, we give into temptation. We maybe get depressed.
What were they doing? Look in verse 13. It says…or sorry, verse 14. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer together. They were with one accord and they were devoting themselves to prayer. They were devoted to prayer. They were committed to actually and really praying.
The Puritans had a phrase that they would say often. “Pray until you pray.” You know how sometimes when… we talk about we’re going to pay a lot as followers of Jesus, but do we really pray? Are we devoted to prayer? The Puritans when they said, “Pray until you pray,” they meant sometimes when you start praying your mind sort of drifts at the beginning and you kind of like, you’re trying to keep a train of thought. But they prayed until they prayed. The longer you do it, the longer you can go. The more saturated your soul and your mind gets whenever you focus on the conversation that you’re having with the living God.
I think that was what was happening among the disciples. They were praying until they prayed. They were devoted and they were probably praying about their weaknesses, about their fears, about their questions. They were taking the specifics to God and praying as they waited.
Not only that, but they were actually worshiping while they were waiting. The book of Luke, the gospel of Luke ends; the very last verse in Luke says this: And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy and they were continually in the temple blessing God (Luke 24:53).
So they were coming to and fro from the temple during this waiting period. Their faith had been emboldened. After the crucifixion they were cowering and hiding, but after Christ’s resurrection and ascension they finally found the freedom of worshiping while they wait. It’s a beautiful picture.
What do you do while you wait? What do you do when you have to wait? I would imagine that everyone in the room has either been through a period of waiting or you’re in a period of waiting right now. What do you do? Do you focus on your problems? Do you get depressed? Do you allow temptation to creep in? Do you fill your mind with worthless things? Or are you committed to prayer? Are you committed to worship?
Maybe you’re single and waiting for a spouse. Maybe you’re dating and waiting for a proposal. Maybe you’re waiting and waiting for kids. Maybe you have kids and you’re waiting for them to be born again. Maybe you’re waiting for a new job or a raise or a new boss or for the world to get better. Or hopefully for Jesus’ return.
Can I just encourage you for a moment? Pray while you wait. Be devoted to prayer while you wait. Take your requests to God. Be anxious for nothing and pray without ceasing. Worship while you wait. When we worship, the things of this world get so much smaller our eyes get on Jesus and He begins to shape us into the kind of worshiper He’s seeking. He begins to shape us into His likeness.
When you pray while you wait and while you worship while you wait, God will help you with what you should wait for. God is able to direct and redirect your heart to be filled with His desires. God will make you eager for His Second Coming. Hebrews tells us that God will come again for those who eagerly await His return. That’s the greatest thing we should be waiting for, all of us.
So be devoted to prayer while you wait. We see the disciples model that. Be devoted to worship while you wait. The disciples model that. But also you can be trusting and obeying God’s Word while you wait. We’re going to see in the text that the disciples model that for us as well.
Look in verse 15. In those days Peter stood up among the brothers, the company of the persons was in all about 120. And Peter said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled. Stop there for just a moment. So this is where we see another layer of God’s faithfulness in the text. God is faithful to His Word.
He’s not just faithful to save the lost, but God is faithful to His Word. So Peter, he kind of stands up in these ten days and sort of takes charge. I love Peter. He’s like a grab the bull by the horns kind of guy. Whether it’s right, whether it’s wrong, he stands up, takes charge of it. And there were about 120 in the upper room, the number may have grown a little bit. There may have been some people who came into town for Pentecost.
And Peter says he’s doing a deep dive into the Old Testament while they’re waiting. They’re praying, they’re worshiping. Peter is deep diving into the Old Testament. He says, Brothers, the Scriptures had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus.
Now there’s a miraculous statement here that Peter says. He says, The Holy Spirit by the mouth of David. Such a clear picture of the inspiration of Scripture, the fact that God all those years before was speaking His Word out through man. The truth that God breathed out His Word and used the Holy Spirit to inspire men to speak it.
And in that moment they start to process their friend Judas who walked with them for so long and walked around the ministry of Jesus and was in the room when Jesus was giving the promises of the kingdom of God. And yet he was no longer with them. They were processing this. And they say it was prophesied that it would happen.
It was prophesied that he wouldn’t be with us and he was numbered with us. And so Peter is like, “He has a share in what Christ has asked us to do. Christ has asked us to take this message of the gospel to Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth. It was prophesied that he’d be with us. He has a share in this work that Christ has called us to.
Luke, the doctor, kind of gives us the gruesome details of Judas there in a small little paraphrase. We know in Matthew that Judas hung himself. So this isn’t a contradiction. You just have to think about what happened.
Judas at some point, he had the blood money. He tried to return the money. He was guilty. There was a field purchase at some point. At some level Judas hung himself in Matthew, but he probably hung himself over a cliffside over some sharp rocks and when the knot may have broke the branch may have broken. When they found Judas, there he was a bloody mess, spilled out in the field. And rather than Judas repenting of his sin, rather than Judas turning to the Savior, rather than Judas in his guilt for betraying the Master, he took his guilt and his shame to his death.
But verse 20 in the text shows us what was spoken by David. For it is written in the book of Psalms, “May his camp become desolate and let there be no one to dwell in it.” So it was prophesied that this would happen. It was prophesied that the disciples would find themselves in this situation. Judas’ spot would be empty, and there would be no one filling it. But all those years before it said that his camp would be empty.
And then look what it says. And let another take his office. So Peter is like, “We’ve got to be faithful to what the Word of God says.” Scripture tells us we need to be, we would be in this position and another needs to fill the empty seat. We know that in heaven there will be twelve thrones where the apostles sit. And there were twelve apostles called by Jesus. They represented the twelve tribes of Israel.
And Peter is like, “We’ve got to fill the twelfth seat. We’ve got to fill the twelfth seat. It was prophesied this would happen and we need to make another take his office.” There’s sort of this idea of prophecy completion before the Spirit comes being shown here. The Word of God is precise and perfect and accurate.
Now some scholars wonder if Peter was acting out of his leadership what he should have done, if he should have left it alone. Because later God appoints the apostle Paul. Obviously that was the apostle Paul’s spot. And yet I think Paul was a unique apostle called for a unique period of getting the gospel to the Gentiles.
See, there was completion that had to happen. He needed to be a witness of the resurrection of Christ, a witness to the ministry of Christ. And the disciples are being faithful to the Word of God and it leads us to another point of God’s faithfulness that we see in the text. God is faithful to appoint leaders. God is faithful to appoint leaders.
Verse 21. So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us. One of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.
So there were people who traveled with Jesus. They saw Him since His baptism under John the Baptist. They followed HIs ministry, but they weren’t apostles. So I like to think of these guys as interns to the apostles, interns to Jesus and His ministry. And they call forward two of them, Barsabbas and Matthias.
These guys had walked with Christ, seen Christ’s ministry. They were witnesses to His resurrection. They call these two guys forward and they prayed and said, “You Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of those you have chosen to take the place in this ministry, an apostleship, from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”
The early church prayed when they appointed leaders, and so should we. They prayed knowing God was sovereign. They said, “You know the hearts of all. Show us who you have chosen.” And they prayed specifically for that need, chosen to take the place in this ministry, in this apostleship from Judas. They were faithful to pray for the leader that was necessary to get the job done. They trusted in the sovereignty of God.
I’ve got to just commend the elders in this period, you know? Like Pastor Trent, God has called them to another place, another ministry. And the elders have committed themselves to prayer in this season saying, “God, you know all. You are sovereign. You are righteous. You are good. And so we pray to You that You would lead us. Prayer is powerful. We believe in the power of prayer, thank God.
Now the early church, it goes on, it says that they prayed and they cast lots for them. The elders haven’t been shooting dice on Wednesday nights trying to figure out who the next leader was, hallelujah. But this is the last time that we see the casting of lots in Scripture.
In 1 Chronicles the casting of lots was used all throughout the Old Testament. The casting of lots was kind of an opportunity for us to pray and then for God to show us in His sovereignty the direction He wanted us to go. This is the last occasion where lots are cast, because the Holy Spirit is about to come. And now the people of God don’t cast lots after they pray. They pray and they follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Do you see?
And so when we pray, we can trust that the power of the Holy Spirit will lead us if we remain open and yielding to His sovereignty, to His goodness, to His help. He is indeed the Helper. He is indeed the power. And so we yield and submit and we trust to the power of the Spirit of God.
So you see God’s faithfulness in the waiting. You see God’s faithfulness in those ten days as they waited. They worshiped while they waited. They prayed while they waited. They trusted God’s Word while they were waiting. And if we do the same, God will be faithful to us in our periods of waiting.
But now let’s move on. Number two, the main point is this. God’s faithfulness is seen when the disciples are washed in the Spirit. So His faithfulness is seen when the disciples wait for the Spirit. Now His faithfulness is seen when the disciples are washed in the Spirit.
Let’s read in verse 2. Chapter 2 verse 1. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. Let’s talk about Pentecost. Pentecost was the festival of the harvest, the feast of weeks, the feast of firstfruits. So Jesus He died at Passover. Passover was something that the Jewish people celebrated once a year this big moment. The lamb slaughtered. And Jesus in His sovereignty, in His perfect timing, He dies at Passover. The Lamb of God who was slain to take away the sins of the world dies at Passover.
Fifty days later was the feast of Pentecost. And on the feast of firstfruits, God’s Spirit came as the first fruits of the kingdom of God and He began to collect the firstfruits of the church. It’s beautiful. At Pentecost God begins the harvest. At Pentecost God gave us the power that would take His name to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
Now look at verse 2. They’re all together in one place. Now there were a lot more people at this point. They weren’t in the upper room. They were probably at the temple. We’ll see in a moment there’s like 3,000+ people in Jerusalem for Pentecost. Think you going to a giant church conference and gathering with a bunch of believers all in one place, ok?
So the temple in Jerusalem is the only place that could have held 3,000+ people. So they were all together. The 120 are in one place and there’s people surrounding them. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. It doesn’t say that there was a wind. It said that there was a sound like a mighty rushing wind, like a hurricane, like a tornado, like the sound of a locomotive running its way through the room. Some versions say it was a violent sound.
I took my boys to Monster Jam yesterday in Chicago. Monster trucks galore in the Allstate Arena. There was a roof on the place. It was so loud. It was violently loud. Something like that rushed through the temple on the day of Pentecost, except it was sudden. They were selling monster truck headphones at Allstate Arena. Had they known this was coming they could have sold Holy Spirit dove headphones, but they didn’t know it was coming.
God was like, this was sudden. This wasn’t contrived. Verse 3. Divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. So fire didn’t necessarily fall from the sky. Some sort of flickering flamelike tongue-looking thing appeared on each of their heads. It could have been a representation of the pure speech and the powerful message they were now empowered to pour forth to the nations.
And look in verse 4. It says, And they were filled, And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues. Another way that we see God’s faithfulness in the text. God is faithful to His promise. What did He say? I will send the promise of the Father. And here we see the fruition of His faithfulness. He is good on His promise.
And they were filled with the Holy Spirit. They were baptized in the Spirit. They were immersed in the Spirit. The Spirit of God came in power and took up residence in the Christ followers. The Spirit of God came and made man His temple. From this time forward, believers upon salvation would be indwelled with the Spirit of God. the Spirit of God came and the Spirit of God changed everything. What a miraculous day.
Verse 4 says that they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. The word for tongues here is the same Greek word for “language.” We’ll see that in a couple of moments in verse 6. But these disciples, these followers, they weren’t all of a sudden speaking gibberish. They weren’t all of a sudden just speaking words that didn’t make sense. They were speaking an actual language.
And so I think it’s important. This text is really not that difficult. Like it kind of tells us exactly what God did on that day. It tells us what happened on the day of Pentecost. And yet it’s kind of gotten misconstrued in our culture. It’s kind of been taught in a lot of different ways. The next thing I just want to briefly say what Pentecost was not.
And, I’ve got to share this, as I was writing this section in the sermon and thinking about it, I often play music through Youtube on the tv in my office. And as soon as I was starting this, something popped up and the call to worship was Acts chapter 2, Pentecost. And the guy is describing the moment that he came to salvation. That’s kind of a Holy Spirit moment if you will.
And this guy is describing how he came to salvation. And when he heard the gospel he felt this force coming at him with strength and he fell over in his chair and began to speak languages, or a word that he had never heard, a sound that he had never heard. And I was kind of like, that’s crazy and that’s great, but that’s not at all how the Lord converted me. I didn’t have an experience like that.
And if we’re not careful, we could get sucked into teaching that says you’ve got to have an experience like Pentecost in order to know that you are saved. So let’s talk about what Pentecost was not, ok? Pentecost was not a manmade experience. It was a historical event orchestrated by sovereign God. This wasn’t something that they were expecting.
Verse 2 tells us that it was sudden. They couldn’t have ever predicted that the Spirit of God would come this way. They couldn’t have ever predicted the perfection of God sending the firstfruits of the kingdom on the feast of firstfruits. It’s beautiful. Pentecost was not evoked or contrived. It was sudden and solely an act of the sovereign God.
These Jewish people, they weren’t working themselves up. They weren’t trying to evoke something. They wouldn’t have even known what to pray for, what to ask for. And it’s important in our culture today that we not seek an experience but we seek Jesus, that we not run after an experience or a feeling, but we hold fast to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ that is clearly written in His Word and that His Spirit brings to light in our souls.
Pentecost was not a prescription for how our gatherings should look. It was rather a description of how God chose to manifest His presence at this specific gathering in history. Pentecost should not be an expected norm. It was an event where God did something new, and since that day believers are indwelt by the Spirit of God.
The theologian John Stott said, “We do not need to wait for the Holy Spirit to come. He came on the day of Pentecost and He has never left the church.” Pentecost is not meant to be recreated. It was a supernatural, historical event, and it was an incredible event when God came in power and gave His Spirit, took up residence in the life of the believer. And when He indwelled the followers of Christ that day, since that day He is indwelling His followers and HIs children all around the world. He’s never left the building.
Now verses 5-8 start to describe what was happening, what was going on. Check it out. 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 him speak in his own language. Same word for tongue. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these speaking Galileeans? How is it that we hear each of them in our own language?”
Now I think it would be awesome to be fluent in another language. I think that would be great. I haven’t put the work forth for that. But I’ve gotten to preach in a couple of other countries with a translator. It is not great. Every single time I’ve done it I’ve been like, “Lord, please just take my words and translate them into their native tongue so that they can hear it.” And yet it doesn’t work that way. You have to kind of cut what you’re going to say in half and work with a translator. I’ve been in the room when the translator doesn’t even necessarily know the language he’s trying to communicate with the guy who’s trying to communicate. And it gets kind of hairy. It’s like crazy.
Recently I did a wedding where the bride was from Honduras and her family came over from Honduras. And her father didn’t speak a lick of English. And so they were a little nervous about the giving over of the bride moment that kind of starts the wedding. And so the big day came and the wedding started and the music was playing. The beautiful bride and her father came down the aisle and they stopped in front of me and the music stopped. And the first words that came out of my mouth were (Speaking in Spanish).
Now all my family who was in the crowd, they looked shocked at my impeccable Espanol. But now that wasn’t an act, a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. That was just an act of google translator and Siri the day before as I was thinking, “You know, I might try to throw some Spanish into this thing.”
Man, I wish that the Holy Spirit would just show up in power like He did, but there was some specific stuff happening whenever God showed up on the scene and all these languages started happening. It’s where we see the fifth way that God is faithful in this text. God is faithful to the nations. God is faithful to the nations.
And the text tells us in oversees 9-12 who was there. It says, Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes. Proselytes were Gentiles fully converted to Judaism. Cretans and Arabians. We hear them telling in our own tongue the mighty works of God. and all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
Now what is so significant about this supernatural moment in history? We’ve got to answer that question. Here we see thousands of Jews from all around the Mediterranean coming together, devout Jews, devout men. For sure they knew the works of God, because the works of God were written down. They had devoted themselves to the teaching of God. and yet they had only ever heard it in the Hebrew language.
See, the Jews thought that salvation was for the Jews only, that Hebrew was really God’s language and so the works of God were only depicted in God’s language, in Hebrew. But what was new was for the first time all of them were hearing about the works of God in a Gentile language. They were ultimately about to hear the message that Jesus can save in the language representing all the nations, not just one. In a moment in history at Pentecost, God was demonstrating that He desires a relationship with not only the Jews but with people from every tribe, every tongue and every nation.
On Pentecost He not only gave us the power to get it done, but He strategically gathered people from all over the world who would then be sent out with the message of Jesus Christ. Do you see how strategic our God was on the day of Pentecost?
He gives the disciples on the Mount of Olives ten days earlier this seemingly impossible mission. Hey, I want you to take the gospel message to the world to first Jerusalem and then Judea and Samaria, to the ends of the earth. That’s impossible. How could eleven guys get that down? This is going to be the slowest growing movement in all the world unless God brought Jews from all around the Mediterranean, all over the place, into one place at one time where they would hear the truth of the good news of the gospel in their own tongue and then be sent home to take it with them.
Wow. God is so in control. So in control. Verse 12 and 13. And all of them were amazed and they were perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others, mocking, said, “They are filled with new wine.”
It’s always important. There’s even skeptics in the midst of transformation. I think I’ve just really been impacted by that thought in Scripture lately. Every time you see Jesus moving, every time you see real worship happening, every time you see transformation happening by the power of God, there’s always skeptics. There’s always someone who doesn’t believe, always someone mocking. It’s a great example for us not to sit in this place week after week after week and miss the transformation that Christ and the Spirit want to have on your life.
But they said that these languages that they’re speaking, as the sound is going out, that they were all filled with new wine. It’s really a lame kind of argument. Alcohol makes you speak a language you know way worse. It doesn’t make you speak a language that you don’t know better. And I believe the disciples knew exactly what this moment meant.
Can you imagine the dispclies? They knew exactly what was happening. They were waiting for the Spirit of God and He blew their minds with how He came. But they were ready. They were empowered. They were ready to take this message forward. And next week we’ll see the first sermon, the first gospel message, in all of the world that started the movement of the church.
But many stood in awe. Many stood in wonder. Many stood in amazement. And those who may have understood, stood in awe. Those who were confused may have stood in wonder. Because when the Spirit came, everything changed. They received the power from on high to live sent in all of the world. And God was going to send them back to their countries with their own language, with the message of the gospel, to begin to spread throughout the world. And it has spread to us today.
When the Spirit came, the church was born. And because the Spirit came, we who are in Christ can be family. Can you just marvel with me at the faithfulness of God to send His Spirit? Isn’t it incredible seeing God’s faithfulness, seeing His sovereign control over every situation? Even when He had appeared to leave, even when He had appeared to be gone, He was sovereignly working through prayer, through worship, through His Word?
How could we ever put our trust in ourselves? How could we ever not lean heavily into the Spirit of God? Just be in awe for a moment of how in control God is. He is saving the lost. He’s fulfilling His Word and illuminating His Word. He’s working while we are waiting. He’s appointing leaders and calling people. His promises are new every morning and He is for the nations. Oh, that we would have a dependency on the Spirit of God, who came at Pentecost and who has never left the church.
The band is going to come out. I heard a speaker recently at an event and he said, “Churches who trust in the Bible and hold the Bible high need to be careful because we don’t worship God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Bible. We worship God the Holy Spirit.” And the Bible is so important and the Bible is ready and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. It is the living breathed out Word of God.
But it is by the power of the Spirit of God that the Word of God can do the work of God. It is by the power of the Spirit of God that He takes what’s in this Word, transforms our hearts and our lives, and sends us on a mission to the world. Oh, that we would have a dependency as Gospel City Church on the Spirit of God. Not by our power, not by our might, but by the Spirit, says the Lord.
Just as the Spirit indwelled them at Pentecost, He is indwelling you if you are a follower of Christ right now. He’s there. Does He move in fresh ways? Yeah. Does He move in mighty ways? Yeah.
Some of the things that the Spirit is doing maybe even right now, the things that the Spirit wants to do in your life if you remain submitted and yielded to Him. The Spirit convicts us of sin. The Spirit drives us to Jesus Christ. The Spirit He helps us with our prayers, with groanings that are too deep for words. When we don’t know what to pray, the Spirit prays on our behalf. The Spirit secures us and gives us assurance so that we can say, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit is conforming us from one level of glory to the next as we gaze at Jesus Christ.
I love that God’s Word has brought us as a church to a place, as a family, where we would give due honor to the Holy Spirit, due honor to the Spirit of God who is indwelling His believers, who is indwelling this Body and who desires to move afresh and anew if we would remain submitted to Him, yielding to HIm. Not in our own strength, but in the strength that only He can provide.
Would you stand with me? Let’s bow our heads. Just respond to the Lord for a moment. Ask Him to give you a greater dependency on iIs Holy Spirit this week. Thank Him for His faithfulness, for His control.
Father God, we come and we give You the glory that You deserve. God, we thank You that You are good on your promise and that You sent the promise from on high, the Holy Spirit of God, to take up residence in the believers this side of heaven. We thank You that your Holy Spirit is moving, that your Holy Spirit is convicting of sin, that your Holy Spirit is making us more like Jesus, that your Holy Spirit is pointing us to Jesus, that You are working while we are waiting.
Oh, that we would have a greater dependency on your Spirit. Make us so much more aware of You all around us. Make us so much more aware of how You want to lead, how You want to work. And may we remain open-handed and submitted and yielding to the Spirit of God. Because when You lead the way, everything changes. When You lead the way, we walk in step with our Creator. When You lead the way, You can take our greatest trials, our greatest suffering, and turn it to praise. God, we give you glory in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
