The day of Pentecost occurred 50 Days after the Passover. Also known as the Feast of Harvest, it was one of the 3 times during the year that “all your males appear before the Lord GOD.” (Exod. 23:14-17). This tells us why there were Jews in Jerusalem, from every nation under heaven. The text gives us a list: 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. (Areas known to us today as Turkey, Iraq, North Africa, Syria, and surrounding areas).
We see how God, in his wonderful sovereignty, brought the known Jewish world together to plant the seeds of the gospel in order for it to spread, starting in “Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8).
As we saw last week, the disciples were in one place, waiting for the promised baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5). As they obediently waited, united in purpose, devoting themselves to prayer, the promise was fulfilled as the house was filled with the sound of a mighty rushing wind and divided tongues as of fire came to rest on each one of them.
Notice how each believer was individually filled; they did not have to go around chasing the tongues like someone in a money booth where dollar bills are blown around and the person in the booth frantically grabs at the cash.
The gift of the Holy Spirit was given to each believer. We would be wise to take note of this, as there is nothing we can do to earn the filling of the Holy Spirit – just as in salvation – we need only to wait obediently on the Lord.
As each believer was filled with the Holy Spirit, they began to speak of the mighty works of God in other languages, languages that were understood by the hearers. They were amazed to hear the disciples speaking so, but perplexed as to what the event meant.
This is not going to be a treatise on tongues, as there are different points of view that will not be resolved here today, but I want to focus on the actions of the disciples once they were filled with the Holy Spirit. As recorded in the text, they disciples were proclaiming the mighty works of God, just as it says in Psalm 96:3 – “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!”
God likewise desires to fill us with his Holy Spirit that we may tell of his works among all the peoples, as it says in Psalm 73:28 – “I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.”
As the multitude came together – we are talking about a crowd in the thousands (Acts 2:41) – the Scripture tells us that Peter lifted his voice and addressed them. He briefly addressed the critics, dismissing the allegation of drunkenness, and proceeded to explain what was happening. Notice how he began: “This is what was uttered through the prophet Joel…”
Peter started from the common foundation of Scripture (for he was speaking to devout Jews, who were in Jerusalem in obedience to the Scripture); he put the phenomenon everyone had just witnessed into biblical context.
He spoke in terms of the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel: “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh…even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.”
He went on to speak of the coming “day of the Lord” which will be a “great and magnificent day” for the people of God, but a day of judgment for those that are not his people.
From there he continued building the case for Christ, citing the recent events which many had witnessed, tying them to the Scriptures (messianic passages in the Psalms) with the result that about 3,000 souls believed and were baptized.
What can we learn from this? When we share the gospel of Christ, we must be rooted in Scripture – that is essential. We must also connect to the values may be common to us and the listener. In this case, Peter was speaking to devout Jews.
In the case of Paul in Athens (Acts 17:16-31) he started with the statue representing the unknown god. In his letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 9:19–23) Paul says: “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.”
The point here is to present the gospel in a way that is first biblical, and then meaningful to the listeners. We would be wise to listen before we speak. We would be wise to not beat people over the head with the Bible, trying to make them see their need for Christ.
The late Ravi Zacharias said, “It is self-defeating to trample underfoot everything others hold dear before giving them the message of Christ. My mother used to say, “There is no point cutting off a person’s nose and then giving them a rose to smell.”
In other words, it’s is our mandate to engage people with the Word of God (which means there should be a process of give and take), while staying out of God’s way. It is the Holy Spirit that convicts of sin (John 16:8); it is the Father that draws (John 6:44); it is the Son that saves; it is the Holy Spirit that converts (Acts 16:14). God does the hard work.
What does this have to do with Pentecost? As God gathered people from every nation and prepared hearts to receive and respond to his Word, he prepared and empowered the disciples to deliver it. That is what we see here on the day of Pentecost; a group of common Galileans, filled with the Holy Spirit, and sent to proclaim the mighty works of God to those who were gathered in Jerusalem.
Look at the relationship between the filling of the Holy Spirit and the proclamation of the Word of God:
Luke 1:41-44 – “And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
Luke 1:46-55 – “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…”
Luke 1:67-79 – “And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied…”
Acts 4:8 – “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders…”
Acts 4:31 – “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”
Acts 9:17-20 – “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit… And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues.”
Are we starting to see the connection? When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will speak the word of God with boldness.
This leads us to a question: what is coming out of our mouths?
Matt 12:34; 5:18 – “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks…what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.”
Let us not be discouraged when corrupting talk (Eph. 4.29) slips past our lips, but let us be repentant for we will not be completely free of the effects of sin until Jesus returns, and these perishable bodies, sown in dishonor and weakness, are raised imperishable, raised in glory, raised in power. (1 Cor. 16:42-43).
Eph. 5:21 tells us to “be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, not only are we empowered to speak the word of God to those who need to hear it, but empowered to build one another up in the church; we worship and give thanks to God (because the Spirit’s function is to glorify Christ); we submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Being filled with the Spirit is the fruit of salvation; it is the fruit of presenting ourselves before the Lord in prayerful, watchful, expectant obedience.
As we witness the events currently unfolding in our nation, people around us are trying to make sense of it all. People are bewildered, amazed and perplexed as they try to make meaning of what they are seeing. And yes, there are mockers who are interjecting their voices as well.
This is a time for us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It is a time for us to stand together and lift our voices, that we may speak the Word of God (or in the vernacular, ‘speak life’) to those around us with all boldness, speaking such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. (Eph. 4:29)
May we all be filled with the Spirit. Amen.
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