The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit - Part 1 — Chip Brogden

Bless you and we thank you for your word, the light that shines in the darkness, the word that gives us direction and guidance, a lamp for our feet, and a light for our path. And we thank you, Lord, for your Holy Spirit who has come to strengthen us, to lead us into all truth concerning Jesus, and we pray, Holy Spirit, that you would come and be our teacher and lead us into the depths of Jesus Christ.

We bless you and we thank you in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Let's begin in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 2. The second chapter of Acts, as we consider the present-day ministry of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers and unbelievers.

God’s Purpose to Save All People

Previously, we discussed that God's ultimate purpose, his ultimate intention, his plan, his heart's desire, is that all men would be saved and would come to the full knowledge of the truth. And we said that for some people that sounds like an impossible dream, but with God, all things are possible.

And I think a lot of Christians have the impression, perhaps, that God is only working in the lives of believers or that the Holy Spirit is only doing something in the lives of Christians. But in order for this purpose to be fulfilled, that Christ would have preeminence in all things, that God's purpose and his heart's desire for all people would come to pass, it's going to require the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The Promise of the Spirit in Acts 2

And I'd like to suggest to you that the Holy Spirit is doing much more in the earth and much more in your life and in the life of even those who do not believe on the Lord Jesus. There's a basis for it here in Acts chapter 2.

I want to begin reading in verse 16. And, you know, the context of this is when Peter and the other apostles on the day of Pentecost, after the Holy Spirit had come and filled them, and they began to speak in tongues.

And the people questioned this event and thought perhaps they were drunk, perhaps they had had too much wine. Peter said, no, this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. Beginning in verse 16, Peter begins to explain what this outpouring of the Holy Spirit means.

And so, quoting from Joel, Peter says, it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Now, if you highlight or mark things in your Bible, that would be a good thing for you to highlight right now.

I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall dream dreams. And on my menservants and on my maidservants, I will pour out my spirit in those days and they shall prophesy.

I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.

And it shall come to pass that, how many, that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. This is what the prophet Joel was referring to, Peter says.

The Last Days and the Outpouring on All Flesh

Something that's unprecedented, that God is going to do in the last days, and I believe that he is doing in the last days and he has been doing for the last 2 ,000 years. Our dispensation, our age that we live in is unique.

And it's unique with respect to many things that God is doing and has promised to do in this age. But one thing that makes this age unique is it being the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit.

So that's interesting because in the former days, in the old covenant, God did not pour out his spirit on people. God did not pour out his spirit upon people in the sense that we see the spirit being poured out in Acts chapter 2.

The Holy Spirit came upon certain individuals, came upon Moses, came upon Samson, came upon Abraham, came upon David or Solomon, or any of the kings and the prophets of the old covenant, the Old Testament in the Bible.

But what's unique and what's really amazing about the time that you and I live in, and it began here in Acts chapter 2, that God says I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. So what is significant about this is that God pouring out his spirit, as opposed to just having the spirit upon a person, God says I will pour out my spirit.

And we see that in the new covenant, he says I will put my spirit in you. I will live in you and you will live in me and I will put my spirit in you, as opposed to in the old covenant where he would put his spirit upon people.

The Spirit of the Lord came upon someone and they did thus and so. Well in the new covenant, the Spirit of the Lord comes to live, to dwell in, to abide in us. So that is significant, but the other thing that is special and significant about the last days is that God says I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, all flesh.

Not just those people who believe in me, not just people who would call themselves Christians, not just believers, but I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Now that sounds strange if you don't understand and realize that God is working all things together according to this mighty purpose.

This purpose that he purposed in himself, it says from the foundation of the age. That he wants to gather together into one all things in Christ, all people in Christ, and to take all those scattered elements of his creation and gather them together under one Lord with Christ having the preeminence.

And you and I as believers, you and I as the body of Christ, as the Ecclesia, we have the unique privilege and opportunity and stewardship and responsibility to be witnesses, ambassadors for Christ and we have talked about this at some length.

God’s Desire for Repentance and Salvation

But it is God's desire in his heart that all men, by that we understand to mean all mankind, that all people would be saved and would come to the full knowledge of the truth. Why? Because Peter says God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

So we covered that at length previously. But in order for that to happen, in order for that to even have a chance of happening, God says I'm going to pour my spirit out upon all flesh. That word all there, it's the same word that people want to try and diminish, minimize, and say it doesn't really mean all, it just means all kinds of people.

And depending on the context, all doesn't mean all. And I understand that in some contexts that's exactly right. When it says that all the world spoke or all the world rose up or something to that effect, we understand that to be an idiom or a turn of phrase and we understand in that context.

But in the context of God's purpose and his will, I still don't think you should minimize that word all just because it doesn't fit into your particular doctrinal or theological construct. So when God says I'm going to pour out my spirit upon all flesh, I just take it for what it means.

He's going to pour out his spirit on all flesh in the last days. Not only do I believe that he'll do it, I believe he is doing it. And I believe that one reason why evil, wickedness, sin is restrained more so than not is because God through his Holy Spirit is acting in this earth to restrain and to hold back the evil and the wickedness that man is capable of.

Without the presence of the Holy Spirit, without the presence of God, there's no limit to what human beings apart and outside from God are capable of. So the Holy Spirit is definitely doing the work. We'll talk about specific ways that the Holy Spirit is working in the lives of unbelievers.

The Spirit’s Work Before Conversion

But even before we get into that, if you think about it, God was already at work in your life before you ever came to him, before you ever acknowledged Jesus as Lord, before you ever became a believer.

The Holy Spirit was doing a work in you, drawing you, leading you to Christ. And I think sometimes we forget that. The same Holy Spirit that was working in you to bring you to a saving knowledge, knowledge of the Lord Jesus, that same Holy Spirit is working, I believe, in every man, woman, boy, and girl on the face of the earth.

Now, some people are a more difficult case than others. Some people like to resist the dealings of God with them. And so they're going to have a harder time than those who would just surrender to the Holy Spirit.

Nevertheless, God says, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. And the word all there is the same word all that is used when it says that God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And so he pours out his Spirit, he says, I'm going to pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. That word flesh there, it's not a trick word.

It's the word sarx in the Greek. It means the body. It also means the animal nature, the sinful nature, the carnal nature. It's translated as flesh, fleshly, carnal, carnally minded. It's the same word that's used in Matthew 26, 41, when Jesus says, watch and pray, for the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

It's the word that's used in Romans 8, 7, because the carnal mind is enmity against God. It's translated carnal, but it's the same word, flesh. The fleshly mind is enmity against God. Galatians 5, 16, where Paul says, walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

It's all the same word, sarx. And it means the fleshly, the carnal, the human nature, the sinful nature of man. It's the same word that we find in Acts chapter 2, when God says, I'm going to pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, the weakened flesh, the carnal mind that's at enmity against God.

When the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, it's upon this very flesh that I'm going to pour out my Spirit on all flesh, on all people. Then God says, and just so that there's no misunderstanding, God right after that says, I will also pour out my Spirit upon my servants and my handmaidens.

So those would be the believers, right? My servants, my handmaidens, right? My men's servants and my maid servants, New King James says. So first he says all flesh, and then he says on my servants, both men and women.

The Spirit Poured Out on Servants and Handmaidens

So do you see what Joel is, is prophesying here and what the Spirit of God is saying and what scripture promises that God says, you know what? I'm going to deal with this flesh once and for all. I'm going to pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, upon all people.

And then I'm going to pour out my Holy Spirit upon my men's servants and on my maid servants. There's going to be dreams and visions and you're going to prophesy. And this is all going to come about in the last days, leading up to the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.

And what is the purpose of that? Why would God pour out his Holy Spirit upon flesh, upon all people? Why would God do that? It shall come to pass, it says in Acts 221, still quoting from Joel, and it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

And that's his purpose. That's why he's pouring out his Spirit upon all flesh, because he's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And because God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, therefore God says I'm going to pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, as well as pouring out my Spirit upon my servants, those who believe.

God’s Presence Beyond Israel and the Temple

Obviously we need the Holy Spirit, but my point is to get you to see that God is expanding what he's willing to do in order to save the world. God is enlarging his presence. He's pouring out his Spirit upon all flesh and upon the face of the earth in the last days, so that his presence will not be contained within a small group of people.

You remember certainly from the Old Testament when the Shekinah glory of God came and it filled the place where they were, and that the priests were not able to minister because of the Shekinah glory of God there in the temple.

But that presence was contained there within the temple, and that presence was constrained within the nation of Israel. That's why it's so significant when Jesus died, it says that the veil of the temple was split from top to bottom.

It signified that God's presence and his Spirit would not no longer be bound within the Holy of Holies. His Spirit would no longer be bound within the temple. His Spirit would no longer be bound within Judaism.

His Spirit would no longer be bound within the nation of Israel. But he says in these last days I'm going to pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. Yes, upon my men servants. Yes, upon my maidservants. But upon all flesh I'm going to pour out my Spirit in these last days, because it's God's heart and his desire that all would be saved and that all would come to the knowledge of the truth, so that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord.

Will be saved. You've been listening to Crosswind, featuring the teaching ministry of Chip Brogden. We hope you enjoyed today's broadcast and found it challenging and encouraging. If you'd like to find out more about the School of Christ and how to get additional teachings, audio recordings, books, and other Christ-centered resources to help you grow spiritually, visit us online at www .theschoolofchrist .org.