May 28, 2023 - Sunday Service

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

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May 29, 2023

07:42: Well good morning my brothers and sisters in Christ. Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and the
07:48: Lord Jesus Christ and welcome to the corporate worship of our God. Please stand and hear
07:56: God call you to worship through his word. Blessed be the God and Father of our
08:01: Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
08:09: Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
08:19: Have him predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved.
08:35: In him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence.
08:47: Having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him.
09:08: In him we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will that we who first trusted in Christ should be the praise of his glory.
09:24: In him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also having believed you were sealed with the
09:35: Holy Spirit of promise who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory.
09:46: Let us worship God. Let us pray. Eternal immortal and invisible
09:52: God infinite in power and wisdom and goodness dwelling in the light which no man can approach where thousands upon thousands minister to you and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before you yet dwelling with humble and with the humble and contrite and taking pleasure in your people.
10:16: You have consecrated for us a new and living way that with boldness we may enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus and have bid us to seek you while you may be found.
10:29: We come to you at your call and worship at your footstool. Look upon us in your tender mercies.
10:36: Do not despise us though unworthy. You are greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints and to be held in reverence by all that are about you.
10:47: Put your fear into our hearts that we may reverence and awe we might and in reverence and awe we might serve you.
10:55: Sanctify us that you may be treated as holy and honored by us when we draw near to you.
11:02: Give us the spirit of grace and supplication to help us in our weakness that our prayers may be fruitful fervent and effectual.
11:12: Let your name be the desire of our souls. Let us draw near to you with our hearts and not only with our lips and worship you who are a spirit in spirit and truth.
11:24: Let your word be spoken and heard by us the Word of God. Give us attentive hearing ears and open believing and understanding hearts that we may no longer refuse your calls nor disregard your merciful outstretched hand nor slight your counsels and reproofs.
11:44: Let us be ready to hear than to let us be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools.
11:52: Put your laws into our hearts and write them in our minds and let us all be taught of God.
12:00: Let your word be for us living and active and powerful, a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, mighty to pull down strongholds, casting down imaginations and reasonings and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
12:22: Let us magnify you with thanksgiving and triumph in your praise. Let us rejoice in your salvation and glory in your holy name.
12:32: Open our lips, O Lord, and let our mouths show forth your praise and let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight.
12:43: Through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior we pray. Amen. Please kneel as you are able for the corporate confession of sin.
13:03: Let us join together in confessing our sins. Almighty and merciful
13:08: God, we confess that we have sinned against you and one another in both our actions and our inactions.
13:19: We recognize that in Jesus our light has not come, yet often we choose to walk in the shadows and ignore the light.
13:28: Gracious God, forgive our sins and remove from us the veil of darkness which shrouds our lives.
13:36: Illuminate us by your words so we may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory.
13:43: Amen. Please stand for the assurance of pardon. Our Lord says,
13:52: I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake and I will remember,
14:00: I will not remember your sins. My brothers and sisters in Christ, we have cause of great rejoicing.
14:08: Rejoice. Your sins are forgiven. Amen. Please take up the
14:13: Trinity hymnal and open up to hymn 170, Fairest Lord Jesus, hymn 170.
14:21: Please take out the insert and look for Psalm 23.
17:29: That's our psalm of the week. The Lord is my shepherd, Psalm 23.
17:35: Alyssa, I'll ask you to play through this one time. Please remain standing for the public proclamation of the word or the public reading of the word from Hebrews chapter 9.
21:02: Hebrews 9. Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary for a tabernacle was prepared, the first part in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which was called, which is called a sanctuary.
21:22: And behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the holiest of all, which had the golden censer and the
21:29: Ark of the Covenant overlaid on all sides with gold. In which were Aaron's rod that budded and the tablets of the covenant.
21:37: And above it were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
21:45: Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle performing the services.
21:53: But into the second part of the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people's sins committed in ignorance.
22:04: The Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest.
22:10: While the first tabernacle was still standing, it was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience.
22:24: Concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of Reformation.
22:32: But Christ came as high priest of the good things to come. With the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.
22:43: Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, he entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
22:53: For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal covenant, through the eternal spirit, offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living
23:14: God. And for this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
23:30: For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
23:36: For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives.
23:45: Therefore, not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, this is the blood of the covenant which
24:06: God has commanded you. Then likewise, he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry.
24:14: And according to the law, almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
24:21: Therefore, it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
24:35: For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.
24:46: Not that he should offer himself often as a high priest enters into the most holy place every year with the blood of another.
24:55: He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world, but now, once at the end of the ages, he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
25:07: And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.
25:16: To those who eagerly wait for him, he will appear a second time, apart from sin, for a salvation.
25:24: This is the word of the Lord. Let us join our voices together now and confess our common
25:34: Christian faith to the singing of the Apostles Creed. Please take up the
27:26: Trinity hymnal once again and turn to hymn 642, Be Thou My Vision, hymn 642.
30:59: Please make preparations for the prayers of the people. And seeing the multitudes,
31:21: Jesus went up on a mountain, and when he was seated, his disciples came to him.
31:27: Then he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heaven.
32:49: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Lord God, we still serve other gods than you in our heart.
33:15: We commit idolatry. Father, I pray that this would tear us up. Lord God, that this would impact us.
33:21: That we would not think of such things as something that we could take or leave. Father, that we would truly feel the weight descending against you.
33:29: Lord God, a just and holy God, we have offended. I pray that we would mourn over our sins.
33:35: In Christ's name we pray. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
33:44: Lord, strengthen you. Receive that peace.
35:22: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
35:38: Lord, may we always seek first your kingdom. We ask that you would put afresh in you, within us, those desires, those loves that we first had.
35:53: We ask, Lord, that we would return our first love in seeking your face.
35:59: And seeking that which is honoring to you. We pray, God, that in many different ways we would be seeking your kingdom first.
36:09: That we would be seeking your kingdom first in the worship of you alone. That we would be seeking your kingdom first in the love of our neighbor.
36:18: And the preaching of the gospel. And the faithfulness of our work. We ask,
36:24: God, that we would seek the righteousness that is only yours, through faith.
36:31: That you would lead us in this way. We ask in Jesus' name. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall attain mercy.
36:44: Lord, keep us mindful of what forgiveness means. We are not worthy more, so we should spread it to others.
37:21: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Lord, make us clean hearts.
37:31: We pray that your word would be in our minds and in our hearts. Lord, that we would not be conformed to this world.
37:42: Lord, that we would be transformed by renewal of the minds. Lord, it is only by your spirit that our minds can be renewed.
37:52: It is only by your spirit, Lord, that we are saved, that we are able to believe. Lord, we just pray that you would continually cleanse us from the filthiness of our former lives.
38:06: And that you would send us to a new place. Lord, as you say, that you begin a good work in us.
38:14: Lord, I pray that we may continually boldly embrace the firmament of grace. I pray to God to help renew our minds, to renew our minds.
38:24: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
38:34: Lord, help us to pursue peace. We are people that sometimes seek out strife.
38:49: Lord, we are proud so often.
38:55: We're more worried about winning an argument instead of winning a relationship.
39:02: And where we are off kilter, we ask that you would show us our blind spots.
39:08: Show us, Lord, where we are proud. And cause us, Lord, to seek peace.
39:14: We ask, God, that you have mercy upon our families. That we would seek peace in the cold.
39:23: We ask, God, that you would have mercy on our congregation. That we would seek peace in Ascension.
39:31: We ask, God, that you would have mercy upon us in the state that we would seek peace.
39:38: For you are reconciling all things to yourself through the blood of your Son. In his name we pray, amen.
39:46: Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
39:53: Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you. And say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.
40:01: Rejoice and be exceedingly glad. For great is your reward in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
40:10: I pray that we would stand up to all kinds of persecution and trials.
40:21: Lord God, I pray that we would embrace them if they come in your name. And we face them because we are serving you faithfully.
40:27: I pray that we would understand that you have great rewards for us, Lord God, for suffering in your name.
40:33: And Lord God, we know that we might see as an act of martyrdom or as an act of persecution your holy word.
40:39: Go forth, in his Christ's name we pray, amen. Finding ourselves in agreement with all these things we say together, amen.
40:46: Please stand and take out the insert once again. And find our psalm of the month.
40:54: For the last time we'll be singing the earth and its riches. Psalm 24, our psalm of the month.
44:22: The focus of verses 15 primarily.
44:32: We are not going to recount all of Peter's sermon today. Acts chapter 2.
44:39: This is God's holy and infallible word. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
44:55: And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind.
45:02: And it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
45:13: And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the
45:20: Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.
45:31: And when the sound occurred the multitude came together and were confused because everyone heard them speak in his own language.
45:41: Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Look, are not all those who speak
45:48: Galileans? And how is it that we hear each in our own language which we were born?
45:56: Parthians and Medes and Elamite, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining
46:09: Cyrene. Visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.
46:22: So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, Whatever could this mean? Others, mocking, said,
46:28: They are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up at the eleven, raised his voice and said to them,
46:35: Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and heed my words, for these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.
46:50: May the Lord be pleased with our consideration of his most excellent word. Pray with me.
46:56: O Lord, we tremble in your presence, for you are holy, holy, holy.
47:09: We also run to you as to a loving Father, knowing that you care for us in that very tender way.
47:18: Holy Spirit, we pray today that you would supply the illumination, the unction, the power, light and heat as we describe your ministry in the exaltation of Christ and his witness through the church.
47:37: We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated.
47:42: The title of the message today is
47:50: Pentecost, Then and Now. For those of you who need an outline to keep yourself on track,
47:58: I'm going to supply that now and loosely follow it. First, I want to give the occasion of Pentecost.
48:08: So write down occasion. What is the occasion of Pentecost? Second, we will consider the outpouring of the
48:27: Holy Spirit. Third, we will consider the outcome of the outpouring of the
48:34: Holy Spirit. And fourth, the ongoing work of the
48:42: Spirit. One more time, and then we'll begin. The occasion, the outpouring of the
48:51: Holy Spirit, the outcome of the outpouring of the
48:57: Spirit, and the ongoing work of the
49:03: Holy Spirit. Pentecost, Then and Now.
49:10: We are in an important season in the church calendar.
49:15: We have been following a redemptive cycle, and today marks the end of that cycle, which began with Holy Week, culminating in Resurrection Day.
49:27: Last week, we celebrated Ascension Sunday, which occurs 40 days after the resurrection of Christ.
49:37: The Ascension Day, of course, being the previous Thursday. Today marks the 50th day since the resurrection.
49:47: The Feast of Weeks in the Jewish calendar, which is Pentecost, was a week of weeks.
49:53: It was 7 times 7, which equals 49 days, and it leads into the 50th day.
50:00: This is how we arrive here on the calendar. This is why today is considered to be
50:07: Pentecost Sunday. What I'd like you to put down, if you read this, this is kind of the main idea that I hope to convey in the message, is this.
50:18: The baptism of the Spirit at Pentecost is the start of His ongoing work in and through His people.
50:28: The baptism of the Spirit at Pentecost is the beginning, the start of His ongoing work in and through His people.
50:40: They have a mission to accomplish, and this is how the mission will be accomplished.
50:46: I'm going to turn back to Acts 1. Our God and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is a promise -keeping
50:54: God. He says, and they were assembled together in verse 4.
51:01: Luke writes, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and being assembled together with Him, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the
51:14: Father. Remember, He promised the Helper in John 14, and now He's on the cusp of ascension.
51:22: So in the calendar, we're in the last week, right here in chapter 1.
51:28: And His last words before the ascension are these.
51:34: He says, You have heard from Me, for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the
51:44: Holy Spirit not many days from now. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked
51:50: Him, saying, Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And He said to them,
51:57: It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority, but you shall receive power when the
52:06: Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all
52:13: Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. You'll remember that Jesus has already commissioned the disciples and the church to make disciples, to take it to the whole world.
52:28: And now He says, The only way this can be accomplished is if I send
52:34: My Spirit to you. I should pause here. If the Holy Spirit does not work in and among us, we should shut the church down.
52:43: If we're only going to employ mental and human strategies to grow the church, to proclaim the gospel of Christ, shut it down.
52:55: If there's going to be the conversion of sinners, if there's going to be blessing of God, it's going to come through the operation of the
53:04: Holy Spirit. The ingenuity of the Galilean fishermen is not going to be enough to take the gospel to the nations.
53:16: They need to be empowered by God Himself from on high. The reason the
53:23: Holy Spirit is going to come and empower and remain is that we might be witnesses.
53:29: It starts in these concentric circles in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
53:39: That's the first kind of contextual things, and of course, the glory of Christ being ascended.
53:46: In the middle of chapter 1, it says, They returned to Jerusalem from the
53:51: Mount called Olivet, and they went into an upper room. And it says in verse 14,
53:58: These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary and the mother of Joseph, Mary and Jesus, I should say, his brothers.
54:07: In those days, Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples. Altogether, the number of names was about 120.
54:15: This is astounding, because we celebrated not too long ago the triumphal entrance of the king into Jerusalem.
54:24: Jesus came triumphantly riding on the colt, the foal of a donkey into Jerusalem.
54:30: He fulfills all of these prophecies. He's crucified.
54:36: He dies. He's buried. He's raised again from the dead. He's ascended into glory, and there's 120 people assembled with the saints, with the apostles.
54:54: They're called in this period to wait. I heard,
54:59: I may have read this, R .C. Sproul said that there's a lot of waiting in redemptive history, and there's a lot of waiting in the
55:08: Christian life. We're an impatient people. But Jesus says, Not many days from now.
55:15: And he wasn't being one of those people who said it in a cavalier way. He actually meant that these things are going to happen very quickly.
55:23: Go to Jerusalem and wait. Gather together, pray, but primarily wait.
55:30: So we come to chapter 2.
55:37: They call another apostle to fulfill the role of the abandoned apostasy of Judas Iscariot.
55:47: The lot falls on Matthias. They're intact. They have 12 apostles.
55:53: They have 108 at least other church members, and they're ready to wait for the
55:59: Holy Spirit. This takes us to chapter 2 and the occasion, when the day of Pentecost had fully come.
56:08: We've already described this. The Feast of Weeks was seven weeks after Passover. Of course, this is the second of three harvest feasts that required
56:18: Jewish men to appear in Jerusalem in person. The first, the
56:24: Feast of Firstfruits, corresponds to Passover, and it's connected to the
56:30: Feast of Unleavened Bread. It's a very powerful image that Jesus would use the
56:35: Jewish calendar, that language that Paul would use elsewhere. The kernel of wheat will fall into the ground and it will die, but then it will reap a harvest.
56:50: Jesus is going to be planted dead in the ground, and he's going to be raised from the dead triumphantly, and this is going to start a harvest of resurrections.
57:02: Not only of spiritual, but of a future bodily resurrection. The first feast, the
57:14: Feast of Unleavened Bread, corresponding to Passover, was the barley harvest.
57:22: It's the first of the harvest, the first crop to sprout up.
57:30: It connects it there in this connection, I should say. These things go where the people assemble these three times, and it's connected to the harvest that accompanies it.
57:42: The Feast of Weeks recognizes the harvest of the wheat. The first fruits of the wheat harvest is the commemoration of the time.
57:54: It happens at this time of year, in late May or early June. And this is something that happens after the early rains in this early part of spring and early growing season.
58:06: There would be a harvest of wheat, and the people would see this as a great occasion to give thanks to God.
58:14: In fact, this Feast of Weeks corresponds most closely to our Thanksgiving. Bread being the staple of life, the wheat crop is coming in, we're not going to starve to death this year.
58:27: And they rejoiced and gave thanks to God for his glorious provision. I think we may be at a disadvantage that we are so detached from the land.
58:39: When you are praying for rain, and praying for the bugs not to eat your grain, and you're praying for a harvest that the survival of your family depends on.
58:51: And I think that would draw you close to God. So here we have the
58:56: Feast of Weeks, the second of the three harvest feasts that require the men to assemble.
59:04: Christ is the first fruits, and that connects so strongly to the resurrection language, and Paul uses that very powerfully in 1
59:11: Corinthians 15. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those that have fallen asleep.
59:24: The occasion of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Jewish calendar, is used by God in redemptive history to point to and illustrate the realization of the resurrection of Christ and the future harvest of resurrections in him.
59:41: It says, For since Biman came death,
59:48: Biman also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all died, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
59:58: But each one in his own order, Christ the first fruits. Afterward, those who are
01:00:04: Christ's at his coming. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the
01:00:10: Father, when he puts an end to all rule and authority and power. For he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet.
01:00:22: The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. The Jewish calendar was illustrative and typological of Christ and his salvation.
01:00:32: It increases my conviction that we should have a greater appreciation for not only the
01:00:39: Old Testament calendar, but also the church calendar. These things are instructive to us.
01:00:45: We are a liturgical and cyclical people by nature. These things help us.
01:00:53: Today marks the occasion of the second harvest feast. The first fruits of the wheat harvest.
01:01:00: This comes after that rainy season. There are spiritual advantages, as I just mentioned, to living in this time because you are so connected to the land, to the cycle of life, and the need and provision of God.
01:01:16: The people have assembled. They have descended upon Jerusalem and are keeping the calendar.
01:01:24: There are other things that happened during this period. This event was also marked by baking two loaves of bread, reading the whole
01:01:33: Law of Moses. There seems to be a connection to the anniversary of the
01:01:39: Law given at Sinai that comes later in the tradition. As I told
01:01:45: Ruth this morning, they read the Book of Ruth. In particular, the gleaning section, in which
01:01:53: God commanded the harvesters to leave gleanings of grain on the edges of the field to provide for the poor.
01:02:00: You see, it's very important to remember that when you're in harvest season. It's time to remember the poor when you are prospering.
01:02:11: In one other largely forgotten Old Testament reference, which helps us bridge the transition between the occasion and the outpouring of the
01:02:19: Holy Spirit. I'm actually going to ask you to turn there. It's found in Numbers chapter 11.
01:02:27: Please turn to the Book of Numbers. I actually feel that this is very helpful to us to see the importance.
01:02:46: Verse 11.
01:03:03: Children, everyone listen. If you need more motivations to not complain, please listen to this one.
01:03:12: Don't be a complainer. Don't whine about what God has done for you and has given you.
01:03:19: I'm beginning in verse 14, chapter 11. The people are requesting meat and Moses responds,
01:03:27: I am not able to bear all these people alone. Because the burden is too heavy for me.
01:03:35: If you treat me like this, please kill me here and now. He's saying this to God.
01:03:43: If I found favor in your sight and do not let me see my wretchedness. So the
01:03:52: Lord said to Moses, gather to me 70 men of the elders of Israel.
01:03:59: Now there is a school of thought. I don't know how sold I am on this. I like it, but I'm not fully convinced.
01:04:07: That this occasion is a year anniversary of the giving of the law. So this is being commemorated on the year anniversary of the giving of the law.
01:04:15: I'm not fully there. I like it, but I'm not fully convinced. He says, gather to me 70 men of the elders of Israel.
01:04:26: The Sanhedrin is being formed here in Numbers 11. The Sanhedrin that will later sentence
01:04:33: Jesus to death. The Jewish ruling council. The 70 which represents the representative form of church government and civil government that we embrace.
01:04:43: It's kind of formed here in Numbers 11. Gather 70 men who you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them.
01:04:56: Bring them to the tabernacle of meeting that they may stand there with you.
01:05:02: Pay close attention now. Then I will come down and talk with you there.
01:05:09: Moses goes and talks to God up on the mountain alone. The apostles and the three close apostles, they've been in a unique relationship with Jesus that other people don't experience.
01:05:26: There's a principle here that's given us in miniature in Numbers 11 that has import in Acts 2.
01:05:34: I'm going to come down and talk with you there. And this is what he says. I will take up the spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them.
01:05:49: And they shall bear the burden of the people with you that you may not bear it yourself alone.
01:05:56: Then you shall say to the people, consecrate yourselves for tomorrow and you shall eat meat.
01:06:01: For you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, Who will give us meat to eat?
01:06:07: For it was well with us in Egypt. Therefore, the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat. You shall eat not one day nor two days nor five days or 10 days or 20 days, but for a whole month until it comes out of your nostrils.
01:06:24: It becomes loathsome to you because you have despised the Lord who is among you. And have wept before him, saying,
01:06:31: Why did we ever come up out of Egypt? I'm going to scroll down to verse 23.
01:06:40: The Lord said to Moses, Has the Lord's arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what
01:06:46: I say shall happen to you or not. So Moses went out and told the people the words of the
01:06:52: Lord. He gathered the 70 men and the others of the people and placed them around the tabernacle. Then the
01:06:58: Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him and took of the spirit that was upon him and placed the same upon the 70 elders.
01:07:08: And it happened when the spirit rested upon them that they prophesied, although they never did so again.
01:07:16: That's also interesting. Verse 26. Two men had remained in the camp.
01:07:23: The name of one was Eldad and the other was Medad, and the spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who had not gone out of the tabernacle.
01:07:34: They prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and told Moses, saying, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.
01:07:43: And Moses returned to the camp of Israel.
01:07:56: A wind went out from the Lord and brought quail from the sea and left them fluttering near the camp.
01:08:03: It's about a day's journey on this side, about a day's journey on the other side, all around the camp, about two cubits above the surface of the ground.
01:08:12: And the people stayed up all day, all night, all the next day and gathered the quail. And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.
01:08:21: And while the meat was still between their teeth, therefore, before it was chewed, the wrath of the
01:08:27: Lord was aroused against the people. And the Lord struck the people with a very great plague.
01:08:35: So he called the name of that place Kibroth -Hadegah, because they were buried, there they buried the people who had yielded to craving.
01:08:47: The Lord has resided his authority, it seems, over Moses with assistance from Aaron.
01:08:54: But now, as the progression of the nation Israel is unfolding, he needs more elders and he gives them his spirit.
01:09:04: Now let me turn back to Acts chapter 2. Elsewhere in Numbers it says, when the people complained and displeased the
01:09:25: Lord, the Lord heard it and his anger was aroused. So the fire of the
01:09:32: Lord burned among them and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp.
01:09:39: Thanksgiving is only for Thanksgiving, there's no grumbling allowed. Now, in our text now, we're considering this occasion, and now there's a transition.
01:09:51: They come to Jerusalem for the feast. It has a very rich historical context.
01:09:57: There are many observances. They baked two loaves. They read the book of Ruth. They read the law of Moses.
01:10:03: They had a wave offering. They gave thanks to the Lord. And something else happens.
01:10:10: Look at verse 2. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind.
01:10:26: And it filled the whole house where they were sitting. So they're sitting in the upper room.
01:10:34: They're waiting on the Lord. They haven't done anything to drum up an ambiance of Holy Spirit blessing.
01:10:43: Suddenly, God acts and moves. And the roaring sound of a tornado or a hurricane, that roaring sound that we always hear about, that comes down from heaven.
01:10:57: I don't know if there's any rushing wind. I don't know if their hair is blown back. But the roar comes, and it's the
01:11:04: Spirit coming and descending upon the people. It filled the whole house where they were sitting.
01:11:14: Now, I have to confess to you. I have a little bit of a Jew seeking a sign in me.
01:11:21: I would love to see that. I would really love to see a mighty demonstration of God's power in that way.
01:11:30: But this is not a normative thing. This is something that happens once in history in this way.
01:11:39: And another element, it seems. It says, it appeared to them as divided tongues as a fire, and one sat upon each of them.
01:11:50: So we have the roaring sound of wind. In my mind, it's a gust of wind that goes through the people.
01:11:59: It's the presence of God himself, the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.
01:12:04: And on each of the people is a fire above their heads.
01:12:13: As you know, fire has been chief among the theophanies of our
01:12:19: God. Do you remember the occasion of Moses in the burning bush? Do you remember the pillar of fire in the sky at night?
01:12:33: Representing the power, the presence of God. The image is one of power, of strength, of light, of heat, of illumination.
01:12:49: And the people, the rank and file listed in that list of Acts 1, not just the apostles, kind of like the situation with the elders, the
01:12:59: Spirit is now dispersed upon all the people assembled. All of the 120 have the
01:13:06: Spirit filling them, equipping them, empowering them to fulfill their purpose.
01:13:15: And what was that purpose? To be his witnesses. Not to just have an experience and feel good about Jesus ascending, but very purposeful.
01:13:30: The Spirit falls on the 70 elders so they can conduct the business of Israel. The Spirit falls upon the church so they can fulfill their commission.
01:13:44: We're all filled, it says, verse 4, with the Holy Spirit. And began to speak with other tongues as the
01:13:55: Spirit gave them utterance. Now we know from our text that this was not a secret prayer language.
01:14:07: This was the language of the Parthians and the Medes and the Elamites, the Mesopotamians, the
01:14:13: Judeans, the Cappadocians. Those from Pontus in Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia.
01:14:20: Egypt, Libya, the Jordan, Cyrene, Rome, Cretans, Arabs.
01:14:28: They all heard the wonderful works of God in Christ in their own dialect.
01:14:39: Doing ministry in Burma, I encountered something. Some of my kids who were there went with us. My wife was one of the trips.
01:14:47: There's something strange that when we have a time of prayer, we have recited prayers and sometimes we pray together silently.
01:14:57: When the people over there pray, they each pray their own prayer audibly to God.
01:15:06: And it is, it's not chaotic, it's not disorganized, it is incredible to hear in a language that I never could understand, maybe 100 or 200 people praying to God.
01:15:20: Now, if I would have started preaching in the Burmese language, or even better, in the Dai dialect, that would have been astounding in my ministry in Burma.
01:15:29: And that's what happens here. These Jews have lived in other nations, and of course this is an entree to the
01:15:36: Gentiles being included. There's another sub -point that's pretty neat theologically. I think the two lobes of the feast actually represent the
01:15:45: Jews and the Gentiles coming together as one body. It's starting to get unveiled here in chapter 2.
01:15:52: This gospel's not just going out in Hebrew and Aramaic or Greek. It's going out in all of the dialects.
01:16:01: This gospel message is going to go to the ends of the earth. Luke says in verse 5, they're astounded.
01:16:13: Dwelling in Jerusalem, all these devout men from every nation, when they hear the sound of the rushing mighty wind, the outpouring, the pneuma, the
01:16:22: Holy Spirit, the multitude comes together and they're confused because most of those 120 are
01:16:31: Galileans. They're hillbillies. They've got a distinctive accent. And they're clearly articulating the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ in their own language.
01:16:43: How is it that we hear each in our own language in which we are born?
01:16:51: Verse 8. The promise that Jesus gave in chapter 1 on the cusp of his ascension is now coming to pass.
01:17:04: It is an immediate fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy.
01:17:10: Now, here's where we get it wrong. We want a blowing wind and we want fire over our heads.
01:17:20: I'm not sure how much we want to be empowered to accomplish the mission. Maybe the
01:17:26: Holy Spirit does not fill us in a way that we find satisfactory in some measure is because we want to have an experience with God instead of to be empowered for service.
01:17:40: If you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, it seems you need to be engaged in this mission of taking the gospel to every tongue, tribe, and nation and making disciples of your children and your community and preaching the crown rites of Jesus over all things.
01:17:57: That would seem to be something the Holy Spirit would be active in. And engaged with.
01:18:09: The end of section says, we hear them speaking in our own tongues.
01:18:15: Verse 11. The wonderful works of God. So they're all amazed and perplexed.
01:18:24: And they said to one another, whatever could this mean? Well, the church is now, in this moment, equipped to be an effective witness for Christ.
01:18:42: And it should be noted that the book entitled the Acts of the
01:18:47: Apostles should be entitled instead the Acts of the Holy Spirit. Working through men.
01:18:55: Watch what these men will do from this point forward. They will go into any fire, into any mouth of the lion.
01:19:03: They will suffer any indignity for the glory of Christ. Because they have been struck, they've been touched, they've been filled with the
01:19:13: Holy Spirit. The book of Acts recounts what happens when people are filled.
01:19:24: It takes us to the third point. The outcome of this outpouring.
01:19:30: It's interesting that the Holy Spirit and both the
01:19:36: Father and the Son seem to be intent on using the scripture and using the Jewish calendar to articulate the message.
01:19:45: We have no other message than that has been revealed to us in scripture. Peter's glorious message that he gives in Pentecost starts with a quotation of the prophecy given by Joel.
01:19:58: That he expounds upon. Verse 22. Men of Israel, hear these words.
01:20:05: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which
01:20:10: God made through him in your midst. As you yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death.
01:20:24: Who God raised up, having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be held by it.
01:20:32: And he quotes David. Verse 29. Another section. Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch
01:20:39: David. He's both dead and buried. Who can visit his tomb? But verse 30.
01:20:45: Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him that the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the
01:20:52: Christ to sit on his throne. And he, foreseeing this book concerning the resurrection of the
01:20:59: Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades or in his flesh, see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.
01:21:11: Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the father the promise of the
01:21:16: Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you now see in here.
01:21:24: For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, the
01:21:29: Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies a footstool.
01:21:38: When we talk about an interesting conversation, when you have the covenant name of God telling
01:21:45: Kourios to sit at his right hand.
01:21:51: That discussion we had this morning, Psalm 110. God says to God, the son, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.
01:22:04: How is that going to be accomplished? It's going to be accomplished through the church, operating under the powerful operation of the
01:22:13: Spirit in them. You see, we swing between two strange poles.
01:22:20: We reject a supernatural working of God because we're afraid of abuses of some of our friends in the charismatic movement.
01:22:32: We have to navigate a narrow path here. We were people who believe in the supernatural work of God.
01:22:39: In fact, every one of you who professes Christ today were born of the
01:22:45: Spirit, according to John 3. Jesus is of works. What's the effect?
01:22:54: What's the outcome? Let the whole of Israel know assuredly that God has made this
01:23:02: Jesus and we crucify the Lord in Christ. When they hear this, they're cut to the heart.
01:23:09: And said to Peter, what shall we do? And they say, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.
01:23:18: And you shall receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. For the promises to you and to your children and to all who are afar off, as many as the
01:23:29: Lord our God will call. I'll pause here because in my thesis statement,
01:23:37: I mentioned the baptism of the Spirit. You see, baptism is very significant. Do you know
01:23:44: Jesus's earthly ministry? He's a 30 -year -old man fulfilling all righteousness in relative obscurity.
01:23:54: Why don't you think about that? The incarnate Son of God for 30 years lives, works, obeys and honors his parents and does all of these things.
01:24:06: And nobody knows about him really. What happens?
01:24:12: What's the inauguration of Jesus's earthly ministry? His baptism in Jordan. The Holy Spirit descends upon him.
01:24:24: The Son of God, Son of Man is filled with the
01:24:30: Holy Spirit. If he needs the filling of the Holy Spirit in his humanity, how much more so do we?
01:24:41: You see, the baptism that's coming, the baptism of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost that happens is the inauguration of the ongoing work of the
01:24:52: Spirit in the life of the Church. And what they do when they're filled with the Spirit is they preach
01:24:57: Christ. And those converts and their children and all the people they go to, as many as are far off, as many as he will call, all of them get filled with the
01:25:08: Spirit and become soldiers in this conquesting army, which is nothing short of world conquest for Christ.
01:25:20: And as Paul said in his own day, the gospel had gone out into the whole world.
01:25:30: Thirty -five years. The gospel, the message of Jesus Christ.
01:25:35: They have no internet, they have no telephones, they have no cars, they have no planes, they have no motorized boats.
01:25:41: The gospel of Jesus Christ went to the nations. It happens because they were filled with the
01:25:51: Spirit. The last thing
01:25:57: I want to point out to you under this headache is verse 41. It says, those who are gladly receiving this word were baptized and that day about 3 ,000 souls were added to them.
01:26:08: This is the glorious outcome. And isn't it interesting, on the harvest day, the wheat harvest celebration, we have a first fruits harvest of souls.
01:26:21: How many tens of thousands and millions of Christians have been harvested since then?
01:26:32: Let's go on to the fourth day, which is our next verse. And that's the ordinary working of the
01:26:40: Spirit. Pentecost was a historical anomaly.
01:26:48: What happens here is not replicated. But there is an ordinary working of the
01:26:58: Spirit. And it really centers around the activity of the church. Look at verse 42.
01:27:06: This is a verse that Mark and I strive for as we leave the church.
01:27:11: It's more developed, it's got more flesh on the bones.
01:27:17: But this is basically our mission. This is the mission of every New Testament church.
01:27:24: They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship.
01:27:30: In the breaking of bread and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.
01:27:43: Now all who believed were together and had all things in common and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need.
01:27:53: It's also interesting that that was the message of the gleanings.
01:28:02: A drumbeat message of the church and her witness is care and concern for the poor.
01:28:08: So that's something we have to keep thinking about. We're kind of a poor congregation in terms of compared to others.
01:28:14: But the money that we do have, we have to think about caring for the poor in the spirit of this.
01:28:20: The widow, the orphan, the diaconal funds we talked about. And they began to be united together.
01:28:28: They started in one accord and they're more deeply united because they have the presence of God with them.
01:28:38: Verse 46, they continued daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house.
01:28:45: They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart. Praising God and having favor with all the people.
01:28:54: The Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
01:29:02: That's the powerful working of the Holy Spirit. Now brethren, we're reformed people.
01:29:14: We are lowercase s stoics in our demeanor.
01:29:20: We get costly, hasty, exuberant out workings.
01:29:36: But I can tell you today that I would love nothing more for the Holy Spirit to come upon the elders and the members of Ascension Presbyterian Church.
01:29:51: I don't want signs and wonders. I want the activation and appreciation of the substance which we now possess.
01:30:01: We have the self -same spirit. The spirit that led
01:30:07: Peter to preach at Pentecost, we possess the same spirit. The spirit who led 3 ,000 souls in that day, that marvelous occasion of harvest of souls.
01:30:19: That same spirit is at work in us. It should be noted,
01:30:34: I think we never, rarely talk about this. We think about maybe the Apostle Paul as the greatest teacher in the history of the church.
01:30:44: There's a great argument for that. But really it's the third person of the
01:30:50: Trinity who's the greatest teacher of the church. Every word is inspired by him.
01:30:56: And every word that's inspired by him gives glory to the Son. And every word that glorifies the
01:31:01: Son glorifies the Father. We need to take full advantage of the ordinary means by which the
01:31:12: Holy Spirit works. We need to continue steadfastly in the
01:31:19: Apostles' doctrine and fellowship of breaking of bread and prayers. And believe together to meet each other's needs.
01:31:31: I have a brief word of application here. It would seem to me that it would be fitting for us to pray to God that we would be filled with the
01:31:42: Spirit. Not that we would experience some ecstatic utterance. But the full vent of the
01:31:51: Spirit's working would be present in the life of this church and in you individually and in your family. It would be a very hopeful, expected prayer to offer.
01:32:01: That we would be filled with the Spirit. Second, this is very terrifying.
01:32:09: I don't believe the Spirit ever fully departs the believer or the church. But we don't want to quench the
01:32:15: Spirit with sin and unbelief. Your sin brought into the sacred assembly could harm our body.
01:32:26: It's not just your private sin that only God knows about. It could be sin that's hurting the church.
01:32:31: So repent of every known sin so that God's judgment may not fall upon us, the church.
01:32:39: You see, we're united to Christ and we're united to each other. If one of us is off doing terrible things, the
01:32:47: Spirit can be quenched. The Spirit is given not for us to feel good and flop around on the floor, but that we would be
01:32:56: His witnesses. That we would preach Christ and Him crucified and risen and ascended.
01:33:05: That's what the Holy Spirit empowers. Brethren, wouldn't it be amazing if we could say of Ascension and the
01:33:16: Lord added to the local church Ascension daily those who are being saved. You know
01:33:22: He's doing it globally. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we did it globally? Today I think you need to next give thanks to God for His abiding, empowering presence among us.
01:33:40: You see, the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost and He never left. Your birth was the work of His Spirit.
01:33:49: Our unity, our purity, our peace as a church is His doing. Whenever the gospel is faithfully read and preached, it's
01:33:58: His doing. He's here. He's with us. You and I have to make full use of the ordinary means of the
01:34:09: Spirit's working. We offer prayers and they are unintelligible.
01:34:15: It appears that the Spirit takes them and makes them intelligible and effectual.
01:34:22: He delivers the Word. He inspires. He illumines. He interprets.
01:34:29: He energizes the Word. He blesses the sacraments.
01:34:36: He knits us together in fellowship and prompts us and leads us to bear each other's burdens and to serve one another.
01:34:44: Brethren, the Holy Spirit has fallen at Pentecost not only historically, but here.
01:34:52: Let's pray together.
01:34:59: Lord, we thank you for the season.
01:35:11: We thank you for the ordinary days, the ordinary Sundays which will follow.
01:35:17: We long for Advent again. Lord, we confess that we are a people who are easily satisfied with mental stimulation, intellectual ascent.
01:35:33: I pray that you would make us hunger and thirst for the powerful working of your
01:35:39: Spirit in us. That we would love to preach
01:35:44: Christ and Him crucified. That we would be the witnesses fit for service to make
01:35:53: His glory known. And I ask you, Lord, that you would fill everyone in this church corporately with your
01:36:03: Spirit. That we might not only enjoy the communion we have with the
01:36:09: Trinity, but that we would be faithful workers and laborers in this glorious harvest field.
01:36:16: And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's continue our worship with a presentation of tithes and offerings.
01:36:57: Please stand and let's pray together. Oh Lord, it is no small thing, it's an easy thing
01:37:09: I should say, Lord, to return back to you that which you have complete ownership of. We pray for continued faithfulness and stewardship of these resources.
01:37:20: That we might be making disciples and witnesses to the ends of the earth.
01:37:27: Oh Lord, we pray that you would bring this to pass in the power of your Spirit. In Jesus' name.
01:37:32: Amen. Let us respond to this great day with the singing of the glory of pottery.
01:38:33: We lift them up to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord. It is right and a good and joyful thing that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you,
01:38:47: O Holy Lord, Father Almighty, Everlasting God. Because you have sent your beloved
01:38:53: Son to redeem us from sin and death. And to make us heirs in Him of everlasting life.
01:38:58: That we shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world.
01:39:04: We may, without shame or fear, rejoice to behold His Spirit. Therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we praise and magnify your glorious name.
01:39:16: Evermore praising you and singing. We also seek efficacy in the sacrament.
01:41:39: We ask, O Lord, that you would bind us more closely in our own experience and His atoning work for us.
01:41:52: But also, Lord, that it would extend, because of the powerful work that you have done, the sending of your
01:41:59: Spirit, that it would also extend to our unity and fellowship and love with one another.
01:42:04: O Lord, draw us closer to Christ and to one another as we partake at your table.
01:42:13: We ask these things in Jesus' name. Our Lord Jesus, on the night in which
01:42:21: He was betrayed, took bread. And He had blessed it with thanks. He broke it and gave it to His disciples, saying,
01:42:27: Take, eat, this is my body. Likewise, He took the cup after supper, saying,
01:42:34: This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Drink from it, all of you. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the
01:42:42: Lord's death until He comes. Therefore, we proclaim the faith. Christ has died.
01:42:50: Christ is risen. Christ will come again. Let's approach the table now with one voice.
01:43:00: We do not presume to come to this your table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness.
01:43:09: But in your manifold and great mercies, we are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table.
01:43:18: But you are the same Lord, who always shows mercy. Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear
01:43:28: Son, Jesus Christ, and to drink of His body, that our souls' bodies would be cleaned by His body, and our souls washed with His most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in Him and be in us.
01:43:46: Amen. Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
01:43:53: Therefore, let us keep the feasts, the gifts of God, for you, the people of God.
01:43:59: Thanks be to the Lord. And for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the body of your
01:53:54: Son and heirs of your eternal kingdom. And, O Lord, grant us this other benefit, that you will never allow us to forget these things, but having them imprinted on our hearts, may we grow and increase daily in the faith, which hath work in every good deed.
01:54:14: And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our
01:54:23: Lord. To Him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory now and forever.
01:54:31: Amen. Please stand. The Lord Jesus from the dead, that great
01:55:20: Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work, to do
01:55:27: His will, working in you as well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.