Sunday, July 24, 2022 AM

Good morning everyone. It's good to be here to worship together this morning at Sunnyside Baptist Church.

We'll start off this morning with a few announcements as you're finding your seats. Come back tonight for our evening service at 530 and then looking ahead to this

Wednesday we'll have our meal at 545 but it's also going to be our children's summer choir program called

Pass the Promise. Mrs. B got with me right before the service and she just wanted to say because of it's going to be in the fellowship hall and because of micing issues of the choir it's not going to be officially live streamed by the church but if there's anybody who kind of wants to take that on as as their ministry to set something up and maybe do it more professionally so we don't have you know a dozen tripods in the fellowship hall get with Mrs.

B and they'll try and coordinate that a little bit there. Looking ahead to this

Friday for the young adults in the room Truth Group is going to be at the Barnett's home kind of an end of summer celebration that's going to be in the evening this

Friday. Looking ahead to next Sunday the last day of July we'll have the Lord's Supper in the morning and then in the evening service in lieu of being here at the church it's gonna be flock group time so if you haven't heard from your elder that is over you or your particular small group get with them or they will seek you out and let you know what the plan for your flock group is going to be.

Also Saturday August 6th as we get into that month Mugs and Muffins is returning that's going to be at James and Jana Brown's house in the morning starting at 10 a .m.

so that's for you ladies to attend and enjoy that time. All right one other quick announcement regarding Operation Christmas Child we're still continuing to collect those things now is a good time to look at some sales that might be going on for you know summer lightweight clothing or flip -flops or other things and we still have that donation box out in the foyer for you to give to and if you have any questions regarding that you can speak to Jill Smoot.

All right any other announcements? Yes sir. Okay next

Sunday will be the official ordination of Ryan Mounts as an elder in the body of Sunnyside and we are looking forward to that for sure.

All right this week's fighter verse comes from the Psalms Psalm 91. Everybody seeks security in their life but it matters who we get that from.

You will not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

We find security when we trust in the Lord. We're going to prepare our hearts for worship this morning and then at the conclusion of that dad will come up and open us in prayer.

Almighty God, gracious Father, we come before you this morning to give you thanks.

Thank you for sustaining us through this week as we look back on all the high temperatures and lack of rain.

You continue to provide and to sustain us. So Lord we have much in our lives for which we can give you thanks.

May we be mindful of all your blessings and give you praise for your goodness.

Lord I'm mindful too the fact that that for many of us we find ourselves at times for various reasons, feeling distress and fear and anxiety and worry.

How grateful we are that in our distress you give us the the blessing of being able to cry out to you and that you hear us and you answer us in our cries for help.

Lord we confess to you this morning that we in many ways are a deceitful people.

We deceive others. We speak unfaithfully and untruthfully about you.

Lord I pray that you would pierce our lying tongues, redeem our speech so that we might this morning from the fruit of our lips offer you genuine worship that praises your name and declares your faithfulness.

Lord Jesus thank you for being to us the Prince of Peace. We look to you and are grateful for your mercy, your grace, the forgiveness that is ours not because of any goodness in us but because of your perfect righteousness.

We pray today that you would help us to offer up to you a sacrifice of praise.

Encourage our hearts. May we be an encouragement to others today in our worship. Give us ears to hear your word.

Strengthen us Lord to do your will. Thank you again for your goodness and mercy.

In Jesus' name, Amen. Would you stand with me for our call to worship this morning?

We're continuing our reading of Psalms chapter 78. Today we'll be reading verses 59 to 64.

Read with me together. When God heard he was full of wrath and he utterly rejected

Israel. He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mankind and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the hand of the foe.

He gave his people over to the sword and vented his wrath on his heritage.

Fire devoured their young men and their young women had no marriage song.

Their priests fell by the sword and their widows made lamentation.

So if you would turn to your Psalms for worship hymnal to page 78i and we'll be seeing the section that follows what we just read verses in the hymnal it's verse 25 to 28.

His place in Shiloh he has left, the tent he made with men.

To exult he gave up his trade, to cause his glory there.

He gave his people to the sword, allowed them to be killed.

Against his own inheritance, which anger he once billed.

Their young men were devoured by fire, their maidens left unwed.

And with their priests fell by the sword, no tears their widows shed.

And our next song is Jesus Shall Reign Where 'er the

Sun. Jesus shall reign where 'er the sun.

Does this excessive journey's run?

His kingdom stretched from shore to shore, till sun shall rise and set no more.

Blessings abound where he reigns.

The prisoner leans to lose his chains.

The weary find eternal rest.

And all the sons of one are blessed.

To our King the highest praise.

Rising through eternal days.

Just and faithful he shall reign.

Jesus shall reign. People and realms of every tongue dwell on his love, his sweetest song.

And infant voices shall proclaim.

Heavenly blessings on his name.

To our King the highest praise.

Rising through eternal days.

Just and faithful he shall reign.

Jesus shall reign. Let every creature rise and reign.

Blessing and honor to our King. Angels descend with his songs again.

And every people all amen.

To our King the highest praise.

Rising through eternal days.

Just and faithful he shall reign.

Jesus shall reign. To our

King the highest praise. Rising through eternal days.

Just and faithful he shall reign.

Jesus shall reign. Good morning.

Today I'll be reading from Isaiah 29, 17 through 24 out of the

ESV version. Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruit fulfilled, and the fruit fulfilled shall be regarded as a forest.

In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.

The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the

Holy One of Israel. For the ruthless shall come to nothing, and the scoffer cease, and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off.

And who by a word make a man out to be an offender, and lay a snare for him who reproves to in the gate, and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right?

Therefore thus says the Lord. Who redeemed Abraham concerning the house of Jacob?

Jacob shall no more be ashamed. No more shall his face grow pale. For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, and his mitts, they will sanctify my name.

They will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instructions.

Join me in prayer, please. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for being the

God that you are. Thank you for fulfilling your promises, and bringing the ruthless to nothing, and bringing us to understanding your instruction and accepting it,

Lord. I pray that today you will bless the reading of the word, and that we will understand the instruction and accept it,

Lord. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. You may be seated.

Our next song is on page 291 of our regular hymnal, O Breath of Life. O Breath of Life, come cleanse, renew us, and bid thy church to meet this hour.

O wind of God, come bend us, break us, till humbly we confess our need.

Then in thy tenderness remake us, revive thy store, for this we plead.

O breath of love, come breathe within us, renewing thought and will and heart.

Come love of Christ, afresh to win us, revive thy church in every part.

Each verse of this song is like a sermon, preaching from God's word.

It called me to think of Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 7 and 8, where he's talking about the war as a

Christian, and the war within us. Each day we're fighting our flesh, our fallen flesh, but yet our spirit has been renewed because of Christ.

He says, for I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in my members, waging war against the law of my mind.

Who will set me free from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our

Lord. Also, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

And then, verse 6, for to be calmly minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Whereas another translation puts it, for the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.

So sing with us together, we'll sing all three verses of Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit, clean and breath of God, breathe new life into my willing soul.

Bring the presence of the risen

Lord, come renew my heart and make me whole.

Cause your Word to come alive in me, give me faith for what

I cannot see. Give me passion for your purity,

Holy Spirit, breathe new life in me.

Holy Spirit, come abide with me, may your joy be seen in all

I do. Love enough to cover every sin in each thought and deed and attitude.

Kindness to the greatest and the least, gentleness that sought the path of peace.

Turn my strivings into words of grace, breath of God, show

Christ in all I do. Holy Spirit, from creation's birth, giving life to all that God has made.

Show your power once again on earth, cause your church to hunker for your ways.

Let the fragrance of our prayers arise, lead us on the road of sacrifice.

That in unity the face of Christ may be clear for all the world to see.

Your faithfulness, how you show your faithfulness time and again in new mercies every day.

We thank you for hearing our prayers and answering them, for being a Heavenly Father to us as we are adopted in your

Son. And blessed by your Holy Spirit, by whom we know that we are your children and you are our

Father. We ask that you would guide us now through the truth of your word, that we would be greatly blessed by its authority and its truth.

By the eternal vigor that you have placed here in the very words that you have ordained.

As you instruct us concerning your Son, Jesus Christ, by whom and through whom and for whom are all things.

So we ask this morning as we read this text together and as we look to rejoice in Christ, that you would shape us by your word, that you would nourish us by your word.

That you would lead us in worship, that we would worship you. And that in worshiping you, that we would be the amen on earth of your will that is declared from heaven.

And we pray all these things for the sake of Jesus Christ, the one in whom you are well pleased. Amen. I invite you to open your

Bibles and turn with me to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2, we'll be reading verses 1 through 13 this morning.

Acts chapter 2, and we'll read verses 1 through 13.

Beginning the second chapter of the book of Acts, we're going to be looking at the day of Pentecost.

What an important day in the history of the world. What an important day, long promised by the prophets of the old covenant.

Promised by Christ himself. And how it has come about in history, preserved for us here in Acts chapter 2.

What it means for us as Christians, what it means for us as the church. What a vital portion of God's word.

So we're going to be looking at Pentecost. Pentecost, in the first 13 verses we're going to see signs of new wine.

The signs of new wine on the day of Pentecost.

Now in Acts chapter 1, we've been dealing with the foundational themes of the book of Acts. The gospel of the kingdom.

And to understand the good news about the kingdom, all we must do is look at the king. Who he is.

What has he accomplished. What has he promised. What he continues to do, what he will accomplish.

So in order to understand the gospel of the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, we must simply pay attention to the king.

And see what he does. He has promised his apostles, he has promised his church, the

Holy Spirit. Even as he has declared that they will be his witnesses to all men, women, and children from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.

To declare the good news of his authority and his salvation. He's told them to wait.

Before you go, wait. They are to wait upon the Lord. And indeed they did. And they prayed.

And they prayed for the promise of the Father. The promise of the Son. Which was no one less than the person of the

Holy Spirit. For they needed the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The anointing of the

Holy Spirit to do the work of Christ, the anointed one. And so they prayed, and they prepared, and they saw from the scriptures that they had a need.

One of the apostles had betrayed Jesus. They were down to eleven. And they saw significance in the twelve, the number twelve that Christ had appointed.

And they went to the word, and they studied the word in light of who Jesus Christ is.

And they applied the word to their situation and saw that they were to appoint another one to take the office of the betrayer.

And so they followed through. They've been praying. They've been preparing. And now the day has come. Pentecost has arrived.

And the promised Holy Spirit will come in a special way. Signifying the realities, indeed the superiority, of the new covenant.

Let's read the word together. I invite you to stand with me. I'm going to be reading Acts 2, verses 1 through 13.

Here is the word of our Lord Jesus Christ by his Holy Spirit through his servant

Luke. And began to speak with other tongues as the

Spirit gave them utterance. And they were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.

And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.

Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Look, are not all these who speak

Galileans? And how is it that we hear each in our own language in which we were born?

Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining

Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs.

We hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another,

Whatever could this mean? Others, mocking, said, They are full of new wine.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. The waiting has turned to wonder.

Children have to wait a lot. Waiting seems to be the constant theme of their existence.

They have to wait for the good thing that was promised again and again.

Summer has a lot of waiting involved. You have to wait all day long through the heat for that long summer sun that stays up far too long to finally set to get the dark tapestry you need for those fireworks.

Fourth of July is a long day to wait for the main event. Of course, there's also

I have a memory in the summer of of going with my family and folks from the church to the drive -in theater.

And you had to wait and wait for the light to finally get dark enough so you could see the movie on the screen.

Again, in summer, there's the wait. The wait till finally the countdown of the months and the weeks and the days till finally summer vacation arrives and the family gets to go on their trip.

It's been a lot of waiting. Waiting for the apostles and the disciples of Christ.

But it wasn't just them waiting. It was many others who were waiting. You remember folks like Anna and Simeon who had been waiting?

You think of others who had been waiting during the 400 years of silence when the word of God stopped coming after Malachi.

Those who were waiting in the post -exile period for God to keep his promises.

All throughout the scriptures, we keep seeing people waiting, waiting, waiting for the promises of God to be given to them.

Even Abraham waited and waited. And even after he received the promised son

Isaac, we find him, according to the book of Hebrews, still waiting and looking for that which

God had promised. When we come to the day of Pentecost in so many different ways, especially after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and his ascension to the right hand of the

Father, here at the day of Pentecost, we have an end to a whole lot of waiting.

And the waiting turns to wonder. And Acts chapter 2, and I hope we will appreciate this as we move through the text, but Acts chapter 2 is jam -packed full of the

Old Testament images associated with the promises of the new covenant.

There is so much Old Testament freight jam -packed into Acts chapter 2.

The waiting turns to wonder. By God's sovereign grace, the prayerful preparation of Christ's followers now turns into powerful proclamation.

The advent of the Spirit signals the advance of the kingdom.

We see this very clearly in Acts 2 verses 1 through 13. The advent of the Spirit, the

Holy Spirit showing up in that particularly promised new covenant way. The Holy Spirit had always existed in eternal fellowship with the

Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit had been active, active throughout the entirety of the Old Covenant.

But now He comes in that promised new covenant way, and that advent of the

Holy Spirit signals the advance of the kingdom. This will not be a showing up that keeps everything the same.

This is a showing up that makes everything change. There will be no sitting back, holding fast.

There's going to be a rapid advance outward. Such is the impact of the arrival of the

Holy Spirit. This morning we want to look at the manifestations of the

Spirit's advent. What are the signs that show He has really arrived?

We also want to look at the marvels of the Spirit's advent. Just why do we read that the crowd was amazed and startled and at their wit's end beholding all of this wonder?

And then briefly considering the meaning of the Spirit's advent. Peter will elaborate on that a great deal, but we will consider in brief the meaning of the

Spirit's advent in verses 12 -13. So first of all, verses 1 -4, the manifestations of the

Spirit's advent. Let's listen to those verses again. Verse 1 says, When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the

Spirit gave them utterance. They were all there in one accord, we read. Well, who are the they?

Who is there? Remember that Luke did not neatly divide his writing into different chapters.

A later help for readers of the Bible. So just go back to the previous verse.

Verse 26, And they cast their lots. Verse 26, chapter 1, They cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Numbered with the eleven apostles. And so we have Matthias and the eleven. We have the twelve apostles.

Later on in verse 14, we read, But Peter, standing with the eleven,

So Peter and the eleven, and again the twelve, raised his voice and said to them, and begins to explain,

Oh, what does this mean that the Holy Spirit has arrived? A little bit later on in verse 37,

Now, when they heard this, when the crowd heard the sermon of Peter on Pentecost, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles,

Men and brethren, what shall we do? There is a focus here upon the apostles.

Now, it is not a focus that is exclusive in the sense that only the apostles received the

Holy Spirit. It is not an exclusive focus on the apostles to say that only the apostles received empowering gifts.

We would be remiss to interpret the text in that way, especially when Peter's proclamation of the gospel and the benefits of salvation include receiving the

Holy Spirit. But there is a focus upon the twelve apostles in that they are indeed

Jesus' authorized ambassadors, the representatives of the kingdom.

And so there is a focus upon the apostles in this text. And so we need to recognize that without making it somehow programmatic that nobody else gets the

Holy Spirit. Just as when we read through the rest of the text, we're also going to be carefully reading this baptism of the

Holy Spirit in light of the other passages in the Bible, which tell us what it's really about.

Now, we have an audible sign in the text. Two audible signs. First, the sound of a roaring wind.

The second, the utterance of other languages. We also have a visible sign in the text.

We have tongues of fire dividing out and being placed upon the heads of the apostles.

So, what does this all mean? First of all, wind. In fact, it's actually, you'll notice, there came a sound from heaven.

Remember that Christ has ascended to heaven. He has promised to send the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the

Father and from the Son. And so the sound comes from heaven, reminding us the Holy Spirit is sent from heaven as a gift from the ascended

Lord Jesus Christ. This is an act in the book of Acts of the risen

Lord Jesus Christ. And there is a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind.

And so it's the sound of a storm. When the wind blows so hard that it roars.

That's the idea here. And we see that it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

And so they were inside of a house. And it fills the house. The sound, the sign of the

Holy Spirit's arrival fills the entirety of the house. In other words, if the sound were water, they were underwater.

Hence the language of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire.

This is the visible sign. And the idea is that there is fire, which then divides into tongues.

And the tongues of fire point not at their hands or their feet, but upon their heads.

Which, of course, throughout the scripture is the sign of anointing. We've already discussed how important it is that the followers of Christ, the anointed one, have his same anointing for the work that he has called for them to do.

Why are these the first two signs, the first two manifestations of the

Spirit's advent? The symbol of wind makes a lot of sense.

The first time we hear about the Holy Spirit in Genesis chapter 1 verse 2, the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.

The Hebrew term envisions the kind of action that a large bird would make over its nest as it comes in for a landing, flapping its wings and stirring things up.

Imagine dust flying up as the bird comes in for a landing. It is that Hebrew word that describes the

Holy Spirit hovering over the face of the water. So we immediately get the sense of moving air from the very beginning.

And then when we hear about the creation of man, how God breathed into man the breath of life, again we are confronted with the power of the

Holy Spirit giving life to man in the very first place. And this is confirmed as we read even in the

Psalms, that it is the Spirit of God who gives life, that gives breath to all creatures.

So it makes sense that we're looking at wind and breath in Acts 17 .25. The very same word that we have here for wind is used in Acts 17 for breath.

And it is the Creator who gives His Spirit as breath.

He's the giver of life. But it also makes sense that the

Holy Spirit is manifested in the sign of wind. And in this case it is the sound of a wind.

Now when we go over to John chapter 3, remember that Jesus was proclaiming the gospel to one of the most credentialed stewards of the

Old Covenant in His day. Nicodemus. Nicodemus was one of the most educated, respected men in all of the hierarchy of the

Old Covenant. And Jesus speaks to him. And Jesus comes, of course, as the mediator of a new covenant.

And He says to Nicodemus, unless you are born again, you cannot even see the kingdom of God.

This is news to Nicodemus who thought he grew up in the kingdom. Had all the manifestations around him.

The temple, the city, the sacrifices, the priesthood, and so on. And Jesus is saying, unless you are born again, you cannot even see the kingdom of God.

And Nicodemus wants to know how this happens. And Jesus simply says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the

Spirit is Spirit. Very important distinction between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. You enter the

Old Covenant by being born of the flesh. You enter into the New Covenant by being born of the

Spirit. And Jesus says, that being born of the Spirit is not something that you engineer.

He says, the wind blows where it wishes, John 3 .8. And you hear the sound of it.

You hear the sound of it. What happens at Pentecost? They heard the sound of the wind.

The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it. But cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.

So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. Meaning, the Holy Spirit, He is sovereign. He is active.

He is not a formula. He is not a force. He is the third person of the

Godhead. And where He wishes, He goes. And where He goes, it is like you hear the sound of the wind.

But you do not control Him. He is sovereign. And by the grace of God, we see people being born of the

Spirit. And this is the entry into the Kingdom. This is the entry in to the

New Covenant. Now, why would Jesus use this particular expression? The wind being born of the

Spirit. Well, this is rooted in New Covenant passage of Ezekiel 37.

In Ezekiel chapter 37, there is a vision. Where Ezekiel, if you remember,

Ezekiel lives during a time when Jerusalem has been overthrown.

He was put into exile. And Ezekiel is out in Babylon preaching to the exiles.

That Jerusalem will fall and it fell. And that it will be rebuilt in a special way.

He preaches the hopes of the New Covenant. And Ezekiel receives a vision. There is a valley of dry bones.

It is a picture of the dead. The dead who died under the judgment of God. So horrific was their death that nobody had time to bury them.

In fact, their bodies were laid in an open mass grave throughout a valley. And these bodies laid there and they rotted.

And they were fed upon by all manner of carrion. And their bones eventually were picked clean and scattered all over this valley.

And it's the most horrific scene. One of the most horrific scenes that we find in the scriptures. And God says to Ezekiel, Son of man, can these bones live?

And Ezekiel wisely, un -Job -like says, Oh Lord, you know. I'm not going to speak about this.

You're the authority. Oh Lord, you know. And then God tells Ezekiel to preach to the dry bones.

To proclaim the truths of God's word to the dry bones. And Ezekiel preaches and he preaches to these dry bones.

And they begin to come back together. The proper bones to their proper connections. And upon them begin to come the ligaments and the sinews.

The muscles and the skin. Until the valley is filled once again yet with dead men.

Naked in their shame. Dead. And so the question was,

Oh son of man, can these bones live? And Ezekiel said, Lord you know.

And he was instructed to preach. And he preached. And he preached. And he proclaimed. But you see that all that happened was that the nakedness and the shame and the identities of those under the judgment of God simply became more clear.

By the preaching of God's word, that which was chaos and muddled and confusing. Everyone knows it's bad.

A valley full of dry bones. But now, now all the bones are put back together. And now the skin is back on them.

Now you can tell who they were. But they're naked in their shame. The word of God simply made the shamefulness of their judgment more clear.

But they're still dead. So now what? Now we come to the passage.

Verse 9 of Ezekiel 37. Also he said to me, prophesy to the breath, to the ruach, to the wind.

Prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God, Come from the four winds,

O breath, And breathe on these slain that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me,

And breath came into them, and they lived. Just like it was Adam when he was created. It was the breath of life that was put in him that made him a living soul.

So I prophesied as he commanded me, And breath came into them, and they lived. And they stood upon their feet an exceedingly great army.

This is explained. God explains the prophetic metaphor. He explains the vision when he makes this promise.

In verse 14 he says, I will put my spirit in you, And you shall live, and I will place you in your own land.

And then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it. So God promises the giving of the

Holy Spirit. Of course it would be most helpful to read Ezekiel chapter 36 and 37 together to hear that this is indeed the promises of the new covenant.

But the promise of the new covenant very much so comes down to this gift of the

Holy Spirit. The critical change between the old covenant and the new. That all that would be a part of the new covenant would be born of the

Spirit. Not simply of the flesh. And so when we have this metaphor of the wind, prophesied to the breath, prophesied to the winds, that the wind will come and make them live.

This is exactly what we have on the day of Pentecost. A sign that clarifies from old covenant promises about the new covenant.

Definitionally, when the Holy Spirit arrives, it is as the wind, it is as the breath that makes dead men live again.

And that's what we're having happen here at Pentecost. It is a sign of the new covenant, according to the elements promised in the

Old Testament. That which was to come. But what about the fire? Now the fire was also promised.

We have here a symbol of fire divided into tongues.

There's a sense that there is a stream of fire, a column of fire, coming down and then dividing off into individual tongues of fire.

Each one pointing down to the head of one of the apostles. We are reminded of the plentitude of the

Holy Spirit. The scene of the fire of the Holy Spirit before the throne of God. And the plentitude of the

Holy Spirit for all those who are in Christ. We are reminded of the river of life flowing from the throne.

A plentitude for everyone who was born again. We're also reminded from Acts chapter 1 verse 5, that Jesus told his followers specifically, he told his disciples specifically, to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the

Father, which you have heard from me, he says. In verse 5 he says, For John shall be baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the

Holy Spirit not many days from now. He says, remember what John the Baptist said? What did

John the Baptist say in Luke 3 .16? He said, the one who's coming after me is mightier than I.

John the Baptist, the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, but one greater than John the Baptist has come.

And John promised that Christ would baptize his own people with the

Holy Spirit and fire. And the construction in the original, Holy Spirit and fire under the same definite article.

They come together. So here it is, on the day of Pentecost, the sign that the

Holy Spirit has arrived in the promised way. And the apostles are baptized in the

Holy Spirit and fire. And we're going to come back to this sound of the wind.

We're going to come back to this emblem of fire in a moment. So don't forget about them. But what's the third sign?

The third sign is utterance. The third sign is utterance. We read in verse four that they were all filled with the

Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Do you remember Ezekiel proclaiming to the valley of dry bones? What was he told to do?

Preach. That's what he was told to do. Preach. Preach to the dry bones.

Preach to the dead. And watch God make them alive. And so, the disciples, the apostles are given utterance.

It's the Spirit who brings the wind and the fire, the breath and the life, the roar and the heat of preaching, of proclamation.

And this is in accordance with what was anticipated in the Old Testament. In Numbers chapter 11, we find

Moses. Verse 24, Moses went out and told the people the words of the

Lord. And he gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tabernacle. And the

Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him. And this is very interesting. Listen to this. The Lord took of the

Spirit that was upon Moses and placed the same upon the seventy elders.

And it happened when the Spirit rested upon them that they prophesied. Meaning they declared the truth of God to the people.

Although they never did so again. But two men had remained in the camp.

The name of the one was Eldad and the other name Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed but who had not gone out to the tabernacle, yet they prophesied in the camp.

And a young man ran and told Moses and said, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. So Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, one of his choice men answered and said,

Moses, my lord, forbid them. And Moses said to him, Are you zealous for my sake?

Oh, listen to this. Oh, that all the Lord's people were prophets and the

Lord would put His Spirit upon them. A theme that Joel picks up and a theme that Peter preaches in the following passage here in the book of Acts.

They were given utterance. And the Spirit shows up. There's wind and fire and the truth of God. But what is this?

What is this significance? Why these manifestations at this time? What time was it? It was Pentecost.

Fifty days after Passover. Seven weeks. Seven sets of seven.

And then comes a fiftieth day. A kind of jubilee. Wherein a feast called the

Feast of the Firstfruits was held. You can read about the Feast of the Firstfruits in the

Old Testament. And this was called the day of Pentecost here in the New Testament. And on this day of firstfruits, the

Holy Spirit shows up. Is this not the people of God beginning to reap exactly what

Christ has sown? And the firstfruits of the new covenant is simply what? Receiving the

Holy Spirit. And so on this day of jubilee, of freedom, as we reflect upon what goes on here, do you know that Pentecost, that the

Feast of Firstfruits, is the anniversary of God giving the law to Moses?

There at Mount Sinai, what occurred on Mount Sinai when the giving of the law? Was there not the roar of wind upon the mountain as the storm came down?

Was there not fire upon the mountain at Pentecost, on the day of the firstfruits, on the giving of the law in the old covenant?

And what goes on here at the giving of the law, as God gives to His people from heaven,

He gives to His people from heaven, via His mediator, the law.

And what happens in the new covenant, at Pentecost, with storm and fire, the

Holy Spirit is given by His mediator to the people of the new covenant.

That is the significance of the details being preserved here inerrantly by Christ's servant

Luke. This is a signification of the fact that something new has come.

And the new covenant is fulfilling the old, but in a superior fashion.

Whereas in the old covenant, the Spirit rested upon the elders to prophesy, but only once.

In the new covenant, the Spirit comes and stays and anoints the people of God so they serve in all the manner of Christ, following after Christ, including the proclamation of the truth of God, continually by the power of the

Holy Spirit. When we go back and we read Ezekiel 36, and we read

Jeremiah 31, we are told that God comes and makes a new covenant, will come and make a new covenant with His people, that He will take out the hearts of stone, and He will put in a heart of flesh, and that upon the heart of flesh,

God's law will be written. That He will send forth His Spirit to gather in His people and make them new.

What's happening here at Pentecost is the Holy Spirit arrives by signs that have been established in the old covenant as significant of the arrival of the

Holy Spirit. And what we have here is Pentecost, on the anniversary of the giving of the law in the old covenant, we have the giving of the

Holy Spirit in the new covenant. What is the contrast that Paul continually deals with in his letters?

The liberty that we have in the Spirit over the condemnation that exists in the law. Living by the

Spirit now, rather than by the law, how the law has been fulfilled in Christ, and He has given us of His Holy Spirit.

Isn't that not the tension that, time and again, Paul is talking about, but showing how it's resolved in Christ?

The new covenant law, in the new covenant, the law, or righteousness, or submission to the

Lord, is written upon new hearts, rather than externally in stone.

You see the difference, you even see the difference in Ezekiel. In Ezekiel, in the story of the dry bones, what goes on there?

When Ezekiel preaches, and proclaims the truth of God's word to the dry bones, what happens?

They get themselves organized, they get rightly connected, and everybody gets outed for who they really are, but that is the extent of what the old covenant can do.

The old covenant can only expose exactly our shame, and our need for a Savior.

But what's different in the new covenant, is the arrival of the Holy Spirit in the way, so that every single member of the new covenant is alive.

In the old covenant, you had a remnant who were alive spiritually, but you got in simply by being born of Abraham, and being circumcised.

But in the new covenant, every single member of the new covenant, is one who's been made alive, by the power of the

Holy Spirit. As we've talked about,

Christ is building something. Christ is building something, he's building a city, he is building a temple.

He is building something, he is working on something, and it is good to remember the words from Zechariah 4 -6.

Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the

Lord of hosts. A foreshadowing that the work of God, must be done according to the provision of God.

What Christ builds, has to be done by the power of the Holy Spirit, and it's not going to be something where, you know, we bring about the realities of the new covenant, and advance the kingdom of God, simply because we're better organized, and we have more resources, and we're smarter than everybody else.

We can't bring about the kingdom of God, and advance the kingdom of Christ, by organizing ourselves really, really well, in terms of infrastructure, and politics, and education.

This is not going to achieve, the advancement of the kingdom of Christ. It is by the power of the

Holy Spirit, that the kingdom of Christ, advances to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, so that the knowledge of God, the glory of the knowledge of God, will cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea.

Not by our might, not by our power, but by the

Holy Spirit. And that is, at the very beginning of the church, at the very beginning of what

Christ, how Christ commissions His followers, His apostles, He says, it's got to be by the

Holy Spirit. It's not by the flesh. Now, let's consider the marvels of the

Spirit's advent. This was very ear -arresting, and eye -catching, in verses 5 through 7.

And they were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.

Then they were all amazed, and marveled, saying to one another, Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?

The sound, the sound of the roar of the wind, arrested everyone's attention.

They began to come together around this sound, and then they heard other sounds, the utterances of languages that they had known from their childhood.

And they marveled. They marveled. Look. Look at the sounds.

These are languages that they can understand. This is why they're marveling.

These are languages that they can understand. They're not marveling because there was a cacophony of meaningless sounds.

They're marveling because of the lack of chaos. All their lives, having grown up in these various disparate areas, they had the language that they grew up with in their selective region, the heart language, the tribal language that they knew growing up, the dialect that they knew best from their mom and their grandma.

And then they had to learn the trade language of Koine Greek, of Common Greek, and they'd have to learn some snatches of Aramaic and some snatches of Latin in order to function in the

Roman Empire. But now, here they are, gathered in Jerusalem, and suddenly, the confusion which always attends trying to listen and talk in a language that is not your native language.

Gone. And now, they hear crystal clear the declarations of the marvelous works of God in their own languages that they know best, coming from people that are speaking with a thick

Galilean accent. We don't know what the Galilean accent sounded like, but it's probably something akin to the

Deep South or Fargo, North Dakota. It's something very distinct.

For even Peter was picked out of the crowd the night of Jesus' trial for having the Galilean accent.

It was distinctive. And you know how people feel sometimes when you try to speak their heart language in your accent?

And they could tell that these were Galileans when they were marveling that they were speaking a plethora of languages.

Now, note in the text, it was as the Spirit gave them utterance. It wasn't because that they had learned it on their own, but it was only as the

Spirit had given them utterance that they speak these languages, they declare the marvelous works of God, and those present were in wonder at this miracle.

When we read about the gifts of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12, we discover that the

Holy Spirit has a variety of gifts that He gives to His people. We also discover that He is free and at liberty in His sovereign will to gift according to how

He desires. So any kind of rubric that we would try to impose upon the

Holy Spirit and say, well, the Holy Spirit is only present and active when only certain gifts are present, is simply to deny

Him the honor of His true personhood and freedom and divinity and authority.

When we read about the different gifts, we see that they're all for the edification of the church through the glory of Christ.

And there's a distinctiveness in the way that the gifts operate. They operate primarily for edification.

In 1 Corinthians 14, we hear Paul saying time and again, what is the point in speaking in a language that you've never learned in the presence of people who also have never learned that language?

If it's by the Holy Spirit genuinely, you may look cool. People may say, wow, that's impressive.

And thereby you are personally edified. But that's it. What's the point in speaking in a language that you've never learned unless there is an interpretation of what is said so that everybody may be edified?

He says, what's the point in praying in a language that you've never learned? That doesn't edify you at all.

He says, I want you to pray with the mind and sing with the mind, he says. So that you're conscious of what is going on.

Jesus himself forbade praying in meaningless babble. But we are to pray with the mind.

And Paul says to those who were in Corinth, Corinth, the seaport city, two ports in this seatown.

And he says to them, when an unbeliever comes into your midst, the gift of languages or the gift of tongues is for a sign to the unbeliever, but it must be interpreted so that all may be edified to hear what is said.

So you envision that in the Corinthian church people from all over the

Roman Empire are gathered there, they have all these various languages that they have learned and they're trying to worship the

Lord together and in walks somebody yet who has another dialect that nobody there speaks. And by the power of the

Holy Spirit one of them begins to prophesy in the language of this visitor and the visitor hears it and they hear about the mighty works of God and the glories of Jesus Christ and then somebody else in the congregation translates for everybody else.

Everybody is edified and the visitor, the non -believer receives the gospel in their heart language.

Now isn't that just the way that Christ would equip his church to spread his gospel of the kingdom throughout the

Roman Empire in a wildfire manner? But it makes sense, it's cogent, it's clarifying, it is not chaotic.

In fact, in 1 Corinthians 14 Paul explicitly says that if somebody is speaking in a tongue meaning a language, a genuine language which he says in the text there are many languages in this world and none of them are without meaning.

He says if somebody is speaking in a language that they have never learned, a gift of tongues from the Holy Spirit and someone walks in and nobody interprets and it's not a tongue that they even know what do they receive as that?

Then they think you're mad, they think you're crazy and they leave. And Paul says that is not the gift of tongues.

That is not how it's to be administrated. In fact, if anyone does speak in a tongue let it be two or three each in order with interpretation otherwise keep silent.

Now I believe in the gift of tongues. I believe that God through the Holy Spirit gave to his people the ability to speak in languages they had never learned before so that people in their own heart language would hear the gospel of Christ preached to them and that when it was properly done it was interpreted for all the believers to hear the old, old story and be edified by the preaching of the gospel.

What a wonderful gift. What a wonderful gift that is so misunderstood in our day. And that's exactly what happens in the book of Acts.

Luke, the author of Acts, best friend of the Apostle Paul are talking about the very same thing.

They know what they're talking about and it is the preaching of the gospel in languages that they had never learned before for a sign to the unbelievers.

Now the sounds, of course, meet exactly with the scope. We see 17 in this text verses 9 through 11 we see 17 different cultural groups.

17 different dialects and yet they're preaching in all those different languages so they hear the wonderful works of God.

They represent a range 2 ,000 miles east and west across the

Mediterranean basin and 1 ,000 miles north to south in this ancient

Roman Empire gathered here. Why are they gathered there? They're Jews. They're Jews who were born in all these far off lands.

Who grew up learning all these various dialects. Why are they in Jerusalem?

It's Pentecost. It's a feast day. They have come together. They're gathering there.

They perhaps have been hanging out there ever since Passover and they wanted to stay the entire time until Pentecost.

They're from all these different areas of the world. Jews born in foreign lands learning foreign languages.

How in the world did they get there? Well you see, the stewards of the

Old Covenant broke covenant. They were idolatrous and immoral and unjust.

And God in His judgment scattered His people like chaff to the wind and said that this would be for a sign that He keeps

His promises and He also promises under the heading of the restoration of Israel time and time again in the

Old Testament that He will gather His people back from the four winds of heaven.

He will gather them back once we're scattered. He will gather them back and they will be in God's place and they will serve under God's anointed ruler and this is all in vain of the promises of the

New Covenant. In our text, in our text, in chapter 1 and verse 6 in the book of Acts we read

Therefore when they had come together they asked Him saying Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

Remember the themes in that question. The bringing in of all of God's people from their scattered locations.

And here in verse 5 There dwelling in Jerusalem Jews devout men from every nation under heaven.

Do you hear it? Verse 36 of Acts 2

Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this

Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ. Why are those phrases important?

Because when we go back to Ezekiel chapter 37 in this

New Covenant promise where the Spirit shows up and those who are dead are made alive

Verse 11 in Ezekiel 37 Then He said to me Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.

Same phrase Peter uses in addressing to the whole house of Israel They indeed say our bones are dry our hope is lost and we ourselves are cut off.

But not according to the promises of the New Covenant. They're going to be saved brought back together again.

Ezekiel chapter 21 and 22 Ezekiel 37 verses 21 and 22 Then He said to them

Thus says the Lord God Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations wherever they have gone and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land and I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel and one king shall be king over them all and they shall no longer be two nations nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.

And He says David my king shall be king over them. Which is why immediately after this

Peter begins preaching that King David in the person of Jesus Christ does indeed rule over the gathered people of God in the

New Covenant by the power of the Holy Spirit. So we see the scope matches the sounds.

The sounds go to all these people from all these different areas of the known world in all these various languages so they can all be gathered together to hear and they hear the wondrous works of God the same great things

He has done for me Mary said in her Magnificat same word wonderful works of God the person and work of Jesus Christ these marvelous works of His life and death and resurrection and ascension

His promised gift of the Holy Spirit His promise of victory and this is all preached throughout the rest of Acts chapter 2

What we find is that at Pentecost we see the empowering for the carrying out of the

Great Commission the promised restoration of Israel is brought about is fulfilled in the

New Covenant in which the Spirit -empowered Gospel of Jesus Christ the Gospel of the Kingdom is proclaimed and advanced in all languages to all cultures

How are you going to keep the Great Commission? How are you going to fulfill it,

O Apostles? Well, here comes the Holy Spirit and look what happens Look at the jump start they get

Look at the emphasis of God's provision and the promise of His faithfulness to carry it through Now, what we've been talking about so far is a little strange the sound of wind roaring tongues of fire coming down upon men the speaking in languages they had never learned the gathering of all these people and they're listening to all of this and what do they say?

They want to know the meaning of it They say, whatever could this possibly mean? Remember that the speaking of other languages unlearned is a sign to the non -believers and just with these signs that Christ did and all of His healing and all of His powerful deliverances do you remember how

His signs sifted the audience? And to those who were stunned by His power and leaning towards doing homage to the

Son and finding refuge in Him versus those who saw His power His mighty works indisputable evidence of God in human flesh and they would find some way to try to reject it

The signs sifted the kinds of people in the crowd and it happens here

Some are saying, whatever does this mean? I think this is the same group who later on say to Peter What must we do to be saved?

But there's another group who are mocking and just like those who accuse Jesus of casting out demons by the

Lord of the demons so here they see what happens and they mock them and they say, oh, they're full of new wine

Now there's a few biblical commentators who I think were born to entomologists who go into all the nitty -gritty details of how this was the wrong season for new wine that would come later

In fact, it should have been sweet wine That was the word Luke should have used You know, you can understand

Luke later on says, I'm summarizing faithfully everything that was said You can imagine there are many kinds of mockings going on many kinds of theories being attributed to what goes on but Luke preserves this one for a reason

Full of new wine? You bet Not the alcohol as Peter so clearly states but it is the new covenant

In Luke chapter 5 in verse 37 -39 as Jesus is explaining things to the

Pharisees about the new covenant He uses a little parable He says this,

Luke 5, 37 -39 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled and the wineskins will be ruined but new wine must be put into new wineskins and both are preserved

It makes all things new making us new creatures new creations putting into us

His Holy Spirit new wine into new wineskins It's a new covenant And we're not simply going to stuff the new wine, new covenant into old wineskins

That's not going to work They're not compatible in that way New wine must be put into new wineskins and both are preserved

Now verse 39 is very telling Remember this is the same Luke who writes this section in Acts Jesus says, and no one having drunk old wine immediately desires new for He says the old is better As we move forward in the rest of the book of Acts and this point is a good example

The Jews had drunk the old wine a long time and they kept saying, the old wine is better the old wine is better the old wine is better and Jesus says, no no, we need the new wine in new wineskins

And so, these critics who are mocking the apostles and the arrival of the

Holy Spirit when they mock them and say oh, they're full of new wine actually,

Jesus would say they're the ones who are drunk and they're drunk on the old wine which is why they don't want the new

But friends, the new is so much greater than the old Christ has come and He has given us

His Holy Spirit and the joys of that truly, truly know no bounds as we'll see here in Acts 2

Let's pray Father, I thank You for the time that You have given us in Your Word We thank You for the hope that You give us

We thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit just as You promised We thank

You for the reminder that we are indeed in need of Your empowerment to do the work that You have called us to do

Help us to trust You and to rejoice in the provision You have made We pray these things in Jesus' name

Amen Would you stand for our song of benediction?

We're going to sing again Jesus shall reign where 'er the sun This time we'll just sing verses 3 and 4

People and realms of every tongue dwell on His love with sweetest song

And infant voices shall proclaim their only blessings on His name

To our King the highest praise rising through eternal days

Just and faithful He shall reign

Jesus shall reign

Let every creature arise and bring blessing and honor to our

King Angels descend with songs again

And earth repeat the love of men

To our King the highest praise rising through eternal days

Just and faithful He shall reign

Jesus shall reign

To our King the highest praise rising through eternal days

Just and faithful He shall reign Jesus shall reign

In the love of the Father and the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all