THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Acts 2:1-41

Key Verse 2:38

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” 

In last week’s passage, Jesus told his disciples to wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit. So they joined together constantly in prayer and restored their broken fellowship, establishing unity among them in obedience to be witnesses of Jesus. 

Today’s passage tells us about the coming of the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit empowered the Apostles in the beginning of the work of the gospel. This event is an amazing demonstration of the Spirit’s power and empowering of believers to serve the Lord’s world mission purpose. We pray that we may receive the Holy Spirit too and be empowered to fulfill the Lord’s world mission as his witnesses to the ends of the earth in our time. This message will cover: 1) The Spirit’s power (and empowering of believers); 2) God’s desire for all people to receive the Holy Spirit; and 3) the way to receive the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit’s power (and empowering of believers) (1-11)

Look at verses 1-4. “1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” 

The believers were all together in Jerusalem, most likely in prayer. It was Pentecost, which is the Greek term to the Jewish Feast of Harvest, or Feast of Weeks. It counted off 50 days from the Passover. So, it had been 10 days since Jesus ascended into heaven.

Then it happened: the Holy Spirit came upon them. We see in these verses that when the Spirit came to them, he came in power. First, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. It was not actual wind, but a “sound like the blowing of a violent wind.” Then they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire separating and resting on each of them. The author here couldn’t quite say exactly what was happening in appearance or sound, this was the best he could describe it, but clearly it was a sure sign to the believers of the Holy Spirit’s power. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them. 

The believers most likely did not expect such a thing to happen at all. But it was the perfect moving of the Spirit. A crowd then came together. This crowd had not heard the sound of a violent wind or seen the tongues of fire, but they heard the wonders of God being declared in their own languages. Verses 9-11 list more than 15 different regions represented by the crowd with their languages being spoken by the believers. They represented the entire known world! And they had all come together to hear these disciples. Look at verses 7-8. “Utterly amazed, they asked: ‘Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?’ ” Verse 12 says that they were amazed and perplexed! Apparently, the rest of the world did not think too highly of Galileans. 

What did the believers do when filled with the Holy Spirit? They began to speak in other languages bringing many people together. Just as Jesus told them, the Spirit was their source of power to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth, as we see the whole world represented in this crowd and these languages. This event was like a preview of the work the Spirit would enable them to do. 

Jesus had told the apostles to wait in Jerusalem for the gift of the Holy Spirit. The apostles had been taught by Jesus. They received words and teachings from him. They had personal fellowship, having common life with Jesus. They went through training programs and discipleship programs. They had the best teacher. But all of that was not enough. They needed one more thing. They needed the Holy Spirit to fill them and empower them and continue to transform them as a people of God to serve God. It is the same for us today. The power to preach the gospel comes from receiving the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is not man’s power or word or ability. It is God’s power. 

 

Again, it s says, “…as the Spirit enabled them.” It was not their power, but the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus didn't build the church based on human ability or excellent speaking or top business management experience, etc.  The power of the Holy Spirit does not depend on man's ability at all. It depends on God. That's why it is imperative that the church members be filled with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the source of power to practically and effectively serve the Lord's world mission purpose, specifically, here, to proclaim the gospel message. Here, he helped them in just the right way needed to prepare and witness to the people. The Holy Spirit is not just any spirit. He is God’s Spirit. God is the Creator. His power is above all. We see how the Spirit removed obstacles and barriers and used them for his purpose so that even language barriers were no barriers but were transformed from barriers to bridges. When people were segregated by language, the Spirit worked and by those languages brought all kinds of people together! What an amazing work!

It is clear that the Holy Spirit has been urging us in all the messages this new year to devote ourselves to prayer, personally and together. So we have an urgent prayer topic: that all of us might be filled with the Holy Spirit. He is what we need. We can talk a lot about programs or schedules or this or that. But what we need first and foremost is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered by him. 

The Spring Bible Conference is coming up. We are praying for many new people to come and we are praying to declare the word of God powerfully through the messages. Clearly, we can only do this through the Spirit’s help. And just as he empowered all of the believers here, not just the 12 apostles, I believe that all our church members should be eager to be filled and empowered for this conference and most importantly obedient to the Spirit’s leading. 

2. “I will pour out my Spirit on all people” (12-21)

Some people were amazed and asked, “What does this mean?” (12) But others made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine” (13). Peter stood up with the Eleven and began to explain what was happening. Let’s read verses 14-21. To explain the outpouring of the Spirit, Peter began just by quoting from the Prophet Joel from the Old Testament. 

What was happening was foretold in the Scriptures long before hand. And now we see how this prophecy explains the demonstration of the Spirit’s power in enabling the believers to speak in all other languages that could be understood by the crowd of people that day. We are in the last days. And in these days it is God’s desire that all people would receive the Holy Spirit. The words “pour out” and “on all people” stick out here. In fact, “pour out” is used twice. It’s not a sprinkling of the Spirit, or a dabbing of the Spirit, he wants to pour out his Spirit on all people. Prior to this time, only a few people at any given time received a special anointing of God’s Spirit to do this or to do that. To lead in battle or to have wisdom. Some examples are King David and King Saul, and Samson and Samuel, and John the Baptist. But now God is eager to pour out his Spirit on all people. 

What will happen when he is poured out? Let’s look again at verses 17-18. 

>Sons and daughters: “will prophesy” (they will speak the word of God)

> Young men: “will see visions” 

> Old men: “will dream dreams”

> Both men and women: “they will prophesy”

Every group of person is included: old, young, sons, daughters, men, women. The Lord wants to pour out his Holy Spirit on each of us. The Holy Spirit is the source of vision, dreams, speaking the word of God, and transformation so that we can be a people of God and serve God. So, what I see, what I hope for, what I hear, and what I speak, who I am, are inspired and transformed by the Lord. It is a terrible thing for a young person not to have any vision and waste away his or her youth. To be defeated by every obstacle. It is equally terrible to see young people full of vision that comes from this world, which is from the devil and our sinful nature and which will lead only to hell. Old people do not need to dream only about grandchildren or securing retirement funds. And even women are included too! There is no distinction. And the power of Spirit has transforming power for all people to be a people of God and be empowered to serve the God without a limit.

Look at verses 19-21. The Spirit is working out God’s salvation in and through us until the time of Jesus’ return. This world will end, but everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. “Everyone”. Truly this message is for all people. 

The way to receive the Holy Spirit (Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus) (22-41)

In the rest of the passage, Peter tells how we can receive the Spirit. It is through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one we call on to be saved and to receive the Holy Spirit. So Peter went right into declaring Jesus. 

Look at verses 22-23. “22"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” 

Jesus is the Christ who came from God. God had demonstrated this through many miracles, signs and wonders through Jesus during his ministry. God did things that no one could have imagined through Jesus. Once Jesus saw a man who had been blind from birth. Jesus healed him. When that former blind man was questioned about how he was healed and who Jesus is, he said, “Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. 32Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing” (John 9:30-33). 

Peter knew that his audience knew at least this much. It was clear from the undeniable ministry and miracles that Jesus was from God. Look at verses 22-23 again. Even though it was so clear who Jesus was and where he came from, what did people do? They put him to death.

Peter may have shocked them by stressing their involvement in Jesus’ death. He said, “You, with the help of wicked men, put him to death.” When we look at the gospels, it looks like the ones mainly responsible were Pilate or the chief priests and teachers of the law. But here Peter said, “You, with the help of wicked men, put him to death.” Why did Peter do this? It was to show them their sin. They didn’t make a connection between Jesus’ sufferings and death and themselves. They just lived their own lives even though they knew who Jesus was and where he came from. Jesus had suffered and died just about 50 days prior. And yet the people already put that event behind them. It is so easy to put Jesus out of our minds. We come, hear the message of Jesus, and then go about our business. Then we come back on Sunday and hear the message of Jesus, and then go back out and take care of our own businesses. But Peter proclaimed their direction connection: that they were the very ones who put Jesus to death and wicked men helped them. The truth is that we are all guilty of this. Jesus suffered and died for our sins. He took up our guilt and punishment. 

Peter continues in verse 24. “But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” Peter didn’t stop there. Death was not the end of the matter. “But God raised him from the dead…” This is a big “but” here. In one breath he said, “You put him to death…but!” Death was not the end for Jesus. Peter declares here that it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Jesus. Then Peter uses the testimony of the Old Testament Scriptures to show why this is the case for in the Scriptures God had already declared that Jesus would be raised from the dead and that even we would all have the hope of resurrection and life in him. 

Look at verses 25-26. King David spoke about the resurrection of the Christ. And when he did, it gave him hope for resurrection life as well. David was a king. He went through many hardships throughout his life, but he also enjoyed: power, fame, wealth and honor. But of course he would one day die like all people. But when he thought about the resurrection hope in the Lord, he had true joy. He says he found “the path of life,” that it was revealed to him in the Christ, or rather, Jesus was revealed to him. 

Look at verse 32. “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.” Indeed Jesus was raised to life just as God promised, just as David spoke about. It wasn’t a story Peter had heard somewhere. It was a fact that he was a witness of. And the resurrection of Jesus further proved his lordship. Look at verses 33-35. Where is the Lord Jesus now? He is not dead and in a tomb like David. He is living and has been exalted to the right hand of God the Father. He is the very one who poured out the Holy Spirit on the believers that day. He is alive and is working out his victory over all his enemies. And he is giving the believers victory in his name as well. 

Look at verse 36. “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Look how Peter led them to repentance. He didn’t conclude by presenting Jesus as a better alternative to their current life or situation. He didn’t mention just about inner peace or joy by knowing Jesus. He basically put them in a most difficult situation: they were in deep, deep trouble before God—they had murdered the Lord and Christ. They were in the greatest need before God and had no option except to escape the consequences due to them for their sin. 

When the people heard Peter’s conclusion, they were cut to the heart. They realized their sin against God and their truly needy condition, and they did the right thing: they cried out, “What shall we do?” They asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (37). 

Peter answered in verses 38-39. Let’s read these verses together. “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” This is the answer we’ve been looking for. It is very simple. We don’t just pray for the Holy Spirit. The way to receive the Holy Spirit is to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. To repent means to turn away from sin. It does not mean just to feel sorry about my sin or have a guilty feeling. It is to turn away from it and to turn to Jesus calling on his name for forgiveness of sins. It is to admit that life in and with the Lord is better. To be baptized is more than being immersed in water. It is the next step after repentance. It is to begin to have life with Jesus and follow him. Leaving the old life behind and begin a life of obedience to God. Then he pours out his Spirit on us and we have new life in him. We have God’s Spirit dwelling in us and working in and through us. 

Look at verses 40-41. 3,000 people accepted the message, repented and were baptized, and joined in the fellowship of the believers. The message of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, and the resurrection leads us to turn from the corruptness of our generation. We should not waste our life in sin and in the corruptness of this generation. We should eagerly desire salvation, serving the Lord, life in his presence, and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

Here, we see Peter’s change by the Spirit’s power. He used to be fearful and a big-mouth. He was the very one who denied Jesus three times. But now he became bold and fearless and effective in preaching the gospel message and leading people to repentance. 

So we have to ask what we can do when filled with the Holy Spirit. Ask yourself what you can do. We may not know exactly what the Holy Spirit will do, but we know of his power and desire to fill all people, including us, and empower us to serve the Lord and be transformed! 

In this passage we see the coming of the Holy Spirit and his empowerment to the believers. And the way to receive the Holy Spirit is through repentance and being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Let’s pray for all of us to repent and turn to Jesus and be filled with the Holy Spirit. May God empower us to bring many people to the Spring Bible Conference and to lead them to repentance and faith in Jesus through the messages.

One Word: The gift of the Holy Spirit

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