The Birth of the New Testament Christian Church:
Acts 2:1-14
Acts 2:1-14, “And when the day of Pentecost was
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 all the house
where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of
fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost [the Holy Spirit], and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit
gave them utterance.
And there were dwelling at
Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was
noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that
every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and
marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak
Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were
born?-Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and
in Judea, and Capadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphilia, in Egypt,
and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and
proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the
wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one
to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new
wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said
unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known
unto you, and hearken to my words: for these are not drunken, as ye suppose,
seeing it is but the third hour of the day.’”
[This
is a transcript of a sermon (it will eventually be three sermons covering Acts
2) given by Pastor Joe Focht, Copyright © Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia,
13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA (http://www.ccphilly.org ).] “Father, we settle our hearts
and thank you that we can gather publicly like this. And no doubt Lord, before
we know it, our lives may change, Lord, never to be the same again. [This
sermon given in 1996, 5 years before September 11, 2001.] No doubt this nation,
guilty of so many things, Father, no doubt has judgment looming over it, even
if there’s a Josiah or a reprieve, Lord, before you come. And we pray,
Lord, that there be a great awakening and a great revival. We all know so many,
Father, friends and relatives we love, that still stand at a distance,
unyielding, still blinded. But Father, as we sense the urgency of the hour,
Lord, we pray for peace in Jerusalem. Father we pray, send Jesus to set up his
kingdom, to usher in that age that all the prophets have spoken of. Father, as
we have privilege and time together in your presence, Lord, fill us afresh with
your Spirit. Speak to us Lord. Change us, Lord. Take away from every one of us
in this room the excuse of just being the way we are, knowing Lord, that you
are changing us and conforming us into the image of your Son. And Lord, hasten
that work, as there is urgency in the day that we live, Lord. Now that there
would be urgency Father of the Work of your Spirit in our hearts, that we might
decrease and your Son might increase in each of us. Lord, we thank you, Lord we
pray for peace, Lord, in that city, in Jerusalem, Lord, according to your Word.
We pray Lord that you would allow us to see Him, to settle in your presence as
we continue, and that your Word would be alive. Bless our fellowship, Father,
we pray in Jesus name, Amen.’
Acts chapter 2, the day of
Pentecost, an interesting and important study for us, because on this day 3,000
people are saved. So it’s important for us to take note of what happened.
Interesting contrast, by the way, to the day the Law was given [on the same day
of Pentecost over 1000 years before], that tells of when Moses descended from
Sinai, when he broke the two tables of stone, on that day 3,000 died. On this
day, when the Spirit descends upon the church, 3,000 are born eternally, saved.
[i.e. born-again, cf. John 3.] And it was because of an experience in the life
of a believer, they had seen Christ, they had walked with Christ, they had many
of them reaped the benefits of his ministry. When I think of the 120 that were
there in the upper room, no doubt Lazarus was there. He received of the benefit
of Christ’s ministry, being raised from the dead [John 11] I would say is
receiving of the benefit of Christ’s ministry. Or Simon, that used to be a
leper. No doubt he was among the disciples. Think of those that were there,
that received the benefit of his ministry. And the 12 that were there had been
taught by Jesus for 40 days concerning the things of the kingdom. They were
already believers--in John 20 he had breathed on them and said “Receive
the Spirit”--and yet all of them were not yet ready to do the work that
God had set before them [cf. Acts 1:6-9] with all they had seen of Christ with
their eyes, with all of the conviction that was in their heart, with those few
that had already believed, so that he might instruct them and open the
Scripture to them and prepare them for their ministry. Yet their was still
something else to take place before they were ready. That’s important for
us, because many of us, in one sense in our hearts, have seen Christ, many of
us have grown up in a Christian home, many of us have a heart about Jesus, but
there’s always something of the reality of Christ, that each one of us
needs in our lives, or it’s phony. We need the reality of his Presence. We
need the fulness of his Spirit. It isn’t just an intellectual exercise,
categorizing the things we believe into particular categories. We can be so
right that we’re dead right. [He’s talking about dead orthodoxy,
churches and Christians that are spiritually dead--nominal Christians in
spiritually dead churches--a scary thing.] But it’s a living relationship,
and it’s an experience of his presence and reality. And it’s much
more than goose-bumps. Interesting, as I look at this scene, there’s 120
[the Greek indicates 120 family names, so this may equate to the 500 referred
to in 1 Corinthians 15 by Paul] in the upper room. And I think, ‘Where are
the thousands that were fed when he divided the loaves and the fishes, the five
thousand men and women and children? Where were the innumerable masses that
followed from Decapolis and Tyre and Sidon and all of Judea--and saw him heal
the sick and open the eyes of the blind, and cleanse the lepers and raise the
dead? Where are the multitudes from Capernaum, where it tells us at
Peter’s mother-in-law’s house that Jesus there, as the Sabbath ended
and the sun went down healed all that were in the entire village at Capernaum
and all that were brought? Where are the thousands upon thousands that had
heard, that had seen?’ Isn’t it interesting that there’s 120 out
of those multitudes? That this was enough to change the world. Of the thousands
that come here, 120, 180, how many are necessary to set the rest of us on fire?
Ten of us? One of us? Pray for me, because I want more of what God has for me.
I want to change. I think of the things in my life that stand in the way of a
fuller experience of his power, of his holiness and joy. All I’m saying,
that’s not it at all. It’s just as I look at the fruit of the Spirit,
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, meekness, temperance, I think how desperately
I need more of that. And I think, directly relational to that, to the
personality of Christ being reflected in us, there is a greater openness when
those things are manifest then for him to flow through us in power. And
I’m longing for that, an outpouring of the Spirit in my own life. In my
own time with him if I get up early in the morning or I sit up late at night,
or I’m sitting somewhere in the park, I’m longing for a greater
measure of his presence, a greater fulness of God’s Spirit. And don’t
let anybody say “Oh, we don’t need what they needed then.” I
don’t know about you, but I need what they needed then. I don’t know
about the city you live in, but the city I live in needs what they had
then. And I don’t know about the church that you attend, but the church I
attend needs what they needed then. And the world that you
live in may not be the same world I live in (my wife tells me I’m in a
different world sometimes), so I guess that’s possible. But the world I
live in needs what the world needed then, and that is
a church made up of believers and a pastor that reflects Jesus as much with
their lives as they do with their mouths in love, in power, in joy, in service.
So this chapter [Acts 2] is important to us. And maybe, no matter what your
position is, we’ll offend you before we are through, but don’t feel
alone because we’re out to offend everybody--that is, everybody who would
seek to restrict the work of God’s Spirit because of some petrified and
atrophied position they hold theologically.
Chapter 2 says, “When
the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place,
and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty rushing wind, and it
filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them
cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all
filled with the Holy Ghost [Holy Spirit] and began to speak with other tongues,
as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4). It said “When the
day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all together in one
place.” It says “in a house.” We’re not sure whether that
is a house joined to the temple or when it says “in a house”
it’s speaking of a portion of the temple itself. We know that in the end
of Luke it tells us “and they were continually in the temple, praising and
blessing God.” We know that over in Acts 2 it says “They continued
daily with one accord in the temple, and in breaking of bread
and house to house they did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of
heart” (Acts 2:46). They must have been in location to the temple
precincts, because there will be 3,000 people that will be saved. That means
there will be many more thousands that will hear. But they had to be somewhere
where thousands would have been, probably somewhere, I would imagine, in the
area of Solomon’s Portico, in the southern side of the temple, with its
many pillars in that day. It tells us that within six months earlier, Jesus at
Hanukkah, it says, at the Feast of Lights, the feast that was in the winter,
that Jesus was walking alone in Solomon’s Portico. And I think, you know
it says “For the glory that was set before him he endured the cross,
despising the shame.” And I think, you know, here’s Jesus, who within
six months will be crucified, risen and ascended to heaven, wandering alone in
Solomon’s Portico, thinking, ‘It won’t be long before 3,000 will
be born [again] in one day, here in the precincts, and then thousands
more.’ They were all to gather together in one place, regardless,
somewhere in conjunction to the temple where thousands upon thousands upon
thousands could gather.
It’s interesting, it says “When the feast of
Pentecost was fully come.” Now it was one of the three
mandatory feasts [Holy Day Feast seasons, 1) Passover/Unleavened Bread, 2)
Pentecost, 3) Trumpets/Atonement/Tabernacles--those are the three feast
seasons] when every Jewish male that was able, was to come to Jerusalem.
Pentecost was one of the most crowded. Passover, a mandatory feast, no doubt,
many of these same people had had been in Jerusalem on Passover when Christ was
crucified. And they knew of that situation. When Jesus walks with the two on
the road to Emmaus [Luke 24] and they don’t recognize him, and he says
“Why are you so sad?” and they say “Oh, because of the things
that have transpired here lately.” He said, “What things?” And
they says “Are you the only guy in Jerusalem that doesn’t know
what’s happened here?” Paul, when he’s before Felix says
“This thing was not done in a corner, certainly you know about it.”
So as the multitudes from many nations had come and gathered there on Passover,
many of them had already come in contact with the crucifixion of Christ and the
rumors of the resurrection. Now on Pentecost, which was 50 days later, June or
July, the weather was warm, the lanes of shipping were open. It was often more
difficult to get there for Passover because of how early it was in the season.
The shipping lanes were completely open at this time of the year and Pentecost
tended to be the feast that was more crowded. Tabernacles would be the other
mandatory feast [Trumpets/Atonement/Tabernacles] in the fall. Paul tells us
that they were a shadow of things to come, the feasts and the Holy Days, but
that Christ himself was the body that cast that shadow into the Old Testament.
And certainly in the Passover we see all of the beauty of the types and shadows
of Jesus, the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world, stepping
into time and fulfilling those many Passovers that had been celebrated.
Certainly in Tabernacles we’re looking forward to the coming of Christ and
the setting up of the kingdom. [Click Here for a
fuller description of those shadows.] But it says, “When the feast of
Pentecost was fully come”, and it doesn’t mean that
the day was fully there, it has the idea when the feast of Pentecost had
finally come to express all that it was fully meant to express in the first
place [much like that very Passover 50 days earlier when Jesus, the Lamb of
God, was sacrificed for the sins of the world]. The idea is that there had been
over 1500 Pentecost’s that had passed since Leviticus 23 legislated this
mandatory feast. Over a thousand Pentecost’s had come and gone without
seeing what Pentecost was meant to see [or represent]. And now, it says
“When the feast of Pentecost was fully come they were all
with one accord in one place”, on a Sunday, by the way. It tells us,
Leviticus 23, that you count seven Sabbaths from the Passover and then add one
day. So you’re adding one day after the Sabbath, which is Saturday. Sunday
is the day the Church is born, Sunday, that the day the Church worships [except
for the Sabbatarian and Messianic Jewish branches of the Christian Church],
Sunday the Lord rose, Sunday called the Lord’s day, the first day of the
week when they gathered, over in Acts 20.
Sunday, “When the day of
Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place, and
suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind [do you know
what tornadoes sound like?], and it filled all that house where they were
sitting.” Now it doesn’t say there was a wind, that all of a sudden
their hair was blowing in the breeze. They didn’t turn around and look at
each other and see everybody’s hair flopping around. This was the
sound of a mighty rushing wind, where they were gathered,
suddenly, all of a sudden. One of the translations translates “The sound
of a mighty breathing”, which is interesting, the “Ruach” in the
Old Testament, “the breathe”, the same word [in Hebrew] used for
spirit. It was the sound that came and settled, of a mighty rushing wind, no
wind, but the sound coming upon the place where they were sitting. Notice that.
They weren’t on their face, they weren’t kneeling, they weren’t
groveling, they were sitting. I like to sit and pray. No rules, I like to stand
and pray. I like to drive and pray. I need to drive and pray, and with my eyes
open, by the way. But I like to sit and pray. If I get up before it’s
light, I like to sit with a cup of coffee (too dark to read) and Jesus. I like
to sit and pray. They were sitting. All of a sudden this sound starts to fill
the place where they were. “And there appeared unto them cloven tongues
like as of fire and it sat on each of them.” Now it doesn’t say that
little flames with a forked tongue sat on each of their heads. That’s a
bad hair day. It doesn’t say that fire was on their heads, they’d
have all got burned. It says “cloven tongues of fire dividing”, it
gives us the sense that there was one entrance and then a dividing into tongues
of light that looked like fire. They had never seen a neon bulb, they had never
seen a light bulb. They’d never seen a flashlight. It was like fire
dividing into tongues and sitting upon each of them, is the idea. And imagine,
how they looked around at each other, 120 of ‘em looking around, everybody
had that little light sitting on their head. Now, is it symbolic of the
Shikinah glory of God--coming to fill us as temples? We are the temple now of
the Living God. Yeah, I think so, that’s good. I like that. Don’t
know how exactly it is, but I’ll take that. I’m the temple of the
Lord and want to be filled with his glory. And the qualifications are not too
bad. It says that he’s put his glory in these earthen vessels, that it may
be his glory and not ours, I can fit into that. Is it a cloven tongue of fire,
representing the tongue being the human instrument, and the fire being the
divine energy that would be involved? Yeah, I like that too. I’ll take
that. The tongue’s a powerful thing, if you haven’t noticed. James
tells us that the tongue is set on fire of hell. ‘Consider what a great
forest fire a little spark kindles.’ And all of the things in this world
that are promoted, from abortion to immorality, promoted by the tongue. Satan
knows. How interesting here, God giving them utterance, filled with the Spirit.
I need more of that. I need less of my tongue and more of his, if you
haven’t noticed. I don’t know if you feel the same way. I don’t
very often regret something I didn’t say. I most often regret something
that I did say, that I wish I hadn’t said. And you can’t reel it back
in, once it’s gone. “There appeared unto them cloven tongues like as
of fire, and it sat upon each of them…” Now notice, the manifestation
is before the Holy Ghost, the manifestation comes first, there’s the
sound, audible, then there’s the visual, and then the Spirit. And these
things are never repeated. They’re not repeated in chapter 4 when
they’re filled with the Spirit. They’re not repeated in chapter 10
when Paul’s filled with the Spirit. They’re not repeated in chapter
11 when Cornelius and the Gentiles are filled with Spirit. Some things are not
repeated. This was something that was done on the day of Pentecost to bring
home to those 120 believers that were there, that this was a Divine action, a
sovereign move of God, and that they were filled--and it’s passive on
their part. They didn’t make it happen, they didn’t grovel for it,
it’s something that God did, he ignited the fire that would become the
Church, because he tells us in the first chapter, ‘You wait here until
you’re endued with power [from] on high, that you may be witnesses in
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria unto the uttermost parts of the earth.’ And
we’re gonna read of the crowds that were gathered in Jerusalem from the
uttermost parts of the earth that were infected with the living Messiah that
was now in their hearts in an overflowing capacity. And there were gifts
involved with this. It says they spoke in tongues when they were filled with
the Spirit. Now it doesn’t say they spoke in tongues when they were
baptized with the Spirit, which should make some of you happy, who like to put
your technology into categories. But some folks say, ‘Well there’s
only one experience. There’s that initial experience, and when you have
that initial experience, you’re baptized, you’re filled, you’re
indwelt, you get everything you’re to get at one time. Well, the problem
with that is, in the 4th chapter the same men are threatened not to preach
Christ. They come back to the place where they’re meeting, rejoicing they
were counted worthy to suffer for his name, they begin to pray. It says the
building is shaken, and they were all filled again, with the Holy
Spirit, same group, refills. I need him bad. Chapter 8, those in
Samaria, preached to by Philip, receiving Christ, believing, being disciples,
being baptized in water. Then Peter and John come from Jerusalem and lay hands
on them. Now they already are indwelt with the Spirit, if they’re already
believers and disciples. But then the Spirit comes upon them, and they’re
filled, and speak in tongues--there’s manifestation, experience. Very
interesting, in chapter 11, when Peter is recounting what happened at the house
of Cornelius in chapter 10, Peter says, “As I began to speak, the Holy
Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the
Lord, how that he said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be
baptized with the Holy Ghost, for as much as God gave them the like gift as he
did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could
withstand God.” Peter says there, the experience of the house of Cornelius
was the baptism of the Spirit. But it says in the chapter, they were filled.
Peter says, what happened to us in the book of Acts was baptism of the Spirit
that Jesus spoke of, but it says here they were filled. It says in chapter 4
that they were filled again. Are they baptized again? And I like the fact that
all of you have this quizzical look on your face, because I don’t know
either. And if we could nail it all down into its neat little categories that
we could justify, and put all in positions, then we would be killing the very
thing that the book of Acts seeks to instill in us, and that is that Jesus
Christ is risen, he’s alive, he is not subject to our categories. He is
willing to lead us in a fresh and in a new way and to fill us every day with
the Holy Spirit. And you can call it whatever you want to call it. And if you
got all of it you need the first day you were saved, I ain’t met anyone
like you before, because I got saved in 1972, and I need more of God’s
Holy Spirit today. And I would be depressed if I thought there wasn’t any
more. And the Bible is clear that we’re growing in grace and in the
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That can only happen by his Holy Spirit.
[You can read the Bible all you want, day in, day out, without the Holy Spirit,
and this growing in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord will never occur.
It takes daily prayer and Bible study, coupled to God’s indwelling Holy
Spirit to cause spiritual growth.] That we are growing in our service. No one
has the capacity to serve in the church, except through the empowering of the
Holy Spirit. No matter how much natural ability you have, no matter how much
talent you have in the natural, no matter how many diplomas and certificates
and seed-sewing certificates you have on the walls of your office, you have no
capacity to serve in God’s kingdom, except by the empowering of his Holy
Spirit, and his calling and his equipping. Now if you have talents and gifts,
no doubt, if he calls you to serve, through the gifts of help and mercy or one
thing or another, you may bring those things to bear under the direction of the
Holy Spirit and his equipping. But we are desperately, all of us, in need of a
continued filling of the Holy Spirit.
On Pentecost, something happens
in their lives. Men that already believed, men that already saw Christ, that
were already taught by him before his ascension, now there’s a new dynamic
in their lives. A dynamic of power, a dynamic of change, a dynamic of being
infectious, not just being a container, but being a conduit. Not just holding,
but now bursting forth rivers of living water as Jesus had said. But there are
those who are gonna say, ‘Well you’d better look out. You open
yourself up, you might get demonic tongues. Don’t be too open. You
don’t know what you’re gonna get’, like Jesus’ April Fools
prankster. You know, he said in answer to that, “What father, if his son
comes, asking him bread, will give him a stone, to break his little teeth
on.” “Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent to poison
him? Or what father having a little child who comes asking for an egg would
give him a scorpion that would sting him on his face?” And all of you that
say ‘Who would do that? That’s not right.’ And he says, “If
you, then, being evil, sinners, human, know that that’s not right, if you
know how to give good gifts to your children, and you’re sinners, how much
more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.”
There is an experience of being indwelt and sealed with the Spirit the second
that we’re saved. There is an experience of being filled, and we may go to
the Father and ask for that experience. There’s no asking for the filling
of the Spirit the second we’re saved, we’re asking for Christ to
forgive our sins and to be our savior. Paul in Ephesians 5 says, “Do not
be drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be ye being filled with the Holy
Spirit.” It is something that we are continually to be doing. And here we
see it for the first time in the book of Acts. We don’t need to look for
fire on our heads, we don’t need to look for the sound of a mighty rushing
wind, but we do need to look for a greater measure of God’s Spirit in our
lives, all the time as we grow in Christ, a sovereign move in our own lives.
“They were all filled with the Holy Ghost”, verse 4,
“and began to speak with other tongues”, glosia, “as the
Spirit”, the tenses here are “kept giving them utterance.” So
the Spirit continues to give them the utterance, they are speaking in different
languages, dialektos, we’re gonna read of that. And, by the way, the same
experience is described, dialektos & glosia, both of them describe one
experience here. They’re not speaking with their understanding.
They’re not speaking with their intellect [as we shall come to see].
They’re speaking something they don’t understand. The Spirit is
giving them utterance, they’re opening their mouths and speaking. Now
look, we’ve all been around places where, you know, they have the
excesses, you know, speaking in tongues class. And somebody grabs your mouth
and goes, “OK, you’ve got it now--babble, babble, babble”--and
then we’re supposed to go home and go, babble, babble, babble--I’m
speaking in tongues!” You’re stupid. You’re shaking your jaw.
You don’t want some man to come up and grab your chin. How many of us
thought, “Oh Lord, I want the gift of the Spirit, to speak in tongues, but
I don’t want to be phony, so I’ll just sit here, relax all my jaw
muscles, and loosen myself up, Lord, I’ll be putty in your hands.”
And we’re just waiting for him to grab our chin so we can start babbling.
Paul says, “I will pray in the Spirit and I will pray with my
understanding.” He was involved. We’ve all seen people go on with
tongues, you know--babble, babble, babble--they go on for seven miles. And the
interpretation comes, “My children, I love you.” And you think
“Wait a minute. This person must have been speaking in increments of those
letters, you know. What is this?” Or we hear somebody goes, “Shine
the old commode.” And it’s three and a half paragraphs that come out
in interpretation. You’ve been there and you’ve seen that [if
you’ve visited a Pentecostal church]. Or, you know, you’re in some
place where every week the same woman is gonna go--“Wa, Wa, Wa, Wa,
Babble, Babble--and you know, “Set your clock, it’s quarter after
eleven”, because she goes off at the same time every week in the same
place. But that doesn’t negate the gift. The gift is for today, and
because there have been so many abuses, half the church is turned off, and the
Holy Spirit that should bring unity is become the very point of division.
‘Oh when that which is perfect is come, tongues are gonna cease,
let’s build an altar there.’ I encourage you to read D.A.
Carson’s “Showing of the Spirit.” Does a great job, there. To
say, that Paul was writing to the Corinthians about the completion of the canon
of the Scripture and saying ‘Now when that which is perfect is come, that
which is imperfect will pass away.” It is ridiculous to say that the
Corinthians understood what the completion of the canon meant, it’s
ridiculous. Or to say that tongues in some way was equivalent with Scripture
until it was completed is ridiculous. That somehow, before the canon was
completed, tongues filled in the space. No, no, no, no, we’re told clearly
that when these folks gathered together they hear them speaking the wondrous
works of God. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians, chapter 14, that he that speaketh
in an unknown tongue doth give thanks right well. He that speaketh in an
unknown tongue speaketh to God and not to man.” So it had nothing to do
with speaking to the church and the Scripture would not replace it. If
you’re speaking in tongues you’re speaking to God, not to man. You
edify yourself, not the church. And how many times have we been in a place
where someone will speak in tongues, and then here comes the interpretation,
“My little children, if you will do this and you will do that…”
Wait a minute…That is not an interpretation of the tongues. Because Paul
said “He who speaks in an unknown tongue speaketh unto God, not unto
man.” You hold that. Maybe it’s a prophecy, maybe it’s a word of
knowledge, but we’re gonna wait for the interpretation of that tongue, and
if it doesn’t come, no one else here tonight will speak in tongues,
because there’s no interpreter present. You see, because Paul said,
“Let all things be done decently and in order.” Some churches have
embraced the first half, “Let all things be done.” Some churches have
embraced the second half, “Decency and order.” I think God wants
both. “Let all things be done decently and in order.” Now we believe
in that here. I pray in tongues. I pray in tongues at home. I pray in tongues
will I’m driving, while I’m alone. We gather here to study the
Scripture. If you get up in the middle of a Bible study and start to speak in
tongues, we will tell you to be quiet and sit down. If you don’t listen,
we’ll carry you out. Because I believe if someone is up here teaching the
Word, and exercising a God-given gift to feed, to exhort, to teach, why would
the Holy Spirit interrupt himself? He’s not schizophrenic. He doesn’t
have a multiple personality disorder. And we’re here to study the Word of
God. If we opened up this sanctuary to Pentecostal behavior, every screwball
for a hundred miles would be here, who would love an audience this big. And I
grew up in the Pentecostal side of the church, and a lot of the things we did
there was learned behavior, it was not biblical spirit-filled behavior. It was
imitation of what we had learned from the generation before us, who had learned
from Azuza Street, who had learned from some God-given revivals. The Catholic
charismatic renewal was a movement of God. Millions were born-again through
that movement. The shame of it was, there was no growth, because it’s
difficult in that environment, without exposition verse by verse, of the
Scripture, so there was no growth into spiritual maturity. But to say that move
was of the devil is ridiculous, because Jesus said that a house divided against
itself can’t stand. [Some would say, ‘Well, that is why Satan created
a false church, to attempt to divide the body of Christ.’ Time will only
tell, whether that view is correct or not.] And millions were saved and came to
love Christ through that movement.
But the other side of the abuse is
to say, “Well, if you don’t speak in tongues, you’re not
saved.” That’s stupid. Or to say, “If you don’t speak in
tongues, you haven’t received the fulness of the Spirit.” It’s
not biblical. Paul says in 5th grade English “Do all speak in tongues? Are
all prophets? Do all have the gift of miracles, are all
apostles?”--rhetorical question. “I, as Paul, would rather see you
have the gift of prophesy.” Now to say that’s passed away is
ridiculous. It says in Revelation 19 that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit
of prophecy.” And the testimony of Jesus certainly has not passed away. I
would rather have you in this church have the gift of government, or helps, or
mercy, or faith, or miracles, because he who speaks in an unknown tongue
edifies himself. But Paul says that he who prophesies, speaks not foretelling
the future, but forth-telling the truth of God with authority, edifies the
Church. I challenge you, because I need, and everyone around you needs God to
give life to whatever gifts he’s given you, whatever they might be. And
they’re all different. Again, if I start coughing in the middle of a
service, and my throat is dry and I’m struggling, and some little kid
comes walking up here with a tray with a pitcher of water and a glass on it,
and just as he’s coming up the steps he falls, crashes on the ground, cuts
his finger, starts crying. Someone with the gift of mercy’s going to come
right up and go “Oh, are you alright? Let me see that finger.”
Somebody with a prophetic gift is gonna say “I told you not to do
that.” Somebody with a teaching gift is gonna say “Now the next time
you do this, you have to watch this, and be very careful, you only have to
bring a glass, he’s not gonna drink a whole pitcher.” Somebody with
the gift of helps is gonna come and start picking up the glass and putting it
in a dustpan and mopping up the water. Somebody with the gift of exhortation is
gonna say to me, “Next time drink before you start, and then it just
won’t happen to this kid.” I mean, we will all relate to something in
a different way, God’s wired us differently and desires to bring to
fruition in us those things that will not happen without the power of the Holy
Spirit. It will not happen with one filling without greater fillings. And as we
look at America today, we have not been all that we need to be. And when I look
at you guys, I live with a haunting sense that I have not been all that I need
to be. But the good news is, God freely gives, that he loves, that all we need
to do is ask for a greater filling of the Spirit. That it is his good pleasure
to give us the kingdom, to change us. That if we confess our sin that has been
in the way of a greater measure of his Spirit, a greater holiness, he’s
faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and
pick us up and dust us off and start us off again. And that his mercies are new
every morning, and that he wants above all for men to know that we are his
disciples by the love that we have one for another--and that is not a natural
love but a supernatural love.
The Spirit continued to give them
utterance. It says “There were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out
of every nation under heaven”--Mediterranean world--“Now when this
was noised abroad”--and there’s a question, was it the sound of the
mighty rushing wind, or was it, and it seems to be the noise of so many
different languages speaking of the wondrous works of God at one
time--“now when this was noised abroad the multitude came together, and
they were confounded”--here’s why--“because that every man heard
them speak in his own language”--his own dialect, it means the language he
had known from a child. And it’s confounding them because here are they,
by and large Galileans, common men, we’re gonna read later, they took note
that they were ignorant and unlearned men. But they had been with Jesus, and
they’re not hearing these things in Hebrew and Aramaic alone, they’re
hearing them in all of the languages from the world that they had come from.
“And they were all amazed. And they marvelled, saying one to another,
Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?”--‘these guys are
hicks, look at the way they’re dressed. “And how hear we every man in
our own tongue wherein we were born?” Kind of the opposite of God
confounding them at Babylon, to where no one understood what anyone was saying,
now by the Holy Spirit speaking in all these different languages, and everybody
understanding them. Listen, “Parthians and Medes”, you know,
Medo-Persian Empire, into the area of Chechnya where Dave Lecomp goes,
Elamites, that is from Iran, Elam is Iran. Dwellers of Mesopotamia, that’s
Chaldee, Iraq, that whole area, and in Judea, Capadocia and Pontus and
Asia--these are the points in Turkey and Asia Minor today. And Phrygia and
Pamphilia, all the way down to Egypt, and in the parts of Libya, North Africa,
Cyrene, North Africa, strangers from Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes from
Cyprus, Arabians from Saudi Arabia, we do hear them speak our dialects the
wonderful works of God, and they were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one
to another, what meaneth this? Others mocking, said, ‘These men are filled
with new wine.’” Now take note, here they are from all over the known
world, and what they’re hearing is they’re hearing not sermons,
they’re not hearing a message, as it were to them. What they’re
hearing is everyone speaking the wondrous works of God. He that speaketh an
unknown tongue speaketh to God. They must hear this wonderful beautiful praise
to the Living God and to his Son Jesus Christ, in every language they knew. And
they look up and see a group of 120 of Galileans. We’re not told if the
light is still on their heads, I doubt it. Now obviously the sound of the
mighty rushing wind is not there, they wouldn’t be able to hear them. What
they’re hearing now is the Spirit continuing to give them utterance, as
they’re speaking in languages that they’ve not known. I have known
missionaries in continents through Asia and Africa, in countries in Asia and
Africa, that tell me of converts being filled with the Spirit and praising God
in English, and not knowing what they were saying. Good friend of ours, Laura
Lee, Kathy and I knew her years ago, they made a movie about her, “Walking
Through The Fire”, healed of cancer, she opened up for Billy Graham on his
crusades. One day [she] began speaking in tongues. And an Eastern Orthodox
priest came and said “Where did she learn this?” and here, she was
reciting some series of prayers that they trace all the way back to Antioch,
that the Eastern Orthodox priests only teach one to another as they become
priests. And she had no idea of what she was saying, and just praising God with
these prayers. John Courson talks of a meeting where they were praying
together, a small group and one or two began to speak in tongues. There was no
interpretation, so he said “That’s it, let’s hold that
here.” And afterwards the janitor of the building, who was from Iran, came
with tears in his eyes, and said “Who taught them that?” “They
were talking about Jesus Christ and how wonderful God’s love is and
praising him in my tongue that I learned.” And here, hearing the praises
of God. You know, “Though we speak in the tongue of men or
angels…” Paul says. And remember, “have not love, I am nothing,
though I prophesy and understand all mysteries, have all knowledge--if I have
not love I am nothing. Give my body to be burned--should be a little plaque I
should have on my wall “I am nothing”, just to remind me every day to
seek him for a greater measure of his love. Here were these men, touching all
of these lives--and these then would be those who would go back to the known
world. Peter when he writes his first epistle talks to those that are
“scattered abroad”, the Diaspora, those who have been sewn throughout
the Mediterranean world like seed. Here they are on the day of Pentecost. It
will tell us at the end of the chapter, 3,000 accept Christ, and as they go
back to their native lands they take the Living Christ with them. The purpose
of this whole circumstance is not for people to gather round and be amazed and
hear people jabbering in tongues. The purpose of it, is it sets the floor, the
stage for Peter to step forward, and he began to speak as the Spirit gave him
utterance, but in Aramaic, their own language, or in Hebrew. No doubt the
Spirit quickening his mind, because there’s no evidence he’s holding
a Scroll as he gives his sermon, and yet quoting Scripture after Scripture
after Scripture after Scripture after Scripture. And 3,000 turned to Christ.
“What’s going on with these men? What is this?” they say [verse
12]. They were in doubt, saying one to another, saying, ‘What meaneth
this?’ Others, mocking, said, ‘these guys are drunk.’ And there
will be those when you endeavor to do anything Spirit-led, who will mock. That
comes with the territory. Man, step out in the Spirit, watch the sparks fly.
But it’s good. God allows it. Little bit of pressure, proves what we are,
doesn’t it? Miles McFerson said, “You never really know what flavor a
teabag is till you put it in hot water.” I find out that when I get under
pressure, I find out quickly that I need more of the Holy Spirit, because too
much of my spirit’s there. I feel like one of those little play-dough
plastic dolls where you put the stuff in and squeeze it, and all that hair
comes out. When it’s under pressure and all that orange hair comes out all
over and a beard and everything. That’s what I feel like when I get under
pressure. My flesh comes out, Joe Focht comes out, and he’s gotta quick
get the scissors and trim all that off, you know. But God allows it to happen
so I can trim it off. I just have to explain that to the person I might offend.
Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, will stand up now, “Peter standing
up,” notice, with the eleven, including Matthias, “lifted up his
voice and said unto them, ‘Ye men of Judea and all ye that dwell in
Jerusalem, be this known unto you and hearken to my words, these men are not
drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour [9am] of the day. But
this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel…” And he begins to
give a biblical basis for what is taking place. And whatever you do in the name
of the Lord, you need to have a biblical basis for what you’re doing.
Don’t tell anybody, “Well, the Spirit’s not bound to the
Scripture.” He will never contradict the book that he wrote. Heaven and
earth will pass away, the Scripture will not pass away. Don’t let anybody
call you “Oh you’re a Bible worshipper!” “You’re a
Bible worshipper! That’s all you are! That’s why the Spirit’s
not moving there.” “Come to our fellowship. Oil’s dripping from
the ceiling, people are rolling in the aisles, screaming, laughing hyenas, dogs
barking, you Bible worshippers…” Hey, I’ll worship my Bible, and
the God that it puts in front of me, because that won’t change. And for
those folks, they’ll need something new in two weeks. But you can only
laugh so long. “What are you gonna do this week?” “Go to church
and laugh, what we do every week. Did it three years ago, 52 weeks a year.
It’s 156 weeks we’ve been laughing.” You’ve gotta come up
with something new, now you’ve gotta crow like a rooster. There’s a
new one that they do now. They just go like this [ear to ear grin, I think].
It’s called “Joy unspeakable.” Now that’s what you have as
you’re laughing [at them]. You know, look, the Holy Spirit gets a lot of
bad press, because he has human advertisement. Be supernaturally natural,
don’t be supernaturally weird. Have a biblical basis for what you believe
and practice. If Jesus taught it in the gospels, if it’s practiced in the
book of Acts, it’s expanded in the epistles--we have church doctrine and
practice. What the world needs is love. God so loved this world that he gave
his Son. The world that drives you crazy, and the world that you want to leave
behind, the world that you’re frustrated with, the world that you’d
like to see burned someday, is the world that God loved, and gave his Son that
whoever would believe, in that world, would not perish, but have everlasting
life. Aren’t you glad that was effective in our lives? But if you’re
anything like me, now that I’m in, ‘Get us out of here, Lord.’ I
think there are many more to come in. But once we’re in, in the church,
one body, it says that every joint, every ligament supplies in the human body.
That the eye can’t say to the ear ‘I don’t need you,’ or,
‘to the hand, I don’t need you.’ Can’t just be an eyeball
rolling down the aisle. You know, an eyeball is a beautiful thing, in
somebody’s head. We’ve got some little kids around the church
sometimes, and their eyes are so blue, beautiful. But if I walked out of the
office door and one of them was laying by the car line, I wouldn’t say
“That is beautiful, look how blue that eye is. I love that eye, look at
that.” There’s a setting, every joint, every ligament supplies in the
body, we need your gifts. In the body we need you to be filled with the Holy
Ghost. Because if you’re in the body, and you’re living in sin, and
you’re mocking Christ and you’re playing a game, you infect everyone
else with that. If every joint and every ligament supplies, you never live to
yourself in the body, in the body of Christ you effect others or infect others.
I need you. The Church needs you. The Lord needs you, filled with the Spirit.
The worlds needs a Spirit filled Church.”
End
[Keep in mind, at the time that God started the Church via his Holy Spirit on this Pentecost, the believers at this time were all Sabbath-keeping, Holy Day observing Torah-observant Jews. This will help you understand the historical studies in the next section. And even as they grew in the grace and knowledge of the Lord as Christians, at this point in time--over the next thirty years, the believers were more like Messianic Jews than the Baptist or Methodist or Church of the Nazarene Christian you may know as a neighbor. The next section of short historical research articles will make that plain, what this early church was like, and how it developed, and split into the various branches of Christianity we know of today.]