and we'll now speak on chapter
2 from verse 1 down to verse 13 and as we read together this
records one of those amazing occasions in the history of the
world and it was a wonderful prophecy which was being fulfilled
and indeed the words of the Lord Jesus were also being fulfilled
and we read when the day of Pentecost was fully come now Pentecost
occurred 50 days after the Passover and as we mentioned the week
before last there were those 40 days which occurred between
the resurrection and the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
then the Lord Jesus Christ had instructed his disciples that
they were to tarry in Jerusalem until they had been empowered
with the Spirit from on high. And they would not have really
realised what that meant. We of course are very aware of
it now, historically, but we can imagine those disciples. Here they were, they'd been told
to return from Bethany to Jerusalem, which was Sabbath day's journey.
They'd gone back to Jerusalem and they were now tarrying in
Jerusalem. And now it was the day of Pentecost. Ten days had elapsed and in the
Lord's wonderful purpose it was the day appointed when those
promises should be fulfilled. And the Holy Spirit should come
with that divine power into the hearts of those that were there. And suddenly, we read, there
came a sound from heaven as of a mighty, a rushing mighty wind. And if we read this as it says
here, it doesn't say that there actually was a rushing mighty
wind. There's no evidence of a wind.
But there is evidence of a sound and it was a sound like unto
a rushing mighty wind. Well we know a rushing mighty
wind is quite noisy and it does have an effect and we cannot
but fail to notice it. And therefore this came upon
these people and it filled all the house where they were sitting. This noise filled the house.
and then we read and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like
as of fire and it sat upon each one of them and they were all
filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues. It's hard for us to imagine the
scene isn't it? These apostles and others with
them in this building, we're not told where it was they were
in a building, they were sitting down waiting perhaps and perhaps
they were praying and seeking the Lord would come to them and
bless them and they may have been pleading the promise, the
word of the Lord as he told them and now it came to pass in this
amazing way and it was so significant that it was Pentecost Pentecost
goes back to the time when the law was given on Mount Sinai. And when that law was given,
one of the things which occurred was there was fire. It was referred
to as a fiery law. You might perhaps wonder what
that means. Well, one thing it does mean
is that anything which is passed through the fire is purified. The law was pure. It was a pure law. and so we
have now after all this time this position here where there
was this clove and tongues like as of fire and we see here then
surely the pure gospel the pure law and the pure gospel and these
50 days also signified when the Passover it was the beginning
of harvest and when Pentecost was carried out as a feast it
was the end of harvest and on this occasion there were many
people therefore because it was a feast had gathered together
to Jerusalem and it was at that particular time the Lord ordained
that this amazing blessing should be fulfilled. Historically as
the prophets have prophesied throughout the history up to
that time the evidence of those special revelations was relatively
small and the prophets were able to speak from time to time of
those things that the Lord gave to them through his spirit. But
now we see an amazing change and we see the Holy Spirit coming
upon these people with divine power and we are told they were
all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other
tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance and at that time you
see they were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men out of every
nation under heaven it was an amazing occasion all these devout
Jews had come together to keep the feast at Jerusalem and here
they were in Jerusalem and they were now evidencing this amazing
promise which was being fulfilled that which had been spoken about
especially through Joel and here they were then in Jerusalem and
the Holy Spirit came upon these apostles and they spoke with
tongues now when this was noised abroad the multitude came together
and were confounded because every man heard them speak in his own
language and they were all amazed and marveled saying one to another
behold are not all these which speak Galileans And now here
we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born. It was
a miracle of course. It would have taken these men
many months perhaps years to learn the foreign language. And
here they were all these varied languages gathered together this
time in Jerusalem and it would appear that there was no one
there who had a foreign language who did not affect. they were
there listening and they heard these men speak and so they were
all amazed and how here we every man in our own tongue wherein
we were born and then he gives a list of clearly probably most
of those people Parthians and Medes and in Edomites and dwellers
in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, in Pontus, Asia,
Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and in the parts of Libya, about
Cyrene, strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians. We do hear them speak in our
tongues. Now, what were they speaking? What were they speaking? This
is so significant and it's so important. They were speaking
the wonderful works of God. What a wonderful occasion it
must have been. All these men, able to speak in different languages,
given that amazing sudden gift, beyond our comprehension really,
but they weren't wasting their words. They weren't idle words. They weren't speaking about anything
that was unnecessary. They were speaking about the
wonderful works of God. Now, we have that in the beginning
really of this occasion when the Holy Spirit came that divine
power upon these men and they were able then to speak the wonderful
words, works of God. Well, it must have been an occasion. They would never have forgotten.
and in measure of course when the Holy Spirit comes into our
hearts and opens our understanding and as it were speaks to us of
the works of God is a time that we don't forget our eyes are
opened we hear as it were our spiritual understanding in a
spiritual language that which before we did not really understand
but amazing as it is now when our ears hear the wonderful works
of God. We can just imagine, can't we,
what they were speaking about. They must have been speaking
about the works of the Lord Jesus Christ. They must have been so
full of what He had said because they would have remembered very
clearly how they were told to tarry at Jerusalem. until they'd
been endued from on high with that Spirit of God. And now here
comes the past. And their minds must have been
directed straight to the Saviour. And His work, His finished work,
all that He'd done. Oh, what an occasion it was to
think of these people listening to the Gospel in their own language. No barriers. What freedom, what
liberty, what favour. And what enlivening and what
blessing while it was, as I said, one of the most wonderful days
in the history of the world. And we're thankful for it. And
we're thankful to know today that there is still the same
power from the Holy Spirit as it was on this occasion. Perhaps
not in the same way, not giving those gifts of languages like
it was on that occasion, but nevertheless there are those
who are blessed indeed with the Holy Spirit and are able to come
and to declare and to speak the wonderful works of God. This is of course the great reason
why we come together to worship, to hear the wonderful works of
God. We don't come here for any other
reason. We don't want to come and just
listen to the news of this poor world. We want to hear the good
news of the gospel. There's no greater news which
will do our souls good than to hear of the Lord Jesus Christ
and hear what he's done. How he came in this world to
save sinners and the cost it was to him and the agony that
he went through and the fulfilment of keeping the holy law of God
in every jot and tittle he never failed and how he gave up the
ghost on that cross at Calvary when his work was finished the
finished work and so this statement we have here let us not forget
it the wonderful works of God that's what these men will be
carrying This is what we need to declare still today. The wonderful
works of God. And they are wonderful. To the
Church of God, they are wonderful. It's not just an historical account.
It's because they come and touch our hearts. They move our spirits. It's something outside of natural
being. It's the Spirit's work. And it
accomplishes that work that the Lord God has ordained. And so
we read, and they were all amazed and were in doubt saying one
to another, what meaneth this? Again I believe when the Holy
Spirit comes into our hearts we may be amazed, amazed at God's
love toward us, amazed at God's grace toward us, amazed that
God should Reveal to us the wonderful works of God. The word amazing
is a very appropriate word. And how good it is in our life
if we can remember and look back and bless God for times when
we were amazed at what God had done. Amazed at His mercy toward
us. Amazed at His love toward us.
Yes, these people, they heard this voice as of a mighty rushing
wind. They heard it and it had an effect
upon them, came upon them. And yet you see, there were those
people there that said, what meaneth this? And others said,
others not saying, these men are full of new wine. They weren't
able to, they didn't receive that gift to believe the truth
of God. And therefore they placed it
as nothing other than, oh these men are just full of new wine.
They didn't realise it was the blessing of the Holy Spirit upon
them. It's a very solemn scene isn't
it? We see there, we see here clearly a separation. Those who
received the word, who were blessed by it, and those who rejected
it, and said, well no, that's Jesus, amen, they're just full
of new wine. They didn't receive it as the
word of God. Would it be a great blessing
for us if we can look on this account and see the wonder of
it, the fulfillment of it, the blessing of it, and to understand
in some measure the power of it. You see, the day of Pentecost
was a day of great blessing when the power of God came down so
clearly in this way. But I believe in each of our
lives, our spiritual lives, if we possess the life of God in
our souls, it will be no lesser power to convince us of our sin
and direct us to the Lord Jesus Christ than it was on this occasion
and I say that because by nature you and I are dead, dead, spiritually
dead in trespasses and in sins and we need the same power of
the Holy Spirit to quicken us, to make us alive in the same
way that the Spirit came onto these men as they were, gathered
together with one accord. There was unity. You know, you
remember, when the Lord was on the earth with the apostles,
there were those occasions when they argued, and there was disagreement
among themselves. Oh, but when the Spirit of God's
come, oh, there's no disagreement, there's no argument. They're
in the Spirit, they're united, one accord. Lovely to see the
Church of God united on these things, yes. There's no room
then for any separation, no room then for any antagonism. But
oh, truly they were in union with one accord in one place
and the Lord came and blessed them indeed. Well may we rejoice
tonight in these truths May we go home and think about them
and pray the Lord to bless us indeed with something of that
spirit of Pentecost. Amen.