We're not going to read all of
it, but we're going to read verse 1 through 4, then we're going
to jump down to verse 12 and read through verse 21 for our
text of the morning. So Acts 2, 1 through 4. 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 set upon each of them.
They were all filled with the Holy Ghost or Spirit and began
to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Verse 12, they were all amazed,
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 Judah,
all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken
to my words. For these are not drunken, as
you suppose, seeing it is the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken
by the prophet Joel, and it shall come to pass in the last days,
saith God. I will pour out my Spirit upon
all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall
dream dreams. And on my servants and on my
handmaids I will pour out in those days of my spirit, and
they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in heaven
above, and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor
of smoke, the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon unto
blood before that great and notable day of the Lord come, and it
shall come to pass, whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. Now, this is our fourth study,
as I said, on the subject of Pentecost. Just a very quick
review, and then we're on our way again. We have advanced in
our study to the actual outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God. But before that, in three studies,
we first saw that it was a fulfilled promise that our Lord made unto
his disciples, that he would not leave them comfortless, he
would go to the Father, but he would send unto them a paraclete,
one who would abide with them forever. In our second study
we saw that the pouring out of the Holy Spirit was contingent
upon the death, resurrection, and glorification of our Lord. That our Lord went into heaven,
received of the Father the promise, and shed forth this which ye
now see and hear. Then we saw that Pentecost was
set on a particular time. There was a set day for Pentecost
to come in conjunction with the Feast of the Old Testament celebrated
in Leviticus chapter 23. And that it came 50 days after
the Passion of Christ our Lord, even as the Feast of Weeks followed
by 50 days the previous Feast. Now Acts chapter 2 and verse
4 that we read this morning records the immediate effect of this
upon the apostle and disciples who were gathered in Jerusalem. The scripture said they were
all filled with the Holy Spirit. And then they began to speak
with other tongues. Now this was a supernatural work
of the Spirit of God. It was not something that they
worked themselves up to or that they prayed themselves up to.
It was a supernatural, may I add, sovereign work of the Holy Spirit
of God. For the Scripture said in verse
4, the Spirit gave them utterance. The Spirit gave them utterance. The Spirit enabled them. It so
controlled them and directed them. It so inspired them. if you will, that they, quote,
began to speak with other tongues, unquote, which were heard by
many devout Jews, as we see in verse five. And they heard in
their own native dialect or language the wonderful works of God proclaimed
by these disciples who, filled with the Spirit, began to speak
in other tongues. Now, one of the very last things
that we touched upon in our previous study, that is in study number
three, concerned the question, this question, whether the disciples,
these men, spoke in one dialect as, for example, the Galilean
dialect, as we see they were in verse 7. And the question
that we raise is whether they all spoke in one dialect, being
the Galilean dialect, And then the Holy Spirit took that Galilean
dialect and interpreted it into the native dialect of all of
those various ones that were present in Jerusalem. Or, on the other hand, whether
the disciples were actually really able to speak in languages which
were not known by them and not used by them in previous circumstances. In other words, summing up the
question, what was the actual miracle? Was the miracle performed
upon the tongues, that is, the organ of speech of the disciple,
or upon those who spoke, or was it performed upon the ears of
those that heard and that stood by those listening and hearing. To put it another way for more
clarity, were there words spoken in a common, ordinary dialect
and then the Holy Spirit translated, quote unquote, translated it
into the various glosses of those that were present on the day
of Pentecost. Now granted, the Holy Spirit
might have done either one. The Holy Spirit could have done
it either way that it was pleasing unto the Heavenly Father. But
which is it that best suits the context of the Scripture that
we are using? For example, let's notice again,
in verse 7, the last part, and all of verse 8, that the speakers
were known to be Galileans. And this, for some reason, did
surprise the pilgrim that each of them heard in their own glossa,
or dialect, or language, the wonderful words of God. They were Galilean men who spoke
and evidently were known to speak the Galilean dialect. Now, in
view of them being the chosen vessels of the Lord and the Holy
Spirit on the day of Pentecost, should we then ask what, or what
if any, is the significance of mentioning these men as being
Galileans? Why did that surprise the hearers
and what has that to do with it? First, let's recall something
found in Matthew chapter 26 and verse 73 and also in Mark 14 and verse 70, and it concerns
the night that the Apostle Peter denied the Christ, the night
that he denied the Lord. You will remember how the Apostle
Peter, when accused of being a follower and a disciple and
a companion of this Jesus of Nazareth, as John Gill said,
quote, one who had imbibed his principles, his doctrine, and
was of his party, unquote. They begin to point at Peter
warming himself around the fire of the enemy. Thou art with him. Thou wast with him. Thou wast
one. Thou art with him. Peter denies
ever knowing Jesus at all. And then one of them, and here's
my point, said unto the apostle Peter in his denial, Matthew
26 and verse 73, Surely you are one of them for your speech betrays you."
Whereas Mark 14 and 17 is even clearer. Surely you are one of
them, for thy speech agreeth thereto. Now the NIV, Matthew
26, 73 says, your accent gives you away. the brogue of the apostle Peter. Just as an example, consider
something found in the book of Judges, don't turn there, but
chapter 12 and verse 5 and verse 6. You remember when some imposters
came and said, we're with you to Israel and may we go over
with you. and they were exposed by their
dialect when they mispronounced the word shibboleth. And they
left out one of the letters, and they knew them to be imposter,
and they put them under debt. How many accents, for example,
are there by people who speak in the English language? Now probably in Acts chapter
2, the point of mentioning there being Galileans is as simple
as John Gill explains it to be that the Apostle Peter was known
to be a Galilean by his country language and the brogue of his
speech." That the Galileans were people that were by reputation
uneducated people. They were looked at as unpolished
and uncultured and uncouth. Spurgeon said, Peter speaking,
quote, there was something of the brogue of Galilee and that
they detected his providential dialect, unquote. Again, John
Gill on the Galilean dialect said, quote, who had never been
brought up in any school of learning, pronounced with an ill grace,
and in a very odd manner." So by their dialect or by their
speech. Now this partly accounts, I think,
and I say partly, accounts for the astonishment of the pilgrims. And that is that common, unlearned
men, some of them former fishermen, some of them former publicans
for the Roman government, Two of them, Peter and John, even
called ignorant and unlearned in Acts chapter 4 and verse 13. And when they heard such marvelous
things out of the mouth of these kind of men and of people, they
marveled. But then, let's go back to the
question. Was it a miracle of speaking
or a miracle of hearing that we have in our text? Now while it is true that each
one of them did hear in their very own native language, Yet
verse 4 is clear and let's look at it again. The disciples began
to speak with other tongues. This as a result of being filled
with the Spirit of God. Now let's concentrate just for
a bit on the word began. Sometimes a single word yields
much fruit and benefit unto us. It says they began to speak with
other tongues. This word is a dozen times or
so began in the New Testament with a meaning, to begin, to
commence. They began to speak with other
tongues. They commenced to speak with
other tongues. They started to speak with other
tongues. That is for the first time they
did this. They had not done this before
or at other times. And by the way, the word began
here is the very same word in the first verse of the book of
Acts and chapter 1. All that Jesus began both to
do and to teach. And it is the same word used
of the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15 and verse 14. He began to be in womb. He started or
commenced to be in womb. Jesus had a commencement of his
earthly ministry. The prodigal had a commencement
of his poverty. And the apostles and disciples
had a starting point, a commencement for their speaking in other languages. James A. Alexander, in his big
commentary on the book of Acts, wrote that the words began to
speak with other tongues. that it conveys the twofold idea
that what is here recorded happened for the first time here and that
it was afterward continued and repeated. Thus to answer the
question whether the miracle was wrought upon the speakers
and their tongues or upon the ears of those that were listening. Where is the principal point
of the miracle in this passage of scripture? Which of the two
is to be regarded as cause and effect in this particular play? Seems that there are two causes
and effects that we can find and point out in this play. Number one, here is cause and
effect number one. The filling with the Spirit is
the cause of them speaking with other tongues. The Spirit filled
them. As a result of that, they began
to speak with other tongues, that they might be moved and
enabled by the Spirit. They had not been capable of
doing so without being filled and led by the Spirit of God. Abraham Kuyper called it, sounds
never before heard from their lips, unquote. But then there
is a second one, and that is cause and effect had the spirit
not enabled them to speak with these other languages, languages
that had never been heard from their lips before, then the people
had never heard the wonderful works of God in their own tongue. And so the essence of this third
phenomena that is the speaking in other tongues on Pentecost
was not only that they spoke words never heard from their
lips, but that in doing so they were possessed and infallibly
guided and inspired by the Holy Spirit in that which they spake
at that time. Who can say whether they were
conscious or not of what they spoke or whether they completely
understood their own utterings? Many that heard on Pentecost,
but Not all of them understood and declared it to be a declaration
of the wonderful works of God spoken in their hearing. Now,
I want to make a comparison for illustration, which is this,
the inspiration of the Spirit of God in the work that He did. And that work upon men in the
writing of the Holy Word of God. Holy men of God were moved or
guided. The picture in the Greek is that
of a sail filled with wind that carries them along in the direction. The Word of God is actually called
the breath of God. That was our God-breathed Word. We believe that it is without
error. We believe that it is the very
Word of God, that it is an infallible record, that it is profitable
for doctrine in all things. It has perfect credibility, that
is, the Word of our God. even though it was written by
what we would call ordinary men. And yet were these men who wrote
the scripture at the time so infallibly guided and possessed
by the supernatural power and influence of the Holy Spirit
of God, that what we have is the God-breathed Word of our
God. And consider that all of the
authors of the Scriptures, all of them, had the Spirit of God
prior to their sitting down and writing their particular part
of the Word of God. And yet the Spirit took a special,
special hold upon them in the inspiration of the Scripture,
making them the pinmen of the sacred oracles or writings of
God. And some, when confronted with
the Scripture, consider them to be the wonderful words of
God. Others consider them to be simply
the words of ordinary men without any inspiration, kind of like
the two attitudes on Pentecost. Even so, the apostles and disciples
already had the Spirit of God dwelling in them prior to this
experience at Pentecost. And this can be seen, I think,
by two things very quickly, and then we can be on our way. A. You remember in John chapter
20 and verse 22, when the Lord Jesus Christ, in a post-resurrection
appearance unto his disciples, breathed upon them and said to
them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit of God, and then be. There's Paul's standard and measure
found in Romans 8 and verse 9. If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his. None can be Christ without having
within them the Spirit. Thus I repeat, these men had
the Spirit of God in them in their lives before the day of
Pentecost. So we say, the coming of the
Spirit filling the disciples on Pentecost was not the initial
coming of the Spirit unto them. What I mean is, this was not
the Spirit very first entering into these men and these women. It was a filling, as we read
in our text. Nor was it their regeneration. It is not here that they are
regenerated for the first time. Their regeneration was not delayed
until the day of Pentecost. They had been quickened, the
Spirit was dwelling in them, and they were believers. But
on Pentecost they were filled in a way that they had never
been previous in their experience with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let's begin to consider
the question asked by some of them when they saw and they heard
The events of Pentecost, and that's found down in verse 12
of Acts chapter 2. What is the meaning of this? What can this mean? What can
this be? What is it? What is it leading
to? So what is the significance of
Pentecost? How are we to view Pentecost
as recorded here in our Bible? Then the question that I would
raise, can there, will there be, or should there be ever a
repetition of what occurred here at Pentecost? And is it as some
today say, particularly in the Pentecostal and the holiness
movement, some say that it is a pattern for the churches down
through the ages that this ought to be experienced again and again. Some teach that believers ought
to seek a baptism of the Holy Spirit as a second blessing,
transforming simple, ordinary Christians into super-duper Christians
as they are teaching. But we're going to save that
for our study of Pentecostalism in the light of Pentecost. So
what was the significance of Pentecost? Why did it occur? What changed? What was the purpose
of this great work of God and this phenomenon? Now please tolerate
from me some repetition from an earlier study. But a thought
set forth by Thomas Goodwin that God had two great gifts that
he intended to give into the world and to bestow on the world. Number one, his son who came
by incarnation. Gift number two, his Holy Spirit. both of them having existence,
both of them being active before their special manifestation in
the world. This was not the beginning either
of Christ or of the Holy Spirit. But nevertheless, it was necessary
and it pleased God our Father that both of them, the Son and
the Spirit, should have a visible manifestation in the world. And it is not a stretch to say
that each one of them had a forerunner to go before them to promise
and declare their appearing. John who said, a mightier than
I cometh after me. One great is even now at the
door, then Jesus Himself said that the Holy Spirit would come
unto them. When He returned unto heaven,
He would send unto them a Comforter. And both of them, the Lord Jesus
Christ in His incarnation, the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost,
had a manifestation and visible appearing among the people, the
greatest being the anointing of our Lord with the Spirit at
His baptism, and then the day of Pentecost. to understand the
work which he came to do and the manner of his coming, which
it did reflect, the dignity and the glory of his being, or of
his person, if you will, for the Spirit of God is a divine
person. the third member of the Godhead,
the great work that has been given unto Him to do. The Savior
came with a work given Him to do. He did and He finished that
work. Now, the manner of His coming,
I'm talking about the Spirit now, and the manifestation, His
coming did events that his coming did reveal to be supernatural
and miraculous. To his J.A. Alexander wrote,
quote, it served to prove the reality of an extraordinary spiritual
influence which might have otherwise been denied or doubted, unquote. Had it not, had he not come with
such a powerful and visible manifestation, it must needs have been something
beyond human ability. It must needs have been something
beyond a normal human occurrence. It must agree with the Scripture,
wherein the apostle could say, this is that prophesied by Joel. This is that fulfillment of that
promise made by the prophets. of old, who would deny that by
most the Spirit is absolutely shorted in His due and glory
and divinity in preaching today and in our lives, as well as
His part in the purpose of God, especially in the salvation of
the elect. For example, the work the importance
of the work of the Spirit of God. When God spoke into existence
the world, it was the Spirit of God that brooded upon it,
as we read in Genesis chapter 1. When God sent His Son incarnate
into the world and made of a woman, it was the Holy Spirit of God
that gave conception of the humanity of our Lord in the womb of the
virgin. When God would commit His Word
unto writing so that we might have a permanent record thereof,
it was the Spirit of God who inspired and guided those men
who wrote the Word of God. And when God would bring the
fallen elect to eternal life and happiness. It is the Spirit
of God that goes and sovereignly quickens them. And when God would
bring in the new covenant, when God would make all things new,
when God would bring the Gentile into the covenant and raise up
that holy, holy temple of the Lord and send forth the gospel
to the nation. He commits that work into the
hands of the blessed Holy Spirit of God. I thought that Goodwin
actually waxed eloquent when he wrote in some of his writings
and I'm quoting, his visible coming at Pentecost was the visible
consecration and dedication of that great temple, the mystical
body of Christ, to be reared up under the gospel." Ah yes, Goodwin said in another
place, the hymn was given the work. of calling and applying
the gospel under the Gentile. To him, the Spirit was given
the work of building up the New Testament churches. This is a
work reserved for the blessed Spirit of God. The calling and
the setting of ministers over the churches. This is the work
of the Holy Spirit of God. By the way, I think that this
might be a good place for us to mention a thing about the
order of God's work. And with that in mind, that phrase
that we meet in the Scripture, to the Jew first. Let's think
about that. We meet that in the Scripture
about God's order in His work to the Jew first. Number one,
God revealed himself to the Jews and to the Jews only for the
most part in the old economy in a way that he did not reveal
himself under the other peoples or nations of the world. You
can't deny this. It's an undeniable evidence of
divine election. God revealed himself to them
but not to the other nations of the world. Christ appeared
first in the flesh among the Jews and worked principally among
them during his earthly ministry. He came unto His own. Thirdly, let us remember, the
gospel was first unto the Jew. Romans 1 and verse 16. Acts 13
and verse 46. Acts 28 and verse 28. Matthew
10, verse 5 and verse 6. That the gospel, the Word of
God, was confined for a time to the
Jews only. Now the point, number four. So
the Spirit of God was first poured out upon them. You see it in
Acts 11, 15 through verse 17. Here the apostle to the Jew makes
a case for his having gone in unto the uncircumcised Gentile."
Referring to Pentecost as the beginning. The Spirit as He gave
unto us, that is, Jews at the beginning. He also makes a contrast. them and us, them the Gentile
and us the Jew. There was order upon the Jew
first, Acts chapter 2 at Pentecost, then upon the Gentile, Acts chapter
10 at the house of Carnelius. That was separated, of course,
by an interval of time. We'll look at the coming of the
Spirit on the Gentile in a later study. Now, let's focus a while
on Acts 1 and verse 8 as it lists one of the great results of the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Here it is. You shall receive
power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. You shall
be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, Judea, in Samaria,
unto the uttermost parts of the earth." You notice there, in
verse 6 and verse 7, that the Lord deflected a question that
the disciples raised unto Him. Will you at this time restore
the kingdom unto Israel? And then he brings them back
to the coming event, the coming of the Spirit upon them in a
few days. And by the way, as you read this,
you become aware that these Jewish disciples, these Jews clung to
the hope that Christ would assume an earthly throne and establish
a visible kingdom on earth at that particular time. And it
seemed they held this hope right until the Lord ascended and then
was gone out of their sight. He says in verse 7, it's not
given you to know the times and the season which the Father hath
put in His own authority. I think that kind of discredits
the date setters like that old man in California done set three
or four dates for the coming of our Lord. But on the other
hand, What they could infallibly know for certain, what was given
them to know was this, that the Holy Spirit would come and would
empower them and give them power to be witnesses unto the Lord
Jesus Christ, to proclaim Him, to herald Him and the glorious
gospel. Please note, what the Lord calls
in verse 8, the Spirit coming upon them, He calls in verse
5, being baptized with the Holy Spirit of God. Now, here's the
thing that I mulled over and I felt more confident saying
it when I read that others had said one and the same thing. And that is that the principal
reason for the giving and the exercising of the gift of tongues
on the day of Pentecost was not to make easier the preaching
of the gospel of our Lord. Not necessary to facilitate the
preaching of the gospel. And I'll tell you why. by the
providence of God through the setting up of the Grecian Empire
prior to the coming of Christ into the world, it caused that
there be a common language in the known world of that time,
and that was Greek, spoken in the known world, or as we call
it, the Roman Empire. And this was an advantage in
the preaching of the gospel in many places because of the use
of a common or a general language in the Roman Empire Therefore,
the gospel could be preached. Nor is that all, for by the same
divine providence of our great and all-wise God, by this time
the Old Testament Scriptures had been translated out of Hebrew
and into Greek. And this is called the Septuagint. When you see that word Septuagint,
it's the translation of the Hebrew Scripture into the Greek. Some say that this was done by
70 scholars and in 70 days in Alexandria. This means that the
scriptures were in the language of the Gentiles at this particular
time by the providence of God. So that a part of the preparatory
providence of God for the sending forth of the gospel into many
places had already fallen into place. And as Acts 1 and verse
8 said, power for the task would be furnished not by the gift
of tongues, but by the filling of the Holy Spirit. They were
to wait for it, it would come, they would receive power after
or when are at the coming of the Holy Spirit. By the coming
they would receive power when He is come upon you. By the way, we have mentioned,
as James A. Alexander did, that the verb
in Acts 1 And verse 8 is the same one used
in Luke 1.35. You remember what that is? It's the announcement to Mary
that the Holy Ghost would come up on her. and overshadow her,
that born of her would be called the Holy Son of God. The word is the same for the
Spirit coming to give conception of the humanity of our Lord in
the womb of the Virgin. And what the Lord said to them
here is that the Holy Ghost shall come up on you. And to the disciple, when are
after he spoke of it future in Mary, or at present in Mary,
and future here in the disciple. This would endue them with power. He had said to them in Luke 24
and verse 49, you shall be endued with power from on high. This would prepare them for the
work, yea, an extraordinary preparation, including the gift of tongues,
the working of miracles, a spiritual discernment sharper than they'd
ever had, a strong belief in the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ and convinced beyond doubt that he's alive and at the right
hand of God. One great change ushered in at
Pentecost, no longer would the gospel be restricted to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. In Acts 10, 5 and 6, he had the
disciples go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. No longer would that be the case.
But the gospel would be proclaimed in many places and unto many
people. In Judea, the half-breed despised
Samaritan would have the gospel brought unto them. And the unclean,
uncircumcised Gentile would have the gospel brought unto them. to the barbarians the gospel
would come, to the Ethiopians the gospel would come in saving
power and benefit unto them. Therefore, we close this morning
by saying, continuing later, Pentecost is an important point
in God's dealing with mankind and the working out of the eternal
purpose and decree of Almighty God. And Peter said to them,
this is that spoken by the prophet Joel. We'll have to take up some
on that even later.