Now, let's just, as it were,
hang on to every word. Acts 2, 1 and following. And
when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were with one
accord in one place. Suddenly there came a sound from
heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house
where they were sitting. There appeared unto them cloven
tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with
the Holy Ghost, or 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. And 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 marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not
all these that speak Galileans? Now hear we every man in our
own tongue wherein we were born. Parthenians, Medes, Elamites,
the dwellers in Mesopotamia, in Judea, in Cappadocia, in Pontus
and Asia, Phyrgia, Pamphylia 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 own 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. Now notice the different effect
that it had and the different conclusions that were drawn by
different ones in the city at that particular time. Now, our
third study today deals with the actual outpouring of the
Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Let's rehearse a little bit.
Of the things that we have recovered thus far, this is the sum. We've had two studies on the
subject or the matter up till now. First, we saw that the Spirit
was given in accordance with a special promise of God and
of Christ. In Acts 1 and verse 4, it is
called the promise of the Father, as we saw in our first study. and that the coming of the Spirit
and the pouring out of the Spirit was of the nature of a gift.
It was not merited and it was not attributed for
in any way. It was freely bestowed. It was an act of grace, an act
of God's sovereign good pleasure according to His goodwill and
purpose. Then secondly, we also saw in
the second study that the Holy Christ procured by His death
upon the cross that He died, He merited or procured the Holy
Spirit of God for the church of God or for the people of God. That the coming of the Spirit
actually awaited and was contingent upon the glorification of our
Lord Jesus Christ. You'll see that in John chapter
7, and verse 39, and Acts chapter 2 and verse 33. His death sealed up all spiritual
blessing to the elect because of His death all salvational
blessings are bestowed, are administered unto the elect. Our Lord's death
secured the accomplishment of all things that God has planned
and has purpose for us. Now this morning, we're about
to see a third thing, and that is that there was a definite
and a set time for the coming of the Spirit in the manner of
Pentecost that we read about. that it answered to one of the
prominent feasts that were kept by the Jew in the old economy,
which feast days were typical of the coming of a better covenant
that would have Christ as its mediator and as its head. Now, we have seen that the Lord
had commanded His apostles in the early part of Acts chapter
1, He had commanded them to awake, to dwell, to abide in the city
of Jerusalem. And He said, in a few days you
will be baptized with the Holy Spirit of God." So they were
to go there or wait there or be assembled together and wait
for the promise of the Father that was to be poured out upon
them. That promise was the Holy Spirit
of God. Notice that the Lord calls it
a baptism. And the word is a common word
for baptism that is used in the New Testament. It is baptizo
and used of both water and also of the Spirit. It is used of
the death of Christ. In Matthew chapter 20 and verse
22, I have a baptism to be baptized with. 1 Corinthians
chapter 12 and verse 13, by one spirit are we all baptized into
one body. And the words are one and the
same. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and
verse 2, of the Israelite being baptized unto Moses under the
cloud and in the sea. Now, looking at Acts chapter
2 and verse 1, and the words again, When the day of Pentecost
was fully come. When the day of Pentecost came. When it arrived. When it was
complete. When the day of Pentecost was
complete. Now, let's look at some intervals
of time that we see here mentioned in early in the book of Acts.
In chapter 1 and verse 3, there is a mention of 40 days, that
our Lord was seen of them, that he accompanied with them 40 days. And that's measured or commences
from the time of our Lord's death or His resurrection. Commencing
with His resurrection, when He showed Himself alive after His
passion, as Acts had it, or His suffering and His death, we see
that there are two things that are mentioned here for our admonition. Let's look at them. Number one,
our Lord during those 40 day interval between His resurrection
and His ascension gave them time and again credible evidence of
his resurrection from the dead. That is, he showed himself alive. He showed himself to be alive
again from the dead. He presented himself alive unto
them. And not one time, but time and
time again, or on several occasion. Now, the second thing that we
notice is that Acts said he taught them many things during this
period, preparing them for his going away or his departure and
preparing them for the coming comforter that would be sent
from the Father unto them to lead, to help, to guide, to teach,
and to call all to their remembrance. We've looked at that in an earlier
study. Now again in Acts 1 and verse
5, following the 40 days, we read again of an interval of
time. This time it is not numbered,
but not many days hence, or not many days from now, or literally,
in a few days, our Lord said, this will happen, this will occur. Before many days, or soon, in
a few days a great event will occur. Now, most expositors are
agreed that from the time when the Lord repeated this promise
in verse 4 and verse 5 of chapter 1 until it was fulfilled was
a time or a period of approximately 10 days or that makes 50 days
after the resurrection of the Lord. And this is significant
when we consider some of those feast days that were ordained
by God and celebrated under the old economy. And it's also significant
when we remember that the word Pentecost, Pentecoste, is three
times in the New Testament. Acts 2 and 1, Acts 20 and 16,
1 Corinthians 16 and verse 8, and the meaning is literally
50th, the 50th, Pentecost or the 50th. So literally, we have
when the 50th day was come. when the 50th day had arrived,
measuring, of course, from the resurrection of our blessed Lord
and Savior. And, of course, we can see that
there must be a point of measurement of the 50 days, but from what? Well, we've already said, 50
days from when? 50 days from what? Now to get
the answer under this, it is necessary that we take a quick
look, a short look, at the old economy and the ceremonial law,
or at least a part of it. Paul calls it in Colossians 2
and 17, a shadow of things that were to come. All of those things
that were done preparatory to the appearance of Christ, Paul
calls a shadow of things to come. Hebrews 10, and verse 1 said,
there was a shadow of good things to come, but not the literal
substance of the things themselves. And in looking back then at the
old economy, we can learn why the Spirit, the Spirit of God,
was sent on Pentecost or on this particular day being the 50th. And here's a hint. It had no
relation to the action, to the behavior, to the prayer, to any
conditions that were met by the apostles and by the other disciples. It did not lie with them in any
way or in any manner. Why then this day of all days? Why fifty days after our Lord
died and conquered death and was alive again? Some think it is as simple as
this, that for this great celebration there would always be many Jews
from foreign places that would come to Jerusalem for to celebrate
the Feast of Pentecost. And this is true, and it is incidental,
I believe, unto the event, but this surge in the number of Jews
that would be in the city occurred also with each year's Passover,
the Feast of Tabernacle, and some of the other great feasts
that were kept. Yet was the Spirit not given
on one of those days, but on the fiftieth day, or Pentecost,
after the resurrection of our Lord. Others there are, expositors
I mean, who are of the opinion, and these are some modern day
disciples, you'll hear them say this all the time. They say that
the disciples so consecrated themselves, they became so spiritual,
they got so close unto God, that the Spirit came because of them
conditioning themselves to be able to receive it. However,
I believe the answer lies somewhere else besides there. So we take
a look at the types and the shadows that we find in the old economy. We need to go to the book of
Leviticus and chapter 23, whether you turn there or just remember
it or take the note, whatever pleases you. But in Leviticus
chapter 23, we read in verse 1 and in verse 2, And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them
concerning the feast of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim, Holy
Convocation, these are my feasts. Now, the chapter closes in verse
44, and Moses declared, under the children of Israel, the feast
of the Lord. Now, here in this chapter, we
have what Matthew Henry called, and I liked it so I used it,
quote, the institution of holy times and a general account of
the holy times which God had appointed." And Leviticus 23
contains that record. John Gill said much the same
thing about them in Leviticus chapter 23, calling chapter 23
of Leviticus, and I quote, an account of the several holy days,
times, seasons appointed by God under the names of feast and
holy convocations." Those are the description of John Gale. Now, we won't read the chapter,
but let's run through it very quickly. Some of the feasts and
some of the days that are mentioned, I'll point out. In verse 3, the
weekly Sabbath, which the Jews put much stock in. In v. 4 and v. 5, the yearly Passover
is stated for them again. In v. 6, v. 7, and v. 8, the Feast of Unleavened Bread
was celebrated. In v. 9-14, the firstfruits were
celebrated unto the Lord. In v. 15 and v. 16, the Feast
of Weeks Also, in verse 17 through verse
21. In verse 23 through verse 25,
the Feast of Trumpets was given and was celebrated. In verse
26 through verse 32, the Day of Atonement. In verse 33 through
verse 36, the Feast of Tabernacles. And we see that one as familiar
in the New Testament. Now truly this chapter, as John
Gill said or wrote, contains indeed an account of the holy
days, of the holy time, of the holy seasons that were appointed
by God to be kept and observed by the people of God. Now, and all of them were typical
of something, and some of them followed others by a certain
number of days. Keep that in mind. Now, we're
interested in verse 15 through verse 21, which Leviticus calls
the feast of weeks, we know it, as Pentecost or the 50th. We're interested in Leviticus
23, verse 15 and verse 16, where in verse 15 we read, they were
to number seven Sabbaths. That would be 49 days, would
it not? And as for the number 50, we're
told that the Lord accompanied with his disciple off and on
for those 40 days after his death and his resurrection. Then there
were a few days after the ascension until the day of Pentecost. Ten more days are 50. Now these 50 days were numbered
are counted from the Feast of the Passover. A better record
of this you might have in Deuteronomy chapter 16, if you'd like to
cross-reference it. We know something. We know that
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is our Passover. For Paul tells
us, I Corinthians 5 and verse 7, Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed
for us. And 50 days after Christ being
our Passover and living again after the day of Pentecost as
Acts 2 and verse 1, when the day of Pentecost was fully come. And it corresponds with Leviticus
chapter 23 15 through verse 21, when on the fiftieth day after
the sheath offering was brought and was weighed before our Lord,
as in Leviticus 23 and verse 15, you shall count unto you
from the morrow after the Sabbath, and on the fiftieth day after
the sheath offering they were to do this. Leviticus 23 And
verse 16, to offer a new meal offering unto the Lord, consisting
in two baked loaves that were cooked or prepared in some house. They were to be baked with flour
and they were to contain leaven. They were called firstfruits
unto the Lord, and animal sacrifices after that were also made. Now, this shows the relationship
of Pentecost to the death of God's blessed Lamb that taketh
away the sin of the world. Thus it is, when Luke writes
in our text, when the day of Pentecost was fully come. Then, as Frederick Dale Bruner
wrote in his book entitled, A Theology of the Holy Spirit, and here
is a good point, that he makes about the coming of the Spirit
of God in the fashion that he came on the day of Pentecost. He said that Pentecost is ushered
in and in an historical context. It is ushered in. Luke makes
it to be according to the sovereign timing of God, that it was decided
and determined when the fullness of time was come by God, then
it happened. when the day of Pentecost was
fully come. To fulfill the types, the Spirit
came fifty days after the Passover of our Lord was sacrificed. And the meeting of any condition
by the recipients is not mentioned in the biblical account. Need
I say that again? The meeting of any condition
by the recipient is not mentioned in any of the biblical account. And if one should seek for that
and says that they were in one accord and they were in one place
and that that had an influence on the Spirit of God being poured
out to them, I answer this indeed is a stretch and is a grasping
at straw. At best, that was simply obedience
to the command of the Lord. In Acts 1.4 and 1.14, it cannot
prove that they were praying or that they were preparing for
the Spirit's descent and that they might speak in tongues,
for they as yet This is the reason they as yet had no idea or conception
what it would be, or what it would be about, or what it would
entail or include. We'll have to repeat some of
this when we come to weigh Pentecostalism in the doctrine of Pentecost. So let's wade out, if we might,
into this deep water. We have a couple of preliminary
remarks in Acts chapter 2 and verse 1a, simply the day of Pentecost
had arrived, meaning the appointed days, the appointed time of God
had passed. The time was complete, and this
was a day which the Jews were very familiar with, though they
had never seen it on this wise in all of their celebration.
The disciples were together in one place. They were assembled
together in assembly. Not each one in their own dwelling,
not scattered hither, thither, and yon. In Acts 115 the number
is given to be about 120. And it could well be that they
were in the temple, Acts chapter 2
and verse 46, as the Lord Jesus had said, it was left unto them
desolate that it would be thrown down and not one stone left upon
another. Who can say exactly where they
were? God knoweth the place, and the
place did not make or give the experience. As if it were known,
some would make a shrine out of it. If the place where the
Spirit was poured out would be known today, it would be a shrine
And the guides would tell these tourists that go that, and it
would become a place of worship. But in Acts 2 and 2 now, moving
along, is mentioned the house where they were sitting. The house where they were sitting. Now in verse 2, notice, suddenly,
quickly, all of a sudden, without warning, without warning at all. Before they knew it, catching
them off guard and by surprise. Here's a point maybe worth pondering. whether they were hearing some
kind of a discourse at the particular time, whether somebody was up
speaking. Or in Acts 1 verse 15 following,
Peter stood and addressed them concerning Judas, which was God
to them that took the Lord Jesus Christ. And in Acts 10 and verse
44, The Spirit fell on the Gentile while Peter was preaching Christ
and the resurrection of the Lord unto them who can say. Be that
as it may, we read of a threefold phenomenon occurring here in
Acts chapter 2 at the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. First, in the second verse, Suddenly
there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,
and it filled all the house where they were sitting. For now, let
us focus on the words, a sound from heaven, as of a mighty rushing
wind." Now it did not say a mighty rushing wind, but as the sound
of a mighty rushing wind. If one is to describe it, this
is its description. And that sound filled the house
where they were sitting. Not a wind. It was a sound. It was a noise. A noise like
a very boisterous wind. as if a violent wind were blowing. The sound was like a gale or
a commotion, a violent and stirring, rushing wind, turbulent air. And two things were evident here. Number one, it came from heaven,
out of heaven, It came from above, and the audible sound did not
resemble more than anything than a strong, mighty, rushing wind. But it filled the whole house
where they were assembled, and it was evident to all. It was
heard by all. None were excluded in that place. Secondly, in the third verse,
they appeared miraculously, clove and tongues resembling fire,
and it set upon all of them. Now, some expositors say that
the Greek in verse 3 would be rendered into English this way,
that the clove and tongues appeared or were seen upon them. Meaning, each one could see what
was upon others that were there in their company. What appeared,
or it seemed to be like them, the best way to describe it,
just like cloven tongues of fire. And then they say that the word
cloven found approximately a dozen times in the New Testament. Now in the Old Testament, cloven,
when we saw the word cloven, it usually referred to a cloven
or a split-footed animal, which was a way to distinguish them. But the New Testament Word is
rendered in those places, parted, it's rendered divided, it's rendered
distributed. And they were divided or parted
or distributed unto all of them. Here are two or three verses
just to get ourselves an example of how the Word is used in the
New Testament. In Luke 22 and 17, the Lord,
handing the cup to the disciples, said this unto them, Take this
and divide it among yourselves. That's the same word we have
here in Acts 2. Again, in Matthew 27, 35, Mark
15, 24, John 19 and 24, we read, They parted to each the garments of the Lord Jesus. And in Acts 2 in verse 45, many
sold their goods and parted it to those that were in need of
the disciples in Jerusalem. And what had John the baptizer
predicted? Matthew 3 and verse 11, as he
spoke to those that came to his baptism, he said to them that,
whereas I baptize you with water, there comes one after me, mightier
than I, whose shoelatches I'm not worthy to unloose. He shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. And yet, not all
expositors are convinced that that refers only or exclusively
to Pentecost as fire is also a symbol of judgment in the Bible. And the Lord in Acts 1 and 5
does not mention fire in promising them the baptism of the Holy
Spirit. And yet by an extraordinary manifestation. There appeared the sign and cloven
tongues of fire dispersed among and lighting upon all of them
that were gathered. It is interesting that the word
tongue here, glossia, you so often Glossa, used so often in
the New Testament, seems to refer both to the organ of speech as
well as to a language. No doubt, this was a sign to
them, a sign of the great work of God commencing at Pentecost
and having direct relation to the death of our Christ, just
as the Spirit descending upon the Lord was a sign to John that
Jesus was he that would administer the baptism with the Holy Ghost.
John 1, 32 and 33. We remember, do we not, in Isaiah
6, verse 5 through 7, the experience of the prophet Isaiah when a
seraphim purged the lips of Isaiah the prophet with coals of fire
that he might preach the things of God. Calvin took the cloven
tongues to be a sign, both to the disciple, also a sign of
the work which the apostles were to accomplish in preaching the
gospel to many tongues, languages, and people, to carry the gospel
to many and to foreign places, as anointed servants of God Most
High, having been anointed by God for that task. Then, the
third great marvel or phenomena given in verse 4 and following
is this, they're speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gave
them utterance." Now look at verse 4. It says, "...in conjunction
with our closely following the sound like a rushing mighty wind,
and the cloven tongues like as a fire lighting on them, came
then the actual baptism of the Holy Spirit." And we read, number
one, we read, They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, which gave
them what Alexander, James A. Alexander said in his commentary
on the book of Acts, quote, the extraordinary influence of the
divine agent, unquote. Now they had the extraordinary
influence and power of the divine agent, the Spirit of God. We
have already seen they had the Spirit before Pentecost, that
Jesus breathed upon them, and gave them the gift of the Holy
Spirit. But He also said later they would
receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon them. The second thing we noted is
not only were they filled with the Holy Spirit, all of them,
but they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave
them utterance or formed words in them or gave voice or sound
unto their oral word. This aspect was not strongly
emphasized in the promise of it prior unto Pentecost. However,
the Lord did put it among the things that He said would be
done to those believing on Him. Do you remember what He said
in Mark chapter 16 and verse 17, among other things? And they
shall speak with other tongues, our Lord said unto them. Who
can deny the speaking here with other tongues was as a direct
result of them having been filled with the Holy Spirit of God. And verse 4 is clear, being filled
with the Holy Spirit, They began to speak with other tongues. The word other is the word heteros,
meaning differ. not alos, meaning similar, but
other or different, different language or dialects, if you
will, not learned by studying in school or having been taught
them by some man, not previously known or spoken by them. And yet there was this great
great phenomenon that occurred on the day of Pentecost, when
by the Spirit's work filling them, and may I use the word
possessing them, the disciples began to speak with other tongues,
or glossolalia, using a language which they had not known or which
they had not used previous unto this day or time. Let's be careful
to observe something here, which is, first of all, we have speakers. Secondly, we have hearers that
are distinguished here. The speakers being full of the
Holy Spirit, began to speak with other heteros, different glossolalia. As for the hearers, these had
come from many places and many provinces and were for the most
part Jews with a mingling of Gentile proselyte among them. They had come, as it said, from
every nation under heaven. and would make credible witnesses
to what they had witnessed and what had occurred, and would
carry the report back to their own country or their own residence. See what is emphasized by these
hearers and by Luke. In verse 6, every man heard them
speak in his own language. Look at verse 7, the last part,
and verse 8. Though the speakers, get this,
the speakers were Galileans, and they knew that. Everyone
knew that. Though the speakers were Galileans,
yet each one heard in their own native or in their own born language
which they had been born with and had been taught from you.
Verse 11, we do hear them speak in our own tongue. Then I want us to notice something
else. Notice the impression that this made upon those Jews who
heard and who saw." If you look at verse 6, Acts chapter 2, they
were confounded. The margin has it troubled in
mind. Look at verse 7, they were amazed
and marvel. Look at verse 12, they were amazed
and in doubt asking, what is the meaning of this? Others, we saw in verse 13, took
it to simply be the rantings, the unrestrained rantings of
inebriated men acting under the influence of strong drink. They said these men are drunk. These men have carried too long
at the wine and we might add also too early or it was early
in the morning, and they said, These men are drunk with wine. The apostle Peter answers that
quibble, and he says, Not so. This is that spoken by the prophet
Joel. We won't go into that this morning.
But in verse 9, verse 10, And verse 11, there are some 15 areas
and peoples that are mentioned by name and having this in common. In verse 11, we do hear them
speak in our own language the wonderful works of God, each
one regardless of their ethnicity, regardless of their region, and
regardless of their language. In verse 6, in His own language. Verse 8, our own tongue. Verse
11, in our tongues, plural. Now the question which we can
raise but not fully answer in our study this morning is of
this sort. Number one, did Peter and the
other apostles and disciples speak in their own native Galilean
dialect And the Holy Spirit take that and translate it and interpret
it into the language of each one according to their learned
dialect. So that what they heard was in
their own familiar dialect. Or is there another explanation? Did the Holy Spirit actually
and really give them the gift and the ability to speak the
things of God in the different dialects of these people? And would the first be very orderly
and the second be more confused if that were the case. We just
raised that question, we've got to deal with it in a later study. But now, let's see the end of
verse 4. That the disciples were filled
with the Holy Spirit of God, they began to speak with other
tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance or enabled them, or
gifted them, inspired them, they were able to speak in new tongues
the glorious things of God, so that each there heard to their
own understanding and edification the wonderful works of God. Now this is a mighty and an important
epic in God's purpose and dealing with his elect. This is a mighty
work and an important work. And I believe that it is here
that a lot of people go wrong. And a lot of bad doctrine is
born out of a false view of penny costs and the fact that they
think it can be repeated if we'll just pay the price and just do
that which will result in it. That for later, however.