The Day of Pentecost
Acts 2:1-13
Introduction: Today around two thousand years ago, the Church was birthed. That day was the coming of the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus. The Day of Pentecost was one of the most phenomenal and important events in all history.
A. There are five distinct reasons why.
1. It was the coming of the Holy Spirit
2. It was the birth of the Church
3. It was the corporate filling of the Holy Spirit
a. The body of believers filled with the promised presence of Christ.
4. It was the personal filling of the individual believer by the Holy Spirit.
5. It was the Presence and Power of God coming upon believers.
a. It was the gifting and equipping them to proclaim the glorious message of salvation to men.
B. Six thing happened
1. There was God’s providence. [Preparing for the future]
2. There was man obeying
3. There was the spirit of being in one accord
4. There was the Spirit infilling
5. There was witnessing, devout men heard the Word
6. There were different reactions – Vs 12-13 – [Still are today]
A. Certain thing need to be understood
1. The Feast of Pentecost
a. Pentecost was celebrated fifty days after Passover
b. Also known as the Day of the First Fruits – Numbers 28:26
c. Or the Feast of Weeks – Exodus 34:22
d. Or the Feast of Harvest
2. Pentecost was a glorious day of celebration
a. A day when people were to heap Praise and Thanksgiving upon God.
3. There were three particular reasons for which they were to thank God.
a. ONE – The Harvest of the Fields
1. Note the very name of the feast
2. Celebration of the “First Fruits”
3. Celebrating the ‘first fruits’ when harvest began to come in. [Sometime around the first of June]
4. It actually opened the harvest season
b. TWO – The Exodus – deliverance from Egyptian bondage
1. They were to thank God for their deliverance out of Egypt
a. Deuteronomy 16:12,
c. THREE- The giving of the Law upon Mount Sinai –
1. Exodus 19:1-6
2. This was when the people was constituted as a nation
a. Now they were the great nation of Israel
3. They were to live as God’s very own people on earth.
4. They were to thank God for Himself and His law.
5. To keep the rules and principles He had given to govern their lives and nation.
6. The Jews figure God gave Moses the law fifty days after the Exodus
B. How God’s providence fulfilled the coming of the Holy Spirit
1. When “Pentecost was fully come”, the First Fruits were born
a. The Church itself was born and the first harvest of souls.
b. The “new beginning”, the filling of the Holy spirit
c. Begin fifty days after Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection
2. The coming of the Spirit had a very specific purpose.
a. The Holy Spirit was to live and work within the heart of man.
b. The Holy Spirit was to deliver and free man from the enslavements of the world.
c. The Holy Spirit came to set men at liberty.
1. Just as God had delivered Israel out of bondage.
2. 2 Corinthians 3:17
3. The coming of the Holy Spirit was two things
a. It was to birth the Church
b. The new People of God
c. The people who truly come to God were to be sealed and known by the presence of the Holy Spirit.
d. By the presence within their hearts and lives
e. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30
4. It was the institution of the New Law
a. The New rule and principle of God
b. Man to be guided by the Spirit who empowers
A. The believers were all in one place
1. In the city of Jerusalem where Christ told them to go
2. They were to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit
3. They were obedient despite the danger coming from the authorities. Acts 1:12-15
Thought: One thing is absolutely essential if a believer wants to receive the fullness of God’s Spirit: Obedience. The believer must obey God and follow His instructions. John 14:15-17, 23
B. Unity, being in the spirit of unity
1. There was the spirit of “being in one accord” Acts 1:14
a. They were in one accord in prayer
b. One accord in one place
c. One accord in daily worship and the Lord’s supper
d. One accord in obedience – Acts 8:6
e. One accord in a business meeting – Acts 15:25
f. One accord is needed to glorify God – Romans 15:5-6
2. The negative side – Acts 7:57, 12:20
3. Here we see the great importance of being in One Accord, in the unity of the Spirit.
A. All in the room were filled with the Holy Spirit
1. As a rushing mighty wind
2. Cloven tongues of fire
B. Results: All were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues.
1. Acts 1:8 was fulfilled – Power
2. The ability to reproduce
3. Like a dynamo – keeps on producing
Conclusion: Pentecost is still very important for us today. Just as God’s people were led out of bondage in Egypt, we can be lead into His marvelous light by the Holy Spirit, out of the bonds of Satan. We are the First Born, the redeemed, blood bought of the Lord Jesus. This is why we should praise and worship and give thanksgiving to God at all times.