The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

Well, turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. We come to chapter 2 today, and we'll be in chapter 2 for a while. I really, we're going to read the first 12 verses. I anticipated getting through the first four. We only made it through the first one this morning, so bear with. Let's look at the first 12 verses together of Acts chapter 2. Luke writes,

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place, and suddenly a sound, like the blowing of a violent wind, came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. And they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. And all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now they were staying in Jerusalem, God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

And when they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked, Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes, and Galileans. And Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,

Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs. We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues. Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, What does this mean? There was a young man who was hitchhiking in the hills of Tennessee, and an old moonshiner came along and saw that he was needing a ride, and he picked him up.

After they'd gone a couple of miles, the old man said to the younger man, he said, Hey, just reach down there into the seat and pull out that jug that's down there and go ahead and take a snort. The young man protested and said, No, no thanks. I really don't think I care for any. The old timer promptly pulled out a pistol and stuck it in the kid's face and said, I said, Reach down under the seat and get that jug and take a drink.

Well, if you put it that way, said the hitchhiker, I guess I will. And he pulled out the jug and he took a long swig. And then he shuddered from head to foot as that 180 proof mash hit his head. Stomach. The young man exclaimed, his head immediately beginning to whirl. And the old man handed the pistol to him and he said, Now you pointed at me while I take a drink.

Like sometimes when we come to the discussion of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we come reluctantly. We know the division that's been caused in the church down through the history of the church because of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, the areas of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And so oftentimes we seek to avoid those until we're confronted with them, until we're actually confronted. We're confronted with having to consider the Holy Spirit and the purpose of the Holy Spirit and the need for the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit has indeed been a divisive subject. And I don't think it needs to be. I think as we take time to spend time in God's word, I like this pulpit, but sometimes it gets carried away more than I do. Take time to spend time with God and his word that he gives us the understanding that's necessary and can keep us from the divisiveness that can too often happen.

You see, as we come to chapter two. If you're familiar with the book of Acts at all, immediately the antennas go up because this is a book. This is the chapter in this book that deals with speaking in tongues. And unfortunately, the tongues has become the focus of chapter two. Instead of understanding, as Jesus told us back in chapter one, that he was going to

give us power to be witnesses. That's the focus. The tongues is not the focus. We've made tongues the issue. We've made tongues the focus and failed to see the understanding. That the focus is on the fact that God has given the enabling power for us to be the witnesses that he's called us to be. Now, Satan has and will continue to seek to distract us from the truth, and we've talked

about that before. Using even God's word, Satan will focus us on areas that we need not be focused on and and cause dissension and division as he distracts us from what the real issue should be. As Christians, as new believers as well as older believers, but let's start with new believers. As new believers, Satan will seek to distract us from our relationship with Jesus Christ as soon as we come to Christ.

And that's why, hopefully, if you're a new believer, someone has counseled you to be aware that Satan is going to come against you and seek to tell you that what you're doing is bogus, that it's not real, that it's just you, so that you'll be aware that the enemy wants to understand. He's going to cut you. But another thing that the enemy will do before he condemns you is he will seek to take your focus away from your relationship with Jesus, and he will put your focus on other people, other Christians. And you will have the desire to have the maturity that they do now.

You will have the desire to want to have all of the junk that's in your life removed now. And when you don't see that happening immediately, you will have the temptation. You will have the tendency to try and generate it on your own. You will have the tendency to try and want to do these things, to be mature, to get rid of this stuff in your life, and you'll find yourself becoming frustrated with yourself and frustrated with God and ultimately condemning God and then believing what Satan was saying originally that this is bogus, that this isn't real, that you haven't really done this, and you'll find yourself drifting back into the ways of the world, into the ways of your old life.

And this is true also for older believers. There is a time when in our walk, Satan will seek to distract us from the focus on our relationship with Christ and get us focused again down, bring our eyes down to the people. And we continue to function doing ministry. We continue to function in seeking to minister to one another and seeking to walk in the Christian walk, but we now find ourselves doing it in our own strength.

And just like the new believer, we become frustrated and we become discouraged. And we become distressed and we move into a backslidden state. We move into those areas of isolating ourselves from one another. And we become just as the church at Ephesus that Jesus spoke of in the book of Revelation that was functioning. They were doing stuff, but it was empty because they had left their first love.

They'd left the focus of their relationship with Jesus Christ and were trying to generate their Christian walk on their own. And so be aware of that. God has given us his spirit. And the focus of that is that we might be witnesses. Not that we might speak in tongues, not that we might prophecy, not that we might do miracles of healings, not that we have all of these other gifts.

The focus is not the gifts. The focus is that we might be witnesses. And the only way we are witnesses is as we are in vibrant, vital, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. And the spirit that he's given us brings us into that vibrant relationship with the Lord so that our focus is on the Lord. And then as we just move through life, we are witnesses. So as we move into action.

Acts chapter 2, may you not be distracted from the focus, which is your relationship with Jesus Christ and his empowering you to be witnesses. The focus is not the speaking in tongues issue. We'll talk about that, but that is not the issue. Now the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We'll be talking about this for the next couple of weeks. God has given us his spirit, as I just said, to draw us into that intimacy with him that

we might be witnesses. And he does that as he draws us to him. He draws us to his word. God's spirit will always draw us to the word of God. You're in Acts chapter 2. Take your Bibles and go back into John, right next door. Go back to John chapter 14 for just a minute. The spirit of God will always cause us to turn to the word of God and then seek to enable

us to trust God, to take him at his word, to trust what God's word has said. John chapter 14, dealing with the giving of the Holy Spirit, dealing with Jesus telling them that. He tells the disciples that he must go away so that as he goes that the promised gift of the Father will be given to them. He tells them all about this and tries to explain what that relationship is going to be like, that the Father will actually be dwelling inside of the believer.

And then he comes down to verse 25 in John chapter 14 and he says, all of this I have spoken while still here with you. But the counselor or the comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things. He will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.

Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Jesus says there that the spirit of God is coming and when the Holy Spirit comes who the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and remind you of everything that I have said to you. Now, I don't know how you see that. You are a believer in Jesus Christ. God has given you his spirit.

The spirit will teach you of all, teach you all things and remind you of everything that Jesus has said. How do you, how do you see that happening? How do you, as you read that, how do you see that in your mind's eye? How does that happen? How does that play out in your daily life? Do you see the Holy Spirit as simply a didactic teacher, a lecturer who stands there and teaches

you only as you are in God's word? And so when you're not reading the Bible, then the Holy Spirit is not instructing you. Do you see it as, and let me say, that is part of it. But if that's the only way you see it, then you're missing something and you will find yourself being very discouraged. I don't know how many times as a young believer I would get into the word and say, okay, Lord,

show me, you know, teach me, show me. And I'd read and I'd read and then I, then somebody said, well, you're reading too big of chunks. Go back and just read a short section. So I'd read a short section and I'd read and I'd pray and I wouldn't see anything and I'd get discouraged and I quit. You see? So if you're expecting the Holy Spirit as you come into the word of God to be the seminary

professor and draw out for you all of the meanings of the Greek and everything as you're sitting here reading devotionally this passage, then you've misunderstood what Jesus is saying here as far as the function and purpose of the Holy Spirit. He draws us to God's word, but I believe that the Holy Spirit experientially applies that to our life. Let me tell you what I mean. I believe that it's necessary, absolutely necessary for us to be in God's word daily, on a regular basis.

On a regular, consistent basis. But rather, when you sit down with the Lord, rather than expecting him to just give you all the understanding of this section that you've never seen before, just go before the Lord and sit down and let's say we're going to read this section in John 14. Okay, Lord, open it up to my understanding. Teach me what you want me to know and read it, anticipating God using that in your life.

Now you may go through that and a verse may kind of stand out to you at that time and you can write it down. That's great. I encourage journaling. But understand and anticipate that the Holy Spirit is in your life. That's great. That the Holy Spirit will, more often than not, apply this section to you as you're in the midst of your daily walk. In other words, as you get up from your study and you go to the office and you're driving

in your car in the midst of that horrendous traffic. As you get to the office or to school or to that area where you go and function in your daily life and you meet with those people, them, who get under my skin, who drive me nuts. That's where this is going to be applied. That's where the Holy Spirit will take that section in John 14 that you've read this morning and he will teach you all things about applying that to your life.

And if you're seeking the Lord and asking him to do that in that way, that's where the Spirit will drive it home. That's where the Spirit's going to remind you of all the things that Jesus has said. It's when you're in that relationship and that person at work is telling you about this or that and you're just getting frustrated. That's when the Holy Spirit will.

Bring to your remembrance that section that you read in John 14. He will bring to your remembrance what Jesus said and how to move now in this particular situation. That's what the Holy Spirit does. That's what Jesus gave him to us to do. Now then following those verses, he says, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I do not give you as the world gives.

Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Now that's not just a greeting or that's not just a bye bye. But I think it's easy to read those two verses or that section in verse 27 really. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid and kind of pass over it and

fail to understand that it's tied right into what he just said there in verse 25 and 26 about the comforter coming who will teach you, who will instruct you with all the things that Jesus has said. Okay. Now you go in tomorrow and your boss tells you that they're downsizing. And they're not going to need you anymore. One of two things will happen. You will freak out and think you're going to starve to death.

Or if you've been spending time with the Lord in his word, the Holy Spirit at that time will apply and you'll be amazed. All of a sudden to your mind's eye will come this section that you've been reading about the comforter, the one who will walk with you. The fact that the Lord will not forsake you, that he'll never leave you. It will come to your understanding.

God will bring it to that understanding. And all of a sudden you find in the midst of it. That you have a peace that God's in control. You see, that's what I think he's saying there when he says, peace, I give you, I leave with you my peace. I give to you. It's not a, it's not, he's not saying bye-bye I'm leaving. He's saying, I'm giving you my Shalom. I'm giving you my peace.

It's a peace that the world cannot give. Now what does that mean? How does the world seek to present us peace? The world seeks to do it from without by stuff that we can get. If you get this bedroom set from cherry orchard. If you get this new car from rusty Ford. If you get this new home over in wherever acres, then you'll have peace. Once you attain this particular job level in this particular salary structure with these

retirement benefits, then you'll have peace. The world seeks to present peace to us by the obtaining of position or power or certain toys. If we gain those things, we'll have peace and we don't, we only gain more headaches. Satisfaction is just for a brief instant. It's gone and we need more stuff, more whatever. But Jesus is saying the comforters coming and he's going to teach you all things and

he's going to remind you of the things that I have said so that you'll have peace, a piece that comes from the inside out. Not that's generated from things outside to try and come in a piece that passes understanding. And then the very next part of that verse, he says, so do not be afraid. Let not your hearts be troubled. Do not be afraid you listen. If he was just telling you to do that, if he's, if he's saying, Hey guys, the comforters

coming, you know, so don't be afraid and, and, and don't let your hearts be troubled. He would be asking you and I to do that on our own, to generate that on our own. Okay. Let's say again, now you, you're, you're just got word that you have a major surgery that you have to go through. Maybe some of you do. You're coming up for a major surgery this week. And I just say to you, don't be afraid.

Don't let your heart be troubled. Really makes you feel good. Doesn't it? Why? I feel better now. Or how about being a Marine? Don't let your hearts be troubled. Don't be afraid. Why? I'm coming up boy. Really helps. Doesn't it? See, that's asking you to generate it yourself. That's asking you in the midst of a particular circumstance to buckle up and not be afraid.

Take it like a man. And that's not what Jesus is saying. He's saying the comforters coming, the Holy Spirit that my father is going to send. He'll teach you all things. He'll, he'll practically apply my word. As you spend time with my word with, with him, he'll, he'll apply that in these situations and you'll find in those situations, you'll have a peace. The world can't give it.

The world can't take it away. And in that time, you won't be afraid. You'll find that you can choose. To believe God's word that God will provide, that God will protect, that God will do the things that he's promised. And you can let not your heart be troubled. You can trust his word, trust the leading of the Holy Spirit. And you'll find in those times that there's an amazing peace.

You know, it's a particularly potentially scary situation, but you're at amazing peace. You're at an amazing ease in the midst of this. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. That's what Jesus said. His spirit was going to come and do. And so with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. With the giving of the Holy Spirit. The working of the Holy Spirit. The focus is not the tongues or the prophecy or whatever.

The focus is the fact that the Holy Spirit draws us to God's word, opens it up. So we have that marvelous relationship with Jesus so that we have his peace. So that we trust him. So that we move through this life. Yeah, there's things that are going to happen that are horrendous, but he carries us through that in the midst of that. And as you let him do that, you are a witness and that's what he's called us to be.

He's given us power to be his witnesses. He has empowered us to do that. He has empowered us that we might experience his peace, that we might not allow our hearts to be troubled and overwhelmed as one in the world would be. Paul tells those at Thessalonica who have lost loved ones not to grieve as the world grieves. Again, if that's something that we have to generate on our own, when you've lost a close

loved one, there's a grieving process that goes on. But Paul is saying, understand what's happening. That there's life beyond this. That there's a purpose in this. That God is directing. He's moving in every single circumstance. And you can trust his spirit to comfort, to bring that assurance. You see, as Christians, we have that blessing. We have that promise.

Now, as we come to Acts chapter two and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I want to seek to try and make this maybe a little more understandable than some of you have had with this section in the past. And as we look at the first 12 verses, just to begin, I want to break this down into three sections. Three sections for our studying understanding. And the first thing I want us to consider is verse one, and that's all we're going to get through today.

And that's the setting of Pentecost. The setting of Pentecost. Now, if you were with us last week, last week as we were looking at the last half of chapter one and the study was TBIF, the time before the infilling, I asked you to consider the setting of that particular section. The idea of the Mount of Olives, where they were coming from, and the upper room where they were going to.

Because those have a specific meaning, a purpose for being there. And we need to consider that. Every time you go through a text. The scripture, consider the setting, what's the surroundings, what's going on. There's a reason that God mentioned that. And so I want us to consider the setting of Pentecost this morning in verse one. Then we'll look from verses two through four at the sounds and sights of Pentecost.

The sounds and sights of Pentecost. There's a reason for wording it that way. And we'll look at that as we get to that. And then as we move from verses five through 12, we'll look at the selection that occurred at Pentecost. God does not write these names of places and people in order to embarrass you at a Wednesday night home fellowship, when the pastor says, hey, would you read these verses?

And you go, they were from Phrygia and Parthian and Medes and all those, he doesn't do that. And he doesn't do it inconsequentially. There's a reason for the listing of all of those names in verses five through 12. There's a special selection that happened there for a special reason. And he doesn't do that. He doesn't do it inconsequentially. There's a reason for the listing of all of those names in verses five through 12.

There's a special selection that happened there for a special reason. And I want us to consider that as we go through this section. Okay, let's start off with first of all, the setting of Pentecost. Verse one. When the day of Pentecost came, the international version, they were all together in one place. Okay, take your Bibles and hold your finger here in Acts two and go back with me to Leviticus

chapter 23. Leviticus chapter 23. You've all just been through a wonderful time of devotions in Leviticus, I'm sure. Back where the pages are still stuck together because you haven't been there yet in this Bible. Leviticus chapter 23 deals with the different feasts. It deals with the different feasts of Israel. Verse three deals with the Sabbath itself. Verse four through eight deals with Passover and unleavened bread.

And then at verse nine, he talks about the Feast of First Fruits. And then beginning at verse 15, he talks about the Feast of Weeks. This is the Feast of Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks. Because from the first day after the Sabbath, the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count seven full weeks. Count off 50 days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath.

And then present an offering. An offering of new grain to the Lord. From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with yeast as a wave offering of first fruits to the Lord. And then it goes on with the other sacrifices that are to be presented with that wave offering of bread that comes. There's the seven lambs and a bull and a goat and then two lambs that are to be waved before

the Lord. And their parts go to the priests for their part in the sacrifice. But the main part of the focus of this I want you to see. It's in the first couple of verses there, verses 15 through 17. And this wave offering of the two loaves. Now the Feast of Pentecost was a Jewish celebration. And I want you to have that understanding before we even get into this.

It wasn't something that was invented by Christians. It wasn't something that just happened with the giving of the Holy Spirit, with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It was already a feast that was practiced by Israel since the time of Moses. Since Moses received it from God as part of the law, part of the celebrations. Now. The Feast days were given and the Sabbath day itself was given for Israel to remember

the Lord. The functions of those feast days did not do anything other than cause the people to set their hearts on the Lord. To remember what God had done. Passover, when they celebrated that, they remembered how God had brought them out of Egypt after the death angel came through and passed over the homes that had been marked with the blood. The lentils of blood which formed a cross over each door.

The first fruits was the time of the beginning, before the Lord, and ask God to bless that as he had provided and so marvelously blessed them in the past with the harvest that had come in with bringing the latter in the former reigns and bringing forth the function and the fruit of the harvest. Then at Pentecost. Pentecost initially was a thanking of God. It was a realizing of the fullness of the harvest that God had indeed fully blessed the harvest.

That's the two loaves of bread rather than the sheaves of grain. God had done a blessing. Not a blessing. what he had promised and so the harvest was was full and complete and the people realized that that had come from the hand of god god was completing the harvest as he had promised now also it was a commemoration of the law or a commemoration of god's word as god had promised in his word that he would care and provide for them he has done that they've received the harvest and it's full and complete and they have baked the bread from the harvest now they bake two loaves which corresponded or symbolized the law of god the two tablets the two sewn tablets of god's law

and so it was a time not only of a thanking god for the harvest and the completeness of the harvest but a commemoration of god's word that god had indeed promised and he had fulfilled his promise and so they the this time during uh this 49 days before pentecost was a time of of the people committing themselves to be in god's word committing themselves to the remembering and the reciting of the word of god as well you they were given to prayer during that particular time now each one of these feasts as we've mentioned before has been fulfilled in a literal sense in the church or for the church it not only has a practical uh meaning to the jew and shows how god has provided for the jew but it goes on

to show how god has ultimately provided for mankind through his own at passover we see that that's the time that jesus was crucified he was crucified on the very day of passover and his blood the spreading of his blood on our hearts on the doorposts of the church and on the cochran are by volume forever in his promise of salvation to the world the sameune of the holy spirit and fueling the areg's qaqaal heavenly ungodly and holy and selfless свfirth lawless and of the holy spirit abello Fraredo one of the blessings of god the risen twins came from sin he's dealt with sin and so now through the resurrection he's broken the bondage of sin which is death and then we come to pentecost and at pentecost we see symbolized

the fulfillment of god's promise to provide the completeness of the harvest in the two loaves of bread and in that we see the outpouring of god's spirit that now brings the believers together into one body that the bible calls the body of christ and it's exciting to me because as you look at the two loaves yes they represent the two tablets of zone but they also signify the body of christ that has been made now visible in the world through his church and it's interesting if you're still in leviticus down in verse 17 it says from wherever you live bring two loaves made of two tenths of an ephah fine flour baked with yeast it's one of the only offerings that they were to

offer that had yeast in it one of the only grain offerings most of the offerings that they offered with grain were to be without yeast without leaven passover they had to make the unleavened bread they even had to clean out their homes and make sure all the leaven and the yeast was removed because leaven in scripture corresponds with sin jesus warned the disciples beware of the leaven of the scribes and the Pharisees beware their sin do what they say but don't do what they do they're hypocrites so watch out for their their leaven their sin but here we have two loaves now that were made with yeast significant i think so number one it not only represents the fact of god's law but the yeast in it represents the fact

that man violated that law sin was in there man did not keep god's law but god through the offering of christ has brought the sinner together into one body by his grace and so we have the body of christ represented in those loaves sinners saved by grace beautiful picture of the celebration of the feast of pentecost now this is what's happening during this time in act after one as they're waiting for the event that jesus told them now they have no idea i don't think they will have we'll talk about this next week as we get into the rest of this but they have no idea what to expect we talked about last time they didn't even really know when to expect it and most of them were going to probably leave other than they were there for the feast of pentecost

and Jesus encouraged and urged them in chapter 1 to stay in Jerusalem. So they're there, and they're there, and they're going through, I think, the final stages of the preparation for Pentecost. They're preparing these loaves. They're preparing their sacrifices. Now, there's something else that's significant, and it's found in material outside of Scripture.

There's a book called The Three Festivals, which talks about these three primary feats of Israel. It's written by Rabbi Yosef Zern, and in it he writes about Pentecost. He says, quote, This is a time of spiritual purification. In the Hebrew, it's called Tahara. The Tahara, the spiritual purification. During these 49 days, these seven weeks, these seven Sabbaths of preparation,

there is a continual seeking of the Lord and a reading of His Word. Each day, according to Zern in his book, an impurity drops away until at last the person is free from earthly contaminants. So the Jew believed during the Feast of Pentecost that during these seven weeks it was a time of setting himself apart, of setting himself apart under the Lord, of seeking to purify himself by the reading of God's Word, setting his heart upon the Lord, and allowing God's Word to come and to seek to purify him as he was set apart waiting for that last day, the actual day of Pentecost itself. Zern continues in his book, quote, During these days and weeks, our personal efforts to cleanse ourselves of spiritual impurities are critical.

However, if we make sincere efforts during Sephara, these 49 days, these seven weeks, we can be assured that God will shower us with an outpouring of Tahara on the night of Pentecost, as the sages have said, quote, someone who comes to purify himself will receive divine help, end quote. I want you to get into the minds of these Jews as they are here at Pentecost waiting for what Jesus told them was the promised gift of the Father. They are going through this preparation for this Feast, a thanksgiving to God for the harvest, for the blessings that he's given them through harvest, a thanking him for his Word. They are seeking to purify themselves by separating themselves unto God, spending time in his Word, reading through his Word.

It's exciting to me because as God gives his Spirit, that's exactly what God does. He separates unto himself. These will be the days of Pentecost. It's not by their activity, but by his Spirit. Separate them unto himself. This divine help that Stern writes about, that the Jews believed would come to those who really were diligent and sincere and sought to set themselves apart,

that on this last day, on this day of Pentecost itself, God would give them a divine help to help them come into this Tahara, this purification. We see that now with hindsight as the giving of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit that God has given. Now it's exciting because this last night, this very last night before the day of Pentecost, according to their writings, it was an all-night vigil. Everyone would be up that night.

I mean, the seven weeks before, the days were set apart under that, and then they would take the time to spend time in the Word and go through their ritual, and then they'd go about their business. But the last night, the 49th day, the entire evening, everybody's up, and they're reading. They're going through their Word, what available they had of Scripture to go through of the Torah. They were reciting.

They were going through, and they were praying. So this is an all-night prayer, vigil, seeking the Lord, anticipating this outpouring of His divine help. Then at daybreak, all over, they would read the Ten Commandments. They would read the Law simultaneously. And they believed at that moment as they read that that when God would give His divine help, it would come at that very instant.

The outpouring of God's divine help would come at that very instant. So picture this scene. They've been setting themselves aside now, setting their hearts on the Lord and praying for these 49 days. That's why when you come back to Acts chapter 1, you see that the disciples came back to the room where they were. They were saying, and they continued in prayer.

It wasn't just something that they thought, why don't we pray? They're in the midst of sephirah. They're in the midst of these 49 days, these seven weeks, and part of that is to set themselves aside to the Lord and pray, seeking His purification, seeking His hacharah, seeking His outpouring, a part of that piece of Pentecost. They're doing that. Now, we come to chapter 2.

This is at the end of their all-night vigil. They had all been awake, not only those in that upper room, but all of those who had come to Israel. Remember, hundreds of thousands of Jews had come to Israel, before this particular feast day, and all of them would have been up. All of them wouldn't have fit on the temple mount, but they would have been up in that area, around where the upper room was, out across the Kidron Valley, probably up along the Mount of Olives.

All of them, up, awake, preen, going through God's Word, and at that particular morning, they would have begun when the day began, at 6 o'clock on the Jewish calendar. The day begins at 6 a.m. at dawn. They would have all begun reading the law. I don't know if you can imagine this, you know. It had to have been awesome. We can only kind of imagine but, you know, if you're in a crowd,

and we've been to Israel, and seen the Jews against the Wailing Wall, and they're all praying and bowing, and they're all kind of going at the same time, but let me throw some just imagination in there, just kind of maybe get an idea. When you're in a crowd, and you're doing responsive reading, you know, you kind of want to stay with the crowd, maybe. So, I kind of have this picture of, as they start coming into this, maybe all of them together, are simultaneously beginning to read the law, begin to read down through the Ten Commandments. And so, all over, you hear this.

You're hearing this. In the upper room, you're hearing this. Out in the temple grounds, you're hearing this. Down in the Kidron Valley, and up on the Mount of Olives, you're hearing the reading of God's law, as they're anticipating the outpouring. Now, this is exciting, because God is so specific. If you're reading King James, you really have a better advantage than NIV,

because verse 1 says in the King James, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, now having an understanding of some of the background of it, what that means is, when it was finally 6 a.m., and as they were beginning to read the Ten Commandments, when in their own heart, they were now anticipating the outpouring of God's divine help, the Tahara that might come, all of a sudden, they're at this point, the sound of a mighty wind from heaven, see? It didn't wake them up. They're already awake. They're already in God's Word.

They are already reciting His law at the same time, and all of a sudden, . Did you attend it? Then you give your kingly, it's up and down and fine, isn't it? When you're anticipating the divine help from God, and you knew somehow that it went from here to there, you heard the . Who got the divine help, you know? Where did that end up? And it literally drew the people to the upper room,

and we'll see that as we get down to verses 2 through 4, and, well, actually, verses 5 through 12, we'll see that it says, it says that the sound, that the sound of the people came, it wasn't the sound of the guy speaking in tongues. See, that's what we get all our focus on. It was the sound of the wind, because of the Jewish mind, must have happened. The outpouring has happened.

Now, what did it look like? And we don't know, and that's when they get there, and they see these guys speaking in all the different languages, and it says in verse 12, in amazement, they said, what can this? They didn't know. I mean, what was it going to look like when they got there? They had no idea. The disciples had no idea of what the Holy Spirit was going to be like

when He came upon them. But we'll talk about all that when we get in the next week, as we look at this giving of the Holy Spirit. So, it's exciting to me that at this very time, at this exact time, God pours out His Spirit, in fulfillment of His Word, and in fulfillment of what the feast day was significant of. Just like Passover, on the very day Jesus died.

Just like first fruit, on the very day Jesus rose from the dead. Now, Pentecost, on the very day, the outpouring of Pachorah, the outpouring of God's Holy Spirit. How precise God is. How exact God is. How nothing is left to chance. How nothing is insignificant. What are you facing? What's in your life this morning? What's in your life for this week? God's Spirit wants to draw you to His Word,

so that He can bring you into communion with Him. So, in the midst of that intimacy, He can impart that Word to your heart, so that as you move out into your week this week, and face that whatever, He will teach you all things. He will bring to your remembrance, whatsoever things Jesus had said. So, the peace will be in your heart. Not as the world can give,

but only as Jesus can give. So, you can choose to not let your heart be troubled about it, and choose not to be afraid in the midst of this. You are in communion with Almighty God. That's a blessing. That's a blessing of the Outlawing. That's a blessing of the Spirit of God that's been given to us. And as you do that, brothers and sisters, as you walk through this life that way,

you will be a witness, as you will be amazingly gifted from those in the world who are trying to generate it on their own, who are trying to work it up on their own, who are trying to suck it up and be a man. How God will be mighty in the midst of your life. It's exciting to me, as this feast represented the giving of the Law, that if you remember back in Exodus on the day that God gave the Law to Moses, that as Moses came down the mountain with the Law, He found the people just anxiously awaiting Him. They couldn't wait for Moses to get down.

Now as you go back and read Exodus, you find the people figured God must have eaten them or something because He wasn't coming back. So they went ahead and had Aaron make them a calf and they were frolicking in worship of the calf. Now the English language is pretty gentle with that second. The original language, they were fornicating. They were having a giant orgy.

People were naked and having multiple sex all over the place in front of the calf. And Moses comes down and sees all of this and he calls the Levites over to himself and he says, Strap on your thorn, guys, and go to them and kill them, all those that refuse to repent. And it says in Exodus that, that day, on the day of the giving of the Law, 3,000 people died. The Pentecost symbolizes also the giving of God's Spirit, the outpouring of God's Spirit, the building of God's Church, of God's Takharah.

God's Spirit is poured out upon the people. And on this particular day, we'll read a little bit later here in chapter 2, that 3,000 people came to life. 3,000 people were saved. And Paul writes about that in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. He says, For God has made a competent minister of His Word, of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. The letter killed, literally, the Spirit.

The Spirit gives life. The Spirit gives life. God's Spirit has given you life, given you a sensitivity for life, given you an understanding of what God is doing. Now, maybe you don't understand everything yet. That's fine. Be patient. Trust the Lord. He's not going to leave you behind. He's going to bring you through. He's going to instruct you with His eyes.

That's very important. He's going to teach you the things that you need to know. He just wants you to trust. Just to trust Him. He loves you so much. Don't get distracted. Don't get focused on other things and try and do it on your own. Set your mind on things above. Set your heart upon the Lord. Let the Spirit devour you and do His prayers. Father, I thank you for this morning.

I thank you for this section of your Word. I thank you how you show us in the setting of Pentecost that you have so intricately planned the things of our lives that as they begin to happen, we can trust you from your Word. Let your Spirit guide us and direct us and direct us in the experience of peace that the world can't give, the experience of peace that the world can't let us have in any way. It's just got to come from you.

So, Father, may we do that this week that we enter into that wonderful relationship with you, that wonderful walk with you. And Lord, if there's someone here that has not taken that initial step, if there's someone here that hasn't come to that point of surrendering, taking control of their life to Jesus, may your Spirit move on their heart right now that they might just release a you to their life and ask you to come in and cleanse them and fill them with the air that they might walk after you. Father, we thank you and give you praise, and in Jesus' name, amen. Would you stand?