On this day which we call Pentecost, we turn together to that familiar portion of Scripture where we read about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter 2, as we read together the first 13 verses, the first four verses serve as the text for the sermon this morning. Acts chapter 2, the first 13 verses as we give our attention to the Word of God. When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 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. 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 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? Some, however, made fun of them and said they had too much wine. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, The days following our Lord's ascension from earth to heaven. Physically, as we've considered previously, being taken up out of the sight of His disciples before their very eyes. These must have been days, somewhat curious days. Days of wonderment. Days of amazement. Days of question. What amazing things, you see, they had seen and heard as they fellowshiped with none other than the resurrected Lord. What hope they were given as death was turned into life, as death was conquered by victory. But now what? Now what? You see, He had given them what we call the Great Commission. To go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And Jesus also said to them in Acts 1, verse 8, And you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. You see, the risen and ascended Lord had given His small army of Christians quite a task. A wonderful task, to be sure. To go and preach the Gospel message. To proclaim the only way of salvation. And indeed, what did we read here? They said that we hear amazing things declaring the wonders of God in our tongues. They were called to proclaim the only way of salvation. To introduce the world to the only name under heaven given among men by which we might be saved. Yet it was quite a task. Especially since the object of their preaching, the one to whom all eyes are to turn, was nowhere to be found. At least physically. And as we've considered previously, so many have a hard time believing that which they cannot see. But the disciples and the apostles of Jesus would be taught another amazing truth by Him, even though He was no longer physically with them. And the lesson that they would learn on that particular Pentecost day was that His Word can only go forth in and be received by His power. His power. Jesus had said to them, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. They sure didn't know what that meant. Little did they know what an amazing transformation that would really be, as on that day of Pentecost, Christ's disciples were empowered for gospel proclamation. And as we consider this Word of God, notice that they were empowered with a new life. Secondly, they were empowered with necessary tools. And then finally, they were empowered with promised results. Again, the day was Pentecost when verse 1 says they were all together in one place. Now we believe that these all were the 120 spoken of in Acts chapter 1 verse 15 who had gathered together to consider a replacement for Judas Iscariot. But now when we think of Pentecost, we think of what happened in this text. To us, that's Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But for them, Pentecost was an established holiday. It was one of three major feasts that God commanded the Israelites to observe. The others being the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles. And you may recall that the Feast of Pentecost was also called the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Harvest. And this feast was a time to celebrate the end of the wheat harvest. And at that time, the first fruits of the harvest were offered to the Lord. We could say, boys and girls, that Pentecost was Israel's Thanksgiving day. in which they acknowledge that the harvest belongs to the Lord and in which they confess that He alone preserves and sustains life through His creation. The Jews, as it's clear from the passage we read, came from all over the Roman Empire to Jerusalem to celebrate this feast. And as the disciples of Jesus, this first New Testament church gathered together, no doubt still wondering what they were really supposed to do. The text says in verse 2, suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. God gave to His disciples an external sign of the coming and presence of the Holy Spirit. As we were beautifully reminded in adult Sunday school this morning, God condescended to them once again. It was an external sign that Jesus had kept His promise to send the Comforter which they desperately needed, which we desperately need. It was a sign as well that Jesus Christ was still with them as He promised He would be. In the original biblical languages, the words used for spirit do also mean wind or breath. In Genesis 2, verse 7, we read, Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. And when Ezekiel had the vision of the valley of dry bones, he prayed that the Lord God would breathe on the dry bones that they might come to life. Ezekiel knew where life comes from. Jesus says in John 3, verse 8, the wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. And therefore, beloved, it's fitting that the Holy Spirit comes announcing His presence with a sound like the blowing of a violent wind. Another Bible translation gives us a little different flavor, like a noise like a violent rushing wind. We may be familiar with that. As the wind rushes through a corridor, through a tunnel, as it rushes through the branches on a tree. But what's interesting and amazing here is that it was only a noise. It was only a noise. There was no storm outside. There was no weather pattern that would cause this noise to make sense. Our modern day meteorologists wouldn't find evidence of this wind-like noise or sound on their high-tech radar. These disciples didn't feel a wind blowing their hair out of place or anything like that. yet it was the sound, like the blowing of a violent wind, that definitely got their attention. And there was no mistake where it came from. It came from heaven, the text says. And the text also tells us it filled the whole house. And the idea here with the word fill is to fill with a content. Boys and girls, if you take a cup and fill it with water, you have replaced the space with the content of water. But if there was no real wind, what was that content? None other than the Holy Spirit of God. The mighty sound of wind was evidence of His powerful presence, and the Spirit Himself filled up the whole house with His presence. Beloved, the Holy Spirit of God is the divine breath of life who gives spiritual life. And He came on the day of Pentecost to begin His work of applying the life-saving and life-giving work of Jesus Christ to His church. In order for His church to be able to fulfill her task of proclaiming the Gospel to all nations, she needed to be empowered with new life from His Spirit. The church, the body of Christ, is living and active because of the work of the Holy Spirit who came to carry on the teaching and the testimony begun by Christ. Apart from the Spirit, there is only death. Even as Paul says in Ephesians 2, verse 1, And you He made alive, who what? Were dead in your trespasses and sins. Through the regenerating power of the Spirit of God, God's people, the church, are born again unto new life because of the gospel. Congregation, that new life, the life which recognizes one's sin and misery and that one deserves eternal death and has a desperate need for salvation. That new life which then is brought to see that only Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, the life. Only in Him is there salvation. That new life in which one then has the desire, the earnest desire to live a life of thankful service to God comes only through the Holy Spirit. You see, just because a visible church has many people doesn't mean that she as a church or the people are spiritually alive. Worship practices, whether charismatic or liturgically strict, are not necessarily evidence of being spiritually alive. Simply knowing the gospel, what the Bible says, is not evidence, does not mean that one is spiritually alive. The devil and his followers also know what the Bible says. Faith includes not only knowing the Gospel, but believing it, that it's for me, which can only happen by being born again by the power of the Spirit. And evidence of spiritual life is seen, beloved, in the outworking of the faith of God's people in their lives and in what God's people do with the truth of the Gospel that they hear. Evidence of this life in the Holy Spirit is demonstrated in how one stands in their relationship with God and fellow believers. In order for the church to live in the joy of salvation and to proclaim the Gospel of everlasting life by grace through faith, Christ's disciples themselves needed to be empowered with that same life. As the Bible says, God's people are temples of or are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit who lives in His people then also gives boldness. We've seen that in Scripture. For example, with Peter, before the crucifixion compared to after the Spirit being poured out. The Holy Spirit of God gives boldness, transforms one from being a coward. to being a warrior for Jesus Christ. Yet the church must not only possess that new life, but she must also be empowered with the necessary tools for gospel proclamation. Now let's make sure we have something straight here, that one who possesses that new life also possesses the necessary tools. But it's impossible to have the tools without having the new life. And the same one who gives this new life is himself the necessary tool for proclaiming the tool of the gospel of salvation. Verse 3 says, They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. Now this was another visible and external sign which pointed to being equipped with the right tools. This was a sign of the blessing of spirit baptism. In order to be witnesses to the ends of the earth, in order to proclaim the gospel message, the church needed to be filled with the gospel herself, and she needed a tongue. She needed a tongue. Boys and girls, you know that in order to do a certain work, you need to have the proper tools in order to perform that work. If your teacher gives you a penmanship assignment, you need paper and you need a pencil. the tools in order to fulfill that work. A carpenter needs his hammer and saw. A doctor needs his stethoscope. The church needed to be able to speak. She needed a tongue. This amazing sight that appeared like fire, which divided into tongue-like objects that rested on the disciples, represents the one word of God which was to be proclaimed by each one in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now you may recall that fire, especially in the Old Testament, was a sign of the presence of God. The Lord God spoke to Moses from the burning bush. The pillar of fire went before the Israelites at night. On Mount Carmel, the fire of the Lord burned up Elijah's altar. Malachi says, for he is like a refiner's fire. Hebrews 12 verse 29 says, for our God is a consuming fire. Fire is a symbol of both purification and judgment. The Bible speaks of fire refining gold and silver in order to remove the impurities. The fire of God consumed Aaron's sacrifice, demonstrating that God had accepted that sacrifice, but then the very same fire of God, as it were, turned around and consumed Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, for disobeying God. These tongs which seemed to be fire represented the spiritual fire of the Holy Spirit working within the church and in each individual believer. The unity of the one fire, I believe, shows that the Holy Spirit came to work in the church as a whole. To set her apart and to set her on fire by sanctifying her and making her holy. The church lives and walks in the unity of the one Holy Spirit of God. But that same Holy Spirit also sets each and every believer apart from the world, sanctifying and purifying those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. These tongues, which seem to be fired, demonstrated the work of the Holy Spirit, setting the hearts of the disciples on fire for the Lord by writing God's law on their hearts, as Jeremiah prophesied would happen. In Romans 12, Paul says, present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. The Holy Spirit transformed these and transforms all those for whom Christ died, transforms them into living and holy sacrifices. And He gives a burning desire to proclaim the gospel message. And the Holy Spirit Himself is the one who fills the tongues of God's people to speak. That's what Jesus said, I believe, when He sent out the 70. He said, don't worry about what you will say when you stand in the midst of princes and rulers. The Holy Spirit will give you the words to say. His tongue delivers the power of the gospel message through His people. And the book of Acts, as we well know, reveals to us the power of the gospel as thousands came to believe. Beloved, there is firepower in the Gospel message in the very Word of God. The Word of God unleashes divine power that both purifies and consumes. The proclamation of the fiery Word of God softens and melts the hearts of those who are called to receive His covenantal blessings. It purifies those who believe that message by grace through faith. But the proclamation of that very same fiery Word of God hardens, crustifies, condemns, and consumes those who reject Him. You see, beloved, either you love the Word of God and you cannot get enough of it. Or you don't want it. Or at best, you limit your intake of God's Word, whether through Bible reading or the hearing of the preaching of the Word of God. Consider our children this morning. We know that God uses Christian parents to tell and teach them the story of Jesus. To instruct them in the fear and knowledge of the Lord. But the necessary tool is the Holy Spirit who speaks the Word of God through parents and who by the grace of God transforms the hearts and lives of His covenant children. As ministers of the Word and as believers who share the Gospel, We can only bring it to the ears of another to give the outward call using, indeed, the tool of the gospel. But it is the tool of the Holy Spirit who applies that word to the hearts and lives of God's people. That's necessary. But the beauty here is that God doesn't leave out any of His elect children. This passage is a fulfillment of the words of John the Baptist when he said, As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. In the text we are told that these tongues which seem like fire came to rest on each of them. All believers are baptized with the Spirit when? Is it sometime later after they are born again, as some would have us believe? So that it's demonstrated by speaking in so-called tongues that cannot be understood or by flopping around uncontrollably? No. All believers are baptized with the Spirit when they are born again by the Holy Spirit's power. Spirit baptism unites one to Christ. Not one believer by the grace of God is to be without or will be without His portion in this new age of the Spirit which began on that day. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 11, but one and the same Spirit works all these things distributing to each one individually just as He wills. People of God, it is the same, the very same Holy Spirit of God who continues to dwell in the church and in the hearts and lives of God's people today, it is the same Holy Spirit of God who ignites God's children, transforming them into living in holy sacrifices and filling them with a holy passion and desire and equipping them to proclaim that message of Jesus Christ. And that is to give you and me confidence as believers. Because what a confirmation with this one and same Holy Spirit that we too as believers who have been born again by the power of the Spirit are part of the same church on which the Spirit was poured out so many years ago. Indeed, are part of the same church from the beginning to the end of time, that holy, Catholic, or universal church as we confess in the Heidelberg Catechism. It is that fire of the Holy Spirit which is to burn in us steadily to destroy our sin. It is to be a holy, sacrificial flame to make us whole burnt offerings to God. And it is to be a never-dying flame of zeal for God and devotion to the cross of Christ. Beloved, does that describe you? Sometimes reformed people are described as being spiritless. And indeed, we could at least act sometimes as if we are filled a little bit more with the Spirit. But it's not just strict emotionalism as some try to make it. Being filled with the Spirit is evidence in believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's evidence by true faith. It's evidence by having comfort in the face of death. It's having assurance of the forgiveness of all of our sins. It's evidence in desiring to be of service to God in all that we do in whatever task to which He calls us. Finally, not only does the Holy Spirit empower the church for gospel proclamation with a new life and empower the church with the necessary tools, but He empowers with the promise of results. Verse 4 says, All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Not one was left out. They were possessed by the Holy Spirit. He gave to them a power that was not their own, a power which was demonstrated in their ability to speak in other tongues. Not only did the Spirit fill the whole house, but He filled the hearts and lives of these disciples. He took up residence within them. He was the content of their life. They were called by Christ to be witnesses and preach the gospel to all the nations. and the Holy Spirit empowered them completely with that new life of desire for the gospel, with the necessary tools, and now the ability to preach to the nations. By this time, as the Scripture reading makes clear, Israel had spread throughout the nations. Obviously, even speaking the languages of those nations, we see that in verses 9-11 as we're given a list of the places that these God-fearing Jews came from. Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors of Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own times. In an instant, the Holy Spirit overcame the language barrier, not with some gibberish that couldn't be understood, but with different foreign languages. In an instant, the Gospel was communicated in many languages demonstrating that just as the language barrier could be overcome by the power of the Spirit, so would the hearts of men. Hearts which the Spirit would prepare. In an instant, the Holy Spirit of God was undoing what He had done at Babel so many years before. Boys and girls, you remember that story the Tower of Babel. Early in the history of the world, in the early chapters of Genesis where we find it recorded, mankind decided to build that tower up to heaven and dwell together forever, never to be separated, which really was striking out against God. But God confused their languages. He caused them to speak different languages. Pentecost overcomes Babel. Not in the sense that all people once again speak the same earthly language, but in a more beautiful, a more wonderful way. But the language of the one and only gospel of salvation goes out to all people. The language of the one gospel is understood by every tongue. The language of the one gospel unites a people to God. there are many tongues but only one gospel message and that is of salvation only through Jesus Christ the promised result was that indeed this gospel message would be proclaimed to all the world to every tribe, every tongue, every nation Christ's disciples were being equipped to carry out his command but included was a further result that it would indeed accomplish its purpose as the Lord said through Isaiah for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there without water in the earth and making it bare and sprout and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be which goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty without accomplishing what I desire and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent. Again, as we were reminded in adult Sunday school, the Holy Spirit of God works faith, begins faith in the hearts and lives of God's people through the preaching of the gospel and strengthens that faith through the administration and participation in the sacraments. Two things that God has guaranteed for you and me. That work. Beloved, that day of Pentecost, traditionally, A time of feasting and celebrating the gathering in of the harvest and celebrating God's gift of life. That day became for the church a feast of gathering in the church from the nations. Gathering the first fruits of the body of Christ, of the great spiritual harvest of souls and presenting that first fruits to be an instrument of His glory and a blessing to the world. With those few disciples gathered there that day, the Holy Spirit gave a foretaste of the promised results of all those who would and are and will be gathered until the day of Christ Jesus. And that day that our Scripture reading speaks of, that day already Scripture tells us that the Lord added to their number about 3,000 souls. And as we go on in Acts, we're told that day by day He added those who were being saved. That day Jesus Christ came to live and abide in His church and in believers through His Holy Spirit. in such a rich way, more rich than ever before. That day was a confirmation of His victory over death as He condescended to His people and gave life, new life, to His church. Throughout the ages, beloved, the church, empowered by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Gospel message, the church has continued to be a blessing to the world and she has continued to grow physically and spiritually by the Spirit's power. Indeed, our Lord gathers and defends and preserves His church through the Spirit. And we as believers, and I qualify that, believers only, as believers, we are evidence of God's gracious operation of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God continues to bring God's people to understand the actual value of Christ's cross. So that by the operation of the Spirit, God's people are crucified with Christ. God's people enjoy that new life of Christ's resurrection, that life of forgiveness and fellowship, a life that can only be lived by God's grace through His Spirit. And in the power of the Spirit, God's people seek and love the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of the Father. Could we be a little more emotional about the Spirit in our lives? Maybe. But God's people give evidence of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Again, as I said before, by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we just said, by seeking and loving the things above where Christ is. Seated at the right hand of the Father. The promised results of the Gospel proclamation point us to the covenant. And it is to be our comfort as believing parents that our God promises to be a God to us and our seed. God continues to build His church through the gracious operation of the Spirit through believers and their seed and all those throughout the ends of the earth whom He calls through His Word of grace by His grace. Jesus Christ sent His Holy Spirit, the great Comforter, to apply His saving work to our hearts and lives and to live in us through His Spirit, to graft us into Christ by faith, apart from which there is no salvation. Beloved, are you possessed by the Holy Spirit of God? You see, being possessed by the Spirit of God is indeed the mark of true identity with Christ. Does Jesus Christ live in you and through you by His Spirit? Does your life reflect this? Are you on fire for the Lord? Do you burn with a desire to be used by the Holy Spirit to witness and testify of the only way of salvation? You see, the only way to be in Christ is to have His Holy Spirit in you by grace through faith. Eternal life comes only by the power of the Spirit. Apart from Him, there is only eternal death. We sing that, to live apart from Christ, from God, is death. But there is hope for those who turn to the Lord and repent us in faith. That's evidence of the Spirit working in them and you are guaranteed of that eternal life. May you be filled, beloved, to overflowing with the Spirit of God so that you can confess with Paul. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered himself up for me. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, what a precious truth that your Holy Spirit lives and dwells in your people. However, we must confess that there are times in our lives as we go forward on this pilgrimage when we don't give very much evidence of the Spirit living within us. As at times we suppress the Spirit because of our sin. And Father, we pray that You would continue always to renew us in the power of Your Holy Spirit. draw us back to your way and give us that comfort and confidence that you are with us even to the end of the age. Lord, we pray, O Lord, that you will continue to lead us and guide us by the power of your Spirit to walk through this life, to be kept on the path that leads to eternal life, to give to you glory and honor and praise, to be of service to you. We thank you for the Comforter who gives us joy in the midst of sadness, who gives us strength in the midst of weakness, who gives us comfort in the midst of sorrow. Lord God, may we each leave here this morning strengthened in that faith, which too is a gift of Your Spirit. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.