Our passage for this morning's sermon is taken from Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. I considered reading portions of the chapter, but found selecting portions rather difficult. We'll read the whole of it because we'll be dealing on a wide-angle lens with the whole of this story from Acts 2. Let's ask God to bless His Word for us. Our God, we give thanks for Your Word and for the Spirit that enlightens and empowers it. We pray, Father, that as we now turn our attention to its reading and to its preaching, we pray, Father, that the power, the Spirit has worked through Your church throughout the centuries. We pray that You'd be pleased to exercise that power here among us this morning. O Lord, we believe, and yet we need You to help our unbelief. We rejoice in our justification, And yet, Lord, we know that we have much to be sanctified of. We give thanks for the glorification that we can taste through faith in Christ. And yet, Lord, we long that the world would know and come to share in the joy that we've had in Christ. Towards this end, Lord, bless Your Word in us and through us and unto all the earth. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Acts 2 verse 1 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. 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 there 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, Cappadocia, Pontus in Asia, Ferga, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Christians 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 that they've had too much wine. Then Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd. Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you. Listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning. No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams. Even on My servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit on those days and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Men of Israel, listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did among you through Him as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him, I saw the Lord always before me because He is at my right hand. I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. My body also will live in hope because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence. Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ that he was not abandoned to the grave nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven and yet he said, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Therefore, all Israel be assured of this. God has made this Jesus, whom you crucify, both Lord and Christ. When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, Brothers, what shall we do? And Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the promises for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call. With many other words, He warned them and pleaded with them, Save yourselves from this corrupt generation. Those who accepted His message were baptized and about 3,000 were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer. And everyone was filled with awe and wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common, selling their possessions and goods they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. I don't know about your family, but my family, the Overmans, love stories. And the book of Acts tells the true story of how God grew the New Testament church. We're told a couple of times in our text about how God moved through the Holy Spirit to grow the church. And we find that this small group of 120 believers in Jerusalem grew to thousands throughout the entire region of Asia Minor. What would be present-day Israel, Syria, Turkey, Greece, all the way to Italy with congregations established in each of the major cities from Jerusalem to Antioch, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, even Rome. It's an amazing story, especially as we consider how God did it. How He brought this church from such a small group through the midst of great persecution without any mass media in just under 30 years. An amazing story that becomes all the more amazing when we consider the means. Of course, if we step back for a moment, we need to recognize that it all began with Jesus. Luke, who is the author of Acts, writes at the very beginning of Acts, chapter 1, verses 1 through 5, saying that in my former book, which was the Gospel of Luke, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day He was taken up into heaven after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles He had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command, Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait. Wait for the gift of my Father, the promised Spirit about which you've heard me speak. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. The New Testament church, Luke wants to make clear, the New Testament church began with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And what we find is that God works through the book of Acts, through those early believers to grow the church in some very specific and some very surprising ways. In fact, as we look at Acts 2 together this morning, along with some help from the Heidelberg Catechism, we'll find a very helpful outline for church growth. And Lord willing, over the next number of weeks, we'll have a chance to see how this growth takes place throughout the book of Acts as the Lord adds to their numbers. But this morning, we look at Acts 2 and see this outline of church growth that begins how this strategy starts with the Holy Spirit. Jesus says to His new ministers, the apostles, and recognizing their zeal, recognizing their passion to proclaim the good news, He says to them, as we've read in chapter 1, verse 4, wait. Don't do a thing. I want you to stay in Jerusalem until you receive the Holy Spirit. They want the Kingdom of God to come now. And yet Jesus says to them, it's not for you to know the times or the dates that the Father has established, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to all the world. God grows the church with the power of His Holy Spirit. Not a coercive power. Not a power that comes natural to man. Not a power or a mechanism that would be a part of this world. But Jesus wants to make clear to His zealous disciples that they can do nothing apart from the power of the Holy Spirit. Zeal for the church and kingdom of God is good, but we need to remember that it is God's work. Think about that. How God takes this work so personally that He gave His only Son to see it succeed. and that He then gives His own Spirit to empower its ongrowing growth and witness to the world. He says for us to wait for His Spirit. And so, brothers and sisters, we need to wait. Just as the disciples then, so believers today need to wait upon the Lord for the power of His Spirit to bring about the growth we so long to see as a church. And as we wait, we need to pray for God to act in His time and in His way. It's exactly then what we see the church doing in Acts. There's about 120 believers. They're meeting together. Acts 1.14 says they're meeting together. They're fellowshipping together constantly in prayer. Or as the ESV translates that, It's devoting themselves to prayer. That their fellowship together as believers was unified by the apostles and their teaching and their shared prayer to God. They're given the promises of God. They believe the promises of God. And they devote themselves in prayer that God would be faithful to fulfill those promises. In Acts 2, we find then that when the day of Pentecost came, They were all together in one place. And suddenly the sound of a blowing and violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting and praying. And 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 or as we find in the text, other languages as the Spirit enabled them, as the Spirit empowered them. See, this surprising start is not lost upon the crowds, right? Verse 7 says that the crowds were amazed and they're asked, are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Verse 8, how is it then that each of us hears them in his own native language? The Spirit begins to grow the church through the Word. Peter says that this power of the Spirit isn't some kind of weird phenomena. It's not the result of mysticism. It's not the result of wine. But it's what God promised so long ago through the prophet Joel. In verse 17, he says, that in the last days, I will pour out My Spirit and everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Now don't miss this. This is really the surprising part of this church growth strategy that for God, Almighty God, consider all of the resources and options available for Him to grow the church of Christ. He could have converted Herod and taken over the influence of his palace. He could have converted the emperor. And he could have used all of the infrastructure of Rome to move from one city to the next and brought coercive political power to grow the church. He could have taken over the Greco-Roman playwrights and the stage and the arts and really made a statement for the glory of Christ. And yet, what does he do? Almighty God surprises us in the way that He grows the church through His Spirit. The Spirit, we find, brings faith and salvation to the people through the Word, and even more specifically, we can say the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's our second point of how God grows the church through His Spirit and through His Holy Gospel. We find this principle summarized for us in the Heidelberg Catechism 65. The Holy Spirit creates in us, it says, faith in our hearts by the preaching of the Holy Gospel. The Holy Spirit creates faith in our hearts by the preaching of the Holy Gospel and confirms it through our use of the Holy Sacraments. This very principle is explained further by Paul in Romans 10, verse 14. Like Peter, Paul quotes in that text from the prophet Joel saying that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Paul goes on to say, but remember the questions he asks, but how can they call upon Him if they have not believed? And how are they to believe if they've never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? So faith, Paul concludes, comes from hearing the Word of Christ. God has designed the growth of His church to come through the power of the Holy Spirit who gives faith through the proclaimed work of Christ. And it just sounds crazy. Of all of the ways God could have grew the church, 1 Corinthians 1.17, Paul addresses that. He says, Christ sent me to preach the Gospel not with words of human wisdom, but with the message of the cross. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. It's crazy. It's foolishness. But to us who are being saved, it is the very power of God within our lives. The principle is that the Holy Spirit gives faith and extends salvation. He grows the church through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now maybe you're here this morning and asking a question that will often come up in our own family devotions. We're working rather slowly through the Heidelberg Catechism and various support texts. And when we get to the question of Heidelberg Catechism 65 and we see the focus on the preaching of the gospel, we might wonder, what about the law? Well, we addressed that, right? And we should briefly this morning. The law, we're first told, reveals our sin and misery, right? The first function in the law, according to what we confess in the Heidelberg Catechism and what we find functioning here in Acts 2 is that it reveals our weakness and our need for Christ. And then having received Christ, the law then directs us, Heidelberg Catechism 86, along the paths of righteousness. It describes what those who have been united to Christ look like when they live a godly life. And it's that zeal for the law of God that has led Reformed churches to place the law right within the liturgy of our services so that every Lord's Day we are reminded of the law of God and that we come and embrace the law of God fresh and new once again because it is holy, righteous, and good for us. And yet, the Catechism wants to make perfectly clear just as Peter does in Acts 2 that the Holy Spirit creates faith in our hearts not by the law itself, but through the preaching of the Holy Gospel. Because as Paul says in 1 Corinthians, it is through the message of the cross, it's through the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we receive the power of God and new life. Paul and Peter demonstrate this throughout the book of Acts. We see it here in chapter 2 as Peter in verses 16-21 quotes from Joel the promised Holy Spirit. And then he goes on in verses 22-35 quoting from the Psalms the promised Savior. And while proclaiming the Gospel, he's inserting the law to convict those who hear their need for the Gospel saying that this Christ whom you have crucified is the one that's been promised. This Christ whom you put to death is the one that the Father has sent. And this sermon that Peter delivers using the law and proclaiming the Gospel brings those who hear it to their knees. It's not always the response. It's not always the response. When Peter says in verse 36, Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this, God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ. The response of the people is surprising. Later in Acts, we read about how the Sadducees respond to this message when they threw Peter and John in jail. We read in chapter 5 of how the Jewish high priest hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we're told that he arrested the apostles and put them in jail. And then Stephen. When Stephen preaches a sermon so similar to Peter's, he delivers it before the Sanhedrin in chapter 7, and Stephen goes down in history as the first martyr of the church. He was killed. Let us not be, we can't be naive. The Word of God, the Law and Gospel of Jesus Christ will not always be received with open arms. There will be jail. There will be death. There will be martyrs. And our brother over in Iran, the Christian minister persecuted for his faith is a profound witness of that ongoing reality throughout so many countries in the world, if not here in our own country. But for Peter, God was pleased to work differently. Having proclaimed the Gospel to those who would hear, in verse 38 he says, repent and be baptized. Having proclaimed the Gospel in verse 37, the people hear this, they're cut to the heart And say to Peter and the other apostles, Brothers, what must we do to be saved? And Peter goes on to say, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call. we find that God works through the power of the Holy Spirit to create faith in our hearts and grows the church by the preaching of the Holy Gospel and confirms it through our use of the holy sacraments. Baptism in our text. The Lord's Supper in our text. It sounds odd, doesn't it? Word and sacrament. The means of grace. A friend, a Reformed friend, asked me just last week, and I wrote this down, I think this is a pretty close quote, Why do we think about the Lord's Supper and baptism that way? Now listen to this. God fills every day with signs. The beauty of creation. The food on my table. Answers to prayer. We sang earlier today. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning. Sun, moon, and stars in their courses, right? God reveals Himself in so many ways each and every day. Why do we need the Lord's Supper and baptism? And this was a rhetorical question for her. It was really a statement. We don't need the Lord's Supper and baptism. Sunshine may demonstrate God's care for the world, right? But what does it say of Christ? Food on our table may reveal a measure of God's generosity. But what does food on our table say of Jesus? good things may show God's love to us but what do they say what do just good things in life say about the cross and an empty grave you see Jesus takes certain things and he sets them apart so that they would represent holy things. That's why we call them the holy sacraments. Because Jesus set apart baptism and He set apart bread and wine to be properly administered. Matthew 26, He took bread and He broke it and He gave it to them saying, this is My body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me. And likewise, the cup, after they had eaten, He said, this cup which is poured out for you is the covenant in My blood. That's what Jesus said. This bread, this cup. Do this in remembrance of Me. And then Matthew 28. He says, Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Along with repent and believe, Jesus commands us to be baptized, to eat the bread and to drink the wine that He Himself has given to us as signs and seals of His own life, death, and resurrection. Something that the sun, moon, and stars, and the good things in life just can never represent. Jesus says these are to be received by faith as if we received Christ Himself. Calvin makes the point so strong as to say that those who refuse baptism refuse Christ. Those who refuse the supper refuse the body and blood that's been broken for you. Let us rejoice in the good things that God gives to us, friends, but let us never be wiser than God. He's given to us sacraments that His church would grow and be strengthened in the midst of a dark world. And that's why Peter says in verse 38 that those who respond with a brokenness of heart, that they are to repent and be baptized. Every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Because in receiving that sign and seal, the promise is for you and your children. There's a promise attached to the sign that we can be confident of receiving even as we witness it as the body of Christ. Namely, that we have been joined to Christ and all that He is for us. Sunshine is wonderful. Food on the table delightful. Answers to prayer are plentiful. But God grows the church. He adds to the body of Christ not through sunshine, not through the beautiful waves of the beach, but by the Holy Spirit who works through the Gospel and holy sacraments. It's interesting. find Acts 2, it ends right where it began. The church is meeting to gather, this time quite a bit larger. The church is meeting to gather, they're fellowshipping to gather and a fellowship that's unified by the apostles' teaching and prayer. And we're told once again that the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Now surely we don't have in history or in our own experience. Something so profoundly surprising is that kind of church growth, right? But by all accounts this approach has been stunningly successful. Jesus left about 120 believers and yet by the end of Acts 2 already the Holy Spirit grew the body through the Holy Gospel and the Holy Sacraments to over 3,000. It's no wonder that Jesus said, it's better for you if I go and be with the Father, right? He leaves 120. The Holy Spirit brings 3,000 in just a day. As Jesus takes His seat alongside of the Father and together they pour out the Holy Spirit, the Gospels proclaimed, the sacraments administered, and the church takes off. In fact, in just over 28 years, the early church runs through the 28 chapters of Acts from Jerusalem to Rome. Over the next 300 years, the Gospel had gone as far north as England, as far east as India, and it moved into Egypt and all of northern Africa. We're told the Bible was even then available in 10 different languages. By 1000 A.D., the Gospel had reached Greenland. And folks have said that Russia had been comprehensively evangelized. By 1000 A.D., the Bible was available in 22 different languages. In the 1400s, Calvin Columbus sails the ocean blue and brings along with him to the New World Christian priests who grow the church in America. In 1974, evangelical leaders heard quite an amazing report. In 1974, I believe it's called the Luzon Conference of World Missions. They heard that the Great Commission was complete because to the best of their ability at the time, they had demonstrated that there were churches from Jerusalem throughout Judea and Samaria and to every known nation in the world. Wow! Should we question the wisdom of God and the power of His Holy Spirit and working through the Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ and the administration of the sacraments? Now at that same conference where it was proclaimed the Great Commission was complete, it was quickly countered that it really isn't. God isn't finished yet. The mission and the story of His growing of the church goes on. That's why we continue to meet. That's why we devote ourselves to the ministry of the Word and sacrament. That's why we fellowship together and discipline ourselves together to cry out to gather, Thy kingdom come! Because God isn't finished yet. He isn't finished with us yet. He's got a plan in place and a purpose for Escondido United Reformed Church, for the United Reformed Churches of North America, and the whole of Christ's body. He's not finished yet. And we are not finished yet. Brothers and sisters, this assembling together is not merely a ritual of tradition or a duty to check off. This is something that is vital. It's where the heartbeat of the new kingdom, of the new creation, of the new heavens and the new earth are taking place among us and being proclaimed to us and brought to life within us so that we might continue to be the light Christ calls us to be and His witnesses in this world. His church continues to grow. This morning we see in the sacrament of baptism. As we express our faith together in response to His Word, His church continues to grow here around the world. And until all the saints have been called, the mission continues. And let's pray that that mission will continue to be blessed with an abundance of fruit. Our Father, You are supremely wise and abundantly good to us, Your people. And we pray, Father, that as we consider our time and place and calling, that You would refresh us with a wonder of the Gospel and that the Holy Spirit might open our eyes to see it presented to us in Your sacraments that we, along with the saints of every age, might be enabled to continue to sing Your praises and be a part of the growing of Your church. Lord, we don't ask that You would do it for the sake of our name or to make our name great, but that You would be glorified here and around the world, that the nations too would be glad and sing for joy. For Jesus' sake. Amen.