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84.
Acts 2: “The Perfect Gift”
Golden Nursing Center in Mannington, NJ –Evening
Service on 12/21/2017
(edited August 2021)
Before
Jesus came to Earth, Jehovah God was the perfect gift for the Ancient World in
order to establish the nation of Israel and prepare the world for a Messiah.
When
Christ came, everything about His arrival was perfect. It was the optimum
moment in history for a Savior to offer Himself for the sins of all believers
of all time and to establish a New and Better Covenant between God and mankind.
The Apostle Paul, whom we will be mentioning again later, said this to the
church at Galatia in Galatians 4:4-6.
“But when the fulness of the time
was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To
redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of
sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into
your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”
After Jesus ascended back into Heaven,
another perfect gift arrived on the Earth for the benefit of our generation.
Just
before leaving the Earth, Christ told His Disciples to be on the lookout for something
wonderful. Our study tonight in Acts chapter 2 tells the story of the delivery
of that Gift. Let’s open with a little preview from Acts 1:1-5.
“The former treatise have I made,
O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in
which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given
commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also he shewed
himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them
forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: And,
being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart
from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye
have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized
with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.”
Jesus was excited about
what was coming. He was so enthusiastic at it! As Jehovah had dwelt in the
Tabernacle with Ancient Israel and Jesus had gathered, led, and cared for His
disciples, so now the Holy Spirit was coming to dwell within the heart and life
of every man, woman, and child who would fully trust in Jesus from this point on
until the end of this present world.
The Holy Spirit was a gift
that was intended to transform the Church and the World! Everything about life,
about worship, was about to change. For a quick example of that, let’s look at
this passage from Acts 1:23-26.
“And they appointed two, Joseph
called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed, and
said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these
two thou hast chosen, That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship,
from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And
they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered
with the eleven apostles.”
The Disciples chose
Matthias to replace Judas who had betrayed Christ and committed suicide. They
were drawing lots which was a very Old Testament method of determining God’s
will. They were doing the best they could, and Matthias won! But after that,
the Spirit descended upon the Church, as we are about to see, and everything
changed. Through the Spirit, Saul of Tarsus was chosen by the Lord, empowered
and enlightened by the Holy Spirit and it was he who went on to replace Judas.
That’s my opinion, anyway. At least we know that Matthias is not mentioned
again in the Scriptures, whereas Paul would eventually author 14 of the 27 New
Testament’s books we have in our Bibles today! Let’s get into our study in Acts
chapter 2:
Verses 1-3: “And
when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one
place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,
and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto
them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.”
“Cloven” means split, or
divided. There was a piece of this gift that went directly to each individual
present. That’s truly a gift for everyone. Even so today each person who
believes in Christ as their Savior receives an individual and unique unction of
the Holy Spirit. That is why your worship and my worship can be unique and
still be united in Christ! AND, speaking of unique:
Verses 4-12: “And they were all filled
with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave
them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of
every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came
together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his
own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another,
Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in
our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and
the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and
Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene,
and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them
speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and
were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?”
Let’s think about this,
for a minute. The Old Covenant had been accessible, basically, to one nation,
Ancient Israel. And even when Christ was present in Israel, He could only touch,
heal, or teach an individual, small group, or a crowd at a time. But the gift
of the Holy Spirit, right from the Day of Pentecost was distributed to ALL
PEOPLE of all nations and backgrounds. This gift of God was, and is, for any of
us who will receive it!
The Gift of the Holy
Spirit to the Church has been mocked from the moment it appeared:
Verse 13: “Others mocking said, These men are full of new
wine.”
Peter’s BOLDNESS is a case
study in the power of the Spirit at work in the heart of a man. Look:
Verses 14-36: “But
Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye
men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and
hearken to my words: For these are not drunken,
as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken
by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass
in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see
visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens
I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven
above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into
darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord
come: And it shall come to pass,
that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Ye men of Israel, hear these
words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and
wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves
also know: Him, being delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having
loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden
of it. For David speaketh
concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right
hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart rejoice,
and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the
ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely
speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his
sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and
knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins,
according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing this before spake of the
resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh
did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised
up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand
of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy
Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the
heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right
hand, Until I make thy foes thy
footstool. Therefore let all the
house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have
crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
In this first Spirit-Indwelt
sermon, Peter does not glorify himself or even glorify the Holy Spirit! This
all hearkens back to something Jesus had predicted back in John 16:13-14.
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of
truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself;
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things
to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine,
and shall shew it unto you.”
Remember we quoted Paul
earlier telling the Galatians that Christ came to bring us back to the Father? Now
Jesus is telling us that the Gift of the Holy Spirit is always points us back
to the Savior. That’s how these Perfect Gifts work:
Verses 37-41: “Now
when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and
to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter
said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and
to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did
he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then
they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were
added unto them about three thousand souls.”
We’ll attempt to close
with one more dimension of this Gift of the Spirit. Even though each individual
believer is uniquely filled and fulfilled by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit also
binds all the believers together. This is the PERFECT GIFT for the CHURCH and
One that just keeps on giving and giving as we follow Christ!
Verses 42-47: “And
they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in
breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many
wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were
together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and
parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with
one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their
meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and
having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such
as should be saved.”
Halleluiah! And yet, I
would be remiss if I didn’t add that there is a warning that comes with this
Gift. Jesus stated it clearly in Matthew 12:31-32.
“Wherefore I say unto you, All
manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy
against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And
whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but
whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him,
neither in this world, neither in the world to come.”
Most of the holiday gifts
we give and receive this year, despite all the hoopla - let’s face it - they are
things we really don’t need. But receiving the Gift of the Holy Spirit through
faith in Jesus Christ should be an essential part of every person’s
life. And it is the only way a soul can live eternally.
Thank you for listening
tonight, and Merry Christmas to all. Mrs. Ashton is coming around shortly with
a little gift for each of you. Let’s pray.
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