Hi, I'm Matt Henry, and I'm the pastor at Missio Dei Fellowship in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Very thankful that you found our sermons, and I hope that they are a way of encouragement to you in your Christian walk. However, it's important for you to understand that this sermon was given in my church's context and for the people that God has entrusted for me to shepherd. So if you're in the Kenosha area, I would encourage you to come on a Sunday and worship with the body of Christ here. And if you're not in this area, these sermons are a great tool for supplementing your walk, but they are by no means a substitute for the local church. So you need to submit yourself to a faithful Bible teaching church and shepherd in your area. Thank you. Well, if you haven't opened your Bibles, please do so to Acts 10. If you don't have a Bible, there would be one in front of you. And as I always try to remind, if you don't have a Bible, take one in the seat in front of you or down the row and then keep it. We just ordered another couple cases of Bibles because apparently you're taking my word and so we're starting to run low on Bibles. So we're always happy to replenish them. We're in Acts chapter 10. We've been there for quite a while, and we're coming near the end of it, and I would ask that you would turn your focus to the final part, verses 42 to the end, verse 42 to the end, as I read. And he, being God the Father, commanded us to preach to the people and solemnly to bear witness that this is the one who has been designated by God as judge of the living and the dead. And of course, he's speaking of Jesus. Of him, all the prophets bear witness that through his name, everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins. While Peter was still speaking these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the word. And all the circumcised believers who came with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and magnifying God. And then Peter answered, Can anyone refuse water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit, just as we did? And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for a few days. May the Lord bless his word. Now we have been talking about the person and the work of Jesus Christ. And in this little chapter about the salvation of Cornelius and all of those who are in his household, what we really are seeing is a portrayal of who is Jesus. And so I have labored every week over the last several weeks to simply say, what does the scripture tell us about Jesus? We've seen that there are 14 qualities about him. We've seen that he is a peacemaker, the one who makes peace between you and God. He is the Messiah, the one promise of the Old Testament. He is Lord of all. Whether you believe that or not, changes that not one whit. He is historical. He existed. He lived, died, and rose again. He is a focus of the prophets. He was himself anointed by the Holy Spirit. He is our sacrifice and our high priest, functioning in both roles. He was resurrected from the dead. He was the focus of all New Testament preaching, whether it's looking backward or forward. All of the New Testament is really about Jesus Christ and what we do in light of that. He is the sobering term, He is the judge of all, and He is Savior. Well, today what we do is we get to come to a key quality that has an effect on every single Christian here, and that is that He is the giver of the Holy Spirit. Now, this is a key truth, and you should hear this right up front. This is a key truth that sets apart the Old Testament believer and the New Testament believer. The function of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is something that is very misunderstood. Now, both the Old Testament believer and the New Testament believer, and when I say New Testament, I mean from Acts 2 on, everyone prior to that really functioned in the Old Testament sense of faith. They believed in Yahweh, then they began to believe in also that Jesus was sent by the Father and that he is the one promised and all of that, but there are certain things that separate the Old Testament believer from the new, and one of the key ones is the Holy Spirit. It's a critical thing for you to understand, and so we need to hear this. Both are saved by grace through faith. Doesn't matter. Noah was saved through faith. Abraham was saved through faith. Isaiah was saved through faith. All of them came through faith, but the benefits of that salvation are not the same. The Holy Spirit is a unique gift to us as individuals and as a whole, and without the working of the Holy Spirit, no Christian would ever persevere to the end. This is a critical thing to understand that there is an empowering and a care and a guidance of the Spirit that works in our life. And this is why in my prayer I said we don't even really grasp the way God's grace is functioning in our life. We're just wandering around. as silly little children most of the time, thinking that we're really wise, right? Kind of like a teenager, thinking we know so much, and yet the whole time, our Father in heaven is faithfully, kindly, graciously guiding us, protecting us, spanking us, and all the other things that are necessary in our life. But the Holy Spirit is probably one of the most misunderstood aspects of the Trinity, but also of the doctrines of the church. And a lot of this comes from a very shallow presentation of him in the church today. He is simply something where we say, fall on us, Holy Spirit, fall on us. And we talk about the Spirit. There's all kinds of people who sing songs about the Spirit. But when you look at the content of what is being said, you realize this is silly. This is just cotton candy for the soul, and it doesn't ever really help us. But it sounds good, and it kind of stirs up the emotions and whatnot. For many people, actually, even Christians who are not well-taught, the Spirit ends up being more like what the Jehovah's Witnesses teach, and that is that the Holy Spirit is merely a force, a force of God working in some way or another. Not sure, but he is not a person. He is certainly not the third person of the Trinity. Also, as I've already hinted, there is this common misconception on how he operated in the Old Testament. with those who believed in that day as opposed to what happened in Acts chapter 2 and moves forward to this day. This gets into the very nature of various terms. These are all terms most of you have heard if you've been going to any church at any length of time. You are filled with the Spirit. There's the baptism of the Holy Spirit, there is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, there is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, there is the illumination of the Holy Spirit, and then there is the new birth or regeneration or being born again by the Spirit. All of these are terms that if you've been a Christian for any length of time, you've heard. And for many people, they are very, very closely connected to each other. Each of these is a distinct aspect of the Spirit's work. And yet, instead of keeping them distinct, we tend to blend them together into this very vague concept that is, at best, unclear. and worse, they're false. Let me make this very clear. Every term I said to you is a distinct work of the Spirit. They are not the same, and yet in our mind we tend to kind of push them together and make it something very vague. My goal today is simply to first work our way through verses 44 to 46 to see exactly what is happening in the midst of this sermon Peter is preaching, and then out of that develop what is going on behind it, because behind it is something even more beautiful. So let's look at the next quality of Jesus, and that is he is a giver of the Spirit. But first, let's simply make observations from our text. The first thing is that here he is in the house of Cornelius. And in this passage, it's like many in Acts, it's unique. And if you can keep this in your head, in fact, that's fruitful every few chapters, or maybe when something strange happens in the Book of Acts, that you might write in pencil in the margin, remember that Acts is a transitional book. What's happening in the Book of Acts is there is a transition from the reality of the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. The old covenant was done with Moses and the nation of Israel on Mount Sinai, the giving of the law. And in that, God gave them the terms of the covenant. And they, as a nation, said, we will do this. And when they did, they came under the standards of that covenant. If we obey you and follow you, you will bless us and you will cause our nation to be secure. If we disobey, you will curse us and our nation will be devoured. and a little bit more than that, but that's just in its essence. And that's what you see unfold in the entire Old Testament. But what a lot of people forget is it also goes into the New Testament. The book of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are all still in the Old Covenant. The New Covenant has not happened yet. Notice that when we take the Lord's Supper, Jesus holds up the cup and he says, this is my blood, which is the New Covenant. But the blood had not yet been shed yet. It was only after he shed his blood and he rose again that the new covenant began to become inaugurated. And so all the way through the Gospels, you still have old covenant in action. Now, if you don't fully understand that, that's not real important right now. But it is important to understand that. In the book of Acts, then, there's this switchover that's happening. And you know in life, just in your own life, that when you transition, let's say that you're single and then you become married, there's some things that just have to sort of be done, right? You have to get your name changed. You have to get some other people's. Like maybe all of a sudden you have to get your wife on the title of the car or whatever. And in between, though, it doesn't mean you're not married. But it does mean that you can still see the vestiges of your singleness, right? But now you're married, and we all know you're married, but you're still working out the details. And that's what's going on in the book of Acts. So you'll have people who are believers. They already believed, the disciples certainly believed, but they had not yet received the Spirit, and they were not yet under the new covenant while Jesus was still there. And then, as time goes on, Christ dies, rises from the dead, ascends into heaven, and the new covenant is brought into its existence. And so you'll have people who are lovers of God, they believe in Yahweh, and yet they have not yet been told about the Messiah. A perfect example of that is a guy named Apollos. And we'll see him coming up here soon. in Apollos, who was a great preacher, and he was an evangelistic man. But he was preaching to the people about the Messiah, but he only knew about John the Baptist. That's all. He had not discovered Jesus. So he heard that the prophet John the Baptist had come, and he knew that if John the Baptist was preaching what he's preaching, then the Messiah was going to come. And so he's telling everybody the Messiah is coming, except the Messiah already came. And so two believers, a husband and wife, actually pulled him aside and showed him a more excellent way. They unfolded for him. No, no, no. He's here. He came. He died. He rose again. And he didn't say, well, I don't know if I agree with you. He immediately believed that. Why? Because he was already a believer. He just didn't know the fullness of the gospel. And so keep that in mind. When you read the book of Acts, it's a transitional book from the old covenant to the new. And as a result, you'll see some weird things. And that's the best way. That's a theological term for the day. It's just weird. Why did this person do this? And what's going on here? Because the process of changing over is taking place. And this is one of them. It's a key thing to understand. Now I want you to notice in verse 44 how the Spirit fell. It says, while Peter was still speaking, notice that, still speaking these things about Jesus, the Holy Spirit fell upon how many? How many? All. All. An entire house that's filled to the brim with humans that he walks into, they're all Gentiles, All of a sudden, it falls upon him. All of them. This is amazing. Notice there was no conclusion to the sermon. That's what I would expect. Maybe you were raised like I was in a church where about the last 20 minutes of the sermon, or in the times when I went to churches that preach 20-minute sermons, about the last 5 or 10 minutes of the sermon, you knew that you could put your Bible away because the pastor is about ready to work the altar call, right? And maybe if they had an organ, they would start playing quietly, and there's a mood change, and he's starting to use a tearful story or two. and he's trying to get it up to him, and if you're ready, come forward to receive Jesus, come to the altar, we have people waiting for you, et cetera, et cetera. Some of you know this, and some of you are like, what's up with that? Because we don't do that. But in all of that, we tend to wait for the end of the sermon for the response, right? But imagine this room filled, filled, every seat filled, and I'm merely in the process of talking, and all of a sudden, all of you start talking in other foreign languages. right in the middle of it. Now, I might say, well, wait, I'm not done. I haven't called you to believe. I haven't done the altar call yet, and I need you to, would you just shush? But that's not what happens. While he is talking, every single one of them have the Spirit come upon them. No call to repent, no call even to believe, right? In the midst of him just saying, here's who Jesus is, this happens. So what happened? Well, there's a few options. Option one would be that they were already believers. They're just now having the spirit come upon them, and that's possible. It's possible. But it doesn't say that. We do know that Cornelius may have been that, because he was a man who feared God, and so he was a devout man. So it could very possibly be that Cornelius was already an Old Testament, if you will, believer, and now he needs to hear about the fullness of the gospel, who is Jesus Christ. The second option is we could assume that in the process of him preaching this, that they began to believe. because then the Spirit falls upon them. And so we're like, okay, apparently they all believed at some point. Every single one of them, which would still be a really cool event. And this makes sense because you are always saved by grace through faith. So we know that through faith, salvation comes. In fact, it says so here in verse 43, we bear witness that through his name, Christ's name, everyone who believes in him receives a forgiveness of sin. You are saved by grace through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any one of you boast, right? We all know those verses. So we can say, well, that's the other option. Either they were already believers and now they come to this unique event, or they all began to believe. A third option is possible in that some, like Cornelius, were already believers while some were not. but had been taught by Cornelius and in the process of hearing. So maybe it was a 50-50. Some of them were already believers and others were not, but ultimately they all have the Spirit come upon them. There's even the possibility, a fourth option, that's not in your notes, that they weren't believers. The falling of the Holy Spirit is not evidence that you're a Christian. It just isn't. In fact, in the Old Testament, the Spirit will fall upon people. He even will fall upon false prophets so that they're forced to prophesy truly. But that doesn't mean they become a believer. So maybe this is just a really cool event and they all walked away dead in their sins. Maybe that's possible. I do want you to note, though, that every one of them had the Holy Spirit fall upon them. Not most of them, not some of them. Not a single person was left out, and that makes it very unique. Again, the way Acts tends to operate. Now, I think we have enough to make at least an initial conclusion, and what we have here is really simply a good example of what we talk about when we say that God is sovereign in salvation. We have God being sovereign in salvation. All that means is that unless God works in our heart, we just don't believe, and we're not converted, that salvation from beginning to end is a work that God does in us. And we see it here. We see a man walking in. They're an apostle. And he walks in. He begins to simply preach the gospel. Nothing exciting here. If you look back at what he said, none of these things are powerful. None of them are filled with wonderful rhetoric. They're just simply The simplicity, the futility, the weakness of the gospel as we've talked about over the many weeks. And yet, something happens that's amazing. So what's at work? I think God is simply at work. As Peter preaches the gospel, the Spirit does something. He regenerates them. Now listen, that's where you're going to go wrong, so track with me during this part. If you want daydream somewhere, don't do it here. And I know you daydream, because I daydream. I'm the worst church member known to mankind. It's good that I preach, because I would be somewhere else right now. So I never judge you for that. I'm like, yeah, that's me. but don't do it here. What's happened is that as he's preaching the gospel, the Spirit regenerates him, makes him anew. Regeneration, if you don't know, is simply the taking of a dead heart, a man or woman dead in their sin, and giving them new life through the Holy Spirit. This is described in various ways, you've heard them. In John chapter 3, Jesus looks at a Pharisee and says, unless you have been born, what, again, you will not see the kingdom of God. You must be born again. So back in the 70s, some of you are old enough to remember those days, and people would always ask one another, Christians, have you been born again to a person who doesn't know anything? Have you been born again? You need to be born again. And that was just kind of the evangelistic technique that people did. I remember in my church in Nampa, Idaho, they had this, thing called the I found it movement. And they gave all of the members an I found it, that's all it was, bumper sticker. And it was done in the 1970s cool font that looks like you're on drugs. And it said, I found it. And what it was supposed to do is you were supposed to drive around town with your I found it sticker and then other people say, what'd you find? And then you would of course say, I found Jesus. And Really what happened was a counter movement started up, new bumper stickers, and it said, I lost it. And ha, ha, ha, that never did anything. But all of that was designed for you to move toward, you need to be born again, you need to be born again. Jesus then says later on in that same chapter, he renames it and he says, being born again is to be born of the Spirit. In Ephesians 2, Paul says it a different way, but it's the same thing. It's that you have been made alive in Christ. You were dead in your sins, but now, because of God's rich mercy and love, he made us alive together with Christ. We are now in Christ, not alive by Christ, but in Christ. How did we get in Christ? How did we now move from the life around that we lived in of sin and death into Christ, where life is, the Spirit? And he makes you alive. And that's what you can testify. You can say, I don't quite know when it happened. I don't quite know how it happened. But I do know I believe this stuff now. I now rest in this. This is my hope, my joy. What's happened? The Bible would simply say that regeneration has happened. A soul dead in sin now is alive in Christ Jesus. What's important for you to know, though, is that if you believe the gospel, if you're a Christian, then the reason you are is because the Spirit, in his mercy, gave you new life and a new heart. And that new life and new heart is just like the old life and the old heart. The old life and heart rejected Jesus. The new life automatically, naturally receives Jesus. Now, back in our passage, we also notice then that all of them had the Spirit fall upon them. Now, there's a lot going on in this simple verse, so you have to listen with care. So reading that, you might think that it is speaking of this new birth, right? Because I just talked about it. Oh, so when the Spirit fell on them, that was the new birth. No, it wasn't. The new birth happened or they wouldn't have believed, but it's not described here. We just know it because the rest of the scripture make it clear that no one will see the kingdom of God unless they've been born again. Jesus said so. So we know they had to have been born again, but that's not what happened here. All we know is that the spirit fell upon them. So the new birth is assumed Because ultimately, they were all baptized as believers in the next few verses. And the only way you can believe is through that regenerating new birth of the Spirit. So this is something other than that new birth. So then some of you, if you're like most today in America, you're saying, oh, so this maybe is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is where they got baptized with spirit, because look, they're speaking in tongues. And so it looks like we have, if my controller will work, I just give up. Now it just. Are you making it move? Because if so, I'll tell you so. Wave your hand. Thank you. Okay, then I'll just move the controller and give up. Last week, last service, we had nothing. So this, we're upgrading. There's something other than the new birth. So I said, as I said, it's possibly the spirit, the baptism of the spirit, but that's not it. Baptism of the Spirit is only spoken of, really, as what happens in this passage, 1 Corinthians 12, 13. For by one Spirit, we were all, what? Baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks, Greeks meaning Gentiles, whether slaves or free, we're all made to drink of one's spirit. Now understand what is meant by baptism of the spirit is not some ecstatic, miraculous moment where all of a sudden you do strange, weird things. The baptism of the spirit is something that happens and you don't even know it. No person knows they got baptized with the Spirit. Why? Because what happens is it's a spiritual work where Jesus himself places you in the Spirit, which puts you in his body, in the church. So anybody who believes in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior has been baptized with the Spirit. It's that simple. And this was a promise that the Gospels say over and over again, that John was one who baptized with water, but there is one coming who will baptize, what? With the Spirit. In fact, that's what Jesus said in Acts chapter 1. He's like, look, don't worry about I'm going away, but you go and wait in Jerusalem and I will baptize you with the Spirit. And that's what happened. But also what happened was the Spirit fell upon them. And this is very important to keep in mind. They believed because they were born again by the Spirit. And with that faith, Jesus baptizes them, spiritually speaking, with the Spirit into his body, making them now part of the church. But when it speaks of the Holy Spirit falling upon you, it's not having anything to do with salvation. It's not salvific, is the fancier way of saying it. We're not talking salvation. Here, it's not talking about, oh, when the Spirit fell, they believed. When the Spirit fell, they were now regenerate. No. All of that is happening here, but none of it's being described. All it's describing is this moment then with the falling of the Holy Spirit that something unique happens. Now, we can see this in both the Old and New Testament. In Judges, that's the next slide. In Judges, it says here in 1514, when he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him, and the spirit of Yahweh, a spirit of Yahweh, came upon him mightily. This is Samson, who's an idiot, right? I mean, he was. And here, the spirit of God falls upon him mightily, So that the ropes that were on his arms, he was bound, became as flax that is burned with fire. His bonds dropped from his hand, and he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey. And so he sent forth his hand and took it and struck down 1,000 men." Now, do you think a normal, average man, anybody in military, you think you could kill 1,000 people with the jawbone of a donkey? No. But if the Spirit of God falls on you, guess what? You can. Every time, anytime. Then the next one, 1 Samuel 19.20, here King Saul sends messengers. The messengers are just that, messengers. They're just people to take David. He wants to have David killed. But they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing presiding over them. So the messengers are just you and I. They're just, okay, we gotta go talk to David and get David. But they see the prophets, even the chief prophet, Samuel, prophesying, and then what happens? And the Spirit of God came upon the messengers, just normal people, and what did they immediately do? They prophesied. Why? Because the Spirit fell upon them. Luke chapter 1, verses 15 and 16, here talking about John the Baptist. And it says, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He will not drink any wine or strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit while in his mother's womb. That even before he had been born, before he would believe, before he is anything, he is literally still inside his mother's womb, the Spirit falls upon him. and he's filled with the Spirit. Pretty cool. Luke 1.41, the mother of John the Baptist does a prophetic blessing over Mary and the baby. So Mary shows up and she's, of course, carrying Jesus. And so it says, and it happened that when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, that the baby, John the Baptist, who's filled with the Spirit, leaps in her womb. So it was more than just those little kicks at whatever. I have never experienced it, but I've seen them. And it blew me away. I remember watching the knuckles of one of our kids go right across my wife's stomach. I'm like, whoa. That's not what happened here. This was a pretty big deal where it just, wow. And the baby, John the Baptist, leapt for joy within the womb of Elizabeth. And she cried out with a loud voice. Oh, and then Elizabeth was filled with the Spirit. So what does she do? She then cries out with this prophetic blessing of Mary and Jesus. Then in Luke 1.67, His father, John the Baptist's father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit. And what does he do? He prophesies. Now, these are only a few. We could literally fill the whole hour with me just quoting verse after verse after verse of the Spirit came upon, the Spirit fell upon, the Spirit filled. And all of it is simply miraculous, powerful moments, most of the time prophesying, but other times doing great acts of power. But then in Acts chapter 2, you'll see that the same event we have in Acts 10. In Acts 2, What is happening is these believers are waiting in what's called the upper room, just a room upstairs, and they're waiting for the coming of the Spirit. And then we find out that while they're praying on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit comes, remember, like tongues of fire, and settles upon each of them. And they immediately began to speak in other tongues. Now, they were already believers, so this wasn't a regeneration. What this is is the coming of the new covenant, and there's this unique empowerment. And because of that, they automatically begin to do something unique. They begin to speak in other tongues. So we have a lot of things actually going on here, but only one thing, hear me, only one thing is described. A lot of things happening. They're being regenerated, they're being baptized with the Spirit, but the only thing that we are actually being described is that they had the Spirit fall upon them. So my question to you is why? Now remember in the past, I told you that writing in that day was expensive. You had papyrus, not even paper. And papyrus is a bunch of reeds that would be stitched together. And you would write very close. You wouldn't even do spaces or anything like that. And you would jam all of your words on that paper. I'm calling it paper. Flip it over and do it on the other side as well. And it was expensive. So everything you wrote had to have a purpose. And so one of the things I've told you is, when you read the Book of Acts, which is a historical document, you should ask yourself, why did he decide to stick this little information in there? Why? I mean, sometimes you're like, wow, of all the things he could talk about, that's what he decides to point out. And that's exactly what's happening here. Why does he mention that? Why didn't he say, and they all believed? Why does he instead say, and the Spirit falls upon them? Well, verse 45 tells us why. And all the circumcised believers who came with Peter, now the circumcised believers mean Jews, who came with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. That's why, that's why. The man who came with Peter, remember when Peter decided to go up to visit? He was in Joppa, and he went up to Caesarea. And it says that men went with him. Jewish men went with him. Why? They were going to function as witnesses. Now, these men are blown away. They're simply blown away with what they see happening. They're in the house. They're probably very uncomfortable just being Jews among Gentiles so close. They didn't get the vision that Peter had of the sheep coming down from heaven or the voice of the Lord telling him, go up and speak to this household of people. They're just along for the ride. And so they're probably feeling very awkward there. And the next thing you know, they're hearing them talk about Jesus. And they're like, yeah, preach it, preach it. And the next thing they see is that all of these people are speaking in tongues. And so they know that they have been given the gift of the Spirit. This is amazing. Now, why then does he say it? Well, this is the same thing that happened to the Jews in Acts 2. In fact, it's very possible that these men were part of them. They may have been in the upper room and experienced it themselves, or they could very easily be men who were in Jerusalem at the temple at the time that happened, and they were some of the guys that thought that the people talking in tongues were drunk. And then Peter preached, and then they were saved. All I know, and you know, is that they were amazed that the same thing has now happened to these Gentiles. The emphasis is on the word Gentiles. Now you may remember in Acts 8, in Acts 8, this same thing happened to the Samaritans. Philip went down into the capital city Samaria, preached the gospel, and the Holy Spirit came upon them. This was so mind-blowing that the apostles actually traveled down to Samaria to verify it. Because here's the way we all are. I mean, even the apostles, they couldn't believe it happened. It blew them away. What do you mean the spirit came upon the Samaritans? We hate the Samaritans. Everyone hates the Samaritans. Because the Samaritans were half-breeds. But they come down, and they witness it. And they're like, yeah, it's happened. Wow. Same thing happened to us. But you can also, if you're honest with yourself, you can say, well, they would rationalize that, right? Well, they're half-breeds. I mean, they're half-Jews, so that's probably why it happened. But it's not gonna happen to those Gentiles. Nothing good happens to Gentiles. At best, they'll be halfway there. Remember that if you went to the temple in Jerusalem in that time, if you were a Gentile and you had come to believe in Yahweh as the only true God and you converted, if you were male, you had to be circumcised and you had to then follow the law and offer the sacrifices. But how far could you go into the temple? Only to the outermost part. It was called the Court of the Gentiles, and that's all you could do. You couldn't go further because you were still a Gentile. Now, were you a believer? Yes, but you stayed out there. You were still separate. You were one of them. And now what's happening is these people who are circumcised believers, Jewish in other words, they had experienced this gift, and now they're seeing it happen, and their mind is being blown away. And that's why it's here. In fact, many people will call this the Gentile Pentecost. So what's happening? Well, if you tell me, Here's what goes on now for me. You come to me and say, well, I believe the gospel. I want to be baptized. What proof do I have that you really do believe? What are you going to show? Well, I'm going to listen for this, and it's very simple. I'm going to listen for your ability first to tell me what the gospel is. Christ's death, burial, and resurrection for my sin, for my life, and that in Him alone my salvation is secure. That's what I wanna hear. So write that down if you're hoping to talk to me, but I'm gonna quiz you on that so that I can find out if you're just reading what you wrote down right now. But the other thing I wanna see is, is your life showing it? In what way is this impacting your life? How does this manifest itself in your life? Well, in the early church, these things were true, but there's this additional wrinkle, and that is that you would become a Jew. You would have to be circumcised. You'd then come under the law and all these other things, and you would say, this is a believer. But now, it's no longer found at the temple. Your whole life is no longer built around the Jewish world. It's built around Jesus Christ. How, then, can we know that you belong to Jesus Christ? How can we know that you follow? And in the early parts of Acts, and that's all you see it, is in the early part of Acts, it's this coming of the Spirit and this work of power in which you end up speaking in tongues. And we'll talk about that in a moment. So first, it's Jews in Jerusalem in the temple. Then it went further out to the half-Jews, the Samaritans, in chapter 8. Now we're in full-blooded Gentiles in chapter 10. The Spirit falls on them all, and they all do the exact same thing. And so it's this world-tilting, life-altering event, and you will see the struggle to get their minds around it for the next several chapters. Now in verse 46, so turn your eyes there, we see what it meant for the Spirit to be poured out. So if you're like, OK, so what's it mean when the gift of the Spirit is poured out? For they were hearing them speak with tongues and magnifying God. That's what it means. And you say, okay, that doesn't help me. Well, that's because we keep translating the word as tongues, because in the common use today, it means that ecstatic utterances or babbling, however you wanna say it. I don't try to be a jerk here. But that, if you've ever seen people supposedly speak in tongues, you know what I'm talking about. And so they just keep translating it that way. The word literally means language. That's all it means, nothing more. and it is a foreign language. In Acts chapter two, we see it explicitly stated that the people began to speak in other tongues, and all of the Jews who had traveled from other countries, and so they spoke all these different languages, it says that they were amazed because they were hearing the person speak in the dialect of the Macedonian. or of this, Pamphylia, wherever it was that they came from, that these people who were Jews born in Israel, so they would speak Aramaic and they would speak Greek, but they would not speak these dialects. And all of a sudden, they're all speaking fluently in these different languages. And guess what they're all saying? They're all speaking of the glory and the majesty of God. And it's the same thing here. These people immediately start speaking, probably in the dialects of the various Gentiles in this room. All of them have their own unique language. Even here right now, we have some of you from other countries, and you speak fluently, those, right? And I don't know, I don't wanna get myself into too much trouble about my linguistic lack of skill, but even, Spanish has multiple dialects. I remember that because my sister-in-law was born in Mexico, but she spoke, I can't remember what it's called right now, it doesn't matter, but she spoke a very highbrow type of Spanish that Spain would speak. and she would be there talking, and she didn't look Mexican, or what I would call a Mexican, and at the bakery where I worked with her and my brother, Mexicans would come in and start talking in Spanish, and first of all, they didn't know that she knew what they were saying, and then she would reply and they'd kind of get shocked. But sometimes I'd say, so what did they say? And she's like, I'm not really sure. I'm like, I thought you spoke Spanish. She's like, that's not Spanish. And I'm like, well, what is it? She's like, that's Mexican. I'm like, well, what? I thought it was the same thing. And she's like, no, they're not. And she's like, they actually throw in other words and they borrow. Puerto Rico is the same way. You go all around where it's spoken Spanish and there's different dialects and it can be hard. It's the same thing in Croatia and Serbia, very similar languages and yet not similar. And that's what you have here is this sudden ability to speak these people's language. And what do they hear? the Jews hear them speaking and exalting God. That's what's happening. Now, the modern concept of an ecstatic language, sometimes you'll hear them call it an angelic language or a private spiritual prayer language, really is not known in the Bible. Now, if that's you and you say, I disagree, that's fine, you can disagree, but you ultimately will not be able to make that argument out of the scripture. A nonsensical, and again, not saying this in a bad way, it's a nonsensical babbling where you release your emotions and your tongue starts to make these sounds, is not make it a language. No matter how hard you practice it or how much you believe it. It may be loved, you may practice it, but it doesn't change what it is or is not. But at the same time, if you're one who agrees with me, it also doesn't make it sinful, so don't do that either. A lot of people then call it sinful, and it's like, look, if they do it, and it makes them happy, I guess fine, but just don't call it biblical tongues, because that's not what it is. So what we have here, though, is this. Now, here's my point in all of this rambling. What we actually have here is a good example of how people who don't believe the power to save is in the gospel rather than in us. These are Jews who are believers, who are hearing the gospel preached, and what is their reaction? They're amazed. They're amazed. Why? Because they don't believe it would really save these people. I don't know what they were thinking when they went into the house with Peter. I don't know what they were thinking, but what happens is that they realize that the power of the gospel has in fact happened. These people are converted, and the way they know they have been converted and regenerated and baptized with the spirit is that they are also experiencing the spirit upon them, and they're uttering things in other languages. In fact, I would argue that I'd be surprised if Peter, I would not be surprised that if Peter had not been told by God to go to this household and preach, I doubt he'd ever go. because he really didn't believe, just like you and I, we don't really believe the power of salvation is in the gospel. Even after I talked about it a couple weeks ago, I think we're still there and you'll struggle with all the time. The gospel is necessarily weak to our ears, but it's the power of God to salvation. And we keep thinking it's gonna be up to our ability to persuade. But all you see here was a simple, proclamation of the gospel, and a group of people are converted, and the proof of it is their ability to do this act. Kim and I were on a motorcycle out in the country yesterday, and we were up in Racine County, and I saw a church that I thought belonged to somebody else. As we got closer, I saw it was an apostolic church. And I said, oh, it's an apostolic church. And she asked something like, well, what do they believe? And I said, well, they're the ones that believe in Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, but you can only be baptized in the name of Jesus, nobody else. If you are baptized in the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, like Matthew 28 says, you're not a believer. And second, you have to speak in tongues. If you don't do those two things, you're not saved. And it's actually a false teaching, very serious false teaching that's very common. And so that's what you have, and a passage like this is where they'll take you to. But what they're doing is they're confusing a lot of different doctrines and putting them together and ultimately coming up to the wrong conclusion. What you have here is simply the preaching of the gospel, the conversion, and then the evidence, because at this point, the Jews still didn't believe the gospel would go to the Gentile. Now, with that in mind, go to John 14. John 14. And the last 13 minutes I want to spend in chapter 14, 15, and 16 of John. And yes, we will get through that easily. John, remember this, that the whole thing of the book of John, the gospel of John, is so that you might know that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ. And in believing in him, you would have life. That's the purpose. That's at the end of John. And so all of the events that he writes are all designed to show you that he really is the promised one from the Old Testament that God promised he would send. But when you come to John chapter 13, everything slows down. So the first three years of his life of his public ministry is going quick. But when John 13 hits, it slows way down because now he is talking only to his disciples and it's only for a couple of hours and it's right before he goes to the cross. And so it's a time where he is talking to his disciples. In John 13, 14, 15, and 16, 17, he has that wonderful long prayer to his father. And then 18 on is his trial, his crucifixion, and the resurrection. And so we're right here with his disciples. Now, We've talked about this in John 5, the father-son talk, I call it. Remember that Jesus says, I do nothing in accordance to my own will, right? All that I do is the will of the father, always. That's all. Whenever you see the son work, it's because it's what the father wills. He says nothing on his own. It's always what the father wills. So it should not be surprising that the one who gives us the Holy Spirit is the father. So if you can bring the next slide up in Luke 11, 13, it says, if you then, this is Jesus talking, being evil. Notice how casually he just calls everyone evil. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? And so he's even saying, it's the father who's going to give. But notice John 14, verse 16, and we'll see that again. Jesus says to his disciples, I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate. For what purpose? So that he may be with you forever. Because he's leaving, so he's like, you need someone to be with you forever. Well, who is this advocate? Verse 17, the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him. You know him because he abides with you and will be in you. So it's Jesus here asking the Father to give the Spirit. and that this giving of the Spirit is good because he will be with us forever. And notice that though he is with them after he is given, he will also be in them. This is something utterly unique in the world of theology. Notice it at the very end of verse 17. You know him because he abides, notice the preposition, with you right now. So the Spirit's there right now, but he says, but he will be in you. And this is a unique doctrine of what's called the indwelling of the Spirit. And the indwelling is not the same thing as a baptism. It's not the same thing as regeneration. It's not the same thing as any of those others. This is a unique moment where only the church has. The Old Testament believer did not have the Spirit in them. In the New Testament, the Spirit rests in the Christian, in the church. And he is promising, this is something that is to come. Then in verse 26, again, we see Jesus pointing to the Father while also showing why it's good for him to leave and what the Spirit will do. He says, but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said. This is why after the Spirit falls upon them and everything else happens with the Spirit in Acts 2, all of those apostles are different. They're just incredible. They're bold. They know things. Why? Because the Spirit is working in them. The next thing you want to remember is that the Father does His works through the Son. And so the way the Father gives the Spirit is not on His own, but through His Son. We see that in chapter 15, verse 20 to 27. So now we're in chapter 15. Remember, verse 20, the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they'll keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you, not because of you, but for my name's sake, because they do not know the one who sent me. So he tracks it all the way back to the father. And if I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sinned, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sinned, but now they have both seen and hated me and my father as well. But this happened to fulfill the word that is written in their law. So he's talking about Jews. They hated me without cause. So he's saying, all of this stuff that's going on, he would not hold it against them, except for the fact that he did come and they did reject him. Why? Because the word of God had to be fulfilled. And then he brings the Spirit in. When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father. So do you see how it started? First it's the Father's going to send. Now in chapter 15, it's I'm going to send from the Father. the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me, and now you will bear witness also. Why? Because you have been with me from the beginning. So now we have Christ bringing the Spirit. Then in John 16, in verses five through 11, but now I am going to him who sent me, that's the Father, and none of you asked me, where are you going? Why? Because they're too busy feeling sorry for themselves. He says, but because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth, it's actually to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I do go, I will send him to you. And he, when he comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment, concerning sin because they do not believe in me, concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you no longer see me, and concerning judgment because the ruler of this world has been judged." So here now we see that it's good for Jesus to leave, because then he would send the Spirit, and the Spirit will now work upon humanity. For you and I, the Spirit convicts us and guides us and leads us into righteousness, but also the Spirit convicts the world in their sin. In fact, not one person here came to faith without a level of convicting work of the Spirit. And those who are non-believers, that will judge them. The Spirit of God is here to judge them and bring that conviction upon them. And this is all why it's good. He's like, I am, as a man, He's God in human flesh. I'm limited. But I will leave, and I will send the Spirit, and now He will do this upon the whole world. Then in verse 13, the Spirit will take that realm of truth and cause us to walk and grow. And I remember preaching this sermon many, many years ago. He says, but when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you. Unfortunately, they translate it into. It would be better to translate it as in. He will guide you in all truth. for he will not speak from himself, but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will disclose to you what is to come. Why is it important to say in versus into? Well, into, that preposition in English is a preposition of motion, right? You're moving into something. If I say you need to go in to the house, that means you're where? Outside, and you gotta go into. There's a movement, whereas if I say, You are in the house where you are already. in the house, you're not outside. In the same sense, what he means by this is that the Spirit's not gonna keep unfolding new truth to you, but in fact what the Spirit does is in this big world or realm called truth, every Christian is being guided in that. You're already in it, you're in the truth, and what the Spirit is doing is continuing to show you that truth that you're in already. It's really a cool doctrine if you'll just think about it. that he just is faithfully working in our lives. And that's why some of you, you'll read your Bible, and all of a sudden you're like, I never noticed that before. Well, it's not like he brought you into it. You're already there, but now he shows you it. And you're like, oh, cool, neat. And that's just the ministry of the Spirit. That's all of what's going on in Acts 10. These Gentiles hear the gospel as they listen Their hearts are changed, regenerated by the Spirit. They're baptized into the church because they believe. And yet, the only thing being described for us is then to show the Jews that they too are fellow heirs to all of the promises. they have the Spirit fall on them, and they speak in these other languages. And so what you really have is just another example of the centrality of Christ, because who sent the Spirit to them? Christ did. None of this would have happened unless Christ hadn't operated. And it's the same reason why you came to faith. Why? Because the Spirit of God came upon you and regenerated your soul. You speak in tongues? No. Why? Because the Spirit didn't fall on you, but you were certainly made new in Christ by the Spirit. Why? Because the Spirit was sent by the Son. And as always, Jesus can mean many things to many people, but He will not be ignored. He is Lord of all, He is Judge of all. My hope is that if you do not yet see Him this way, is that the Spirit of God would show you that He is also Savior of all. So let's pray. So Father, I ask that you help us to that task, that we would be men and women who walk in truth. You place us in it, that we would therefore be men and women who utter that truth, live in the truth, grow in the truth, all by the work of your Spirit, that you would convict our hearts of sin, that we might put them away. I pray for any here not in Christ, that you would draw them to yourself through the Spirit. that we would understand again that the power of God is the gospel and the working of salvation is you, the triune God, and that we are just simply called to be witnesses. Let us be bold in that. Strengthen us to that task, I ask in your Son's name. Amen.