A passage today is verses 1 through 13 of Acts chapter 2, and I'll read that for us now. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. and divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound, the multitude came together and they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians. We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, what does this mean? But others, mocking, said, they are filled with new wine. Father, I pray that your spirit would be here with us today, that your word would go forth through my mouth in truth and in grace and in clarity and in boldness, bringing your peace to your people. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. So right off the bat, one could make an excellent argument about it being important or even necessary to actually preach all the way through verse 40, if I were going to preach at the beginning of Acts chapter 2. After all, verses 14 through 40 contain Peter's sermon explaining what has just occurred in verses 1 through 13. His sermon, another speech, is even a direct response to the question that people were asking themselves in verse 12. What does this mean? And so you might think it irresponsible or arrogant to preach verses 1 through 13 apart from Peter's explanatory sermon that immediately follows. I want to assure you that I'm absolutely not ignoring the content of Peter's message. And of course, we're going to cover that passage next week. But there are a few things that could and should be said about these first 13 verses of the chapter, not independent of the content of Peter's sermon, but at least as an introduction and more detailed explanation of a couple features. What I say today ought to fit very nicely within the content of what you see in verses 14 through 40 and what we'll talk about next week. But there's so much to cover next week as it is, we ought to say a few things here first in preparation for what we'll see next week. It's a delicate balance, but I think it's worth doing. Now, as Baptists, We typically don't bind ourselves too tightly to what's often called the church calendar, that is to say the series of annual celebrations that was developed over centuries containing numerous Christian feast days and other specific celebrations every year. except for such days like Christmas and Easter, Palm Sunday and so forth that we often do celebrate every year. But if you've spent any time in, say, Roman Catholic Church or maybe the Lutheran Church or some other traditions as well, Anglican Church, the Eastern Orthodox, so forth, you know that the church calendar provides an entire structure to how they worship God and what specific events get celebrated at what time of the year. And if you remember any of that time spent within those traditions, if you had any, you probably realize that Pentecost in those traditions is celebrated approximately 50 days after Easter. That's not exactly the case, but we'll talk more precisely about the timing of that later in the message. And the reason many church traditions acknowledge and celebrate Pentecost is that it signifies the birth of the church. It's like saying every year, happy birthday, church, as well as celebrating the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Now, as one brand of Reformed believers, we believe that there has only ever been one people of God and one plan of salvation across all of history. The people of God are and always have been those who respond to God in faith. In the Old Testament, the believers among the nation of Israel looked forward in faith to the promises of deliverance through a Messiah, And in these days, we look back in faith at the revelation of that Messiah, Jesus Christ. But not all Reformed believers acknowledge what I think must be acknowledged here, that the giving of the promised Holy Spirit seen here in Acts chapter 2 was actually something that inaugurated a new age in space and time, a new reality, the church in a way it had never existed before. If you were with us two Christmases ago, I explained how beginning at Pentecost, the church actually becomes the dwelling place of God on earth. Because ever since this Pentecost, the spirit has dwelled in the believers. And this is true in an individual sense. The spirit dwells within each individual believer, and in a corporate sense as well. The spirit dwells in and among the body of believers. This outpouring of the Holy Spirit was promised multiple times by Jesus himself. We see, for example, in John chapters 14, 15, and 16, that Jesus foretold the day when he would leave the disciples, but he would not leave them alone. He would send another helper, one who would teach them and remind them of everything Jesus had said and about whom they in turn would bear witness. This is the fulfillment of that promise of Jesus. At the end of John's gospel, as you heard Sam read earlier, we see a taste of the fulfillment of this promise. While the risen Jesus was still with them, he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. That was a foretaste of fulfillment, even a partial fulfillment of his earlier promise. But as we saw a couple weeks ago in the first chapter of Acts, verses four and five, Jesus still told them to wait not many days from now for the promised baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is what we see here. And so what we're seeing here in the beginning of Acts chapter two is the fulfillment of that promise in earnest, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in power. I told you that I would be referring back to, excuse me, referring back to Acts chapter one, verse eight often. And Jesus told them in chapter one, verse eight, that when the Holy Spirit came upon them in power, they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea. and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. The day of Pentecost marks the beginning of the fulfillment of them being his witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea. And it will move outward geographically from there later on. They were waiting in that upper room in Jerusalem. And as the Spirit filled them, and as they began to declare in many tongues the mighty works of God, it appears that this spectacle must have spilled out into the streets or into some public area. And all these devout Jews from every nation under heaven, as it says in verse five, were dwelling in Jerusalem at the time. So the disciples began on this very day to be his witnesses to Jerusalem and all Judea. Later on in the sermon, we'll come back to the topic of why all these Jews from all over were in Jerusalem in the first place. But first, let's examine verses two to four and see what we can learn there. Firstly, we should not confuse or mistake the Holy Spirit himself with the descriptions of his outpouring. The Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is, as we say, the third person of the Trinity. And as we move through Acts, we'll see other passages, especially in chapter 5, that help us to understand and defend that claim, as well as the passages in John's Gospel that I've already mentioned. The Holy Spirit is not a wind, even though he appears with the sound of a mighty rushing wind. And Jesus describes the action of the Spirit like that of the wind to Nicodemus in John chapter 3. The Holy Spirit is also not fire, even though at his time, at his coming here, there appear divided tongues as a fire. Just as the Holy Spirit is also not a dove, even though he descended in the form of a dove upon Jesus at his baptism. And we can still say a few things regarding these signs and descriptions of the coming of the Spirit. The fact that the sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven indicates for us that the spirit has been sent by God. And Luke is probably indicating that he was sent specifically by the risen Jesus who had recently ascended into heaven that we just read about in chapter one. We do need to say a bit more than that, though, about the tongues of fire. Firstly, the description, divided tongues of fire, doesn't really have anything to do with the issue of languages that the disciples then began miraculously to speak in. The phrase tongue of fire is simply a Jewish idiom for a flame. You see this very expression, for example, in Isaiah chapter five, verse 24. Isaiah writes, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble. It's simply an idiom for flames of fire. Think about the way we often say things like that flames lick at something. We use tongue imagery regarding flames simply because of the way fire looks and acts. And although fire is often associated with judgment in both the Old and New Testaments, I don't think that's the primary symbolism Luke's portraying here. I think more likely he's calling to mind the symbolism of the presence of God. For example, think of the book of Exodus, like the burning bush that we see in Exodus chapter three. The tongues of fire that rested on each of them indicated God's presence upon each of them in a special new way. Even more, what do we often see when God appears in flame and fire in the book of Exodus? Frequently, his appearances this way are associated with preparing his mouthpieces to speak on his behalf. Saw it over and over with Moses. Now we see it with the apostles and the rest that were with them. God's presence is signified by the flame. and he prepares his people to speak on his behalf, which of course Peter is about to do dramatically beginning at verse 14. Now you might also reasonably say that some aspect of judgment is associated with this presence of God and fire here in Acts chapter two, because those who reject the testimony of God's mouthpieces in the coming chapters and throughout all the church age, those people who reject the testimony about God will come under his judgment. So you could say that this fire represents both the preparation for the utterance of the gospel message and also the possibility of judgment for rejecting God's truth. But we must also reckon with the fact that those upon whom the tongues of fire appear do indeed miraculously begin to speak in other languages. And even though some would tell you that this is an example of the Spirit leading people to speak in some kind of holy language and that the miracle was that the people heard the speech in their own languages, verse 4 specifically says they began to speak in other tongues, a word which must be understood here as other languages, especially as it gets described by the men observing. And it's plural here as well, so they weren't just speaking some heavenly language that was then merely heard by each hearer as his own. They were speaking other plural languages. This landmark event in redemptive history should remind us of something we learned about back in our walk through Genesis. Now let me prompt you this way. How did it come about that people spoke different languages in the first place? Now, if you're remembering the incident at the Tower of Babel, you've made the connection. The Tower of Babel, recorded all the way back in Genesis 11, was the site where the people had rejected God's command to spread out and fill the earth. Instead, they had concentrated in one area and decided to band together to build a tower to reach into the heavens. So what did God do? He confused their languages. That was the origin of mankind speaking multiple different languages. If you remember then, the point of the whole series that we taught in Genesis was the why of life. Well, why do we have multiple languages? Because of the confusion at the Tower of Babel. And in the intervening thousands of years until this particular day of Pentecost, there had been many more languages and dialects that developed from those languages created by God at the Tower of Babel. So what are we seeing then here at this Pentecost? We're seeing in some sense a reversal of the impact of the Tower of Babel. A reversal of the impact of the Tower of Babel. Please don't misunderstand. I'm not saying that forever after there would be no more language differences or difficulties in communicating. Nor am I saying that all spirit-filled believers will be able to speak and understand all other languages. Nor did the Spirit give some sort of special spirit language that is spoken and understood by all believers. It doesn't work that way. I am saying, however, that on this particular momentous occasion in redemptive history, God miraculously moved to reverse that aspect of the confusion of the languages in one day, as we'll see in verse 41, 3,000 Jews from all over who spoke many different languages all heard and understood and received the gospel and repented and believed and were added to the number of the fledgling church. These people soon were going to be scattered back across the Roman Empire and probably beyond, and so could then take the gospel to the four corners of the earth and speak the truths of God in their own languages to people who understood their languages and dialects. God used this miracle in order not to permanently reverse the Tower of Babel, but to minimize its impact where the initial spread of the gospel was concerned. That goes a long way to explain the impact of having all these Jews from the four corners of the earth present. That is to say, Jews from all over the diaspora, the word. That's the word for the dispersion of Jews that had occurred ever since the times of the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles that we see discussed by the prophets in the Old Testament. Not all the Jews returned to the land. So the impact of having all these Jews from all over the diaspora in Jerusalem at that moment was that the gospel would be understood and soon taken back to all these many locations to spread like wildfire. But what were they all doing there in the first place? Again, this is where our understanding of the Old Testament comes into play. Passages in the prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel speak of a return of the Jewish exiles back into the land and of a restoration of Israel. And although, as I said, many of the exiles did return to the land in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, they didn't all return. And so we also know that Israel still was not delivered from the bondage of sin, even those that did return. We even see in the Gospels how they were living under the rule of the Roman Empire while they were back in their land. Clearly there was a return from exile and a restoration that had not yet taken place. If you remember back in chapter one, the apostles asked Jesus, will you now restore the kingdom of Israel? Luke stresses in great detail in verse five and verses eight through 11, many of the different places that Jews had come from who were now in Jerusalem for this event. And more so than the individual names of the places, what Luke appears to be stressing by the way he has grouped these nations is the four points of the compass. Jews of nations from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south were all gathered there. And as we'll see more in Peter's sermon that we cover next week, Peter explains that this event truly does involve the restoration of Israel. See verse 36, for example. So we see how their presence in Jerusalem was a partial fulfillment of a return from exile, But again, I ask, what were they all doing there in the first place? Well, as I was saying earlier, some of you may have more familiarity with celebrating the day of Pentecost every year in the church calendar. But even if you have that background, you still might not realize that Pentecost was being celebrated by the Jews before this event described in Acts chapter two. You see, the word Pentecost comes from the Greek word for 50th. And Pentecost was one of the three main feasts of the nation of Israel that God had commanded them to celebrate. The feast of unleavened bread, or the Passover, as it was known, the feast of weeks, or Pentecost, and the feast of booths, or tabernacles. We see these described in Leviticus chapter 23 and also in Deuteronomy chapter 16. And in Leviticus 23 verses 15 to 16, we see that the Feast of Weeks was to be celebrated 50 days after the Feast of Firstfruits. So originally this would have been a movable date, but by the New Testament times, the date was actually calculated from the Feast of Passover. So the Feast of Weeks by then occurred 50 days after Passover. And again, Pentecost was the Greek word for 50th. So the word Pentecost, until this momentous event in Acts chapter two, was simply another word for referring to the great Jewish festival, the Feast of Weeks. And Deuteronomy 16 verse 16 tells us that all male Jews were to appear before the Lord at the place he will choose, which eventually became Jerusalem, the site of the temple, three times a year. for the Passover, for the Feast of Weeks, and for the Feast of Booths. That's why all these Jewish males had come to Jerusalem from the four corners of the earth. They had come for Passover, and they had almost surely stayed in Jerusalem those 50 days until the Feast of Weeks. Now, some of them may actually have resettled in Jerusalem by this time, but surely many of these Jews were visitors for the second of these three great feasts. This kind of in-gathering of the Jews, a return from exile, was expected in the last days. And we'll see Peter talk much more about expectations for the last days next week. But for today, now you know what all these Jews were doing in Jerusalem, and you see how, just as the time around Passover, a great Jewish feast, was given new meaning by Christ and his resurrection, So the church celebrates Easter every year, very near the time the Jews celebrate Passover. So also was Pentecost given an escalated meaning for the church by the ascended Christ sending the Holy Spirit on the very next Jewish festival after Passover, the Feast of Weeks. So we've spoken in a little preparatory detail about this giving of the Holy Spirit. We've spoken about how it was a fulfillment of some things Jesus said, how it to some degree reversed the effects of the Tower of Babel, and also of how it speaks to a restoration of Israel, as well as how and why there were so many diaspora Jews in Jerusalem to begin with. Now in verses 12 to 13, Luke notes the reaction and the reception of the crowd. And at this point, it would be realistic to say most of the crowd were still unbelievers, yet they were all still Jews, that is to say, not Gentiles. Luke highlights two aspects of the crowd's reaction. First, many were amazed and perplexed, and they were asking, what does this mean? Verse 13 shows that still others were mocking them, saying essentially that they were drunk on cheap wine. You can even see a little bit of a dig at those who were speaking in other languages back in verse seven as well because Galileans were not that favorably looked upon compared to those from Jerusalem. And they were amazed and astonished saying, are not all those speaking are Galileans? So many of the onlookers were bewildered while others belittled these events. And that's not an uncommon reaction to a move of God or to the message of God. Some openly mocked what was occurring and others were asking for an explanation. And that question in verse 12, what does this mean? That's the direct impetus for Peter to stand up and address them beginning in verse 14. We'll see this sort of thing frequently in Acts. Many of the speeches that I've previously referred to as a substantial tool in moving the plot forward in the Book of Acts were delivered in response to a questioning crowd, a questioning individual, and sometimes even a questioning ruler or governing body. And if we can say anything at all without bleeding over into Peter's explanation, I think we can say this. This was a miraculous event, a true move of God. But most of the people observing this miraculous event were standing around confused at best. Here's what this tells us. Even miraculous events don't authenticate themselves. And they don't inevitably convince everyone either. Not everyone there who observed the event thought it was a miracle from God. Some mocked and belittled it, accusing them of being drunk on cheap wine. The miracle did not explain itself. What this tells us is that people's hearts and minds have to be prepared in order to understand a move of God. And then the message needs to be proclaimed to them. And even then, even then, some people still will not believe. All the atheists running around today saying they want God to work a miracle for them and then they'll believe, they still won't. Look at all those Jews who knew the Old Testament Scriptures, who knew who God was, and knew what sin was, knew they were expecting a Messiah. They still had no clue what was going on until Peter preached his sermon explaining that this is what the Old Testament Scriptures pointed to. They needed the explanation. Don't be snowed by someone who demands a miracle before they'll believe. The miracle itself is not enough to convince anyone. They need the message that goes along with the miracle. And they need a heart that's been regenerated by the Holy Spirit so that they will believe and believe properly. A miracle without a proper biblical explanation only leads to even more confusion. Because outside of the proper explanations, you can take that miracle and claim it to mean whatever you want it to mean. So people don't just need the proper explanation, they also need the proper preparation. Fortunately, these Jews had the proper preparation. But we're going to see eventually in Acts, as the gospel message goes out to the Gentiles, not everyone has the proper preparation. And so the explanation you give one person might differ drastically from the explanation you give another, depending on how prepared they are. Miracles don't authenticate themselves, not every explanation is accurate, and not everyone needs to hear the correct explanation in exactly the same way. So if it feels incomplete to end here, I think that's appropriate, given that Peter is about to give his spirit-filled explanation of this outpouring. And Lord willing, we'll cover that next week. Let's pray. Father, we do give you thanks and praise for your Spirit living among us. We see the drama and the excitement that accompanied this first outpouring of your Spirit. And sometimes, Lord, we long for that kind of event in our lives. But we also know that the massive movements of God that came forth often came with much persecution and much hardship. And so Lord, we ask you, give us an awareness of how the Spirit is moving in our lives today. Give us an awareness of how your Spirit living in us helps us. to kill our own sin, helps us to mortify sin, helps us to love you and turn to you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength as we're commanded to. Lord, none of us does that perfect, but we wouldn't be doing it at all if it weren't for your Spirit. So Father, thank you. We pray that you would continue to open our eyes and our minds to your Spirit's work in us and in the church and in the world today. and for some sort of fresh filling and outpouring in our lives, that we may continue to glorify your name on this earth and see the kingdom of God expanded. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Well, let us celebrate the Lord's Supper, which he commanded us through the disciples and through the last supper that he celebrated with them. We celebrate the body broken for us, Christ's body broken for us in the bread. We celebrate his blood poured out for us in the wine and in the juice. Now here at Grace Baptist, you're not required to be a member to receive communion, to participate, but we do encourage you very strongly that this is for the church. This is for believers who have professed faith in God. and ideally that those who have been baptized upon that profession of faith.