(King James Version throughout)
Let’s turn over to Leviticus 23 and see what happened on this day. Herbert Armstrong used to ask us often, “Why are we here?” and so it’s good to rehearse why all of us are here on a Sunday. We’ll begin in verse 15. We’re told…
Lev. 23: 15 And you shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, (this is the Sabbath during the days of Unleavened Bread) from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete:
16) Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall you number fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal offering unto the Lord.
17) You shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall of be fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven; [they are] the first fruits unto the Eternal.
18) And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams; they shall be [for] a burnt offering unto the Eternal, with their meal offering and their drink offerings, [even] an offering made by fire of sweet savor unto the Eternal.
19) Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
20) And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits [for] a wave offering before the Eternal, with the two lambs; they shall be holy to the Eternal for the priest.
21) You shall proclaim on the selfsame day [that] it may be a holy convocation unto you: (a holy coming together and we’re here right now doing that) you shall do no servile work [therein: it shall be] a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
We are here fulfilling that this very day. Now there’s much symbolism about the Day of Pentecost. You know, we have the two loaves and it has been speculated over the years that the two loaves symbolize the Old Covenant and New Covenant. It has also been speculated that those loaves symbolize Israel and the Gentiles and some day we will find out specifically, but both are logical. We also need to understand that Christ relative to what we’re talking about today regarding the two loaves, Christ was perfect, therefore, He was unleavened. Now let’s go to II Corinthians 5:21 and see that very fact. Christ had no leaven in Him. This is all by way of introducing the specific subject.
II Cor. 5:21 For He (refers to the Father) hath made Him (referring to Christ) [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin;
Christ was completely sin free, but He was made sin for us.
21b) that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
We won’t turn there, but in John 3:34, we’re told that God gave the Spirit without measure to Jesus Christ. As Stuart was talking about, when we’re baptized, we receive the Spirit, but by measure, as a grain of a mustard seed, as a down payment. But the fact is, Christ is unleavened, but the First fruits (those two loaves) are leavened. That indicates that we, as the first fruits, are not perfect like Christ, but we can be made acceptable to God and to Christ by Christ’s sacrifice and by His resurrection. Let’s go, with that in mind, to Jude verses 24 and 25. Right before the Book of Revelation. That although the loaves were leavened, although the first fruits are leavened, we can be made acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Notice what we’re told.
Jude 24 Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, (Him is Jesus Christ. Capital “H” it should be) and to present [you] faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
We can be made faultless.
25) To the only wise God, our Savior, [be] glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and evermore. Amen.
He is able to keep us from falling. He is able to present us, without fault, without blemish through His sacrifice. Now, we know those two loaves represent a group of people. Let’s go to James 1:18, letting the Bible define the Bible. This shows us very clearly that the first fruits are indeed a group of people. Those loaves, as they were presented to God in that ceremony, represent not just two loaves of bread, but a group of people.
James 1:18 Of His own will begat He us with the Word of truth that we should be a kind of First fruits of His creatures.
So we are the first fruits of God and it has been speculated many times; could it be on this day that as those loaves were presented to God, that we as first fruits would be presented to God? We will find out in due course.
Another significant event happened this day. I think we all know that the commandments were given. In Exodus Chapters 19 and 20. We won’t turn there. Those commandments, though, were a tremendous gift on Pentecost ... a tremendous gift. But Israel was never able to keep them and we know why. Again, we won’t turn there. We will come back to it later. In Deuteronomy 5 and verse 29, God laments that they didn’t have the heart. They couldn’t keep it because they didn’t have the heart. Israel proved over and over and over again that they did not have the wherewithal, they did not have the heart, they did not have the mind, they did not have the spirit to keep God’s law. So the question relative to today is, what is the most important event to happen on this day? Now we’ve read a series of events in Leviticus and then Exodus. We know the commandments were given this day, but what is the most important event to happen on this day? This most important event makes it possible to keep God’s law, makes it possible to do what was impossible with ancient Israel.
So the title of the sermon is, “The Greatest Gift of Pentecost”, and we need to focus on that more than we have ever focused on it in our lives as we get closer to the end time. For the answer of this greatest gift, we have to first turn to the New Testament in Acts, Chapter 1, and we will begin in verse 1. Luke is writing to Theophilus and he jumps right into the subject.
Acts 1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
This in itself is significant because Christ just didn’t teach it, He lived it. He did it. And there’s a huge message for us just in that one verse, to do and to teach.
2) Until the day in which He was taken up, after that He, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments unto the apostles whom He had chosen:
Now what are the commandments that He gave them? What are the commandments He had chosen? We’ll find out in just a verse or two.
3) To whom also He showed 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:
Luke is trying to establish the fact that there is no argument about Christ walking this earth; there is no argument about His resurrection. Many, many saw that and they heard it. Then he gets to the commandment.
4) And being assembled together with [them], commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, [says He,] you have heard of Me.
It was a specific promise that He told them would come and He said, “You’d better stay in Jerusalem; you’d better not leave Jerusalem because that promise is going to be fulfilled in Jerusalem.
5) For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
Now let’s go to Acts, Chapter 2, and if you have a ribbon in your Bible or a marker, you might want to put it here because we’ll keep coming back to Acts, Chapter 2. Beginning in verse 1: This greatest gift on the Day of Pentecost.
Acts 2:1 And when the Day of Pentecost was fully come, (Notice this. Two things happened.) they were all with one accord in one place.
Two things. They were with one accord in one place, and we’re going to come back to that.
2) And suddenly there came a sound
Now the Greek word for “sound” is echos from where we get the English word echo. It simply means a loud roar. I lived 2-1/2 years in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where Arnie and Cleo grew up and we’ll talk about that later. But, I’ll tell you, I know what a loud roar is because in the middle of the winter, the Canadian fronts would come down with no mountains to stop them. They would hit Lake Superior and sweep across from west to east and wind up in Sault. Ste. Marie, where I was in the military. You could hear that wind coming through those bare trees and it sounded like a freight train coming. Snow sideways the size of silver dollars. This is what they were hearing, although I’m sure it was much greater than that. They heard a loud roar…
2b) from heaven as of a rushing might wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3) And there appeared unto them cloven tongues
The Greek word for “cloven” just means divided, like a hoof is divided into two parts. So two flames as they flicker back and forth. A fire from a candle can be like a tongue, in the shape of a tongue.
3b) like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4) And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other languages (King James says tongues, but it means languages) as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5) And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
6) Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because every man heard them speak in his own language.
7) And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?
Galileans had a particular accent. We would say today, “Aren’t these all Texans or Georgians?” or whatever. Dorothy and I have a favorite pancake house we go to and there was this waitress and when she came to the table, she said “Yee-Haw!” like Texans do. When she started talking, I said, “What part of Texas are you from?” We’d never met her before. She looked at me. I figured it was around Dallas or east Texas; it wasn’t a west Texas accent. She said, “Yes, I’m not far from Big Sandy.” I said, “Well, that figures.” And so we talked and joked with her and you could tell that she was a “Galilean” in that sense.
So they said, “All these people are Galilean. They don’t have the ability to speak in other languages.”
8) And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
9) Parthians and Medes and Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia and in Judea and Capadocia, in Pontus and Asia,
10) Phrygia and Pamphylia in Egypt, and in parts of Libya about Cyrene and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
11) Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
An Absolute miracle.
12) And they were all amazed and were in doubt, saying to one another,” What is the meaning of this?” (What’s going on here?”)
13) Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.” (They’re just drunk; but obviously, that’s not a very good explanation.)
14) But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said, “You men of Judea and all [you] that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you and hearken to my word:
He began to preach to them and they heard it in their own language. The coming of the Holy Spirit was the greatest gift of God that occurred on this day. Now let’s ask the question, why did God do it in this particular manner? Why didn’t He do it in some other way? He did it with tongues of fire and with being able to speak in different languages. He could have had the Holy Spirit come in many, many different ways, but why did He do it this way? Since He did it this way, we have to ask the question; are there lessons we need to learn about what happened this day and are the events that happened this day, were they put there by God for a specific reason to teach us certain lessons? That’s what we’re going to investigate. So, we’re going to learn the lessons from the first Pentecost. What lessons can we learn about what happened then and apply them to us today. There are five.
The first one. It’s very obvious. On the first Pentecost, there was obedience. Remember in Acts, Chapter 1, Christ commanded the apostles to stay in Jerusalem. They obeyed. They stayed in Jerusalem. In Chapter 2, verse 1 which we just read…
Acts 2: 1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
They perfectly obeyed Jesus Christ. That single act of obedience, going to one place on the Day of Pentecost, that single act of obedience made it possible for them to receive the Holy Spirit. Now think about it, how would you feel if you were one of them and you decided to go somewhere else on Pentecost? “Well, I think I’m going to go over here or over there.” You would have missed out on receiving God’s Holy Spirit because, you see, the gift of God’s Spirit is conditional on obedience. Let’s go to Acts 5 and verse 32. This is a memory scripture from years ago. It tells us that the gift of the Holy Spirit is just not thrown out, it’s conditional.
Acts 5:32 and we are His witnesses of these things; and [so is] also the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to them that obey Him.
How can we go to God and ask for more of His Spirit, to be blessed with His Spirit if we are not obeying Him? How can we do that? And He is saying, “I won’t do that. I’m not going to do that.” And so on this day so many years ago, they were obedient. They were there and God gave His Holy Spirit. Think of how you would have felt if you had missed that gathering! The lesson for today, under this first point about obedience, is that the gathering we might choose to miss (the Sabbath) might be the very gathering where God wants to give us something. Think about that. The one we say, “Aw, (you know) we can go next week; it’s not going hurt to miss something today. We’re tired and all of that, but it might be something that we desperately need that God wants to give us, but we’re not there. God wanted to give them, the disciples, the apostles, the Holy Spirit and what if they weren’t there? They were there. There is a very important lesson there. It’s easy to say, “Well I don’t need to be there today. Let’s just take it easy. There’s a bunch of other Sabbaths.” That’s true, but I’ll tell you, there have been sermonettes and sermons where I’ve been in the audience, and those messages changed my life. Also, there have been discussions before and after services that have changed my life. If I hadn’t have been there, my life wouldn’t have been changed. I’m sure the same is for you, so the message here is, being together on the Sabbath and holy days is extremely important to God. Let’s go to Hebrews 10 and verse 25. We’re told that. You know I think in the greater Church there’s, the Laodicean era, a laxity that, “Aw, we can, we can’t. It doesn’t make any difference. We’ll make it up next week.” But the fact is, God has messages for us every Sabbath and every holy day and we should be there. Of course, if we’re deathly sick or infectious, we’re not talking about that.
Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is];
It is the manner of maybe more than some; maybe many today.
25b) But exhorting [one another:]
And that’s part of why we come to services; to exhort one another.
25c) and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.
You look at world events and it’s like a freight train getting speed up. It’s heading down toward destruction. The Greek word “assembling” is Strong’s 1997. It has an interesting meaning. It means a complete collection. Not a partial collection, but a complete collection. That means all of God’s people, the complete collection, should be there on the Sabbath. Not some of the time, but all of the time, unless as I said, somebody is sick or incapacitated. It also means especially a Christian meeting for worship, a gathering together or a coming together. So one of the great lessons of Pentecost is that we must be obedient in the little things as well as the big things. We have to think, what if I just said, “Okay, I’m just going to take it off this Pentecost.” What if they had done that? Think of the penalty they would have had to pay. Thankfully they did not do that.
The second lesson regarding Pentecost is that on the first Pentecost, there was unity .
Acts 2: 1 When the Day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord.
The apostles were there with one accord. Now think about the apostles for just for a minute. Look at the diversity among the apostles. Now, granted, they were all blue collar workers; they were all from Galilee, that area, but they were very different.
Remember James and John, the sons of Zebedee? The sons of Zebedee were called “The Sons of Thunder.” There was a reason they were called the “Sons of Thunder” because they weren’t very compassionate. When they first started travelling with Jesus Christ and they went by a certain town or village and that village didn’t want to let Christ in, what did they ask Christ? “Can we call down fire from Heaven,” and just wipe them off the face of the earth. Wonderful compassion. Wonderful understanding. Wonderful care for other people. “Let’s just blow them to smithereens”. James and John, The Sons of Thunder. Now the younger of the two, John, which we know wrote the epistles for II John and III John and also wrote the Gospel of John; apparently, over time, he changed. We are told later that he was a very affectionate man. He was the man who put his head on Christ’s chest. He was, by his own words, the disciple that Christ loved (in John 21). But the fact is that both of them went to Jesus Christ, with their mother in tow, to ask Him that one be placed on His right hand and one placed on His left hand. The mother was campaigning and politicking and the two of them were campaigning and politicking. We find that in Mark 10 and Matthew 20, and the fact is that these two guys were politicking to be right there with Jesus Christ. Do you think we’ve seen that before in the Church? Well, they were right in the middle of it. So, look at the diversity there.
Then you come to Peter, who was very impetuous; ready, fire, aim. He would go where angels fear to tread. He was outspoken and aggressive. Remember, he cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest. You know, probably it was a miracle he didn’t split his head in two. But, Christ admonished him saying, “You want to live by the sword, you’re going to die by the sword.”
And then, all of them (the apostles) argued among themselves, who was greatest. Let’s go to Luke 9: 46-48. I’m trying to show that there is a great diversity among the apostles. They weren’t starting off in any kind of unity because their personalities were so different. Their make-ups were so different. They were wired differently.
Luke 9: 46 Then there arose a reasoning …
Now if you look at the Greek word “reasoning”, it can mean a dispute. That’s obviously what was happening. There was a giant dispute among them, which of them should be the greatest. They were arguing among themselves in front of Jesus Christ.
46b) among them, which of them should be greatest.
47) And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart,
He perceived not only the words they were saying, the arguments, but what was behind those words, their motivation. He simply took a little child and set the little child on His lap in the middle of them and spoke to them. He didn’t address the issue. He didn’t starting yelling and screaming at them. He just took this sweet little kid.
48) And said unto them, “Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receives me: and whosoever shall receive me receives Him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.
He says, you’re arguing who is greatest and I’m telling you that this sweet little child, who isn’t arguing by the way, and it hasn’t occurred to this little child to argue or politic; and He said, “You’ve got to be like this little kid. Whoever is least in My view, in My mind, in My judgment (Jesus Christ is saying) is the greatest.
So, you had this diversity, impetuousness, aggressiveness, going where angels fear to tread, the politicking and arguing among the disciples and yet, at the beginning of Acts, they were in unity together in one place. They were in unity in obedience because they were there. They were in unity of purpose because Christ told them to be there. They didn’t know for sure how it was going to happen or what was going to happen, but they had a purpose. Christ said to be here and we’re going to be here. So they had a unity in obedience and a unity in purpose.
Now look at the greater Church today. We’re divided physically. We’re scattered all over. God’s people are scattered all over the world. We’re divided corporately because some will not allow their members to visit other members that don’t belong to that specific corporation. We have friends that will not allow us to visit where they meet and they will not come to where we meet. They are divided, thinking that is somehow God’s will. Let me ask the question in this second point of “there was unity”. As Christ looks down on the earth, do these divisions count to Him? The divisions of space, you know, parts of the country around the world or the divisions of corporations, do those count to God? Do God and Christ look down from Heaven and does that somehow matter to them? Does God say, “Well I don’t recognize you here because you’re not part of this human corporation.” With boards of directors and all that, does God say, “I don’t recognize you because you’re not of this corporation”? That is laughable, absolutely laughable.
Let’s go to I Corinthians 1 and we’ll read verse 10 and then verse 13. Paul was jumping on the local Church in Corinth because, in their church, they had the same problem. We have a worldwide problem today in the greater Church, but theirs was a microcosm of what we have today.
I Cor. 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
I mean you can’t be any stronger than this from an apostle. He said, “I am beseeching you, I’m crying out to you, I’m begging you in Christ’s name. This isn’t my idea. I’m doing it through the authority of Jesus Christ”.
10b) that [you] all speak the same thing, and [that] there be no divisions among you; but [that you] be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
Now that’s what they had on this first Day of Pentecost, but they didn’t have it in Corinth down the road. He says…
13) Is Christ divided? (of course not) Was Paul crucified for you? (of course not) or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
No, they were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. So, it is laughable for human beings today to say that “ If you’re not part of our corporation, you’re not going to the place of safety. If you’re not part of our corporation, you’re not the true body of Christ.” That is laughable, if you read the Bible.
Here’s what God is concerned with. Here is what God wants to see. He asks the question, “Who loves me with all their heart and who loves their neighbor as themselves”? This is the core of the ten commandments. He looks down and He identifies His people by saying, “Who loves Me with their very being and who loves their neighbor as themselves? Who keeps the ten commandments, (as we’re going to see) because they love me?” That’s what He looks at. Do you think that a human corporation can somehow interfere with that, or a human corporation can somehow intervene and keep Christ or God from loving someone because they’re not over here or over there? It’s just ridiculous. Now those brethren, regardless of where they are on the face of the earth or regardless of where they sit on the Sabbath, those brethren who love God with all their heart and love their neighbor as themselves, they are in unity. No matter where they live, no matter what corporation they might affiliate themselves with, they are in unity. That’s how God sees it. That’s how Christ sees it. So as the apostles were in unity on that first Pentecost, we’re in unity with people we don’t even know. We’re in unity with people we’re not even aware of. They might be in Africa or Russia or scattered all over the United States, they might not be on our database, but we’re in unity with them because we love God with all our heart and we love our neighbor as ourselves. Very simple. It is so simple and yet people don’t see that today. That’s one of the great lessons from Pentecost. They were there in unity.
Now, the third lesson. On the first Pentecost, there was an opening of the human mind by a spiritual force. Let’s go back to Acts, Chapter 2 beginning in verse 2.
Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3) And there appeared unto them cloven tongues (divided tongues) like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4) And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit,
Now what did this symbolize? As I said in the beginning, God could have done it a million different ways, but He did it this way. He chose this way. Who would have thought little tongues of fire, like a candle flame, sitting over somebody? I doubt it was sitting in their lap, it was most likely over their forehead or over the top of their head. It would be logical because, guess what; fire does what? It gives light. Now remember, back in those days, they did not have electricity. They didn’t know what a light bulb was. I say it to myself all the time, “When the light bulb went on, I realized…” They couldn’t make that statement. They wouldn’t know what that statement means, but it’s very similar to this. “When the fire came on over my head, when the flame came on over my head, I began to understand. I began to see things I didn’t see.” The fire settled on their head which is where the brain is, where the mind is, you see. So the answer to the question of what does this tongue of fire symbolize, is that the Holy Spirit gives light to the mind. That was the symbol. That’s why God did it that way, a very graphic way to show us that the flame gives light and the flame is over the head, so it gives light to the mind.
Now Paul had a very similar experience on the road to Damascus. Let’s go to Acts 26 and begin in verse 12. A very, very similar experience. It involved light (not a flame in this case) but it involved light. Paul is commenting. Luke is the scribe and writing it down. He says,
Acts 26:12 Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,
Now what was that authority and commission; what was the goal? It was to persecute the Christians. He was going there to persecute them as we’re going to see.
13) At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above (or greater than) the brightness of the sun, shining around about me and them which journeyed with me.
14) And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?
Remember he was on the road to Damascus to persecute Christians; to throw them in jail, or kill them, if necessary. Christ goes on to say,
14b) [it is] hard for you to kick against the pricks.
What that means is, Paul was symbolically standing in front of a rose bush and took his shoes and socks off and started kicking the rose bush, and that hurts! You get bloody and it doesn’t accomplish anything! The rose bush doesn’t run away; the rose bush doesn’t cower in fear. You’re just getting bloody and causing a lot of pain and He says, “Paul, why are you doing this? Why are you causing yourself so much pain for no purpose? Nothing’s happening.”
15) And I said, “Who are you, Lord?”
He heard this voice. He didn’t know who it was.
15b) And he said, “I am Jesus whom you persecute.
The very one you’re persecuting! He said,
16) “Get up and stand on your feet: for I have appeared unto you for a (reason) purpose, (what is that?) to make you a minister (to God’s people, to the first fruits) and a witness both of these which you have seen, (right then, right there) and of those things in the which I will appear unto you;
I’m going to appear to you down the road too, and I want you to be a witness to that.
17) Delivering you from the people,
And how many times was Paul’s life saved even though he was shipwrecked, scourged and beaten and all of that. He said, “I’m going to deliver you from the people…
17b) and [from] the Gentiles unto whom I now send you.”
What is the purpose? Notice this in light of the light that came upon Paul.
18) “To open their eyes, (you symbolically do that with light) [and] to turn from darkness to light,”
I think we’ve all had the experience that you wake up in the middle of night and its dark and you start stewing about something, and it’s always worse in the night for some reason. You can conjure up “what ifs” and this happened and that happened, but for some reason, it’s always worse in the night. Then when the light comes on in the day, it’s not as bad as you imaged it in the night. Of course, little kids have bad dreams and nightmares in the night, etc. He says…
18b) “ and [from] the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified (that means, set apart for a holy purpose) by faith that is in Me.”
You see, the light of God allows people to see the way; to light the path. Just like the parable of the ten virgins; you know, five were wise; five had oil in their lamps and they could see the path ahead of them. The Holy Spirit opens the mind to the truth of God. That’s why those flames were above their heads. Let’s go to I Corinthians 2: 14. We see an important spiritual principal here. Scientists don’t understand this; evolutionary theorists don’t understand this; colleges and graduate schools do not understand this.
I Cor. 2:14 But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: (impossible; can’t do it), for they are foolishness unto him.
And we being here today, believing in creation as an example, as opposed to evolution; it’s absolute foolishness to scientists. They just blow us off.
14b) neither can he know [them] (the natural man), because they are spiritually discerned.
Well, let’s ask the question. How can you spiritually discern something if you don’t have God’s Spirit? It’s a non-sequitur; it’s an oxymoron. You can’t understand something spiritual if you have a physical mind. The only way you can understand something spiritual is to have a spiritual mind. That’s what happened, of course, on this day. Look at John 14: 17. We read this at Passover time, but notice, this is the answer to how a natural man can receive things of the spirit, how a carnal mind can understand things of the spirit. Christ was trying to tell them what was going to happen on Pentecost and they, obviously, did not understand, but His last night on earth He was trying to tell them what was going to happen down the road at Pentecost.
John 14:17 [Even] the Spirit of truth; which the world cannot receive, because it sees it not, neither knows it.
Is that ever true! The world doesn’t and cannot understand the truth of God. It goes on to say,
17b) But [you] know it, (Why? For two reasons.) for It dwells with you and shall be in you.
Now, when He says, “It dwells with you”, that has two meanings in and of itself. The first meaning is that Christ was with them and Christ had God’s Spirit without measure; so God’s Spirit was with them as long as they were with Christ and walking around and listening to Him and talking to Him and experiencing life with Him. Also, God’s Spirit was with them in the sense that God’s Spirit began to open their mind, like it did with us before we were baptized. We started seeing truth in the Bible before we were baptized, before we had God’s Spirit in us. Let’s understand that. So God’s Spirit was with us before it was in us, and that’s what He’s saying when He says, “But you know, for it dwells with you,” both in the person of Christ and God’s Spirit working with our mind to get us to baptism. Then it says, “and shall be in you.” It says shall be … (looking forward to the future) … in you, referring to this very day, Pentecost. It’s going to come and it’s going to be in you. So. The very same process that happened with us when we were called and baptized, happened with them. God’s Spirit was with them, starting to open their minds, and then, God’s Spirit coming in them on this very day as it came in us the day we were baptized.
We’ve all had that personal experience of having our minds opened. It was a miracle and all of us tried to convert everybody around us and we know the fruit of that. It just didn’t work. They kind of gave us a cross-eyed look or rolled their eyes and changed the subject, because they didn’t have a spiritual mind that we were beginning to have at that time. So let’s understand on Pentecost, there was an opening of the mind through God’s Holy Spirit.
The fourth lesson is … On the first Pentecost, there was one understanding, just one understanding despite all the different languages. Let’s go back to Acts 2. We read all the different languages; they spoke with other tongues and they were just amazed because they said, “Aren’t these the Galileans that speak in a certain dialect and yet we hear every one of them in our own language. They said Parthians, in verse 9, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia and on and on. If you do a quick count, there are at least sixteen languages mentioned. Yet, they all heard one singular message despite the fact that there were sixteen languages spoken and understood by those people. A miracle occurred. This miracle is an important physical example of a spiritual truth. The reason God did it this way is to teach us a spiritual truth by a physical example, because despite having different backgrounds, coming from different areas of the country, having different languages, guess what? They all heard the same thing. God’s Holy Spirit allowed them to hear the same message from God, the same one.
It’s similar today, you see, because God’s Holy Spirit allows us to hear the things of God, not the things of men, politicians, scientists, government leaders … no, the things of God. And we understand the things of God (now think about this) no matter what our race is, no matter what language we grew up speaking, no matter where we are on the face of the earth; we understand the things of God because God’s Holy Spirit opened our mind to understand. So, despite our backgrounds, despite all the differences we have, we understand one thing, one message from God and Jesus Christ. In other words, it’s through the Holy Spirit that we can hear the language of God. Through the Holy Spirit we can hear the language of God. Let’s go to Isaiah 55:9. God says, My language and the words that are conveyed in My language are so far above yours, there’s no comparison. I think you know where we’re going. God says, I’m opening your mind. I started on the Day of Pentecost so you can understand My thoughts, My ways, you can have My vision, My understanding.
Isaiah 55:9 For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
God’s Holy Spirit allows us to understand the mind of God because of the link. Yes, we now are human beings, but we have God’s Spirit in us that allows us to understand His spiritual mind. Albert Einstein said famously once; when asked, “What’s your goal in cosmology, what is your goal in studying all this and all the papers you write and everything?” He said, “It’s very simple, I want to understand the mind of God.” He knew there was a higher power. He knew there was something more than just what he was studying and he said, “I want to understand the mind of God.” He felt he could get there through telescopes and equations and theorizing and, yes, you can to a certain extent, but you hit a brick wall because you have a physical mind.
On this Pentecost. God said, “ I’m going to strip all that away. I’m going to give you a spiritual mind. I’m going to open your mind to the indwelling of My Spirit.” So on this day, concluding point number four, mankind, in general, first began to understand the mind of God by the gift of the Holy Spirit which is the very Spirit of God. That’s why this first Pentecost is so important because we have a common understanding.
The fifth and last point. On the first Pentecost, there was a desire to obey that never existed before and a desire to be like Jesus Christ. That had never existed before. On that very first Pentecost, there was a desire to obey and there was a desire to be like Christ. Now, as I said earlier in the introduction, the gift of God’s law on this day is supremely important. There is no question about that, and what I’m saying about the greatest gift doesn’t diminish God’s law in any way, but the Holy Spirit, you see, gives us the heart, the desire that ancient Israel never had. Apart from God’s Holy Spirit, you can’t keep the law, as they proved over and over. There’s a whole Old Testament there to show us that. You can’t do it apart from God’s Holy Spirit.
Let’s go to Deuteronomy 5:29. Christ, the God of the Old Testament, our Savior, is saying these words. He knew that it was just going to be this horrible roller coaster of going into captivity and wailing and moaning and then promising to obey and then He would bring a judge or a king or whatever and they would turn it around for a short period. Then they would forget God and go right back into disobedience.
Deut. 5:29 O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always that it might be well with them and with their children forever!
The Hebrew word for “heart” is Strong’s 3824 and it means the heart as the most interior organ. It’s down deepest in the body, the most interior organ. With that in mind, then symbolically, it can mean the mind or the understanding because it gets to the heart of who we are. Obviously in Deuteronomy 5:29, Christ is not talking about a physical beating heart, He’s talking about the mind and the understanding, the desire. So, the Holy Spirit, you see, coming on this day gives us the heart to keep God’s law because we want to, not because we have to. To keep God’s law, not because we’re afraid of going into captivity or we’re afraid of the Assyrians coming down upon us, but because we want to . This is a huge difference in keeping God’s law. The Holy Spirit gives us the heart to want to be like the Father and to be like our Savior because we want to be that way, not because we have a gun to our head or somebody’s got a whip and a chair just lashing us to do it that way, but because we want to. We see that is the only way to live. The only way to live is with the mind of God. The only way to live is with the heart of God. The only way to live is with God’s Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to become like our Savior, Jesus Christ. We won’t turn there. You know the scripture,
Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
That is only possible through this day, through the coming of God’s Spirit. Let’s go to II Timothy 1:7 and see about the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the greatest gift to come on this day because it gives us a power that we otherwise would not have and never had before we were baptized. We read this, generally the first phrase, because I tend to read it when maybe I’m feeling uneasy or I’m worried about something or your stomach is in a knot, so you go to this scripture.
II Tim. 1:7 For God has not given us the spirit of fear;
Any time we’re afraid or anxious, it’s not from God, it’s from another source.
7b) But of power (that means to be obedient and to overcome) and of love (meaning to be like God and Christ, because we know scripture says, God is love. So we have the power to have love, to make love a part of our life, therefore, to be like God and Christ) and of a sound mind.
Now the Greek word for “sound” means a disciplined mind or a mind that is self controlled. In other words, now we have the power to harness our thoughts, to harness our emotions. I can remember when I first started in the Church and got baptized, I had hardly zero power to control my thoughts and emotions. I was just going everywhere; bouncing from pillar to post. You get on a carnal thought process and twenty minutes later, you’ve broken all ten commandments just because your mind is just running away. But now, (it’s only taken me 45 years or so to do this) after about the first half of a thought, you realize, “Oh oh, I’m going in a wrong direction. Let’s shut that one off. Let’s turn the light bulb off and go to a different thought process and go in a different direction.” It’s all through the power of God and it gives us the desire to do that. Why? Because we want to, we want to be like God. We don’t want to be like our old selves. We just don’t want to go there. We don’t want to do that; we want to be like Jesus Christ and we want to be a willing slave of Jesus Christ.
Let’s go to Ephesians 6, verses 5 and 6. We covered this verse on a sermon a while back on slavery in the New Testament. As is obvious, in the New Testament, its one area where the translations are not very accurate because they say “servants” and it actually means “slaves”. It says, the Greek word is Doulos and here it is translated servants, but it means slaves.
Ephesians 6:5 Servants (slaves) be obedient to them that are [your] masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, (notice this next phrase) in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ.
So He’s telling physical slaves to obey their physical masters in singleness of your heart, your mind, your desire, as you would unto Jesus Christ. He says, “not with eye service as men pleasers.” Don’t do it just when they’re around, but as the servants (there’s that doulos again) slaves of Christ. He says you do it as a slave of Christ doing the will of God. From what? Because you have a gun to your head? No, from the heart. He’s talking to physical slaves, physical masters, but we know (and that’s a sermon in itself) that we are slaves of God and we should obey God and Jesus Christ from the heart. The only way we can do that is through God’s Holy Spirit. That is the only way that happens.
Now, think of this day and the gift that occurred on this day. Think of being given a gift where you can be like God. You’re given a gift where you can be just like Jesus Christ, to think like them, to act like them, to have the same vision they have; to act and think and have the same vision; exactly the same as the Two Beings that conceived and made everything. What if you were told that? I’m going to give you a gift. What is the price we would pay if somebody came to us and said, “I’m going to give you the very mind, the very thought processes, the very love, the compassion, the long suffering, the patience and goodness and all of that of the two beings that created everything you see. What is the price? Someone would come up with a lot of money for that. God says, “It happened on this day and it was a gift.” It’s free, absolutely free. That’s why we should be so thankful for this day. Summing up this fifth point, on the first Pentecost, God gave us the desire to obey and the desire to be like Jesus Christ and the Father because we want to. What a gift.
So, let’s wrap this up. Many important events happened on this day as we’ve seen. The ceremony that occurred, Leviticus 23, the giving of the ten commandments, Exodus 19 and Exodus 20, and every one of those things happened for a reason. Everything that happened in Acts Chapter 2 was for a reason. The roar, the flames, the tongues (languages), every one of them happened for a reason.
Of all the things that occurred on this very day, the greatest was the gift of God’s Holy Spirit. That is the greatest thing that happened on this day, because, we have to understand that apart from God’s Holy Spirit, we are nothing. If we didn’t have the gift of God’s Holy Spirit, we are absolutely nothing. We have no ability to obey apart from His Holy Spirit; we have no ability to understand spiritual things or His word apart from His Holy Spirit. We have no ability to communicate with God if we do not have His Holy Spirit and we do not have the ability to have the mind of Christ and the mind of the Father if we do not have God’s Holy Spirit.
So let’s understand God’s great love for us. He gave to us His very nature on this day, His very nature. Look at John 14:23. Christ told them on the night that He was betrayed, His last night on earth, but they didn’t have a clue. They didn’t understand and we wouldn’t either if we were in their position.
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my words:
(very simple concept. If we love God, we’re going to be obedient)
23b) and my Father will love him.
And once that happens, notice this. This is what happened on this day.
23c) and We will come unto him and make our abode with him.”
That’s what happened on Pentecost, and that’s what happened when we were baptized. God said, “I want to come and live in your body. I want to come and live in your mind. Would you like Me to do that? All you have to do is be obedient. All you have to do is repent and be baptized and ask for My Holy Spirit. It’s all made possible by what happened on this day. So we need to be eternally thankful for what happened on this day and the gift that was given on this day.
Then, given that fact, we need to look forward to a very special day, and we will close with this scripture. Revelation 14:3-5. This is looking into the future, looking at the very throne of God, Jesus Christ at His right hand.
Revelation 14:3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred [and] forty [and] four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth (rescued from the earth).
4) These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins (just like the five wise virgins). These are they which follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
You see, they were not defiled with women (meaning prostitutes, meaning false religion; they stayed firm to the truth. They were virgins; they did not prostitute themselves with the world or with false religion) and they follow Christ wherever He goes, wherever He leads them. Looking in the Bible, what did Christ do here? How did He react there; what did He say over here? Following Christ’s example wherever He goes.
4b) These were redeemed from among men, [being] the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb.
5) And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
We read earlier how that happens, through Jesus Christ. So, whenever this happens, whether it’s on this day or God chooses some other day, (it’s irrelevant really) we want to be there. We want to be in front of God’s throne. The way that happens, when God says, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” is through the gift of His Holy Spirit.
So let’s be eternally thankful for this day.
Transcribed by R.V., 06/11/2012