In the 27-minute Mp3 sermon of this post, Pastor Ramsey discusses Pentecost in terms of all the other one-time, unrepeatable events that preceded it; that is, it is the fulfillment of Old Testament promises and prophecies.
In the process, he helps listeners see links between Old Testament prophecies and New Testament events. These are explained mostly via events and teaching from the book of Acts.
Highlight points are below the sermon:
HIGHLIGHTS [bracketed statements, emboldening and underscoring are mine]:
- What did Jesus come to do?
- There are many right answers, such as: to do the Father’s will; to become a King; to save the world; to destroy the works of the Devil…
- Also, He came to baptize with the Holy Spirit:
- Luke 3:16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire
- When did Jesus baptize with the Holy Spirit?
- PENTECOST
- Pentecost was a unique, unrepeatable, monumental event in the history of redemption
- Pentecost is, in that respect, like the death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ
- All were once-for-all; unique; unrepeatable and monumental
- All of those events are initially connected together and the culmination of them was what happened on the day of Pentecost
- Several things aid in understanding the above:
- Pentecost is the fulfillment of prophecy:
- When the disciples were baptized in the Holy Spirit (HS) at Pentecost, they began to speak in tongues (actual foreign languages that were understood by visitors to the festival that understood those particular languages)
- Via the power of the HS, they spoke those languages
- The crowd of onlookers did not understand what was happening; the apostle Peter explained the event by via the prophecies of Joel [2:28ff]
- Acts 2:32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God [ascension], and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing
- Jesus was conceived by the HS; received the HS before His ministry to equip Him for that endeavor; but those were different than the promise mentioned above
- The promise mentioned by Peter was to be fulfilled after Jesus completed His ministry, died, rose and ascended
- Peter tied these events together in verse 33 above
- In John 14 and 16, Jesus told His disciples that He had to leave before sending His Spirit
- The HS is the promised Spirit
- The promised Spirit became a reality on the day of Pentecost
- Yet, the HS was present and working in the Old Testament (OT): He was at creation; in God’s OT people…
- The difference now is that He is given as the Spirit of the glorified and victorious Christ
- Before Pentecost, the work of the HS in salvation was based upon the future saving work of Christ
- Richard Gaffin [see link at end of post to his books about Acts and Pentecost], called the work of the HS in the OT, ahead of its time; that work was based upon the future redemptive work of Christ
- Without the shedding of His blood, there could be no forgiveness
- So, Jesus needed to come to the earth and die for sins for God’s OT people to actually be forgiven for their sins
- In the same way, the HS was at work converting and sanctifying people of God on the basis of future ‘accomplished’ redemption
- Now that Christ has done that, He received the fruit of His labor, the HS, Whom He now sends to the world as the Spirit of the glorified, exalted, victorious Christ
- That Christ Who has been given all authority in and on earth:
- Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
- The people of God are hence forth to be taken from all nations, not to be confined to Israel/Jews
- Jesus told His disciples to go to Jerusalem and to wait
- Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth”
- Note: when Jesus called the apostle Paul, on the Damascus road (see Acts 9), He did not tell him to go to Jerusalem to wait for the HS to come upon him [the one-time act of the HS being poured out upon His church had taken place]
- 3 years before, Jesus began preaching the nearness of the Kingdom; He then taught His disciples that He must first suffer and then enter into glory. That happened; He received the HS; on Pentecost, He sent the HS as He had promised
- In sending the HS into the world and to His disciples, he inaugurated His kingdom on earth
- Pentecost is the beginning of the ‘last days’
- The days in which the Messiah will reign over Israel and all nations
- The days in which the HS will be poured out on all flesh
- Psalm 2:6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” 7 I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession…
- The above text is a reference to Jesus’ resurrection, ascension and exaltation
- Matthew 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age”
- He will be with us via His HS
- Two things in Acts suggest that Pentecost might be a repeatable event that might be experienced by every Christian [it is not]
- In Acts 8, 10 and 19, people received the HS and spoke in tongues
- However, these instances are unique in that they are extensions of the once-and-for-all Pentecost
- [Acts 10 events explained herein, to hear the other two, they begin after the 16 minute mark of Pastor Ramsey’s sermon]
- Peter and the disciples were having difficulty accepting that the Gentiles were to be called by God. God gave Peter a vision in Acts 10; then he had him go preach the gospel to Cornelius:
- Act 10:11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common”
- God also gave the Gentile, Cornelius a dream:
- Acts 10:22 And they said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you [Peter] to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.”
- Act 10:28 And he [Peter] said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean [in the above vision]
- Act 10:33 So I [Cornelius] sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord”
- In Acts 10: 34-43, Peter explained Christ’s ministry, death, resurrection:
- Act 10:42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name”
- Act 10:44 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45 And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, 47 “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
- [God convinced the apostles that He was including the Gentiles among His people via the HS, just as he did the Jews who were converted at Pentecost; and the ministry to the Gentiles was kicked off here in Acts 10]
- In concluding this first point of two, Pastor Ramsey noted that the significant point made by the above events is that Christ is King and is ruling His world from heaven; that He is present on earth via His Spirit; His kingdom is growing via the work of the HS in drawing people into His kingdom via His church
- That is, He is fulfilling the great commission
- The second point of this sermon is that ALL TRUE BELIEVERS ARE BAPTIZED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
- There is no such thing as a believer who has not been so baptized
- There are some who say that the HS baptism is the second baptism, effectively making two types of Christians: one type without the baptism of the HS and one type with the baptism of the HS
- Not so
- People who claim the second baptism say that it is indicated by tongue speaking [not the type that actually occurred at the day of Pentecost, where real languages were spoken and foreign people who spoke that language heard about the works of God… but some made-up, learned gibberish that is not really a language known by a people group]
- HS baptism is what happens to a person when he or she is converted to Jesus and UNITED to Him by faith
- Christ’s death and resurrection are APPLIED to us at that time we are united to Him
- These impact us in meaningful ways; as is true when we are baptized in the HS
- At Pentecost, the HS was once-for-all sent to the world
- Those converted today, are baptized in or with the HS
- At the 23-minute mark, Pastor Ramsey used an illustration to explain how that since the HS was poured out into the church, He abides therein; when a person is converted today, he or she becomes a new living stone, added to the living temple of the living God, as Paul stated:
- 1 Corinthians 12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit
- All true Christians are baptized IN the Spirit: in the sense of being baptized into one body; united to Christ; joined to Christ by faith
- Because of that, we can grieve the HS
- We are called to be filled with the HS; to keep in step with the HS; to bear forth the fruit of the HS…
- If we are Christian, then we have the HS
- Pentecost changed everything
- We are living in the last days
- The Kingdom of God has come
- By the HS, through the church, it is growing and will continue to grow
- Be of good cheer, the glorified exalted Jesus will be with us always, till the end of the age
Books by Richard Gaffin at Amazon:
To hear Pastor Ramsey’s 3 sermon-series on Israel, the Temple and the Land, which was preached to clarify the matter of God’s people in the current time (it is not Israel), click links in pink font below:
The series also provides information that ties in with my 11-part mini-series on the intimate connections between the Old and New Testaments:
Israel: https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1029231734562563
Temple: https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=115231824173259
Land: https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=11132343840305
To hear other sermons by Pastor Ramsey, click the following link to Sermon Audio:
Featured Image: Musing on the Pentecost readings – A team of 3 churches 3buckschurches.org