R533 The Coming of The Holy Spirit

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of the Bible. I'm going to ask you to turn in your Bibles this morning to the book of Acts in chapter 2. The book of Acts in chapter 2.

Our series, Back to the Future. We are going back to the beginning of the New Testament church and we are asking ourselves, what is it that God put in place? What are we doing today that is honoring the Lord?

What are we not doing? How can we find out what it is what God wants us to do for tomorrow if we don't understand what the textbook has to teach us about today, which is tomorrow? Acts chapter 2. Past two weeks I have spoken to you on this, the second chapter of the book of Acts and I have said to you that it is probably one of the most important passages in all of Scripture.

It is controversial, it's debated, it's studied. Whole denominations have been built up around Acts chapter 2 and Acts chapter 2 deals with the coming of the Holy Spirit and we are well, are going to do well to be reminded that in Acts chapter 1 when Jesus ascended to be seated at the right hand of the Father, following the days that he spent appearing to over 500 believers after the resurrection from the grave that Jesus said to his disciples, I want you to know in Acts chapter 1 and verse 5, he said, I want you to know that I'm going to send the Holy Spirit down. You're not going to be like orphans, you're not going to be without me here, even though physically you're not going to see me as such. When I go up to heaven, I'm going to promise you that my Spirit will come. And the past two weeks we looked at the power of the Holy Spirit and then last week at the work of the Holy Spirit and I've tried to lay somewhat of a groundwork.

I want to set the table. Now this week we're going to be looking at the coming of the Holy Spirit. What happened when the Holy Spirit came? You're going to need your Bibles this morning very, very much because I'm going to ask a whole series of questions to try and come to grips with what God has to teach us about the coming of his Holy Spirit. If you don't have a Bible with you, you'll find one right in front of you.

It has a red cover and I want to invite you to just reach down and pick that up and for the thousands of people who worship with us by way of television, I want to encourage you right now, send someone to the bedroom or to wherever and get a copy of God's Word because as always on every Sunday, I've got nothing to say to you outside of God's Word. I'm not going to be speaking this morning from the Reader's Digest or from the National Geographic. I'm not going to speak to you as a Baptist or a Methodist or a Pentecostal or a Presbyterian. I'm going to speak to you as one man who loves the Lord Jesus Christ, who has nothing to say outside of God's Word and I want us this morning to look at the Word of God and ask ourselves what it is that God says about his Holy Spirit, not what do I say, what do I, what have I grown up with, what church was I born in.

I've heard people say all kinds of things and I'm included in that group. What does God have to say? The coming of the Holy Spirit. I'm going to read to you this morning just the first four verses of this passage, only the first four verses but I'm going to be preaching to you on the first 14 verses but we've read that this would be the third Sunday that we would read this whole passage and for the sake of time I'm going to read just the first four verses and then we will talk about this wonderful subject. The Bible says, when the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven. They were all from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each one of them.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now may the Lord write this word on our hearts. I want you to flip over the page very quickly to Acts chapter 1, just Acts chapter 1 and verse 4. I want us to read again what Jesus said.

Jesus said, do not leave Jerusalem but wait for the gift my Father promised which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water but in a few days you will be, what is the word there, baptized with the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is about that moment in time when you and I receive Jesus Christ into our hearts and we receive God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The moment we are born again we are baptized in the Holy Spirit. We are completely immersed in the Holy Spirit.

Now watch me, I'm going to stand over here to do this and I'm going to come back to it several times. Very important for us to understand the moment I give my heart to Jesus Christ. I am baptized in the Holy Spirit and I begin my Christian walk.

Once I begin my Christian walk as a believer I become prone and subject to all the challenges of life. God gives me a commandment. God says that I need to continually be filled with the Holy Spirit. Nowhere in the Bible does the Bible say that I need to continually be baptized in the Holy Spirit. I can only be baptized in the Holy Spirit one time.

It is an unrepeatable act. It is the instantaneous moment that by faith through repentance of sin and confession of sin I receive Jesus Christ into my heart and life. I'm baptized or completely immersed. I receive all of God's Spirit. I don't receive just a taste of God's Spirit and then at some consequent or subsequent experience, maybe in a church meeting or at a youth meeting or in a private meeting, all of a sudden I'm baptized in the Holy Spirit. No, I am completely baptized in the Spirit but I am commanded to be filled with the Spirit because if I do not follow God's command I am going to be living a life at which the Spirit of God in me is literally quenched. I am hindering the work of the Holy Spirit in me who dwells in me because rocks have fallen into the river.

Sin has interrupted the flow of the expression of God's grace and so God commands me to continually be filled. I'm going to talk about that in a moment. Now I'm going to ask a whole lot of questions this morning. All right, question number one, what was this event called?

What was this event called? Well it's right there in chapter two and verse one. When the day of Pentecost, everybody say Pentecost. Pentecost. All right, now there are some churches that are called Pentecostal churches.

Where do they get that name from? Right here in Acts chapter two and verse one. Pentecost. Pentecost literally means 50th and it is the Old Testament name, I beg your pardon, it is the New Testament name for the Old Testament Feast of Weeks that we find in Exodus chapter 34.

You can read about it there in verses 22 and verse 23. Pentecost or the Feast of Pentecost which means 50th came out of the Old Testament word or title called the Feast of Weeks or the Harvest Festival in Exodus chapter 23 and verse 11 and it took place quite literally 50 days after Passover. Now ladies and gentlemen listen, watch me for a minute, what is Passover? The Jews celebrate Passover. You remember when Moses had to go and free the Israelis, the Jews from bondage in Egypt and God brought about the plagues and eventually he culminated with the angel of death and he said to all the Jewish people, if you put blood over your doorpost when the angel of death comes and literally kills all the firstborn of Egypt, when the angel of death sees the blood quote unquote of God Jehovah over the doorpost, he will know that they are believers in me and the angel of death will literally pass over that household.

You remember the story in the book of Exodus, how that all of those who had blood on their door, painted over their door, they were passed over and they were spared the tremendous grief that came upon those who were disobedient to Almighty God. Well, what was happening here in the New Testament is that Pentecost was the link between the pattern of feasts in the Old Testament with the coming of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. In Leviticus chapter 23, I want to give you this background, it's very important, we find a picture of some of these feasts that the Jews would enjoy and still go through to this day. There was the feast of Passover, what is a feast of Passover?

It is to remember with thanksgiving what God has done and what God did when he passed over the children of Israel. There was the feast of the unleavened bread, still celebrated to this day, this was to be celebrated the day after the feast of Passover and then 50 days after the first Sunday following Passover was the feast of Pentecost. Now, what did they do at the feast of weeks or the feast of Pentecost? 50 days after the first Sunday following the Passover, here's what they did. First of all, they had to bring the first fruits of all their crops into the temple and offer that to God, it was called the first fruits.

Why the first fruits? This is where the Bible teaches us about tithing, the first fruits of the harvest literally represented minimally one-tenth of all of their crops that they had. In other words, God would say to me, Don Wilton, if you've planted a whole lot of tomatoes in your backyard and you've cultivated them and you are trying to grow them, when they grow up and they become wonderful tomatoes to put on your sandwiches with all the good things like mayonnaise and everything else that you like so much, I want you to know that the first thing you've got to do is you've got to bring me one tenth of that crop to my house as a means of saying thank you to me for supplying what you have. That's why God teaches us to tithe folks. That's why the Bible says that as believers, we need to bring the first fruits of our harvest to the storehouse. That's what the Bible says.

That's what tithing is and if you want to experience the blessings of God, you need to be about the business of bringing in your tithe or minimally one-tenth of your harvest of everything that you own, bring it to God's house and God says, I'm going to bless you. Now, that's what happened in the Old Testament. After Pentecost, what God was saying to them was literally this. He was saying to them that at Pentecost, you believers are the first fruits of the full harvest of believers that are yet to come.

Pentecost, the feast of weeks or the feast of Pentecost, 50 days after the Passover, God brought down his Spirit from heaven in order to demonstrate the coming of the Spirit of God in person and to symbolize the coming of all the harvest of God's people throughout the ages of which I am one of them and so it is that we have Pentecost or the feast of Pentecost. Question number two, where were they when Pentecost took place? Well, the Bible says right there in verse one that they were all together in one place.

I want you to note the emphasis on the one. They were all together, all the believers, which believers? Well, Acts chapter one and verse 15 says there were at least 120 of them. Now, we're going to discover from verse five on, not only were there 120 believers, but a whole lot of other people began to come in because they saw what was going on. That's what's happening at First Baptist Church. We've just got people coming from north and south and east and west. They're coming to God's house.

Why? Because they are hearing and seeing what God is doing and so they are attracted. They come together. People want to be where God is moving and that's exactly what happened at Pentecost. Now, I want to show you something, all right? Where were they?

They were all together in one room. Question number three, how did the Holy Spirit come? How did he come? Well, verse two says he came very suddenly.

Look at it at verse two with me. Suddenly, there was an element of surprise in the coming of the Holy Spirit. Now, folks, listen, it wasn't that they were not anticipating his coming. Well, we know that because Jesus told them, but he came at his own will at the direction of God and in this instance, 50 days after the resurrection, he came after the ascension. He came because God ordered it that way. By the way, it's no different to the second coming, to the rapture of the church. Jesus said, I will come again and I will receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also.

The Bible says no one knows the hour, no one knows the time, but we need to be ready and we need to be prepared. So how did the Holy Spirit come? He came very suddenly. Question number four, what did he sound like when he came? What did he sound like?

Well, look with me at verse two. Bible says suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind. Any of you ever been around a tornado very much?

I think that's what it must have sounded like. I remember nearly 20 years ago, my wife and I in White Castle, Louisiana, among the bayous down there, a lot of sugar cane fields and sugar cane rats too. They used to come and visit us in our little trailer parsonage. And I'm telling you, that'll put the fear of the Lord into you right there. My wife just loved them.

She adored those cane rats. I mean, it was just a great experience and we would be there. One day I was preaching and I'm telling you, one of those Louisiana storms came over. It got so black, we had to put on all the lights in the small church and it got so black and thundery and everything else and all of a sudden, right at 12 o'clock, and folks, you won't believe this, but I was preaching on the judgment of God. Man, we never had so many people saved that day as I did. But anyway, I tell you, I got through, I was just about ready to end and all of a sudden I heard a sound.

I've never heard anything like it. It was like a roar of something. There was a shaking of the building. We stopped, all the lights went out, some of the papers and everything got stuck on the roof of the church. I mean, it was really quite a frightening experience.

And then all of a sudden it was gone. We went outside and we discovered a tornado, had come down in the sugar cane fields in front of the church, looked up, said, oh, oh, that's First Baptist Church. Don Wilton's in there, jumped right over us, jumped right over the top and landed in the sugar cane fields behind us and took care of some of those cane rats, I'm sure.

Have you ever seen an airborne cane rat, folks? It's a wonderful sight. I just want you to know.

I want to tell you something. I really believe that what happened at Pentecost was no different to the coming experience of a tornado. Bible says that when he came, he sounded like the blowing of a violent wind. So powerful was the coming of the precious Holy Spirit of God. Question number five, where did he come from? Where did he come from?

Well, look again at verse two says that the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven. All right, everybody watch me. Where is heaven? Everybody point up. Put your hands down. Now, some of you are not planning to go there, are you? Everybody point to heaven, please. Yes, that's it. It's up.

Why? Jesus went up. Bible tells us it's up. When he went up, he said, I'm going to send my spirit down. Here we have it right in scripture.

Look what happens. Suddenly it sounds like a blowing of a violent wind came down from heaven. Why did the Spirit of God come down? Because Jesus Christ had gone up. Remember in Acts chapter one and verse eight, he went straight up into heaven. When he got into heaven, 50 days later, God, by the express command of his sovereign grace, dispatched his Holy Spirit. And he said, I want you to go down there in person because you are me.

And I want to send me down to be among those who belong to me because I'm not going to leave my children like orphans. And so he sent his spirit down. Number six, question number six, what were they doing when he came?

Well, this may disappoint some of you. It says in verse two that he came down from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. Now, friends here at this time of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it's rather significant to me, folks, there were none who were walking down front. They weren't praying for this. They weren't looking. They weren't doing anything.

They were sitting. They were following the express commandment of God. May I just say this to you? The Bible says that when you give your life to Jesus Christ, there is nothing that you can do in order to be saved. Salvation is the sovereign work of a gracious and a loving God.

Salvation begins and ends in the heart of God. You cannot save yourself. I cannot save myself. No one can save themselves.

Only God can by his spirit. The prerequisite for salvation is confession of sin, acknowledging who God is and by faith receiving him into my heart and life. You see, salvation is not achievement.

It is receiving. It is receiving what God is giving and has given to me through the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross. When I am baptized in the Holy Spirit, when I'm born again of the Spirit of God, I receive what God has done for me in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Isn't that wonderful? You're listening to the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilson here on The Encouraging Word, and he'll be back with the rest of today's message, The Coming of the Holy Spirit. But we want to encourage you to connect with us on our website, www.tewonline.org.

You can hear today's broadcast, including some portions we're not able to include. That's online at www.tewonline.org. While you're there, sign up for the daily devotion from Dr. Don.

It's all online at www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's great message, The Coming of the Holy Spirit with Dr. Don Wilson. They were sitting.

Next question, number seven. What did he look like when he came? Well, the Bible says in verse three, they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire.

Well, here's what he looked like. He looked like tongues of fire. Now, folks, I want you to listen very carefully because the Bible is not talking about literal fire here.

This is a simile. He says they saw what seemed to be, what looked like tongues as of fire. Tongues that looked like fire. Remember when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan?

What happened? The Spirit of God came down and a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. God, right throughout Scripture, uses symbols to represent what had happened. And something here very interesting happens. It says they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on them. So here's question number eight.

Who received this coming? Well, the Bible tells us all of them, all were filled, all spoke in other languages. There were no exceptions. God never said, I'm going to put this group of first class Christians over here. They are going to be baptized in the Spirit, but not this group. What God is saying, listen, unless you've been baptized in the Spirit, you cannot see the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven. You cannot be born again. And God at Pentecost demonstrated to us exactly what it was that he was trying to show us.

They separated themselves. Now let me show you how that works. I'm going to just ask you if you'll beg my pardon for a minute. I want you to just imagine that I'm the Holy Spirit.

All right? And God is going to send me, his Holy Spirit, down to earth. And so here comes the Holy Spirit down to earth. And as he comes down to earth, he comes among all these believers and he sees them and he sees Mr. And Mrs. Phillips. And he sees Neil and Martha Phillips. And he knows that they are believers. And the Bible says, as he comes down, he literally separates himself. He separates himself and he completely baptizes not only Neil, but also Martha. He doesn't separate himself into bits and pieces or parts and segments.

He separates himself entirely and completely in the full person and work of the Holy Spirit. Here's the question. Watch me folks. I'm going to ask you a question. Is God by his Spirit, is he here this morning?

All in favor, say aye. All right, next question. Is God in Beijing, China by the power and presence of his Holy Spirit? Is he in China right now?

Well, how in the world can that be? I thought you just said he was here. Folks, is God by his Spirit? Is he in Columbia, South Carolina right now? Is he in Chicago? Is he in London, England? Is he in New Delhi in India? Is he in Brazil? Is he with our missionaries in Moldova? God is everywhere.

How can that happen? Not part of him or piecemeal of him or a segment of him, all of him. And what God is saying at Pentecost is, listen, when I came down in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit and I baptized all believers by my grace, I separated myself so that I could indwell and baptize every single believer from head to toe, not in part of me, but in all of me, every single bit of me, I am expressed in tongues of fire. And when you receive me as your personal Lord and Savior, you receive every single bit, part and morsel of me. There is nothing that is left out.

Absolutely nothing is left out. You've been hearing Dr. Don preach from the pulpit and now would you open your heart to him as he steps into the studio with this message. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today, I repent of my sin and by faith, I receive you into my heart in Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If you just prayed with Dr. Wilton moments ago, give us a call and let us put free resources in your hands that'll help you grow in your faith. Our number is 866-899 word. Jot the number down 866-899-9673 or online at www.tewonline.org where you'll discover great resources like this. The encouraging word is having a summer book sale. Book prices will start at $6.

That's right, only $6. Visit us online at www.tewonline.org and click the store tab located at the top of the page. We appreciate your support. The encouraging word is a viewer and listener supported ministry. Thank you for listening today. Be sure and join us tomorrow for more great Bible teaching from Dr. Don Wilton. Between now and then, connect online at www.tewonline.org.