Is Pentecost Just History

June 3, 1990 AM

Lesson: Acts 2:1-11;

Text: John 14:23 "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him."

Introduction:

The story of Pentecost is familiar territory for us Nazarenes, or at least it ought to be. Seven weeks after the Resurrection, and ten days after the Ascension of Jesus back into heaven, the assembled disciples were astounded by the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them in such a wonderful way that we call it the 'Birthday of the Church.'

Nothing has ever been quite the same since.

But most of us have heard all that before. And so when we say, "What happened at Pentecost?" we know what we are going to hear before we hear it. We are told what we are supposed to need, even before we may sense any real personal need of being filled with the Holy Spirit. We are pre-conditioned as to what to expect even before we seek and find any personal experience of Pentecost.

To be exposed to the holiness teaching is for the most part very good indeed. Holiness truth helps us into the experience of full surrender plus faith that brings cleansing and power and fullness of the Presence! And yet I wish that we could come to Pentecost with "fresh eyes" and see if there are aspects of God's grace we may be missing. MUCH of what took place can never be analyzed and explained. We believe that the same Holy Spirit that came to and into the church in the second chapter of Acts still comes to live in the church today.

What does the Bible show us about the abiding Presence of God in the church and in our individual lives? WHAT HAPPENED AT PENTECOST ?

I. SENSIBLE EVIDENCES AT THE FIRST PENTECOST

[The Initial Signs of Pentecost: ]

  1. RUSHING MIGHTY WIND: this signifies THE UNCONTROLLABLE NATURE OF THE SPIRIT, not that we are 'out of control, and made puppets; but He, God's Spirit, is NOT simply at our beck and call, for us to use); cleansing, powerful, breath of God Himself.

    This very evidently was NOT something "private," or confined to the immediate participants. The NOISE was heard. It brought a crowd.

  2. TONGUES OF FIRE: this signifies CLEANSING. It reminds us of the awful holiness of God. God wants us cleansed so that we can come near where He is! He baptizes His servants with cleansing, powerful, fire from the altar of God.

    These "tongues of fire" were evident to OTHERS, too. Each could see the other's glory, and NOT HIS OWN. Significant? It reminds us of Isaiah 6.

  3. OTHER TONGUES: this signifies COMMUNICATION! Here is intelligibility, universality, THE REVERSE OF BABEL; when man is glorified it does not 'make sense;' when God is glorified, there is communication from God to man to man; giving of the law into the very heart.

[But 'Pentecost' was more than outward and visible signs. 'Pentecost' was a time of promises being fulfilled:]

II. UNFOLDING PROMISES AT THE FIRST PENTECOST

[The mighty work of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus had promised, had now begun:]

  1. THE HOLY SPIRIT A TEACHER

    (John 14:26) The Helper will TEACH you all things; and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

  2. THE HOLY SPIRIT LIFTING UP JESUS

    (John 15:26/ John 16:14) When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, He will bear witness of ME. He shall glorify ME; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you.

  3. THE HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTING SINNERS OF THEIR NEED OF SALVATION

    (John 16:8,9,10,11) And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment; when the Church received the Spirit, (then) the world began to be convicted of sin!

  4. THE HOLY SPIRIT GUIDING THE CHURCH IN ACTION

    (John 16:13) But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide YOU into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

    All these BEGAN to come to reality as soon as the disciples received the fullness of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.

    There was no higher Lordship than that of Jesus; and when the Church received the Spirit, the world began to be convicted of sin, and righteousness, and judgment! That is still the formula!

[But Pentecost is more than history!]

III. THE OPEN SECRET OF PENTECOST:

Jesus, who went away into heaven, is with His Church in the person of the Holy Spirit. He has come to abide in His disciples' hearts.

  1. THE ABIDING REALITY OF PENTECOST ... The ABIDING Reality: God making Himself at home in the human heart. The word "abiding" has various connotations: as,- constant, enduring, eternal, immutable, lasting, permanent. To "abide" also has the connotation of 'being at home.' Of "living there!" JESUS, AT HOME IN US!

    [Look again to our text for this Pentecost Sunday:]

    John 14:23 "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him." THAT is Pentecost!

    1. This abiding, so far as we are concerned is initiated by love for Jesus Christ: ("If anyone loves ME!") We do not receive the "abiding reality" if we do not love Jesus!
    2. Love is genuine when it involves a desire to please: ("If anyone loves Me he will keep my words.")
    3. Love for Jesus is returned: the Father responds when we seek to be like Jesus. ("My Father will love him")
  2. The result: "WE" will come to live with the one who loves Me!

    My heart God's HOME! "... My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him." GOD AT HOME IN YOU AND ME! THAT IS THE HEART OF PENTECOST!

Conclusion:

In our holiness tradition we give great importance to the experience of heart holiness. We (have a clear 'formula' which we use: we) understand that consecration plus faith will bring the fullness of the Presence! And WE DARE NOT STOP SHORT OF THIS EXPERIENCE!

We must have the fullness! We must know the blessing! But the EXPERIENCE is vitally connected with our RELATIONSHIP- the way we think about God, and act toward Him! We say: "What has God DONE for you?"!! "Do you have the EXPERIENCE?"!! And sometimes we talk as if the EXPERIENCE was something like a "thing" or a "gift" that we can have in and of itself.

The way into EXPERIENCE is by RELATIONSHIP! The question is not so much, "What has God DONE for you?" but "Who IS God to you?" It is not so much asking God to GIVE us something— but asking God to help us LOVE HIM, AND GIVE OURSELVES TO HIM! And then God gives Himself, His Presence, to us!

Jesus said: "If you LOVE Me . . . WE, the Father and the Son, by the ministry of the blessed Holy Spirit, will come to you, and live IN you!

Prayer: Lord Jesus, Make it so! Amen

#63 EH I'd like for us to close with a song by Paul Gerhardt, a German; one that John Wesley thought so much of that he translated and rhymed it into English: Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me

or #39 Spirit of Faith, Come Down or #267 Spirit of God, Descend