SUDDENLY FROM HEAVEN

 I am rapidly becoming a skeptic.  Hardly a week goes by but what I receive a notice in the mail that I have won something, or that some valuable free gift is enclosed in the bulk rate envelope.  Do I look dumb or what?  (Don’t answer that.)  I know that businesses can’t and won’t stay in business very long if they just send valuable free gifts to complete strangers in the mail.  There has to be a catch somewhere.  Right?  Right.  We have all heard over and over again, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” 

Well we might ought to add to that:

·        There is no such thing as a free watch,

·        A free car,

·        A free dream vacation to Hawaii, or

·        Free long distance telephone service. 

Again, the skeptic in me asks, “What does the fine print say?” 

 Think with me.  Can you think of even one exception?  Well to be honest, I can. Jesus noted in Luke 11:13, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”Here we find that the Lord offers a free gift, one of the very best gifts of all, and it is freely given to His children just for the asking. 

 This morning I want to begin a new series of messages. For the next four weeks I will deal with various aspects of the person and works of the Holy Spirit.  It is my prayer that as a result of these messages:

·        We will all come to better appreciate and understand the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. 

·        We will have a more powerful prayer life. 

·        We will walk in greater victory and power as Christians. 

·        We will all be filled to overflowing with the precious Holy Spirit!

HAVING SAID ALL OF THAT, LET US NOW LOOK AT THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

John 16:7 sets the stage, “But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”

(The Living Bible) “But the fact of the matter is that it is best for you that I go away, for if I don't, the Comforter won't come. If I do, he will--for I will send him to you.”

(Weymonth’s Translation) “Yet it is the truth that I am telling you--it is to your advantage that I go away. For unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.”

One more, please: “I assure you that it is a good thing for you that I should go away.  For if I did not go away, the divine helper would not come to you.  But if I go, then I will send him to you.”  (J. B. Phillips Translation)

No doubt, it had to be hard for the disciples to comprehend how in the world anything could be better than having the living breathing Son of God -- Jesus Christ of Nazareth -- right there in their midst. 

·        They could watch him,

·        hear him,

·        be touched by him,

·        learn from him and so forth. 

They could see that He healed the sick, cast out devils, raised the dead, forgave sinners and more.  What could possibly be any better than that?  Nonetheless, Jesus was telling them that not only was He going, but that it was for their good or profit that He was in fact leaving. Why?  How could this be so? 

Isn’t life full of these painful transitions?

·        Going from the bottle to solid food.

·        Going from playing all day to having to go to school.

·        Going from freedom to having to go to work.

It is hard to imagine how the one could possibly improve on the other.  And yet in time we grow to where we can see the value of the change.

Change was certainly necessary here in order for:

·        The Holy Spirit

·        The Counselor

·        The Comforter

 While He was here on this Earth, Jesus was somewhat limited by His fleshly body:

·        He had to eat, to drink, to rest like any other man.

·        He could only be in one place at any one time. 

·        Then too, He also had a date on a cross that He had to keep. As a sin offering, He had to die.

He was limited, very limited in some respects. 

However, the Holy Spirit would know no such limitations.

·        He would be as limitless and powerful as God Himself.

·        He would provide the church with both spiritual fruitfulness and gifts.

·        He would lead the body of Christ forward unto victory from generation to generation!

·        He would be IN us as well as WITH us.

·        He would and could never die!

While the disciples struggled to see any possible good in the Lord’s leaving, we today can clearly see the advantages that the Holy Spirit’s coming has brought to the church.

I want you to now notice Acts 2:1-4 with me: “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 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 of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

Five important elements stand out here:

1.            FIRST, THE TIMING of the holy spirit

Shortly before His death Jesus told His disciples in Acts 1:4-5, “‘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 baptized with the Holy Spirit.’”

The Lord knew what was about to take place. Therefore, He told His disciples, “Stay in Jerusalem until the Spirit -- the power -- comes. I am going to need you here. Wait. Just hang loose.”  The disciples and the rest of the 120 were therefore waiting for something to happen. They were there anticipating, expecting, believing.

A number of years ago, Oral Roberts popularized the line, “Expect a Miracle.” He knew that miracles were much more likely to happen to those who were expecting something to take place.

Next, we know that the Feast of Pentecost was celebrated fifty days after Passover. Pentecost marked the end of the spring harvest.  It was one of the three great pilgrimage festivals which required Israel’s attendance at the temple.  As a result, Jerusalem was literally packed to capacity with people from all over the Roman Empire. 

Dr. Luke, the author of the Book of Acts, is very careful to describe to us the onlookers to this amazing event. “Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven..”

There were literally thousands of Jews present who came from all over the earth to Jerusalem at this holy time. Many of these people made an annual pilgrimage back to Jerusalem. Josephus, the Jewish historian who lived at this time, tells us that oftentimes the city of Jerusalem (which normally had a population of 150,000) would grow in population to well over a million during this feast. The city was packed, as were both the suburbs and the hillsides.

Third, it had also been just 50 days – less then two months -- since the crucifixion of Jesus.  This was obviously still very much on the people’s minds, judging from Peter’s sermon later on in this chapter.

·        Do you see the importance of the timing?

·        Again, the disciples were present.

·        Pilgrims from all over that part of the world were in the city.

·        The death of Jesus was still fresh in their memories.

·        It was to a setting such as this that the Holy Spirit descended!  He came at precisely the right moment.  Soon these same people would return home with a new message, both of the Lord’s death and of His return in the person of the Holy Ghost!  They would be the first fruits of a worldwide spiritual harvest.

2.         the source

The coming of the Holy Spirit was not of any human endeavor.  The gift came “suddenly from heaven.” 

·        It was grace. 

·        It was God. 

·        It was powerful.

Show video clip of the Day of Pentecost

As you could see in the video, Luke pictures the disciples sitting, not kneeling or standing -- the usual Jewish postures of prayer.  No doubt they had been in prayer -- the Scriptures say so.  But evidently they were just visiting at this point. 

Again, sitting, waiting when “suddenly from heaven....” 

3.            THIRD, LUKE USES TWO SYMBOLS TO DESCRIBE THE COMING OF THE SPIRIT -- WIND AND FIRE

Let’s briefly look at the wind:

Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:8, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Jesus is saying to Nicodemus: " You can hear, see, and feel the wind; but you do not know where the wind comes from and where it is going. You may not understand where a gale came from and where a gale is going, but you can see the trail of flattened fields and uprooted trees which that gale leaves behind. There are many things about the wind you may not understand; but the effect of the wind is plain for all to see."

Jesus went on to say, "the Spirit is exactly the same. You may not know how the Spirit works; but you can see the effect of the Spirit in human lives. We can point to man after man, woman after woman who has been re-made, re-created, re-born by the power and the effect as well as the work of the Spirit."

I love the old old illustration of a workman, who had been a drunken reprobate but in time found Jesus as his Savior. The guys on the job did their best to make the brother feel a fool. "Surely," they said to him, "you can't believe in miracles and things like that. Surely, for instance, you don't believe that stuff about Jesus turning water into wine, do you?" I don't know," the man answered," whether He turned water into wine in Cana of Galilee, but I do know that in my own house and home Jesus has turned beer into furniture, and hard liquor into baby food!"

Yes, we can see the effect of the wind of the Spirit!

Now lets look at the fire:

Like fire, the Spirit cleans away the gross and leaves only that which is refined and pure. Simply put, the Holy Spirit convicts and convinces; cleanses and purifies.  

The true story of The Mutiny On The Bounty illus­trates this truth quite well.  Nine mutineers with six native men and twelve na­tive women put ashore on Pitcairn Island in 1790.  One sailor soon be­gan distilling alcohol, and the lit­tle colony was plunged into debauchery and vice.

Ten years later, only one white man survived, sur­rounded by native and half-breed children.  One day this sailor found a copy of the Bible in an old chest from the Bounty.  He began to read it and then to teach it to the others.  The result was that his own life, and ultimately the lives of all those in the colony were changed.  Discovered in 1808 by the USS Topas, Pitcairn had become a prosperous community with no jail, no whiskey, no crime and no laziness.

·        That's conversion.

·        That's turning from "darkness to light.               

·        That's what happens when Christ comes into a heart!

·        That's what happens when the wind and the fire of the purifying Holy Spirit moves across a people!

4.         THE RECIPIENTS

The tongues like fire rested on “each” of them and they were “all” filled with the Holy Spirit. 

I think it is safe to say that everyone of the 120 people mentioned in Acts 1:15 were present and accounted for, not just the Twelve.  It is also very safe to say that the Spirit did not come on just a part or on just a holy sampling of a group, no, each and everyone of them were baptized with the Spirit.

The New Living Translation says in part, “And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit....”  That is pretty clear, isn’t it?

Please turn now to Acts 10. This chapter contains the story of the conversion and baptism of a Gentile officer, a Centurion in the Roman army.  His name was Cornelius. Let me tell you the story. Cornelius was a good man who was visited by an angel in a vision. The heavenly messenger tells the officer to send for Peter the apostle. In obedience, he sends two of his servants and a soldier to go get the disciple. At the same time, the Lord visits Peter with a vision as well. Listen now to Acts 10:19 from The New Living Translation, “Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, ‘Three men have come looking for you. Go down and go with them without hesitation.  All is well, for I have sent them.”

At this, Peter greets the men and agrees to go with them the 30 or so miles to where Cornelius lived. 

Peter had a problem though. 

·        A trip of that distance either on foot or by horse would require that the travelers stop somewhere along the way and spend the night.  Is it not reasonable to assume that they would have to stay together in the same Holiday Inn?  The problem was, it was against the Jewish custom for a Jew and a Gentile to spend the night together under the same roof. 

·        It was also forbidden and thus considered unclean for a Jew to eat with a Gentile or to drink his wine. 

·        Gentiles also worshipped pagan gods, they were uncircumcised, and they did not obey the traditions and laws of the elders. In short, they were considered “evil company.”

Nonetheless, due to his vision, Peter again consented to go with them in spite of the fact that his trip would no doubt generate gossip and criticism.   

When he got there, Peter began to preach Jesus.  Verses 44-47 then states, “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, ‘Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.’”

This was a very unlikely scenario.  A Jew worshipping with some Gentiles in the Gentile’s house. The Bible even goes on to note that the disciple went on to stay there with Cornelius for a few more days. Wow!

But that was not the real story here. The big news was, while Peter was preaching, “suddenly from heaven” the Holy Spirit fell and filled each and everyone of these Gentile believers!

In a most unlikely place

with a group of most unlikely people

led by a most unlikely preacher -- who wasn’t even able to finish his sermon -- the Spirit came just as He had come to the 120 in the Upper Room at Pentecost!

·        Tradition said no.

·        Religion said no.

·        His friends would have said no.

·        Pride would have said no.

Every thing seemed to scream to Peter, don’t go! And yet he went as did the Holy Spirit and revival broke out! 

Jesus again said in Luke 11:13, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”   

5.         THE FIFTH ELEMENT IN THE SPIRIT’S COMING WAS the proclamation of the gospel

Those present heard the 120 speak in other tongues.  Luke lists more than a dozen different countries and districts represented by these pilgrims.

Acts 2:7-8, 11-13 states, “Utterly amazed, they asked: ‘Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?’” “...we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!’ Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, ‘What does this mean?’ Some, however, made fun of them and said, ‘They have had too much wine.’”

This event attracted the attention of a multitude. Literally, nothing like this had EVER happened anywhere before! It was totally and completely unprecedented.  No wonder the onlookers were “amazed, bewildered and perplexed.” No wonder, they thought the 120 were all drunk. What other explanation was there?

Nevertheless, this was not some circus side show or some drunken mob.  Rather, this event proved once and for all that the Gospel was not just for Jerusalem and Judea, it was for every man, woman, boy and girl on the face of the earth! Due to the miracle that took place on the Day of Pentecost, the Gospel message would soon spread by way of these newly appointed missionaries to the distant countries from which these various people groups came. 

Notice these verses:

·        In Acts 2:41 some 3,000 people were added to the church.

·        In Acts 4:4 the number of converts grew to more than 5,000.

·        In Acts 4:32 we read of a multitude of born again believers.

·        And in Acts 6:7 we read: “So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.”

It's interesting to note that the key to the success of the Apostles in the Book of Acts was the full and abiding presence of the Holy Spirit! 

·        We find them “full of new wine”  (Acts 2:13). 

·        “Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 4:8). 

·        Stephen -- “full of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 7:55). 

·        Barnabas -- “full of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 11:24). 

·        “Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 13:9).

Acts 1:8 goes on to promise: “‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’”

The work of the Holy Spirit continues in like fashion today. In fact, I believe we are seeing even greater growth than in the book of Acts:

·        About 25 percent of the world's Christians are Pentecostal or charismatic,

·        In 1975, there were an estimated 55 million Pentecostals worldwide    

·        The figure for 1985 had risen (in just 10 years) to 178 million!

·        By 1992 that figure had grown to 372 million! 

·        Today that figure nears 500 million – or nearly one-half billion people!

·        The Pentecostal-Charismatic Christians form the second largest Christian group in the world, outnumbered only by the Roman Catholic Church.

Missions expert David Barrett is quoted in Christianity Today as saying that the Pentecostal and charismatic church is growing by 19 million per year OR BY AT LEAST 54,000 PEOPLE PER DAY!   

A while back, Life magazine, in listing the top 100 events of the Twentieth Century, put Pentecostalism at 68th.

The Dictionary of Christianity in America says that Pentecostalism is perhaps "the single-most-significant development in twentieth-century Christianity."

Pentecostals have now infiltrated all of the 150 major non-Pentecostal groups and denominations. In addition to this, Pentecostals can now be found in at least 230 nations of the world. One-forth of all of the world's full-time Christian workers are likewise Pentecostal-Charismatic. 

Again, such growth has NEVER been witnessed before!  What has made the difference?  It’s Pentecost!  It’s Pentecost!

As I close, I want to share with you a quote by Billy Graham: "The very fact that we believe one thing and some of us another does not do away with the fact that God says, ‘Be filled with the Spirit.’ I believe this is the greatest need of the church of Jesus Christ today. Everywhere I go, I find God's people lack something; God's people are hungry for some­thing... I am persuaded that our desperate need today is not a new organi­zation or a new movement, nor a new method.  We have enough of these. I BELIEVE THE GREATEST NEED TODAY IS THAT MEN AND WOMEN WHO PROFESS THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT! We are trying to do the work of God without supernatural power. It cannot be done!" 

Let us pray that once again that “suddenly from heaven” the Holy Spirit will fall and fill each and everyone of us!