Take your Bibles so we can open up God's word to us. I have a number of passages I'd like to read with you. First of all, from the book of Acts, chapter one. Find that on page 909 of your pew Bibles. From this first chapter, we'll read verses four to eight, where we can hear how Jesus promises to send the spirit. Acts 1, we begin reading at verse 4. And while staying with them, he ordered, that is, Christ ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you heard from me. For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel? He said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, 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. Now we'll skip ahead to chapter two and actually read when this happened, what Christ had just promised, Acts 2, 1-4. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house they were sitting. And divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." And then what follows is a is the account of how there were so many people there and they heard the gospel in their own languages and dialects. Now what I'd like to do is turn to 1 Corinthians 12. In 1 Corinthians 12, we hear an example of how the Holy Spirit works in us And this, of course, also applies to the office bearers as we think about today's ordination, but it applies to each and every one of us as well. 1 Corinthians 12, I'd like to read the verses 4 to 11. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in every one. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge, according to the same Spirit. to another faith by the same spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills. So far from the first letter. Finally, let's turn to the second letter of Corinthians. I'd like to read from chapter 1, verses 15 to 22. Now, the verses 20 to 22 will be our text this morning. And this, I hope, will be used to understand more fully how much we benefit from the fact that the Spirit was poured out on the church. 2 Corinthians 1, and we'll read verses 15 to 22. Hear the word of God. Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first so that you might have a second experience of grace. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say yes, yes, no, no, at the same time? As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been yes and no. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not yes and no, but in Him it was always yes. For all the promises of God find their yes in Him. That is why it is through him that we utter our amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us and who has also put his seal on us and given us his spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. So far, reading from God's word. As I mentioned, the verses 20, 22, the last three verses will be what we focus on After the sermon, let's respond in singing once more about the Holy Spirit who is sent from heaven, who is himself, the guarantee that we shall be forever free. Hymn 49 will be our amen song. Brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 days ago, we remembered how our Lord ascended to be with his Father. And though he left us in his physical form, remember how the disciples could see him rising, he did not leave us alone. No, from heaven he sent his Spirit down. And that's what we remember today. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And this is so vital for us. This is so absolutely necessary. For the Spirit works faith in our hearts, which allows Christ to continue to work in us. And the Apostle Paul writes about the work of Christ in us through the Holy Spirit in many of his letters. I've chosen to use God's word from 2 Corinthians 1 to focus on this morning as we remember all the events, what happened on Pentecost. And you will have noticed as we read the context of our text that Paul is in the middle of, we could say, defending his travel plans. It appears he was accused of not being faithful to this word. Yes, yes, then no, no. What's going on, Paul? And then Paul quite incredibly counters by pointing out how as God is faithful, so Paul's words were not yes and no. For, writes Paul, the Son of God, Jesus Christ was preached to you not as yes and no, but in him was yes. Then our text further explains how God is faithful and that all his promises find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. This wonderful truth is confirmed to us by the fact that he gave us his spirit as a guarantee. Oh, how this can be so much comfort for us today. Our confidence is in Jesus Christ. And of course, this very much applies to you elders and you deacons as you carry out your tasks among us. But we also know it applies to each one of us as well. And so I preach to you God's word from 2 Corinthians 1. I'd like to use this theme. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out to continue Christ's work in us. We'll see three things, that in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we see a God who is faithful to his promises. Secondly, we see a God who enables us to live for him. Finally, third, a God who assures us of a great future. Now the Lord, our God, is faithful. This is so important for us to understand and for us to know in our hearts, not just something we say. We need to understand this. And our God reminds His people of how we can trust in His promises. He does that so often. Just one example, one time was when the Lord spoke to Balaam before he appeared to Balak. And then hear God's word through Balaam. This is what he says to his people. God is not man that he should lie, or the son of man, that is, he's not human, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken? Will he not fulfill it? There's countless times God has proven that he is always faithful to his word. it can be completely trusted. And David and other psalmists often, again, recounted God's faithfulness. His word is sure. It can be trusted. This is also what we can trust today. And this is the underlying truth that Paul appeals to in his letter to the Corinthians. For all the promises of God find their yes in Him, that is Jesus Christ. That is why it is through Him that we utter our amen to God for His glory. See, what we are seeing here is how all the promises that God made in the Old Covenant, all of them are yes in Jesus Christ. Christ is the fulfillment of these promises. That is, not one promise remains unfulfilled. Now isn't this such a wonderful, such a comforting thought, my brothers, my sisters? The Bible is all the proof we need that our God is faithful. Let's always remember that our God can be fully trusted. all his promises will come true. And the reason I say this again is because God's promises are not like ours. The promises we make can't be trusted nearly as much. In fact, often when we say we promise, it simply means that we'll try our hardest to do it. But no, God's promises are of a completely different nature. They will be fulfilled. Just think how often are we not told about what Jesus did and what Jesus said that it might be fulfilled which was spoken. To their disciples on their way to Emmaus, Jesus began with Moses and then he turned to all the prophets and he explained to them what was said in the scriptures concerning himself. I've often thought, can you imagine how cool it would be to have been in that room, to hear that lesson about how they all pointed to Jesus. Notice, brothers and sisters, how both from the side of God's promises and from our side, everything centers in Jesus Christ. God has kept all his promises in Christ. Everything in the Old Testament since the fall of mankind pointed to Jesus Christ. And we say our amen to God through Christ. All to the glory of our God. And yes, then on Pentecost we see one more example. of how God is faithful to his promises. For the Spirit was promised as well, and not just recently as we read when Christ promised it. The Spirit was promised already in a prophecy of Joel, as was also quoted by Peter in the Pentecost sermon, and in the last days it shall be God declares, you could almost say God promises, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Another example from Ezekiel, the word of the Lord. And I will put my spirit within you and you shall live. And I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. And then here it is, the faithfulness, I have spoken and I will do it, declares the Lord. Yes, let us know without a doubt that the spirit was promised. His coming to dwell in our hearts was always part of God's redemptive plan. And while Jesus was here on earth, he too made very clear that he would be sending a helper, a comforter, and that though he was leaving, he was not going to leave us all alone. We read also his last words to his disciples. before he ascended into heaven, also included the promise of the Spirit, they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them. Oh, my brothers and my sisters, know that God can be trusted. He is faithful. Now at this point, you might be thinking, well, of course he is. We know that. But then we should also make sure that we live our lives in a way that we show that we believe that all the promises we receive in Jesus Christ are sure. Now that is a little bit of the harder part, isn't it? applying those things that we know up here, applying that in our lives. For example, we know that God promises to forgive us our sins through Jesus Christ. And yet, yet we can sometimes still doubt that Jesus Christ could ever cover this, what we have in our minds is this massive sin that we have done. Can that still be covered by Christ? Of course it can. Or how often do we not still cling to the guilt, to the shame, even after we might accept that the sin is forgiven? What about eternal life? Too often we still doubt, and quite often this comes at the end of our lives. Or else we might think, As we might think as maybe we're lying on our deathbed, if you want to put it that way, we think, okay, I've done what I can. Let's hope it's enough. We have God's promise of eternal life through Christ. It is ours. Why do we still doubt? Not because we've done enough, but because Jesus Christ has done it all for us. And He is done. That is what He's promised to us. Now we need to believe this in true faith. And as we read, another thing that God promises is that He will give us a variety of gifts He gives a variety of service, of activities, but it's all one spirit. What a comfort this is that we may know it is the spirit who works this in us. And of course, this is a comfort for new office bearers, but also for each and every one of us. We don't have to rely on our strength. We can know the Spirit works in us. That is what God promised. Yes, thank God that He shows Himself so faithful. Thank God that He sent His Spirit to continue Christ's work in us so that we are able to live for Him. And that also brings us to our second point. Through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we see a God who enables us to live for Him. We read how God is the one who establishes or who strengthens us in Jesus Christ. God is the one who anointed us. Yes, the Holy Spirit teaches us in Paul's letter that it is God who establishes us in Christ. Now Paul uses some very interesting terminology here. In Christ could more literally be translated as Christ word. We are made to look toward Christ, to be in him. And God is also the guarantor of this. For this word establishes is one that is borrowed from the commercial world, we could say the world of buying and selling. You see, in that setting, a seller would make a guarantee to the buyer that the goods would be coming. Just as the money has been paid, so the goods are on their way. In today's world, maybe we can think of a contract that's written up, say by a dealership, and the contract states what options will be included on the car you are buying. This contract says this, this is the vehicle you can expect. You will get this and this. It won't include that and that. Well, in the same way, it is God who causes us to be established in Christ Jesus. For we have been anointed, writes Paul, and God did this too. Because we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, we also have God's ongoing guarantee to us of being toward Christ, Christward. We have God's commitment to us. We saw previously how much He can be trusted. And so there ought to be no doubt that we are being enabled by God to be in Christ Jesus. For He has guaranteed it. This is the key point. We are enabled. Not, it is done for us in the sense of the things that are required are done for us. We are enabled in the sense that we are regenerated by the Holy Spirit. How are we enabled? We have a new heart. From later in this letter, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. All this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself. That's from 2 Corinthians 5. My dear brothers and sisters, isn't this what Pentecost is all about? When we talk about abiding or living in Christ and Christ in us, we see how this is only possible by the Holy Spirit. And if we're still not quite sure about this, let's just hear God's word once more now from John's first letter. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us his spirit. No, we should not try to do anything in the sense of trying to earn our salvation. Christ has done everything that needs to be done. And how is that accomplished? The Holy Spirit works the faith in us that is needed to bind us to Jesus Christ. Holy Spirit is the glue that brings us, that makes us live in Christ. Not only that, we are given the Holy Spirit to live in us by whom we are strengthened and established in Christ. Beautiful words of being established in Christ through the Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, we also produce fruit and thankfulness for all that God has done for us and in us. The power of the Spirit also enables us to begin to live not only according to some, but to all the commandments of God. Think back to when we heard them. Maybe we think, how can we keep that command? The Spirit enables us. For our hearts are regenerated by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. David already alluded to all this in the psalm we just sang a few minutes ago from the Rhymed Version. Create in me a pure, clean heart. Renew a steadfast spirit deep within me. Give me new life, regeneration. Give me new life to strengthen and to sustain me. Do not take from me your Holy Spirit. Let me the joy of your salvation see and make me willing to obey you. Yes, only through the Holy Spirit will we be made willing to obey. For we have been justified. We have been made right with God because of Jesus Christ. Not because of works. done by us as we hear from God's Word, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. And yes, this is from Paul's letter to Titus, and we can continue hearing from his letter. And note how applicable this is to God's Word today that we're looking at. For God's word said, this Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs, heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Yes, we are made heirs. We will inherit. We are made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Brothers and sisters, again, this is promised to us. The Spirit is given to us. We are. We're not waiting for it to happen. We are justified by the grace of God. And we can be totally assured of this by that same spirit who lives in our hearts. And yes, this nicely leads to our third point where we see a God who assures us when he gave us his spirit on Pentecost. Our text reads, God also has sealed us and given us the spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. Both the words seal and guarantee are connected with the word established and also they are associated with the world of business and trade. The seal often was done in wax back in those days. It was a mark of ownership. And it was also a guarantee that if you saw the seal, you knew you had the authentic, the real thing. And God not only seals us, telling us that we have the real thing, but he has given us the spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. The Greek word for guarantee can be translated as a down payment or a first installment. And again, we today are familiar with these kind of seals and guarantees. The seal we use is our signature on the dotted line. And then often a deposit or a down payment is required because they are looking for evidence of what is to come. More payments. My brothers, my sisters, God has sealed us. And His seal is not a signature. It is nothing less than the Holy Spirit Himself. We are marked, we can say, as believers that we belong to God. Let us also remember this Pentecost Sunday, that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is a gift of God to assure us of what is to come. God himself put his Spirit into our hearts, and we can think of that as a deposit. This is God's way of assuring us as individuals in this congregation that the Old Covenant has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. What's more, we have so much to look forward to when Christ returns. You can find further evidence of this truth in Paul's letter to the Ephesians. In Christ, you also We're sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory. And now, brothers and sisters, I have a question for you. When you hear all this, When you hear about this guarantee being sealed by God through the Spirit, do you feel this assurance that you are receiving from Almighty God? Does it resonate deep within you? Because God is behind it all. He is the reason we can be found in Jesus Christ. He gave us His Holy Spirit in our hearts. We have been sealed. We have been given the down payment. Accept it, brothers and sisters, with a believing heart, knowing the rest is going to come. And continue to pray that the Spirit works powerfully in you. or let us not forget what kind of power we have through the Holy Spirit. And yes, it's easy for me to say to you this morning off the pulpit, pray for it, pray for the Spirit. Well, maybe it would be helpful if we had an example of how to pray. And thankfully, we can find examples in God's Word. And we can also know, by the way, that it is the Holy Spirit who will perfect our prayers. I'd like to go over an example of this kind of prayer, because Paul prayed it. We read it in Ephesians 3. And there we hear from God's Word as Paul prayed, may God grant us. And let's make this prayer our own this morning. May God grant us. to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in our inner being, in our hearts, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith, that we, being rooted, being grounded in love, may have strength. Remember how I mentioned the power we get from the Holy Spirit? that we grounded in love may have strength to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. What a prayer this is, isn't it? I encourage you, maybe in the week to come or in the days ahead, I encourage you to take this prayer, read it over and over, Ephesians 3, make it your own and pray it often. Brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ ascended into heaven. Never doubt that. And he remains exalted as Lord and Christ. He is king. He is Lord over all creation. And on this Pentecost day, he sent his spirit down from heaven to live in our hearts. This is incredibly comforting for us. I mean, God himself living in our hearts? And you know, as I was writing this sermon, it occurred to me, when we think about the fact that the Spirit was sent out What, we can also wonder, well I did anyways, what would our lives be like had not the Spirit being sent on that Pentecost day so many years ago? First of all, we wouldn't even be here. None of us. Since the Holy Spirit is the one who works faith in our hearts, we wouldn't believe There would be no power in us. There would be no assurance. We would not share in Christ and all his benefits. We would not be comforted. And I could go on and on. We'll soon realize that there will be a pretty bleak picture that is being painted. And really, it is impossible to truly imagine it. One thing we simply must know as we go through that exercise is how badly each and every one of us needs the Holy Spirit. For we live in the time after Christ's life and death. And in order for Christ to continue his work in us, we need the Holy Spirit to renew us more and more to be like Christ. In fact, without the Spirit, Christ's work on the cross would be in vain. And yes, this applies to each and every single one of us. It also applies to you, elders, you, deacons. You have an important and often difficult, though also rewarding task before you. Don't trust in yourselves. Look past all your weaknesses, knowing that God can and will use you as his instruments also for this congregation. And he will do this by his spirit who lives in you. Just as Paul told the leaders of the church in Ephesus, pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his blood. And as we read from 1 Corinthians 12, there is no doubt that there are varying various gifts that are given. but they are all empowered by the one and the same Spirit. And so we go with the Spirit of God in our hearts. We continue Christ's work in us, or sorry, He will continue Christ's work in us, for God was and is and will be faithful to all His promises. We see that. for the Spirit did come as promised. Yes, the Spirit came to each believer to show us the way of truth and love He light and life to us imparts. And this same Spirit is Himself the guarantee that we shall be forever free when Christ returns on His great day. O come, Lord Jesus, come, we pray. Amen.