We read two passages of Scripture this morning as we commemorate Pentecost. First, from the Old Testament, Leviticus 23, verses 15 through 22. Leviticus 23, and then we'll also turn to Acts chapter 2. In Leviticus 23, you have the... institution of the feast days. The Sabbath day, it starts out with the Sabbath day, then the Passover, then the Feast of Firstfruits, and then in verses 15 through 22, we have God giving them the instructions for the Feast of Pentecost. A feast that they were to commemorate every year by going to Jerusalem. It was one of the pilgrim feasts. Leviticus 23, starting at verse 15, "'And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, So, this is coming off the Feast of Firstfruits. After the Feast of Firstfruits, ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering, seven sabbaths shall be complete. Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days. And ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. This is what they are to do. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two-tenth deals. That's just the measurement, how big the loaves must be. They shall be of fine flour. They shall be bacon with leaven. They are the first fruits unto the Lord. And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year and one young bullock and two rams. They shall be for a burnt offering unto the Lord with their meat offering and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire of sweet savor unto the Lord. Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priests shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before the Lord with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest." And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day that it may be an holy convocation unto you. Ye shall do no servile work therein. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest. Thou shalt leave them unto the poor and to the stranger. I am the Lord your God." Now also we turn to Acts chapter 2, and we read what happened on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, 50 days after Jesus arose from the dead. Acts chapter 2. The text is verses 1 through 4. We'll read the first 21 verses right now. Acts chapter 2. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now, when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues, our languages, the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others, mocking, said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words. For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day, nine o'clock in the morning. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before that great and notable day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." That's the name of the Lord, Jesus. So far we read God's holy and infallible Word. The text is verses 1-4. and there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as, so cloven means divided in half, cut in half tongues, like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues in other languages as the Spirit gave them utterance. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, Acts 2 begins this way. and when the day of Pentecost was fully come." The question arises when you read that, what does that mean? What does it mean that the day of Pentecost was fully come? Well, it seems that the best way to understand it is by understanding it in two different ways. First, by those words, what the apostle is saying is that the actual day, the actual daytime of Pentecost has come. And the idea then is this, the night of Pentecost has gone, and now it's the daytime hours of the day of Pentecost. Now, that makes sense when we remember that according to the Jewish reckoning of time, it's the night that starts the day, and then the daytime, right? The evening and the morning were the first day. First the evening, the day really starts at 6 p.m., you first have the evening, and then six in the morning, you have the daytime. So to say that the day of Pentecost has fully come simply means that the nighttime had passed and now it was the actual daytime of the day of Pentecost, even around nine o'clock in the morning, as we learn from the Apostle Peter in verse 15. The second way to understand those words, fully come, is to understand them in a more spiritual sense. So that when the text says the day of Pentecost has fully come, it actually means that the Old Testament feast of Pentecost, on this particular day, has actually come to its fulfillment. And that the Old Testament feast, as a type and a shadow of things to come in the New Testament, is being fulfilled in what happens on this particular day. That's a possible way to understand those words as well. The day of Pentecost has fully come. The fulfillment of Pentecost has come. I bring all of this up because that's really what we want to do in the sermon this morning. We want to see how in Acts chapter two, what you have is not just the Holy Spirit being poured out upon the church, but what you have is the actual fulfillment of the feast of Pentecost. And as I was thinking about that this past week, it strikes you every time. God orchestrates history so perfectly. God orchestrates the Old Testament ceremonial laws. God orchestrates the seasons, the harvest season and the planting season, so that this is exactly how He makes it all work out. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit here on the day of Pentecost. It perfectly happens so that it is the fulfillment of the Old Testament feast that Israel has been celebrating for 1,000, 1,500 years. Really, what I want to do this morning is similar to what we did on Ascension Day. Remember on Ascension Day we looked at the ark's ascension into Jerusalem and to Mount Zion, and we saw how that was a type and a shadow. of Jesus' ascension to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the throne at God's right hand. Well, it's the same thing here. The Old Testament feast of Pentecost is a type and a shadow of the New Testament event of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And I hope that through this study, we will grow in our reverence for God, so that this morning as we dwell on this, it's an act of worship. We will grow in our understanding of what Pentecost Sunday is all about. and we will grow in the joys of our salvation. We take as our theme this morning, The Feast of Pentecost Fully Come. We look at that theme in our three points. First, we look at the Old Testament feast itself. Second, we look at the New Testament fulfillment. And then third, we look at the application for us today. In order to really understand what we want to do in the sermon this morning, let me first remind you of two other Old Testament feasts, because by reviewing these two other Old Testament feasts, it will help us to go forward with the Feast of Pentecost. First of all, let me remind you of the Feast of Passover. I think we generally know what the Feast of Passover was about. The Feast of Passover was instituted by God while Israel was still in bondage in Egypt. God was just about to send the last plague upon Egypt, the death of the firstborn. But before God did that, God told the people to observe the Passover. They were to pick out a male lamb from the flock, kill it, collect its blood, sprinkle the blood on the doorposts and on the lintel of their houses. Then they were to roast that lamb, and then they were to eat it in their homes. That's how the Feast of Passover originated. And as we know, That feast of Passover is fulfilled in the New Testament in Jesus' sufferings and death on the cross. As 1 Corinthians 5 puts it, Jesus is our Passover. Jesus is the Paschal Lamb who was our substitute, the Lamb who was slain, whose blood was sprinkled, so that instead of us dying, Jesus dies for us. He makes the covering for our sins. And not only are we spared the punishment of eternal death, but also we are set free from bondage to sin, just as Israel subsequently, in the Old Testament times, was set free from Egyptian bondage after That last plank. This is the foundational feast, we might say. This is the feast that really marked the beginning of Israel's history as a nation. This is the first feast on their calendar year, on their calendar. And now for our interest this morning, we should ask the question, when did Jesus actually become our Passover? When was Jesus slain for our sins? Well, it happened exactly on the Feast of Passover, on Good Friday, which was when the Feast of Passover was taking place, the 14th day of the month of Nisan. That's the Feast of Passover fulfilled for us in Jesus on Good Friday. Second of all, let me remind you of the Old Testament feast of firstfruits. Now in the Old Testament calendar, the Feast of Firstfruits took place two days after the Feast of Passover. Passover took place on the 14th day of the first month of the year. The Feast of Firstfruits took place on the 16th day of the first month of the year. That means that if Passover was being celebrated on Friday, let's say Good Friday, then the Feast of Firstfruits would be celebrated two days later on that Sunday. And what was the Feast of Firstfruits? Well, the Feast of Firstfruits marked the beginning of the spring harvest season. And what the people would do, what they were supposed to do, was this. They would go out to their fields and they would cut down two sheaves of grain. A sheave is a bundle of grain tied together. They would cut down and make two sheaves of grain. So the fields are ripe for harvest. Yellow, the wheat is yellow in the fields. And the people go out, they harvest two sheaves of wheat, and then they're supposed to bring those two sheaves of wheat to Jerusalem, to the temple, and dedicate it to the Lord. Actual stalks of grain they bring to the temple and give it to the priests, and those stalks of grain are called the first fruits. It's the Feast of First Fruits. And part of the significance of it all was this. God was assuring the people that just as those two sheaves of wheat had been harvested, so the rest of the harvest was sure to follow. Just as these two sheaves of wheat had been harvested and devoted to the Lord, so it was representative of everything else that was still in the field. It would be harvested and devoted to the Lord. That was the Feast of Firstfruits. Now, we should ask, when was that feast of firstfruits fulfilled in Jesus? Well, it was fulfilled on the exact same day that the Old Testament feast was celebrated, on the feast itself, two days after Jesus' death on the cross. Namely, it was fulfilled on Easter Sunday in Jesus' resurrection from the dead. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20 puts it this way. But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 23 puts it this way, but every man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits and afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Jesus' resurrection from the dead assures us that the rest of the field, the rest of the harvest, the rest of our resurrections from the dead will surely follow, each in its own time. Lord willing, we're going to have a sermon on this next week, Sunday morning, as we look at Lord's Day 17, and we look at Christ, the firstfruits. But the point is, when Jesus rose again, from the dead on Easter Sunday, not only did that happen on the day of the Feast of Firstfruits, but it was the fulfillment of the Feast of Firstfruits. God orchestrated His redemptive work so perfectly. He had it all planned out in eternity. And when He gave the Old Testament ordinances, ceremonies, He ordered it and structured it this way so that it all lines up. So that Jesus lines up with the Old Testament feasts. Now having said all that, we want to look this morning at the Feast of Pentecost. What was the Old Testament Feast of Pentecost? The Feast of Pentecost took place seven weeks after the Feast of Firstfruits. The Feast of Firstfruits marked the beginning of the spring harvest season. When they were going into the fields, the Feast of Pentecost marks the end of the spring harvest season. So what you have is this. At the Feast of Firstfruits, the people would go into their fields, harvest two sheaves of grain, and bring it to the temple. Then, after keeping the week-long Feast of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it all happened at the same time, after keeping that week-long feast, they would go back home, they would go into their fields, and they would get busy harvesting their crops. They would move the crops from the fields into their barns, and God gave them about seven weeks to do that. But then after all the spring crops were in the barn, the people now had to do something else. Before they could start taking the grain out of the barn and bringing it into their kitchen and turning it into bread and eating it for themselves and enjoying it, what they first had to do was this, bake two loaves of bread and bring it to the temple and dedicate it to the Lord. They would take some of the grain out of their barns, bring it to their kitchens, bake two leavened loaves of bread. They would take them to Jerusalem, because it was a pilgrim feast. Everyone had to go to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost, and give these loaves of bread to the priest. They would offer them to the Lord, and then they would spend the week in Jerusalem celebrating, celebrating the harvest, the spring harvest that they had just gathered in. It was a festival. And when did this festival take place? It took place 50 days after the Feast of Firstfruits. That's actually what the word Pentecost means. Penta is five. Pentecost means 50th. On the 50th day after the Feast of Firstfruits, the people would go back to Jerusalem again to keep the Feast of Pentecost. In the Bible, this feast is also called the Feast of Harvest. It's also called the Feast of Weeks. because it took place seven weeks after. Seven weeks times seven days, that's 49, plus the next day, that's 50th. So if we're paying attention to the timeline here, that's why there's so many people in Jerusalem in Acts chapter 2. There are Jews in Jerusalem from all over the Roman Empire, all over the world, because they are there to keep this Old Testament feast of Pentecost. Now about the Feast of Pentecost, there are especially three things we need to look at more closely and focus on to help us understand the significance of Acts chapter 2. First of all, we need to focus in on those loaves of bread. Notice that 50 days earlier, the people had to offer two sheaves of grain, right? The stalks right from the field. But now on Pentecost, they had to go to the temple with two loaves of leavened bread. Leviticus 23 verse 17 puts it this way, And the question we need to ask right now is this, why loaves of bread? Right? No longer sheets of grain, but two loaves of delicious baked leaven bread. Why? Well, the point is this. The wheat that they had just finished harvesting is now being put into a form that is profitable for them, that is expedient for them, and that is enjoyable for them. It's useful for them. Let me repeat that. The wheat that they had just finished harvesting is now being put into a form that is profitable for them, that is expedient for them, that is enjoyable for the people. They could enjoy it. And it was in a form that was necessary for them to continue to carry out their labors the rest of the year, eating their bread. That, first of all, it was in a form that they could enjoy and that they could use. Second of all, we need to notice that these two loaves of bread were the first fruits of the people's enjoyment of the harvest blessings. Leviticus 23 verse 17. specifically refers to these loaves of bread as first fruits. And the idea is this, for the last 50 days, the people had been hard at work in their fields, harvesting the crops, and now, after harvesting, and before they could bake and eat any bread for themselves, they had to bake two loaves of bread and give them to the Lord. And by that, what they were expressing was this. It all belongs unto the Lord. It all comes from the Lord. These harvest blessings, which we now get to enjoy and feast on, comes from the Lord. And it's supposed to be used in the service of the Lord. And all the other loaves of bread that we're going to make, that we're going to take out of the barn and bake in our kitchens, all those other loaves of bread, We're going to use them in essentially the same way. That's what first fruits are. They represent everything else that's going to follow. We're going to use every other loaf of bread this same way. That's what first fruits are. these loaves of bread were firstfruits. And then third of all, besides being loaves of bread, and besides the fact that they are firstfruits, we need to notice this, that when the two loaves of bread were offered to the Lord at the temple, they were offered to the Lord as a wave offering. They weren't put on the altar as a sacrifice that way, but the priests would take them and wave them before the Lord." Leviticus 23 verse 20, we read, Now what is a wave offering? Well, the idea seems to be this, the idea does not seem to be that the priests would wave the bread like this from side to side before the Lord as we might think of it. I think that's maybe our first way of thinking of a wave offering, right? We wave to each other. But think of it as a wave of the sea, a wave of the ocean going up and down. That's the wave offering. And what's the symbolism of the wave offering? Well, I think the wave offering really sums it all up. First of all, with the wave offering, the people were confessing that what they had in their hands, they were receiving it from the Lord. These loaves of bread, the whole harvest, and now the beginning of these blessings that we get to enjoy and that we get to use for the Lord, it comes from Him. He's the one who's supplying us with the wheat. He's the one who supplies us with the loaves of bread, this delicious blessing to us. And then second of all, with the wave offering, the people were also confessing that these loaves and all the rest that would follow after were going to be given back to the Lord. Receive it from the Lord and give it back to the Lord. We're going to use this and the strength gained from this bread in the service of the Lord. Back, receive it and bring back. And now to bring it all together, remember these are loaves of bread. This is a blessing that was in the form that the people could use. It was in a form that they could enjoy. And now what they're going to use and what they're going to enjoy, they're going to use it and enjoy it for God's glory. That's the Feast of Pentecost. And again, when we get to Acts chapter 2, that's what the people were there for. These kinds of thoughts were on the people's minds and hearts. Now, what we want to see this morning is that this Old Testament feast was fulfilled by Jesus. Right? All the Old Testament ceremonies point us to Jesus. And this feast also points us to Jesus and His work of salvation. It's fulfilled here in Acts chapter 2 with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Here in Acts chapter 2, we have the anti-type, the reality that was typified in the Old Testament. Now in order to see this, we need to ask the question, what's actually going on here in Acts chapter 2 on Pentecost Sunday? What's going on here with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit? Well, what's going on here are three things. First of all, with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, what we have is this, Jesus coming to his people. Jesus returning to his people, coming to his people in a form now that is useful for them, in a form that is expedient for them, in a form that they can enjoy, that's going to be profitable for them going forward into the New Testament time period. Let's look at that first of all. With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we have Jesus coming to his people in a form that is useful for them and enjoyable for them and also necessary for them as they look ahead to the work that lies before them. You will remember that before Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his disciples that he would come again to them. Not only did he say that he would return unto them, but that it was expedient for them that he first go away. In John 14, verse 18, Jesus tells his disciples, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come unto you. And how will Jesus come to his people? By sending his spirit. John 14, verses 17 and 18. There, you read this. Jesus says, and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the spirit of truth. whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him. But ye know him, for he dwelleth in you, and shall be with you." And that's when Jesus says, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. So in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is coming to his people. Or to put it more emphatically, in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the disciples are receiving Jesus again. But now this time, they're receiving Jesus in a different form. Not His flesh and blood, but through His Spirit. And so Jesus is not just coming to them in a different form, but He's coming to them in a way that is more useful for them. It's expedient for them that Jesus go away so that He can come to them again by His Spirit. Why? Because as a man, Jesus can't be everywhere on the earth at the same time. As a man, Jesus is finite. And what that means is that if Jesus remains on the earth, then his church can only be in one place on the earth, namely where Jesus is, in the land of Judea. But the New Testament is here, it needs to come. Jesus is going to gather his people from all nations of the earth. The church needs to spread over to the four corners of the earth, and so the solution is this. Jesus goes to heaven, and from heaven, he pours out his Holy Spirit, and by his Holy Spirit, he can be with his people over the length and breadth of the earth. That's the point. He's coming to his people now in a form that is useful for them and enjoyable for them, just like those loaves of bread, no longer stalks of grain or sheaves of grain, but now delicious baked leavened bread, a form that is useful and enjoyable for what lies ahead. Second of all, with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, what we have is this, the firstfruits of the harvest blessings being enjoyed. With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we have the firstfruits of the harvest blessings being enjoyed. Now that might sound a little confusing because I thought the Feast of Firstfruits was the firstfruits. Jesus is the firstfruits of them that have risen. Well, the Bible also speaks of the Holy Spirit as firstfruits. Romans 8, verse 23, specifically says this. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit. Even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit, namely, the redemption of our bodies. We're looking ahead to final glory for our bodies. And when the passage says that we have the firstfruits of the Spirit, what it means is that we have the Spirit as the firstfruits. In Romans 8, the whole idea is this. The creation is groaning for the day when all things will be made new. There's going to be a new heavens and a new earth. This creation is going to be glorified. And we know it, we know there will be the new heavens and new earth because we already have the first fruits, which guarantees what is to follow, namely the Holy Spirit. Or as other passages put it, the Holy Spirit is the earnest or the down payment of our full salvation. Having the Holy Spirit, we have the assurance, we have the guarantee that the rest of these blessings of salvation, the full salvation that is coming to us will surely come to us. He's the firstfruits of the blessings of salvation. And that's what those loaves of bread were communicating in the Feast of Pentecost. The two loaves of bread as the firstfruits were communicating that the rest of the enjoyment of this food is surely coming. And just so, as the church receives the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, what Jesus is telling us is that the full enjoyment of the blessings that He labored for will come to us. So the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, He's just the first fruits. There's a barn filled with the blessings of salvation. There's a whole barn, a whole storehouse filled with blessings and inheritance. reserved in heaven, undefiled, and that fades not away, and the Holy Spirit is the first that comes out of that storehouse. Third of all, with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, what we have is this. Not only does the church receive the blessings from the Lord, but the church also immediately devotes those blessings back into the service of the Lord, serving the Lord with what the Lord has just given them. just like the wave offering. That's what we see in Acts chapter 2. The church receives the blessing of the Holy Spirit with joy and gladness. And what does the church do? Immediately, the church uses the Holy Spirit for the praise and honor of God. The Holy Spirit falls upon the 120 disciples in the upper room. The disciples trickle out of the upper room into the streets of Jerusalem. A great crowd of people gathers around them. And what do the disciples do? They point the people right back to God. They start talking about the wonderful works of God. They start talking about all of this. All of this that they've heard, the mighty rushing wind, speaking in foreign languages. This is not the work of men. This is the work of the finished labors of Jesus. This is the work of the risen and exalted Christ. And if we had kept reading, we would have heard Peter in his Pentecost sermon telling the crowd about who Jesus is, and about how everything that happened recently in Jerusalem had to happen because Jesus is the Messiah. And the message that is brought then to the people is this, repent, believe, turn from your sins, and confess that forgiveness of sins is found only in Jesus Christ. Confess Christ to be the Passover Lamb! Confess Christ to be the firstfruits of them that slept, and now today confess Christ as the one who also fulfills this feast through the outpouring of His Holy Spirit. That's what's happening. And if we would have kept reading the chapter, we would have seen the disciples enjoying the blessings of the Holy Spirit as the church grows, the church starts to grow in her doctrinal understanding, and they enjoy each other's fellowship and care for each other. So this is the wave offering of the Old Testament Feast of Pentecost. finding its spiritual fulfillment in Acts chapter two. The church receives the blessing from the Lord, the blessing of the finished labors of Jesus, the first part that's coming out of the barn, out of the storehouse of Jesus's treasury, and the church immediately returns the Holy Spirit to the Lord in thankful praises. It comes from you, Lord, and to you and for your glory, it must be used. That's how the Old Testament feast of Pentecost finds its spiritual fulfillment through the work of Jesus Christ. And again, to show His wisdom, to show His power, when does He do it? Exactly on the same day that the Old Testament feast is being observed, just as with the Passover, just as with the Feast of Firstfruits. It's amazing, beloved. It is amazing. Well, what I want to end with is the fact that there is still application for us today. Because in a sense, the spiritual feast of Pentecost continues throughout the whole New Testament time period. We have today the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Oh, we don't have those signs. We don't have the sound as of a mighty rushing wind. We don't have the cloven tongues, the forked tongues as a fire. We don't have the peculiar gift of speaking in foreign languages. Those were special things to help God's people in that day to understand what's going on. The sound as of a mighty rushing wind was a sign that emphasized the Holy Spirit and His invisible, mysterious, but powerful operation. You can't see Him, but you can see His power. You can see His effects, just like the rushing wind blowing through the trees. The cloven tongues as a fire sitting above their heads was a sign of the Holy Spirit and His sanctifying work, His purifying work, burning away the garbage and the filth of sin in the hearts of His people, cleansing them, making them holy unto the Lord. And the speaking in foreign languages was a sign that the Holy Spirit was going to take the gospel to people of all nations, all tongues, and all tribes. The gospel of salvation, the good news of Jesus Christ, was not just for the Jewish people, but it was for a church that would be gathered from the Gentiles as well. Gentiles from every nation. As I said, those were special signs. We don't have those signs today. In a sense, we do because they're recorded for us so that we know what happened here in Acts 2. These signs still tell us today what happened. The Holy Spirit was being poured out. But today we have still the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Actually, didn't we just look at a passage last week Sunday morning that spoke of this? Romans 5, verse 5. And hope maketh not ashamed. The hope you have of glory will not disappoint you. And it's yours, and you can be sure of it. Why? Because the love of God has been spread abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit, who is given us. We have the love of God poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We have the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we enjoy the same realities that they did in Acts chapter two. We've received Christ in a way that is useful for us, with the commission that God has given us, that is enjoyable for us, just like the leavened bread. We have the comforter. We have received the Holy Spirit, not just as leavened bread, but as the first fruits of the full blessings of salvation. And having the Holy Spirit, we are now called, as it were, to give God a wave offering. to receive these blessings from the Lord and now return them unto the Lord as a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, living our lives as a sacrifice of thanksgiving, taking the Holy Spirit and enjoying the Holy Spirit, walking in the Spirit, bringing forth the fruits of the Holy Spirit. We are to enjoy the Holy Spirit's powerful and mysterious work in us. We are to enjoy the Holy Spirit's work of sanctifying us, puring us, purifying us as by fire. And we also, by the Holy Spirit, are to proclaim the gospel of salvation to the four corners of the earth. We are called to share these blessings of salvation with others, telling others the good news of Christ's work on the cross, calling others to repent and believe, and to call on the name of Jesus of Nazareth. In Acts chapter 2, we see the harvest blessings of the cross of Jesus Christ being shared with strangers in Jerusalem. That's our calling as well. We do that in our personal witnessing, and we do that through the support of the local congregation and the preaching that the local congregation is doing. Final thing, beloved, the Old Testament Feast of Pentecost was a feast. It was a festival. It was a week-long celebration. It was a week-long celebration of those who had been saved by the Passover lamb, who had been delivered from Egyptian bondage. It was something to be celebrated as those who've seen the bounties God has given them in the spring harvest. And they've seen the goodness of God. And it was something that they were to celebrate knowing that Jehovah is a God who blesses His people with generous blessings that cannot be numbered. Let us have today and going forward, that same spirit of celebration as we continue to enjoy the firstfruits of the Spirit. In Acts chapter 2, we see the church living in the joy of salvation as she begins partaking of the firstfruits of Christ's work on the cross. May God also give us that joy of living in the Spirit, having received Christ. Let us now use the blessings of salvation for the glory of our God's most holy name. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father who art in heaven, Thy works are amazing. Amazing because of how perfectly worked out they are. Amazing because with everything Thou art teaching us. Amazing because it's all a work of grace for those who are not worthy of the least of Thy mercies. On this Pentecost Sunday, Lord, we rejoice in the gift of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and we render unto Thee, Lord, an offering of praise and thanks. By Thy Spirit in us, Lord, we pray, cause us so that We give Thee the honor and the reverence and the thanks and the glory that is due unto Thee for the so great salvation that Thou hast given us. May our whole lives be as a wave offering unto Thee. In Jesus' precious name, we pray it. Amen.