Beloved, on this Pentecost morning, we return to the history of that unique day. We go to the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 2. We begin at verse 14. 14 through 41. 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. 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 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. Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover, also my flesh shall rest in hope. Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy, with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne, He, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day they were added unto them about 3,000 souls." We'll read that far. the account of Pentecost. Let us turn ourselves to this very same God and beseech his blessing upon us in prayer. Let us pray. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, and particularly right now you, young friends and children, I want you to imagine a young person who is very shy, a young person who is also very fearful, a young person who finds it very hard to learn his lessons, whether at school or at home. And let's just say that young friend is a friend of yours, and you know how shy he or she is, and you've seen how fearful he can be and how much he struggles. with learning his lessons. Now, I want you to picture that same friend, all of a sudden, completely changed. I want you to imagine that no longer is this friend fearful, but fearless. No longer shy, but speaking with confidence. with a good kind of boldness, and now no longer struggling with his lessons, but now speaking wisdom and doing so clearly. You might be tempted to ask, what happened to you? And you would have to conclude, this is nothing short of a miracle. How can somebody change so dramatically? And yet, young friends, this actually did happen. Not just to one person, but to a dozen or more people. And they didn't change themselves. God did it. He performed a miracle. But now, if I were to ask you, can you do it again? Can God do this to you? Can He do it to me? Can He do it to all of us? Everyone in this room at the same time, can He do it? And then maybe a more important question, children. Will He do it? You know, very often, beloved church family, we think about Pentecost and we right away think about the Holy Spirit. So much so that many have referred to Pentecost as the feast of the Holy Spirit of God. But on Pentecost, it is as if the Spirit does come from the shadows, where He often is in Scripture, front and center. And yet, we want to consider this morning. how it wasn't just the Holy Spirit, but also God the Father and God the Son, together with the Spirit, who did two very important things. First, he transformed shy, fearful, and we have to say it, somewhat ignorant disciples into confident, fearless, faith-filled and understanding disciples. But then secondly, He transformed a host of sinners, thousands of sinners, from spiritual death to spiritual life in a moment of time. May it be our prayer that God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit would do the very same thing in this room this day. Our text is Acts 2.33. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, speaking of Jesus, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. Our theme this morning is the baptism of Pentecost. In the first place, the promise of the Father. What is it? What does that mean? Secondly, the outpouring of, or I should say, the outpouring by the Son. How did the Son play into what happened on Pentecost? And then finally, the fulfillment of that promise by the Holy Spirit. Now, beloved, most of us, I trust, know the history of Pentecost so well, I'm not going to belabor describing the setting. I would like simply to mention four things that Jesus said before Pentecost that has everything to do with this passage. The first is in Luke 24, 49. Boys and girls, Jesus appeared to his scared disciples. They were fearful. They locked themselves in a room for fear of the Jews we read. When he appeared to them, he showed them that scripture had foretold about his suffering, that he would suffer, that he would die, that he would be buried, that he would rise again. But then we read this. Then he opened their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures. Then the second thing that he said before Pentecost that has to do with this day, in the same chapter, he said, behold, in other words, pay attention, I send the promise of my Father upon you. But tarry ye, wait in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued, in other words, filled with power from on high. Then the third thing that Jesus said, John 20. Again, with his disciples in the upper room, appearing to them, he says, Peace be unto you. As my father hath sent me, even so send I you. But he didn't just send them. He did this. When he had said this, he breathed on them and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. And then the fourth thing that Jesus said, again, before Pentecost, Acts 1, 4, and 5, and being assembled together with them, he commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem. Don't leave Jerusalem until, he said, until wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, you have heard of me. And then he explained it. For John, John the Baptist, truly baptized with water. But ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. In other words, soon. So then, put it all together. Jesus opened their understanding of the Scriptures. He breathed on them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. He promised them that very soon they'd be baptized with that Holy Spirit. And then Jesus twice referred to this outpouring of the Spirit as a fulfillment of a promise that He, Jesus, had received of His Father. So let's begin by asking ourselves just what is the promise of the Father. That's what Jesus called Pentecost, the promise of the Father being fulfilled. What was that promise? Well, he said it, being baptized with the Holy Spirit. Jesus also, we just heard, said, endued or empowered with power from on high. So what is that promise then, children? It is God the Father willing to empower people by his spirit. Why? Why would he do this? And why would this remarkable change be called a baptism? Well, the answer is actually simple. God the Father loves his son. And He delights in glorifying His Son, making Him known. And the outpouring of the Holy Spirit did that very thing. It would embolden Jesus' fearful disciples now to freely speak and preach about Jesus. The Holy Spirit would illuminate. It's like turning on a light in their mind. so that they would more fully understand what had just happened, what they had just witnessed, the life, the suffering, the death, the resurrection. Now they got it, why these things had to be so. And then, on that same day, those extraordinary signs, the wind, the tongues resting on their head, the ability to speak in foreign languages, that was all provided simply to show that what happened that day was truly of the Lord. It was a remarkable work of God. So, again, the promise of the Father that the Spirit would baptize sinners in such a way that they would clearly understand and they would boldly witness. But now, why a baptism? What does baptism have to do with that? of the many things that baptism pictures, one of those things is a person rising out of spiritual death to spiritual life. Baptism pictures a spiritual resurrection of sorts. And so this baptism of the Spirit would not only enlighten the understanding of the apostles and the people, but enliven them. And the way he did it is important. God the Father, through Peter's preaching, first convicted the people. convicted them of their awful condition, convicted them of their terrible rejection of Jesus, and by convicting them, by troubling their consciences deeply, the Father, by means of this Spirit, was making room in them for the gospel, convincing them of their need of salvation, of their need of a Savior, of a need for Christ. But then, after showing them their sin and causing them to feel the weight of their sinful condition, then the Father, through that same preaching, would point them to Christ, the very Jesus they had rejected as the means to save them. that through the way of repentance. Children, that simply means by turning them around from their awful state of spiritual death to spiritual life, from rejecting the Word of God to receiving the Word of God. That was repentance. And then faith, trusting that indeed that Christ, that Jesus is their Savior. They knew. They knew in their heart of hearts that same Jesus could rescue them from that awful rejection. And so the water baptism that took place that day, it symbolized what the Spirit had already done. That even the worst of their sins, rejecting the very Savior that was sent to them, that was washed away and they became part of the Christian church. But now my question to you and myself, beloved, is the promise of the Father ended? Is it over? No, it is not. Jesus told his disciples and us that the Father is still willing to give this same Spirit to them who ask Him. Remember, if ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? Do you believe this? To put it another way, can you trust the word of the Father? Is there a need here for this Savior? Can you put yourself, can I put myself in the shoes of those Jewish people who at times denied and rejected this Savior? Do we do that by our indifference? Do we do that by our coldness? Do we do that by our carelessness? Do we reject them by sheer unbelief? We don't believe that it can happen anymore. Have you ever been convinced to the point where you have to cry out, if not in words in your heart, what must I do or with Isaiah, woe unto me, for I am undone. And again, after making room in us, after convincing us that there is no other way, there's no other life to live, the Father, through this same word, points us to the remedy, the only remedy, the Lord Jesus Christ. And not only did Peter show that Jesus was alive, that he was raised from the dead, but he also showed that the Father had highly exalted him. And the final words of Peter's message were, God made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. And when they cried out, desperately, What must I do? They were told repent and be baptized in Jesus' name. That baptism was a public declaration. I have changed sides. I am no longer a Jew. I am no longer a Gentile. I am no longer an unbeliever. I am now a follower, a believer, trusting in Christ. And Peter assured them, and he assures us that through this same Christ, Not only would we be forgiven, not only would we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, but we would also be witnesses. We would be living trophies of mercy who cannot but speak well of the Savior. And so they were witnesses. And so it continues to be today. How so? The Father continues to send forth His Spirit to convict us, to awaken us, to transform us, to direct us, to indwell us. Do you know something of this work in your own heart? Does it show by humility and by faith? Do you not only remain steadfast in the Christian doctrine, the teaching, but is there placed in you by the Lord a craving to worship the Lord, a craving to fellowship with the saints? Are you hungry and thirsty after God? Not just in the past, but now. The promise still stands, beloved. And not just in that promise we quoted. How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? Listen to these other examples of the same promise in Scripture. Proverbs 1.23. Turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you. I will make my words known unto you. Same thing. Isaiah, I will pour water upon him that is thirsty. Floods upon the dry ground. I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, thy children. My blessing upon thine offspring. And then maybe the most detailed of these promises, Ezekiel 36, then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean from all your filthiness, from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you. A new spirit will I put within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh. I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them. Over and over and over. If we came to this service thinking we're just going to hear about a historical fact that happened years ago that can never be repeated, we are sadly mistaken. For time and time again, the Lord says, I will do it. I will do it. Is there any father, boys and girls, like this father? So kind, so generous. Wait upon him. Pray to him. Trust in him. and realize that in order for that Father to pour upon us His Spirit, His Son had to experience the pouring out of His wrath upon Him. In other words, Jesus experienced the wrath of God so that we may receive the Spirit of God. And maybe you're sitting here and thinking, but I have cried. I've cried many times to no avail. Well, cry again. Plead these promises. Put your finger on them. Say, but Lord, never mind what I say. Thou has said. Maybe you have once trusted, but now you're doubting. Let us cast ourselves afresh upon him. Peter, on that memorable day, assured the multitude that Jesus had received this promise, meaning the fulfillment of this promise, and therefore shed forth what happened that day, what they both heard and saw. That leads us to our second thought, the outpouring by the sun. In our text, verse 33, we read, therefore, speaking of Jesus, being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost has shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. So to understand it rightly, the Father promised the Son that He would shed forth the Spirit, that the Son would shed forth the Spirit. And that only makes sense, beloved, because Jesus paid the ultimate price. He paid His very life to guarantee, we could say it another way, to pay for the fulfillment of that promise. And on that day, He received that promise. But now why through Jesus to us? Why do it that way? Because beloved, all blessings from God come to us by means of Jesus. They are all earned by Jesus. I know it can be hard for us to believe a promise of scripture applies to us. Or hard to believe that God would ever love us or favor us because we see how sinful and how unworthy we are. But the reality is we are entirely unworthy unworthy of God's favor, unworthy of God's blessing, and that is why the gospel can be so difficult for us. But it is Jesus and what He did that earns for us God's favor and blessing. Our unworthiness, as awful as it is, does not stand in the way of the Son, nor does it prevent the Holy Spirit from visiting us in mercy. It was Jesus, not the disciples. It was the Son of God, exalted by the Father, who sent to His needy church this gift of His Father, the Holy Spirit. And I underscore needy church. And this promise, beloved, this gift is not exhausted. It is not ended. In Luke 11, Jesus assures us that the Father will still gift this spirit. So it is not the Father's unwillingness to give him that keeps us from receiving this gift. No, it's our sin, our doubt, our unbelief. Will God keep His promise or no? He certainly kept it on Pentecost. Why would He not keep it today? Would Jesus say that about His Father and it not be true? He will give the Spirit to them that ask Him. Does not the father honor the son by keeping his promise to his son? Why would Jesus pour out the spirit? John 15, he spoke of the comforter whom he would send from the father, even a spirit of truth who proceeds from the father. What will that spirit do? He will testify of me. of Jesus. John 14, Jesus said He would pray to the Father, that He would send the Comforter to teach us all things that we need to know, to guide us into all truth. In John 16, Jesus said the Spirit would take the things of Christ and show them unto us. And when Jesus accomplished the work of salvation just a few hours later, he sent the Spirit then, but also today, that we might be born again, that we might be revived again, that we might receive and believe what Jesus Christ has done And then, in an ongoing way, He promises to teach us by the same-scent Spirit. And then in John 17, Jesus prayed that the Spirit glorifies the Son so that the Son would glorify the Father. He also prayed that we would believe that He, the Son, was sent by the Father for our salvation. And on Pentecost, we are called to believe that He sent the Spirit of the Father through the Son in order to glorify God in our hearts. Boys and girls, think of it. Jesus comes out of the hands, as it were, the pierced hands of Jesus to us. We heard just the other night in the installation service how the exalted Jesus sends down gifts of all kinds to his needy church. What greater gift could Jesus give us here on earth than His blessed Holy Spirit. And how we so need Him, don't we? How we so need His work, the work of convicting, the work of rebirth, the work of enlivening the people of God, of revealing to our eyes more and more of the beauty and the glory of Jesus. And think about the original promise which Peter quoted in Joel. I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, sons and daughters, old men and young, servants and handmaidens. That's us. Ordinary people, not just special apostles who had this worldwide missionary work to do. No, sons, daughters, aged, young, all of them. I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. So no matter your gender, no matter your age, no matter your station in life, the promise is to us and to our children and to all who are far off. So the Father's promise was fulfilled, and it will be fulfilled by the sun's outpouring. It will be effectual. It'll happen. It'll work in the lives of ordinary people, just like you are and just like I am. And now, the only thing that remains, and we wait upon the Lord now, don't we? The only thing that remains is the actual outpouring, the accomplishment in our own lives. You might be sitting here this morning thinking, well, I've heard all this already many times. I have prayed. I have besought the Lord. I have tried to trust in his promises. I thought I knew perhaps something of the Lord's work in times past, but singing these altars and hearing this history can feel like sandpaper grating on you. Is it really so today? Boys and girls, Pentecost happened a long time ago. There have been real revivals of God's Spirit here and there, now and then, throughout history. But have any of us experienced for ourselves such an outpouring of the Spirit? Does Pentecost have any relevance at all to Burgessville? And there are times, especially lately, when I am tempted to say no. It has nothing to do with us. Pentecost was important in its day. It was repeated in a measure elsewhere, but here in Burgessville, in our church, no connection. Do you sometimes think that too? That the glory days are past? That decline is inevitable? Are some of us perhaps thinking back with fondness when this church first began? When there was a hunger and thirst for the gospel? when the messages seemed clear and powerful and simple, just like on Pentecost. When lives were being changed. And now? Now it can seem like a distant, faded memory. But let's go back to Pentecost for a moment. What was the scene just prior to Jesus' crucifixion? What was happening just before his resurrection? The disciples were afraid. The disciples were dejected. They were full of doubts and unbelief. It seemed over. Their hopes in this Jesus were dashed. Their Savior, children, was dead. And even after the resurrection, even after Jesus proved himself alive, was it much better? Weren't the disciples still asking Jesus questions like, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? In other words, are you gonna now lead Israel to revolt and cast off the Roman government? Is that what Jesus died for? Is that how little they learned? And what was Jesus' answer? Wait. Wait for what? Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and ye shall be witnesses of me. It would not be Jesus setting up an earthly kingdom to revolt against the Romans. It would be these people, these previously dejected, doubting, despondent, fearful, and spiritually ignorant men who would lead the charge. Does that description sound familiar to anybody? Couldn't that fit us? Ignorant, dejected, despondent, doubting, fearful. But these people would receive power. Power to do what? Power to cast off the Romans? No. They would be witnesses of Jesus. That's it. Witnesses of Jesus. What would that do? To just talk about Jesus? How is that gonna change things? How is that gonna help when the government's corrupt, when the church is oppressed, when everybody's sad, when they can't even name their own high priest? How is being a witness going to help? And yet, witnesses they were. and witnesses they continued to be until the times came when people in foreign lands said, these people have come here who have turned the world upside down. Those people. Those dejected, despondent, thinking it's all over people. Those people. Now, Jesus didn't tell his disciples to pray and supplicate. Children, supplicate means pour out your heart in prayer. He didn't tell them to do that while they waited, but they did. They had Jesus' promise, the Father's promise through Jesus, but it hadn't happened yet. Nothing happened yet. They were told to wait, and they were waiting, and they were praying. They weren't yet filled with the Holy Spirit. Maybe were not either. They were the same people as before, but they waited, and they prayed. So what's our situation, beloved, on this Pentecost morning? doesn't seem to be much evidence of an outpouring of God's Spirit. Not yet. In fact, doesn't it feel like the opposite? But the Father's promise to give His Spirit to those that ask Him is still there. No expiration date on that promise. We may well be discouraged. I am. So were they. We might feel very weak. I do. So did they. We might think it's all over. And so did they. So what are we doing? Just waiting? Maybe not even waiting, but planning our escape from this church to find greener pastures elsewhere? Or are we praying? And are we supplicating for the Father to once again fulfill His promise? For Jesus to send us a genuine revival for the Holy Spirit to work mightily and to visit us in our weakness. Can the Father's promise be trusted? Is Jesus any less interested in being the center of our lives? Is He any less committed to bringing glory to His Father and blessing to His church? Is the Holy Spirit no longer able to visit a place like this? Think of the very word revival. It means to revive. Boys and girls, did you ever see a plant that was just kind of drooping over? It's on its way to being dead. What do you do? What would be the first thing you do? Well, you give it a little water, and every now and then, the plant gets better again. It revives. Many times a plant looks alive again, and is alive again. Is God not interested in reviving his church today, especially when she is weak? But it's the ministers. It's their fault. You know what? It is the ministers. It's both of us. So who will pray and supplicate that we might be revived? Well, it's the consistory. For this or that reason. Fair enough. Perhaps it is. Who will pray and supplicate to revive us? But things never change here. Everything's always the same, steeped in traditions. Perhaps there is a problem. So who will pray and supplicate that we might see what needs to change? Because, beloved, unless you believe, that man can somehow cause Pentecost or revival, then we together had better agree that prayer and supplication is our only hope. If there is any good taking place here, do we not give glory to God for it? then if there's any good lacking here, ought we not to seek His space for it? Beloved, revivals are called revivals because they take place when the church and when society is in a bad way, a sinful, deplorable condition. And do we not need reviving now? How bad does it have to become? Are we content to just point out the weaknesses and mention the faults, and then just leave, thinking that it's going to be better somewhere else, as if somewhere else is experiencing Pentecost? or that someplace else can make it happen. If you have a loved one who is gravely ill, do you abandon them? Do you just leave them? Then why would we do that to our spiritual family? to our church. Beloved, these things must be said, especially on a day like Pentecost. Are we storming the throne of grace? Privately, yes, but publicly with others. Are we seeking God's face? It was Dr. Beeky in this very pulpit this last week mentioning as if it was a given that we come to church every time there's an opportunity to worship the Lord. Whenever the church is open, what are our priorities? Where is our heart? Where are we? I don't think I need to make a case that we need desperately, reviving and renewing. But the question is this. From where will it come? Pentecost, beloved, is calling us The Father's heart of promise is calling us. The Son's outpouring heart is calling us. The Holy Spirit's heart for fulfillment is calling us. And in response to these calls, let us answer God's call by what David once said. When thou said, seek ye my face, My heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord, will I seek. And for our encouragement, our God, our God is so bold as to say to us in Isaiah 45, thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, his maker, ask of me things to come. concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me." The living God says, ask, even command, what you would have me to do for you. Astonishing. Ezekiel 36, thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them. Our God gives us every reason to come to him for help. He is a gracious God. He is a merciful Father. His chastenings are for our good, as painful as they may be. So let us betake ourselves to call upon Him, individually and corporately. He invites us to. He adds promises to encourage us to. And He will not fail us. Oh, come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart, for this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even unto death. Amen.