What Is Coming Out Of Your Lips? Part 1 (AM Sermon Notes)
GIST: God’s Word unites a broken world, and it’s meant to be heard by everyone, so live in such a way that people notice God in your life, and use your lips to speak His Word!
SCRIPTURE: Acts 2:1-15, 21
This morning we’re coming to Acts 2. If you’ve been around church long, you’re probably familiar with this passage. The end is often cited in conversations about what church-life should be like since this could be considered the earliest recording of Church (big “C”) activity after the ascension of Jesus. In fact, in verse 41 we read that 3,000 people were saved on this day! That’s incredible! We’ll get to that portion soon enough, but this morning we’re going to focus in on what led up to this.
These events take place on Pentecost which is one of the three major Jewish feast celebrations (the other two being Passover and the Feast of Booths). It was a harvest celebration that took place about 50 days after Passover and drew huge crowds to Jerusalem. Jesus was crucified during Passover, then rose again and taught the disciples for 40 days, then ascended into Heaven. That means this all took place somewhere between a week to ten days after His ascension. Let’s start by looking at those first 16 verses, and I’ll throw in verse 21 for good measure, as well☺️.
“1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians--we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God." 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" 13 But others mocking said, "They are filled with new wine." 14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: ... 21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
I wanted to include verse 21 in our reading this morning even though it technically falls in the passage we’re addressing tonight, because it’s an awesome summary of this opening passage. If you don’t hear anything else I say, please remember this, this passage and our lives are all about the world coming to know Jesus!
Since speaking seems to be the theme of these verses, I do want to focus on that this morning and look at why, how, and what they are speaking. Then, we’ll take some applications for ourselves, which is our gist: God’s Word unites a broken world, and it’s meant to be heard by everyone, so live in such a way that people notice God in your life, and use your lips to speak His Word! (Yeah, we went from a three word gist last week to a four-clauser...☺️.)
I. WHY ARE THEY SPEAKING? (1-4)
This Is Holy Spirit Empowerment. For the last two weeks, we’ve been talking about the Holy Spirit empowering believers to serve God. Therefore, I know I’m running the risk of sounding redundant here. Nonetheless, we so desperately need to remember this. We’re not facing this life in our own strength! I live in the same world you do and am bombarded by the same messages. Self-empowerment is everywhere. And while I wholeheartedly believe we should live life confidently, that confidence needs to come from our identity in Jesus Christ, not because of any personal abilities. Maybe you don’t struggle with this, but I know I do, and I see so many of my students at school crumble because they’re trying so hard to conquer this world on their own...and they can’t. They’re tired and defeated. But God’s Word tells us that we are “...conquerors through Him who loved us" (Romans 8:37, emphasis added). We’re not conquerors through ourselves, but through Him! Just a verse before that Paul points out that, for Jesus’ sake we are "36... being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered” (Romans 8:36). It is in that context, we’re told that we are more than conquerors through Him, “38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)! Amen!
Therefore, I think it’s worth pointing out, even at the risk of redundancy, that this is the product of Holy Spirit empowerment! And this passage is clear about this being the Holy Spirit. We’re given two pictures here. Luke describes something like wind and something like fire. Keep in mind, he’s just using human words to best express what was happening. This was not wind and fire, but the Holy Spirit moving. Remember in John 3 when Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, and He says the Holy Spirit moves like the wind: you don’t see Him, but you see what He’s done? (John 3:7-8). We have a picture of that here. They couldn’t see anything, but heard something like a rushing wind coming from Heaven and surrounding them.
Then, they have something like tongues of fire rest on them resulting in the miraculous proclaiming of the Gospel (which we’re coming to shortly☺). This points to God’s movement, too! Throughout Scripture, fire is used to describe God’s purifying presence. Think about the burning bush, or the fire that consumes Elijah’s offering when he’s standing up against the prophets of Baal, or the fire that came down on Mount Sinai before giving the 10 commandments (Exodus 19). We have the same picture here: an amazing display of God’s powerful purifying presence!
So, this is the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. We also see→
This Is A Specific Equipping. Now, don’t misunderstand me here. The Holy Spirit works in the lives of every believer. We are all empowered by Him as we go out to share the Gospel with the world. However, this is also a specific fulfillment of a promise made to the apostles in John 16:13-15, “13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” Have you ever wondered how the apostles went from missing the point so often, even up until the very day of Jesus’ ascension, to being bold proclaimers of the truth and to being used by God to pen the New Testament? Here’s your answer. The Holy Spirit specifically equipped them and made everything finally click! Praise the Lord, for it is through this equipping that we have the gift of God’s trustworthy and inerrant Word!
So, they are speaking empowered by the Holy Spirit and specifically equipped to proclaim the Truth. So→
II. HOW ARE THEY SPEAKING? (4-11)
All Languages Points To All People! Again, if you’ve been around church long, you will also know that this passage can sometimes be a point of contention, as well meaning people debate the implications of the disciples speaking in tongues here. I would be more than willing to sit down with any of you afterwards and discuss the finer points of those implications if what I say here is not sufficient. However, let me just make these two quick observations.
1. This is not a universal proof of salvation. While this sign is used to point a multitude to the salvation of Jesus, this same sign will not accompany all salvations. There are just a few similar instances in the New Testament of it being used to confirm that the Gospel is being spread to parts of the world that, honestly, most Jewish believers would not have thought possible. However, speaking in tongues like this does not accompany all salvations in the New Testament, nor will it today.
Now, I only take time to point this out because majoring on this issue can often lead to missing the real purpose of this sign. This is not a universal proof of salvation. However→
2. This is a sign of God’s salvation extending to the entire world! There is a reason the masses were spelled out for us here. These groups represented all the major areas where Jewish people were dispersed at this time, and what we’re given is a sort of anti-tower-of-Babel. In Genesis, we’re told that people came together to build the Tower of Babel because of their sin. They wanted to show off their strength, their power, and build a tower that reach even up to Heaven. They wanted to be “on level” with God. Therefore, God punishes them, puts an end to this nonsense, and causes them all to speak different languages, so they can no longer understand each other, causing the building project to cease. Here, we have the opposite. God unites the people by using the disciples to speak to each of their heart languages with the message of salvation. Sin divides. God unites...because we were made to be with Him...together!
So rather than pointing to a specific proof of salvation, this is pointing to the fact that salvation is for ALL nations. This rings back to the commission we addressed last week and reminds us this message isn’t just for people “like us”. Oh, please let that sink into our hearts! The Gospel is meant to be heard by EVERYBODY!
So, they are speaking empowered by the Holy Spirit and specifically equipped to proclaim the Truth, and this points to a message which is meant to be heard universally! So→
III. What Are They Speaking? (11-15, 21-24)
They Are Proclaiming The Mighty Works of God (11). What did these people hear in their own heart languages? Well, verse 11 tells us, “11b...we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God." The disciples weren’t crafting clever motivational-speeches. They were proclaiming all that God had done! Central to this? →
They Are Sharing Jesus’ Gospel (21-24)! Look at verses 12-13, “12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" 13 But others mocking said, "They are filled with new wine." People were perplex, and some were immediately skeptical. Nonetheless, Peter stands up. The one who had so often gotten it wrong. The one who just two months ago had denied Christ. This Peter stands up empowered by the Holy Spirit and proclaims these words. “14 ..."Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.” He knows they’re skeptical, so he makes a joke about it. But the message He’s calling them to hear is no joke. We’ll be looking at his sermon more in the next two services, but let’s just read verses 21-24 before we close this morning, “21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.' 22 "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know-- 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.”
They proclaimed the Gospel because people need to hear the glorious Truth of Jesus. I love Alistair Begg’s observation on this, “Our motivation for evangelism isn’t guilt, but God’s glory, His worthiness!” They didn’t go out proclaiming because they felt some kind of unwanted obligation, but rather because “12… there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12)!
TAKEAWAYS
1. God’s Word unites a broken world.
-He is the way. This world is hurting, and the only answer is Jesus. Sin divides us. In fact, it tears us apart. Just yesterday, Jedidiah was talking to me about time-travel (it’s something we do ☺️), and he said if he could go back in time and change just one thing, he would go back to the Garden of Eden. Now, we know this was part of God’s plan, but he hit the nail on the head. You want to fix the world’s problems, destroy sin. And that is precisely what Jesus died and rose to do!
2. And...it’s meant to be heard by everyone.
-Go to everyone. Not just the people you would like to share the Gospel with, or the ones that are easy to approach, or the...white middle-class protestants.
-Speak their language. This requires actually getting to know them. Be aware of the culture in which they live and the baggage they carry with them. Know their hearts, so you can speak the universal, life-changing truth of JESUS to them.
3. So... live in such a way that people notice God in your life.
-Pentecost is unrepeatable, but God’s movement in your life should still be evident!
4. And→ use your lips to speak His Word!
-Disbelief doesn’t dull His sword! (Begg) His Word still speaks and is still sharp and still cuts to the heart, even if people stop believing in it! God is not a fairy. He is the almighty creator of the universe!
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