1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,000 Our God is present with us, and He speaks to us. 2 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:06,760 Please, please be attentive to the Word of the Lord. 3 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:11,600 When the day of Pentecost arrived, the disciples were all 4 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:14,600 together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven 5 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:18,440 a sound of like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire 6 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:22,400 house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire 7 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:25,840 appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 8 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:29,320 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to 9 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:32,159 speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 10 00:00:32,439 --> 00:00:35,800 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men of 11 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:39,080 every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitudes 12 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:42,720 came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was 13 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:44,880 hearing them speak in their own language. 14 00:00:45,480 --> 00:00:47,760 And they were amazed and astonished, and said, Are not 15 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:51,480 all these speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear each 16 00:00:51,480 --> 00:00:53,440 of us in his own native language? 17 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:57,880 Parthians and Medes, Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, 18 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:03,920 Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus in Asia, Firegra, Pamphylia, Egypt 19 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:07,480 and parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 20 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:11,840 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear 21 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:14,800 them telling in their own tongue, in our own tongue, the 22 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:18,080 mighty works of God. And they were all amazed and 23 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:21,360 perplexed, saying to one another, What does this mean? 24 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:25,920 But others mockingly said, they are filled with new wine. 25 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:29,720 This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. 26 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:32,880 Gracious Father, once again, grant to us an understanding of 27 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:35,320 your word. Transform us with it, shape us 28 00:01:35,320 --> 00:01:38,320 with us, mold us with it. We pray, Christ our Lord, we 29 00:01:38,320 --> 00:01:40,640 ask, Amen. Please be seated. 30 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:44,960 If you would grab your Bibles, turn to Acts Chapter 2, Acts 31 00:01:44,960 --> 00:01:50,200 Chapter 2 as we work through this passage of text together. 32 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:56,680 I am not a super great fan of of of holidays, particularly of 33 00:01:56,680 --> 00:01:59,560 birthdays. I'm not a big celebrant of 34 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:02,400 birthdays. I know that other people are. 35 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:05,160 They get really excited about celebrating a birthday and I 36 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:07,400 appreciate that. I'm just not that way. 37 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:09,680 I'm much more cavalier when it comes to a birthday. 38 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,440 Indifferent if it happens. If it's passed and not even 39 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:16,360 noted, that's fine by me. If you celebrate it, I 40 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:18,920 appreciate that as well. I just don't pay a whole lot of 41 00:02:18,920 --> 00:02:21,960 attention to my own personal birthday. 42 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:25,800 Now, unfortunately, that kind of flows into other areas of my 43 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:29,800 life, and so I tend not to make a big deal out of other people's 44 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:31,920 birthdays as well, including my family's. 45 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:35,120 Some cynics in my family might say that's because I forget 46 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:38,120 those birthdays. I don't know about that, but I 47 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:40,880 don't know because a whole lot upon the birthdays because 48 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:43,640 that's just not something that I get really excited about. 49 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:48,160 I want to contrast that though dramatically with the actual 50 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:51,640 birthday. We celebrate the anniversary of 51 00:02:51,640 --> 00:02:55,480 a birthday, but the birthday is totally different. 52 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:59,520 For me, the birth of my two children was dramatic events in 53 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:03,040 my life. Earth shaking, world rattling 54 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:04,840 events. They shifted my life 55 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:09,240 tremendously, dramatically, only second only, I believe, to my 56 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:12,200 coming to know the Lord and Himself and my conversion to 57 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:14,720 faith. It was the experience of birth 58 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:16,800 of my kids that rattled things around. 59 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:20,760 The actual birthday was incredibly meaningful to me, 60 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:23,760 even though the birthday itself, the celebration of the birthday, 61 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:26,320 sometimes passes me by and I don't pay a whole lot of 62 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:29,680 attention to it. Scholars, churchmen through the 63 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:35,160 ages, common folk who read this text often understand this 64 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:39,040 passage, Acts chapter 2, as the birthday of the church. 65 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:40,840 It is the birthday of the church. 66 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:43,160 It's the day of birth of the church. 67 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:47,200 And within the context of redemptive history, I think we 68 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:49,960 can see that to be true. You've got the life, the death, 69 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:52,880 the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you've got the ascension 70 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:55,960 of Jesus Christ, and it all culminates to some extent in the 71 00:03:55,960 --> 00:03:59,200 birth of the church in this passage in which we just looked 72 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:03,400 at Acts chapter 2. Now, unfortunately for me, when 73 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:06,480 I have read that and I've heard people talk about the birthday 74 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:10,160 of the church, I appreciate it intellectually, I kind of go, 75 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:12,760 that's kind of cute, that's kind of neat to look at this passage 76 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:15,680 and kind of understand it in terms of the birth of the church 77 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,360 and those kind of things. But I think in part because I'm 78 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:23,160 so passe or indifferent to birthdays in general, I haven't 79 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:27,200 taken the time and I haven't spent the focus that I should 80 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:30,040 recognizing, no, no, this is a birth. 81 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:33,080 Just like the birth of my children were earth shattering 82 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:37,280 events for me, this birth of the church should be earth 83 00:04:37,280 --> 00:04:39,920 shattering. This should be a dramatic moment 84 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:43,200 that I spend a lot more time focusing on than what I actually 85 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:45,560 have in the past. So what we're going to do today 86 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:49,720 is we're going to focus upon this event as a birth and so 87 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:52,440 that we can see it. We're truly, I believe, as we 88 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:54,440 are intended to and recognize it as. 89 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:58,080 So if you have your scriptures open for us available again, it 90 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:02,240 begins when the day of Pentecost arrived, verse 1 of chapter 2, 91 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:03,840 when the day of Pentecost arrived. 92 00:05:03,840 --> 00:05:08,000 Pentecost is 50 days or so after the death and the resurrection 93 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:11,120 of Jesus Christ. So 50 days after Christ's death 94 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:13,520 and resurrection. Now you remember for 40 of those 95 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:17,160 days Jesus was walking with his disciples and teaching his 96 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:19,480 disciples as that resurrected Lord. 97 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:22,360 And about 10 days ago they saw Him ascend into heaven. 98 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:25,160 And right before he ascends into heaven, He gives them their 99 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,240 marching orders. That command that is shaping the 100 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:30,920 way in which we understand in the book of Acts as a whole. 101 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:33,400 Really the rest of the narrative story in which we're going to 102 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:37,480 talk about this idea that we are to wait in Jerusalem for the 103 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:41,000 power of the Holy Spirit and then we are to go to Jerusalem, 104 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:42,920 Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. 105 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:46,760 We have brought that forward with a challenge for the 321 you 106 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:50,320 remember the 3213. Pray for three people close and 107 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:55,920 near and dear to your life. 2 institutions or or organizations 108 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:58,680 that are functioning to carry the gospel forward and then one 109 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:00,800 area of the way. OK, so if you've been praying 110 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:02,000 for three people, give me a thumbs up. 111 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:05,360 OK, if you've been praying for two institutions or 112 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:07,240 organizations in the area, give me a thumbs up. 113 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:09,640 OK, if you've been praying for one part of the world, one 114 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:10,960 nation of the world, give me a thumbs up. 115 00:06:11,280 --> 00:06:13,400 All right, thank you. That kind of follows a little 116 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:17,560 bit I think of the pattern of which we are to move forward as 117 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:20,520 we see the Spirit, the church and the world here in the book 118 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:24,040 of Acts. So following that, Christ's 119 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:26,440 ascension into heaven, following that final command to the 120 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:30,160 disciples and Christ's ascension into heaven, now you've got a 10 121 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:34,400 day period, that 10 day gap between the ascension and when 122 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:37,160 this moment of Pentecost arrives, When the day of 123 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:41,400 Pentecost arrives, Pentecost was a famous feast in the Jewish 124 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:43,680 calendar system. It was one of the three main 125 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:47,600 feasts where everybody from all the world was to come if they 126 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:49,880 could get to Jerusalem and celebrate together. 127 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:52,920 And it was marked particularly by the notion of harvest. 128 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:55,840 It was an, it was an agricultural feast. 129 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:59,120 It was a, hey, let's celebrate the fact that God has provided 130 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:02,840 us the food that we need to eat. And so it's a harvest kind of a, 131 00:07:02,840 --> 00:07:06,160 of a celebration. And of course, that fits 132 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:10,120 perfectly with the events of Chapter 2 of Acts, a harvest of 133 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:12,640 sort, which we will look at today a little bit, but 134 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:16,360 primarily next week together. When the day of Pentecost 135 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:18,800 arrived, they were all together in one place. 136 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:22,320 The day is is nebulous in this passage. 137 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:25,400 If you go back to the previous text right before that, it's 138 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:29,000 pretty clear that it's 120 of Christ's nearest and dearest 139 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:33,040 followers, obviously his disciples, and then 120 or 100 140 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:35,400 other folks that were also gathered together. 141 00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:37,640 So you've got a large grouping together. 142 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:41,080 They're gathered together in one place, maybe in the temple. 143 00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:43,720 We've already been told in Acts chapter one that they spent a 144 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:47,600 lot of time in the temple. That would have fit to have 120 145 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:49,720 people together. Could have been the upper room 146 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:52,360 where they celebrated the Last Supper. 147 00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:55,000 All the disciples are together in one place. 148 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:58,360 Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like the mighty rushing 149 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:01,480 wind that filled the entire house where they were sitting 150 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:04,760 and divided. Tongues of fire appeared to them 151 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:09,840 and rested on each one of them. Now, for a Jewish reader of the 152 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:14,040 Scriptures, that brings back a crucial memory. 153 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:17,080 I hope that you're able to grab it a little bit. 154 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:20,160 If you read the Old Testament very frequently, you are going 155 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:22,400 to see the notion of rushing wind. 156 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:25,560 The power of wind is representative of the power of 157 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:27,960 God. When God appears, he most 158 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:30,720 frequently appears with a sound of the rushing wind. 159 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:34,559 It is just characteristic of the Old Testament, but specifically 160 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:38,320 one moment in Israel's history where the power of rushing wind 161 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:44,000 and is most evident equally the power of fire is recognizing 162 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:48,080 divine fires, recognizes that holiness, the the righteousness, 163 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:52,120 the justice of our God. It carries A moral quality of 164 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:54,320 God. And it shows up one particular 165 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:57,560 place as well with the sound of rushing wind and the power of 166 00:08:57,560 --> 00:08:59,480 the fire. And this of course was Mount 167 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:02,800 Sinai. At Mount Sinai, the culmination 168 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:06,840 of the Exodus experience, where the Israelites were let out of 169 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:10,720 Egypt and then they were brought to Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai 170 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:12,880 they meet with God. And on the top of the mountain 171 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:15,480 you have the wind that is rushing, you have the cloud that 172 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:18,480 represents the glory of our Lord, and you have the fire that 173 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:21,440 is present there representing His goodness and His Holiness. 174 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:25,320 And in all intents and purposes, it serves as a birth of the 175 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:28,480 Israelite people, the birth of the Israelite nation right 176 00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:31,920 there, the culmination of Exodus into that birth narrative. 177 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:35,920 And the Israelites saw that and recognize that as their 178 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:39,640 birthing, that everything before that kind of leads up to that 179 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:43,760 culminating spot at Mount Sinai where the fire of God in the 180 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:47,080 presence of God through the wind of the Lord and the Shekinah 181 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:49,520 glory is present. And here you have the birth of 182 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:53,560 the Israelite nation. Very intentionally, God is 183 00:09:53,560 --> 00:09:57,960 repeating that event, and Luke tells us that event in such a 184 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:00,280 way that we can see that being repeated. 185 00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:04,000 Just like in the Old Testament, you had the fire of God's 186 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:06,360 presence in the wind of God's power present. 187 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:10,080 So here in the upper room or in the temple, wherever the 188 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:13,640 Israelite, the disciples are gathered, you have this power 189 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:17,520 that is arising again and the presence of God being here, 190 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:21,800 forcing us to think here, we're having a new moment, a new, a 191 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:25,560 new birth of a new group of people, a new following of the 192 00:10:25,560 --> 00:10:28,280 Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, we're talking here 193 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:31,680 about the church. Divided tongues fell around 194 00:10:31,680 --> 00:10:34,160 them, rested on each one of them, and they were filled with 195 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:36,760 the Holy Spirit. We have a definition here, a 196 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:39,960 description of what happened, an explanation of what happened. 197 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:42,920 The author explains to us what's what is these tongues? 198 00:10:43,080 --> 00:10:44,920 What is this wind that is rushing here? 199 00:10:45,080 --> 00:10:46,760 It is the presence of God himself. 200 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:50,240 The Holy Spirit fills them and they begin to speak in other 201 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:52,040 tongues as the Spirit gives them utterance. 202 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:55,000 Now, there's some question about what that might look like, but I 203 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:58,320 think it's clarified very much so in what follows, because 204 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:00,920 there have been all these Jews that are dwelling in Jerusalem 205 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:02,640 from all the way around the world. 206 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:05,320 And of course, the way that it's described here is all over the 207 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:07,120 world. I think that's a bit of 208 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:09,120 hyperbole. I don't think there were any 209 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:11,920 Native Americans there or Aborigines or anything like 210 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:14,000 that. But rather what you have here is 211 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:17,680 throughout the known Roman world, representing the entire 212 00:11:17,680 --> 00:11:19,520 world. You've got these different 15 213 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:21,200 different areas that are mentioned. 214 00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:25,000 And if you take the time and line it up with chapter 10 in 215 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:28,760 Genesis, the table of nations, if you don't know that text, 216 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:30,480 look it up. You'll, you'll see it a little 217 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:32,360 bit. You can tell that the author is 218 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:35,480 going through saying here and here and here and here, put a 219 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:38,200 map and you can see that you're covering the entire world, 220 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:42,480 giving a picture of the entire known world is all present in 221 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:44,400 Jerusalem in one form or another. 222 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:48,200 And all these people speaking different languages all come to 223 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:51,720 Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover together, the feast of 224 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:55,320 the Passover together. And instead what they witness is 225 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:59,520 people speaking clearly not of their people group, nevertheless 226 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:02,720 speaking their language. You've got people that are being 227 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:05,600 able to talk with them about, and what do we tell? 228 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:09,360 What do they speak of? Look down in verse 20. 229 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:14,400 Look down in verse 11. They are Speaking of the mighty 230 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:17,320 works of God. They're telling the gospel of 231 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:20,920 Jesus Christ in there in languages where everybody can 232 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:24,400 hear, and you have this marvelous birth now of the 233 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:29,640 church and the power of the Holy Spirit on day one is not the 234 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:32,160 miracles. It's not shooting repulsive rays 235 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:34,360 out of your hand. It's not judging or passing 236 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:37,720 judgment upon the God. It's not a witness to the Lord's 237 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:41,080 power. It is a witness to the gospel 238 00:12:41,920 --> 00:12:44,560 being spread throughout the world, the redemptive work of 239 00:12:44,560 --> 00:12:47,440 Jesus Christ. That's the power of the Holy 240 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:50,960 Spirit that Jesus has anticipated that Jesus told the 241 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:55,040 disciples to wait for, wait for the power of the Holy Spirit so 242 00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:57,880 that it does now. Will there be healings? 243 00:12:58,040 --> 00:12:59,600 Will there be mighty acts of God? 244 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:02,080 Of course there will be, all through the power of the Holy 245 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:03,880 Spirit. But here, on day one of the 246 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:07,520 birth of the Church, it is witnessed through this 247 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:12,440 expression of the gospel crossing called cross cultural 248 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:14,920 boundaries going throughout the whole world. 249 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:19,680 Now the meaning of this, the power of this comes when we take 250 00:13:19,680 --> 00:13:23,120 a step back and set it within the context of what any birth 251 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:27,240 has to be, set in context with the whole narrative of a life. 252 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:30,640 And here we have the narrative of redemptive history as a 253 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:33,320 whole. One of the most devastating 254 00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:38,080 consequences of the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden 255 00:13:38,680 --> 00:13:41,680 was the curse that was that came upon them. 256 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:44,840 And you see, the curse worked out, of course, most powerfully, 257 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:49,240 most negatively in the presence of evil and of the presence of 258 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:53,440 death that comes upon the people because of their fall in the 259 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:56,960 Garden of Eden. But also you had the suffering 260 00:13:56,960 --> 00:14:00,800 that was presence. You have the rejection of the 261 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:03,240 relationship that existed between Adam and Eve. 262 00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:07,200 You had the the conflict that exists in between God and man. 263 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:11,200 You have the problem that Adam struggles then in his work that 264 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:15,680 there's a rejection between the ground itself, creation, and the 265 00:14:15,680 --> 00:14:17,320 human being. You have all of these 266 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:22,520 experiences of the curse that takes place, and yet it comes to 267 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:25,640 its fruition at the very end of that chapter, chapter 3 of 268 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:32,160 Genesis, where God banishes Adam and Eve from the garden. 269 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:37,960 This is seen as a culmination, as a high point of the curse of 270 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:40,760 God, because what happens, they're being banished from this 271 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:43,400 beautiful, wonderful place. The Garden of Eden is this 272 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:46,400 glorious magic, majestic wonder wonder spot. 273 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:49,600 It is paradise itself, and yet they are kicked out of it. 274 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:53,200 But what made it paradise? It was not the beauty of the 275 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:56,280 trees, was not the innocence of the creation. 276 00:14:56,440 --> 00:14:58,880 It wasn't the perfection of all that was around them. 277 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:02,240 What made it beautiful and perfect was that's where God 278 00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:04,880 was. The Garden of Eden was the 279 00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:09,000 temple whereby God would meet with His people, and by being 280 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:14,160 banished from God's presence, the people were separated in a 281 00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:18,120 very tangible way from the Lord. Now so much of the Old Testament 282 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:22,160 is God's promise and way of working itself out to solve this 283 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:26,360 problem. Hence the birth of the church. 284 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:33,840 And in the birth of the church we see now the fire settling 285 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:37,680 upon God's people, God's presence coming here once again 286 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:40,600 to surround his people. By the way, I think that we get 287 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:43,760 confused a little bit sometimes with God's omniscience or, 288 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:46,960 sorry, God's omnipresence. God is present everywhere. 289 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:49,280 That is part of what it means for God to be God. 290 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:51,040 God is always here. God is always. 291 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:55,280 But when the church identifies this birth narrative as 292 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:58,760 something special, what we're identifying is that the Holy 293 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:02,560 Spirit himself now no longer just as present everywhere, 294 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:08,400 etcetera, but rather the God now dwells within his people in a 295 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:12,160 way that did not happen before, in a way that separates us from 296 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:14,640 the Old Testament, believers from the Old Testament. 297 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:18,200 There is now an indwelling of God himself with his people. 298 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:23,200 Every believer in this room is filled with the Holy Spirit in a 299 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:26,840 way that was not present before. You were a follower of Christ. 300 00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:30,520 Now for many of us, we can't distinguish a difference between 301 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:32,840 one life and another. But that doesn't mean that 302 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:35,880 there's not this massive difference that the birth of the 303 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:38,640 church has brought about. That massive difference being 304 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:41,560 the fact that God himself dwells within us. 305 00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:45,320 It is to our shame if we are unable to tell the difference 306 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:49,960 between a life that is where God is present and one where he is 307 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:52,360 not. It is to our great shame. 308 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:58,600 So out of their arrogance and their pride, the people gather 309 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:01,920 together at the plain of Shinar. And, and I don't mean an 310 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:05,200 aeroplane, I mean a geographic plane, a flat, a flat area, a 311 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:07,599 flat area. So all the, all the people, out 312 00:17:07,599 --> 00:17:10,880 of their arrogance, their pride, with their confidence in their 313 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:14,240 self determination and their self-confidence, they gather 314 00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:17,920 together at the plain of Shinar and they want to demonstrate 315 00:17:18,319 --> 00:17:21,480 their independence from God. They want to demonstrate their 316 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:23,440 authority over all the world around them. 317 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:27,400 And so they build a tower, they build the Tower of Babel, and 318 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:30,000 there they exert themselves and they say, see, we are 319 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:34,000 independent, we are on our own, and there are no consequences of 320 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:38,160 our sin. And God comes down and says, no, 321 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:40,120 there were consequences of our sin. 322 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:43,320 Our sin is that which separates us and causes us to be 323 00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:46,640 problematic with one another, to be at odds with one another. 324 00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:50,320 The conflict that exists here is parallel to the conflict that 325 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:54,120 exists between US and God. And so the Lord confuses our 326 00:17:54,120 --> 00:17:56,960 languages, confuses the languages of the people who 327 00:17:56,960 --> 00:18:01,240 gathered at the plain of Shinar, turns the land which would have 328 00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:05,040 been full of people asserting their self-confidence and their 329 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:08,800 self power, now suddenly are unable to speak with each other. 330 00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:12,200 And the devastation that is wrought about by their sin, now 331 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:15,920 comes the consequences of that comes full bore upon them, and 332 00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:19,000 they are consequently scattered among all the people of the 333 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:21,680 earth. And then you have the birth of 334 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:26,080 the Church, and in the birth of the Church, which follows, of 335 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:29,960 course, Christ's death and resurrection, the redemption of 336 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,520 our souls, the consequences of all of our sin falling upon 337 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:36,080 Jesus Christ. Now suddenly the consequences of 338 00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:38,200 sin no longer fall upon the Church. 339 00:18:38,360 --> 00:18:41,240 And you see people who come scattered from all these 340 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:44,080 different nations, 15 different languages are listed here, 341 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:47,360 nevertheless are able to come together and be united. 342 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:50,720 How? By the gospel of Jesus Christ, 343 00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:53,280 through the mighty acts of God. What mighty acts are we talking 344 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:54,760 about? Of course, they could be talking 345 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:57,000 about creation. They could be talking about the 346 00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:58,120 flood. They could be no, they're 347 00:18:58,120 --> 00:19:00,440 talking about the work of Jesus Christ. 348 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:02,800 They're talking about the redemption that is ours in Jesus 349 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:05,440 Christ that has removed the consequences of sin. 350 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:09,240 And you can tell that because suddenly now the curse, the, the 351 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:12,920 manifestation of the curse of Babel, the fact that we have all 352 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:16,120 these different languages is overcome in this marvelous way. 353 00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:18,240 God didn't suddenly make everybody speak the same 354 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:21,960 language, but He made them able to understand powerfully the 355 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:26,080 same gospel message so that the curse is no longer with us. 356 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:30,720 The fact that so many of us live still to this day under the 357 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:34,680 bearing of the curse of our Lord, of the of the curse of our 358 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:38,440 sin, that is shameful to us, for we have been forgiven. 359 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,720 And the evidence of that, the manifestation evidence of that 360 00:19:41,880 --> 00:19:46,000 is in the power of the church to cross cultural boundaries, that 361 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,640 there is no limitation to the gospel message as it spreads 362 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:52,680 throughout this world. That's the power of the church. 363 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:56,840 Four years later, the Israelites are wandering through the 364 00:19:56,840 --> 00:19:58,640 wilderness, 40 years of wandering through the 365 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:00,200 wilderness. And while they're wandering 366 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:02,240 through the wilderness, they're being led by Moses. 367 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:05,560 And Moses is the one who has the ear of the Lord. 368 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:08,160 He's the one whom God is speaking through and 369 00:20:08,360 --> 00:20:11,040 communicating with. And so you've got 2 million 370 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:13,000 Israelites, 2 million Israelites wandering through the 371 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:15,120 wilderness. You can imagine how often they 372 00:20:15,120 --> 00:20:18,680 had troubles and problems with each other and needed guidance. 373 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:21,680 They needed wisdom, they needed to hear from the Lord. 374 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:23,960 And so they would go to Moses consistently. 375 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:27,520 Moses in the morning would set up a chair and people would line 376 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:30,120 up to speak with him because they needed guidance from the 377 00:20:30,120 --> 00:20:32,440 Lord. And Jethro, Moses's 378 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:35,560 father-in-law, sees this happening and says, MO, that's 379 00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:38,960 not he called him MO MO, that's not good. 380 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:42,880 You can't do it like this. Gather together the elders of 381 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:48,320 Israel and give them the ability as well to speak the power and 382 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:51,400 the authority of God. Give them the ability to live 383 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:53,920 righteous lives. Give them the ability as well to 384 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:57,520 live holy in their sight. And so Moses gathers 6 people 385 00:20:57,520 --> 00:21:01,320 from each tribe. So 172 people, sorry, 72 elders. 386 00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:05,200 He gathers the 72 elders together, 70 of them show up, 387 00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:07,560 and the power of the Holy Spirit falls upon them. 388 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:09,920 And suddenly now they too are able to witness. 389 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:11,560 This is what a godly life looks like. 390 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:13,160 This is what holiness looks like. 391 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:16,440 This is what righteousness this looks like, and the 70 people go 392 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:19,280 into God's people and help lead them and take some of the weight 393 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:21,880 off Moses's shoulders. But two guys weren't able to 394 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:23,560 make it. There was a traffic jam of 395 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:25,960 camels or something. Two guys weren't able to make it 396 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:29,600 to the meeting, but the Holy Spirit fell upon them as well. 397 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:33,280 And they too were able to speak of the holiness and the 398 00:21:33,280 --> 00:21:35,720 righteousness of God. And people looked at them and 399 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:37,440 said, hey, you guys weren't at the meeting. 400 00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:39,040 You didn't get the secret handshake. 401 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:41,720 You're not allowed to do that. And they go to Moses. 402 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:43,800 And Moses says, what, are you kidding me? 403 00:21:44,120 --> 00:21:49,600 Wouldn't it be great if everybody, everybody was blessed 404 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:54,040 by the power of the Holy Spirit? Enter the birth of the church, 405 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:59,080 and at the birth of the church, we are told very clearly that 406 00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:04,360 the power of the Holy Spirit fell upon each and every one of 407 00:22:04,360 --> 00:22:09,160 them, all of them together, and each and every one of them. 408 00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:13,760 This blessing of the power of the Spirit, this ability to live 409 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:17,720 a holy life, this ability to witness wisely, this ability to 410 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:21,280 discern what is good and what is right, this is something that 411 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:24,320 God has blessed every Christian in this room with. 412 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:27,240 Now, do we need to learn from each other? 413 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:28,720 Do we need to grow with each other? 414 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:30,760 Of course we do. All that is true. 415 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:35,040 But it is also true that the very power of God himself 416 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:37,320 indwells every believer in this room. 417 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:41,680 You can live a righteous life. You can live a godly life. 418 00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:44,320 Why? Because God's power is within 419 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:46,000 you. You are the fulfillment of that 420 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:49,400 desire that Moses had. Oh, wouldn't it be great if 421 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:53,400 everybody knew the power and the blessings of our Lord Jesus 422 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:58,640 Christ? Centuries later, the Israelites 423 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:04,840 in Judea were failing massively to honor and please their Lord. 424 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:08,200 They were chasing after idols. They were rejecting God as their 425 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:11,120 leader and their and their guide and king. 426 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:14,520 They turned their back upon the Lord and as a consequence they 427 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:18,320 are facing annihilation by the nations around them. 428 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:21,560 The nations around them had gathered the armies and had 429 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:24,680 surrounded the people of Judah and were threatening them with 430 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:26,960 with with elimination as a whole. 431 00:23:27,120 --> 00:23:31,120 And the godly people went to the prophet Joel and said, Joel, is 432 00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:35,080 this it it are are we done now? Are the people of Israel about 433 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:37,720 to be eliminated? Are the promises of God no 434 00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:41,080 longer true? And Joel says, let me tell you 435 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:45,880 about a vision of the future. Let me tell you about the power 436 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:48,800 of God's blessings. Let me tell you about what it 437 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:53,080 means to live in the last days, the last days, the days where 438 00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:56,640 the whole world is turned from here, this broken world, into 439 00:23:56,640 --> 00:24:00,200 the world which is ahead for us. And when the last days come, 440 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:03,280 we're going to see the beauty and the power and the majesty of 441 00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:05,120 our God. We're going to see the blessings 442 00:24:05,120 --> 00:24:08,360 that the Lord pours out upon us consistently and totally in 443 00:24:08,360 --> 00:24:12,120 those last days will be the beauty and the gloriness of 444 00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:14,640 everything that is hoped for and anticipated. 445 00:24:17,120 --> 00:24:21,320 Enter the birth of the church and at the birth of the church 446 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:27,680 we have the power of Lord Jesus Christ coming and witnessing to 447 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:30,000 the last days, that the last days are here. 448 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:34,160 Now that the world has turned, that really what was in the Old 449 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:37,320 Testament is no longer so now in the New Testament, in the New 450 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:41,360 Testament era, that the world in its brokenness and in its 451 00:24:41,360 --> 00:24:45,920 fallenness, in its commitment to Satan, in his evil, is no longer 452 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:49,080 have bearing upon the church and the people of God because the 453 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:53,160 people of God now represent that in breaking into this world, the 454 00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:57,360 dawning of a new era. Yes, it's not fully day yet, but 455 00:24:57,360 --> 00:24:59,040 the dawn has come and it is creeping. 456 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:03,240 And we, the church now are living that renewed life, a new 457 00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:06,160 world and in the new age that is yet to come. 458 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:08,040 Yes, we're still living in the old age. 459 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:11,640 Yes, we still suffer this, the trials of the old age, but we 460 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:14,920 are representing and we are living that new age of a new 461 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:17,040 people that God has called into existence. 462 00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:19,400 Existence. Something new has happened with 463 00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:22,000 the birth of the Church. Something radically new has 464 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:25,560 happened. And it is to our shame that way 465 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:30,200 too many of us continue to live as though we are part of the old 466 00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:34,840 order, the old world. It is the birth of the Church 467 00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:37,720 that represents that culmination, everything that 468 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:41,680 Jesus has done upon the cross, everything that Christ has 469 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:44,840 enabled for us to do and to live our lives. 470 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:48,280 It is because of the birth of the church that we get to 471 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:52,360 experience what the very presence of God, the very 472 00:25:52,360 --> 00:25:57,040 presence of God, the ability to discern and to do that which is 473 00:25:57,040 --> 00:26:04,040 right and pleasing in His sight. A new life that is able to cross 474 00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:07,560 boundaries with the gospel message of Jesus Christ. 475 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:12,720 And we are now living in the new era, the last days of our Lord 476 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:17,280 Jesus Christ. A new world is before us and 477 00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:19,480 it's before us because of the birth of the Christ. 478 00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:22,960 I'm sorry, the birth of the church and the birth of the 479 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:27,160 church is possible because we have the table of the Lord.