The Promise of the Father

Acts  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  31:57
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31 May 20
The Promise of the Father
Call to Worship
Today is Pentecost - the day we celebrate the outpouring of God’s Spirit. In Acts 2, we see God’s Spirit descending on the disciples as tongues of fire. But there is a history to Pentecost - it goes all the way back to Moses. In Leviticus 23, Israel was commanded to hold an annual harvest festival 50 days or seven weeks after Passover. Pentecost is also known as the feast of weeks and it was originally an agricultural festival and a time of celebration and thanksgiving.
So why 50 days after Passover? It is believed that it took Israel about seven weeks or 50 days to travel from Egypt to Mount Sinai. And at Mount Sinai we have God's presence descending on the mountain as fire before the nation of Israel. I'm going to read a few verses from Exodus 19, and Acts chapter 2 - listen for the similarities and then we’ll connect these to the message later.
Exodus 19:3–6 ESV
while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
Exodus 19:16–20 ESV
On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
Acts 2:1–4 ESV
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
SERMON
Please open your Bibles to Acts 1; John 14; Deut. 32; Ezekiel 39
As I mentioned, today we celebrate Pentecost and the outpouring of God's Spirit. So, keep in mind what I read earlier and let's again look at Acts 1 and discover what led up to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 1:1–5 ESV
In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
In this passage, we see Jesus giving instructions through the presence and wisdom of the Spirit - which connects us to His baptism about 3 years earlier. Jesus also mentions the promise of the Father - God promised to give the Holy Spirit. There are three things here to pay attention to in which we will cover over the next couple of weeks.
1. The Promise of the Father
2. The Baptism of the Son
3. The Baptism of Believers
Today, we’ll focus on the Promise of the Father. So, what is this promise? What’s the story behind the promise? For that, we need to go back to John 14.
John 14:16–18 ESV
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Get all that? Jesus was with them, but when He leaves, He will send another helper who will be in them. He says, “I will not leave you alone. I will come to you and be in you.” So we have this phenomenal amazing mysterious promise that Jesus will come to His people and indwell His people through the presence of the Holy Spirit. But wait, there's more.
John 14:23 ESV
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
We will dwell with him and abide in him - have relationship and fellowship with him. WE - plural - Trinity - Father, Son and Spirit living in Believers! Is that not crazy!
What a promise! But this promise did not initiate with Jesus. The promise goes back further. Turn to Deut. 32.
As you're turning there, we need a little history lesson to connect some dots. In Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost, in Jerusalem were devout Jews from every nation under heaven. Every nation like people from Australia and South America and …? No. But it is believed that the nations represented in Acts 2 was connected to the dispersion of nations in Deuteronomy 32.
Deuteronomy 32:7–9 ESV
Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.
What does this have to do with the promise of the Father and Pentecost? In short, the nations rejected God as the Most High [Babel]. “We’re not going to worship you.” God said, “Fine! Have it your way. I will disperse you and put you under the authority of my divine council or sons of God.” Sadly, these sons of God also rebelled. This is why we have various religions and why most nations hate Israel. But God kept Israel for himself that through Israel would come the Savior and Redeemer of whom? The nations. Even though they rejected God, God said I'm going to work hard redeem you. Matthew 28 - go into the nations. Acts 1 - you will be my witnesses to the nations. Are you seeing the connection between Deuteronomy 32, the promise of the Father and Pentecost and baptism of the Spirit? But wait - there's more.
Fast forward from Moses to King David. After David, came King Solomon his son. When Solomon died, Israel split into two kingdoms - 10 tribes to the north - kept the name Israel - which became known as Samaria, and 2 tribes to the south - Judah and Benjamin - simply known as Judah. Samaria / Israel was conquered by Assyria in 756 BC and taken into exile. Babylon conquered Judah around 590 BC. So now we have all 12 tribes in exile. Around 530 BC, now under the Persian Empire, the Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. But there was a problem - there was no record of the northern 10 tribes returning. These are known as the lost 10 tribes of Israel. If we don’t have all 12 tribes, we don’t have Israel. And if we don't have Israel, then God is a promise breaker. Now check this out.
Ezekiel 39:28–29 ESV
Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations and then assembled them into their own land. I will leave none of them remaining among the nations anymore. And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”
One more thing before we tie all this together.
Acts 1:8 ESV
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Salvation is first for the Jews and then for the Gentiles. The promise of the Spirit his first for the Jews and then for the Gentiles.
Let’s connect some dots. Deuteronomy 32 - dispersion of the nations - God held on to Israel as His portion to be the priests, to proclaim His love and mercy to the nations - to call the nations back to Yahweh. Through Israel the message of redemption would be proclaimed. But they failed because the rather than bringing back the nations they followed other nations and worshipped other gods and consequently went into exile. But God promised to bring them back to Jerusalem - all of them - and upon them He would pour out His Spirit to once again proclaim redemption.
Now we've got two more dots to connect. Ever wonder why Jesus said, “All authority has been given to me?” After all, isn't he God in the flesh? Doesn't he already have all authority? Yes and no. There's a lot more to this than what we can cover right now, but follow. In Genesis 3 after the serpent led the rebellion and deceived Adam and Eve he became, if you will, the lord of the Sheol or lord of the dead (Isa. 14:15). And who are the dead? Those who sin. Ephesians 2 - you were dead in your trespasses and sins. 1 John says you are either of God or of the devil. So all who rebel against God are under the authority of the lord of the dead. And where is his “kingdom?” Here on earth.
Now we've already read that in Genesis 11 and Deuteronomy 32 that God placed the nations under the authority of the sons of God. And where are they? The heavens - the spiritual realm. So listen to the Great Commission -
Matthew 28:18–19 ESV
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Let's read Acts 1:8 once more.
Acts 1:8 ESV
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
What does all this mean? There are several things, but for today this is the one. Remember we're talking about the Promise of the Father - the baptism The Holy Spirit. So …
Receiving or being baptized in the Holy Spirit is major part of God’s plan to empower His people to go and reclaim the nations. It’s all part of the plan of redemption. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not some odd strange event that's for super spiritual people. It is for all believers in Christ and is essential because we are engaged warfare fighting against a supernatural enemy - and we need supernatural power to do it.
Our mission at Sunnyside is to help people reach their full potential in Christ. That's not about helping people just become better people. It begins with being on mission with God to reclaim a lost world. This is all connected to the Baptism of Jesus and the Baptism of Believers which we’ll cover later.
Let me close with this.
Revelation 12:17 ESV
Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.
We are at war - not against people, but for people. We are at war with a supernatural enemy. We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But how? We'll cover that in the weeks to come, know this, the 3 basic requirements to be filled with the Holy Spirit is to know Christ, consecrate ourselves to Christ and desire to be filled with His SpirIt.
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