So I'm going to read from Acts 1, verse 8, and
then I'm going to jump over to Acts 2 and start
reading in verse 1. So Acts 1, verse 8 reads,
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses
both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria
and even to the remotest parts. part of the earth.
Starting in chapter 2, verse 1. When the day
of Pentecost had come, they were all together
in one place. And suddenly, there came from heaven
a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled
the whole house where they were sitting. And
there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing
themselves, and they rested on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak with other tongues as the
Spirit was giving them utterance. Now there were
Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every
nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred,
The crowd came together and were bewildered because
each of them was hearing them speak in his own
language. They were amazed and astonished, saying,
Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans?
And how is it that we each hear them in our own
language to which we were born? Parthians and
Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia,
Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia
and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya,
around Cyrene and visitors from Rome, both Jews
and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them
in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds
of God. And they all continued in amazement and
great perplexity, saying to one another, what
does this mean? But others were mocking and saying,
they're full of sweet wine. Let's pray. Father,
I come before you and I thank you so much for
your word. I thank you for what we've been instructed
in already in this service. Father, I thank you
for the work that Christ has accomplished. Lord,
I thank you that before the world came into existence,
before foundations were set, you delighted in
the Son, as Proverbs taught us today, that he
delights in the sons of men. Lord, I ask and
I pray that that reality would sink in. Lord,
I thank you for what we learned in our catechism,
that the Spirit of God... imparts and gives to
us freely faith by which we believe and by which
we are justified. It's not faith which we muster
up, it is faith which is given from outside of
ourselves so that we can be justified by our
righteousness which is outside of ourselves,
which is from Christ. Father, I ask and I pray
today that your power would go forth and work
in our hearts and our minds in a supernatural
way in our souls and in our lives. I ask that
your spirit would be present and bless the reading
and the preaching of your word and the hearing
of your word this morning. In Jesus' name I pray,
amen. So in coming to this text, in coming to
Acts chapter 1, We see that Jesus gives this
promise that the Spirit of God was going to come
and that they were to wait for the Spirit. They
were to wait for the promise. So coming up to
chapter 2 through chapter 1, we really see this
leading up to the Spirit coming. We see that
Jesus makes the promise that He says that the
Spirit's going to come and give you power and
you're going to be witnesses. We see that Christ
goes so that the Spirit can be sent. In His absence,
His physical absence, we see the disciples and
the apostles being obedient and going to the
city and waiting for the arrival of the Spirit
of God. We see them making preparations leading
up to the arrival of the Spirit of God and reorganizing
the apostles and preparing the Twelve, the foundation
of the church. And then we see the day of Pentecost
arrive and we see great power. And we see the
presence of God upon these people. I want to
ask you a few questions. When you think of the
church today as a whole, in our area... and nationally
and universally, when you think of the church
as a whole, as a majority, what are some defining
characteristics that come to your mind? I mean,
we probably think of buildings, big buildings.
We probably think of flashy, cool communicators.
We probably think of hip teachers. fancy churches.
We probably think of entertainment to an extent.
When we consider church as a whole and we think
of the big churches and evangelicalism today,
when we think of celebrity pastors in the world
today, we probably think of entertainment to
an extent. We think of emotional driven services.
We think of comfort. We think of All these different
things. We think of big churches and we think
of the church as a whole. We think of outreaches.
We think of really nifty, really nifty sermon
titles and sermon series titles. We think of
also, we think of little churches, many of which
I've been a part of and I've pastored. Little
churches who seemingly are on the brink. Of extinction.
I mean, they're on the edge. They're just holding
their doors open. They're there. They exist.
They don't seem to reach out much. They're there.
We think of that. What do those churches need?
What does the church as a whole and the big churches
in evangelicalism, what do they need? What comes
to your mind? Let me ask you this. Is what comes
to your mind when you think of church today,
in our area, and as a whole, power? Do you think
of power when you think of the church? The little
church that is about to die, it needs the presence
of God and it needs the power of God. But big
churches as a whole and evangelicalism, they
need the presence of God and the power of God
just as much as other churches. God's power cannot
be replaced. It cannot be manufactured. It cannot
be substituted. It cannot be created. It cannot
be built up. It cannot be grabbed. Church needs
power. The early church in the book of Acts,
one of the defining characteristics was power.
Power in the proclamation of the gospel and power
in the life of the body and power in the life
of the individual personally. So when we come
to a text like... This and Acts and Pentecost,
we have to look at it in two different ways,
really. We have to look at it in the historical
redemptive context, meaning these are things,
these were events which occurred in history throughout
redemption. They took place in a time and a period.
But then we also have to look at them through
a lens of personal and experiential, these things
which can still They experience these things
which are normal in the ministry and the work
of the Spirit of God even to this day. Because
we know that the Spirit of God is God and He
is unchanging. And He still works just as powerfully
today as He did then. So we have to think of
Pentecost when we come to this text in those
two ways. historical, redemptive things that
have occurred and things that cannot and will
not be repeated, things that cannot be manufactured
and done over, and we have to think of them in
terms of personal, experiential things that the
Spirit of God still does and that Christians
today still experience. So one principle in this
text on Pentecost is power. Power. That God provides
the power for His people from outside of them
to complete and to do the mission which He Himself
has given to His people. So just as Dustin talked
about how God gives us faith to believe and trust
in Christ, God gives us power to fulfill and
to complete and to bring about His mission in
this world as well. It's not something that we
have in and of ourselves. Really, if we think
about it, men and women and children and people
in general do not innately have power in themselves.
As it was already stated, we have no power to
change the created order. God is creator. He
is maker. We don't have power in and of ourselves
to affect spiritual realities. I cannot and you
cannot. We do not have the power to reach into
somebody's soul and to regenerate that soul and
to cause it to be born again. You and I, we do
not have the ability to sanctify ourselves because
of our sin nature. We cannot make ourselves grow
spiritually by ourselves. I can't do it. You
can't do it. We need power from outside of ourselves
to do that. We do not have the ability to keep
ourselves. We do not have the ability to effectually
call anybody. Just as Jesus, Called Lazarus back
from the dead. We have no power to do that, so
we have no power to raise people spiritually.
Only Christ has the ability, the authority. God
has the power, and He supplies the church with
that power. We have no power in and of ourselves.
So I want to start with a very basic, very obvious
point regarding this text in the early church.
And that is the source and the nature of the
church's power. The source and the nature of
the church's power. This seems obvious as we
read this text, that this text is telling us
that the power the church has to complete the
mission that God has given to them is from outside
of themselves. It comes externally. From without
them. It's not from within them. We see that
the Spirit of God comes upon them at Pentecost.
We see that the Spirit of God actively comes
upon them and they passively experience and receive
the Spirit of God in His fullness on that day.
He's referred to as wind and fire. We see that
in verses 2, 3, and 4. We see that the source
of this power is referred to as from heaven.
From heaven. So the Spirit of God, here in this
text, when He talks about the noise and the wind,
when He talks about the fire, where did it come
from? It comes from heaven. It comes from the
throne of God. So it's not from us. It's not
from ourselves. It's from God himself. And it's
supernatural in its nature and character. It's
not power which we wield as authoritative leaders
today wield. They make demands and it happens.
This is supernatural power which God imparts.
to His church, through His Spirit, and works
effectively in the hearts and the minds and the
souls of people. Now we will see in a minute
this power and the presence of the Spirit is
manifest in this text, but it's a supernatural
and a spiritual power, primarily which works
in the hearts and the minds of individuals in
the early church. The early church in its most
infant stage, in its purest stage right here,
was defined and marked by power. By the power
of God at work and from himself. It came from
outside of them and it came upon them. They passively
receive that which the Spirit actively accomplished
in and among them. So why do I emphasize this
really obvious, this really simple point? Why
do I start out with the source and nature of
this divine power which a church has? Well, I
start out with it because I think each and every
one of us, and I think, the reason that Jesus
emphasized that they needed to wait and they
needed to wait and wait and wait was because
we have a tendency to think that we do things
and we accomplish things in our own strength
and our own power. The power that the church
has, the power that the early church had here
at Pentecost and it came upon them. It was not
the people. The power was not the people that
made up the church. The power was not in the
followers. The power was not in their gathering
among themselves. Their power was not in their
intellect or their personalities. The power came
from the Spirit of God. The power came from God
Himself. It's important for us to realize this.
Because if we look at the church as a whole today,
where is it looking to get its power? It's looking
to the world to get its power. It's looking to
the secular culture and the world to get its
power. Folks, we cannot replace the power which
comes from the Spirit of God. We cannot manufacture
it. through methodologies and strategies and
marketing schemes and all these different ways.
There is no power in methods for the gospel of
the Lord Jesus. There is no power in a preacher's
personality. There is no power in my personality.
There's only power from and in the person of
the Spirit of God, and we must look to the Spirit
of God for that power. The Spirit of God is the
one who gives the church its power. The church
does not get its power from within, but from
outside. of itself from God himself. So not only
does the Spirit come and impart this power and
does the Spirit give this power himself, but
the Spirit comes in this text and makes manifest
this power to the church. We see this when we
read this text in Acts 2, in verses 1 -4 in particular,
we're like, wow. That is a sign. There was something
going on. This was a big deal. And that's exactly
the point. This was significant. This was important,
which was taking place. So secondly, we see the
manifestation of the Spirit's power and presence
among the early church. Now you say, well, what
are the manifestations? There's two manifestations
which we see in this text. The Spirit of God
manifests His power to the early church through
audible, through noise of rushing wind, violent
rushing wind, not just a breeze, but violent
rushing wind. A strong, powerful, disturbing,
hard, rushing, violent wind is the noise which
they audibly hear. So that's the first symbol.
The second symbol is fire. And then we see that
that's tongues of fire. So these two symbols
are how the Spirit of God manifests His presence
and His power among the early church. So why
in the world did the Spirit of God on the day
of Pentecost when He came and manifested His
power among the people of God, why did He choose
a noise as violent rushing wind? Why? Well, throughout
Scripture, we see that wind and we see that breath
and we see that air is a symbol for the presence
and the power of God among His people. If we
think about the fact that God spoke to Job out
of a mighty and a powerful, dangerous whirlwind.
If we think about the reality that in John chapter
3, that Jesus said when he talked about the new
birth, regeneration, when he spoke of that, he
said, unless you're born again, you cannot see
the kingdom of God and you cannot enter the kingdom
of God. What does he refer to the Spirit as?
Wind. You don't see it, but you see the results
of it. You can't control the wind. You can't
grab the wind. You can't nail it down to a tree.
It's free to do as it pleases. It's uncontainable.
It's uncontrollable. Just as it is in the new
birth. We see in Ezekiel's vision, and this is
probably the closest image which we have that
I think this text is referring to, Ezekiel's
image of the valley of dry bones. God shows Ezekiel
a valley full of dry, dry bones. So if bones
are dry, that means that they have no flesh,
they have no life in them, they are dead. So
when Ezekiel prophesies, the wind, who is the
Spirit of God, goes out and gives life to the
dry bones. And later we're told that this is
a picture of the new covenant, of how God would
send the Spirit of God and work in the life of
God's people through His Spirit. And so we see
that there's wind, there's air. We see in John
chapter 20 that Jesus breathed on the disciples
air out of his mouth and the Spirit of God came
upon them. So in this text, wind is the image
which is given to the Spirit of God. For what
reason? Why is this text emphasizing the reality
that... in comparing the Spirit of God to the
wind, this loud noise, because the Spirit of
God is at work in the life of the church in a
powerful, sovereign, uncontrollable, rapid, forceful,
violent, unstoppable manner. It's free as the
wind to do as it pleases in the life of the church.
It saddens me in today's world with so many people
who claim to control the Spirit of God. The Spirit
of God is not a force or an energy which is contained
in which we wield and which is manipulated and
which is controlled. The Spirit of God is all
-powerful God Himself. The Spirit of God is sovereign
and providential. Yes, working within the bounds
of the redemptive plan, but He is still God.
The Spirit of God is referred to as wind here
in a powerful way. Just think about this text
and the events which are occurring. Just think
about the events. The Spirit of God came upon
them. They did not go and get the Spirit of God.
They had to wait for Him. They had to wait. Because
the Spirit of God hadn't come yet. And they couldn't
make Him come. We see that He came forcefully,
suddenly, abruptly. But also we see that the
Spirit of God came upon the early church. And
I choose this word wisely, I think, intrusively.
He came and He intruded and He invaded their
lives in a godly way. In a God -glorifying manner.
He came and he intruded their souls with holiness.
He blew upon them in a way which knocked them
flat on their face, we could say. In a powerful,
powerful way. The second symbol that we see is
fire. Now, fire has a rich history. And imagery
throughout Scripture. I know some of you are
already thinking through the Old Testament. Well,
where was it referred to? A lot of you are thinking
of Moses and the burning bush. That's good. What
was the burning bush? It was the presence of
God which would not burn out. It was holiness.
Why did Moses have to take off his sandals? Because
it was holy ground. God's presence was present
in a holy and a righteous and a powerful and
a pure manner. We also see that the tabernacle,
there was a fire in the center that could not
be burnt out. It had to be lit all the time.
Who started the fire? God started the fire in
the tabernacle. Because it symbolized God's presence
among His people in the midst of His people where
they worshipped Him. We see when Solomon finished
his first temple, he made sacrifices to the Lord.
What happened? He prayed and fire from heaven
came down and swallowed it up and the glory of
the Lord dwelt in the temple and filled it. God
was among His people in a powerful way. His presence
was among men. His presence was there with them.
We see after the great exodus or during the great
exodus of God's people out of bondage and out
of slavery for 400 years and God leaves them
out. How does he do that? A pillar of fire by
night and a cloud by day. His presence was among
His people leading them and guiding them and
freeing them from their bondage. We also know
that Hebrews tells us that God Himself is a consuming
fire. God in His being, in His person, is a consuming
fire. So we have to ask ourselves, Why in the
world does the Spirit of God manifest His power
and His presence to the people of God and the
early church in that day, in that age, as fire?
Because it shows them and it signifies His divine,
pure, consuming, powerful power. presence among
them. That he was actually with his people. And
he wasn't just with them, but he was with them
in power. He was with them in might. He was there
as a consuming fire which would burn up the wheat
and the chaff. He was there as a consuming fire
which would consume The hearts and minds of the
disciples. And we see that. So what was the purpose
of these manifestations? Why did the Spirit of
God, when He came upon the people of God in power,
why did He manifest Himself to them? And I was
thinking about this question, and I think it's
important. This instance, the fire and the sound
of rushing violent wind, it's not repeated throughout
Scripture. It's not repeated from this point
forward. Now, at momentous events throughout
Scripture, we have loud noises and we have thunder
and we have lightning. We have other manifestations
of God's glory and presence and power. So I think
that is definitely one of the things that's taking
place here. But why? Did God in the spirit manifest
himself to the people of God like this? And only
to the people of God. The outside world did not
see or hear what was taking place. He manifest
himself to the people of God whom he was going
to work in and through. I think he did this because
he burned in their mind's eye his divine presence
and his divine power, which was going to get
them through the days ahead, the things they
were going to deal with in the future, the things
they were going to face, but also so their minds
could wrap around the extent of God's power and
his presence because... It wouldn't just remain
manifest and outside of them where they could
physically see it and physically hear it. But
we'll see in a moment that the power and presence
with the Spirit of God manifest, He then fills
the people of God with. He puts the power and
the presence of God in the people of God by indwelling
them and filling them with Himself. So he wants
them to grasp his presence and his power. It
was for their benefit. It was for their benefit.
And for their edification and for their strengthening
and for their encouragement. Now the fire was
not simply a big flame. We are told from the
text that it had a particular shape to it. that
it had a particular form to it. So the fire,
which was God's presence and God's power with
and among his people, did it serve a purpose?
Was there a specific reason which God gave his
power to them? And just keep that in the back
of your mind. What was the purpose of God's power
and God's presence with and among his people?
And we'll see the answer to that here in just
a few minutes. The third thing we see in this
text, and we see from this text in Acts 2, is
the Spirit of God filling the people of God with
God's power. It doesn't just remain a manifestation
outside of them, but the Spirit of God indwells
them and fills them with the power and the presence.
himself he dwells within his people in a sense
we can say the spirit who is wind in his power
and his strength and his boldness and his fierceness
and the violence of his rushing wind And the
purity and the essence of God's presence and
the heat and the intensity of fire, those things
in the person of the Spirit of God and power
were placed within the people of God. So the
Spirit of God is given to the people of God and
dwells within them. Now this is a unique situation
with the apostles and with many of the disciples,
I believe. Because we know that they still had
the Spirit prior to this event. They had the
Spirit of God prior to this event at Pentecost.
So what was unique and what was special about
Pentecost and the filling of the Spirit at this
time? Well, before, if you remember, they were
with Jesus. They heard Jesus' words. They saw
Jesus physically and visibly in front of them.
They walked with Him. They talked with Him. They
were instructed by Him. They were encouraged
and rebuked and convicted by Him. But there were
times where they went out by themselves, and
we know that they did have the Spirit of God,
but what is different now than then? Well, now
they had received a fullness. They did not have
before. A filling to the brink with God's power
for the purpose of the advancement and the spread
of the gospel in this world. As Jesus told them
in Acts chapter 1, He said, you will be baptized
with the Holy Spirit. You will be fully and completely
and totally immersed. and the presence and the
power of the Spirit of God. The baptism of the
Spirit of God will come upon you in a special
way. Now in the Old Testament, not everybody
received special gifts from the Spirit. And a
lot of times we see in the Old Testament, in
the Old Covenant, that the Spirit of God was
with the people of God almost in a corporate
manner with the nation of Israel. We see that,
though we know there were individuals who had
the Spirit. I mean, Moses, the Spirit of God
was upon him. And we see, and I believe in Exodus
chapter 19 or Exodus 12, where God takes the
Spirit which was upon Moses and gives it to the
70 elders which would help him to lead the nation,
help him to lead the people. So the Spirit of
God dwelled among the people. But in this text,
we are told that the fire went and rested upon
each individual. And then we're told in verse
4, and they were all, all filled with the Holy
Spirit and began to speak with other tongues
as the Spirit was giving them utterance. One
of the blessings of the new covenant, one of
the blessings of living in the age in which we
live under the new covenant is that if you are
in Christ, you have a fullness of the Spirit.
The Spirit indwells you permanently and powerfully
under the new covenant. I also love the... that
in the new covenant, the Spirit of God applies
all that Christ accomplished to the life of the
believer. So the Spirit of God is not just some
throwaway or side note doctrine. The Spirit of
God is vitally important for Christians to understand
because they are living in union. daily, hourly,
secondly, with the Spirit of God filling them
and dwelling them. One of the most practical
doctrines that we can understand and we can study
and we can try to grasp is the reality that the
Spirit of God will fill you with His power and
with His strength. How does that happen? What
does that look like? What does the Bible say
about it? We must look into these things. We
must study these things. We must devote ourselves
to these things. It's so practical for the life
of the believer. It's so practical for the life
of the Christian. So every single believer is
filled with the Spirit of God. The book of Acts
shows us that really there's a special filling,
a special empowerment. When it comes to the proclamation
or the speaking the gospel, when a person proclaims
and talks about the work of the Lord Jesus, what
was the purpose of the power in this text? Why
did Jesus say in Acts chapter 1, they would receive
the power? What was the purpose of the power?
The purpose, he says, you will receive power
and the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you
shall be my witnesses. To proclaim the Lord Jesus,
to proclaim the gospel, to proclaim what the
Lord Jesus, or as later we will see, to speak
and to proclaim about the mighty deeds of God.
The mighty deeds of God. So what does it mean
to be filled with the Spirit? It means that the
Spirit of God comes into your life and dwells
within you. He comes into union with you. He
begins to renew your nature and your person,
your mind. He dwells within you. He begins to
renew your affections, your thoughts. your mind,
your heart, your desires, the things you want
in life. He begins to change those things. He
takes your eyes off the world and yourself, and
He begins to convict you of sin and to give you
repentance and to put your eyes upon the Lord
Jesus, His accomplished work, and bringing glory
to God as you live this life. This is not a term.
where the Spirit of God comes in and just helps
assist you and kind of supports you from underneath
what you're doing. This term refers to one where
the Spirit of God comes in and dominates your
life and takes control of your life. He fills
you with His power and His presence in your life,
which shows us Our desires, our affections, our
wants, our goals in life, they must be soaked
and they must be covered in the things of God.
They must be covered in the things of God. So
we see that the disciples, when they were filled,
something immediately took place. Something happened
as a result of their filling with the power and
the presence. We see, and this is where we come
to the purpose of the Spirit's presence and power
in our life. We've seen that the source and the
nature of the power. We've seen the manifestation
of that power. We've seen the filling of God's
people with that power and with that presence.
And now we see the purpose. of God's presence
and God's power among his people. It's almost
a cycle that we see take place. We see spirit
come and impart power. We see the spirit manifest
his power. We see the spirit fill the people.
Well, what comes next? What's next in that order?
Should it just stop there? The spirit fills you
with power and... It's done? No, something else
comes as a result of the power and of the presence
of the Spirit of God dwelling within your life.
It doesn't come to a screeching halt. There's
more to the process than simply the filling.
We see that the symbol of the tongue of fire
which rested upon the people in the room. That
gives us a hint. that the power had a purpose
in the life of the early church. And the symbol
shows us that purpose. What do we use our tongue
for? To speak, to talk, to proclaim, to tell
others of, to witness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Charles Spurgeon said of this text, and I love
this. I was reading this last night right before
I went to bed. He said that God has raised up
his church not with a sword in their hand, but
with a sword coming out of their mouth that pierces
the hearts and the souls of the minds of people.
God has ordained that His church be a church
which speaks and proclaims and talks. Not a church
which is quiet and silent and in the corner.
But a church which proclaims boldly the gospel
of the Lord Jesus. In power. And He's provided
the power for it. So I want to talk just two
points briefly. about the purpose of his presence
and his power. So two things. First, the power
which the Spirit of God gives to the people of
God is meant to be pointed outward. Is meant
to be pointed outward. The power is not primarily
to be pointed inward at the body or the church.
Repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly in the book
of Acts, we see the power of the Spirit of God
at work in the life of the early church, and
they're bumping into outsiders. They're bumping
into the culture. They're bumping into the world
around them. What do we see in verses 5 through
13 of this text? We see the nations. We see a
great diversity of people who need to hear the
gospel, not simply the people in that room. At
some time between verse 4 and verse 5 in Acts
chapter 2, they have moved from the upper room
where they were, or the house where they were,
they've moved from that location into a public
location. They've moved from where they were
gathered out into earshot of the community where
they are praising God and others hear them in
their own native tongue. They don't remain there.
They move. It's meant to be pointed outward.
The gospel is meant to be a gospel on the move.
The gospel is not meant To be a gospel which
is stale and stagnant and static and unmoving.
The gospel must be pointed outward at the world
which does not know the Lord Jesus. Yes, the
Spirit of God empowers the Christian to live
a holy life, to grow in likeness and conformity
to the Lord Jesus. He gives us grace. He helps
us to grow in our passion for the Lord. He helps
us to grow in our understanding and our knowledge
of the Word of God. He helps us to grow in our
spiritual progression and maturity in this life.
The Spirit absolutely, without a shadow of doubt,
that is one of the purposes for the Spirit of
God. And that is one of the purposes for the
power of the Spirit of God. But in regards to
the mission of God in this world, the power of
the Spirit of God is for the purpose of going
into the world with the gospel of the Lord Jesus.
Now, how does that power manifest itself when
it's out there? Well, the power manifests itself
in the people of God through their speech. Through
their speech. Through what they say. Through
their verbal communication. God takes his spirit.
The spirit of God comes upon us. He fills us
with his power and his presence. He dwells and
he fills us. Now, does that stay there? No, it
comes out of our mouth. Verbally. We talk about
it. One of the greatest evidences, one of the
greatest evidences, I just felt like John Piper
there with my hands. So one of the greatest evidences
that a person is filled with the Spirit of God
is that they talk about the Lord Jesus. They
talk about the Lord Jesus. Now is that in and
of itself? A guaranteed evidence of regeneration,
the new birth? No. But I will tell you one thing
that is. And Jonathan Edwards, when he wrote
his book on the affections and on our desires
and the results of the new birth, he had this
column which was basically, one side was guaranteed
marks and one side was not guaranteed marks of
the new birth. So on one of those columns, he
has speaking about the Lord Jesus. So that's
not a guaranteed. That's under the not guaranteed
section. That doesn't guarantee that you're a
born again believer. But what is the root of
a person's speech and why they're talking? The
desire and the love and the passion and the affections
within their soul, within their heart, within
their mind for the thing which they're speaking
about. So if you as an individual, because you
think about in your soul, in your mind, in your
heart, you consider the things of God. You consider
what Christ has done. You think about the work
of Christ on the cross. You think about His resurrection.
And because you're thinking about it and because
it's affecting your soul and it's affecting your
heart and it's making you passionate about what
He's done and then you talk about it, that is
a guaranteed mark that you are a born -again
believer. If you love the Lord Jesus and then
you talk about the Lord Jesus, it's a guaranteed
mark. That you're a Christian. If that continues.
And that remains. And it goes on. But. What's
the negative side of that? If you never. Ever.
Talk about. Or think about. Or consider. Spiritual
good things. And the Lord Jesus. The word of
God. The work. which God has done. And you never
talk about the Lord Jesus and what he's done
and who he is, the holiness and the power and
the might of God. If you never think of those
things, if you never consider those things, if
you never talk about those things, you must ask
yourself, do I really possess the Spirit of God
within me? If you never confess with your mouth
that the Lord Jesus is the head of the church
and is risen and ascended and sitting at the
right hand of God, if you never confess, if that
verbal proclamation never comes out of your mouth,
that the Lord Jesus died and he's a good master,
and then we must repent of our sins and believe
in the Lord Jesus. for eternal life? If you never
talk about that, if you never consider that,
if you never confess that, do you really possess
the faith which the Spirit of God gives us? It's
a serious question. How often do you talk about
the Lord Jesus? How often do you think about
spiritually good and edifying things? How often
do you think about the Word of God? We see in
this text in verse 11 that the disciples, when
they had been filled with the power and the presence
of God in their life, in their soul, what did
they do? They were speaking of the mighty deeds
of God. When a person is born again and filled
with the Spirit of God and His power and His
presence, they will speak of the mighty deeds
of God. Consider your life. Do you have the power
and the presence of the Spirit of God in your
soul, in your heart, in your life? How long can
you go? before you say the name Jesus? Was the
last time you spoke of anything spiritually good
last Sunday? Was the last time that you considered
the gospel last Sunday? It's a hard, difficult,
good question to wrestle with. If those are true
and you haven't, or you haven't considered, you
haven't thought, I would encourage you to think
about what you're called to do and repent and
turn from your sin and trust in the Lord Jesus
so that the Spirit of God can fill you with His
power and His presence.