Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We
want to thank you for joining us today, and we
hope you find today's sermon impacting as you
listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.
To find service times and watch messages online,
see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,
enjoy this week's message. So I am just so glad
to be able to preach this morning. What I'm going
to be talking about is Pentecost. And I know
for some of you that are aware of when Pentecost
is, it was a week ago, seven days from today.
Today is actually the day of Trinity. This is
Trinity Sunday. But a week ago was Pentecost.
But of course, we had a guest speaker. And Dr.
Meyer did an incredible job doing that and preaching
through that weekend. But I just, in time of
prayer and even discussing with Pastor Brad,
just felt such an urgency and such a zeal to
be able to come and to speak about Pentecost.
Because, you know, we actually, as Christians,
celebrate different holy days. Now, of course,
when I say holy days, Resurrection Sunday is
probably one of the biggest ones, or Easter Sunday.
There's a huge one that comes to mind. But there's
also Christmas, celebrating the birth of Christ.
You know, those are specific days that are like
really, really important. And Pentecost kind
of gets overshot a little bit because, I mean,
we don't give presents out on Pentecost Sunday.
We probably should. Maybe that would add some
more awareness for it. But there is a significance
about the day of Pentecost that's paramount actually
to the gospel. It's paramount to the work of
the church. impactful in your life and to understand.
And so when we celebrate days like that, we are
actually taking time to remember what happened
on those days. Even though they were thousands
of years ago, they are still so prominent today
because we are practicing actually a Israelite
form or principle of remembrance. We need to
remember the things that God has done so that
we can actually live out what God has done in
the past, but in a greater and deeper level in
today. So even though we, yes, we celebrate Resurrection
Sunday, but we remember it also because we see
the resurrection life of Jesus in our own lives
today. We celebrate the birth of Christ for Christmas
because we recognize him as the gift given by
the Father. So we also want to give gifts to
one another in thankfulness and gratefulness.
Because each generation that God is doing something
new, but also something old at the same time.
time. I don't want just the brand new thing.
I want something that's tested and proven. And
God likes to use things that are tested and proven.
So we see throughout the Bible multiple things
done in different ways. You see where the Israelites,
when they were brought from Egypt into the wilderness,
they crossed the Red Sea. Well, they did a new,
a different crossing with the with the crossing
of the Jordan when they went from the wilderness
into the land of Canaan. They still had a crossing
of a body of water. It's remembering that, but
done in a different way and in a greater way.
And what did God say to Joshua when they crossed
over? Build a memorial here so that every generation
after you will look upon this and remember or
at least ask, what is that for? Because God wants
to do something new in every generation, but
not new in the sense that he's never done it
before, new in the sense of a greater revelation
of what he's always done and who he's always
been. So when we look at Pentecost, we need to
look at what's really important about a day like
this, because Pentecost didn't start in Acts
2. You know, for some of us, you know, charismatics
or Pentecostals and stuff, we can just read Acts
2 and go, okay, that's the day when we started
having, you know, five hour long services and,
you know, everybody started doing cartwheels
around the church and stuff. That's actually,
Pentecost is an Old Testament thing. Pentecost
happened in the Old Testament, and we're gonna
discuss some of that. But what I want us to look
at is, I want us to look at how Jesus actually
discusses things like Old Testament. Because
God is the same God yesterday, today, and forever,
right? He's not a different God in the New Testament
than he is in the Old Testament. The same God
who is willing to grab the sheep who was lost,
and he goes out of his way, leaving the 99 to
save the one, is the same God that brought the
flood. Same God. So we have to be able to read
the Old Testament and the New Testament as a
unified story, which is redemption of the world.
God wants to redeem his creation, redeem humanity
for himself. So let's look at Luke chapter 24
and verse 27. So Luke chapter 24, verse 27 says
this. And beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he... being Jesus, discussing to the disciples,
he's teaching to the disciples on the road, at
least two of the disciples, where he was already
resurrected in his resurrected body, but he concealed
his true form to them, but he was teaching them
the scriptures. Now, when we say the scriptures,
the New Testament wasn't around then. The scriptures
were the Bible of the Old Testament. That was
the Bible back then. That was the Bible that
Jesus preached from. It was the Bible that the
Apostle Paul preaches from. So for anybody who
thinks, well, the Old Testament, that's old news,
that's old school. We don't need that. We actually
need it very much to understand what's taking
place in the New Testament. And we need to understand
that it's actually the same Bible that Jesus
preached from. So we have to be able to just
read the Old Testament the way Jesus read it.
That's the important aspect. You don't read it
from the place of a practicing Jew. You read
it from the place of Christianity from how Jesus
read it. So look at this. In the beginning with
Moses and all the prophets, Jesus interpreted
to them in all the scriptures the things concerning
himself. In other words, in every... Every book
of the Bible, there's a message that reveals
a person, and that person is Jesus. Always. No
matter what book you read, whether it's Leviticus,
whether it's Judges, Malachi, or everything in
between, it is always about Jesus, even in the
Old Testament. And so Jesus is revealing to them
all the things that actually were about him,
but they didn't realize it yet. They didn't understand
all the things that were about Jesus, but Jesus
then reveals. Not just the books of Moses, which
are the first five books of the Bible. He doesn't
just talk about the prophets, which of course
are all the prophetic books. He goes through,
it says all the scriptures. In 2 Timothy 3 .16,
it says all scripture has been breathed out by
God, right? So every verse, every chapter is
about one person. And who is that person? Jesus.
So now we go to Colossians 2, 16 through 17.
It says, therefore let no one pass judgment on
you in questions of food and drink or with regard
to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. Now
this is really important, this second half. These
are a shadow of the things to come. But the substance.
belongs to Christ. So in other words, a shadow
or a type or a sign means that these things that
happen in the Old Testament, they're important,
but they're not the fulfillment of what is Jesus.
There is a type, it's a shadow. It's something
that has the figure or shape of what is the real
thing. And who's the real thing? The substance
of it, the fulfillment of it, it is Jesus. If
you're not tired by me saying the name of Jesus
already, you probably will be. Because this is
the message of the church. It's the message of
the gospel. It's the message of the scripture.
It is Jesus Christ. And so this is what we want
to read through the story of the Old Testament.
We want to look at Jesus throughout it. But also,
we need to go, all right, yes, what's so important
about that to Pentecost? in order for us to really
discuss the significance of the day of Pentecost
in Acts chapter two, we're gonna have to actually
go back to a different story in the Old Testament
and look at some different things. We're gonna
actually have to look at a couple different festivals
within the Bible. There are different festivals
all throughout in the Old Testament. When God
was helping the people of Israel after Egypt,
you're just like, okay, This is how you guys
are going to celebrate throughout the year. You're
going to have different offerings throughout
the year when you dwell in the land of Canaan.
And these are the things I want you to do. Did
you know in the festivals is the gospel? If you
look hard enough, the gospel is in pretty much
everything in the Old Testament. But in the festivals,
it's actually the message of the gospel. I'm
going to prove it to you. Let's go to the different
festivals here. I'm going to skip ahead in my
notes, but then I'm going to... rubber band right
back so these were the days of observation or
remembrance it was number one Passover which
for some of you guys you might know what Passover
is But Passover is essentially that day in Egypt,
the last plague where the angel of death was
sent and God gave the Israelites a solution to
this plague by saying you need to kill a lamb
that is without blemish, less than a year old,
and its blood has to be poured over or brushed
over the doorpost of your house. And when the
death angel comes and sees the blood of the lamb
on your house, He will then pass on. Over that
house. That's why it's called Passover. So when
we look at that celebration of Passover, we see
Jesus is the fulfillment of it. Because the Bible
says Jesus is the Lamb of God. And by his blood,
we are redeemed. And that now we are free from
sin and death. And so now, with the blood of
Jesus over us, death comes but passes over us.
That's an amen if I've ever heard one. Beautiful
fulfillment. Jesus Christ is the lamb. And not
only that, but there is not only a salvation
from death, but now a exodus or a breaking out
from slavery of Egypt into the promised land.
Well, guess what that means for us? By the blood
of Jesus, we are able to exodus from the slavery
of sin now into freedom in God and live in our
promised land, which is the presence of God.
That's our Canaan. That's our promised land is
God's presence, which is beautiful. It's amazing.
That's the story of Passover. And that's why
they celebrate Passover. So when we look at Passover,
we have to look at the cross. Then there's the
feast of unleavened bread. which represents the
sanctification of believers, which represents
the period of time between now and when Jesus
returns, that we are being sanctified. We still
need a lot of help. We still got a lot of work
to do. There is a lot of things need remodeling
in this house. There's some ugly things still
on this face. And there's some things that need
to go through some spiritual surgery through
the scalpel of God's word. And things like God's
love and his faithfulness, his character, his
nature gets implemented into me. And now I look
good. But it's not me who looks good. It's Jesus
in me that looks good. So there's this process.
Why? Because Jesus is coming back for a perfect
bride. Perfect means mature. We have to understand
that this time of unleavened bread represents
this time of sanctification being transformed.
Then we have first fruits. The Bible says in
the New Testament that Jesus Christ, the resurrection
of Jesus, is the first fruits. That him being
raised from the dead, he is the first fruits
to us. which represents what? We're in the season
of first fruits. This isn't something that just
started in the New Testament. It's been going
from the Old Testament on, but Jesus, once again,
is the fulfillment of it. Then we have, we're
gonna jump down to Pentecost, which Pentecost
represents the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.
So first fruits and Pentecost actually go together.
Then there's the summer harvest, which represents
the church age. That's where we're in right now.
It's all things summer until God comes back.
And then when God does come back, this is now
the fall time. Remember, these are all feasts
that are listed in the Old Testament that had
a natural significance. They were a shadow, but
Jesus comes and fulfills them. Now we're gonna
get to the last three. The first one is the Feast
of Trumpets, which is what? God gathering his
people together. for his return. Then there's
the Feast of Atonement, which is the final cleansing
of God's people. Just as I said, we're all going
through sanctification, cleansing. Well, it's
not going to get the full stamp of approval until
Jesus comes back. At that moment, we will be
raised up, resurrected, having a body that is
like Christ, that is perfect and without any
form of selfishness, any form of sin, any intention
or any direction, led to self, but is 100 % focused
on God, unified with God, and in perfect relationship
with God. That is going to be when Jesus returns,
and that's going to be a pretty awesome day.
Once again, that deserves an amen. Come on, we
await that day. We have hope in that day that
as I'm in process, that's why Paul says, I have
been saved, being saved, and will be saved. That
will be saved is that final moment where we join
in the resurrection of Christ and are brought
into our perfect bodies where our sin nature
has completely been done away with. And then
finally, which is another one you guys are probably
very familiar with, which is the Feast of Tabernacles.
Who here knows what the Feast of Tabernacles
is? Perfect. The Feast of Tabernacles is the
last feast because it represents the actual return
of Christ. And not only the return of Christ,
but actually when When Jesus returns with fire
in his eyes, riding on a white horse with his
name that is above every name that is only known
to him and the Father and a sword coming out
of his mouth, he comes with the armies of heaven
and he defeats the woman of Babylon. He destroys
Satan and the dragon and he completely eradicates
sin over the whole earth and brings everything
into judgment. And then we are brought into what
is Revelation chapter 21 and 22, which is the
new heavens and the new earth where we now get
to dwell with God in peace. Perfect creation
forever. That's a good amen. That right there,
did you know the reason why it's called tabernacles
is because in John 1, it says, and the beginning
was the word, and the word was with God, and
the word was God, and then later it says, and
the word dwelt among us. That word dwelt is actually
in the Greek the word tabernacle. God, Jesus
himself, the word, came and dwelt tabernacled
among us. So we have this partial tabernacling
presence that's not, once again, in its fullness,
but in a partial gift. And then when Jesus comes
back, oh boy, we get a whole new world, whole
new bodies, full extreme home makeover, and God
says, Jesus, move that bus, and then there is
all this new stuff. And God is with us and we
get to dwell with God forever and eternity in
perfect unity with God and one another. That's
the Feast of Tabernacles. Now in the midst of
Passover and Tabernacles. So once again, what
you're looking at is the gospel story. Passover
is Jesus on the cross. The unleavened bread is
the sanctification of believers through the Holy
Spirit. The first fruits is the resurrection
of Jesus. Pentecost is the pouring out of the
Holy Spirit, which implemented the church age.
Then you have the trumpets, which is the gathering
of his people upon his return. You have the atonement,
which is the final cleansing of God's people.
And then you have the tabernacle, which is the
eternal fellowship with God. That's the gospel.
That's the gospel. That's what Jesus dies for.
And in the midst of that, you have this holiday
or this holy sacred space called Pentecost. Pentecost
is significant because, and this is what I hope
to help us with, is to understand that in the
midst of Passover and tabernacles, these incredible
feasts, that Pentecost is not less than either
of those days, but equal to and significant even
with Passover. Yes, Jesus Christ dying for our
sins was an incredible thing. But if the Holy
Spirit didn't come on the day of Pentecost, we
would not be having church today. The ministry
of Jesus would have ended with the 12 disciples
there. But it is Pentecost that takes the...
The blessings that occurred and were made available
to us because of Passover and the unleavened
bread. And now bring us into a time where we
are continuing the ministry of Christ. Pentecost
is not some day that we need to brush over to
get between Easter and Christmas. We are talking
about the birthday of the church. Happy birthday,
by the way, as of a week ago. Late birthday.
But before we can get to the teachings on the
Holy Spirit in the book of John from Jesus and
even Acts 2, we have to go to the Old Testament.
I gotta try and preach like Jesus did. We're
gonna start with Moses and we're gonna move from
there. So would you turn with me please to the
book of Genesis chapter 11. Book of Genesis chapter
11, verse one through nine. And so. we're gonna
talk about really quickly the Tower of Babel,
which is a contrast to the day of Pentecost.
So I'm gonna try and get through this quickly
in the time that I have, but it says here, now
the whole earth had one language and the same
words. And as people migrated from the east,
they found a plain in the land of Shinar and
settled there. And they said to one another,
come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.
And they had brick for stone and budamon for
mortar. And they said, Come, let us build for
ourselves a city and a tower with its top in
the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves,
lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole
earth. And the Lord came down to see the city
and the tower, which the children of man had
built. And the Lord said, Behold, they are one
people. And they have all one language. And this
is only the beginning of what they will do. And
nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible
for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their
language so that they may not understand one
another's speech. So the Lord dispersed them
from there over the face of all the earth. And
they left off building the city. Therefore, its
name was called Babel. because there the Lord
confused the language of all the earth. And from
there, the Lord dispersed them over the face
of all the earth. So why is that so important
for us to read this? How is it significant and
attached to Pentecost? What we have to look at
here is that there is a, it's a part of God's
mission for mankind, which was to fill the earth.
Fill the earth, to fill the earth and have, to
subdue it. So automatically they are being rebellious
to God's command of humanity to fill the earth.
They said, listen, let us stay together and let's
build a city and let's build a tower and let
us do this together because then we will disperse.
So they knew that it was a part of God's plan
to disperse. So this is an act of rebellion to
God to all gather together and say, we're gonna
build this city and this tower and stay in one
place. It's rebellion because God said to go
and fill all the earth. And this is something
that's really important to understand as well.
We're gonna break this down a little bit. Notice
how they came from the east and they picked a
place that's in the east. They found a plain
in the land of Shinar, which is in the east.
Did you know that east, going east, represents
moving away from God? So in Genesis 3, when Adam
and Eve had sinned, they left the Garden of Eden,
they went east. Then when you have Cain, when
he had slain Abel and he was driven away from
God's presence, he went east in Genesis chapter
4. So going east represents a journey away from
God. So when they gathered in this land of Shinar,
which is in the east, the author Moses is trying
to communicate to us that what they are going
to do is going to be in rebellion and draw people
further away from God. Then you have the name
of the tower, the Tower of Babel, which Babel
is connected to the name Babylon. If you understand
what the word Babylon means, it was an ancient
city back in the Old Testament, but it becomes
a symbol or a type of a shadow of what represents
everything that is in opposition to God's will.
It represents the deification of self -will.
And what do I mean by deification? It means I'm
gonna make myself God. I'm going to make my desires
God. I'm going to make what I want God in my
life. This is the God that I will serve, self.
That's what it means. And so this nation of Babylon,
which actually becomes this nation that conquers
Israel many, many years later, and then through
the rest of the scriptures, there's so many references
in the prophets, and then all the way up until
Revelation 18, where Babylon is the enemy of
God. And it started with Babel. It started with
this evil power and symbol of self -glorification.
Then you have four falls that take place. Do
you know in the first just few couple chapters
of the book of Genesis, there are four falls
that happen? The first fall is the fall of Lucifer
from heaven. That was the fall of the heavens.
Where Lucifer falls, Jesus says, I saw Satan
fall like lightning. That was the first one.
That was before creation. Then you have the fall
of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. But then
you have a third one, which is the sons of God,
which represent the fallen angels coming and
mating with the women of men in Genesis chapter
six. Then you have the fourth fall, the final
one. Fall of the Tower of Babel. So you have
the fall of the heavens, which is Lucifer. You
have the fall of mankind, which is in the garden.
Then you have the fall of the family and the
creation and the form of creation, which is because
of the sons of God, which represents the fallen
angels that would come and create beings through.
with the daughters of men that would create these
giants or Nephilim that were these unredeemable
beings. Then you have the last one, Babel, which
represents the fall of the nations. Even though
they were one people, they represent all the
nations of God or they represent all the nations
of the world. Each fall declares independence
from God. Lucifer said, I want to be God and
I need to be independent from God. Adam and Eve
says, I want to have knowledge of good and evil,
independent from God. The daughters of men decided
they wanted to be independent from God and how
to create life. Then you have the Tower of Babel,
which is the nations to say, we want to build
a world independent from God. And what were they
building? To build a city means to build a civilization.
Now, this is really interesting because before
the flood in the days of Noah, there was immense
wickedness in the world. The Bible says that
they were so wicked that every form of their
thoughts and intentions were for evil. Nothing
good in them. It was all bad. But back then in
the time of Noah, it was chaotic. It was everybody
for themselves. It was everybody just killing
everybody and betraying everybody. It was total
nonsense. But now after the flood, you have a
form of evil that's even worse. Organized evil.
Evil decided to get organized and say, let's
all get together and let's build a city and build
a tower. So you have this organized chaos and
organized evil that is man -centered and not
God -centered. It's a form of humanism. That
man is the solution to everything. And then this
is the other thing. They were building something
that was a refusal to expand the kingdom of God.
God says go into all the world and fill it. Why?
Because God wants his kingdom over the whole
earth. But man said no. We don't want to spread
your kingdom. We want to build ours. So they
began to build their own civilization and their
own tower. Not only that, but they were trying
to build something that was... Because a city
points to a civilization. A tower is actually...
In modern day, we think, okay, a tower is like
a skyscraper or something like that. Just a really
big building with multiple floors. You can do
more things in it. No, actually, a tower in ancient
civilization is through a lot of history. A tower
was a religious place. It was a temple. So the
Tower of Babel wasn't just this skyscraper. It
was a temple built for themselves, for the worship
of self and to gods of their own making. That's
what they're building. So they're building not
just a civilization and how to do community.
Listen, the world and evil knows how to build
community and how to have fellowship. Evil has
its own idea of how to have family, how to have
businesses, how to have a civilization, how to
have laws, how to have a hierarchy. But evil
is still evil, whether it's organized or not.
The same thing goes for the tower that's there,
which represents this temple dedicated unto the
Lord. It is evil unto God because it's in rebellion.
And I want you to imagine this. I want you to
imagine a teenager who lives in your house, eats
all your food. Uses all your stuff without asking.
Drives your car, doesn't fill it up with gas,
leaves it on empty when you need to go to work
the next day. And some of you don't have to imagine
very hard. Listen, imagine telling that teenager,
hey, listen, can you take out the trash? And
they say to you, no, I don't have to do what
you tell me to do. If I said that to my dad,
I would not exist today. That is something that,
how could you say that to the person who is giving
you all the blessings you're taking advantage
of? This is essentially what the Tower of Babel
is. It is them saying, I want to have the blessing
of God without following your instruction. I
want to do things my way, but I still want your
hand and your blessing from it. And God is not
going to bless it. Because you have to, in order
to experience the blessing of God, you have to
live according to his commands and his instructions.
So this is something that they were building
by saying, God, just keep blessing us. We're
gonna keep multiplying, but we're all gonna stay
here. We're gonna do things our way. We're gonna
build this tower. Now, they said, we're gonna
build this tower to the heavens, which to you
and I, the heavens, what does that even mean?
It's the sky, which represents the upper atmospheres
of the world. But to them, it's the realm of
the spirit. And so whether they meant this literally
or figuratively doesn't matter. Their heart and
their posture was, we are building something
that's going to affect the spiritual realms.
And it will influence it and rule it. And so
what were they saying? We want a tower that goes
to the heavens. So that when we get there, we
will define the spiritual realm. our way. So
we're not just going to do life on earth our
way. We want the things of the spirit done our
way. So this is a, this is something that they
are unified in wickedness and evil to not only
have influence of a physical place without God,
but I want heaven without God. But here's something
that's really interesting about the tabernacle
that God has Moses build and David and even the
temple of Solomon. Listen to this. Yes, the tabernacle
in heaven, the tabernacle of the Lord, according
to Hebrews, is on a hill in the place of Mount
Zion. We don't have time to really go into that,
but essentially this is what you need to know.
Look at the difference between how God wants
his temple built and how man wants their temple
built. Man wants their temple built up. God has
his temple built forward. There's the outer court,
the holy place, and the most holy place. That
doesn't go up. It goes forward. That once I get
into the presence of God, it's about getting
closer to him this way. Because that's how God
works. He loves. The Bible says he came down
and humbled himself to dwell in flesh. He came
to our level and made a way for us to come to
him. Man is always going to want to build something
to go up. And so with all the work, all this
building, all this celebration of self, who gets
the credit when a tower is built like that? But
who gets the credit when God comes down to and
makes himself available to us? He does. He gets
the credit because it's him coming to us. So
what does God do? What does God respond with
all of this? Well, he says that he looks down
and he's looking down. The picture I got in my
mind when I read this, it almost looks like God
the Father. He's grilling on the barbecue and
everything and he looks over. Oh my goodness,
what's that over there? Michael, come look at
this. They're building this tower in this city
and they're coming to invade heaven and mess
us up. God is not threatened by this at all.
God is not intimidated by this at all. God, I
love how the wording is. God came and looked
down, which shows you the position he's in. He's
going, what is happening down there? Not that
he's surprised. He knows all things. I'm not
trying to give a, it's a crude image. But what
I'm trying to help you understand is that the
Bible says that the nations of the world rage,
but God laughs at them. Doesn't matter how bad
the world gets. Doesn't matter how much the world,
if every nation on earth came together to come
against God and destroy him, God is not intimidated
in the slightest. He's not scared one bit. He
goes, man, this is hilarious. So what does he
do? He says, well, he diagnoses the problem and
he provides a solution to that problem without
destroying them because he promised to Noah that
the last time that they got this bad, he just
used the flood and took them out and started
over with one man. But what he did this time
was because of that covenant to say, I'm not
gonna do it like that again. What he's gonna
do is instead of pouring out a flood, he's gonna
bring something else that's gonna cause them
to disperse. So remember, this is a place that's
a civilization dedicated to their own gods and
idolatry and the deification of their self -will
and a tower built up, a temple built for themselves.
This is why we have so many different religions
in the world. Because God accomplished his task
of filling the world with humanity, but they
took their religion of self and self -glorification
and created their own gods. That's why every
nation has different gods, but kind of all look
the same. Because they all come from the same
place. The Tower of Babel. say almost very similar
origin stories almost very similar hierarchies
and all these things why is that is because it
comes from this place where they were unified
and God caused them to disperse to accomplish
his will but it wasn't done the way God had intended
so now you have a world filled of different nations
different gods but they they and they're all
serving themselves and so this is what God does
he says you know what I want to redeem these
nations but I can't I can't do it through just,
I'm not gonna be able to do it like how I tried
before. I'm going to bring one man forward that
whom all the rest of the nations would be blessed.
So now you jump from Genesis 11 to now Genesis
12 where the author Moses skips ahead a little
bit in time and he stops here and he begins to
discuss one man. And this is so important. Why
do we remember these things? Because God has
a system in how he does certain things. Remember
with Noah, the whole world was evil, and so what
did he do? I'm gonna save the world through what?
One person. The nations are against me, so I'm
gonna bring out one person. Now in Babel, you
see the same thing. All the nations are against
me, so guess what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna bring
out one man, and his name is... Abram. The same
thing happens. When all the world and all the
nations are fallen into sin or against me, what
does God do? He sends one man, Jesus, through
whom the whole world would be reconciled and
saved. Remember, this is all pointing to Jesus.
He's the fulfillment of all of this. So now let's
go to Genesis 12, one through three. It says
this. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your
country and your kindred and your father's house
to the land that I will show you. And I will
make of you a great what? Nation. Now this nation
is the nation that we call Israel, the Jewish
people, the sons and daughters of Abraham. That
now we see that this God will now, I will create
my own nation. He says, go out from your house
of moon worshipers and I'm gonna make you, one
man, into a new nation. Do you know what God
also did with Jesus? He made a nation out of
the lineage of Christ who is the nation of the
church. A nation that is no longer about who
your mommy and daddy is, but it's about who is
your savior. Who saved you? Who adopted you?
Just as Paul says in Romans that you would no
longer have a spirit of slavery, but now you
may cry out, Abba, Father. To who? The Father
of your salvation. The same God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. You are no longer separated from the
covenant blessing that was given to Abram, but
now you have been grafted in as the Bible...
As the Bible says, you've been grafted in to
the root of Jesse, who is Jesus, who is the descendant
of Abraham. This is incredible. This is how God
redeems his world. So now we see that Pentecost,
as the people of Israel, are formed and shaped
from the lineage of Abraham, and now they're
a huge nation, but they're in slavery to Egypt,
and then they've been exodus out, and now they're
in the wilderness. And so God is like, okay,
let me teach you how you're going to live in
this new land. So this is where Pentecost comes
up in the Old Testament, is in Leviticus chapter
23, verse 15 through 18. Let's read this together.
You shall count seven full weeks from the day
after the Sabbath. From the day that you were
brought the sheaf of the wave offering, you shall
count 50 days to the day after the seventh Sabbath.
Then you shall present a grain offering of a
new grain to the Lord, and you shall bring from
your dwelling place two loaves of bread to be
waved. As in, that's it. God was specific, you
gotta wave. There's different forms of offerings.
There's offerings you gotta barbecue. There's
offerings you just gotta wave, then barbecue.
Some just wave, but then you get others. So there's
different kinds of offerings that are there.
But God is saying, okay, you're gonna take these
two pieces of bread and you're gonna wave them.
This is significant, I promise. And then it says
that they shall be made of two -tenths of an
ephah. They shall be of fine flour and they shall
be baked with leaven as first fruits to the Lord.
This is... The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. Pentecost
is the end of first fruits. We've been in a season
of first fruits. And now here in this time, we're
talking about Pentecost, which is at the end
of first fruits. And it's right after seven exact
weeks after Passover. And do you know what the
word Pentecost means? 50. because the term Pentecost
is actually not a Hebrew word, it's a Greek word,
but it was translated from Hebrew into Greek
with the Greek Septuagint, which was translated
into the modern Old Testament back in the time
of Jesus, which was a Greek Old Testament called
the Septuagint that Jesus and the disciples would
have preached from. So they would have preached
Pentecost and this day in Leviticus of Pentecost
where there were now two loaves being offered.
Now look at this, that God, This is how God works.
He redeems nations and he works in the details.
God works in these small little details. Even
just two loaves. Because you gotta remember this,
that there was a, there is a, Jesus defined his
body as being a, as being the bread. Yes, we
agree with that? Jesus says that I am the bread
of life. Okay? When we think about communion,
we take of communion, we remember communion,
we take of the cup and the bread. The bread represents
his body. When we are saved and brought into
the church, do you know what else is described
as the body of Christ? The church. So you now
have two loaves which represent two different
people groups. The first loaf is the loaf of
the Jewish people. God's promised descendants
from Abraham to receive the blessings of Abraham.
But through the Old Testament, we see that they
also rebelled against God and chose other gods
over him. And so what does God do? There's also
this other people group. Everybody else. from
that time of Babel, are called Gentiles. Anybody
other than a descendant from Abraham is called
a Gentile. Those are the only two people groups,
according to Judaism, is you're a Jew or you're
a Gentile. There's no in between. There's no
middle ground. You are one or the other. So how
does God save this problem, solve and redeem
this issue of a scattered people, of different
people groups? What does he do? How does he answer
the issue of God? You said that you're gonna
save the world through the descendants of Abraham
and through his nation. What does Jesus do? Well,
Jesus is now the fulfillment of Abraham, the
fulfillment of Israel, and he now makes a nation
of what? A nation that is made up of his own
body. So now we go from two loaves to one. We
go from two separate peoples to one people under
Christ. That now it is no longer the two loaves
of the Jew and the Gentile, but now we're brought
into perfect unity of sonship and daughtership
into the family of Jesus because of what? The
Holy Spirit. Think of this. On the day of Pentecost,
The Feast of Pentecost was a mandatory attendance
day. Do you imagine if we started having some
of those today in church? How many emails Pastor
Scott would get? Same church as mandatory. But
it's a mandatory day, which means like, unless
you were dying, you had to go. Unless you, I
mean, Bob, I have this cannonball wound. I don't
know if I'm gonna make it to Pentecost. You can
still talk to me. You're fine. If you're able
to say that, then you're good. Listen, if Mary
can get around on a donkey nine months pregnant,
you can get to Pentecost. Let's go. It was mandatory.
So I want you to think about this. In Acts 2,
we're now gonna jump ahead to Acts 2. Acts 2
is where the 120 are in the upper room. They're
waiting for the prophesied. gift that Jesus gave
in John and in the very beginning of, in chapter
one of the book of Acts. The paraclete, the helper,
the advocate, the comforter, the one whom Jesus
says that without him, you can't have me. Before
the church starts, before you can preach the
gospel, before you can continue this ministry,
you gotta have me. The Holy Spirit. You have
to have the paraclete. And so look at this. A
festival where there were Jews scattered across
all these nations of the world. Think about this.
They all come back to the temple in Jerusalem.
And you have this 120 that are either in a room
that is actually attached to the temple or they're
right outside of the temple, but they were in
a really public area as people were on their
way to the temple of God where they were able
to be seen and heard. You have now the Holy Spirit
pouring out on this 120 and now you have all
of these Jews which represent all these other
nations together in one place that when the Holy
Spirit comes out and 3 ,000 people get saved,
guess where they're going to go? To the nations.
They're going to go out into the rest of the
world from where they came, but they're going
to go back different than how they were when
they came. It's interesting how these two loaves
in the Bible, in Leviticus, Judaism later down
the line actually began to celebrate this as
something of representing the two tablets that
Moses came down with. It's supposed to represent
the word of God. Now, There's partial truth to
that. However, what we have to understand is
that, listen to this. When the holy tablets came
down, the 10 commandments of God came down and
there was a rebellion and because of the golden
calf and the big Oreo that occurred there, you
had 3 ,000 people that died. How many people
got saved after Peter's sermon? That's God redeeming
his people. That is God coming and saying, listen,
where the law came and these old things came,
there were 3 ,000 that died. But when now the
Holy Spirit comes, there are 3 ,000 that are
saved. So you have this picture of God redeeming
now. The nations where he says, listen, you're
going to not just keep things here in Israel.
You're going to go out into the world and redeem
the nations that were scattered at the place
of Babel. And now we're going to be brought together
and fill the earth. But because of the Holy Spirit,
it will be done right. This is why we remember
Pentecost. Because it's the day that God redeems
the nations. It's the day that God makes his
spirit available for everyone who calls on Jesus.
Like, guys, we have it so good. Did you know
that the Holy Spirit was limited in his operation
in the Old Testament? That he could only dwell
on a couple people? He could only dwell on limited,
only kings, prophets, and priests? and he was
able to operate in them. Do you know how much
the Holy Spirit was waiting for the day that
the prophet Joel's prophecy could be fulfilled,
that I would be poured out on all flesh? He was
so eager for the day of Pentecost. Because that's
what he loves. He wants to fill the earth. That's
what he does. It's what he did before the earth
was even formed. He was hovering over the face
of the deep and now he hovers over the saints
and the believers who fill the earth. This is
why we remember Pentecost, because it's not just
a day for us to start hooting and hollering.
It's a day for us to start hooting and hollering
that Christ and the Holy Spirit have now redeemed
us and have empowered us, Acts 1, 8, for the
Holy Spirit will come and empower you to be martyrs
or witnesses for me and my namesake in Jerusalem,
in Judea, and in Samaria, and to the ends of
the earth. This is why we remember Pentecost.
How beautiful of a day that is. You got God the
Father in heaven going, man, I love it when a
plan comes together. I love it when a plan comes
together. The fact that, listen, they brought
two loaves to one priest. Now there is the loaf
that is brought to the one priest who is Jesus.
There is the... The Passover that happens at
the cross, which tore the veil and allows us
access. It's the Holy Spirit who takes us from
one place into the point of access with him.
Pentecost is what brings the nations into the
presence of God. And it's what brings the presence
of God to the nations. God is building his city
and his temple. Just as humanity tried building
their own version of civilization, their own
version of worship, their own version of religion,
God builds his civilization within his church.
He builds his temple within his church. He is
establishing his way of society, but not through
the brick and mortar as they did before, but
through the uncut living stones of you and I
that are joined together with the cornerstone
who is Christ himself. I'm preaching. Come on,
somebody. And not only that, I'm gonna end with
this. God confused the languages of the people
of Babel. What was the first manifestation that
happened on the day of Pentecost of the Holy
Spirit operating through the believers? A form
of communication that would not divide, but unify,
that would break every linguistic barrier, cultural
barrier, that they were literally, in the Greek
it says that they gave utterance, that they were
able to speak the foreign language perfectly.
Accent and all. Because of the Holy Spirit. The
Tower of Babel was that place where now their
communication is cut off, and now Pentecost is
the day where their communication is restored.
But it's not a language of human making. It is
a heavenly language that operates through faith
and faith alone. What empowered them to build
their civilization of wickedness and their religion
of wickedness was their communication. What empowers
us to build the church and to build and expand
the kingdom of God here on the earth is the Holy
Spirit. who allows us to communicate in perfect
unison together with God and with one another.
I got about halfway, so we're just gonna stop
there. Holy Spirit, we remember what you have
accomplished through human history, through the
redemptive story of The scriptures. Holy Spirit,
we ask for boldness and for assurance and for
a empowerment. God, when you fell upon, in the
book of Acts, you fill continually. The word
fill in the Greek is a continual word. It is
progressive. It is not just a one and done. but
a continual. So Holy Spirit, we ask for you to
fill us. Fill us that we would help be your vessels
to bring the nations to you. Bring our workplaces
to you. Bring our families to you. You are the
one that draws people to you. So Holy Spirit,
we ask now. for your sanctifying and your incredible
empowerment to help us deliver the gospel, even
in the midst of Babylon, even in the midst of
where the world seems chaotic and the world seems
completely out of order. Let them see that we
are a church that is unified by the Holy Spirit.
Lord, we thank you, God. This is what our world
needs. The nations need a unified church, a unified
under the grace and power of the Holy Spirit.
So help us, God, because if we're gonna get unified
with churches around the world, Lord, we need
to get unified within ourselves, unified with
you first and unified with one another. So Lord,
every place of division, we cast it aside and
say, Lord, it's not worth it. It's not worth
the kingdom of God being halted. It's not worth
the power of God not flowing through me. It's
not worth it. I'm gonna lay these things down.
As you taught the disciples to pray, forgive
our sins as we forgive our debtors. Holy Spirit,
teach us to forgive. Teach us to live in unity
because when brothers dwell together in unity,
it is like the oil that is poured out. Oil representing
the Holy Spirit. We thank you, God. Let us be
in one accord. Let us be as one people. As Philippians
2 even says, let us have one mind, the mind of
Christ, in all humility, not counting himself
greater than anybody else, but humbled himself
to be in human flesh. Let us have that mind.
Let us have your love. Let us have your heart.
Let us have your will in control of our own.
In Jesus precious and mighty name. Amen. Thank
you for taking the time to listen to this week's
message. We are so grateful for those who tune
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