The discourse delves into the profound implications of the Holy Spirit's outpouring, as prophesied in Joel 2:28 and exemplified in Acts 2. It elucidates how this monumental event signifies the inception of the 'last days,' marking a paradigm shift in divine interaction with humanity. His arrival was a sign that the last days had come. The apostles were Christ's ambassadors and were directly given the Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth. As revealers, miraculous power was given to them as proof that they were from God and that the message they spoke was from God (it confirmed the word, Mark 16:20).

Though prophets, evangelists, and pastors also taught, they received their gift through the laying on of the apostles' hands. All saints who had come into this new relationship with Christ were promised the Holy Spirit who would grant some spiritual gift as was promised in Acts 2:38 but it was not automatic (cf. Acts 8 & 19). For all saints, the gift of the Holy Spirit assured them that they were counted among the saints and were a part of the body of Christ (confirmed their identity).

The Holy Spirit orchestrated the entire time of edification when gathered together. People could hinder His work by interrupting with unnecessary questions or being unwilling to be quiet when another received a message from Him. He gave the saints gifts as it pleased Him, gave revelation according to His will. All the saints had to do is humbly receive from Him and share His message among all. Though not all had gifts related to teaching, they were all necessary for the benefit of the body of Christ.

Once His mission and purpose in coming alongside the apostles as Comforter was fulfilled and the new age has begun, today's kingdom is not guided by Him in the same way. The Scriptures are a product of His work as "holy men of God spoke as they were being moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21), it was then written and is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness that we might be complete, thoroughly furnished unto every good work."

Takeaways:

• The Holy Spirit's outpouring marked the commencement of the 'last days' as prophesied, signifying a pivotal moment in divine history.
• Miraculous powers were bestowed upon the apostles to affirm their divine authority and the authenticity of their messages from God.
• All believers were promised spiritual gifts, affirming their identity within the body of Christ, though this was not automatic. It required the laying on of the apostles' hands.
• The presence of the Holy Spirit served as a sign of impending judgment, as well as the establishment of God's kingdom on earth.
• The gifts of the Holy Spirit were meant for the edification of the body, ensuring that all members contribute to the growth of the body of Christ.

Good morning and welcome to our study.

As we continue our study together on the Holy Spirit.

We left off last time discussing the purpose of the Holy Spirit, introduced that as being number one, to confirm the messenger and the message.

Both of those kind of go hand in hand, obviously.

But if you could just imagine trying to accomplish this great task of uniting Jew and Gentile into one body by man's ingenuity and his great wisdom and sophistry, it just would never have worked.

It required the mind of God and the work of God in their lives.

And so this was no small matter.

It required God's help, obviously, to accomplish it.

And not everyone would accept that, even amidst the miraculous gifts and the powers that people saw and witnessed.

That didn't convince everybody.

Now, they couldn't deny that the miracle had occurred, but they were just so hard hearted.

Their eyes had been closed, their ears and eyes were closed.

But as far as the Christians were concerned, and those who did obey and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord, in Acts chapters two, through several chapters there into chapter six and seven, the growth of the saints in Jerusalem.

It wasn't accomplished by someone just jumping up and down and jerking as if they had epilepsy or formulated some sort of nonsensical sounds and claimed to be under the guise of the power of the Holy Spirit.

That's not, that's not convincing, friends.

There's nothing convincing about that.

The proof of the Holy Spirit is stated in Acts 2, Verse 4.

You want me to read it to you?

It says, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other languages as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The tongues were languages.

They weren't.

They were clearly languages.

They heard them speak in their own language wherein they were born, their own unique dialect.

They heard them.

Now they, they could have spoken Greek, no doubt.

It was a universal language and everybody would have been able to understand that.

But instead they spoke in their own dialect.

Now how could these uneducated, ignorant Galileans, fishermen from Galilee be able to do that?

They were.

They were.

That's what they asked.

Aren't these men Galileans?

How do we hear them speak in our own language?

Wherein we were born, Parthians and Medes and Elamites and dwellers in Mesopotamia, he names them all.

How could they?

How could that happen?

But yet they recognized the language.

This is not speaking some gibberish that nobody is able to understand.

Then somebody else coming along and giving an interpretation of it.

No, that's, that's fraught with subjectivity and there's nothing about this that's subjective.

It's very objective, it's very clear and identified.

And that's why it had the effect that it did.

The Jews heard them speak in their own language.

Verse 7 and verse 12 of chapter 2 describes the effect that it had on the hearers.

First, they were all amazed and marveled, saying, are not these that speak Galileans?

Second, they were amazed and perplexed.

What does all this mean?

Now how likely are you to give it your attention when you hear a mighty rushing wind and see flames of fire sitting on heads or, or what looks like fire sitting on heads?

You see the miraculous element coordinates with the divine inspired message.

Just as the non miraculous coordinates with an uninspired message.

The miraculous coordinates with the divine message.

And so that that gave them or that brought the audience, if you please.

Now compare one other text please with me.

It's found over in Acts 14.

We'll begin in verse one.

It came to pass in Iconon they entered into a synagogue of the Jews, and so spake that a great multitude, both of Jews and Greeks believed.

But the Jews that were disobedient stirred up the souls of the Gentiles and made them evil affected against the brethren long time.

Therefore they tarried there, speaking boldly in the Lord, who bare witness unto the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders, but to be done by their hands.

But the multitude of the city was divided and part held with the Jews and part with the Gentiles.

Again this is very similar to Acts 2.

Both of them have these in common.

There were unbelieving Jews, there was a divine message and there was miraculous power to confirm the message.

Now if Paul could perform miracles, it would bear witness to the word of his grace.

You know, years ago we had a TV commercial that I've never forgotten.

It ended with the motto, When EF Hutton talks, people listen.

Or when he speaks, people listen.

And the commercial was advertising the respected opinion of Hutton's projections and his financial advice.

Now what would make a first century Jew pay attention to a man whose opinion he doesn't respect?

Well, the one thing that he could not dispute and that cannot be ignored was the miracles.

Without it, these would have little or no response at all and the threat to the Jewish way of life would be non existent.

But without the miraculous, their efforts would probably have produced only a tiny short lived movement resembling what Gamaliel recognized as being true.

With many movements coming from men, it'll fail.

It won't last long.

The miraculous provided the objective proof.

It gave the evidence necessary to cause anyone who was honest to pay attention to the message.

As much as the unbelievers disliked the message and the messengers, they couldn't deny the miraculous.

It provided an opportunity to address the people.

And that's how the Corinthians were confirmed and would continue to be confirmed unto the end.

It says now in adding First Corinthians 4, we see that the gifts and the Holy Spirit are said to remain until the end.

If the end of time is the end that he's discussing, do the Corinthians still need assurance that they are the children of God?

Are they still receiving spiritual gifts and proof of the Holy Spirit's presence?

Of course, the terms used neither support the end of time nor the end of the cosmos.

The time of the end was in view, and first century Christians were waiting and standing on tiptoes, as it were, with outstretched necks, looking for the coming of the Lord.

They weren't leaning back in their recliner saying, well, he's going to come one day and someday, like a thief, we just don't know when it's going to be, but when he comes, we'll be ready.

Instead, they were eagerly waiting, eagerly expecting the appearance of the Lord Jesus when He fulfilled and completed his task.

And so, to summarize this particular purpose and end, the result of those possessed with gifts was the confirmation that the promise of the Holy Spirit would continue until the end.

Not the end of time, but the completion or the fulfillment of the age.

As long as men and women had spiritual gifts, the end was near, but not completed.

They would possess the gifts until Christ appeared, and the Holy Spirit would then no longer be present at that time of completion.

That other comforter would be present.

As far as time is concerned now, Jesus appearance would be in that generation.

These things will take place in that or in this generation.

And course would be seen by Caiaphas when he came upon the clouds of heaven in the glory of His Father.

The expected time of his coming was imminent, and we'll have more to say about that at some future time.

But there isn't any doubt from the language of Scripture that it was imminent by all those who referenced it.

Another purpose that we want to talk about this morning of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is that it was a sign of the end of the age.

Not only was it designed to confirm and the messenger and the messenger.

But it was also a sign of the end of the age.

It pointed.

It was proof that several events that they were.

That we'll be exploring here, that those several events would be soon approaching one of that.

And now, one of the things I think we need to look at before we get too far off talking about the signs is to first of all define what that means and to talk about the nature of signs itself.

The first obvious implication of a sign is that it's to be visible.

That is, it's observable, just like a miracle.

Miracles were always observable.

It wasn't like something inside someone's body called cancer, and it's there one day, and the next day it's not.

That's not very observable.

You see, the effect is observable.

But what's observable is when someone approaches somebody, lays hands on them or gives them a word, and the power of that word in their presence gives immediate, instantaneous results.

That's the difference between the two.

It's not circumstantial or open to different interpretations.

It's just proof.

And so the proof of Jesus arrival was not based on some subjective feeling or some thought that we've worked out in our own mind.

Instead, they were based on undeniable, objective signs.

Such objective proof would lead honest people to the same conclusion every time.

And so signs.

And another thing about signs, it must point to something else.

In other words, the Holy Spirit was indeed sent to accomplish the purpose of God on behalf of the human race.

But this broad generalization leaves out the given specifics, and namely, the outpouring of the Spirit was a sign of something to come.

It wasn't just the fact that he came.

Yes, he came, and the miracles was a sign of his having come.

But that's not what the sign pointed to.

It pointed to something different.

So the Holy Spirit's outpouring was never intended to be just an end in itself.

He was a means to an end.

Not only that, but a connection must exist between the sign and what it signifies for it to be true and to be truly a sign.

So concerning the last days, for instance, it points to some end in sight.

And so when the Holy Spirit came, He was the sign that the end was in sight, that it was near.

Thirdly, a sign is relevant to the ones expected to see it.

If it points to some specific period, it could hardly be a sign for those living thousands of years after the signs were given.

And so that presents a problem for charismatics today.

Because generation after generation have come and gone, each claiming to be empowered by the Holy Spirit as a sign that the end is near.

The confirmation, the confidence, all that's lost.

Why?

Because the Holy Spirit's presence would signify an empty promise.

Jesus gave signs of his coming to that generation who.

Who never lived long enough to see their fulfillment if what we're saying is true.

In other words, he lied to them.

If what we see among the charismatics is true.

They continue to preach that he's coming soon.

And as one generation ends and another one takes its place, each of them continue to preach the end is near.

Now, are we supposed to think that he still hasn't come?

If another hundred years has passed and the people living today make the same claim, they'll make the same claim that will be made and make the same mistake made by their forefathers.

A sign is given to those that see the sign and given to signify something in the future that's different from the sign itself.

But it's intended to be a sign.

Obviously, if it's not revealed or fulfilled in their lifetime, it can hardly be a proof text or a sign to them, now, can it?

Do you see the point?

We've already shown the imminent nature of Christ's coming, the parresia, or the presence of the Lord, was something that was expected to happen soon.

And I think I would have to say this in support of many of the charismatics of today.

They're correct to think that miracles belong to the last days.

The problem is defining the end of which days we're talking about.

For them, that time is when Jesus physically returns at the end of time and the end of the world and not the end of the Jewish age.

As we have shown, the last days refers to the end of the age, not the end of the world.

Not only does the Greek language support the conclusion, but the view itself overlooks the purpose of a sign.

And so a sign has to be relevant to the ones living during the ending event.

These are just a few of the problems, I think, for those who make the coming of the Lord some future event.

The problem comes even more problematic when you realize that the promise of his appearance in the New Testament days was said to be soon.

And if you don't, I mean, it's not just soon, but there are other language like at hand, or King James says at hand, or when Jesus says, all these things will be fulfilled in this generation, that's soon, that's.

That's imminent language.

And so all of those come up and Equate to the same thing in those last days of the Old Covenant, that is the days of the New Testament context, we read of people who could raise the dead, they could miraculously heal people instantaneous.

And it was observable.

It wasn't something.

And it was immediate.

I mean, that has to be one of the characteristics of a miracle.

We'll talk about that at some future time as well.

But I just wanted to point that out.

And the days of miracles provided powerful proofs that made cities declare Paul and Silas as gods.

They radically changed lives in a way that can only be explained by what the people saw.

We're not witnessing the same miraculous wonders that left crowds astounded and speechless today.

And anyone who claims to have that power today, friends, you're deluded.

Now, you might argue that you have some power.

We're not going to go there right now, but you might claim that that's the case.

But you cannot claim it's the same in any form or fashion.

It just.

They're not the same.

And so we're not witnessing the same miraculous power that left crowds astounded.

And anyone that again claims it, they're just wrong.

Friends, now there's something to be said also with regard to signs.

What was it a sign of that is the coming of the Holy Spirit was a sign of the end of the age, but it was also a sign of the coming kingdom, which are related thoughts.

As an example of that, consider when Jesus cast out demons and the Jews, they were amazed in the crowd and they asked him, can this be the son of David?

Now, to counter this thought while accepting the miracle as undeniable, the Pharisees claimed that he did it by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons.

Their argument of the power through which Jesus cast out demons opened the door for Jesus to explain the senselessness of Beelzebub casting out his own demons.

Leaving the only other alternative view.

He said, if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Do you get that connection?

Here's a connection between the Holy Spirit, the power of casting out demons by the Spirit of God and the kingdom.

The connection is that the presence of the Holy Spirit was proof that the kingdom was upon them.

That's what he said.

If I, by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

That's proof.

That's a sign that the kingdom has come upon you.

See, the nature of the kingdom, just as the body is spiritual in nature.

The kingdom speaks of Christ's rule.

He rules in the hearts of men and women who have given themselves to him as their king, denying themselves and making him ruler and Lord of their lives.

Furthermore, establishing his kingdom required the binding of the strong man.

Before taking his spoils, Jesus has to first destroy his enemies.

And that began with the house of Israel, that is the old Jewish regime.

And so the significance then of the miracle was to provide proof that that Jesus had come to conquer and to establish his rule in the hearts of both Jews and Gentiles alike.

But another sign of the or another proof or sign of that the Holy Spirit pointed to is that it pointed to an impending judgment.

His presence implied by its very nature the coming judgment.

While even the passage we started with in Joel 2 references the outpouring of the Holy Spirit would be before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.

The abundance of miraculous powers from the Spirit was a sign of a new era, and that itself implied the end of the old that was carried out by the judgment of God.

If it was taught that the kingdom of God at the Parousia is about to come, it necessarily inferred that the same time was also a time of judgment.

We have several examples of Scripture that speak of both the reward of the righteous and the destruction of the wicked.

When John came preaching the kingdom of God, he said it was coming.

It was at hand.

So did Jesus in Matthew 4.

His statement is recorded in Matthew 3.

But both preach the same thing.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

When John introduced the Messiah as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, he described him as having a winnowing fan in his hand.

And he would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire, that is, he would be baptized with the Holy Spirit, as was promised in Acts 2, 38 and 5.

Those that obeyed him, and he baptizing with fire to those that disobeyed him, that rejected him.

The fire here is not the cloven tongues that were like as a fire in Acts 2.

That's a stretch.

The fire was the fire of destruction and damnation.

It was the fire of divine wrath.

In fact, again it if you look at Acts 2, look at verse 3.

He said the clothed tongues were like as of fire.

He didn't say it was fire.

John said, he's going to baptize you with fire and with the Holy Spirit.

John didn't say that Christ would baptize with something like fire, nor did he say that he would baptize in something like the Holy Spirit.

Indeed, John tells his audience that Christ will baptize you with the Holy Spirit, the good message for some, and with fire, a bad message of judgment toward others.

If that's accurate, then no one would want to be baptized with fire.

Jesus was not going to accomplish everything in person.

However, he accomplished neither of those in person.

He would send his apostles to come in his name, send them on a commission as his ambassadors, with the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.

Whom he sent and what he had begun in person, he would later do through the work of another comforter, whom he would send in his own Father's name.

And the same is true of the promise of the baptism of fire.

He didn't accomplish it in person either.

The fire is set in the context of expressions like the axe is laid to the root of the trees and the winnowing fan is in his hand.

Friends, these are expressions of judgment that are likened to a harvest or a separation of the good and the bad.

And he didn't say the axe is sharp and it's setting up on the shelf on a nail somewhere on the barn.

He says it's lying at the root of the trees.

He's ready to use it.

And for this reason the fire is not a reference to the tongues of fire in Acts 2.

It's a reference to the chaff that had been separated and ready to be burned.

And that supports the prophecy of Joel that we started with, that his coming would, would include and be and precede the great and terrible day of the Lord.

And so when he came and his coming would precede it, it would only point then to the coming of this terrible day of the Lord.

All that Joel prophesied would be fulfilled in the last days.

Thirdly, the edification of the body through spiritual gifts was another purpose of the Holy Spirit's outpouring.

As mentioned in our examination of Acts, part of the Holy Spirit's work really included the impartation of gifts by laying on of the apostles hands.

You know, the first letter to the Corinthians provides this context.

Chapters 11 through 14 is all about it.

In particular, chapter 14 seeks to correct an abusive attitude toward and abuse and use of the gifts, especially the gift of speaking in tongues.

It seems that it was highly coveted of all the gifts, even though Paul explained that he would rather speak five words with his mind so that he may instruct others rather than 10,000 words in a tongue.

So prophesying was more profitable because it edified the saints, and it was all about that edification, edification and exhortation were the far reaching purpose of their gifts and their fellowship.

He writes in verse 26 when you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, and has an interpretation.

Then notice, let all things, all of that be done for edification.

Once again, to remove this context and squeeze this text into our time is a terrible injustice of truth.

Today we witness a poor imitation from those claiming to be gifted by the Spirit.

The entirety of 1 Corinthians 14 also would be butchered and is butchered today in several ways.

First of all, tongue speakers are not speaking in verifiable languages as is shown and proven in Acts 2.

Even if they were speaking languages unknown to the speaker, they were not silent when an interpreter is needed, or was needed if the unbeliever is present.

Where there is no interpreter, they declared the group had lost his mind, and so that's not being adhered to today.

Third, no distinction is made in the purpose of tongues being a sign for the unbeliever or the believer.

Clearly the text says that it was a sign for the unbeliever.

And as was true then, it is rare to find people today who claim to have a gift other than tongue speaking and healing.

On more frequent occasions, someone might claim to have the gift of interpretation of tongues.

But if these are all that's necessary, then why are we just limited to two or three gifts today?

I ask that.

I ask the question and I don't get good answers.

But I've been asking for a long time, why are we not seeing all the gifts displayed today?

But yet those who claim to be to have the gifts of the spiritual gifts, they're not exercising all the gifts.

At least that's not their claim.

Many more are not even being claimed as a gift of the Holy Spirit at all.

And also those claiming to preach by inspiration.

They're neither being directed by the Spirit and declaring all the truth, as John 14 says, nor being put in remembrance of what Jesus taught.

They may remember some passages of Scripture and then claim the Spirit put it on their heart.

But this is no sign of direct guidance of the Spirit.

It allows for a very subjective interpretation as to the source of one's memory.

It's like a lady who once interrupted a conversation in our study to remind me that the Spirit just reminded her that where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst, he said.

Well, I asked her, did the Spirit remind her or did she remember the words of the Spirit through the Scriptures that she knew and could quote.

How is that to be tested?

I mean, if someone said, well, the Spirit told me right now, and then they remembered this scripture and said the Spirit reminded them of the Scripture, how are we to test that?

As far as the listener is concerned, I have no proof to verify the accuracy of that claim.

Was it to be a sign?

And if so, what is it supposed to signify?

If it was a sign, is it just to signify that she has power?

That wasn't the purpose of the Holy Spirit's power.

In the first century, the apostles did not have the written gospels on on their person to read and commit to memory.

They remembered the words of Jesus.

They had perfect recall and accurate recall as it was necessary as the occasion called for it.

So the purpose of all these gifted men, as Ephesians 4 says, is to equip the saints for the work of service and the building up of the body of Christ.

That's Ephesians 4:12.

That would be a good place for us to return for our study.

Next time I want to take us to Ephesians 4 and that is a clear purpose of the gifts of these gifted men, and that is to equip the saints for the work of service to the building up the body of Christ.

So that will be our topic and our study for next time.

I.

Well, actually, actually that's not going to be our study for next time.

I believe we pretty well covered that.

We may just do a summary of it and then go on to our next thought.

Thank you so much.

Have a good day and a pleasant week.